Michaela Sue

I have my photos from Capricon up here on flickr. I had new toys for photography, a Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS lens, which worked great, and a nice carbon-fiber monopod to help hold steady the lenses lacking image stabilization. I'd say overall the hotel lighting was bright, which is good, but also uneven and color-mixed, which isn't so good, but overall I got decent results.

It was a fun con. I brought cheese to peteralway and friends from the Mars' Cheese Castle, saw Wild Mercy, and had a great time at the filk. I met sweetmusic_27 at Windycon, and saw here again at Cap. You really can't go wrong with a lovely violinist who also shares her scotch. Fiddle adds so much to something like Undead Happy Trees.

There was a nice series of concerts is the Internet Cafe. Yay for Milwaukee filkers Barisha and Carol. peteralway and I went off for a while to try to record me playing "To Friends," which he wrote as an Iron Composer challenge. We did a few takes and hopefully he can patch them together into something tolerable. I don't know how anybody actually makes a real recording. It's fun, though.

Lots of great music. The Wild Mercy stuff. peteralway with some very silly songs. Fiddlin' Amy, sweetmusic_27. Barisha and Carol. Bill and Brenda Sutton. Moonwulf. Tom Smith. ericcoleman. gundo. I played Peter's "To Friends" on flute, and also a bit of Bach. Thesilée's ever-popular "Courted by a Blackbird" and the maritime "The 'Liberty'". hsifyppah's "Livejournal Shanty," since, after all, most of us aren't really the going-to-sea sorts of piratical types. "Der Phoenix" since everyone loves a space song.

Today: Birthday! Lots of birthday greetings from LJ-land. Pizza for dinner with Joyce. (Bonus: School of the Arts was holding a fundraiser at Pizzeria Picola. Thus we got to hear this gang during dinner.) I even got to vote in my first not-totally-pointless Presidential primary election. (Not living in Iowa, normally it's already completely decided by the time I get to vote.)

I am back from a weekend at Capricon, in nearby Chicagoland. I had a great time, with much music and talking and hugging. This was a con that was not solid Stuff To Do, leaving time to actually be sociable. peteralway and I found time for a bit of rehearsal, and played his Stately Flute as a dulcimer and flute duet on Saturday without disaster. I also had the privilege of witnessing a private performance for catsittingstill of Camile Saint-Saens's "The Swan" by Professor Pete's Adjunct Assistant Chamber Ensemble (consisting of Peter on banjo ukulele and kazoo).

More later, when I'm more awake. I also have 269 photos to sort through, some of which will be gradually appearing on flickr in the near future.