Back from DucKon
Back safely from DucKon, and before I go any further, let me say that I completely and totally enjoyed all the people I saw there, all the conversations, even if we only spoke for 20 seconds, all of the hugs, all the people I met, and all the ones I renewed my acquaintance with. (I'm not naming names, because I'll forget a few dozen, and that would not be fair.)
It was an "ok" con. I enjoyed what I took part in. But for whatever reason, whether it was because I was stressing about the work that I wasn't getting done at home, or because I was just flipping tired, or because I was especially insecure for no specific reason, I ended up not being very social.
Friday night I know I was tired. We left home after 5pm (Eastern), and made it in to the con after the Tesla Coil Concert started. (9pm central). I chatted with some people, got registered for the con, spent some time in the GT suite, and crashed before midnight.
Saturday I woke up, had (an obscene amount of) breakfast with some friends, browsed the art show and the dealers' room, chatted with some people, and blew off programming to work on my laptop which has needed maintenance for a while. Occasionally I would wander around, chat with more people, and then wander back. During one of these wanderings, I thought that the steps for dinner plans were set, but there was a miscommunication, and ... well, I didn't get dinner. Due to the obscene amount of breakfast, I probably didn't need it, truth be told. Went out with a bit of a group to watch today's Tesla Coil concert, but couldn't deal with the crowd, felt depressed, or just wanted to work or ... anyhow, after a short while I went back in and got back to tweaking the laptop.
I visited Filk rooms, but none of them were places I would want to go in and stay in (although I always liked what I heard through the door -- no offense to the performers -- just my emotional state). I went back to the GT Suite, and there were more people there, many of whom I didn't know, and some of whom had seemed to be putting me down, and I could never get comfortable, so I kept going back to the room and monitoring the process of the upgrading. (Read enough LJ that I didn't fall any further behind... although I'm still skip-over-700, so I didn't catch up.) When the spouse came to the room to crash, I closed down. Good thing -- it was about 5:30 am that the step it was on finished -- and I went to bed closer to 3.
Seems quite a waste to have driven so far to spend most of the con in the room, but ... well, there I was.
Sunday I got up, and was planning to brave the hotel buffet by myself if I couldn't find anyone else, but I was intimidated. Seems that breakfast had ended at 10, and there was Brunch... and I couldn't figure out where to go, etc. so I figured I'd just not eat. But then a blessed friend invited us/allowed us to weasel our way into her group, and I fed upon Fathers' day brunch.
We left pretty early coming home -- and it's probably a good thing. I'd had 100 miles or so on the car when we left home, and I didn't fill up on the way out. We stopped in Indiana on the way back (I got "light" while still in Illinois) -- and I was about car number 5 waiting for a pump. (But the gas was under $4.00/gallon.) Later, within 100 miles or so of home we spent about 10 miles in the backup for the construction zone, and my GPS told me that I lost over 50 minutes there. Ugh. So we finished a 4.5 - 5-hour drive in a lot closer to 6 hours.
And this week I need to figure out why my desktop computer has stopped playing sounds. No more can I play a CD on the puter. (Even the headphone hole on the CD player produces no sounds. Yes, I am sure that the speakers are okay; they crackle when I turn the computer on, or if I unplug them and touch the plug to the back of the box.)
It was an "ok" con. I enjoyed what I took part in. But for whatever reason, whether it was because I was stressing about the work that I wasn't getting done at home, or because I was just flipping tired, or because I was especially insecure for no specific reason, I ended up not being very social.
Friday night I know I was tired. We left home after 5pm (Eastern), and made it in to the con after the Tesla Coil Concert started. (9pm central). I chatted with some people, got registered for the con, spent some time in the GT suite, and crashed before midnight.
Saturday I woke up, had (an obscene amount of) breakfast with some friends, browsed the art show and the dealers' room, chatted with some people, and blew off programming to work on my laptop which has needed maintenance for a while. Occasionally I would wander around, chat with more people, and then wander back. During one of these wanderings, I thought that the steps for dinner plans were set, but there was a miscommunication, and ... well, I didn't get dinner. Due to the obscene amount of breakfast, I probably didn't need it, truth be told. Went out with a bit of a group to watch today's Tesla Coil concert, but couldn't deal with the crowd, felt depressed, or just wanted to work or ... anyhow, after a short while I went back in and got back to tweaking the laptop.
I visited Filk rooms, but none of them were places I would want to go in and stay in (although I always liked what I heard through the door -- no offense to the performers -- just my emotional state). I went back to the GT Suite, and there were more people there, many of whom I didn't know, and some of whom had seemed to be putting me down, and I could never get comfortable, so I kept going back to the room and monitoring the process of the upgrading. (Read enough LJ that I didn't fall any further behind... although I'm still skip-over-700, so I didn't catch up.) When the spouse came to the room to crash, I closed down. Good thing -- it was about 5:30 am that the step it was on finished -- and I went to bed closer to 3.
Seems quite a waste to have driven so far to spend most of the con in the room, but ... well, there I was.
Sunday I got up, and was planning to brave the hotel buffet by myself if I couldn't find anyone else, but I was intimidated. Seems that breakfast had ended at 10, and there was Brunch... and I couldn't figure out where to go, etc. so I figured I'd just not eat. But then a blessed friend invited us/allowed us to weasel our way into her group, and I fed upon Fathers' day brunch.
We left pretty early coming home -- and it's probably a good thing. I'd had 100 miles or so on the car when we left home, and I didn't fill up on the way out. We stopped in Indiana on the way back (I got "light" while still in Illinois) -- and I was about car number 5 waiting for a pump. (But the gas was under $4.00/gallon.) Later, within 100 miles or so of home we spent about 10 miles in the backup for the construction zone, and my GPS told me that I lost over 50 minutes there. Ugh. So we finished a 4.5 - 5-hour drive in a lot closer to 6 hours.
And this week I need to figure out why my desktop computer has stopped playing sounds. No more can I play a CD on the puter. (Even the headphone hole on the CD player produces no sounds. Yes, I am sure that the speakers are okay; they crackle when I turn the computer on, or if I unplug them and touch the plug to the back of the box.)