Another Amazing Adventure
Dag, I knew I should have taken notes.
Thursday - Assembled the things I would need, cleaned the house, and other general preparation. Took the shuttle in to campus, picked up a fresh MARTA card and moneys. Took MARTA to the nearest station, rode intown. At a three-story escalator at Peachtree Center station (pretty bad, but not as bad as the one next to the downtown library), jogged up while another group debated whether to do escalators or stairs and finally split; one took the stairs, the other two escalated. About a seven-row line at registration. stupid_drawings slugged me in the stomach and I doubled over, retching across the velvet ropes they thought would hold us in place. I gave her a bag of cinnamon doughnuts I brought just for the occasion. After passing out and finishing the line, we joined Lukas for a rousing game of Trolls. They found the bidding idea mediocre, and cut the game out halfway through. I can see some use for strategic play, though. Switched raiding to being able to steal food; still a great strategy, but not the game-ending effect of stealing their trolls or caves. Lukas also made a great example as "Trolliest player". Met jonnyx and ebontigress, followed them a wee bit, took MARTA back to Decatur. Met karishi and Jess at the Decatur library, waited there for the rest of the family to show up. They did not, in fact, do so; Willa called to let us know she parked elsewhere. We met them across the street, dropped luggage in the back of the Civic, and ate at Raging Burrito. We were getting a pretty good score at team trivia, despite the fact that we weren't actually playing; we only missed one question when we left halfway through. The Andersons took karishi, Jessica and I to Talley Street and dropped us off, at which point I told my guests they had my room and I had the comfy orange couch. Having been a couple before, I know it's much nicer to have a room to yourself. Kind of a late discussion about weirdness, gave karishi a handful of things I had held for him, he showed Jess a photo album. "See the baby grabbing the cat. See the next picture, where there is no cat, and the baby is much bigger."
Friday - A slight cockup when I realized that I didn't have much in the way of breakfast food (I don't usually eat "breakfast food" (yesterday's breakfast was an ear of spiced-and-roasted corn) and only occasionally eat "breakfast" (today's breakfast was water).) I gave my guests frosting-coated cereal bars, which are, I think, a step up from pop tarts, however small. Drove up to Party City with momentai where he got an eyepatch and I got gummy eyeballs and body candy. Back home, he dressed as Tigershark Woodenlegs, and we took MARTA in to the convention. I got parade ribbons, and came in second place in a game of Three Dragon Ante (I wasn't paying attention, I shouldn't have ended the game; one of those meta-decisions about which karishi complained). In the midst of this game, mgafm wandered by, watched the game end, and after she mentioned looking for drachen_katze, I took her up to consuite. I got some chips, talked with a Girl Genius fan who won my game at Galactic Con-Quest two new-year's eves ago, and then left. After a brief bout of wandering, I went to the Hyatt to join the science track early. I helped them move furniture, and then arranged my first few events on the schedule. 13:00At the "Welcome to Science Track" panel, I gave brief instructions for the parade. 14:30Then I went around the corner to a talk about the Templars, which was all sorts of interesting. Among other things, Friday the 13th had no significance until the 1900s; Friday was unlucky, 13 was unlucky, but they didn't think to combine them until the 20th century. 16:00Ran into Rosanna in a Chinese silk (looking) dress, talked our way over to the Sheraton, saw the panel with Avery Brooks and Michael Dorn. It had great potential; two great actors with interesting histories, a neat studio setup to look like a Hollywood talk program. Unfortunately, the track director (whom I am finding ever more reasons to dislike) saw fit to push political points rather than pulling the past from these people; essentially asking them to endorse both the gay marriage agenda and Obama. I can see them doing it, and I even think they approved of the ideas, but they resisted because of the way he came at it. 17:30Hit the Comics & Philosophy panel, including my friend wolven describing Enlightened Egoism as a desirable philosophy. (Two questions; are you actually a proponent of such, and is Lucifer ever stymied? All your examples involved him controlling things such that everyone else's only choices were A or B (wherein B was usually "be destroyed").) 19:00More wandering, hung out with some friends, mistook one long-lost friend for someone else. (I know too many people with cupidish smiles). 20:30Went to the short film festival, good times. One of the movies was "Prombies", in which mgafm had a large hand. Found karishi and Jess, went home and slept. Holy cow, I just realized I saw neither hide nor hair of Voltaire this year.
