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It is Memorial Day, which is, variously, a Monday where one may not have to go to school and/or work, a day where one has to figure out how to juggle child care responsibilities while still having to go to work, a day to remember those who have died in the service of our country and, for me, this year, a moment to remember how much I enjoyed Over My Dead Body by Greg Melville, because the author did such a lovely job of placing Decoration Day in historical and cultural context.

At the moment, I’m catching up on blogging, because I’ve been attending Balticon and hanging out with my sister and niblings who joined me at the con. It was a much shorter train ride for them than it was for me, and we left all the menfolk at home. It’s been fun and I’ve learned a ton. I’ll probably come back. Ironically, my sister wasn’t that enthused about this con, until I unilaterally decided to go with A. and invited them to come with me. Once here, it is being compared very favorably to RavenCon. Certainly, it is bigger, and both cons are very reader/writer focused, so the programming at both is what we love, but the quality of the moderation and the qualifications and competencies of the panel participants is wildly better. Some overlap, tho! Balticon is still running as a hybrid con which is nice to see.

ETA: I bought a tiara, a print, and a bottle of whisky over the last few days. The tiara wrapped up nicely and didn’t take up much space. The print is going to have to be handcarried. The whisky, it turns out, fits into a side pocket on the fjallraven kanken 17” laptop bag. It’s in a plastic bag within the pocket, in an effort to encourage people to not see what’s in my backpack. I’ll report back whether I have to ditch it on the way home. In theory, I think I can bring it on the train. Obviously this would not work on a plane.

ETAYA: I got a 30 minute reprieve on checking out, which was handy because A. wasn’t quite ready. We left our bags with the front desk, and walked over to the science museum where we looked around and saw the planetarium spring skies show. A. could not have dippin dots (sad face) because we were out of lactaid. Our next stop was a CVS where we bought offbrand lactase and branded Pepcid, both of which I intend to leave packed for future trips. Because of all this. CVS was a few doors down from a Shake Shack, so that’s where we had lunch including a frozen custard for A. She got the chicken sandwich, which looked really good.

We walked across the street to the con hotel to use the bathrooms, and then back to the Residence Inn to pick up our bags. We got an uber from there to the train station. My sister had gotten her train changed to an earlier one, still in the quiet car, so she was already home. I initially went to the wrong track, realized it was the wrong direction, asked for help, switched sides of the island (no need to go back up the stairs, yay!) and waited a couple more minutes and boarded. So far, have not had any damage to the print or the whisky. Presumably the tiara and so forth are fine in the bags.

We had a really nice time! I panicked a little, because time was getting tight, but we got to the train station about 30 minutes before boarding, so I even got to use the bathroom. The con floor was totally dead when we stopped at that hotel, so we had a bathroom to ourselves there. I know it’s stupid, but getting to have clean, quiet bathrooms is amazing.

Also! While waiting to board, there was someone with a paper Analog bungied on top of his roller so we chit-chatted. He’s got a novel coming out in the Eric Flint Ring of Fire universe involving Venice getting a radio (maybe 1633?). Apparently that’s where Charles Gannon is editing, keeping that massive multiverse going post death of Eric Flint. I couldn’t remember as we were chatting which panel I saw Gannon on; it was The Stakes are High and They’re Well Done, which was mostly about pacing. That’s the panel where I finally realized that all the “getting the beats right” comments were references to Save the Cat by Blake Snyder, and thus more examples of Novel / Story as screenplay.

It was a really good day.
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I went to the 11:30 panel on AI, and while it was all men, it was still really good. I was there because I’d missed Nate Hoffelder on Friday, and this was his only other panel. We chatted very briefly. He’s pretty much exactly as I’d expected. The panel had a number of really great people on it, and the conversation was nuanced and excellent. Moderation quality was really high, too, which became important during the Q&A, where people wanted to bring in all of How We Educate and also Capitalism.

Bryant Keith O’hara had some really interesting ideas to share about using AI in the creation process. He experimented with using weather data and a complex set of other steps to generate poetry using AI. I mostly got hung up on the weather idea, because the potential for using a week or month or whatever of data to define mood in a story just sounds amazing to me. It could create constraints that might really be fertile. Aaron M. Roth has a version of caution without wanting to try to shove AI back in a box that I applaud. Shahid Mahmud was a delightful addition, with a background in finance but now a small publisher. Great group, unexpectedly excellent discussion in a topic area that tends towards posturing and the pointless end of rhetorical screechiness.

I went to the The Stakes are High and They’re Well Done, because it had Sharon Lee. It was a good conversation for the most part, altho Charles Gannon had a tendency to go on at some length. I finally understand where people are getting the idea of “hitting the beats” (this is all Save the Cat stuff, apparently), and it helps contextualize progression fiction. We’re hitting the end of the era in which novels tried to be screenplays, and moving into a world in which novels are trying to be video games. I mean, it makes sense and also?

I got A. up and showered.

