Further Assimilations

• 09:43 Thought of first thing I forgot to pack for TCon. 90-minute side trip this afternoon not worth it. #
• 21:40 Sitting in the smallest hotel room I've rented in 20 years. #

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Happy Halloween / Samhain to everyone!

I wore my Enterprise jumpsuit for candy distirbution tonight. Nobody recognized it. Given that people even mis-recognized it at a DragonCon where Connor Trinneer was guesting, I have to wonder if it should be packed away and only brought out for hardcore fannish events.

On the other hand, I got involved in a very cool audio production of a part of the Headless Horseman legend. You totally need to check out the journal entry I've linked to, and listen to the file.

Here, have a holiday-themed WoW screenshot.

Gnome on Broomstick Mirandala riding the "Magic Broom" available during the 2007 Hallow's End celebration

I slept quite late Sunday morning; I'd not had enough rest in the last week, and a five-hour drive is still draining even when it's pleasant.

shrewlet fixed a big breakfast for us. I was starving, I honestly ate too much. I spent a few minutes checking e-mail and trying to log onto WoW - I'm trying to earn enough quest tickets to win a prize in-game - but I couldn't get a good connection. It wasn't long before I had to give up and get dressed for yubbie and colleenk's wedding.

Wile dressing, I amused myself by considering the far greater number of times I've worn a Starfleet uniform than a suit, but it's not as if I'd forgotten how to put it on. Dwight and I left the Arthur digs early, for we had stops to make - I picked up a cute card for the happy couple - and we arrived pretty much on time.

Listing the LJ and fan folk who were there would be quite tedious, so I shan't try. The wedding was wonderful. Colleen was gorgeous and Ron looked great. I saw people there I hadn't laid eyes on in years!

That sad part was that I couldn't stay for the reception - we had a 5-hour drive back (6, really) and Dwight had to be home in time for an early work day. So I didn't get to pass on my congratulations in person. But the pictures prove I was there!

Home now... I had a great time, and wish I could have spent more time at that end of the state. The Roanoke and New River valleys need to be brought at least 2/3 closer to Hampton Roads (or vice versa).

Friday at work, we had "Dress Like a Pirate Day" in an attempt to do "Talk Like a Pirate Day" one better.



The whole gallery of pictures is behind the link. It was a lot of fun... we certainly flummoxed the shop owner for a few moments.

My co-workers were amazed to learn that I can throw together a passable pirate outfit from my closets with 30-minutes notice. Thank you SF and fantasy fandom :)

(Oh, and I did finally find some Harlock desktops to throw onto the screens of the two stations I use.)

Halloween's a holiday dedicated to things that aren't what they seem, so it's a bit appropriate that George Takei is choosing it to come publically out of the closet.

http://www.frontierspublishing.com/features/feature_second.html

Good for him! I can't help thinking that some of the people involved with RoVaCon way back when would have been less excited about inviting him had they known... but that's far in the past now.

I haven't decided yet what to wear to Mandy & Krys' party tomorrow night. I do wish VTSFFC Halloween wasn't 5 hours away. I also wish Rain didn't work Saturdays and Sundays, making a 2- or 3am Rocky Horror evening this weekend a bit impractical.

In good news, Rain welcomed me home last night to a spotless living room lit by candles, served me an excellent dinner, and snuggled down with me for a romantic evening of TiVo'd MythBusters. (Hey, mad science is too romantic.) It was a good way to wrap up the day.

Sunday, 9/4

Sunday I decided to finally drag out the only costume I'd packed, my Enterprise uniform. On a whim, I headed to the Dealers' Room where a booth was selling animal ears, and found a pair of 'cat ears' which perfectly matched my head hair. The combination had unexpected results; all day, people decided I was dressed as John Candy from Spaceballs, and I was in too good a mood to correct anyone. I must have been asked to pose 7 or 8 times, so my vanity was well stoked. Costuming felt good. I will be bringing more outfits next time.

I suppose it's possible that more people saw Spaceballs than ever saw an episode of Enterprise.

Headed to one of Connor Trineer's panels in hopes of a picture with him, but the line outside the ballroom in question stretched practically into the next hotel. A shame, as he was always my favorite part of Enterprise. I wandered instead into a MSTing of The Empire Strikes Back, which to my great surprise, was hilarious. I'd always assumed you couldn't MST an actually good film. Another panel with the actors who portray the Weasley twins in the Harry Potter flicks had been cancelled, so I wandered about the con for a while, making most of my actual purchases.

It was either today or the day before that I picked up my favorite bit of loot: a brand-new copy of Fourth Edition Shadowrun, personalized to me by Mike Mulvihill (inventor of Shadowrun) and Jordan Weisman (inventor of FASA and WizKids). My wife rocks, BTW.

The masquerade was broadcast on the hotel TV network, so we opted to watch from the comfort of our room. Some of the costumes were incredible - the three Warhammer 40K Space Marines, painted not realistically but as if painstakingly detailed by a giant with a telephone-pole sized paintbrush, were completely stunning - but believe it or not, Technicon and Rising Star's masquerades run smoother and more professionally. Honestly! Perhaps at Dragon*Con's level, it's just too much to easily handle, but we local con staffs have nothing to be embarrassed about.

