Back from Worldcon pt 1
I went to my first ever Worldcon (otherwise known as Sasquan this year) and had a pretty great time! I'd definitely do it again and am figuring out my budgeting so that I can go to MidAmericon next year in Kansas City.
I have to admit that the first night and subsequent day was probably the best because my aunt, cousin, and nephew weren't there yet. Things felt a bit more hectic when they arrived because my cousin continues to talk to her mom in disrespectful ways that I know are part of recent personal hurts but has also been the way she's talked to her since she was a small brat. My aunt in turn is also a bit spacy and tends to cut me off when I'm asking her things as she assumes one thing when I was trying to go in another direction. And there's my 3-year-old nephew who is a terror which combined with my own small patience with children was not a good combination. I still love all of them though.
So on Wednesday I picked up my registration and then familiarized myself with the little office in the main Exhibit Hall that I would be spending most of my time convention time in. The other people on the Exhibit staff were very lovely and some were locals who gave me some recommendations that I sadly never utilized. I programmed a bunch of phone numbers into the convention provided phone among other little errands. I also helped set up the Lego/building block area which really just meant dumping the contents in the area, but it did make me really happy to always see someone building something in that area though.
It was a very warm day outside, and I ended up taking a mini nap in the park even with the encroaching smoke getting closer and closer with an ominious red sun to go with it. The park itself was nice and spacious and had a mini amusement park as well as a clock tower where I met up with some fine folks from FFA. After that, the rest of my family arrived, and I went to the first night of parties.
On Thursday, I discovered that the Con Suite had a pretty fulfilling breakfast, and I ended up eating there for breakfast for the rest of the convention. I was also lucky enough to be staying at the hotel attached to the convention for maximum convenience.
I went to a reading for Winds of Winter by GRRM and while it wasn't a new chapter, it was new to me since I've chosen not to read any of those preview chapters. It was interesting hearing his pronunciation for the names, and there were some events that I was bit confused on since a lot of it is out of context. But I also had a silent giggle thinking about several FFA commenters complaining about his breast fascination since there is indeed an out of the way reference to a young girl folding her arms right under her breasts. It was a strange way of describing it. Overall though, I liked the chapter.
Then I wandered around the costumes exhibit. I wish I was more crafty or had the patience when I was little to learn how to operate a sewing machine from my grandma. I'm just always blown away by people's inventiveness or dedication. I only took pictures of the comic book recreations though and not any of the original stuff. I wish I could have gotten some mannequin's from my job though to help better display some of the outfits.
I also hit up the Dealer's Hall and bought myself a little Mjolnir necklace! I was so happy! Now to find an actual Nordic inspired design, and I will also buy that. Pictures coming later.
Went to some more parties and had some lovely conversations. The longest was with a guy at the Helsinki party about A Song of Ice and Fire. It was really fun to complain about the show in real life since most of my friends are fine with it. It was even MORE fun to unload theories on each other. I helped illuminate something in the text that he missed so that was cool. I also saw the face of a Jon/Dany shipper who was convinced that Dany is Jon's true love and that he'll kill her to become Azor Ahai which...eh. The DC party had awesome chocolate with the logo on it, but I kept eating those before I could take pictures. Probably for the best anyways since they lost to Helsinki.
On Friday, I got paid so I bought some more things in the Dealer's Hall. Mostly Marvel stuff. Not pictured is a fan T-shirt that has aforementioned Norse Mjolnir design with a slogan on it and another Marvel comic about the origins of Vision.
I also checked out some previous Hugo trophy designs. It is quite the pretty award. I wish I'd known that James Bacon was letting people take pictures with his Hugo since I doubt I'm ever getting nominated much less winning one.
I also hit up the horror portion of the film festival. A few fell on their face towards the end, and the last one I saw was definitely not to my taste. But for the most part, the experience gave me a desire to go watch some more short films. It was especially fun to be hugging my bag of popcorn while watching the films.