I went to Space Westerns, because Jack Campbell was on that panel. It was interesting. A lot of discussion of frontier, negative presentation of Civilization. Hemry made the observation that tumbleweed was non-native, so I rabbit-holed on that, and boy, that’s a completely unappreciated contributor to the whole Wild West story.

We had dinner at Kona Grille, which was a short walk. I have no idea what was going on there. The food was fine, altho arguably overpriced especially for this city. But my sister’s second wine was never delivered and we were charged for it. Our plates were not cleared until the dessert plates were landing. Sushi came out without chopsticks or soy sauce (they did arrive relatively quickly, but I just proceeded with my own chopsticks because I’m That Person). The desserts were freakishly enormous and all tasty (carrot cake, brownie and chocolate cake). They didn’t have any sweet vermouth. I said they could make my manhattan with dry vermouth (I’ve done it plenty of times) but they declined, and I didn’t really want the old fashioned described on the menu (with two different creme de liqueurs listed). Bartender came over and I ultimately got her to make me a rye, club soda with a little lime on the rocks and that was great but wow, what was going on there.

The environment of the restaurant is pleasant: good lighting, not too echoey, pleasant decor. It’s probably fine when it isn’t a Sunday of a holiday weekend?

After dinner, my sister and I went to the Sex, Sexuality and Worldbuilding, which was awesome. Zach Be was there, but Sydney Olivia was the star, and Jennifer Povey was great as panelist and moderator. Great crowd, fantastic questions, lots of recommendations.
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I went to the The Cat Really Is Out to Get You panel about cats in SF. I was there because John Hemry/Jack Campbell was there, and I got there early enough to catch him before the panel started and show him the photo M. took when she met him at I believe Connecticon 10 years ago. I couldn’t attend, and I was envious, and they sweetly got a photo with him at that con. I’d lost it, but they still had it and resent it to me. In person, he’s almost exactly what I expected him to be like and the panel was enjoyable.

At 11:30, my sister and I attended the Sharon Lee interview, which was great. Since this is a hybrid con, I was not 100% certain she’d be there in person, but she was (and I got to see her in a later panel as well). The interviewer did a lovely job, and Sharon Lee’s story of her writing life is lovely and it was all a feel good time. After that, my sister and I went to the Water Street Tavern, which was a whole novel in itself. No unsweetened iced tea. The woman running the bar was hilarious and very entertaining. It’s very much a dive bar that gets a great combination of locals and regulars. It’s super close to the Residence Inn we stayed at, so I passed it repeatedly. The night before, when I’d gone out in a failed attempt to acquire Pepcid for A. (Gas-x ultimately got the job done), I’d passed it and it was crowded and raucous. Much quieter at lunch on a Saturday. I had the fish sandwich, which was fine, and a couple of beers, local, do not recall what but they were fine.

After lunch, I got A. up and through the shower and fed a meal.

I went to the 2:30 Editors Can Be Your Friends. This was really interesting, altho definitely a mixed bag. I was there to see Melissa Scott, and I chatted with her very briefly after the panel. There are a ton of grievances out there on the part of editors because people who submitted manuscripts were not happy with what happened next. Some of these grievances really do not sound great when aired.

I returned to the hotel to get A. in motion for dinner, and then we all ubered over to Bunny’s. I hadn’t intended to do anything non-walkable for this weekend, but I tripped over Bunny’s when reading menus and I couldn’t resist. It was amazing. I got the vegan chicken sandwich with vegan collard greens, and a “Silk Chiffon” cocktail that had a skewer with a little bite of vegan baklava on it. Wow. No regrets. We walked back, and that stretch of Baltimore is absolutely a lovely walk.
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We drove out to Rte 128 station, parked, used PayByPhone (yay, standardization! Go ahead and boo hiss how we got to standardization. I would never argue about that because what’s the point and I wasn’t a participant so this is 100% not the hill I’m going to defend) and got on the train. They were out of the vegan bbq sandwich, so I wound up with the crudites and hummus, which I think is what I ate last time, too. It’s fine. A. got the cheeseburger again. Also fine.

Upon arrival, I had intended to uber/lyft/taxi/bus to the hotel about a mile away, however, as we approached ON TIME!!! I started looking for restaurants near the train station and found The Brewer’s Art. I had the vegan gnocchi. A. had a grilled cheese sandwich and fries. I helped her with the fries because the pasta dish was small and her meal was enormous. I didn’t have her take a lactaid and that was a mistake. Oh well! I had a Beazly (golden ale), and it was delightful. We walked the rest of the way to the hotel as the weather was nice and there were no significant hills. I wondered if this would be a mistake (would the wheels on A.’s luggage break? Not yet! Would my wrist and arm and shoulder be sore on future days? Nope! I’m doing catch up blogging, so I know how this turned out.). We had a couple lovely conversations as we walked along, with people we passed.

