WorldCon Reminiscences

Although I've been home now for a couple weeks after WorldCon finished up in Montreal, I'm just now finding some fun videos that document the experience quite well. Here are a few of my favorites:

CBS covers WorldCon

Neil Gaiman and panel discusses the "new media"

Opening ceremony

And although my Canada travels are over, I still plan to keep my blog updated, so stay tuned!

Smooth Criminal

A funny thing happened on my way through the airport to catch my flight back home to San Francisco...I was stopped in security and taken to a back room where both I and my bags were searched, along with extensive questioning by the security personnel, a couple police officers and a representative from Air Canada. And it was all because of a gift that I received from a Mr. Chris Coakley for my birthday this past year...

The gift that caused this whole commotion was a pepper spray pen that Chris apparently gives to all of his girls-that-are-friends for their birthday, and it's actually quite cool! It looks just like a ball point pen except that when you pull off the cap, a spray top is revealed instead and can be wielded accordingly. So there I was standing in my bar feet, waiting for my bags to go through the xray machine when one of the security attendants approaches me and asks if I have any spray bottles in my purse. Like a good traveler I have already put all of my lip glosses, lotions, etc into a nice plastic baggy and did not think that I had left anything out. Until I remembered that blasted pen...

"Uh, well I think I know what you're seeing," I said, pulling out the black pen. "It's a pepper spray pen."

Now I've flown quite a bit this past year and have had this pen in my purse for every flight I've taken and have never been questioned about it before. I even went through security on my flight to Canada and had no problems. That's because possession of pepper spray (as long as it's not in large quantities) is perfectly legal. What I didn't know was that it is illegal to be in possession of pepper spray in Canada.

"We are going to have to call the police, Madame," says Hugo the security man. Then seeing the shocked look on my face explains that what I have is illegal and that they're going to have to do an extensive search and questioning in a room in the back, and would I please follow him. I did so, apologizing profusely and saying that I had completely forgotten I even had that thing in there and did he think I would still be let on my flight? 

Once in the back room the police asked me a lot of questions about why I was in Canada and took down all my personal information. I told them that I had no idea and was sorry again, and assured me that it should be fine, and that since I had verbally told them what it was and had been cooperative that I should be able to catch my flight. This made me feel a bit better. The cop asked if I had any criminal record because my fingerprints came up on file...I said no, and remembered that perhaps they were on file from when I worked as a lifeguard for East Bay Regional Parks...this seemed to satisfy them.

After the police conducted their questioning and search, I had to wait in the back room for an attendant from Air Canada to come over and hear my case and he ultimately would decide whether or not they would allow me on my flight. As I waited the following conversation ensued:

Me: "I'm sorry again about all this. I really didn't know it was illegal."

Cop #1: "That's ok. It actually works in your favor that there isn't something written on it that says 'for use against humans'".

Me: "Wouldn't that defeat the purpose of it looking like a pen instead of an actual pepper spray can? It's true identity is supposed to be concealed."

Cop #2: "Well because it doesn't say what it really is, next time you could just say that it's something like a mouth spray."

Cop #1: "Except if security has you spray it in your mouth to prove that that's what it is. That would be bad."

Cop #2: "Right, that would be bad. Maybe instead you could say that it is a foot fungal spray, that way if they make you spray it on your foot it won't hurt!"

Me: "Actually I think that next time I will just remember to leave my pepper spray pen in Canada."

Mouth spray...foot fungal spray? I can't make this stuff up! Crazy Canadian Cops=)

So after about 45 minutes I was finally let go, without my trusty pepper spray pen. But I must say that this story is just about as perfect ending to my trip as I could ask for.

And although I wasn't able to capture my time with the airport security, here are some last photos of the city I have come to love:

A bit blurry, but one of the bridges on the island of Montreal. In the background is Ile Jean-Drapeau, another island in the middle of the St. Lawrence river that was the site of the '76 World's Fair (you can see the ferris wheel and roller coaster if you look closely)

La Tour de l'horlage (the clock tower): a silent sentinel at the city's entrance. 

My last night in the city was perfect...warm and clear. My view from La Marche Bonsecours looking back at the city over the water. 

I went to have dinner and read on my favorite park bench, only to discover that my peaceful retreat had been invaded by a free Shakespeare in the park show, As You Like It. So I joined in half way through the show and enjoyed watching the play (it was in English for all the tourists), while reading my book. 

On the street where I've lived

Today is my last full day in Montreal, and it's been an extremely relaxing one at that. I awoke to find that it was absolutely pouring outside, so I dressed, donned my handy umbrella and decided to walk around anyway. After 10 days here, I feel quite at home and given I've walked everywhere during my stay here, probably know the streets better than I do in San Francisco where I grew up! And the time here has done wonders for my french...I've come a long way from my first blog (where I ordered in French and the waiter answered me in English). At each of the stores that I wandered into I had extensive conversations in French with the owner, and each one of them complemented me on my accent and are surprised that a California girl can speak their language so well. Yahoo!

