A Con report
Sep. 15th, 2008 06:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sessifetI spent the week before Friday 22nd bouncing and squeeing. People at work were a bit worried, because when they asked what my plans for the weekend were, they invariably got a wide grin. Apparently my grin can be quite startling.
I'd hoped to be able to go down to Birmingham on the back of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
hobnobs newly repaired zippy bike, but during a test ride earlier in the week my back decided this would be a monumentally stupid idea. The rest of me went 'Woo!' during the (short) ride, though, so I'll definitely be looking into getting my bike license. So instead I joined the_ladylark in the car down to the Con hotel. Our directions consisted of 'Drive down to Birmingham, follow signs that say N.E.C. and then follow signs that lead to the Hilton.' This worked rather well, and we arrived somewhat before noon.
Grabbing the first bits of luggage we proceeded to check-in and after dropping off our stuff in our respective bedrooms, we made our way to registration. Having registered, we grabbed most of the rest of the luggage and headed down to Ops to check in my brain (and, incidentally,the_ladylark's fencing equipment). happydisciple okayed my brain and after hugging those present and known to me* we wandered off to see what the Con had to offer. the_ladylark and I had talked about this and it was decided she would have a limpet for a while as this was my first fandom convention ever. I felt right at home after I ran into someone who was also wearing a 'Come to the Dark Side. We have cookies.' t-shirt. No idea who she was, but we squeed at each other a bit and then went our seperate ways.
Passed The Dysk and sawshevek the Tech Fairy running around like a blue-arsed fly so I decided to come back and snuggle them later. Most of the afternoon was spent running into people I hadn't seen in absolutely forever and it all went by rather quickly. If you saw me at any point grinning vaguely and generally looking bouncy, it was because I was on a definite shiny people high.
I lostthe_ladylark somewhere after she, troo and I went swimming and didn't see her again properly until the next morning. I wandered off to god knows where. I do recall it involved spotting da_pol, megamole and oscarhocklee on the way**. I spent some time in the bar before wandering back to The Dysk to see if shevek could be persuaded to be snuggled and kissed (yes). I also managed to spot and hug the elusive (or so he turned out to be during the weekend) swaldman. I wandered off again to something in specific, but got distracted by da_pol, random_c and the_hunter. Ended up talking with them for quite a while.
After this, it's all a bit of blur. I'm not sure what went where at what time, but I definitely attended an Opening Ceremony where Pterry won the crowd with his first sentence.***. I definitely know where Bed Time Stories fitted in because for me it quite obviously was Bed Time. I do apologise toumlj for sleeping on him through quite a bit of it. I begged off at eleven and I think I spotted Tallest Housemate outside on Watch Duty before wandering off to bed in a daze.
Saturday
I woke up refreshed and made my way down to breakfast in the company of a becostumedpurplepooka, who I prompty lost again until after breakfast. Went to a Guild Meeting as I completely forgot to go to the one the previous night.
I then proceeded to queue to get Wintersmith signed. I had acquired some blue dots the day before at the urging ofsierra_le_oli but was too stubborn to make use of them. Bad idea in hindsight. In the end I didn't get my book signed personally as the time overran and they started handed out tickets. At this point my back and hip went on strike and didn't want to wait in line anymore. I wandered over to the bar and flopped. I was later told I looked I was either going to keel over dead or kill someone ****. Later that day I got to spend some quality time with shevek and we went off to get them prettified and to snuggle. There are pictures of said pretty, and oh my, was it pretty. *grabbyhands*
I didn't see much of the Hedgehog party as I went outside for a smoke and ended up talking to complete strangers for 3-4 hours. This was fun and quite interesting as I normally stick close to people I know in an unfamiliar environment. I eventually wandered back to the party as it was winding down. I think it was three AM when I saw my bed.
Sunday
Did lots of things and wandered hither and yon. In the eveningthe_ladylark, troo and I wandered off to get ready for the evening's entertainment. I have to say we cleaned up rather nicely and both troo and the_ladylark looked stunning in their outfits. Coming downstairs again was an experience, as there were so many people in pretty outfits in the lobby. I giggled at the expressions of the hotel staff behind reception. They were utterly bemused and had no clue what was going on, but my, were they appreciating the fact it was happening.
The Gala dinner was very good, the speeches were quite fun and the experience was only slightly marred by someone being occassionally quite vocal in her Stephen Briggs appreciation during said speeches. After the Gala dinner I spent quite some time talking withthe_hunter. The conversation wandered all over the place and occasionally got quite strange as we both simultaneously had our trains of thought derailed (or at least shifted rather suddenly to a parallel track) when someone pretty wandered past. And there was so much pretty to appreciate.
I was also privileged to learn a new thing aboutoscarhocklee. It is that he can move quite quickly and stealthily for someone that tall. I looked to one side, and I could see him from the corner of my eye. Not three seconds later, I turn his way to say hi, only to discover he was then standing behind me without me having noticed he moved. The resulting 'Yeep!' amused him to no end.
Monday
Did more things while being really rather quite tired. I had acquired blue fluffy deelie-boppers at some point which started doing the rounds, There is, once again, photographical evidence of people wearing it. We were unsuccessful in getting tallest housemate to wear them, though. We attented the closing ceremony where awards were handed out and eventually Bruce the chairman nearly reduced me to tears when he said "Oh, if only you knew what a life I had, and it is all here, in this room". The ConCom got a deserved thunderous applause and then it was all over. We left Pterry sweeping up the stage. I felt rather sad and wanted the clock to be turned back so I could do it all over again.
I then spent the next 90 minutes or so hunting down people in burgundy shirts and looking frazzled and more exhausted than everyone else and proceeded to offer hugs as a thank you for a brilliant Con. This was surprisingly well received. I was unsuccessful in hunting downshevek for a thank you snuggle, but all was well eventually as they managed to well and truly snog me while running to grab a taxi to the restaurant. I went 'Hee' and off to a happy place in my head for a bit, before being dragged back to reality. This reality involved a lot of saying goodbye and hugging. hobnobs eventually made his way home and the_ladylark and I then took random_c and the_hunter out for a bit to eat in one of the hotel's other restaurants. This was a lovely end to a Con and we eventually parted ways and made our way home.
Thinking back on it still makes me happy and fuzzy inside. My first convention ever and it felt like being part of a family. Next Con I hope to do more of the events (I also have offered my translation/proofreading services for the next one. People keep giving me pitying looks. Help?) and talk to more friends, because even in these four days, I managed to miss a few that I wanted to talk to. I have also missed naming any number of things and people and ShinyStuff that I saw, but they are firmly tucked away in my brain and the memories will be revisited as and wehn appropriate.
* And those not previously known to me in person. I immediately learnt the trick of checking someone's badge name, as there was a rather tall person standing behind me going 'Sessifet?'. This turned out to bewinterbay who promptly got hugged.
** Anyone who has met these fine young gentlemen knows this is not a difficult feat at all. Seperately they are imposing enough, so the sight of the three of them walking towards me was interesting.
*** 'Hello. My name is...*gets note out of pocket*...Terry Pratchett.'
**** Not anyone in particular, let me make this clear. Just completely randomised mayhem and slaughter. But I was too tired.
I'd hoped to be able to go down to Birmingham on the back of
hobnobs newly repaired zippy bike, but during a test ride earlier in the week my back decided this would be a monumentally stupid idea. The rest of me went 'Woo!' during the (short) ride, though, so I'll definitely be looking into getting my bike license. So instead I joined the_ladylark in the car down to the Con hotel. Our directions consisted of 'Drive down to Birmingham, follow signs that say N.E.C. and then follow signs that lead to the Hilton.' This worked rather well, and we arrived somewhat before noon. Grabbing the first bits of luggage we proceeded to check-in and after dropping off our stuff in our respective bedrooms, we made our way to registration. Having registered, we grabbed most of the rest of the luggage and headed down to Ops to check in my brain (and, incidentally,
the_ladylark's fencing equipment). happydisciple okayed my brain and after hugging those present and known to me* we wandered off to see what the Con had to offer. the_ladylark and I had talked about this and it was decided she would have a limpet for a while as this was my first fandom convention ever. I felt right at home after I ran into someone who was also wearing a 'Come to the Dark Side. We have cookies.' t-shirt. No idea who she was, but we squeed at each other a bit and then went our seperate ways.Passed The Dysk and saw
shevek the Tech Fairy running around like a blue-arsed fly so I decided to come back and snuggle them later. Most of the afternoon was spent running into people I hadn't seen in absolutely forever and it all went by rather quickly. If you saw me at any point grinning vaguely and generally looking bouncy, it was because I was on a definite shiny people high.I lost
the_ladylark somewhere after she, troo and I went swimming and didn't see her again properly until the next morning. I wandered off to god knows where. I do recall it involved spotting da_pol, megamole and oscarhocklee on the way**. I spent some time in the bar before wandering back to The Dysk to see if shevek could be persuaded to be snuggled and kissed (yes). I also managed to spot and hug the elusive (or so he turned out to be during the weekend) swaldman. I wandered off again to something in specific, but got distracted by da_pol, random_c and the_hunter. Ended up talking with them for quite a while.After this, it's all a bit of blur. I'm not sure what went where at what time, but I definitely attended an Opening Ceremony where Pterry won the crowd with his first sentence.***. I definitely know where Bed Time Stories fitted in because for me it quite obviously was Bed Time. I do apologise to
umlj for sleeping on him through quite a bit of it. I begged off at eleven and I think I spotted Tallest Housemate outside on Watch Duty before wandering off to bed in a daze. Saturday
I woke up refreshed and made my way down to breakfast in the company of a becostumed
purplepooka, who I prompty lost again until after breakfast. Went to a Guild Meeting as I completely forgot to go to the one the previous night.I then proceeded to queue to get Wintersmith signed. I had acquired some blue dots the day before at the urging of
sierra_le_oli but was too stubborn to make use of them. Bad idea in hindsight. In the end I didn't get my book signed personally as the time overran and they started handed out tickets. At this point my back and hip went on strike and didn't want to wait in line anymore. I wandered over to the bar and flopped. I was later told I looked I was either going to keel over dead or kill someone ****. Later that day I got to spend some quality time with shevek and we went off to get them prettified and to snuggle. There are pictures of said pretty, and oh my, was it pretty. *grabbyhands*I didn't see much of the Hedgehog party as I went outside for a smoke and ended up talking to complete strangers for 3-4 hours. This was fun and quite interesting as I normally stick close to people I know in an unfamiliar environment. I eventually wandered back to the party as it was winding down. I think it was three AM when I saw my bed.
Sunday
Did lots of things and wandered hither and yon. In the evening
the_ladylark, troo and I wandered off to get ready for the evening's entertainment. I have to say we cleaned up rather nicely and both troo and the_ladylark looked stunning in their outfits. Coming downstairs again was an experience, as there were so many people in pretty outfits in the lobby. I giggled at the expressions of the hotel staff behind reception. They were utterly bemused and had no clue what was going on, but my, were they appreciating the fact it was happening. The Gala dinner was very good, the speeches were quite fun and the experience was only slightly marred by someone being occassionally quite vocal in her Stephen Briggs appreciation during said speeches. After the Gala dinner I spent quite some time talking with
the_hunter. The conversation wandered all over the place and occasionally got quite strange as we both simultaneously had our trains of thought derailed (or at least shifted rather suddenly to a parallel track) when someone pretty wandered past. And there was so much pretty to appreciate.I was also privileged to learn a new thing about
oscarhocklee. It is that he can move quite quickly and stealthily for someone that tall. I looked to one side, and I could see him from the corner of my eye. Not three seconds later, I turn his way to say hi, only to discover he was then standing behind me without me having noticed he moved. The resulting 'Yeep!' amused him to no end.Monday
Did more things while being really rather quite tired. I had acquired blue fluffy deelie-boppers at some point which started doing the rounds, There is, once again, photographical evidence of people wearing it. We were unsuccessful in getting tallest housemate to wear them, though. We attented the closing ceremony where awards were handed out and eventually Bruce the chairman nearly reduced me to tears when he said "Oh, if only you knew what a life I had, and it is all here, in this room". The ConCom got a deserved thunderous applause and then it was all over. We left Pterry sweeping up the stage. I felt rather sad and wanted the clock to be turned back so I could do it all over again.
I then spent the next 90 minutes or so hunting down people in burgundy shirts and looking frazzled and more exhausted than everyone else and proceeded to offer hugs as a thank you for a brilliant Con. This was surprisingly well received. I was unsuccessful in hunting down
shevek for a thank you snuggle, but all was well eventually as they managed to well and truly snog me while running to grab a taxi to the restaurant. I went 'Hee' and off to a happy place in my head for a bit, before being dragged back to reality. This reality involved a lot of saying goodbye and hugging. hobnobs eventually made his way home and the_ladylark and I then took random_c and the_hunter out for a bit to eat in one of the hotel's other restaurants. This was a lovely end to a Con and we eventually parted ways and made our way home.Thinking back on it still makes me happy and fuzzy inside. My first convention ever and it felt like being part of a family. Next Con I hope to do more of the events (I also have offered my translation/proofreading services for the next one. People keep giving me pitying looks. Help?) and talk to more friends, because even in these four days, I managed to miss a few that I wanted to talk to. I have also missed naming any number of things and people and ShinyStuff that I saw, but they are firmly tucked away in my brain and the memories will be revisited as and wehn appropriate.
* And those not previously known to me in person. I immediately learnt the trick of checking someone's badge name, as there was a rather tall person standing behind me going 'Sessifet?'. This turned out to be
winterbay who promptly got hugged.** Anyone who has met these fine young gentlemen knows this is not a difficult feat at all. Seperately they are imposing enough, so the sight of the three of them walking towards me was interesting.
*** 'Hello. My name is...*gets note out of pocket*...Terry Pratchett.'
**** Not anyone in particular, let me make this clear. Just completely randomised mayhem and slaughter. But I was too tired.
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Date: 2008-09-15 08:08 pm (UTC)CCA
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Date: 2008-09-15 09:50 pm (UTC)And yes, it was lovely to meet you. As usual, I now wish we'd spent more time talking. :)
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Date: 2008-09-15 10:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-16 10:09 am (UTC)CCA
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Date: 2008-09-16 11:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-16 12:06 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2008-09-16 09:04 pm (UTC)