Saturday - Sevenish, woke up, got my guests to help me load everything into my car. Drove to Megan's house, moved parade stuff into her parents' truck. She drove over to the guy with the trailer, we hooked up the trailer and drove back across to Roswell road, and down into the city. Picked up Dr. Altstatt and machine in front of the Hilton, ended up on-site 3 minutes before parade start. Hastily unloaded truck, started assembling machine parts; in fact, we were still assembling when the parade started moving. Here, have some pictures!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30130379@N07/2821021279/in/set-72157607072334324/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30130379@N07/2820600663/in/set-72157607072334324/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30130379@N07/2821439662/in/set-72157607072334324/
http://flickr.com/photos/30163650@N08/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ljinto/2826664136/in/set-72157607100494069/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ljinto/2826664466/in/set-72157607100494069/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/doozer_la_fae/2825640473/in/set-72157607099715285/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/doozer_la_fae/2826480390/in/set-72157607099715285/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/doozer_la_fae/2825641609/in/set-72157607099715285/
Got a little turned around at the end of the parade, disassembled on a shady side-street, drove back up to Norcross and Sandy Springs, and back down. Disturbing discussion with crush. Found and parked at a headless parking meter. Ran into raoin and Ryam in the Hilton, at which point I received a bottle of C'thulhaid. Wandered the game room, then went back up to the Marriot and wandered the dealer rooms. Waved at Sovereign Press. Talked with the chaps at C'thulhian Corner about whether they wanted to do anything at the Mad Scientist Ball, and they said they weren't interested. When I mentioned that I was the creator, they said I could definitely take some copies, sell them, and keep half the proceeds. Went up to Consuite, more wandering. Joined the Evil Geniuses for a Better Tomorrow panel. Curious mix of designs and questions; didn't have the same format as last year, so I couldn't describe my karishi's evil plan. Helped them break down, wandered outside, ran into Rosanna again; this time she was wearing a fantastic Black Swan costume, wings and all. Went with her to Pitty Pat's Porch, a pricy Southern-style food place down the street from Hard Rock Cafe. Lots of nice salad options, but they didn't have any of the side dishes I was expecting. Ah well. Headed down the hill, ran into moonchain, escorted her to the Sheraton. Expected to go to the pirate party with krewe but ended up in line with raoin and Ryam. Sparky and Elson came and sat next to us, and there was a brief altercation between Sparky and a White Knight, both out to prove something. I still think I could have stepped in, but those sorts of things always go better in our head. Sat in at a great burlesque show. Fun bit, I knew two of the performers, and ran into a handful of geekissexy23's friends as well; ooh, hey, I'ma have to friend thegreyman. After the show, went with Ryam to the end of the Gonzo Late Night Film Festival, at which he got an incredible Nazgul statue. Back to the car, back home to sleep.
