Andy's bright ideas.

Here are some more pictures taken at the zoo. When I was young, I used to clomp around rather heavily, at least for my diminutive weight, and was told I was like a baby elephant. Not so much, I think. The baby elephant here is probably lighter on her feet and more graceful than ever I was.

( Cut for length and big images )

The journey home for Denvention was tedious but we arrived on time. Immigration was over in about 2% as long as in the USA - but I think that most countries allow their own citizens to return home with much less delay and officialdom than they allow tourists in.

Science fiction conventions (and events such as Oxonmoot) are the longest sustained periods when, it seems to me, I am among people with whom it is possible to have a relaxed conversation without, for example, having to figure out what part of what I think of as a common cultural background they won't have any referent for. It is part of the relatively small proportion of the year I don't feel that I am living among aliens, sometimes of questionable rationality.

Since I am techie all through just like the lettering in Blackpool rock, it also helps that I don't get the impression from those who are not themselves involved in science or technology that is is somehow beneath them. That cannot be said, on average, of RL.

We made a couple of new friends, one of whom is on LJ (hi wouldyoueva {fx: waves}). I got books signed by Charlie Stross and Tanya Huff, and have enough to read that I now need a reading holiday. I first started reading Charlie Stross' fiction because he spoke interestingly on panels at Eastercon. With Tanya Huff I started by reading the first two Confederation novels in a single volume, then found the Vicki Nelson/Henry Fitzroy series, and found that she is interesting on panels, and manages both to be insightful and make me laugh.