VVC - Con Report
Okay, let's do this before I forget everything!
The Social:
I couldn't swing all for days off work this year, so I had to truncate my VVC vacation, which was sad and wrong and wrong again, and let's not do that next year, k?
This meant that I took the red-eye from LA Thursday night and arrived bright and early Friday morning. Thursday of course saw us all go through the tightened Airport security measures and whatnot, but by the time I arrived to the airport, that was pretty much under control. And thus, I waited a *long* time at the airport, because I got there so early. But, really, that was fine. I had a book and my iPod, so I was good, although those airport seats are purposely designed to be uncomfortable, I swear!
The plane fight itself was fine, uneventful, as plane flights should be. I brought my computer with me in the vain vain hopes I would get some writing done on my story, but that never happened. I hadn't gotten any sleep Wednesday night, and so by the time I got on the plane Thursday night I was pretty much fighting complete exhaustion. So, you can imagine how tired I was when I finally got to O'Hare! But I was happy to be there.
When I got to the hotel, there were fans having breakfast already, which was a bit trippy. I went to my room and tipetoed in, but killabeez was just coming back from the gym, so there were quiet, hushed hugs and things so as not to wake melina123 who then promptly woke up. :)
There was breakfast and hugs with fans from near and far, and in the interest of saving my poor poor memory, I shan't list them, because I'll just embarrass myself forgetting everyone's name. I did get to meet elistaire which was an unexpected treat, since I had no idea she was going to be there. She happened to mention Highlander and I pounced (verbally!) on her and then discovered who she was and we burbled happily to one another. heh.
Then there were vid shows, which I shall go into in a separate post. Normally I spend most of my time at VVC in the vid show room watching all the vids I can, since I rarely get to watch them on line, but this year, I was so tired and the lack of sleep wouldn't really let me sit comfortably in a dark room. :) But I still saw several shows, and of course VJ'd Nearly New, with technical difficulties no less.
After Nearly New, I had dinner with melina. feochadn, merryish, and later joined by giddygeek and dsudis. Aside from the lovely, fun company and great conversation, the only thing of true note that occurred at dinner was that there was, almost, NO DINNER. We waited and waited for our meal, till finally feochadn left in poor hungry disgust (she needed to go to set up for Club Vivid), and Melina and Merry and I finally got our meal, which was, thankfully, comped, so we didn't have to pay. :) Ah, Outback.
Then, Melina and I met up with our lovely third, Killa, and got all dolled up and prettified for a strenuous night of dancing. :) I only had a summer dress with me this year, but it did it's job. Of course, I kept slipping off my shoulders all night long, which seems to be something I can't avoid in any of my outfits, probably due to being proportioned shorter than the dress. hrmph.
I wasn't thinking I'd be up to much dancing, being practically a zombie, but I thought wrong! I danced, quite a bit, and had a blast, as only Club Vivid can afford. Also, there were fun Club Vivid premiere vids, the highlight (of just about the whole weekend) was destina and barkley's Wiseguy Vid to Franz Ferdinand. All I can say is I was speechless for about 5 minutes (literally), completely incoherent, after watching the vid, and it's a thing of sheer sheer beauty. Sonny! *SOB*
My roommates and I went to sleep shortly after Club Vivid was over, and so I was marginally more human the next day. I still couldn't really deal with being in the Vid Show room as much as in the past, but I did go to lots of shows, and one or two panels.
I had lunch with astolat and shrift, which was lovely and nice to get some quality time with both of them. And dinner with geekturnedvamp and katallison, which was another highlight, and we talked about all sorts of things, and it was a real treat to catch up with them.
And then there was Premieres! Of which I will speak about later, but I enjoyed the show, although there were less vids this year that really reached out and grabbed me, as in past years. But it was still a great bunch of vids.
And then, there was Karaoke, which I had to be somewhat sober for since I had to operate machinery and stuff. I'm very much a Karaoke spectator, and in RL my friends are *avid* karaoke fans and go like 3 times a week (I kid you not), so I already knew how fun karaoke could be and how everyone gets into it. :) Highlights for me were watching absolut3destiny sing Razzle Dazzle and lierdumoa sing S.O.S and sisabet sing/rap Without Me. Bwah! Hee! Fun! Everyone who got up there deserves big big praise for being brave little guinea pigs.