EDIT: Oh, and speaking of such, they had one filker, a relatively famous one on the con circuit, cover the kids' costume judging; and another one cover the main judging. Keith, we have to get you to Dragon*Con. The first guy had fair material, but no singing voice to speak of. The second guy might be useful in extracting information from suspected terrorists. White Plectrum may not be as well known, but honestly - not as a fanboy at all - it's a better act.

Masquerade over, and the hotels start truly rocking for the last evening of the con. The noise several floors up is quite distinct, and according to people's photo journals, some of the best hall costumes of the weekend came out. Sadly, your hero is old and tired. I didn't leave the room after we turned off the TV, and conked out before midnight.

Card Night was at our place last night, instead of at team_kitty's place. This had the advantage that we didn't have to fight yups for use of the clubhouse at Kitten's apartment complex, plus shorter drives for some people - with gas prices the way they are, this means something. (I'm not sure I could afford to make Rising Star this year if it weren't for the fact that I miss everyone there so badly!)

We played my new copy of the Paranoia Mandatory Bonus Fun Card Game last night - with 8 players and a new game, it ran very long. The Computer killed off three of each Troubleshooter's clones in mid-game because of the traitorous amount of time the missions were taking ;) But the game itself was great... there was much cheerful backstabbing, though the players took a while to understand that it was body count that would eventually win the game. It had that perfect Paranoia feel, though, and I think I might have more people interested in a few sessions of the RPG.

I'm running out of time to assemble my EmCee costume for Rising Star this year. It would help if a) my bank account was healthier, and b) if I actually had a final idea picked out. I'd love to have this Halo Master Chief armor I saw at Dragon*Con... it vaguely fits into the con's 'mecha' theme... but neither of the websites that feature it are actually selling copies at the moment, and it would probably be hard to hear me through the helmet.

Speaking of the con, I will probably finish the report today. Probably.

Thursday, 9/1

I couldn't sleep Wednesday night - a combination of a wired state and generally poor sleep lately anyway. I had to get up quite early to get cleaned up, tuck last-minute stuff in the suitcase, and make a trip to the bank. I finally got to meet thatwhichisgene - a very intelligent, charming fellow, even if we don't agree on Shadowrun and The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Gene made good time driving down, and we arrived less than 9 hours out from Norfolk - without speeding! Gas was as high as $7.00 a gallon in Atlanta, so after determining that the rented station wagon's tank was good for about 400 miles, we made sure to gas up about 150 miles out where the prices were more reasonable.

On Thursday evening, the Dragon*Con registration lines are non-existent - I strongly recommend getting one's badge this early. Hall costuming was already starting, though the Con was not to begin until 9:00 the next day. I found David Allen (once of Starfleet, now of Plan Nine Publishing) outside the registration hotel, and chatted for a few minutes before returning to the hotel where I was staying.

Dragon*Con 2005 consisted of three hotels - the Hyatt, home of filking, gaming and half the panels; the Marriott, home of two dealers rooms, the art show, an artists' walk, and more panels; and registration, buried in the Atlanta Hilton. I stayed in the Hyatt. It wasn't as crowded as the horror stories would have had me fear, but the five elevators where always unusably queued. Luckily, our fifth-floor room was easy to walk up and down to and from. (Room 523 - a nice Discordian number.) During the con weekend itself, every room in the Hyatt was occupied by con-goers: one wasn't allowed in the hotel without a Con badge. The street between the Hyatt and the Marriott was blocked off for Con traffic. I began to get the idea that this was a big con.

It was late. I was pooped. I went to bed.

I've always liked Niven's Laws. I don't slavishly agree with them, but they are an excellent source of topics to ponder.

This leads to the fact that I've just deleted a lengthy rant about SF/fantasy fans who, despite entreaties from their favorite authors that they start thinking for themselves, are still want to be told what to think and what to believe. The only thing we humans got that the rest of the animal kindgom didn't is a more complex brain. It's way past time that we as a race consider trying out some of its higher gears, just to see what happens, you know?

( Ok, wow, Technicon report, cool. )

Happy belated birthday to southernsinger!

Almost done with the project that's been breaking my back for the last month; a small measure of my sanity should return when it's finally done. It's not helping that the server room has moved to my floor, so everyone's office is chilly all day. I may have some good story news in the next several days (hope hope).

I'm finally catching up on my Enterprise episodes. I've now seen the first three of the season, and I've been satisfied with them - nothing yet to go in my "favorite Trek episodes ever" file, but I've had fun and haven't felt insulted. The mention that the NX-01 class was designed by "Captain Jeffries" was a nice nod. I'm going to try the first non-pilot Battlestar Galactica episode this week - I've heard that the individual episodes are much more appealing to my kind of fan than the pilot was, so I'm crossing my fingers.

Oh, yeah, Lloyd Eldred has made it into one of Decipher's card games. (This is a old VTSFFC Halloween in-joke.)