I'm Back!

Dudes. I just got back from WorldCON in Reno. Sorry about the lack of blogs for the last week and a half, but even though my friends warned me, I had NO IDEA how busy I’d be. I’m talking like, never turned on the hotel TV busy. Didn’t read a single page except while traveling busy. Never opened my computer busy. And I might as well admit that I was sleep-three-hours-a-night busy, too.

It. Was. So. FUN.

And I know you’re dying to hear all the highlights because it might help you decide if attending a WorldCON should be in your future. And I will give a rundown this week. Just not today. My brain is still fuzzy, and I have so much to catch up on that I’m a bit overwhelmed. But I will say this.

Pay the fee. Reserve the room. Buy the ticket.

You will NOT be sorry. I’m already making plans to attend next year. I have somewhere around 371 days to save up and prepare. That’s plenty of time.

ChiCON, here I come! (Translation for ChiCON=WorldCON in Chicago.)

Family Fun Matters

By Nichole Giles

In case you’re wondering why I haven’t posted in over a week, I’ll put your worries to rest. (Yeah, I said worries. I just know you’ve been biting your nails about what terrible fate has befallen me—your most beloved author—and can I just say, eeew. Nail biting is a disgusting habit; you really ought to quit doing it.) I’ve been out of town visiting some family in Texas.

If you’ve never been to Texas, you might be wondering what there could possibly be to do there besides sing country music and say ya’ll a bunch of times. In fact, my neighbor asked me that very question (well, okay, minus the reference to music and language) when she heard we’d gone there. My first answer was, “My sister, brother-in-law, nephew, and new niece are there.” But my second answer was, “Oh my gosh, there’s so much to do we couldn’t possibly fit it all into one trip.”

This time, we chose to fly into San Antonio, where we stayed for a few days. First off, we met my sister and the kids and went straight to the Riverwalk—which is ripe with culture and ambiance and is just a downright cool place. We walked from one end to the other—detouring for a little while to visit the Alamo.

Also in the area, is Sea World—which as I discovered, is quite different from the California version, but equally as fun—and the world famous water park, Schliterbahn. My kids thought it was extremely cool that there are three separate sections to this park, which are each so large you have to get there by car or shuttle. And the slides and things are, in my daughter’s words, “coolio!” Just don’t lose someone in between like we did or you’ll end up searching fruitlessly for hours to find them.

There’s also a Six Flags in S.A., but we opted out of that one this time, and took a drive to Corpus Christi for a day and night at the beach. Granted, Gulf beaches aren’t the most gorgeous beaches, and the water is pretty murky, but it was the ocean, and to us, absolutely breathtaking. The sand was rough, and there were jellyfish everywhere, (perfect for “jellyfishing” as my nephew was apt to do) but the water was really warm, and the sight of the full moon over the sea that night was enough to steal a person’s focus for hours. Also in the area was a museum of a WWII battleship, the USS Lexington, complete with rows of real aircraft that was launched off the ship’s deck during the war. Very cool stuff.

Then it was another drive—this one a bit longer—through Austin into Temple, TX, to see my sister’s cute house, and her husband who wasn’t able to join us in our sightseeing earlier. It was so nice to spend some time there, and actually eat some home-cooked meals. We had an awesome time, and were so excited to be with family we don’t see nearly as often as we’d like.

The killer is, there is so much more we want to do and see while Jodi’s living in the Lone Star State. Six Flags in Fort Worth, the NASA museum near Houston, Galveston (which is crammed with beautiful architecture, nice beaches, and a cruise port) and bunches of other places we haven’t discovered yet.

So, in case you’re wondering, I was skipping out on work, blogs, writing, laundry, and everything else I could have been doing, in order to party with my family. It was a much needed, and yet exhausting, summer trip. And now I’m back. All is well, and I didn’t fall off the face of the earth, although thunderstorms and severe winds did their best to make our planes (four total) fall out of the sky. But we prevailed. Apparently, the powers that be upstairs have bigger things in mind for me.

Hi ho. Hi ho. It’s back to writing I go…

The Importance of Small Details

By Nichole Giles

My husband and I recently took a trip. It was a wonderful and much needed vacation that we’d been planning, along with some friends of ours, for quite some time. We’ve taken lots of different types of trips as a couple, but never with other people who were not our family members.

This time, we chose to take a cruise. Gary and I have cruised twice before. The first time was just the two of us, on a five-day cruise to the Western Caribbean. Unfortunately, a hurricane came along the day our ship set sail and we were rerouted from Cozumel and Grand Cayman to Haiti and Jamaica. Still, we adjusted. It was our first cruise experience and even though we were staying in the cheap rooms, with just a little porthole looking out at sea from the bottom level of the ship, we felt like royalty.

