(no subject)

[extrapenguin]

Okay so I'm falling asleep on my keyboard (and will go goodnight soon), but:
- I have Worldcon flights! I'm arriving on the Monday afternoon (after 30+ hours of travel) so I'll have Mon afternoon/evening to wander around Wellington being supremely jetlagged, then Tuesday to wander around Wellington/maybe walk a path, slightly less jetlagged, before Worldcon on Wednesday-Sunday. I leave the following Saturday (with another 30+ hours of travel), so I have four and a half days (I'm reserving Friday evening for packing) to spend in and around Wellington. I've spent some time on the tourism webpages, but people in and around Wellington, is there anything you think I Must Do? (My current plans are mostly along the "walk around trails in the nature" lines. I'm physically fit and your winter is roughly our autumn, temperature-wise.)

- Work is ... not exploding, but busy. I'll have to go in early tomorrow to get some actual work done before some bullshit meetings. The good news is that I finally found out when I'm going on a longish work trip, and it's not in conflict with any space_swap deadlines.

- space_swap noms are ongoing! I have processed a lot. I will process more tomorrow, when I'm not asleep on my keyboard.

- I've continued with the femslash ficlets, even if I've wanted to write some Yang Jian/Xiaoxiao het for Fairyland Lovers (??????), return to a name magic MDZS concept I had in 2018, and do approximately eleventy billion other fics. Today's and yesterdays were CQL Wen Qing/Jiang Yanli darkfic.

- I came across some interesting meta on the translations of the MDZS sex scenes. Part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, addendum from a translator (all on tumblr). It's interesting, and I'm side-eyeing ExR a bit now. (Tldr is that compared to two other translations, ExR picked the more "severe"/dubconny/yaoi-tropey ways to translate phrases and expressions, while the other two translations being compared are much closer to each other.) The meta author doesn't compare to the raws, but did (for parts 2 and 3) consult with someone who's looked at them.

- MDZS fic rec! But suppose Icarus did not fly so high, Jin Guangyao redemption/canon divergence where Nie Mingjue never dies. I enjoyed it!

- 音阙诗听 - 惊蛰 (Jingzhe | insects wake). It's not yet the 6th of March, and the insects are thankfully still asleep here, but I enjoy the song.

Comments

[extrapenguin]

Yup, it's in Wellington! There'll be a price hike in membership on the 15th IIRC, so if you don't need to save up before purchase it's worth buying the membership now.

Finland isn't cheap, either, and I'm aware that you need to cart everything halfway around the globe. I promise not so suffer from too much sticker shock! :P The wildlife sanctuary (and the zoo?) sounded cool when searching around; I'm definitely planning to go there. I have months left to plan my itinerary, so no rush.

Yup, let's meet up! I, uh, have an inconvenient inability to digest dairy, and dislike coffee, but surely there will be someplace capable of feeding both of us?

[china_shop]

Aha, so since yesterday morning I've discovered that most of the Wellington transformative fen I know are going, as is a friend from Auckland. I would have already heard about this if I spent more time on twitter, which is where they mostly hang out. *facepalm* (Chances of my registering continue to increase, even if that does mean making a decision before tomorrow night.)

I'm fond of the zoo, but have no idea how it compares internationally.

Other off-the-top-of-my-head things to do in Wgtn (you may have already found some of these via googling):

Walks: https://wellington.govt.nz/recreation/enjoy-the-outdoors/walks-and-walkways
Ferry to Matiu/Somes Island: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matiu_/_Somes_Island
Bike rental: https://switchedonbikes.co.nz (these are my go-to people and where I bought my ebike; there are other bike rental places too, of course)
There are umpteenzillion independent cafes, each with individual weirdnesses. Most of them are good at accomodating dietary restrictions; I'll ask around for ones with good selections of tea. :-)
I can organise a local transformative fen meet-up, if you want to meet people before WorldCon and increase your chances of seeing familiar faces in the crowd. (We occasionally go out to dinner for fangirl Fridays, but have been known to manage other days of the week when required. ;-)

[extrapenguin]

Oo, thank you for the links! This simplifies my options hugely – the other places I'd found were more on the "Tourist! It is possible to observe plants while walking!" end of the scale than I consider useful.

Don't worry about the zoo – I haven't gone to that many, and I imagine it'd have potentially-visible NZ animals, which obviously aren't mainstays in Finnish zoos. :P I'll put the wildlife sanctuary at higher priority, though.

I can organise a local transformative fen meet-up, if you want to meet people before WorldCon and increase your chances of seeing familiar faces in the crowd.
!!! Yes, that would be amazing! I think I'll be braindead/asleep on the Monday, but I should be up to talking to people by Tuesday dinner. (Though I should probably note that the whole "Autistic weirdo" thing comes across much more obviously in person than over text. *g*)

[china_shop]

Oh, there's the botanic gardens, too, speaking of observing plants while walking. They're also on a hill. :-)

but I should be up to talking to people by Tuesday dinner. (Though I should probably note that the whole "Autistic weirdo" thing comes across much more obviously in person than over text. *g*)

We are all weird in a variety of ways. You'll be fine! :-)

I am now registered for CoNZealand, btw. *slightly bewildered, what, somehow a decision happened?*

[extrapenguin]

I am now registered for CoNZealand, btw. *slightly bewildered, what, somehow a decision happened?*
\o/ I hope you have fun!

[china_shop]

Well, I really enjoyed your write-ups last year, so... (Especially the bit about AI and human intelligence? consciousness? being like a sports car and a cheetah. :-)

[extrapenguin]

>:D \o/ Success!

(There are a panels on a bunch of different topics at Worldcons; there are a bunch of science-y panels, the genre fiction panels (about e.g. worldbuilding fantasy armies or women writing MilSF or whatnot), transformative fandom panels, and the filk stuff, frex. So there's even more stuff to choose from than what I've written up! I mostly kept to the science panels.)

[china_shop]

The science-y panels are the main draw for me, at this stage, but that might change when I see the programme. :-)