So that's the first three days that I remember. The last two were pretty big so I shall put them in the second part.
I have to admit that the first night and subsequent day was probably the best because my aunt, cousin, and nephew weren't there yet. Things felt a bit more hectic when they arrived because my cousin continues to talk to her mom in disrespectful ways that I know are part of recent personal hurts but has also been the way she's talked to her since she was a small brat. My aunt in turn is also a bit spacy and tends to cut me off when I'm asking her things as she assumes one thing when I was trying to go in another direction. And there's my 3-year-old nephew who is a terror which combined with my own small patience with children was not a good combination. I still love all of them though.
So on Wednesday I picked up my registration and then familiarized myself with the little office in the main Exhibit Hall that I would be spending most of my time convention time in. The other people on the Exhibit staff were very lovely and some were locals who gave me some recommendations that I sadly never utilized. I programmed a bunch of phone numbers into the convention provided phone among other little errands. I also helped set up the Lego/building block area which really just meant dumping the contents in the area, but it did make me really happy to always see someone building something in that area though.
It was a very warm day outside, and I ended up taking a mini nap in the park even with the encroaching smoke getting closer and closer with an ominious red sun to go with it. The park itself was nice and spacious and had a mini amusement park as well as a clock tower where I met up with some fine folks from FFA. After that, the rest of my family arrived, and I went to the first night of parties.
On Thursday, I discovered that the Con Suite had a pretty fulfilling breakfast, and I ended up eating there for breakfast for the rest of the convention. I was also lucky enough to be staying at the hotel attached to the convention for maximum convenience.
I went to a reading for Winds of Winter by GRRM and while it wasn't a new chapter, it was new to me since I've chosen not to read any of those preview chapters. It was interesting hearing his pronunciation for the names, and there were some events that I was bit confused on since a lot of it is out of context. But I also had a silent giggle thinking about several FFA commenters complaining about his breast fascination since there is indeed an out of the way reference to a young girl folding her arms right under her breasts. It was a strange way of describing it. Overall though, I liked the chapter.
Then I wandered around the costumes exhibit. I wish I was more crafty or had the patience when I was little to learn how to operate a sewing machine from my grandma. I'm just always blown away by people's inventiveness or dedication. I only took pictures of the comic book recreations though and not any of the original stuff. I wish I could have gotten some mannequin's from my job though to help better display some of the outfits.
I also hit up the Dealer's Hall and bought myself a little Mjolnir necklace! I was so happy! Now to find an actual Nordic inspired design, and I will also buy that. Pictures coming later.
Went to some more parties and had some lovely conversations. The longest was with a guy at the Helsinki party about A Song of Ice and Fire. It was really fun to complain about the show in real life since most of my friends are fine with it. It was even MORE fun to unload theories on each other. I helped illuminate something in the text that he missed so that was cool. I also saw the face of a Jon/Dany shipper who was convinced that Dany is Jon's true love and that he'll kill her to become Azor Ahai which...eh. The DC party had awesome chocolate with the logo on it, but I kept eating those before I could take pictures. Probably for the best anyways since they lost to Helsinki.
On Friday, I got paid so I bought some more things in the Dealer's Hall. Mostly Marvel stuff. Not pictured is a fan T-shirt that has aforementioned Norse Mjolnir design with a slogan on it and another Marvel comic about the origins of Vision.
I also checked out some previous Hugo trophy designs. It is quite the pretty award. I wish I'd known that James Bacon was letting people take pictures with his Hugo since I doubt I'm ever getting nominated much less winning one.
I also hit up the horror portion of the film festival. A few fell on their face towards the end, and the last one I saw was definitely not to my taste. But for the most part, the experience gave me a desire to go watch some more short films. It was especially fun to be hugging my bag of popcorn while watching the films.
So that's the first three days that I remember. The last two were pretty big so I shall put them in the second part.