When the rain really started coming down I ducked into a little tea room, where I have enjoyed writing and reading for the past few hours, and now that the sun has come out again think I will take another walk before it grows dark. But first, here are some pictures that I took during a break in the rain...

Les Fontaines de la Rue Commune: the park that I've enjoyed reading at writing at the past few nights. 

I love the sound of the horses' hooves as they plod down the cobbled streets

The Basilique de St. John: beautiful church across the street from my hostel

Blinded by the light! The beautiful St. Pierre church.

Inside the St. Pierre church...I loved the rainbow streamers draped across the pulpit, and couldn't help but wonder if they didn't have something to do with the fact that this church is located in the heart of the Latin Quarter (which is at the heart of the gay community).

Koi fish! 

Wrapping Up

After 5 crazy, jam-packed days of listening to panels, meeting new people and generally staying up late partying and celebrating such a wonderful gathering...the WorldCon has finally come to an end. There were a few panels left today to attend, but after the closing ceremonies at 4, I decided to go on a much needed walk through a part of the city I haven't yet explored. The evening was beautiful and had a comforting wet smell from the day's earlier rain, and I enjoyed dodging puddles as I set out to search for churches.

My journey took me through the cobbled streets of the old city, and into the newer paved streets of the bustling downtown. Amidst the new department stores and souvenir shops, there are a smattering of old, grand churches, and it is at these spots, the churches, the statues, the cobbled streets, that I feel able to clear my head and think writerly thoughts...

St. Andrew's Cathedral

Basilique de St. Patrick

St. Joseph's Cathedral

Cathedral Marie-Reine du Monde

Fairmont Hotel, St. Elizabeth: this was the hotel where John Lennon and Yoko Ono did their "bed in". I realize that this isn't a church, but it's a sacred place nonetheless!

Then this evening I was able to enjoy a beautiful evening sitting out on a park bench along the water...that is until it rained. But the night was so beautiful and warm that I decided to take a few pictures before heading in...

Le Marche Bonsecours: an indoor market filled with craft vendors

Rue de la Commune: the main road along the water. During the day it is packed with horse drawn carriages!

Lost in thought

A stewpot of experience

Before heading up to Montreal to attend this WorldCon conference, I tried to read everything I could to find out what this whole thing is all about. I knew the basics: what kind of panels there would be and which authors would be attending. But really I had no idea what I was getting myself into...

What I had prepared myself for was a conference hall in the middle of Montreal to be filled with other nerdy Science Fiction and Fantasy fans, and what I hadn't prepared myself for was realizing that there is a whole world of people and ideas and rituals that heretofore had not existed for me! Of course I've mentioned a few of my highlights in posts before, but in the past couple days I have attended panels on a broad range of subjects ranging from fairy tales in comic books,  to relativism and the superhero, and from tips on publishing, to writing metered poetry...all of which have been wildly fascinating!

And that doesn't even touch on the people I've met...talk about both an amazing and a humbling experience. While I'm certainly a fan of science fiction and fantasy literature, talking with the people I've met at this conference I feel a little bit like a freshwater fish that has been thrown into a salt water tank...I'm just not as adequately adapted for the environment as they are. That being said, I have definitely read a fair amount of SciFi and Fantasy literature, but certainly not to the extent that the people here have, and I have been learning so much from everyone around me (my To Do reading list as grown somewhat exponentially in the last few days!) But humbling is only from my perspective, because everyone that I've met has been so incredibly wonderful and they have introduced me to countless other incredibly wonderful people...and I now have a number of new incredibly wonderful friends. 

All that being said, I still have the rest of the day to attend more talks, and most of tomorrow...so here are a few fun pictures for you all!

Panel discussion on the "new media" (from left to right): Melissa Auf der Mar (formerly bassist from the rock band Hole), Neil Gaiman (writer), Ellen Kushner (fantasy writer), Tobias Buckell (sci-fi writer), Steve Boyett (writer, DJ), Cory Doctorow (writer)

Panel about "fandom" with my new friend Tom Galloway (right), and Neil Gaiman. 

Revelry: Neil Gaiman's words of advice in my journal...I have some high expectations to live up to!

