I pretty much had to give up on cons once the Dude and the Bud arrived. Combined with living in Canada's version of Stockton and wincing every time we paid a few months' rent to fly down to visit family, flying down for WisCon or Potlatch just wasn't worth it. Taking the kids would mean a whole lot of money and logistics crap, and not taking the kids would mean gallivanting off in the wild for a few days while leaving the Damsel to handle two young kids, which is something that I have the points to do a few times, but not every time I feel like seeing my Clarion West buddies or trying to work up the nerve to tell an agent about Ocean's Eleven in Fantasyland, or whatever elevator pitch I use for The Palace Job.

My buddy naomi_travellerjust informed me that this year's World Fantasy is in Calgary, which pretty much made my day. I may not be able to do plane tickets unless someone's getting married or buried these days, but I can swing a road trip to Calgary. So, for the first time in awhile and possibly the last time for awhile, barring other major cons coming to Calgary (one does not even hope for Edmonton), I'm actually going to be at a convention!

I may be doing a talk about writing in video games. It may or may not be right for WFC, but I pitched it, and we'll see how it goes.

Sad sucker for the Daily Dish that I am, I was confused that someone made a song called "I Kissed a Girl" and that it was a recent smash hit, because I am old, and I remember "I Kissed a Girl" as this cute little goofy song that came out back when I was in high school. I eventually gave in and decided to find out what the fuss was about.

Oh.

Really?

I see that some people are trying to play this up as a thoughtful exploration of gender and permissiveness, and I wish them the best of luck. To me, it looks a bit more like this. I understand. I'm a guy. I am the target demographic. You show me a cute girl lounging on a bed and grinding her legs together while wearing heels and a short miniskirt and quasi-50s makeup, sure, you have my attention. But do we absolutely need to go to faux-lesbianism? We have actual lesbians. They're people. They've got enough issues, like my former state, bastion of liberality, fighting tooth and nail to stop them from getting married despite the damn Supreme Court of California saying that it wasn't a deal. They don't need straight girls grasping for attention by aping their behavior to get the guys looking.

Also, holding the cat was a bit excessive. We understand the subtle metaphor you're making, but hey, if you're concerned that you might be too subtle, you could always chew on a carpet square or something just to hammer the point home some more.

Also, learn to sing. It's customary to go up and down in pitch and not just get, you know, louder during the chorus.