World's are colliding!

I'm sure some of you recognize that quote.

This weekend is Dragon*Con. We had thought about going to the parade yesterday, but one of us (not me) has issues with the time/space continuum. Apparently the time when an event starts is really the time you think about leaving the house. We're meeting someone for dinner at 7 translates into we may leave the house by 7.

This time I can't lay all the blame on the vagaries of one's personal relationship to linear time. I was rather wishy-washy about it too. While I wanted to go see the spectacle that is the Dragon*Con parade, especially as I know people who were in it, and I've never seen it except for excerpts on TV, I was reluctant to be in such a crowd.

Anyway, by the time we were ready to go, we'd miss at least half of it, if not more. This led to an interesting conversation we had on the way to the Decatur Book Festival, which we attended earlier than we'd expected. I can't repeat the conversation verbatim, so this is how I remembered it.

I said, "Well, we can go next year." (I'm talking about the parade only here.)

Keith: "We could get a hotel room."

Me: "We'll have to book early."

Keith said, "Maybe we'll go to Dragon*con."

I replied, "Tickets are $100 each."

Keith: "So?"

OK, this is when I pick my jaw off the floor of the car and look around furtively for the aliens who have flipped Keith's brain and are laughing their asses off at me. We go on down the Decatur Book Festival.

Among all the authors there is a young man, Nick Valentino, who has written a Steampunk adventure novel, Thomas Riley. Keith has been hearing about Steampunk lately, as I'll be dyeing a Steampunk themed yarn for the Phat Fiber Sampler Box in October. We talked to Nick for a little while, and I asked him why was he there at the book festival instead of Dragon*Con. He said he was dividing his time between the two. That's understandable. His publisher had a booth there, and new authors, like new dyers, need to promote their wares. For the record, I did buy his book. I haven't started reading it yet, but it's gotten good reviews.

Later at home, I broached the subject of Dragon*Con and asked Keith if he would want to dress in costume for it. His answer was "Yes, Steampunk."

I'm still looking for those aliens. I know they whisked him away in the night and messed with his brain.