Our room steward cleaned up twice a day—turning down our bed in the evening and leaving a mint on our pillows. Every day after breakfast, we’d rush to our room to find funny little animal folded from our hand towels. Our waiter, a jolly man from India named Dhabi, placed my napkin on my lap for me every night and then served me juice in a crystal goblet because he remembered that we don’t drink wine. On the nights when we had a hard time deciding between two delectable dinners, he brought us both. Same thing with deserts. Gary and I have never forgotten his name.

On one night, the head chef declared he was creating a midnight buffet of deserts and we were all invited to come see and taste his creations. This buffet was like nothing I’ve ever seen before. Beautiful ice sculptures dotted the room, enhanced by sculptures made from melons and other foods. The presentation alone was incredible. I won’t even get into the scrumptious things I put on my plate and actually devoured at such a late hour.

It’s no wonder people come back from cruises having gained weight.

Anyway, that was in 2001. The second time we cruised, we took the kids. It was a three day Baja cruise, very inexpensive, but because there were six of us, again, the cheap rooms. This time a few levels up—on the eighth floor—so we had actual windows. This cruise was also fun. Our room steward even made a towel monkey and hung it from the top bunk in the kids’ room using a pair of sunglasses for eyes. Our kids will never forget that detail. And though the short time didn’t allow for the midnight buffet, there was a Ben and Jerry’s ice cream shop on board, so we were all happy, even though our waitress was obviously annoyed at the fact that she had to serve little children. Of all the things we remember about that trip, her grumpy demeanor sticks out.

That, and the three times a day when a man with a heavy English accent came on the overhead speakers crying, “Bingo, bingo, bingo!” to announce that a new game was about to start. Something we can’t forget due to the fact that our youngest son—who was five at the time—imitated that announcement for nearly a year. Even now, it comes out occasionally and is good for a laugh or two.

This time, since we were not the original trip planners, we ended up cruising with a different company. This company is one our friends swear by, but one we’ve never tried before. The price was a tad higher, but the ship was about three times the size of our last ship (which, ironically, we happened to cruise on for both of our previous cruises) and the length of the stay was seven days.

The first thing I noticed about this new company was that our room was lots bigger. But then, we’d paid for a balcony upgrade, and ended up on the top level only doors away from our friends. So our room was much nicer. The ship itself was bigger and more complicated, but the choices of pools and places to eat were spread out and numerous. The ship was beautiful, if confusing, and much more stable than our previous one—even on the first day at sea when yet another hurricane formed in the Caribbean and caused us to be rerouted—again.

And we easily adjusted again. It’s what you do when nothing else can be done. We had a good waiter, a good assistant waiter, and a good room steward. They were all friendly and served us well. So it took us a few days to realize that some of the little things we’d come to love and expect were missing. No towel elephants stared at us when we walked into the room, and there was no juice—none ever even available—at the dinner table. Most nights the dinner entrees were…interesting and unusual. But on the seafood nights, the requests for additional portions were met with reluctance. And every day, I found myself cheating off of nametags to remember the waiters’ names. I did remember them by the end, though. (Here's a shout out to Gorge` and his assistant, Gabriel. You guys rock!)

The one thing that sticks out most, though, is the absence of the midnight buffet. No chocolate covered strawberries or petit fours or interesting looking crackers with strange concoctions in the middle of the night. No ice sculptures, no towering cakes, and no key lime soufflé.
Even though our ship was bigger, nicer, more stable and far more beautiful, we missed certain little details we’d come to hope for in our cruise experience. The weather was gorgeous and warm, the company’s private island port—which was our first stop—was wonderful and fun, and the abundance of pools made it easy to take a dip whenever we had the urge. But I never stopped expecting to find my hand towels shaped like a giraffe, or to have our waiter bring me juice. And we watched for that darn buffet every day.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m far from complaining. Our trip was fabulous. Absolutely breathtaking. But I do find it interesting how important those little details are. I’m sure I’ll blog more about the details of the islands and the trip, because there are so many experiences which merit blogging. For now, though, my thoughts are centered on the little details. The small things which shouldn’t matter, which don’t affect the overall experience, but were missed just the same.

It makes me wonder about the little details in my life and which ones I take for granted every day. Which things I overlook, and what the people around me have come to expect and hope for from me. Will I be the person they can all depend on? Who folds their towels into animals and brings them juice in a goblet? Or will I be the grouchy waitress who doesn’t want to serve children?

Life is all about details. Who will remember my name and what will my expression be when I pop up in their memories? The choice is up to me.