UUggg.... con report?
Got back from Convergence '06.
Guests of honor included Klingons Martok and Gowron, a Trekkie/NASA scientist/costumer, a couple artists, and a couple writers.
It is quite a thing to see two old white guys in gangsta outfits singing rap songs about being baddass Klingon warriors.
They even overshadowed the Great Luke Ski's performance.
On Friday I didn't get o see anything other than the opening ceremonies.
My toddler had been out playing in the sun at daycare, and finally crashed at about 9pm.
That's early for a Con.
Saturday morning was a bit of a trouble.
ExGF is sick with some plague she gets almost every summer.
It's a thing that almost exclusively attacks smokers, asthmatics, and folks with allergies.
That means her, me, and our kid are potential victims.
This year she got it the weekend before Con.
It took until wednesday for the antibiotics to do some good.
By friday she had lost the cough, but she had sores in her mouth.
Seems the antibiotics kill off alot of the 'good' bacteria that prevent the bad guys getting in.
In this case, it's the virus that causes canker sores.
She can't eat, and so has no energy, and cannot talk much.
On saturday morning, she calls me and lets me know that she's getting ready to come over to Con, as she had stayed home friday due to illness.
As junior was insisting on not letting me go to any panels, I figured I wasn't really missing much and headed out to pick up the sick chick.
When I got home, not only wasn't she ready, but suddenly realized she had to write a few reply e-mails, do laundry, etc, etc.
After two hours I told her that unless anything she was doing was truly dire, she should just drop it so we can all go back to Con.
She was very angry that I wouldn't think wat she was doing was more important than going to a convention.
That was a bit of a slap because a week earlier she had been very enthusiastic about going.
So I left on my scooter and left her with the kid.
That whole episode wasted about four hours - aka at least three panels' worth of my time.
I was not happy.
Got back, went to panels, saw stuff.
ExGF and kid showed up just before Masquerade.
Got to see about twenty minutes of it before I was demanded to come away to help feed my child.
I did so, but by the time we got back the performance was over.
I went off on my own, angry once again for having bothered with a dysfunctional family unit, and mingled as best I could.
After a while I ran into Exgf and kid once more, and she asked me to watch jr while she got something from the room.
Half hour later I realize she has no intention of coming back.
I called her and arranged to drop off the kid.
This wasted another hour of my time.
Stayed out as late as I could. Didn't want to see either of them for a long time.
In the morning I figured I'd take a few bags dow to the car and take the tyke to a morning anime.
As the exgf had been the one to park the car last, I asked her for directions.
I had plenty of time to drop things off at the car and get going with my day.
I then spent a half hour in the parking lot carrying 70 pounds of stuff looking for a Car That Wasn't There.
I bring it all (and the toddler) back to the room, find the exgf, give her a brief talking to, drop off the kid, go back out to find the car which is actually on the OTHER SIDE OF THE BUILDING AT THE BACK OF THE LOT.
Back up to the room, move MY stuff out, leaving the rest for someone who needs to do their own dirty work, and go to the next panel.
About check out time I walked into the two again and asked if she had checked out yet.
She was very upset I hadn't been her good little toady.
I was kind enough to watch toddler while she did her own heavy lifting. I'm not cruel like her.
Dropped the kid off when I found her at a panel a half hour later.
She was close to being done for the day.
Sickness plus very little desire to be there meant she left soon after that.
Seems the only reason she ever went at all was to see people she knew.
After she had said 'hi' to all she could find, there was no reason to continue going.
What a waste!
I've been noticing more and more that I tend to want to 'do the right thing' by 'helping out' with watching my kid, helping ferry goods for sick people, etc, but I'm not getting very much in return.
In fact, I'm losing more than I gain rather rapidly.
I don't even get a 'thanks' most times.
I do alot of things out of feelings of responsibility to my 'family'.
I feel that because I brought a life into the world that I am responsible for its' well-being and the same of those around it.
There is no longer any doubt in my mind that I'm the only one in the house that feels that way.
The other 'members' have no loyalty to me or each other, and the other major contributor has no sense of responsibility to any blood relations.
The lack of honor is shameful.
I must leave soon. This is simply not what I want my life to be like.
Went to a few panels this weekend, despite the dead weights.
'Startship Exeter' and 'Midnight' both got showings with accompanying panels.
At the showing of 'Midnight' I got a rulebook of the source material.
I hadn't realized how goofy the D&D 3rd ed rules had gotten, which it is an expansion of.
The movie is basically made by a bunch of gamers who make games and wanted to do more.
They're a local game producer (http://www.fantasyflightgames.com), and they got local talents in on the movie whenever possible.
It was weird seeing people I had also seen at Con for years up on screen in full costume.
BTW, check out http://www.idiot-box.org/ for a face or two. :)
'Starship Exeter' was the garage fanfilm of the year, based upon the original 'Star Trek' tv series.
Whereas 'Midnight' had a budget, 'SE' had a couple shoe strings and a handycam.
Despite that, the current episode in production was a dead ringer for the original 'Star Trek'.
Even the script was bad in the same ways. They did it on purpose!
I went to panels for both, and although the styles are far different, the appeal to the community was the same.
These are things made by people who don't mind making money, but the real push is just to tell a story that people like.
There was alot of the weekend that was good, but it got bulldozed by the bad stuff.
As far as I know, exgf hasn't signed up for next year's Convergence, and probably wont.
I do want to continue going, and possibly add another Con to the year if I can, MarsCon.
If she only ever went for the contact with certain people, then there's nothing really there for her anyways.
