Once again, I have been invited to interpret at Dragon*Con. Once again, I have to say no. In the past it’s been various reasons. Last year it was because of school. This year it’s because of school, too. I just don’t understand why they have to have it on Labor Day weekend, which is just one week after classes start. I can’t just fly off to Atlanta right after classes start!

Of course, there’s only a few people I’m sorry I’ll miss interpreting for. Sean Astin, Adam Baldwin, and Avery Brooks. Oh, and Michael Dorn, Brad Dourif, Jerry Doyle, Richard Hatch, and some guy named Walter Koenig. Have I already mentioned J.M. Linsner, some author chick named Anne McCaffrey, and Robert Picardo? Or James Randi? Did I mention Jewel Staite? There’s also this old guy named Adam West. Yeah, I won’t be interpreting for any of them.

I’ve already interpreted for Cirroc Lofton, Dean Haglund, and James Marsters, but I wouldn’t mind doing it again. And I’ve attended a con where George Takei was a guest, but I’d love to interpret for him. Yeah, Labor Day weekend is a bad, bad time for the biggest con of the year. Sigh.

I had a pretty good time at Shore Leave despite being sick and alone. First, a rundown of who I interpreted for this weekend. I had William Schallert and Antoinette Bower on Friday night, and on Saturday I interpreted for Amanda Tapping, Carmen Argenziano, Corin Nemec, and Connor Trinneer. Today I had all of them again, plus Kent McCord and Jamie Bamber.

Yesterday night was a lot of fun. Unfortunately I didn’t find anybody to help me with my corset; the one person who had the time to help started doing something weird. When I asked her about it, the answer was quite discouraging, so I went back to my room and did it myself after all. I thought I did a pretty good job anyway, and I was pleased with my appearance. The first part of the Masquerade was pretty typical; the kids all went first (one had hearing aids in both ears) and received their awards before the adults began. There were a few major productions but the really good parts for me were the Giant Assimilated Tribble, the Purple Menace (Barney the Dinosaur done Star Wars style), and the woman who beautifully replicated Amanda Grayson’s costume from Star Trek IV. Once the presentations were over, the halftime show began. I knew it was going to be the Boogie Knights, and I elected to stand because interpreting peppy music while wearing a corset is not an easy thing to do while seated. Because I was standing, I was more prominent than usual, so I made sure to keep my hands moving even if I was just making up the signs. I had a fabulous time! When the judges returned, the MC thanked the singers…and the judges’ clerk stood up and yelled “and thanks to the interpreter, too!” That was the first of many, many compliments I received during the rest of the con…apparently a lot of people were watching me and liked me! One of the con chairs told me somebody sitting beside her during the halftime show had gotten her attention and said she should watch me for a while! Several people asked me “how did you do that?!” I told all of them at least part of the truth, which I will now collect here. First, having the set list helped (thanks, kradical!) because I not only knew what was coming next, but how close we were to being done! It also helps tremendously if I know the song they’re parodying (is “filking” an alternative word, filkerdave and vixyish?). I also do a little bit of lipreading when I’m having trouble understanding - if you see me peering at the performers, that’s why. And finally, if I’m completely lost…I make stuff up that fits the general message/theme of the song! But anyway, I received tons of praise for my performance. (Several people said my outfit was pretty, too!)

Today started out awful. I was still sick, of course, but while I was packing up I realized…I’d thrown away the stipend envelope they gave me. They gave it to me while I was eating lunch; during lunch I had to relocate and I put the envelope into the lunch bag to carry it along. I forgot about it and threw away my lunch bag when I was done. After I carried some stuff out to my car this morning, I went to ask if that had been cash or a check…and it was cash, unfortunately. They said to find one of the con chairs and they’d see what they could do for me. I was crying, of course (and I’m sick, so it was messy), and I went back to my room. I stopped briefly at the front desk to ask what happens to trash, and of course it was irretrievable. I called A and cried at her, and she said not to worry about it…I don’t need the money, really, and I don’t do it for the money anyway, and this kind of thing happens to everybody at least once. So I agreed that I would just let it go, and I went downstairs to interpret. (I also bought an IDIC pin to put on the vest I wear to leather events, just to see if any Trekkies notice it! It’s more subtle than a communicator, and I like the meaning…the idea to get one came during the one panel I attended during the con, which was about gay fandom.)

After interpreting for a bit, I went to the registration desk to see if the staff photos had been returned. If you’re working during the con, you don’t usually have time to wait in the autograph line, so you hand in whatever you want autographed and the stars sign them at night or before their first appearance in the morning. The pictures weren’t there, but the treasurer still was, and she asked if I’d worked anything out with the con chair. I told her I wasn’t going to worry about it, but it turned out the con chair was standing nearby and the treasurer called her over! They discussed it while I chatted with some kids who were interested in my job, and then the con chair came over to me and told me not to worry…they were going to replace it. She said that with all I do for them, and especially after all the compliments SHE had heard about my performance last night, it was no trouble to replace it. As the treasurer was writing out the check, she told me she was glad they could replace it because losing something when you’re sick and exhausted (I had mentioned while explaining earlier that I’ve been sick all weekend) is understandable. So I got the money after all, which made me feel really good…though not as good as all the compliments I got for interpreting!

