Lightning and loneliness

I'm at WorldCon in Kansas City, MO this weekend, and it's been an adventure thus far. I'm realizing that I've grown complacent in my convention attendance - I'm used to going to conventions where I know a decent number of people, so I'm likely to run into familiar faces who will stop and chat, even for a moment between panels.

That is not so much the case here. The panels themselves have been wonderful, and I've been glad to go to all of the ones I've been to thus far, but between sessions has been more difficult than I had anticipated. I find myself feeling down, and it makes it harder to convince myself to stick around, rather than going back to the hotel room to mope. I've been fighting the urge, but it's not easy.

However, I will give Kansas City this - they throw one heck of a thunderstorm. Currently, I'm hearing thunder and seeing flashes of lightning fairly regularly from the hotel room, and can hear the rain coming down against the window. I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I am a sucker for rainstorms, particularly with lightning and thunder. (There's a reason why I moved to the Pacific Northwest, after all.) It always makes me feel just a little closer to my dad, who was a storm worshipper and taught me the beauty of a good, soaking rain.

Somehow, it makes me feel a little better. Even if I don't know specific people, I am among my people, and that's still a pretty great place to be.

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