Sunday - Woke up 8-ish when guests left, couldn't really get back to sleep. Wrote a letter to an associate from school from whom I had been getting weirdness. Read The Dark Knight Returns; funny how much of that I missed the first time around. After a brief mental debate about what to take, decided to leave the flotsam at home and take MARTA again. Got into the Hyatt, hit the end of the pre-sweetened playhouse, watched a handful of bad cartoons with pop-up captions added, ate a cup of unbelievably sugary cereal. More wandering, ended up in the basement of the Hilton, played a hand of Apples to Apples, followed by Eco Family Zombie Fluxx. (Nobody won that one, zombies included). 13:00 Walked over to the Sheraton, saw the world premiere of "Of Gods and Men", with Walter Koenig, Cirroc Lofton, Ethan Phillips, and Tim Russ there to talk about the movie. (see it at http://startrekofgodsandmen.net/main/ ) It's bombastic, it's preachy, and it's still very cool. Wandered the dealer's room again, picked up boxes of MSU, headed up to the consuite to see Mr. Friskett ( http://www.myspace.com/mrfriskett ), with such illustrious people as stupid_drawings, drachen_katze, sketchington, and Ryam. Quite funny, indeed, I'm glad they got a chance to perform. After they cleared out, I had a bit of soup, and took moonchain down to see cerealgirl's party; about 15 people gathered in the Hyatt bar (in the midst of a hundred others, of course). Watched the kids section of the masquerade, including an absolutely excellent Transformer costume. Stayed and socialized for quite a while, took moonchain down to her room, watched more masquerade while hanging out. Took moonchain back up the hill, left her with Sarah, went on to the Mad Scientist Ball. Finally met sabrina_pandora. Ran down the hill to the Hilton grab some stuff for the science track. The Ball was excellent but exhausting. Lessee... sold 9 copies of the game. The line was far larger than the room capacity, so they let a few hundred people in, played a set, emptied the room, refilled it with a few hundred more, and so on. On the up side, I got to recognize and get better at dancing with some of the music. On the downside, some of the songs are now permanently embedded in my brain. We ended up being the last official party playing at the 'con. Oh, here's the band's site: http://arcattack.com/ And my phone stopped working; pressing the buttons did nothing. I could see people calling me, but I could not answer, and I could not call, take pictures, look in my directory; anything requiring pressing buttons was out. Got to dance a pair of milongas with ebontigress, who said I was actually the last person with whom she danced tango.
Monday - Well, really, this started a few hours into the Ball, but we'll stick it here. I went downstairs to find that the annual Panel Without a Purpose had been repurposed to an Informal Gathering of People for No Reason. The con security couldn't get someone to verify it was okay for them to have the room. So they were telling stories in a handy open corner and occasionally passing out C'thulhaid. As they wrapped up, I went upstairs to take another hit from the consuite, and ended up watching "Serenity" and catching some great breakfast food. Went downhill to the Hilton again, played Liar's Dice. Up to the dealer's room in the Marriot, gave the remaining boxes and half of the money from the previous night. He asked whether I was okay with that arrangement, to which I responded, "Getting paid on both ends for an event I would already be visiting? I would do it again in a heartbeat!" Ran into guldensupp in the dealer's room. Couldn't find a postcard. Went across to the Sheraton again to see Michael Dorn and Cirroc Lofton, this time with an open microphone. I got to ask Dorn how he dealt with the ridiculous but common double-standards (if a majority person does something it's just them, if a minority person does something it reflects on their entire group), and he responded that it was an excellent question and something we might not be aware of is how much pressure they get from inside the minority group as well; the African-American community apparently tells him all sorts of things; he shouldn't play an alien, he should give more to his community, he should... etc. His best advice is to live the way that feels right to him, and not give too much weight to others. He also talked about developing the character voice for Worf, since he sounds very different. Roddenberry apparently felt he sounded too "American". They worked on it, he dropped an octave, took on a very formal British accent, and mixed in a touch of Russian. Cirroc came in halfway, apparently out late partying. He said it was the most fun convention to which he's ever been, and is definitely interested in coming back. He also mentioned having a crush on Marina Sirtis, and how shy he used to be, and his first kiss (not with Sirtis, unfortunately for him) was on-screen. I got to ask him about the tension in Deep Space Nine between his character stepping out of the family line of Starfleet and his best friend being the first member of his family to join Starfleet. He said he loved that idea, both their characters were always painted as troublemakers, and one thing that DS9 was good about was showing the lives of "the rest of the people", since so often you look at the universe and think that everyone in the Federation is in Starfleet. Went back to the bowels of the Hilton, played a five-player game of Settlers of Catan on a too-small board. Jason showed up, he jumped in and two others dropped out, we played another game of Catan which he won. Went up to consuite again, waited for karishi to finish, and the three of us went to Mama Ninfa's for dinner. I swear... somebody needs to tell me never to order their spinach quesadilla again. Good talk, though. Took karishi to the airport, Jason dropped me at home, at which point I collapsed and slept for 16 hours. Luckily, I had Tuesday off.