I met my sister checking into the hotel, and that went smoothly. I checked into Registration at the con for me and A., and my niblings checked themselves in only needing a brief phone call to complete the process (I’d prepaid, there was a question about which email). I attended the “Voice in Writing” panel, which was good, and that’s the first place I saw Zach Be. Interestingly, this was a really good panel, and quite possibly the worst of all the ones I would attend over the weekend. Great beginning! In Zach’s other life, he does therapy and recently completed his PhD. His master’s is available over on the UMD website, but the PhD is still too fresh; I’m looking forward to reading both, as the topic area, while not SFF, is of interest to me, and I’ve already forwarded links to Priestess, as she is also interested in the topic area (yes I know that’s redundant. Good for you for knowing some etymology!)

I thought about attending the That Shouldn’t Fit panel, but I decided it was more important to get A. and I to bed at a reasonable hour.
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I went to a 10 am reading by Chad Ownby, who did a masters on Batman, and Fraser Sherman, who I’d heard on an author panel last year, and whose Atlas Shagged I found hilarious. He read part of a book, and the review piece from the Atlas Shagged collection. It hits a little different this year. I was the only attendee initially, but someone else showed up who was somewhat older than me, and who commented he liked things set in the 70s like some of Sherman’s work, because he cannot keep up with current things. It was a refreshing degree of non-judgment and self-insight. Often, people just trash current things as bad or at least not as good / enjoyable as past things, which is both more judgey AND less self-insightful.

Ownby was a sweetheart, who attempted to engage the other man with descriptions of more contemporary work that might be of interest to him based on other things he said he liked. Gotta love Kids These Days.

I also attended a reading by Sarena Straus, who I’d heard with interest on yesterday’s panel, and Nicole Glover. I will at least try samples from both of them.

The genre mixing panel and the romance in fantasy panel were both really enjoyable. Later in the day, the sex in SFFH panel was even better. It’s really clear that there’s a big age gap around content / trigger warnings / descriptions. People my age acknowledge the need for some trigger warnings; the younger folks seem to grasp that it’s not JUST warning people and potentially scaring readers away. Some of us are using the information to _find_ the stuff we _want_. I’d rather see it presented as “here’s what you can expect to find in this book”, rather than “stay away if this is bad for you”. In general, I prefer Content Warning (would really like to see it as “Content Disclosure”) over Trigger Warning.

A. was not tolerant of being outdoors for the laser presentation, so we arrived late and left almost immediately (but did see the match lit, so, yay). The neurofollies presentation was not much like its description; it was like an Introduction the Neurology, and at the very boring end of things.

We had dinner at Tokyo Sushi. It was good. A. had the chicken Katsu.

I also missed part of the Masquerade in favor of a Cozy Gaming panel, which had the author of the Cleric’s Guide to Smiting on it (bought at the dealer’s room). I’m increasingly curious what exactly people mean by Cozy. I thought I knew, but it’s clear people have different ideas (and also, people know it sells, so they are saying their stuff is cozy more or less independent of any conception of Cozy beyond It Sells).

Masquerade was enjoyable, but a little short.

The Imminent Peril live was okay — that could actually be a fun game to try with friends when it comes out.

I met a lovely young woman at the spice panel, and we chatted after until 11:30 when I bailed to get A. to bed. She reads even more than me, and was very happy to tell me all about it and I was overjoyed to hear her describe it. I finally got one person’s answer to the appeal of MM — it’s sexy, but without involving anyone doing anything to a body that she feels is like hers. Which, first, wow, that’s a clue I’m nonbinary if I ever needed one (I did not), and second, oh, honey.
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We were unable to get a late checkout. My sister left before we were up (train back home), so I missed hugging everyone goodbye (failed to do that the night before, oops). We hung out in the lobby for a couple hours (nice and quiet with comfy chairs and a bathroom handy) before driving to the Tattooed Moose in Park Circle. That was incredible. I had the pork belly sub and R. got the Cuban:

LUCKY #1 SUB 1550
Chinese BBQ pork belly, house-made kimchi, mayo, fresh veggies and serrano
peppers, dressed with rice wine vinaigrette, with cilantro & green onions
LOWCOUNTRY CUBAN 13
Smoked pork, ham, Swiss cheese, sweet and spicy pickled green tomatoes, and
spicy brown mustard on a pressed, buttered roll,
served with Mojo sauce for dippin’ SORRY NO CHANGES

Both were amazing. I could not believe how good the Lucky #1 was. Implausible but incredible.

A. got a burger, I think? I had a Sazerac and a Porter, both were yummy. They were not shy with the absinthe for the Sazerac. No headache, which is nice.

We then headed to the airport, and A. regretted that because jet fuel smell and noise levels, but we eventually found a companion bathroom and a bench that was away from gates and thus had better air quality and she was happy. I also bought some over ear Brookstone noise cancelling headphones that helped a bunch. Another Paid Too Much moment. *sigh* I had experimented so many times unsuccessfully with over-ear headphones she supposedly liked, too. These ones have massive battery life, and she can wear them over her earbuds and thus doesn’t have to pair them, just turn on the noise canceling feature.

Flight was at 7ish, and uneventful. We got unpacked, but I did not start laundry. We snacked, but did not really need more food.

Getting home was great; I realized I had never really relaxed while in Charleston, and I unlike virtually every other trip I’ve taken in my life, I have zero desire to return to see more of it. Weird experience, kinda reminiscent of the day trip to Lafayette I did with I. on a trip to New Orleans over 20 years ago.
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R. and I went to the Citrus Club. I was 50/50 on whether I was going to go at all, but R. pushed very gently and we walked over. They asked me for a phone number, identified me using Resy, set up a Resy for us and handed us a circle with the Citrus Club logo and pointed us at the elevator. They took that circle back, but we left with a cardboard coaster so we still have circle from them. LOL.

Drinks and small bites were expensive, but yummy. View is incredible. The lime trees smell amazing.

We keep winding up in places that are full of groups of white women in nice dresses hanging out together. At some point, I will be wanting an explanation. My initial theory was that Charleston is where every white woman in the area goes for wedding and wedding-adjacent festivities, but R. is skeptical.

I wound up making a reservation at Marbled and Fin, and that’s where we had dinner. B. asked if he could order the Weller Millenium, which is listed at $3K on the menu (for what is presumably a 2 oz pour altho it is not specified). I said absolutely not, but I did look up the price of a bottle, and it seems to run $7K-$10K a bottle, so while $3K is nuts, it’s within the usual markup range. I do wonder how they keep the staff from sampling and diluting that thing. Our server said someone ordered 7 servings of it once. Food was good, everyone was happy.

We’ve been walking more (to and from the museum yesterday, to and from the Biergarten and the Citrus Club yesterday, to and from Marbled and Fin today). It’s dead flat and the weather’s been fantastic, other than getting a little windy and drizzly going to the Biergarten. It’s gotta really be tough in this town in high summer, but in spring, it’s lovely.
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I fed A. fruit for breakfast. I continue to eat the raisin challah with peanut butter.

We went to the International African American Museum, which was really great. A. and I walked. R. walked earlier but arrived not too much before us because he walked the wrong direction. His confusion is apparently not limited to when he is with us. Hmmm.

I brought the pain au chocolate with us, along with granola for me. I got an oat milk latte and an apple juice at the cafe.

I ate leftovers and salad and some baklava when we returned to the hotel, and I got A. more fruit and veg. I looked at our proposed dinner and went, yeah, that’s a terrible idea. I canceled it and tomorrow’s, and we’re doing tomorrow’s Biergarten tonight. Still don’t know what to do about tomorrow. I’m leaning towards takeout.
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I got A. a sandwich at Jersey Mikes and the Black Forest cake from La Patisserie along with another pain au chocolate for tomorrow’s breakfast, so I got plenty of walking.

Pictures went okay. My sister was a little inquisitive with the photographer who was young and energetic and had an unusually large amount of what looked like lymphedema. Photographer was very nice about the whole thing. Lots of tiny bugs that were biting which was annoying. Fingers crossed about the pictures.

Dinner at Zen Asian Fusion. I had Ali get tempura chicken and rice, and there was a lot of chicken. Unfortunately, endless burps and needed pepcid again.

R. and I went back to Prohibition. Still fun!
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My sister’s family went to McLeod Plantation, but I declined because I had some ideas for how to make better food and exercise choices for A. and I, and me leaving her alone in the hotel wasn’t part of that plan. I did NOT get her a waffle for breakfast. Instead, I fed her a banana, strawberries, carrots and celery with a little peanut butter for breakfast. She had half an apple, strawberries, carrots and celery for lunch, along with a chocolate chip cookie from Whole Foods. After a shower, we went for a walk along King Street with R. We stopped at a couple bakeries. We got a cookie for each of us at Insomnia, and we got a pain au chocolate for A.’s breakfast tomorrow and a butterscotch brioche for R.’s breakfast tomorrow. I took some pictures of the Aiken house, because it is railroad adjacent.

A. did a lot of complaining, and I’m now treating each moment of “spoiled brat” as an opportunity to identify the unmet basic need, label it, fix it and then talk to her about the feelings she is having and how fixing the problem helps her feel better. Right now, she’s responding to unmet needs like a baby or small child — emote and talk in a bratty way until someone (usually but not always me) fixes it. She obviously needs to respond to unmet needs by identifying the problem, fixing it, and then carrying on, ideally with a pleasant demeanor, and save the brattiness for people who actively thwart her efforts to meet her needs.

Efforts to get her to work on meeting these needs are consistently responded to with stories of how “at AB they”. Well, she hasn’t been there for a year now, and she was there for less than a year, so it’s time to let that go, altho when I talked to her about it, she said, but what about if it was also in jr hi. LOL. Absolute classic to use trauma from the past as an excuse for behaving badly in the present.

I’ve been doing some reading. I read “Fake”, “Lies” and “Colonist’s Wife” by Kylie Scott. They are all on Kindle Unlimited. “Fake” was really good. “Lies” was excessively violent in ways that felt weird and uncomfortable to me. “Colonist’s Wife” didn’t even feel like Kylie Scott; it’s from 2013 or so and was for Ellora’s Cave. But it was still surprisingly enjoyable.

I also finished “Wanted: One Scoundrel” by Jenny Schwartz, first entry in the Bustlepunk trilogy. It’s a little weird, but very fun. I’m now onto the second in the trilogy, and it has a substantial Taming of the Shrew vibe which makes the connection with JAK even stronger.

We drove past the Grant Home for Aged Presbyterians, and in looking it up I found this:

https://law.justia.com/cases/south-carolina/court-of-appeals/1986/292-s-c-466-2.html

Which is kind of hilarious in a variety of ways.

Dinner was at the Iron Rose because C. wanted tuna tartare without avocado. This restaurant was ludicrously awesome. The pork came with what was basically sweet potato pie. The brussel sprouts were incredible. The broccolini was fantastic. The butter bean hummous was incredible. The manhattan under the name “Old Blush” was amazing. The orgeat drinks were tasty. Really, nothing was other than wonderful. I don’t understand, honestly, how this could have been so good. It was quiet, too. We went at 5. Also, we stopped in a restaurant called “Rebecca illustrated” and it was all pink and A. got a necklace and a mug.

Later, R. and I went for a walk and stopped in briefly at Sorelle’s and I got a coconut macaroon. We might go back for dinner. It’s so beautiful inside and out. We got him cough drops at a Walgreens. I took a bunch of pictures of buildings. I got over 16K steps for the day, and I have lovely leftovers for tomorrow. And I think that A. did not overeat so fingers crossed she doesn’t have burps or reflux or worse tonight.
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Today we go to Fort Sumter! I got A. and I breakfast, and then R. drove the three of us to the visitor center in Liberty Square where we looked at things. I had no idea that the National Democratic Party Convention was here in Charleston in 1860 and that they were unable to come to agreement on a party plank about slavery. The actual secession declaration was by a “South Carolina Social Convention” or something along those lines. I’m still really unclear what their authority was, but it is very clear that there was a well-established alternative source of authority in South Carolina, reinforced by going to college together, by the Citadel and similar institutions.

I didn’t think we’d be able to do the 9ish ferry, and the 2:45 ferry was cutting too close to our 5 pm dinner reservation, so we did the noon ferry. Lunch was snacks on the boat. Presentation by the ranger on arrival was excellent. The interpretative displays were uniformly good. B. had texted me a photo from the visitor center the day before saying that slavery hung on in the South longer than the North, because agriculture, however, a little wikipedia reading revealed that New Jersey didn’t get rid of slavery; it went away there with the 13th amendment, and there were slaves listed on the 1860 census (even tho they were not supposed to be included and there was no separate slave census) so it’s not like a de facto / de jure difference, either. Also, the South was far more industrialized than the 20th century Lost Cause depiction presented it as. The southerners presented the secession as a second American Revolution, and given the textile production going South - North - South with substantial value extracted by northern mills, you can kind of see what they were getting at.

Any explanation for the continuation of slavery in the south must involve something other than agriculture as an explanation.

In any event, I did a bit of a dive on slavery through the millenia, because I knew about latifundia and the throughline was clear, but I wasn’t sure about the details of transmission. Surfing through wikipedia built a story in my mind of ambient warfare and what to do with the losers who surrender. Some peoples enslave and keep the losers; some sell them elsewhere. When you have a lot of ambient warfare, you get established slave routes and markets, and when there is a mismatch of supply from warfare and demand from buyers, you get people out there looking to capture.

Faith-based strictures on enslaving one’s own meant that there was a vigorous Xtian / Islamic swapping of slaves. Egypt and on occasion other empires had entire slave armies always in search of young men. But all cities were looking for girls and women to do domestic labor from laundry to food to childrearing to concubinage. Islamic explorers started working down the coast of Africa, and when their empire receded, they were replaced with Iberian xtians from Portugal and then Spain. That trade was readily available when Native Americans as a source of slaves dried up due to pandemic resulting from exposure to Euro-Asian diseases. I have no idea what was going on around the Pacific, but the story around the Atlantic is horrifyingly clear.

As one absorbs this erased migration of people-as-property, it becomes painfully clear this story has been actively erased, probably due to shame. But it’s got to be un-erased, because this is actually how technological diffusion occurs. The knowledge and technique goes with the captured humans. I knew that from paper and from rice, but it may well explain everything everywhere all the time.

So when A. wanted an explanation of what all these interpretative exhibits were about and slavery and so on, I actually had a mildly coherent story to tell. But there’s so much more to learn.