I did eventually get the photographs; Connor Trinneer just put his name on it but Amanda Tapping put my name, “with love” (that was on all of them), and she put “thank you!” too, probably because I’d slipped in a note saying I was the interpreter. I interpreted for a bit longer before leaving for home. I am taking tomorrow off as a sick day, because I still feel like crap and my voice sounds weird which is no fun when your voice is an essential part of your job. I’m not sure if I’ll make it to the staff meeting in Silver Spring tomorrow night…we earn three hours of vacation by going (because it’s after working hours), and I want to see a few people, but I don’t know that I’ll feel like going. I can always say “I didn’t want to infect the entire staff” if I don’t end up going - and hey, that’s true too.

I am going to Shore Leave alone for the first time. Toadstool is still too weak to be left alone for the weekend, and the only other option would have been to put her to sleep before tonight. If she’d been in this state for a month, I would assume she wouldn’t get better, but it’s only been a few days so I can’t put her to sleep yet because she might still bounce back. So A is staying home with Toadstool, and I am driving up to Hunt Valley by myself.

I’ll be okay. It really won’t be much different from normal, because I am so busy during these conventions that I really hardly ever get to see A when I’m awake! But I like knowing she’s there, and I like going to sleep with her when I’m done for the day, so this is going to be a big change. I am bringing my laptop and a couple of DVDs that she won’t be interested in, so I’ll watch movies, I guess. Hopefully I’ll be able to afford the hotel’s net access, but if not I will hopefully at least be in a room where my Sidekick gets a good signal. I’ll have to get into this outfit by myself on Saturday night before the Masquerade, but I’m looking forward to showing it off and wearing it to interpret.

In a bit of a departure from my encyclopedia-style non-fiction writing, today I’m going to describe my typical experience as an interpreter at a science fiction convention. This weekend will be my sixth trip to the Hunt Valley Inn north of Baltimore for the purposes of interpreting; I attended the same convention once or twice as a fan when I was a kid, but lately I only go to interpret. The two conventions I interpret for are Farpoint and Shore Leave; they are virtually identical in terms of format and most programming is the same, too.
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I am writing this from a stool in a hidden corner of Baja Fresh near the intersection of 20th and Pennsylvania NW. I am several feet above the sidewalk and I am watching everybody go by. The evening party at the conference starts at 6pm, and I needed to get away from the crowd for a while, so I am snacking on chips and salsa.

The conference is going reasonably well. There is somebody here I’m not too fond of (not that I’ve admitted this) whom I didn’t expect to be here, so I am avoiding this person as much as possible. I did meet a nice girl a couple of years younger than me; she flew here from Colorado with her hearing boss; I had lunch with them today.

I’m excited - I get to go to my first professional conference as an attendee! The organization Deaf and Hard of Hearing in Government is holding its National Training Conference next week, and I found out about just today from one of my deaf clients at my usual workplace. (I’d heard him mention it before, but I didn’t really notice what it was.) Registration closed before the deadline because they were sold out, but my deaf client contacted the organizers to ask if it might be possible for me to attend a single workshop on Monday in exchange for volunteer interpreting services. The organizers said yes, but at the same time my deaf client learned that two deaf employees from our agency (or rather a remote site for our agency) were forced to drop out because of funding issues. So we asked the organizers if I might be able to take one of their slots, and they said yes! I am going to use my company’s annual educational stipend of $300 to pay the conference registration fee (also $300). We aren’t sure yet if I will be able to be considered in a working status for those three days, but if not I will take leave without pay and attend anyway because I think there are some very valuable workshops being offered. And even if I have to take LWOP, I will still volunteer to do a “knowledge transfer” session with the other interpreters in my company.

There are five workshops that are specifically about interpreting: Mentoring: Become Part of the Solution to More Certified Interpreters, Interpreting in the Federal Workplace, Leveraging Interpreters in the Workplace, How can a Deaf Employee, Supervisor, and Interpreter Work Together to Ensure That Effective Communication Takes Place in the Workplace?, and Video Remote Interpreting. There are also a number of other workshops that sound interesting, including Shall a Disaster Strike: Preparedness & Response with Your Deaf, Deaf-Blind and Hard of Hearing Colleagues (which will undoubtedly include some discussion of interpreters), Is It Time to Declare the TTY as Being an Obsolete Technology?, and The Use of Hypnotherapy and Relaxed States with Deaf Clients in Mental Health Settings. (Some of these are at the same time as interpreting workshops, so I’ll miss them.)

I’ve already decided that if interpreting services are required during a period when I’m not attending an interpreting-related workshop, I’ll provide them. I’m not sure if this is something all interpreters would be willing to do - I suspect it’s just my own personal ethics. I have the skill of interpreting, therefore I will interpret when needed. Obviously since I will be a conference attendee I will make sure nobody else is available - I am paying to be there, after all - but if it is a truly desperate situation then I am happy to fill in.

The main difference between Farpoint and Shore Leave is that at Farpoint you can’t take a shortcut through the courtyard because it’s too cold to walk outside. Other than that they seem pretty similar. Farpoint has a panel discussion called Queer As Trek that I was lucky enough to be able to attend (the only deaf client here so far didn’t need any interpretation), and I suggested to the panelists they they offer it at Shore Leave as well so there’s a gay offering besides the adults-only K/S fanfic workshop.