Not Millennium Philcon... yet.
(Warning. Extreme stream of consciousness
posting ahead... But then again, that's how I always write.)
When last we saw our intrepid traveler, we had
left HarmUni. That was late on Monday morning.
And, ironically enough; Philcon doesn't start
too long after that.
Tuesday I spent the morning finishing up the
con report for HarmUni; and then I finished packing for the
trip to Gravesend so I could spend a couple days with Tim
and Annie Walker.
I arrived at King's Cross Station (Platform
6, in case you were wondering. And no, I didn't even think to go check out Platform 9, hangitall...(That's a Harry Potter
reference; for those who haven't read it. (And I won't waste
my time telling you to go read it. If you haven't chosen to
read it by now with all the hype, it's unlikely that you will
unless you have a reason to...)))
I dropped off my luggage at the Left Luggage
(hmm... wonder what Right Luggage is...) station; and met
up with Katy, Rika, Kirsten, Volker, and Nicholas.
Katy and I both had errands to run in London,
and so we were going to do those then motivate to Rika's favorite
shopping place until they closed. Unfortunately, our errands
took all our available time; we didn't get to go shopping
with Rika. :(
Our first stop was to Forbidden Planet. This
place should really be named Forbidden Wallet. Mostly because
it's forbidden for you to leave the place with anything left
in it. Anyway, we took the Tube from Kings Cross to Leicester
Square, and walked the 5 or so blocks to Forbidden Planet.
On the street, on the way to the store, Katy
and I kept looking at each other with innocent glee in our
faces. We'd giggle, point to buildings, and shriek "We're
back! We're back!!" Somehow, a trip to England isn't
quite really real until you realize that you're in London.
I'd walked this exact same path back in February on shopping
trips- and it was somehow encouraging, cool, and extremely
exciting to be in London again.
It's a statement to the classic British stoicism
that we the bobbies weren't called to have us dragged off
the street as crazy people. We were just obviously a couple
tourists. :) To me, tho, the unique thing was that one of
these was a German tourist, the other an American. And we
were excited about the *exact* same thing.
In a way- that's everything that the WorlDream
is about. It's about how much the same we all are in this
community of misfits and noisemakers that we call home.
After running the rest of our errands and having
vegetarian lasagna that's to die for on High Street;
we collected my luggage and made the trek back to Gravesend.
Tim picked me up at the station, I said my good-byes
to the Germans (we'd see them again on Wednesday night); and
Tim and I headed home.
Tim and Annie have a son, Jared- and they let
him stay up late so that we could all visit together for a
bit. Then Jared went off to bed ("Good night, Uncle
Steve; I love you" in perfect Oliver tones... *happysigh*) and the adults visited until bedtime.
On Wednesday morning, we firmed up plans for
a large house sing over at Rika and David's house that evening;
and made plans to go to a 14th century fortified house with
Phil and Lissa for lunch and strolling that afternoon.
So, we spent a lovely afternoon at Ightam Mote;
travelled home, and crashed. We made our way over to Rika
and David's house about 8pm; and proceeded to sing the night
away.
It occurs to me that this was a very prolific weekend. First came Iron (written just before HarmUni) , then Sitting and Duckies were written at the con (Duckies was a collaberation),
and Silver
Gilt was written just before we left for Ightam Mote.
I had to play Silver Gilt at the circle to help set
the melody in place; I was pleasantly suprised that folks
seemed to like it.
See, when I write a song; I feel very, very
good right when I finish it. Then depression sets in (about
5 minutes later)- wondering what kind of jerk I am thinking
that I have the audacity to actually write music. Ergo,
I'm usually pretty screwed up right after I write something-
and I have no way of knowing if it's really any good or not.
So, I'll play it for a few people; and if it goes over ok
I'll play it in more public venues. If it isn't recieved well;
then it really doesn't see the light of day. Silver Gilt was pretty well received.
Anyway, Tim and Annie left for home about 11;
while we were in the middle of a mass teaching session making
sure that Jonathan Turner's Second
Hand Songs makes it over to Germany and gets well
sung in Britain. Phil and Lissa left about midnight, when
Phil realized that he wasn't going to get any sleep until
the parody was done...
And I walked back to Tim and Annie's about 4am.
Silly Steve...
The Flights From Hell
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