We had dinner at Park & Grove, which was absolutely fantastic, other than that we all overate to some degree and A. most of all. Duck leg salad, duck rillette, yellowfin tartare with spicy wonton crackers, clams, but really the best of all of it was the hoppin john with broccolini and mushrooms. I had a mocktail which was yummy, and a manhattan, also good. The restaurant is near Hampton Park, where we will be doing pictures later in the week.

A. passed out briefly when we went back to the hotel. She’d had the steak frites and a brownie with ice cream. I gave her two lactase so I don’t think that was the problem. I think it was just way too much food, especially fries. R. got her a couple pepcid, so she didn’t actually vom, yay, but she was still overly full at midnight and we ate at 5ish. Clearly, I need to make some different life choices.

My sister and I did laundry later in the evening.
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I got up to get breakfast and ran into my sister and nieces. I got a bagel, peanut butter and jelly and tried a constant comment tea and realized why I don’t like it. It’s basically earl grey light. Ugh. Never again, walkitout. Never again. If you are looking at a Bigelow rack, get the blue “English Teatime” instead. They went to the Fort Sumter Visitor Center in Liberty Square, and also the aquarium. I made a waffle and brought it up to A., along with orange juice, because apparently apple juice is not a thing in the South.

After breakfast, I did very little other than Duo and planning the next few days’ activities, since I got my sister’s list from her. We all went to Edmund’s Oast for 2 pm hot bar brunch. There was a DJ. It was too loud. A. was not doing well. My sister went and had a chat with someone and that someone got the DJ to calm it down and then proceeded to thank my sister. YAY! The Westbrook brown was good, but the old ale that R. got was even better. A. got to try (and enjoyed) Prime Rib, along with a massive amount of other food. The goulash was vegan and had red beans that were so cooked they were blown out and they were the best red beans I have ever had, which means I really need to stop listening to what R. has to say about cooking beans and find out how to actually cook them for real. The usual suspects were there — bacon, sausage, crispy potatoes (fantastic), scrambled eggs, collards, grits, pancakes, banana cake, cinnamon rolls, two kinds of fried chicken including Nashville Hot which I now really want to learn how to make and I’m sure a bunch of things I’ve completely forgotten. Other than the too-loud DJ, and green tea served when I asked for tea, 10/10 would recommend and would happily go back. They could sure redo the upholstery in their booths — the supportive cushion has completely surrendered. My niece who did not get the hot bar got curly fries in a truly massive portion and banana pudding. The banana pudding looked adorable and was apparently awesome.

After brunch, we drove over the bridge to Mt. Pleasant which may have been an error during a Tornado Watch. Very, very gusty, and an accident going the other way. Yikes. Anyway, we went to Whole Foods, and the app actually behaved for me this time so I was able to pay using the QR code and Amazon Pay or whatever, which maximizes discounts / points as near as I can tell. I got a box of salad greens, vegan cesar dressing, some carrot and celery sticks, peanut butter, marmalade, raisin challah, a bunch of baked goodies some for me, some for A., apple juice, fruit. This should take care of us for whatever food we need for the rest of the day, and may cover breakfasts and snacks for the rest of the trip. There’s a good breakfast downstairs, but the PB is jif, and it’s plain bagels for me. A. can do better, but rarely is ready to go downstairs so I have to go get hers and bring it back up. In some ways, it’s easiest for me to just go down there, get her stuff, bring it back and eat something myself out of our fridge, toaster, etc. Also, I brought Teapigs, and they don’t have apple juice downstairs anyway.

While my sister brought or otherwise acquired booze, B. did not, so R., B. and I walked over to Prohibition after stopping at B.’s van to retrieve a jacket for him, as it was still raining. We sat at the bar. They have so many delightful bottles. I had an old fashioned with rooibos in it as this is the second time we’ve seen that drink on a menu. I had a barrel aged manhattan that included grand marnier and a lot of peychauds. And then I had a Snafu cherry sour. I was suspicious of how sweet it was, and when I realized they’d put milk sugar in, I got out a lactaid pill, which I normally never have to do. We staggered back to the hotel after. The menu at Prohibition is interesting, but really does not work for our group, so going there just for drinks was 100% the right call.
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We had a 3:45 flight, and our aircraft was there when we arrived at the airport. R. got stopped at security again and they made him dig his bike tools out of his roller again. He really should pack these in an outer pocket of his backpack. Or in a pocket where he can leave them in a tray. Whatever. We had lunch at Wahlburgers and a good thing too because our flight rolled away from the gate and developed a battery charger issue before getting all the way to the runway. So back we went and some people got off and then they replaced a part and turned the plane off and on again and then everyone had to deboard and reboard because some people had gotten off and they weren’t really sure who. Oh well.

