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Saturday Surprise, and After-Con Report
Yes, I'm still sick. Let us speak now of pleasanter things.
Many thanks to the Alert Reader who sent along the link to the hot-off-the-press Library Journal review of Duainfey, and a lovely surprise it was.
Despite, yanno, the Aftermath, I had a wonderful time at Denvention. It was personally quite the best WorldCon I've attended in years. Mind you, I've missed the last three WorldCons, so perhaps absence has made the heart &c, but still -- I had a blast, in a mostly non-frenzied, and relaxed sort of way.
Part of this absolutely had to do with the fact that I was not over-programmed. Some pros certainly were -- Wil McCarthy flashed me the back of his badge and I've gotta tell you, I felt faint -- but personally, I thought that the level of programming in which I was enlisted could not have been better.
Denvention was also the first WorldCon out of the last six I've attended in which I wasn't expected to be behind the Meisha Merlin table during those hours when I was not wanted elsewhere -- which was a huge lightening of the load.
Another thing that made Denvention pleasant was the simple greeting, heard over and over: "I'm glad to see you." I like this tradition and hope we can make it a staple of all future cons, World or Regional. It's a gentle reminder that we gather together in this peculiar manner because we are a community and without each other we're only Odd.
Being pleasantly programmed meant I could explore the neighborhood surrounding the convention, which is something I can't recall ever having had time to do at a WorldCon. I took several pleasant strolls down the Sixteenth Street Mall and got quite used to having a variety of restaurants and delis within a few blocks' walk. Cook's Fresh Market was a particular favorite, as were our old friends the Corner Bakery, and Johnny Rocket's.
The Sixteenth Street Mall is also home to a number of stores, of which one is the Tall Girl Shop. I raced in one afternoon in a panic, having miscalculated the number of party clothes I would need at the con. To say that they fixed me up with something is to do less than justice to the experience. The whole store got into the project, putting together a series of outfits until the perfect one emerged. I've never had so much fun shopping in my life.
Victoria's Secret, my next stop, was not such a pleasant experience, alas. I explained to the (young, lithe, golden) sales clerk which garment I wished to obtain. She stared at me and asked my size. I confessed. She shook her head. "I'm sure we don't have anything here that will fit you," she said. I nodded and walked over to the rack where the desired items were hung, flicked through and found my size in the color I wanted, filed correctly. I handed it to her on my way out. Not that I do much business there in the usual way of things, but VS has lost even that slender custom.
Veering back to pleasant things and the con...my first panel was The Storyteller's Bowl, with Steve Miller moderating, and fellow panelists Phil Foglio, Lawrence Watt Evans, and Don Sakers. This was a great panel; the panelists swapped around experiences and ideas, shared what worked and what didn't, came up with ways to adapt useful techniques to their particular genre -- it was more like a brainstorming session than a panel and it was great for us. I hope it was great for the audience, too.
In the audience of that panel, in fact, right there in the front row, was a young man we'd met at Penquicon -- Howard Tayler -- assiduously taking notes. Wow, I thought, Howard's really serious about this.
Well, it turns out that, far from taking notes, Howard was drawing. Figures, eh? And one of the things he was drawing was...me. I've never had a portrait done, so I forgive him. In fact, I'm delighted. He gave me permission to show y'all the picture, so
Everybody have a nice day. I'll check back in, after breakfast and a nap.
Many thanks to the Alert Reader who sent along the link to the hot-off-the-press Library Journal review of Duainfey, and a lovely surprise it was.
Despite, yanno, the Aftermath, I had a wonderful time at Denvention. It was personally quite the best WorldCon I've attended in years. Mind you, I've missed the last three WorldCons, so perhaps absence has made the heart &c, but still -- I had a blast, in a mostly non-frenzied, and relaxed sort of way.
Part of this absolutely had to do with the fact that I was not over-programmed. Some pros certainly were -- Wil McCarthy flashed me the back of his badge and I've gotta tell you, I felt faint -- but personally, I thought that the level of programming in which I was enlisted could not have been better.
Denvention was also the first WorldCon out of the last six I've attended in which I wasn't expected to be behind the Meisha Merlin table during those hours when I was not wanted elsewhere -- which was a huge lightening of the load.
Another thing that made Denvention pleasant was the simple greeting, heard over and over: "I'm glad to see you." I like this tradition and hope we can make it a staple of all future cons, World or Regional. It's a gentle reminder that we gather together in this peculiar manner because we are a community and without each other we're only Odd.
Being pleasantly programmed meant I could explore the neighborhood surrounding the convention, which is something I can't recall ever having had time to do at a WorldCon. I took several pleasant strolls down the Sixteenth Street Mall and got quite used to having a variety of restaurants and delis within a few blocks' walk. Cook's Fresh Market was a particular favorite, as were our old friends the Corner Bakery, and Johnny Rocket's.
The Sixteenth Street Mall is also home to a number of stores, of which one is the Tall Girl Shop. I raced in one afternoon in a panic, having miscalculated the number of party clothes I would need at the con. To say that they fixed me up with something is to do less than justice to the experience. The whole store got into the project, putting together a series of outfits until the perfect one emerged. I've never had so much fun shopping in my life.
Victoria's Secret, my next stop, was not such a pleasant experience, alas. I explained to the (young, lithe, golden) sales clerk which garment I wished to obtain. She stared at me and asked my size. I confessed. She shook her head. "I'm sure we don't have anything here that will fit you," she said. I nodded and walked over to the rack where the desired items were hung, flicked through and found my size in the color I wanted, filed correctly. I handed it to her on my way out. Not that I do much business there in the usual way of things, but VS has lost even that slender custom.
