Friday
- Packed and stopped at the Beer Store on the way out of town.
- Picked up John and drove in after stops to get wine and groceries.
- Checked in to hotel.
- Ran into Nathan almost immediately.
- Registered at con and ran into Dan.
- Hooked up with Nathan again and checked out the charity auction (some interesting items present).
- Went to hotel bar for a coffee and pitched John my idea for a new short story.
- Looked through dealer’s room and was very tempted by a number of swords there.
- Bumped into Julie and Roger briefly as familiar faces started to congregate (or aggregate) as they do at these events, and they’re good to see.
- Went to dinner with John, Lara, Tim, Mary, Rob and Lara’s friend Jennifer (had a great discussion about free medicine, Tolkien and teaching).
- At Klingon Karaoke, John signed up a number of us for Sweet Home Alabama.
- Got dragged onto the dance floor (and have a scratch to prove it) for the Macarena (though there don’t seem to be any clear pictures to incriminate me).
- Escaped with the group before having to do any singing.
- Talked Roger into sharing some Scotch with John and I (not a difficult thing to do) before turning in for the night.
Saturday
- John and I grabbed breakfast at Harvey’s (mmmm, congealed grease).
- Newsgroup gathering was fun with many friends (got to see Annette’s picture book {Wow!}). Also talked to Julie about story idea (which developed as I talked about it).
- Went to see Stephanie Romanov (Lilah from Angel) and then ducked out to one of see Julie’s panels.
- Picked up lunch from con volunteer’s table by accident (oops) and sat in the consuite for a while, until we had to escape.
- Went to the advanced swordplay panel, which was interesting for learning what to look for in a sword, though I’m more interested in swords for display than actual use as the panel leaned towards.
- Dinner at Milestone’s with almost everyone, unfortunately we couldn’t all sit together, but there was a lot of visiting between tables.
- Had a few drinks up in the room with John and Jana then off to the masquerade.
- Discovered at the masquerade just how loud Jana can scream.
- Had a few more drinks in consuite I think (uh oh, that’s getting to be a theme).
- Danced, which is always more fun than I expect.
- Gathered in room with Nathan, Andrew, Nicole, Roger, Ruth, Kevin, Chris, Sarah, Karina, Jana and Julie.
Sunday
- Up far too early for breakfast at Tim’s with John, Kevin, Nathan and Miranda.
- Started out at panel for Space: The Imagination Station (who cancelled DS9, damn them) and ducked out to go see The Art of War for SF & F.
- Caught Rob Sawyer’s reading from his forthcoming book Mindscan (not available until April 2005).
- Went to Harvey’s for lunch with newsgroup.
- Talked writing with Lara, pitched her my idea for a new short story.
- Went for post-lunch coffee with John and Tim and had a good conversation about politics and religion.
- Caught Sarah on the Fantasy: Recommended Reading panel (looking forward to trying some of her recommendations).
- Slowly said goodbye to everyone before driving home again through lightning, thunder and some really good downpours.
The tally of friendly faces at the con
- Amanda and Peter
- Annette and family
- Chris
- Don Bassie
- Erin and family
- Jana
- Jane
- Jihane
- John
- Josh
- Julie and Roger Czerneda
- Karina
- Kel
- Kevin
- Lara and Robbie
- Lorne
- Miranda
- Nathan
- Nicole and Andrew
- Ross
- Ruth
- Sarah
- Tim and Marie
- Tordak
I’m probably missing someone, but I can’t remember. Sorry.