Anyway. We did manage to take off, and we landed about an hour and a half late. I listened to much of Lev Menand’s “The Fed Unbound”, which is not great but isn’t actively horrible either. My sister had taken the Palmetto (Amtrak) from Virginia, and we ran into her entering the elevator down to the rental cars. We then rendezvoused at the Culver’s at the Tanger outlets and had a lot of food — onion rings were good, crinkle fries were good, chicken tenders were above average, and people said nice things about the cheese curds and the custard. My sister’s family knows Culver’s from Tampa; I’d never been to one before. 100% would happily eat at one again. The lactaid A. took with her custard was inadequate to the task and she had substantial burping later which a gas-X eventually fixed so we could sleep.

R. and I went out to get a drink. Last Saint was too loud and crowded, so we wound up at The Select, after the live music had left but before (relatively early for a Saturday night) last call and close. I had a manhattan and they default to rye with a selection. I picked Rittenhouse. He had a drink of the week which was a super tasty Monte Carlo but it’s got benedictine in it so I only had a taste. We got no food; we were very full from Culver’s. They had great sound treatment, including these amazing lights that opened and closed like jelly fish but in a paper-fluffy sort of way. Awesome. I had R. mke a reservation for the Annex at Last Saint on Thursday because Resy wasn’t letting me have a 5 pm reservation at a beer garden and a 10 pm reservation at a speakeasy. Why not, Resy. Maybe it doesn’t approve of being greedy, which, fair.
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Breakfast at the hotel, and then lunch at Hen and Hog again. Very tasty. I tipped well enough that the server we had yesterday pulled my sister out of the line and seated her immediately. Go us. I need to remember to bring more smaller bills (fives, probably) for handing to the valet when doing in-and-out at the hotel. I didn’t have enough. I mean, I had enough to get the level of service I like, but I felt mildly guilty about not having that amount every time.

We returned the rental car, and then hung out in a concourse because the gate area was too warm. A. and I split chicken fingers from Steak and Shake. That was fine. I also got a chocolate muffin from Plane Box for A.

Flight home, thank goddess, was uneventful and on time. It was mid 40s, so no ice or anything going home. No traffic, because we were driving home after 10 pm on NYE so everyone was where they intended to be for the next hour or so.

We opened packages and mail, but I did not start laundry. I mostly unpacked altho there will be more to do tomorrow.

This is the first trip I’ve been on, maybe ever, where I didn’t come home debugging something that went horribly wrong on the trip. Other than that first flight — and I don’t really know what I could have done differently there — it was smooth and pleasant the entire time, which is completely astonishing to me. I am grateful. Obviously, there are things I will modify (I really need to take the warm PJ / loungewear packing problem much more seriously, because I save space by not bringing them and then I buy them and have to solve the space problem on the way home), but they are minor and it’s less a matter of fixing something and more a minor refinement of packing. Not a single major interpersonal conflict. Soooo delightful.

Also! I remembered to ask my nieces and sister if they want to do RavenCon this year and it’s a go!
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Breakfast at the hotel. I found and started reading Eve Rodsky’s “Fair Play” last night, after formulating the problem I am trying to solve (how to share the responsibility of running a multi-adult household). The book is aimed at couples, but the approach seems extensible to an arbitrary number of adults. I’ll see if she considers the role of children as they become adults or not, or other adult members of a household, and I’ll also check in with Priestess to find out if she knows of any poly households using this or a related system. It is imperfect, because the project manager approach turns over all of a task to a specific person (altho they can delegate subcomponents, maybe?) and then tasks get redelegated frequently, making it a lot like P.E.T.

Midday meal at Hen and Hog and it was really good.

Dinner at Beach House and the view from upstairs was surreal. It was soooo good. The drinks were strong and good. The food was excellent. The temperature was perfect. The service was attentive without being intrusive. Everything was delightful. It was loud, but even that was great, because when it is too loud to talk, MIL just sits and smiles and honestly, it’s very nice that way.

R walked over to visit her earlier in the day and messed up his leg walking along the beach. Ooops.
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Got up, breakfast, packed up, did Duo and Lingvano.

Got out before 11, arrived around 1:40 pm, no stops. 1 room (one of LS) available so we dropped our bags, used the facilities and had a belated lunch at Zoe’s. I ordered coffee and they warned me they only had espresso, small amount but served in a regular paper coffee cup and it was fantastic. Soooooo good. Calm and alert and relaxed after. Wow. I forget how amazing that can be. Avocado toast for me, A got the cheeseburger and R got the crispy chicken sandwich. Everything was good.

Laundry is en-suite here! Wow! I did unusually well with this reservation apparently (on site restaurant and bar AND en suite laundry).

We texted J and he joined us for dinner and will join us at Beach House with MIL tomorrow.

