I've been deflowered!
Ok now that I've got your attention get your mind out of the gutter. I've had my BayCon cherry popped. Thanks to a generous loan from my Dad I was able to attend this year as my therapist suggested. Elly and I headed out Friday morning since she is working it again this year. She's grumpy cause instead of working hotel as she was supposed to she wound up do registration. We had a rather unpleasant fight on way there that continued into the parking garage and she shut me out completely. Registration took longer than usual because the computers were refusing to talk to each other but eventually I got my badge. Ran into Steven, Chaos, and Tobi while waiting in line. Steven gave me my first two ribbons(not including the one that came with the badge) and we wandered around a bit until I went off to the opening ceremonies. From there I went to BayCon 101 where I got my third badge. After that I wandered around. Talked to friends and sat with them until about four and headed home briefly so my Dad could use the car to go get dinner. Had another confrontation on the phone with Elly. Couldn't get half of what she said due to the background noise on her end. My Dad came home, I wolfed down my food and drove back to con. Left Elly's food, the car key's in reg and texted her the location of the car while I went in search of the restroom. Then it was off to the movie making seminar. After that was over I ran into Chaos again and I joined her for MINGling with the Guests of Honor. Her parents are the fan GoH's this year. Then I kinda wandered around until kareoke. Didn't sing this year since my voice is still recovering from my recent cold and I'm a little shy about singing in a non KOC venue. I also participated a little bit in the casino. I played Blackjack. Did OK. Broke about even. Elly got back from LARP around 2 AM and I was ready to go but she wanted to stay. She gave the room key of the room she had but was allowing other people to stay in. The idea was for me to crash out on the unoccupied bed since two of the three occupants were still at kareoke. Unfortunately when I got to the room I found both beds occupied. When I got back downstairs Elly had disappeared. When she finally reappeared I asked her for the car keys figuring I could rest there until she was ready to leave. That's when she decided we could leave but not without a lot of false starts and stops. I was irritable, grumpy and anxious cause I was so tired and felt a little like she was pissed and making me feel like the bad guy. (Mind you this is how I felt and not in fact what was actually happening.) I tried to express my feelings to her cause communication is important to me but I don't know if I succeeded. We got home and got ready for bed while talking a little about con and fell asleep rather quickly. The next morning Elly's alarm jarred me awake at 10. I jumped up. turned it off and then reset it for 10:15 at her request. Apparently accidentally changing it from AM to PM in the process. I then hurriedly got dressed and had my Dad drive me to con so he could get the shopping done and get the car back home in time for Elly to get to con when she needed to. I was late to the second movie making seminar but didn't miss a lot. I then met up with Chaos on my way to the chain mail workshop and was disappointed to find that she was already out of supplies when I got there. Will try again tomorrow. Ended up in Renaissance sword fighting instead. Was pretty cool and got some good pics with my phone camera. I even got to take part in a lesson with a rapier but had to cut out early when my hip started to ache. I went to one seminar about cooking in zero g but got bored quickly and cut out early. I wandered around talking to a few friends, wandered through the game room, trying to kill time until 4. I wound up in the art gallery and I vow to start saving up for next year immediately. I saw one print that I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY want! It call something like Tiger Yin Yang. It's a white tiger and a regular one positioned in a way that they form a yin Yang. There were some other cool items that interested me as well but not as much as the tiger. If I had the money I would have gladly paid full price. As is I don't even have enough cash for the minimum bid. At four I went to seminar about whether or not classrooms are becoming obsolete due to the online technology available today. Having been a teacher and having taken classes online I oppose it. I think it would be ok if we implemented a "hybrid" as some people called it but I believe students and teachers need some face to face time. It made me think of one of my students at Challenger, Tiffany was an ESL student and came from a family where female children are basically taught to be invisible. She refused to speak to me or even participate in assessments but I could tell from the way she paid attention in class and the look of comprehension on her face that she understood everything and was probably one of the smartest kids in the class. This was confirmed the the following year when after talking to her parents and explaining the issue I was able to get her to speak to me give her an assessment. She answered every single question correctly. Something most of the students aren't expected to be able to do until the end of the year. I know online classes will never replace preschool but imagine a similar situation with an child in an elementary online class. Without face to face time the teacher would be unable to tell if his/her students were comprehending the material until she/he got the tests back and by then it would be too late. I left there about five an went to get Elly dinner. Dropped it off in reg. informed her I was leaving for the day and to call me when she was ready to leave. She asked me "What if it's like 3 or something?" I answered truthfully that I'd probably be asleep but have my phone fully charged, with the ringer volume at max, and the most obnoxious ring tone imaginable right next to me so it would be sure to wake me. She said something snarky about good thing she had a room. So we'll see whether she comes home tonight or not. We seem to be having a lot more conflict since we officially ended it. I still care about her and want to remain friends but I'm running out of rope. Well there's two more days of con to come and will update you on it later.