Guests of honor included Klingons Martok and Gowron, a Trekkie/NASA scientist/costumer, a couple artists, and a couple writers.
It is quite a thing to see two old white guys in gangsta outfits singing rap songs about being baddass Klingon warriors.
They even overshadowed the Great Luke Ski's performance.
On Friday I didn't get o see anything other than the opening ceremonies.
My toddler had been out playing in the sun at daycare, and finally crashed at about 9pm.
That's early for a Con.
Saturday morning was a bit of a trouble.
ExGF is sick with some plague she gets almost every summer.
It's a thing that almost exclusively attacks smokers, asthmatics, and folks with allergies.
That means her, me, and our kid are potential victims.
This year she got it the weekend before Con.
It took until wednesday for the antibiotics to do some good.
By friday she had lost the cough, but she had sores in her mouth.
Seems the antibiotics kill off alot of the 'good' bacteria that prevent the bad guys getting in.
In this case, it's the virus that causes canker sores.
She can't eat, and so has no energy, and cannot talk much.
On saturday morning, she calls me and lets me know that she's getting ready to come over to Con, as she had stayed home friday due to illness.
As junior was insisting on not letting me go to any panels, I figured I wasn't really missing much and headed out to pick up the sick chick.
When I got home, not only wasn't she ready, but suddenly realized she had to write a few reply e-mails, do laundry, etc, etc.
After two hours I told her that unless anything she was doing was truly dire, she should just drop it so we can all go back to Con.
She was very angry that I wouldn't think wat she was doing was more important than going to a convention.
That was a bit of a slap because a week earlier she had been very enthusiastic about going.
So I left on my scooter and left her with the kid.
That whole episode wasted about four hours - aka at least three panels' worth of my time.
I was not happy.
Got back, went to panels, saw stuff.
ExGF and kid showed up just before Masquerade.
Got to see about twenty minutes of it before I was demanded to come away to help feed my child.
I did so, but by the time we got back the performance was over.
I went off on my own, angry once again for having bothered with a dysfunctional family unit, and mingled as best I could.
After a while I ran into Exgf and kid once more, and she asked me to watch jr while she got something from the room.
Half hour later I realize she has no intention of coming back.
I called her and arranged to drop off the kid.
This wasted another hour of my time.
Stayed out as late as I could. Didn't want to see either of them for a long time.
In the morning I figured I'd take a few bags dow to the car and take the tyke to a morning anime.
As the exgf had been the one to park the car last, I asked her for directions.
I had plenty of time to drop things off at the car and get going with my day.
I then spent a half hour in the parking lot carrying 70 pounds of stuff looking for a Car That Wasn't There.
I bring it all (and the toddler) back to the room, find the exgf, give her a brief talking to, drop off the kid, go back out to find the car which is actually on the OTHER SIDE OF THE BUILDING AT THE BACK OF THE LOT.
Back up to the room, move MY stuff out, leaving the rest for someone who needs to do their own dirty work, and go to the next panel.
About check out time I walked into the two again and asked if she had checked out yet.
She was very upset I hadn't been her good little toady.
I was kind enough to watch toddler while she did her own heavy lifting. I'm not cruel like her.
Dropped the kid off when I found her at a panel a half hour later.
She was close to being done for the day.
Sickness plus very little desire to be there meant she left soon after that.
Seems the only reason she ever went at all was to see people she knew.
After she had said 'hi' to all she could find, there was no reason to continue going.
What a waste!
I've been noticing more and more that I tend to want to 'do the right thing' by 'helping out' with watching my kid, helping ferry goods for sick people, etc, but I'm not getting very much in return.
In fact, I'm losing more than I gain rather rapidly.
I don't even get a 'thanks' most times.
I do alot of things out of feelings of responsibility to my 'family'.
I feel that because I brought a life into the world that I am responsible for its' well-being and the same of those around it.
There is no longer any doubt in my mind that I'm the only one in the house that feels that way.
The other 'members' have no loyalty to me or each other, and the other major contributor has no sense of responsibility to any blood relations.
The lack of honor is shameful.
I must leave soon. This is simply not what I want my life to be like.
Went to a few panels this weekend, despite the dead weights.
'Startship Exeter' and 'Midnight' both got showings with accompanying panels.
At the showing of 'Midnight' I got a rulebook of the source material.
I hadn't realized how goofy the D&D 3rd ed rules had gotten, which it is an expansion of.
The movie is basically made by a bunch of gamers who make games and wanted to do more.
They're a local game producer (http://www.fantasyflightgames.com), and they got local talents in on the movie whenever possible.
It was weird seeing people I had also seen at Con for years up on screen in full costume.
BTW, check out http://www.idiot-box.org/ for a face or two. :)
'Starship Exeter' was the garage fanfilm of the year, based upon the original 'Star Trek' tv series.
Whereas 'Midnight' had a budget, 'SE' had a couple shoe strings and a handycam.
Despite that, the current episode in production was a dead ringer for the original 'Star Trek'.
Even the script was bad in the same ways. They did it on purpose!
I went to panels for both, and although the styles are far different, the appeal to the community was the same.
These are things made by people who don't mind making money, but the real push is just to tell a story that people like.
There was alot of the weekend that was good, but it got bulldozed by the bad stuff.
As far as I know, exgf hasn't signed up for next year's Convergence, and probably wont.
I do want to continue going, and possibly add another Con to the year if I can, MarsCon.
If she only ever went for the contact with certain people, then there's nothing really there for her anyways.