Revelry had some minor disappointments: the unsweetened ice tea came out as cherry soda, and then just weird. K. gave up and drank water. They had no apple juice. A. had ginger ale. The tots A. had as a side were not interesting to her, and J said they were Not Good Tots. The mahi mahi on the salad that I got with no cheese and with honey mustard dressing was fine. In general, people ate their food. There was a copy of a card game Red Flags, which was hilarious; C found it. I expect to be back in Pompano Beach as MIL is living there, and will happily return to Revelry. Hopefully I’ll get to do a brunch there at some point.

I did some laundry.

I confirmed the Beach House reservation; attempts to modify it to be for 9 are failing, and phone isn’t working so I will try again tomorrow.
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Lunch at Confisco. We rode the trolley before lunch. I had the vegan crab cake, and it was really good. Didn’t taste at all like crab, but had a lot of the same vibe and texture. We rode Forbidden Journey, then took the train over to Studios. We tried to buy one of the engraved leather bracelets for A but the kiosk wasn’t where I remembered it and I couldn’t remember a different one in the park. We’ll try Etsy; I am pretty sure I remember people doing those leather bracelets there. Dinner was at Islands. My sister went back after dark to do Seuss rides, but I was so freaking tired even after a pre-dinner rest that I went to bed early. I had the lettuce cups at Islands, and I feel like every time I go to Islands I wind up feeling so awful maybe I just shouldn’t go there again? It could be because it’s usually the last meal of the trip and I’m usually pretty tired no matter how carefully I pace myself. We said goodbye to B and R because they are flying home at 10 am and will be out of the hotel around the time we are getting up.

A tried the Wok Experience but didn’t like the taste of the chicken or the beef. But she liked the dessert and she ate a bunch of rice and some lettuce and raw carrots so that was fine.
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First full day at Universal. We had lunch at Mythos. BR went off on their own. Mary has limited interest in rides and a lot of issues around rides.

I had rented an AirBnB in Mifflinburg, PA for aunt-in-law C and cousin-in-law H. They are lovely people and also there is always a lot of weird going on around them. Apparently, there has been lots of drama around the AirBnB. This is not unexpected. They wound up leaving early, and I was refunded for the unused part of the stay. Phone call from H arrived while I was dealing with being pulled off of Mummy and waiting to get back on (ride issues).

We rode Mummy twice, and Gringott’s once. Dinner at Seasons 52, which was awesome. Went back after dark to ride Hagrid’s — finally! — with B. It still had a 2 hour wait, but it took only a little over an hour to get through. Absolutely weird ride, with a drop to a lower track, and a near vertical and backwards section. So. So. So. Strange. Good tho. We forgot to have B try the seat ahead of time, but it all worked out.
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We did Bourne and Horror Makeup show. R bailed on Bourne, which is a pity because it’s fun. But she freaks out at a lot of the warning signs. We had lunch at Jake’s as we were checking in and dinner at Orchid Lounge. See photos for a picture of the rice spirit aged in cherry casks. Really good stuff.

When we got there, Not BIL was checking in, and my sister said they were going to head out to CiCi’s for lunch as soon as they were done. I almost said something intemperate, but I caught myself and said instead, if you check in without involving me, you’ll have to put the rooms you check in on your own credit card. I don’t know if my sister realizes exactly how much that is (it’s one king room, and one room with two queens, concierge level, Christmas week for 3 nights, you can go work out the details yourself if you want to — I’d put a deposit down, but it was still a lot of money that they collect when you check in), but she understood enough that she turned around and jogged back to let Not BIL know to slow his roll and wait for me to get there. I just had to get the luggage on to the cart and headed where they would hold it until our rooms were available.

Anyway. It always takes a while to check in, because it’s a minimum of 4 rooms, plus one more in this case because B and R are with us this year (we often have company on these trips). I sent my sister downstairs to get us a table at Jake’s, so we all had lunch together, which was nice. After lunch, we trooped over to buy tickets for everyone but A and I (we still had months on our passes), and lanyards and then we all headed over to the parks.

There’s a decent chance that my sister’s family didn’t really want to go to CiCi’s at all, and were hoping for a better meal if they went to the hotel first. I’m never really sure about what anyone over there is thinking and they don’t reliably self-report.
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Epcot round 2, prix fix lunch with BR at Space 220. ORDER THE TUNA APPETIZER! It is small and awesome. Pad thai is what it is. We were too full for dessert.

Cosmic Rewind continues to be The Best Ride. (I rebought Premier for three of us). We did Ratatouille again. And more crepes were acquired.

We had dinner at Morimoto, which was awesome, and I went to Erin McKenna and got a couple baked goodies, which were great. Disney Springs was really crowded and when we arrived, it said all the garages were full, which was initially heart stopping but we just got in line and there were spaces. B and R were a little late because traffic, but it didn’t really matter.

Tomorrow is transition day!

ETA:

I saw a woman wearing black, nylon or similar, cargo pants, plus size. I stopped and complimented her and asked where they came from and she was a delight. I shopped on Amazon (because of course) and found the ones she was wearing (or near as identical anyway), and then went looking for further refinement (viz. purple). We’ll see what shows up.

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