It was fantastic. Went home via the A41 rather than the M6 for most of the way (joined the M6 at Crewe).

I'm not sure if the traffic from V festival was actually that bad, but even though it was a 5 hour back road journey, it was in general a very relaxing and more mentally stimulating 5 hour journey rather than a 3.5 hour high speed motorway dash.

Now for some shopping, 800 e-mails and some sleep. I was a little concerned that having 3.5 hours sleep meant I should dash back soon rather than wait around, but in reality I was ok.

More later. Much thanks and hugs to everyone that made it special.

I have done a small amount of shopping for my Bicon costume, plus some shopping for being Birates. Arrrrrr! This includes a Pirate bandana, rings, cutlass (is this allowed? I must check Pride guidelines) and belt from fancydress.com.

I'll bring the stuff to the next bi social, so that people will have enough time to order their own if you decide it's right. Or, I can bring it to Bicon if anyone wants to be a pirate.

I was also pondering how to do my hair. Ideally it needs to be longer, and have some hair that hangs down at the front, with enough hair at the back to hold a hairclip. The wigs I've looked at look uniformly crap.. I'll dye my hair black (well, as black as it gets with henna) anyway, but I don't suppose there's an easy and not extortionately expensive way to improve it?

There are some people that think that Bicon is all about sitting around and drinking tea
There are others that think it is constant wild sex parties and debauchery

The truth, of course, is somewhere between the two (note that combining sex and tea may be a bad idea).

However, given that there are occasional house parties, does anyone fancy a crumble party? :). You will need :

A pyrex dish (I may bring a couple as I am coming in a car). Flour. Soft brown Sugar. Caster Sugar. Fruit (apple, gooseberries, rhubarb, etc). Dairy free butter. A Lemon. Salt. Soya custard.

and of course alcohol of the type you would like to consume. Tea, for the more genteel.

I have lots of rhubarb in my freezer..

Care : syllopsium is best cared for by Drew Barrymore, David Tennant, Elena Anaya and John Barrowman, preferably all at the same time. Other applications will always be considered.

Feeding : The answer to 'do you want feeding' is 'yes, and mine's a large one please'. Provided it doesn't contain dairy, or caffeine, or bananas.

There are scurrilous rumours that syllopsium will talk for hours about bisexuality, cats, yoga, various technical things, walking, keyboards, games, books, films and other stuff, but you shouldn't pay attention to that, as it is obviously untrue.

Aim for Bicon : same as always. Relax. Meet people. Learn new things. Go to workshops. Help out. Party a little.

Tonight I will mostly be shopping and actually writing something for my Bifest workshop. Tomorrow, bi social, Wednesday yoga, Thursday free, Friday Bollox, Saturday Bifest, Sunday collapse. eep. Busy week!

Anyway, I'm thinking maybe I should get shifted on pondering workshops for Bicon. I'm thinking about[1] running one workshop, and helping out at one of the others. I'll have a ponder, but any suggestions?

[1] This is mild lie; most of my brain isn't thinking about Bicon workshops. Some is devoted to work. Some to tidying. Some to bicon costumes, and a lot to wheeeeeeee! pretty kitten! spots! friendly! athletic! wheeee! ahem.

Yes, yes, I'm leaving this to the last minute. Yes, I'll put my registration in tonight, although I did do a pre-registration thingy at last year's Bicon.

Anyone want to share a flat? essbee80? Others from my FL/biphoria etc.

bicon 2007 will be at the University of Glamorgan from the 16-20th August 2007. Which also means it doesn't clash with Manchester Pride/August Bank Holiday - double yay!

I hereby submit a T shirt design :

Front : Bicon 2007, with a bisexual Dragon
Back : Bisexuals in Pontypridd? It's not unusual...


*hides*

(for those that don't know, the University of Glamorgan is in Pontypridd (pr: pontypreeth); it's also the birthplace of Tom Jones)

5 days, 4 nights. 23 hours sleep. 8 hours 45 minutes of workshops. 11+ hours sat on the grass talking. 26 hours of chatting, dancing, drinking, checking everyone was ok, chilling, cuddling and general partying. mmmm bicon


Got home, indulged myself with stuffed vine leaves, sardines, houmous and Swedish Glace. Fell asleep and woke up 6 hours later. Back to bed soon. Thanks for everyone for making bicon so memorable. More once I wake up and sort my head out.

woo.

(that's the sound of me worrying that everything will be ready for bicon). It will be, pretty much everything is in place, just a few more tweaks n stuff to do. Need to buy blutack for my workshop and tidy up my notes slightly, but it's looking ok.

In other news People can live long, happy lives without consuming large amounts of the Earth's resources, a survey suggests.

The 178-nation "Happy Planet Index" lists the south Pacific island of Vanuatu as the happiest nation on the planet, while the UK is ranked 108th.

Although I would note, in a slightly tongue in cheek way, that we don't live on a frigging tropical island.. - full report here.

(and the reason why we're 108th can be found in this paragraph : "It is important to recognise from the outsite that the HPI is not an indicator of the happiest country on the planet, or the best place to live. Nor does it indicate the most developed country in the traditional sense, or the most environmentally friendly. Instead, the HPI combines these notions, providing a method of comparing countries' progress towards the goal of providing long-term well-being for all without exceeding the limits of equitable resource consumption")

The point that we don't have the happiest levels of happiness, and that our life expectancy is no higher than many other 'less developed' countries is undoubtedly a good one. Whilst it might be interesting to throw 'contribution to science' into the mix, who fancies moving to Costa Rica (number 3 in the list) ?

I've avoided talking up my workshop so far, just finishing the final touches to it tonight..

However, it will include :

Scintillating talk (by me)
Lots of group discussion (by everyone else)
Interactive map goodness
and
Badgemaking

"There's as many terms for bisexuals as ways of being bisexual. What have you been called? What perception does this provide of bisexuals and can we reclaim any of the terms for our own use? We'll explore the history of queer language, different worldwide terms for bisexual and find your very own bi name! This session features plenty of group work, creativity and interactive discussion."

You know you want to. bicon. Saturday. 11:30-12:45.