A girl's dreams come true

I can't believe how long I've been waiting for this moment for so long...and I've been planning my trip to Montreal for my writer's conference for a year and a half...and all of that paid off today. Because guess who met Neil Gaiman?! ME!!!! Of course I had to get proof because I hardly believed it myself:

This was the first day of my conference and I had excitedly planned out my whole day around 2 talks with Neil Gaiman, and a few others that I was excited about which I'll mention later. The first session was a Q&A where you could write questions down on pieces of paper beforehand, and the interviewer (Jennifer) would pick the questions to ask. Now guess whose question was picked first?! That's right ME AGAIN! I asked him: "Which of your works do you feel most influenced your growth as a writer?", and he gave a wonderful and long-winded answer that basically said his book "Good Omens" with Terry Pratchett, and his work on the Sandman Graphic Novel series. He also answered some other very good questions, and afterwards I hung lingered about while Neil tried to move through the crowd of people vying for his attention. When the crowd thinned I walked over to say thank you for answering my question and profess my appreciation of him and his writings (playing it totally cool!)

He had an escort with him to make sure that he made it to all his panels on time, and when I asked if he would take a picture with me, she gave him a look, so he asked if I could walk with him. uh of course! So I did and chatted with him for a bit in between his 'hi's' and 'hellos' to friends as they passed. We eventually took the picture and he said it had been a pleasure meeting me and hoped to see me again...I said I would look forward to seeing him at another of his panels and we parted ways. 

All those other places and experiences I've talked about so far? Those were cool...alright more than cool, they were great. But this totally trumps them ALL!

A girl and her gardens

My day today is best told in pictures because most of it was spent reading or writing or in quite contemplation (aka "resting my eyes"). It was a day spent entirely outdoors hopping from park to park in different parts of the city, and I'm happy to report that I now look happily sunkissed!

This geodesic dome was designed by Buckminster Fueller for the Worlds Fair held in Montreal in 1967. All of the glass panels were shattered in a fire years ago, so all that's left is the skeleton now, and the city decided to put an exhibit inside talking about the importance of conservation and the environment of the St. Lawrence river (this dome is on Ile St. Helene, an island in the middle of the St. Lawrence river off the coast of Montreal)

Le Stade Olympique, or Olympic Stadium was built in 1976 for the Summer Olympics...locals have dubbed the Olympic Village "The Big Owe" because the city only just finished paying it all off in 2006!

This is the Olympic Tower, which is actually taller and a greater lean than the Leaning Tower of Pisa!

The botanic gardens were amazing...so many beautiful flowers and trees. These ones made me particularly happy!

The Chinese part of the gardens...the pond was filled with koi fish!

The Alpine part of the gardens. I spent the better part of the afternoon in these gardens...they're actually the 2nd largest in the world! There are over 26,000 plant species and more than 30 thematic gardens. They also have one of the largest collections of Bonsai trees.

La Fountain Riopolle in the plaza outside the Palais des Congres (where Neil Gaiman will be giving a talk tomorrow...and guess who's planning to be there in the first row?!)

Walk About

I had an exhausting but wonderful day yesterday exploring the city by foot...I do believe I walked the perimeter of the city, then zig zagged my way back to my hostel, only to get caught up in the FranoFollies...a 10-day long french music festival that takes place throughout the city. I had dinner at an outdoor cafe while listening to an electronica style band, only to have it start pouring rain (luckily I was under cover), but I didn't stay dry for long. I was sitting there reading my book and enjoying my crepe when an oblivious man bumped my table spilling not only my white wine all over me, but my water as well. My dress was soaked and so was my book. So much for staying dry!

But neither the spill nor the rain stopped me and hundreds of other people from watching some wonderful French music acts. It was magical even...as though nature wanted to do its own lights show for the bands...quite the lightening show! I eventually headed back to my hostel and passed out...and even slept in until 8 this morning (per Matt's suggestion that I not treat my vacation as a marathon and run myself ragged!)

The Franco Follies:

Salome Leclerc...she was a bit like Mirah and Regina Spektor

I watched a latin jazz band called Joaquin Diaz and this whole street was filled with salsa dancing!  

Marie Annick-Lepine and Catherine Durand...a bit like a female Blue Turtle Seduction

At the Lac aux Castors at the top of the parc Mont-Royal

During the day you can rent paddle boats and putter about

View from the Chalet at the top of Mont-Royal...it was quite a trek to get up here but the views were certainly worth it. Luckily it was a clear day and didn't start raining until the evening!

Les Photos que j'aime!

A random assortment of pictures from my day today...A very happy Carolyn after spending an afternoon watching doggies play, and reading some of my newly acquired children's books (they're in french!) Picture taken at the Parc Lafontaine...meaning fountain park, of which there are several;) 
This cracked me up...I don't know why the french version of Where's Waldo changed his name to Charlie?! Perhaps Waldo is a tough word for the French to say...I was also laughing because I found a Smurfs comic book and they're called Schtreumps!

Ma soeur...this one's for you! 
Inside the chapel of the Notre Dame de Basilique...I was thrilled because I ended up getting a one-on-one private tour in french by a young docent for 30 minutes...great French practice!

