Meresy's First Con: Part 3 . . . The Reckoning
On Sunday, zabira and I slept in and were lazybones, which lead to us missing most of brynnmck and greensilver's Slings & Arrows panel, which was TRAGIC. We were there in time to catch the brilliant suggestion of comparing the ideas and themes of success in S&A versus Hard Core Logo, which is an EPIC concept. The room actually went silent. (I think it might have been floriatosca who said it? She kept popping up with brilliance in many panels.) There's also a lot to be said with regard to Canadian ideals/examples of commercial/artistic success in both those contexts. (Short version: we have some issues.)
Then! I think it was in the back of that panel that simplystars beckoned to me and got me to hold out my hand, into which she dropped this:
Isn't that just awesome?! Yukon RCMP M Division! \m/ I don't know what I did to deserve it, but yay! Stars is the sweetest ever. After the panel wrapped I went to get some waffly goodness, and she fussed at me all concerned that I'd get my hair in the syrup. Awwww. &hearts
And it was either there or after the next panel that malnpudl gave me a slash button with the little menz on it, yay! Now I can represent properly, not that I'm brave enough to just wear it around everywhere. But I loff eet.
Next panel was troyswann's World Building panel, which was wicked cool. nos4a2no9 was the only person who had read all the things Sal was referring to. I wish Sal had been my teacher - I might have gone into some kind of arts! *le gasp* It was really cool to get a different angle on what "world building" really is. In my head I was thinking more of the epic sort of imaginary place construction, like in the fantasy novels I've read (if you want an example of AWESOME and mind-bending fantasy world building I recommend Steven Erikson's 'Malazan Book of the Fallen' series. I had to read it two or three times to get it, but once I did, I started to cry with the awesome.) I digress. Anyhow, Sal was all about the details setting the scene, and what little things can tell you about the place you're trying to put your readers in, what the rules are and how they're broken. The panel started making up an entire scenario based on just a few words - about a ghost captain of a derelict spaceship that was being salvaged by a new captain and crew. It was cool.
Somewhere in all of this I perused the fannish table of awesome and took off with the 'Fics on a Plane' con 'zine compiled by omphale23 and wordplay, which was made of WIN. It had fic by omphale23, ifreet, spuffyduds, inalasahl, wordplay AND a really fantastic ink drawing (it looks like a wood or lino print!) of Joe Dick with wings by slidellra, who must start doing more fanart IMMEDIATELY. For justice!
Then lunch time happened! zabira, secretlybronte and I took a short hop across the road to a little Thai place. I had some very nice green curry chicken, but I was so hungry I ate it really fast and felt quite full for the rest of the afternoon. (Of course, as of this writing I am starved. Maybe' I'll make tikka masala this weekend).
Back at the con it was time for isiscolo and slidellra's podfic tutorial. I learned some basic tricks for using Audacity, which seems pretty simple and cool. I sort of want to try recording something, but I'm not sure what. Anyone have something that can benefit from a Southern Ontario accent? *g* Also! I feel I should mention something that came up in the panel: people often WANT repeat readings of things - which, you know, makes sense, because more interpretations are fun, and not every reader works for everyone, and zabira wants to listen to podfic, too! /PSA
After that was the White Hats, Black Hats panel about heros, anti-heros and non-heros. We talked about Benton Fraser as both heroic ideal and everyman, and about sidekicks and Batman vs. Superman and briefly about The Wire and the awesome that is Omar. Good times.
Pimp my fandom was a riot. I signed up to get unicorn stories, and glee'd at O's pimping of Chasing Rainbows. Afterwards I said I wished I'd had a giant picture of Callum, maybe just the fence-leaning one, that I could have slapped up onto the board and be all "THAT'S RIGHT" and walked off. I think I could have gotten some cheers for that. *g*
Then the con was oooooooooover. :( People were already starting to leave by then.
But! We still had the projector, so brynnmck, in her infinite wisdom, decided we should screen HCL, which I couldn't resist! In hindsight I should have peeled off with Nos and crew to get dinner, but the embiggened PRETTY is far more important than food! And yes, I know I'm pushing my luck seeing it twice on the big screen, but come on! I had to.
So somehow Z, SB and I managed to faff away a couple hours without eating, and then went down to see the movie. We moved the screen over and loafed around the room a bit. belmanoir and mrs_laugh_track and I talked about variousness until it was Time.
BEST. THING. EVER.
Seriously, highlight of the con. I was sitting in a group with malnpudl, zabira, secretlybronte, etcetera_cat, ignazwisdom, brynnmck, troyswann, sdwolfpup, belmanoir and mrs_laugh_track and if that isn't a HCL fangirl Dream Team I DON'T KNOW WHAT IS.
Seriously, such fun. We sang aloud, spoke all the good lines, make inappropriate comments, proposed a sing-along version with a bouncing anarchy symbol, whimpered at the pretty, were sad and wincey near the end. Good times. (Somewhere in there dessert_first and sisterofdream(I think?) had to leave and it was sad.)
