Vividcon 2011 report
The second time at the con was a lot less intimidating than the first time I went back in 2009. I had a fabulous time, and I wish I could hop in a TARDIS and go back to last week or go forward to next year.
Thursday
I got up really early Thursday and at the gate at LAX, I kept wondering if maybe another one of those people might be heading to the same place. I may have stared a bit too long at one particular woman, but that would've been awkward if I approached a complete stranger and asked her if she was going to Vividcon, right? Right??
Anyway, I arrived at the hotel early afternoon and missed
talitha78's touristy thing by about ten minutes. It's strange to tell co-workers I went to Chicago and all I did was see the area around the hotel. I caught up with
kuwdora and we went down to the lobby. I'm terrible with names, but I'm pretty sure I sat next to jspencer1986, and ate
millylicious and
bradcpu's leftover fries. I finally got to meet
danegen and gave her a giant hug. Then later
fan_eunice came up to me not quite sure who I was. I showed her my coffee icon on my phone which she immediately recognized, and I got a BIG SMOOSH of a hug. There were happy hugs all around in the lobby on Thursday! (raspberry_splat,
fan_eunice and
talitha78 said "Hi!" and I hugged them for you as promised.)
At some point, I asked
kuwdora if she could point out destina to me, and we turned the corner and there she was waiting by the elevators. She was the same woman from the gate at LAX! I was on the same flight as destina, and now I regret not having done the awkward thing earlier that day.
I had a late lunch/early dinner with cherryice at the Thai place across the street. Even though we had only chatted online the night before, it's so much more fun to catch up on things in person. Other people from the con showed up including
the_shoshanna and
xenakis and someone else whose name escapes me. This was the first of many instances over the weekend where I swear I was surrounded by Canadians. *g* cherryice and I then headed back to the hotel for registration where there were more happy hugs all around.
I was rooming with
butterfly and
revolutionaryjo again (missing you
blacksquirrel!) and we had Mystery Vid Party a bit late, but it was still fun and fairly low-key which I like. We kept landing on vids from 2003, so we stopped doing the random thing and went backwards chronologically instead. We need an updated vid collection for next year's Mystery Vid Party,
blacksquirrel!
Friday
I always feel the need to get my money's worth out of hotel stays, so I make it a point to get up early enough for breakfast. Plus, it's a great time to run into other fans before the con. After breakfast, I had to go back to my hotel room for something. When the door wouldn't open after three tries with my keycard, I looked up and realized I was at the wrong door. I ran away mortified when I started hearing voices behind the door...
I spent all of Friday programming in vidshows or in the consuite. My eyes got tired before the second half of Nearly New so I didn't go to more programming until Club Vivid later that night. Among the highlights of the day, I'm so happy I got to be there in person for destina's reaction to Deep in Nearly New.
Club Vivid is just one big happy, glittery, glow stick-y blur. I lost count of how many drinks I had. I know I tap danced to mranderson71's Happy Feet vid next to
talitha78, and I think I got a thumbs up from gwyn_r? I'm a bit fuzzy on the details. I sobered up enough for obsessive24 and buffyann's Bad Vid Party. I went to their room and promptly realized I was at the same door I tried to open earlier that day. /o\ A bunch of us showed some of our earliest vids which I honestly didn't think were all that bad. *g*
Saturday
I spent a lot of Saturday in the consuite instead of programming. I did go to the Heavy Metal vidshow which was awesome fun and to Town Hall later in the afternoon. It was fun just hanging out in the consuite listening to conversations about vidding and sometimes even participating!
I wanted protein before Premieres so a bunch of us had dinner at the House of Meat. Oh, the poor staff having there having to deal with all of us coming in over the weekend. To top it off, there was a comics convention nearby, so there was even an extra dose of geekiness.
I, too, cried by the end of
absolutedestiny's Up vid and was relieved I wasn't the only one. I've also been fangirling
kuwdora's Stargate vid High Voltage for so long, and it was so satisfying to see it up on the big screen and received so well. (You guys! She used the bridge of the song for the Replicators!! Genius. ♥)
After Premieres, people had various room parties that I didn't really feel like attending. I somehow ended up in
talitha78's room, along with cherryice (speaking of whom, watch her Ponies vid - the synced version is SO MUCH BETTER), tencel, and later
par_avion and redina. It was so much fun to discuss all the vids in such a low-stress environment.
Sunday
The actual Vid Review the following morning turned out to be far less scary than the last one I attended. I actually got comments and concrit on my vid which I appreciated! For In-Depth, I wish I could've sat next to
kuwdora, but I was running the DVD player at the time. Later there was the Challenge vidshow. I really adored destina and barkley's V vid. Then there was I Swear, and the reaction was just the most amazing thing to behold and be a part of. I had door duty for the Auction vidshow, and I think I got roped into doing an instrumental vidshow/panel with cherryice for next year during the Dead Dog panel. *hides*
I had dinner in
morgandawn and
xlorp's room, along with obsessive24,
absolutedestiny and braver_creature. I may have been more than a bit intimidated when I arrived, but the evening turned out great and we had some wonderful discussion about vids, vidding, and all sorts of fannish things. Later that night, I wandered over to settiai and laura47's room with leftover alcohol, and settiai loaded my external drive with comics. I dropped off other leftover snacks at the Bad Fic Party before hanging out some more with cherryice and then calling it a night.
Monday
I had an early flight, so there weren't many people in the lobby when I left. I got home mid-morning my time and fell asleep.
Is it next August yet?
I got an AO3 account about a month ago. Didn't think of posting vids until Town Hall. So far, I've only posted this year's VVC vids. I'm at
rhoboat!
