Corflu Anxiety

[randy_byers]

I can't resist the subject-line, because it makes me think of the Mel Brooks parody of Corflu, but that's not really what this is about

Comments

[jimtrash]

Goodness - a weird contradiction seeing as you seem to have had such a good time.
Me, I'm mostly just jealous because I didn't get to go but also want to say a me too to the anxiety. Cons are pressure cookers (and other assorted metaphors) and can leave one feeling quite drained.
My anxiety is probably is still that early stage anxiety that you mention. Even tho' I've been knocking around fandom for quite a while, I've immersed myself only a little and so haven't spread my network as far as I could.
However given the high pressure, draining nature of conventions - could it be just post con blues you're experiencing?
Regards
Jim

[randy_byers]

I did feel it worst at the end and as I was traveling home, so maybe you're onto something with the post-con blues theory. The contradictory nature of the experience was certainly confusing.

My network has expanded vastly since I started co-editing a fanzine and ran for TAFF. Going to Corflu regularly has been part of it too.

[swisstone]

I can feel like that at conventions too. Sometimes I just don't connect with them.

[randy_byers]

That was the weird thing: I did feel connected, and yet the connection seemed to be causing dissonance. Or something.

[grytpype_thynne]

You were splendid company, especially during those intimate moments involving awkward seat belts in the back of a Honda Civic with one of the fishlifters.

Ironically, for me, the moment I finally settled and understood I was there, it was real, and it would all be fine was when we met at the market in Alameda.

Mind you, I wouldn't have done that talk about fan art stone cold sober...

[randy_byers]

I can see it now, a future return to Alameda: "This is the market where it all started." But yeah, that's how it felt for me too. Nothing like meeting up with foreign friends in a location you've never been to before.

And I'm sure we will never forget our time in the backseat with one of the Fishlifters. "Is it in yet?"

[fishlifter]

I thought we all agreed that no one would ever speak of those moments in the back seat? Whichever one of us it was...

[randy_byers]

Dave started it!

[holyoutlaw]

I feel a lot of convention anxiety as well -- it's probably why I only go to Wiscon, and Potlatch or Corflu if they're in Seattle.

I think you should write the Mel Brooks parody of Corflu.

[randy_byers]

I started casting it in my mind, but I got stuck on who Mel Brooks would play. Ted White? Arnie Katz? Madeline Kahn as Geri Sullivan? Ah well, I've got a good sense of humor, but comedy writing is not my forte. Maybe I'll suggest it to Andy for his next radio play. (Talk about somebody who always has to perform for Corflu!)

[kalimac]

I hope this was unrelated to my impression that, for the first time since we both joined LJ, we had more in-person interaction than we have online.

[randy_byers]

Ha! No, I thought something similar. I think LJ has helped me to get to know you better, and I thought our conversation at Corflu flowed from that.

Although I suppose it could be related to my anxiety. Nowadays there's always somebody to talk to. I can't sit in a corner quietly and listen to others talk. I've got to think of something to say myself, even if it's only phatic noise.

[kalimac]

As another person who has trouble being "on" all the time, when I'm at a high-social-pressure event, I always take time off to be by myself. Often I go off for a walk somewhere for a couple hours, or if I've got a particularly gripping book, just sit in my room and read.

Even when I chaired Mythcon, and could not drop from sight for extended periods, I would take breather intervals to curl up in a corner and decompress.

[randy_byers]

Or head off to a concert, eh? Well, maybe I need to think of strategies to maintain my own sanity (such as it is), at least at Corflus. Haven't really noticed the anxiety at other conventions. Not that I go to many, but I didn't notice it at Novacon or SFContario last November.