Kelly you are SO not going to win our bet...check out my form...I ran 4 miles this morning! (for those of you unaware of Kelly and my bet-we have to work out 5 days a week or we take the other one to dinner at Cava in Montecito!)

Jessica, do these little guys look familiar to you? (think kinder eggs...). Anyway I found them in my Europe bags that I'm using and brought them along. Here they are posing in front of a giant pug stuffed animal in the kids section of a used bookstore ;)

Quoi de neuf?

*I wrote this last night, but for reasons that will be explained below, I wasn't able to post it until now= )

For those of you non-frenchies, that means "What's up?!" My first half-day in Montreal was exciting, relaxing and just what I needed. I love my hostel and was incredibly pleased to find that it's in the heart of Vieux Montreal (the "old city"), amidst cobbled streets and sidewalk cafes. I share a "room" (nothing more than 4 sheets pinned up around 2 bunk beds) with a guy who is yet to show up and 2 girls from Hong Kong who are sweet but don't speak much English. After dumping my backpack I first set out to find an internet cafe so I could call Matt and my parents...here is how my inquiries went:

Me: Est-ce qu'il y'a un cafe avec un connexion sans fils pres d'ici? (I had just learned the phrase for wireless internet on my flight over..."connexion sans fils" and was excited to use it)

Vendor: Non

Me: (thinking that maybe I had used the phrase improperly) Il y'a un cafe avec l'internet pres d'ici?

Vendor: Non. Montreal doesn't have anything like that.

He really did respond to me in English, and I decided that I really need to step it up on my french accent!

This same conversation was repeated with 2, 3, 6 more vendors and restauranters and I was shocked to find that the answer was always no! After giving up and deciding to eat the long distnace and call Matt on my cell phone, he summed it up by saying "And Canadians wonder why Americans think they're so weird..."

But I'll admit that while I was on my quest for the "cafe d'internet", I came across some wonderful shops selling handmade wares, along with quite a few touristy ones with lots of maple candies and syrup. I walked up and down the cobbled stones and enjoyed listening to the snippets of French conversation (especially coming from the children...their little accents are just too cute!) Old Montreal is also located right on the water, so I took a walk along the harbor and sat in one of the many parks along the water and watched the myriad of people stroll by. 

Eventually I made my way over to a little cafe with an outdoor terrace so I could sit out and enjoy more people watching and the warm night air. I had brought my book with me, "The Power of Myth" by Joseph Campbell, and sat on the terrace reading my book as I enjoyed carrot soup, quiche lorraine, salade and strawberries with creme fraiche, then a nice cup of tea.

Afterward I strolled about the streets some more, watching some street performances (I included my favorite "Stand By Me") and eventually came back to my hostel where I sit now. I'm on the 3rd floor and there is a wrought iron spiral staircase at the back of the building that overlooks Artists' Alley...an open air market filled with different art and jewelry and all sorts of treasures! I feel a bit sneaky for watching them sell their wares and bustle about...but it is a comforting scene as I sit here and write. 

Me enjoying the park across the street from the canals
The beautiful building in the background is the Marche Bonsecours...this is the park along the water.
The old harbor at old montreal.
I thought these flowers were neat

In heaven...there's a fantastic french restaurant on every corner!

Just a little excited...

I love my family! Last night I drove from Santa Barbara to my Nana's house near San Francisco to spend the night with her so she could take me to the airport the next morning, and although I'll only be gone for 10 days, with their send off you would think I'd be leaving for 10 months! Which is why they're so wonderful...they all know how much I've been looking forward to this trip (I bought my tickets to WorldCon almost a year and a half ago!), and so Nana made an amazing dinner, and my whole family drove over to join. So you can imagine after an exciting evening like that, knowing that I would have to be up and out of the house by 5:30am the next morning, and after doing last minute printing and talking to Matt for a while...why it was difficult for me to fall asleep. 

Nonetheless, I managed to snag a nice 3 hour nap and arrived at the airport the suggested 2 hours ahead of time...only to be through securities and everything 15 minutes later...at least I'm not running to catch my plane! So I walked to my terminal and after snapping the above picture (I think that's why the people at Air Canada gave me funny looks when they saw what time my flight was leaving, and the hour at which I'd arrived), decided to explore the international terminal, only to find that nothing will open for another hour or so!

So I took advantage of my early arrival and seated myself along the main thoroughfare, and have been happily writing and people watching since. I did check my email though, and have still not received a response from Neil Gaiman regarding my emailed offer to treat him to tea...but there's still time before the convention starts this Thursday ;)

I will do my best to keep everyone up to date on my travels and adventures throughout Montreal and at WorldCon...heaven knows I'm bound to see all sorts of characters as this is the largest Science Fiction and Fantasy convention in the world!

Au revoir for now!