Originally posted at Dreamwidth. Comments:
Thursday
I got up really early Thursday and at the gate at LAX, I kept wondering if maybe another one of those people might be heading to the same place. I may have stared a bit too long at one particular woman, but that would've been awkward if I approached a complete stranger and asked her if she was going to Vividcon, right? Right??
Anyway, I arrived at the hotel early afternoon and missed
talitha78's touristy thing by about ten minutes. It's strange to tell co-workers I went to Chicago and all I did was see the area around the hotel. I caught up with
kuwdora and we went down to the lobby. I'm terrible with names, but I'm pretty sure I sat next to jspencer1986, and ate
millylicious and
bradcpu's leftover fries. I finally got to meet
danegen and gave her a giant hug. Then later
fan_eunice came up to me not quite sure who I was. I showed her my coffee icon on my phone which she immediately recognized, and I got a BIG SMOOSH of a hug. There were happy hugs all around in the lobby on Thursday! (raspberry_splat,
fan_eunice and
talitha78 said "Hi!" and I hugged them for you as promised.)
At some point, I asked
kuwdora if she could point out destina to me, and we turned the corner and there she was waiting by the elevators. She was the same woman from the gate at LAX! I was on the same flight as destina, and now I regret not having done the awkward thing earlier that day.
I had a late lunch/early dinner with cherryice at the Thai place across the street. Even though we had only chatted online the night before, it's so much more fun to catch up on things in person. Other people from the con showed up including
the_shoshanna and
xenakis and someone else whose name escapes me. This was the first of many instances over the weekend where I swear I was surrounded by Canadians. *g* cherryice and I then headed back to the hotel for registration where there were more happy hugs all around.
I was rooming with
butterfly and
revolutionaryjo again (missing you
blacksquirrel!) and we had Mystery Vid Party a bit late, but it was still fun and fairly low-key which I like. We kept landing on vids from 2003, so we stopped doing the random thing and went backwards chronologically instead. We need an updated vid collection for next year's Mystery Vid Party,
blacksquirrel!
Friday
I always feel the need to get my money's worth out of hotel stays, so I make it a point to get up early enough for breakfast. Plus, it's a great time to run into other fans before the con. After breakfast, I had to go back to my hotel room for something. When the door wouldn't open after three tries with my keycard, I looked up and realized I was at the wrong door. I ran away mortified when I started hearing voices behind the door...
I spent all of Friday programming in vidshows or in the consuite. My eyes got tired before the second half of Nearly New so I didn't go to more programming until Club Vivid later that night. Among the highlights of the day, I'm so happy I got to be there in person for destina's reaction to Deep in Nearly New.
Club Vivid is just one big happy, glittery, glow stick-y blur. I lost count of how many drinks I had. I know I tap danced to mranderson71's Happy Feet vid next to
talitha78, and I think I got a thumbs up from gwyn_r? I'm a bit fuzzy on the details. I sobered up enough for obsessive24 and buffyann's Bad Vid Party. I went to their room and promptly realized I was at the same door I tried to open earlier that day. /o\ A bunch of us showed some of our earliest vids which I honestly didn't think were all that bad. *g*
Saturday
I spent a lot of Saturday in the consuite instead of programming. I did go to the Heavy Metal vidshow which was awesome fun and to Town Hall later in the afternoon. It was fun just hanging out in the consuite listening to conversations about vidding and sometimes even participating!
I wanted protein before Premieres so a bunch of us had dinner at the House of Meat. Oh, the poor staff having there having to deal with all of us coming in over the weekend. To top it off, there was a comics convention nearby, so there was even an extra dose of geekiness.
I, too, cried by the end of
absolutedestiny's Up vid and was relieved I wasn't the only one. I've also been fangirling
kuwdora's Stargate vid High Voltage for so long, and it was so satisfying to see it up on the big screen and received so well. (You guys! She used the bridge of the song for the Replicators!! Genius. ♥)
After Premieres, people had various room parties that I didn't really feel like attending. I somehow ended up in
talitha78's room, along with cherryice (speaking of whom, watch her Ponies vid - the synced version is SO MUCH BETTER), tencel, and later
par_avion and redina. It was so much fun to discuss all the vids in such a low-stress environment.
Sunday
The actual Vid Review the following morning turned out to be far less scary than the last one I attended. I actually got comments and concrit on my vid which I appreciated! For In-Depth, I wish I could've sat next to
kuwdora, but I was running the DVD player at the time. Later there was the Challenge vidshow. I really adored destina and barkley's V vid. Then there was I Swear, and the reaction was just the most amazing thing to behold and be a part of. I had door duty for the Auction vidshow, and I think I got roped into doing an instrumental vidshow/panel with cherryice for next year during the Dead Dog panel. *hides*
I had dinner in
morgandawn and
xlorp's room, along with obsessive24,
absolutedestiny and braver_creature. I may have been more than a bit intimidated when I arrived, but the evening turned out great and we had some wonderful discussion about vids, vidding, and all sorts of fannish things. Later that night, I wandered over to settiai and laura47's room with leftover alcohol, and settiai loaded my external drive with comics. I dropped off other leftover snacks at the Bad Fic Party before hanging out some more with cherryice and then calling it a night.
Monday
I had an early flight, so there weren't many people in the lobby when I left. I got home mid-morning my time and fell asleep.
Is it next August yet?
I got an AO3 account about a month ago. Didn't think of posting vids until Town Hall. So far, I've only posted this year's VVC vids. I'm at
rhoboat!
Originally posted at Dreamwidth. Comments: