I’ve been gone for the last couple of weeks, in MN to visit family and to attend CONvergence. (https://www.convergence-con.org)
CONvergence required proof of up-to-date vaccinations, as well as masks in all shared spaces of the con. I only saw a couple of people who didn’t wear masks regularly (think privileged white dudes). Everyone else for the most part was really good about it.
So while there have been reported cases of people having COVID and attending the con, I’m not too worried. The emails that the con has been sending out list every place the various infected people went to, and I rarely shared space with any of them.
One of the places where I did share space was at a panel when one of the maskholes asked if it was really necessary for the panelists to wear masks.
The immediate response was that yes, it was. And I’m so glad we responded that way, particularly since it turns out that someone who attended that panel now has COVID.
CONvergence is one of the best-run cons that I’ve ever attended. Period. And it has more than 6000 people who attend it (though I think this year attendance was still down due to the plague).
Next year it will be in July, the weekend after the fourth, if y’all want to join me there…
And speaking of next year, I will reach out and contact people about getting together either before or during the con.
I couldn’t do it this year. I didn’t understand why I couldn’t do it until after we started traveling.
There were SO MANY PEOPLE at the airport. I tried to read while we were waiting for our plane but I gave up quickly. I didn’t get hypervigilant with all these strangers around, but I was very much alert and on edge.
I’m just not used to seeing so many people. So many strangers. Contacting friends and arranging to see them in addition to dealing with being in a strange place with more strangers was just one thing too many.
It wasn’t until Friday or Saturday at the con before I finally got comfortable being around people again. I wish I could have gotten there sooner. I couldn’t, though.
Next year should be better, if nothing else, because I’ll know what to expect.
While I was traveling, I drank way too much coffee. Almost every day. And yes, reupped my caffeine addiction. Needed to break that this week, so no more coffee this week.
I was expecting headaches. What I got was a migraine.
I continue to follow my general pattern of migraines once every 120 or so. This one was a little early, as it was only 110 days since my previous migraine. I don’t know what that pattern represents, but on average, my migraines are 120 days apart. Sometimes it’s 150 days. I’ve only had one really long stretch of over 200 days.
So I’m still in recovery mode. This is something else I’ll need to take into account. Generally speaking, I recover from travel after only a couple of days. This time, it might be as much as a week before I’m fully functional again. We’ll see.
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