Thursday - Assembled the things I would need, cleaned the house, and other general preparation. Took the shuttle in to campus, picked up a fresh MARTA card and moneys. Took MARTA to the nearest station, rode intown. At a three-story escalator at Peachtree Center station (pretty bad, but not as bad as the one next to the downtown library), jogged up while another group debated whether to do escalators or stairs and finally split; one took the stairs, the other two escalated. About a seven-row line at registration. stupid_drawings slugged me in the stomach and I doubled over, retching across the velvet ropes they thought would hold us in place. I gave her a bag of cinnamon doughnuts I brought just for the occasion. After passing out and finishing the line, we joined Lukas for a rousing game of Trolls. They found the bidding idea mediocre, and cut the game out halfway through. I can see some use for strategic play, though. Switched raiding to being able to steal food; still a great strategy, but not the game-ending effect of stealing their trolls or caves. Lukas also made a great example as "Trolliest player". Met jonnyx and ebontigress, followed them a wee bit, took MARTA back to Decatur. Met karishi and Jess at the Decatur library, waited there for the rest of the family to show up. They did not, in fact, do so; Willa called to let us know she parked elsewhere. We met them across the street, dropped luggage in the back of the Civic, and ate at Raging Burrito. We were getting a pretty good score at team trivia, despite the fact that we weren't actually playing; we only missed one question when we left halfway through. The Andersons took karishi, Jessica and I to Talley Street and dropped us off, at which point I told my guests they had my room and I had the comfy orange couch. Having been a couple before, I know it's much nicer to have a room to yourself. Kind of a late discussion about weirdness, gave karishi a handful of things I had held for him, he showed Jess a photo album. "See the baby grabbing the cat. See the next picture, where there is no cat, and the baby is much bigger."
Friday - A slight cockup when I realized that I didn't have much in the way of breakfast food (I don't usually eat "breakfast food" (yesterday's breakfast was an ear of spiced-and-roasted corn) and only occasionally eat "breakfast" (today's breakfast was water).) I gave my guests frosting-coated cereal bars, which are, I think, a step up from pop tarts, however small. Drove up to Party City with momentai where he got an eyepatch and I got gummy eyeballs and body candy. Back home, he dressed as Tigershark Woodenlegs, and we took MARTA in to the convention. I got parade ribbons, and came in second place in a game of Three Dragon Ante (I wasn't paying attention, I shouldn't have ended the game; one of those meta-decisions about which karishi complained). In the midst of this game, mgafm wandered by, watched the game end, and after she mentioned looking for drachen_katze, I took her up to consuite. I got some chips, talked with a Girl Genius fan who won my game at Galactic Con-Quest two new-year's eves ago, and then left. After a brief bout of wandering, I went to the Hyatt to join the science track early. I helped them move furniture, and then arranged my first few events on the schedule. 13:00At the "Welcome to Science Track" panel, I gave brief instructions for the parade. 14:30Then I went around the corner to a talk about the Templars, which was all sorts of interesting. Among other things, Friday the 13th had no significance until the 1900s; Friday was unlucky, 13 was unlucky, but they didn't think to combine them until the 20th century. 16:00Ran into Rosanna in a Chinese silk (looking) dress, talked our way over to the Sheraton, saw the panel with Avery Brooks and Michael Dorn. It had great potential; two great actors with interesting histories, a neat studio setup to look like a Hollywood talk program. Unfortunately, the track director (whom I am finding ever more reasons to dislike) saw fit to push political points rather than pulling the past from these people; essentially asking them to endorse both the gay marriage agenda and Obama. I can see them doing it, and I even think they approved of the ideas, but they resisted because of the way he came at it. 17:30Hit the Comics & Philosophy panel, including my friend wolven describing Enlightened Egoism as a desirable philosophy. (Two questions; are you actually a proponent of such, and is Lucifer ever stymied? All your examples involved him controlling things such that everyone else's only choices were A or B (wherein B was usually "be destroyed").) 19:00More wandering, hung out with some friends, mistook one long-lost friend for someone else. (I know too many people with cupidish smiles). 20:30Went to the short film festival, good times. One of the movies was "Prombies", in which mgafm had a large hand. Found karishi and Jess, went home and slept. Holy cow, I just realized I saw neither hide nor hair of Voltaire this year.
