Convergence

[gmcdavid]

Friday

I left work for Convergence about 4 PM. Traffic was better than I had expected and I got to the hotel (the Sheraton Bloomington) about 4:30. I first went to our room to dropped off my stuff. mia_mcdavid had arrived hours before was napping. She gave me my room key, at which point I performed my old start of con ritual: House keys and car keys into a drawer for the weekend. went down to con registration, which was easy since we had preregistered long ago. I then made a first pass through con space. In the Dealers room I saw mairi2 (not surprising--she was in charge of the room) and twolodge,

Checked on wifi access--the hotel wanted $10/day. Thus I was in the same position as situation similar to what mdlbear found him self last weekend at Westercon. I decided to follow his example and do without the web for the weekend. My Nokia 770 went back in my briefcase.

The Dealers room was interesting to look at, but I did not buy much over the weekend.

One dealer had a lot of Russian stuff. Orthodox Christian icons sat side by side with memorabilia from the USSR. Among the latter were hip flasks from several branches of the Soviet military as well as the KGB (the KGB model being noticably larger than the others).

There were some T-shirts I had not seen before. One had an image of Cthulhu wearing a cowboy hat. Caption: "At the Brokeback Mountains of Madness". Also on a Lovecraftian note, I bought a Dagon fish bumper sticker.

Also, Mia and I had recently watched an episode of CSI that featured a man (the victim) who had been wearing a corset. Apparently this was the fashion at some point in the Victorian era. Convergence has had at least one corset dealer for years now, but I was amused to see corsets for men this year. Amused, but not on my purchase list. I am not immune to vanity, but comfort is far more important.

Opening cermonies: We were sitting by c_nocturnum and some other friends. By prearrangement we all had rooms on same floor. It is nice to know your neighbors. There was a funny skit about James Bond and Dr. Seuss (as arch-villain), suitably done in rhyming couplets. There were also good tributes to Jim Baen by GOH's David Weber and Eric Flint.

Later I stopped by the Silent Auction, which included an early hardbound copy of JRRT's Tree and Leaf that we had donated. This had come from my Father. The JRRT signature on it had turned out to be a facsimile, but Dad had never said it was real. In fact he had never mentioned it one way or another.

I then wandered around con space for a while. I was tired. About 10:30 went back to room. James was working on a model he had bought in Dealers Room. I let him be and went to bed. Mia came back sometime around midnight. Ridiculously early for a con in either case.

Saturday

James got up sometime around 7:30 A.M and went out to look for food--he is a teenager. We got up about an hour later and went to the hotel restaurant for a real breakfast. This was following some wise counsel:

1. Dr. Bob (well-known Chicagoland fan and M.D.) has advised all fans to make sure they get at least real meal per day at a con.
   
2. Robert Capon (chef and theologian) wrote in, IIRC, The Supper of the Lamb that after a large breakfast the sane person does not eat again until 8 PM

OK. We had checked the program schedule. A look at what we wanted to do during the day did not show an adequate window for lunch (questionable in any case, since this was a late breakfast) or a proper dinner(if we wanted one) until well after 8 PM.

We looked at the Dealers Room together, and then the Art Show. Mia was tired and went upstairs for a nap. I followed her example a little later,

Pirate costumes were everwhere; I kept thinking about this T-shirt by groomporter. I ordered one today.

After we got up we listened to music for the rest of the afternoon:

1. Rève du Faun: Very loud for the confined space, much louder than I remember them from the Minnesota Ren Faire. Still, they had some good songs. One was a filk about the fannish controversies that had led to the foundation of Convergence. Funny and nasty at the same time, and the other side had it coming.
   
   At one point Mia dropped knitting, and she had to ask me to pick it up. She was wearing a corset (and looking very good in it) and so could not bend over, much to the amusement of c_nocturnum and her husband, who were sitting with us.
   
   
2. Riverfolk: Favorites and friends of mia_mcdavid for some years now. Not nearly so loud, and so it was much easier listen to them. We have this archaic attitude that we ought to be able to clearly understand the words of a song.
   
   After that we went back upstairs to change for the evening. This was much faster for me than Mia, so I went back downstairs to listen to ...
   
   
3. 3 Pints Gone: This was the musical highlight of the con for me. I happily bought their latest CD.
   
   Unfortunately I to leave in the middle of the Moose song. Mia was saving a seat for me at the masquerade, and the crowd was getting restless about that.

The masquerade, of course, started late. The stage too low and it was hard to see the contestants. Fortunately "Pigs in Space", by mairi2 and including other members of colgaffneyis was quite early in the show. I left after watching a more entries. There was too much too loud music.

I then went out into the ballroom lobby. The masquerade was being shown on a screen there. The view was better, and it was much more comfortable. Mia and I found a corner and sat down for the rest of the show. It was good to see and cheer our friends in person, but I was quite happy with video for the rest. S, a triend from colgaffneyis Dance Guild and the Twig Ren Fair joined us for a while.

The evening's fun was interrupted for about 20 minutes when Mia could not find her purse, but we eventually found it in our room. We went down to circulate amoung the parties, where we had pleasant relaxed conversations with c_nocturum, rhymeswithghoti, 3stitches and other good friends. That is one of the best parts of a con for me.

I was wearing my best kilt (ancient Davidson tartan), which, aided by the raccoon sporran (which I had made), stood out amoung the many utilikilts and their imitators. I took advantage of this to promote the Minnesota Scottish Fair, where Mia and I will be participating as part of colgaffneyis. Also, on an entertaining note, I was challenged by an attractive young female "kilt inspector". I passed ;-)> Note for next con: Bring more kilts.

A little past 1 AM went to a party in room of c_nocturum and her husband, who had brought much of his awesome scotch collection as well as beer and mead. It was a nice relaxed time, and a good way for me to end the evening. We went to bed shortly after 2 AM.

James had gone to bed much earlier--he wanted to get up for anime at 8 AM. He might as well get used to the fact that a con's schedule is not going to please everybody all the time.

Speaking of schedules, somewhere in this I realized we had missed the Chicago in 2008 bid party. Having been to the last three Chicons we want to go again. I do like their current slogan--"To serve fan".

Sunday

Sunday was pretty low key. Mia and I were up and about c. 10 AM. Didn't do too much special. Looked at again at Dealers and Art Show. I saw mairi2 and told her that after "Pigs in Space" I may never again be able to keep a straight face at the phrase "Go Boldly". I also chatted some with other friends, and got a little food at Con Suite.

James and I left about 2 P.M. He did well at the con--he did some shopping and watched a lot of anime. That allowed us to relax and enjoy the con more.

I relaxed and enjoyed the con particularly well. It was the first con we had been to since Tom moved to his Group Home. In fact, for me this was the best con in about 15 years.