Then, Killa and I and a whole bunch of other people hung out in the lobby/seating area just outside the Con rooms, and it was there that I missed wickedwords and sherrold the most, because I knew we would have likely been in *their* room, but we all managed to shift for ourselves *g* and chatted about all sorts of things until something like 2 am in the morning, which, really, considering the state of my brain was probably not the wisest thing to do, but whatever. It's VVC! You don't do wise things when there's much needed hanging out with friends that needs to be done.
The next day, Sunday, was sad because I had to leave that day. :( Booooo. There was Vid Review, and then one or more Vid Shows and a Panel, I think. Things really start to get fuzzy on Sunday. I, *finally*, managed to have dinner with speranza after all other attempts failing miserably. I miss my Speranza a lot, *SOB*, and it's real tragic, yes it it. But! We had a great dinner and promises were made to go out and visit soon. Woo!
Then, it was sadness while I had to get my stuff and catch a shuttle to the airport. I hugged everyone I could, but I missed everyone almost as soon as I got on the shuttle. :( booooo.
The plane home was fine, uneventful, and I managed to watch a disk of Star Trek: Voyager episodes (of all things) on the plane ride home, which really just means that I'm cracked in the head, because I should have tried to get some sleep. :)
If I have one complaint about the weekend, it's that there was lacking, for me, much of a fannish excitement, any bubblyness about stuff I'm fannish about now, but that didn't bother me much, especially since all my preoccupations these days are with fandoms that are not even remotely in the mainstream of fandom. There were some Highlander stuff on the fringes (not NEARLY enough, imo, but then I came to VVC in a more than typical HL state of mind), and the one, *amazing* Wiseguy vid plus a few others here and there, and that was sort of it. But, I wasn't expecting anything else.
I was sort of lost amidst the SPN vids, and the SGA/SG-1 vids, Farscape Vids, and the cannot-avoid-no-matter-how-much-you-try Jossverse Angel/Buffy/Firefly Vids, and well, my heart wasn't in any of it. My fannish life is steadily becoming less and less about any one or more fandoms, and more and more about interactions with fans and friends, and that's why I keep going to VVC and to Escapade. But it would have been lovely to have seen one PotC vid, for example. I think I'm a touch out of sorts.
And, that ends the social commentary portion of this con report. Watch this space for Vid Commentary (such as it is).
The Social:
I couldn't swing all for days off work this year, so I had to truncate my VVC vacation, which was sad and wrong and wrong again, and let's not do that next year, k?
This meant that I took the red-eye from LA Thursday night and arrived bright and early Friday morning. Thursday of course saw us all go through the tightened Airport security measures and whatnot, but by the time I arrived to the airport, that was pretty much under control. And thus, I waited a *long* time at the airport, because I got there so early. But, really, that was fine. I had a book and my iPod, so I was good, although those airport seats are purposely designed to be uncomfortable, I swear!
The plane fight itself was fine, uneventful, as plane flights should be. I brought my computer with me in the vain vain hopes I would get some writing done on my story, but that never happened. I hadn't gotten any sleep Wednesday night, and so by the time I got on the plane Thursday night I was pretty much fighting complete exhaustion. So, you can imagine how tired I was when I finally got to O'Hare! But I was happy to be there.
When I got to the hotel, there were fans having breakfast already, which was a bit trippy. I went to my room and tipetoed in, but killabeez was just coming back from the gym, so there were quiet, hushed hugs and things so as not to wake melina123 who then promptly woke up. :)
There was breakfast and hugs with fans from near and far, and in the interest of saving my poor poor memory, I shan't list them, because I'll just embarrass myself forgetting everyone's name. I did get to meet elistaire which was an unexpected treat, since I had no idea she was going to be there. She happened to mention Highlander and I pounced (verbally!) on her and then discovered who she was and we burbled happily to one another. heh.
Then there were vid shows, which I shall go into in a separate post. Normally I spend most of my time at VVC in the vid show room watching all the vids I can, since I rarely get to watch them on line, but this year, I was so tired and the lack of sleep wouldn't really let me sit comfortably in a dark room. :) But I still saw several shows, and of course VJ'd Nearly New, with technical difficulties no less.
After Nearly New, I had dinner with melina. feochadn, merryish, and later joined by giddygeek and dsudis. Aside from the lovely, fun company and great conversation, the only thing of true note that occurred at dinner was that there was, almost, NO DINNER. We waited and waited for our meal, till finally feochadn left in poor hungry disgust (she needed to go to set up for Club Vivid), and Melina and Merry and I finally got our meal, which was, thankfully, comped, so we didn't have to pay. :) Ah, Outback.