Saturday - Sevenish, woke up, got my guests to help me load everything into my car. Drove to Megan's house, moved parade stuff into her parents' truck. She drove over to the guy with the trailer, we hooked up the trailer and drove back across to Roswell road, and down into the city. Picked up Dr. Altstatt and machine in front of the Hilton, ended up on-site 3 minutes before parade start. Hastily unloaded truck, started assembling machine parts; in fact, we were still assembling when the parade started moving. Here, have some pictures!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30130379@N07/2821021279/in/set-72157607072334324/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30130379@N07/2820600663/in/set-72157607072334324/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/30130379@N07/2821439662/in/set-72157607072334324/
http://flickr.com/photos/30163650@N08/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ljinto/2826664136/in/set-72157607100494069/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ljinto/2826664466/in/set-72157607100494069/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/doozer_la_fae/2825640473/in/set-72157607099715285/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/doozer_la_fae/2826480390/in/set-72157607099715285/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/doozer_la_fae/2825641609/in/set-72157607099715285/
Got a little turned around at the end of the parade, disassembled on a shady side-street, drove back up to Norcross and Sandy Springs, and back down. Disturbing discussion with crush. Found and parked at a headless parking meter. Ran into raoin and Ryam in the Hilton, at which point I received a bottle of C'thulhaid. Wandered the game room, then went back up to the Marriot and wandered the dealer rooms. Waved at Sovereign Press. Talked with the chaps at C'thulhian Corner about whether they wanted to do anything at the Mad Scientist Ball, and they said they weren't interested. When I mentioned that I was the creator, they said I could definitely take some copies, sell them, and keep half the proceeds. Went up to Consuite, more wandering. Joined the Evil Geniuses for a Better Tomorrow panel. Curious mix of designs and questions; didn't have the same format as last year, so I couldn't describe my karishi's evil plan. Helped them break down, wandered outside, ran into Rosanna again; this time she was wearing a fantastic Black Swan costume, wings and all. Went with her to Pitty Pat's Porch, a pricy Southern-style food place down the street from Hard Rock Cafe. Lots of nice salad options, but they didn't have any of the side dishes I was expecting. Ah well. Headed down the hill, ran into moonchain, escorted her to the Sheraton. Expected to go to the pirate party with krewe but ended up in line with raoin and Ryam. Sparky and Elson came and sat next to us, and there was a brief altercation between Sparky and a White Knight, both out to prove something. I still think I could have stepped in, but those sorts of things always go better in our head. Sat in at a great burlesque show. Fun bit, I knew two of the performers, and ran into a handful of geekissexy23's friends as well; ooh, hey, I'ma have to friend thegreyman. After the show, went with Ryam to the end of the Gonzo Late Night Film Festival, at which he got an incredible Nazgul statue. Back to the car, back home to sleep.
