The Convention is Near!

Last night I audiotaped my presentation and will begin listening to it every night until I'm pretty sure I have it in order and won't have to refer to notes much. With any luck at all, the only time I won't be looking at De's fans is when I'm reading excerpts from the book. That's the ideal scenario and my goal.

The basic problem is that I'm shy, so even in normal surroundings I rarely look at who I'm chatting with except for a few brief nanoseconds at a time. So at the convention I will have to pick out a few faces in the crowd (ideally people I know, as long as they aren't nervous for me) and concentrate on them! Enough of my friends and e-mail pals are attending that, if they spread out and sit all over the place, I will be able to look like I'm looking at everybody... That would be a very nice "special effect."

I will really, really try to "get over" the trauma of standing up there as quickly as possible because I want to look back on it having ENJOYED it, not just having SURVIVED it! :)

I can imagine myself being completely at ease and natural up there, so I know what it should look like -- kinda like De looked when he was appearing at a convention. (Truth be known, he looked a little nervous himself at first a time or two, so I'm accrediting these pre-show jitters to the perfectly natural tendency to compare public speaking with being positioned before a firing squad or atop a gallows trap door without the courtesy of a hood...)

The good news is that Bobbie Bobstein (the relocated New Yawker who now lives in North Carolina) has decided that she will fly to Washington a few days after the convention and spend ten days with me, encompassing two weekends. And Alison may end up flying to my place, too. Alison is definitely coming to the convention; she's just wavering back and forth on whether to fly to Washington with me afterward or to return to England and sell her flat first... WILL SOMEONE IN ENGLAND PLEASE BUY HER FLAT before the convention?! That would settle the matter once and for all! That way these two ladies could keep each other company while I'm at work weekdays. I have plenty to keep both of them entertained. I must have two solid weeks' worth of De movies and TV episodes (not counting anything having to do with STAR TREK), so they will be happier'n two peas in a pod with a week-day comrade to share that bounty and joy with... So I'm hoping it works out that they can both be here at the same time at least part of the time. I would feel less like a lousy host leaving for work in the morning... Being a working gal is the pits at times. Thank God I love my job!

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Three hours later. I just got off the phone with Bobbie. Yes, we talked for three hours, coast to coast. We are going to have the BEST time when she gets here! WAHOO!!!!!

I need to hit the hay now. Bobbie said so. And Bobbie KNOWS 'cause I got silly toward the end of our marathon chat. (That's always a dead giveaway. Let this be fair warning to those of you heading to the Vegas convention. When you spend serious time with me, you will pay for it along about midnight! Silliness will ensue and that will be your cue: Kris is about to go tilt, totally sober! I can't wait!)

You take care and I'll dedicate myself to a seriously long blog tomorrow night.