But! HCL! \o/
Then we all sat around in a fangirl quilting circle and discussed the finer points of Callum's hotness, whether or not we'd have sex with Joe Dick, and other awesome. Then it was late, and it was time to disperse, which was SO SAD, you guys! I hugged everybody who as still there who I probably wasn't going to see in the morning, and it was sad sad sad. :(
We went up stairs to what I think was omphale23's room? Maybe? And settled down to watch Big Eden which was very cute, but it was too late for zabira and I to stay, so I hugged the room and made my sleepy way with Z back to our room and started packing. *woe* Z noodled around on the interwebs and I had a shower and settled into my bed after setting the clock for 5am. I fully intended to go to sleep then, but I couldn't shut up. I think Z and I ended up talking about Special Hell some more, until about 1am at which point I had to forcibly decide to sleep. (On the upside, I think all the RPF talk is what helped me pimp Z into writing fic for me. \m/ \z/ She's such a good fandom wife. &hearts )
I awoke at the ass-crack of dawn and packed up my shit a bit more and checked my emails whilst waiting for Nos to come collect me. I popped across the hall to say goodbye to secretlybronte, who was leaving the hotel at the same time we were. We hugged and I got out of her way, since she was still in PJs.
I went back and woke Z up (and WHOA does she sleep hard. World War III could have rolled by and she wouldn't notice) and we hugged either other and said goodbye. :( I really wanted to stay and sleep or maybe pack Z into my luggage and take her home with me. But she had to work on Monday so I let her go back to sleep.
I caught SB in the hall as she was leaving, but didn't manage to catch her downstairs like I said I would. (So I kind of feel like I didn't say a proper goodbye to you, SB! Even though I saw you before that. That's Canadian courtesy is biting me in the ass - one's last words should not be in passing!)
I collected Nos and we went to the lobby, where sdwolfpup came eeeeeearly to come drive us to Sea-Tac because she is a hero (and like she said, it was kind of nice, in a Circle of Life kinda way, especially since we didn't get to see a lot of her while the con was in full swing). She dropped us off, and Nos got a few parting pictures.
Then it was time for the traaaaaaaaaaaaavel.
Air Canada is handled by US Airlines in Seattle, so Nos and I had to line up with the hoi polloi in the most nonsensical and epic check-in line ever. Flights kept having to be called to the front by a lady I dubbed your Kindergarten Flight Director, since she spoke like we were a pack of five year olds. (Everybody hold on to the rope! Don't let go now!). Time was a-wasting, but Nos and I managed to get checked in and get down to the airport subway.
Customs was a madhouse, with one lady freaking out at one of the crowd-control ladies, who was very tired-looking. ("Ma'am. Ma'am! You're yelling at me about the wrong thing.") Nos and I again lucked out with the jovial middle-aged customs agent, who was laughing it up and having a high old time. We exchanged some banter, and then it was time to push through to the security strip search, where I nearly lost the bracelet omphale23 had given me. Thankfully the wand-lady was observant (as she must be, one assumes).
Then we kind of raaaaan to our gate, because we were past the board time, but we ended up having to wait anyhow! We bought water and chilled a bit until it was our time.
We were in some fancy DC10 with touch screens and USB ports on the backs of the seats! I poked it a bit and saw that the plane had The Tracey Fragments in its Canadian films section, which WTG, Bruce! That seems like a pretty sweet exposure for the film. For some reason Nos and I were in separate seats, even though we'd preselected. We were two rows away from each other, and it turned out I had no one beside me, but Nos had a sleepy man beside her and by the time we'd taken off she was settled in and didn't want to disturb him.
I bought and inhaled a roast beef sandwich and an orange juice. Then I read the Fics on a Plane! 'zine and that rocked. I tried to start my report. I took some pictures out my window. Then I curled up in my double seat and had a much-needed nap. Apparently Nos DID come to sit with me, but I was snoozing and she didn't wake me. :(
Toronto was foggy as hell. The temperature had finally risen above 5 degrees and the snow was melting too fast for the sun to burn it off. It was also pouring rain for a bit there, lovely. But at least it wasn't cold! Nos and I caught the shuttle bus into town, and Nos left me at Union Station. :'(
Then I took a very random tour of downtown Toronto on the way to the Bus Terminal, since the Airport Express Bus stops at many hotels on King St., and elsewhere. Eventually we made it to the terminal, where I was just in time to catch my bus out, and it had also stopped raining. \m/
I got the 5pm bus out of town no problem, and settled in to listen to music and try my hand at reading on the bus. I think the fact that it was so foggy was good, since I was able to read most of Nos' awesome fic collection without feeling queasy. However, I did have to try not to cry, since a) Nos fic and b) YOU try reading Price of Distance while also listening to City And Colour. It's all road trips and loneliness and giant spaces. I mean "Hello I'm In Delaware?" "Coming Home"? Basically, Dallas Green is the nos4a2no9 of Canadian music. (Listen. Cry. Love.)
Then I was home. Got a cab, hauled my stuff in, ordered chicken pot pie, mashed potatoes and carrot cake, and perogies for Tuesday. Unpacked. Stuffed face. Slept like the dead until 2pm the next day.
THE END
\m/
P.S. Is it August yet? *wants more fangirls*