Then, Melina and I met up with our lovely third, Killa, and got all dolled up and prettified for a strenuous night of dancing. :) I only had a summer dress with me this year, but it did it's job. Of course, I kept slipping off my shoulders all night long, which seems to be something I can't avoid in any of my outfits, probably due to being proportioned shorter than the dress. hrmph.
I wasn't thinking I'd be up to much dancing, being practically a zombie, but I thought wrong! I danced, quite a bit, and had a blast, as only Club Vivid can afford. Also, there were fun Club Vivid premiere vids, the highlight (of just about the whole weekend) was destina and barkley's Wiseguy Vid to Franz Ferdinand. All I can say is I was speechless for about 5 minutes (literally), completely incoherent, after watching the vid, and it's a thing of sheer sheer beauty. Sonny! *SOB*
My roommates and I went to sleep shortly after Club Vivid was over, and so I was marginally more human the next day. I still couldn't really deal with being in the Vid Show room as much as in the past, but I did go to lots of shows, and one or two panels.
I had lunch with astolat and shrift, which was lovely and nice to get some quality time with both of them. And dinner with geekturnedvamp and katallison, which was another highlight, and we talked about all sorts of things, and it was a real treat to catch up with them.
And then there was Premieres! Of which I will speak about later, but I enjoyed the show, although there were less vids this year that really reached out and grabbed me, as in past years. But it was still a great bunch of vids.
And then, there was Karaoke, which I had to be somewhat sober for since I had to operate machinery and stuff. I'm very much a Karaoke spectator, and in RL my friends are *avid* karaoke fans and go like 3 times a week (I kid you not), so I already knew how fun karaoke could be and how everyone gets into it. :) Highlights for me were watching absolut3destiny sing Razzle Dazzle and lierdumoa sing S.O.S and sisabet sing/rap Without Me. Bwah! Hee! Fun! Everyone who got up there deserves big big praise for being brave little guinea pigs.
Then, Killa and I and a whole bunch of other people hung out in the lobby/seating area just outside the Con rooms, and it was there that I missed wickedwords and sherrold the most, because I knew we would have likely been in *their* room, but we all managed to shift for ourselves *g* and chatted about all sorts of things until something like 2 am in the morning, which, really, considering the state of my brain was probably not the wisest thing to do, but whatever. It's VVC! You don't do wise things when there's much needed hanging out with friends that needs to be done.
The next day, Sunday, was sad because I had to leave that day. :( Booooo. There was Vid Review, and then one or more Vid Shows and a Panel, I think. Things really start to get fuzzy on Sunday. I, *finally*, managed to have dinner with speranza after all other attempts failing miserably. I miss my Speranza a lot, *SOB*, and it's real tragic, yes it it. But! We had a great dinner and promises were made to go out and visit soon. Woo!
Then, it was sadness while I had to get my stuff and catch a shuttle to the airport. I hugged everyone I could, but I missed everyone almost as soon as I got on the shuttle. :( booooo.
The plane home was fine, uneventful, and I managed to watch a disk of Star Trek: Voyager episodes (of all things) on the plane ride home, which really just means that I'm cracked in the head, because I should have tried to get some sleep. :)
If I have one complaint about the weekend, it's that there was lacking, for me, much of a fannish excitement, any bubblyness about stuff I'm fannish about now, but that didn't bother me much, especially since all my preoccupations these days are with fandoms that are not even remotely in the mainstream of fandom. There were some Highlander stuff on the fringes (not NEARLY enough, imo, but then I came to VVC in a more than typical HL state of mind), and the one, *amazing* Wiseguy vid plus a few others here and there, and that was sort of it. But, I wasn't expecting anything else.
I was sort of lost amidst the SPN vids, and the SGA/SG-1 vids, Farscape Vids, and the cannot-avoid-no-matter-how-much-you-try Jossverse Angel/Buffy/Firefly Vids, and well, my heart wasn't in any of it. My fannish life is steadily becoming less and less about any one or more fandoms, and more and more about interactions with fans and friends, and that's why I keep going to VVC and to Escapade. But it would have been lovely to have seen one PotC vid, for example. I think I'm a touch out of sorts.
And, that ends the social commentary portion of this con report. Watch this space for Vid Commentary (such as it is).