Gally, and awkward gement is awkward

Gally is fantastic, I am tired, I have knitted a snood and worn a very large costume and I will do my level best to actually provide photographic evidence this time.

So what finally drove me to post? My one crappy stressful moment last night. :P

( In which I wander into someone else's narrative and I'm pretty sure both of us thought the other one acted like a jerk. Now with more intersectional complications. )

I'd been braced for a cold, "Private party." Braced enough that at "Buh-bye," I instantly stepped back and said okay, trying to look friendly and apologetic. Without any other connotations, I'd have walked away a little shaken, but been fine in 15 minutes. A little irritated that they hadn't made the sign clearer. (I do think they would have fewer misunderstandings if they added an If you have to ask, you're not invited sign.)

But no, I unwittingly contributed to social pressure on gay men at a convention flooded with slash fans. I also stumbled across a lot of my fears of not being accepted in male spaces when I'm trying hard to fit in and have more legitimate context, even though I know the situations are entirely different. I felt sick for an hour, had trouble sleeping, and couldn't stop obsessing this morning, hence the post.

Bleh. I'll try to go write a more cheerful and informative post now.

Highlights of Gally so far

I really enjoy listening to actor interviews. I parked in the main interview room for something like 5 hours yesterday. I don't like the giant unfocused panels of 5-7 contributors who happened to share an era, but 1-3 people who are really getting down to their unique perspective are fantastic.

My favorites this con:
Louise Jameson (Leela) who's delightfully nuanced and strikes a balance between flirting with the audience and getting down to brass tacks about feminist discussion of her career.

Mark Sheppard (Canton, Badger, frickin every bit part in SF these days) who is a giant geek and answered all questions cheerfully except for stumbling clueless sexuality questions, which he shut down mercilessly. "Oh, here it comes, get to the point." "Why do you assume I'm straight? And why does that even come into it? The character gets his own sexuality, that's how acting works. An actor has to strip away his own concerns to make room for what the character wants." "I think [demon character] kisses men because he just likes making as many people uncomfortable as possible."

Tony Curran (Vincent Van Gogh) who spoke sensitively about the realities of mental illness, emotion in men, and the human connection of acting. He asked every audience questioner their name, and said hello to them personally before getting to their question.

Richard Franklin (Mike Yates) who I'm sitting next to right now in the lobby computing shoulder to shoulder, omg, talked about obscure poetry, is out, and genially flirted with male audience questioners. Also he uses the same netbook as mine. OK, hello, I'm a giant dork.

I knitted a fantastically beautiful snood and got much love on the Jack Harkness yarn.

My favorite costume compliment of yesterday was that someone said, "My sister said I had to keep an eye out for you, to see the All Doctor!"