Veering back to pleasant things and the con...my first panel was The Storyteller's Bowl, with Steve Miller moderating, and fellow panelists Phil Foglio, Lawrence Watt Evans, and Don Sakers. This was a great panel; the panelists swapped around experiences and ideas, shared what worked and what didn't, came up with ways to adapt useful techniques to their particular genre -- it was more like a brainstorming session than a panel and it was great for us. I hope it was great for the audience, too.
In the audience of that panel, in fact, right there in the front row, was a young man we'd met at Penquicon -- Howard Tayler -- assiduously taking notes. Wow, I thought, Howard's really serious about this.
Well, it turns out that, far from taking notes, Howard was drawing. Figures, eh? And one of the things he was drawing was...me. I've never had a portrait done, so I forgive him. In fact, I'm delighted. He gave me permission to show y'all the picture, so
Everybody have a nice day. I'll check back in, after breakfast and a nap.
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Alas, your experience at VS was not unique. A friend of mine, who is tall and largish boned but not fat, walked into a Victoria's Secret looking for something, and was told by an associate that they only carried "normal sizes" and wouldn't have anything to fit her. She's not shopped there since.
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* victoria's secret
* bath & body works
* c.o. bigelow
* the white barn candle co.
* henri bendel
* la senza
There, that's simple.
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(for the record: a half-inch too tall for petite, strong-boned, and not looking to inflate my admittedly slender bustline through padding.)
I think that they train their salespeople to Sniff Dismissively before they Sell. I've often had the urge to go all Pretty Woman on them, and walk back in with bags from Perla* and D&G and go "big mistake. Huge!"
*some day, when I hit the NYT list.
As a woman of height myself...
Overweight or not, I loathe shopping for clothes. It's just depressing to realize that most stores consider you a fringe customer, and have no interest in stocking for you.
Fortunately, America is getting taller, and although I'm not seeing many women as tall as us, I am seeing more unhemmed pants that have enough length to work with, and more jeans (depending on the style) that are long enough.
Shirts are still a problem - a guy's "medium" shirt fits me perfectly across the shoulders. The torso length is right, and the arm length is perfect. Find that length in a woman's shirt is very difficult. I've gotten to be an expert at wading through racks of male shirts, looking for something of ambiguous gender :-D
We shall draw a merciful curtain over the time I drifted into the 5-7-9 store without realizing where I was.
I've hooked a friend of mine on Liad - she's working her way through the main plot line, about to hit "I Dare", and simultaneously reading Crystal Soldier. She went camping this weekend with the first six chapbooks tucked snugly away, courtesy of moi :o)
I was going to loan her all of them, but realized I hadn't re-read them in quite a while, and accidentally opened one.
She plans to buy the entire collection, so y'all haven't lost from the deal :o)
May both of you feel better, soon.
Re: As a woman of height myself...
I adore men's shirts! They fit, they're not made out of tissue paper, and they last. The idea that I want to be shopping for shirts every six seconds is...alien to my thought process and my wallet.
I've hooked a friend of mine on Liad
Thank'ee kindly, ma'am.
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*is chuffed*
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Duainfey mini-reviews
(Anonymous) 2008-08-16 09:48 pm (UTC)(link)Mysterious Galaxy has 2 Duainfey mini-reviews in their printed "The Plot Thins..." newsletter Vol 16, #10. I was not able to find the reviews on their website. They're in a marked off box titled, "Our September Signed First Speculative Fiction Pick!" Let me know if you want me to e-mail/post the text (mkennedy2 at earthlink dot net). -Melita
Re: Duainfey mini-reviews
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Danger, Will Robinson, danger!
As for the greeting from people being glad to see you, well, I too was glad to see you and Steve. By the way, the gofer for our masquerade presentation's group was sporting a "Friends of Liaden" t-shirt.
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(Anonymous) 2008-08-18 03:33 pm (UTC)(link)I don't actually know if Nordstrom exists on the east coast, but in Chicago and on the west coast you'll find them easily.
-Meara
Long tall Sally for longer inseams!
(Anonymous) 2008-08-19 01:17 pm (UTC)(link)This is a great blog!
I can totally sympathise with your hate of shopping when you can’t find clothes that fit properly. I have real difficulty finding shoes and trousers to fit me…a real problem if you have a fashion addiction like I do. I’m not overly tall but I can never find trousers long enough.
However, there are options out there for taller girls…
I work for a company called Long Tall Sally (http://www.longtallsally.com)and we specialise in clothing and footwear for tall women, so I can totally sympathise with the issue. We have a wide range of smart and casual wear in sizes 8-22 , trousers fit a 38" leg and our tops are designed with longer sleeve lengths. We are UK based but offer an international delivery service.
Working for a specialist tall retailer, I've also come across a couple of websites which have links to lots of resources for tall women (and larger shoe sizes):
www.longtallsally.com,
www.extratall.co.uk,
http://tallorder.typepad.com/home/,
www.uniquelywoman.co.uk,
www.tallclothingmall.com,
www.heightsite.com.
We have also just launched our LTS blog, The Long and Tall of it: http://bloglongtallsally.blogspot.com/
Which includes fashion and styling advice from supermodel Lisa Butcher, fashion tips and stories to create the best online community for tall women.
You should check it out!
I hope this helps in your quest to find longer inseams!
Alice, Long Tall Sally.