Sunday - Woke up 8-ish when guests left, couldn't really get back to sleep. Wrote a letter to an associate from school from whom I had been getting weirdness. Read The Dark Knight Returns; funny how much of that I missed the first time around. After a brief mental debate about what to take, decided to leave the flotsam at home and take MARTA again. Got into the Hyatt, hit the end of the pre-sweetened playhouse, watched a handful of bad cartoons with pop-up captions added, ate a cup of unbelievably sugary cereal. More wandering, ended up in the basement of the Hilton, played a hand of Apples to Apples, followed by Eco Family Zombie Fluxx. (Nobody won that one, zombies included). 13:00 Walked over to the Sheraton, saw the world premiere of "Of Gods and Men", with Walter Koenig, Cirroc Lofton, Ethan Phillips, and Tim Russ there to talk about the movie. (see it at http://startrekofgodsandmen.net/main/ ) It's bombastic, it's preachy, and it's still very cool. Wandered the dealer's room again, picked up boxes of MSU, headed up to the consuite to see Mr. Friskett ( http://www.myspace.com/mrfriskett ), with such illustrious people as stupid_drawings, drachen_katze, sketchington, and Ryam. Quite funny, indeed, I'm glad they got a chance to perform. After they cleared out, I had a bit of soup, and took moonchain down to see cerealgirl's party; about 15 people gathered in the Hyatt bar (in the midst of a hundred others, of course). Watched the kids section of the masquerade, including an absolutely excellent Transformer costume. Stayed and socialized for quite a while, took moonchain down to her room, watched more masquerade while hanging out. Took moonchain back up the hill, left her with Sarah, went on to the Mad Scientist Ball. Finally met sabrina_pandora. Ran down the hill to the Hilton grab some stuff for the science track. The Ball was excellent but exhausting. Lessee... sold 9 copies of the game. The line was far larger than the room capacity, so they let a few hundred people in, played a set, emptied the room, refilled it with a few hundred more, and so on. On the up side, I got to recognize and get better at dancing with some of the music. On the downside, some of the songs are now permanently embedded in my brain. We ended up being the last official party playing at the 'con. Oh, here's the band's site: http://arcattack.com/ And my phone stopped working; pressing the buttons did nothing. I could see people calling me, but I could not answer, and I could not call, take pictures, look in my directory; anything requiring pressing buttons was out. Got to dance a pair of milongas with ebontigress, who said I was actually the last person with whom she danced tango.
Monday - Well, really, this started a few hours into the Ball, but we'll stick it here. I went downstairs to find that the annual Panel Without a Purpose had been repurposed to an Informal Gathering of People for No Reason. The con security couldn't get someone to verify it was okay for them to have the room. So they were telling stories in a handy open corner and occasionally passing out C'thulhaid. As they wrapped up, I went upstairs to take another hit from the consuite, and ended up watching "Serenity" and catching some great breakfast food. Went downhill to the Hilton again, played Liar's Dice. Up to the dealer's room in the Marriot, gave the remaining boxes and half of the money from the previous night. He asked whether I was okay with that arrangement, to which I responded, "Getting paid on both ends for an event I would already be visiting? I would do it again in a heartbeat!" Ran into guldensupp in the dealer's room. Couldn't find a postcard. Went across to the Sheraton again to see Michael Dorn and Cirroc Lofton, this time with an open microphone. I got to ask Dorn how he dealt with the ridiculous but common double-standards (if a majority person does something it's just them, if a minority person does something it reflects on their entire group), and he responded that it was an excellent question and something we might not be aware of is how much pressure they get from inside the minority group as well; the African-American community apparently tells him all sorts of things; he shouldn't play an alien, he should give more to his community, he should... etc. His best advice is to live the way that feels right to him, and not give too much weight to others. He also talked about developing the character voice for Worf, since he sounds very different. Roddenberry apparently felt he sounded too "American". They worked on it, he dropped an octave, took on a very formal British accent, and mixed in a touch of Russian. Cirroc came in halfway, apparently out late partying. He said it was the most fun convention to which he's ever been, and is definitely interested in coming back. He also mentioned having a crush on Marina Sirtis, and how shy he used to be, and his first kiss (not with Sirtis, unfortunately for him) was on-screen. I got to ask him about the tension in Deep Space Nine between his character stepping out of the family line of Starfleet and his best friend being the first member of his family to join Starfleet. He said he loved that idea, both their characters were always painted as troublemakers, and one thing that DS9 was good about was showing the lives of "the rest of the people", since so often you look at the universe and think that everyone in the Federation is in Starfleet. Went back to the bowels of the Hilton, played a five-player game of Settlers of Catan on a too-small board. Jason showed up, he jumped in and two others dropped out, we played another game of Catan which he won. Went up to consuite again, waited for karishi to finish, and the three of us went to Mama Ninfa's for dinner. I swear... somebody needs to tell me never to order their spinach quesadilla again. Good talk, though. Took karishi to the airport, Jason dropped me at home, at which point I collapsed and slept for 16 hours. Luckily, I had Tuesday off.