Tuesday Has No Phones (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
thebratqueen) wrote2002-04-08 01:44 pm
thebratqueen) wrote2002-04-08 01:44 pm
Entry tags:
No, really, I was sober the whole time
Okay, I'm back. Might as well get the obligatory Connexions report out of the way.
I got in on Thursday night which I think was a wise move. I liked having the luxury of checking in without having to worry about what time it was. I was rooming with my lovely wife Cin and my old friend and family member Mick C, and two better roomies could not be found.
Let me get the hotel stuff out of the way by saying that it was frustrating. Our room was sub-standard (there was a near constant leak in the bathroom for instance) but the con area was great. Likewise the hotel service was this odd mix of really, really bad and really, really good with little in-between. Really bad such as when we told the front desk that the A/C wasn't working, the woman basically snotted to us that obviously we weren't turning it on correctly, but really good in that when Cin complained about not being able to hook up her VCR because of the protective caps around the PPV box, the manager sent up someone who did all the work for us.
Now I have to try to remember what panels I went to. I did the "We have met the enemy and they are us" panel, which I thought was a very good one. Having come in to fandom by way of VC, I was definitely feeling all of the problems raised at the panel. No real solutions were suggested, but it was good to talk it all out.
I did the LotR panel but I'm not as big in that fandom as I am elsewhere so that was mostly me sitting and listening and enjoying the little rings that the mods brought.
I want to say that I did other panels but if I did I'm totally blanking on them. I may have spent some time in the dealer's room before finally heading off to my Angel panel.
I know I ran into them elsewhere, but here is where I really met![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
mpoetess, witchwillow, wolfling, Kath and - fuck, more and I'm blanking on your names. Please don't be offended. I'm sure it will come to me once I'm more clear-headed.
Anyway, I loved everybody at the panel (even you Fred-lovers) and thought some interesting ideas were raised. Although I'm told by others one of the real highlights of the panel was me falling to the floor and twitching, Angel-style, at the traumatic suggestion of Fred and Gunn recreating the days of slavery back in the bedroom ;)
Fri. night vid show was great. There was even an Angel vid which made my heart do a happy dance. There was also a vid - and damned if I can remember which one - which put a plot bunny in my head so insistant that I turned to Mick C and said we had to get a keyboard hooked up to her palm pilot so I could write it out. However, better still, Cin had her laptop with her so she and Mick fell asleep to the sounds of me typing. Cin's still got the story on her computer so I'll be posting it to the varous Angelslash lists I'm on once she mails it to me.
Sat. was again a day of me doing less panels than I thought I would. I missed out on the DIY cartoon slash panel, so if any batslashers were hoping to run into me there I apologize. I was in the con suite having breakfast and talking Trek slash with Cin, Mick C, Mirrim, Jonathan and Minotaur (and a few fans who happened to pass by).
I did do the legalities of slash panel which I found to be very informative. My only regret about that panel was that it wasn't made clearer that this was more of a technical panel than a "let's all chat about our experiences" one. It was frustrating to try to ask a question only to have someone in the group hijack it by talking about her own feelings. Not that a panel in which we all shared our various legal troubles wouldn't have been interesting, just that we needed a clearer definition of what the current panel was.
I really enjoyed the LJ/blog panel, for all that I showed up late. I liked all the issues that were discussed about the pros and cons of ljs and blogs in fandom. Plus it was nice to go around the room and get usernames and see pratically every name get a reaction of "Oh!" as people were able to put faces to the names they already knew. It was kind of interesting for me when my turn came b/c the person who gave an "oh!" then was someone who's really big into LotR and not much else, so I was vaguely curious how she knew a VC/Angel type person like myself.
Minotaur's panel was good but surprisingly quiet. My suspicion is that it was mostly filled with people who have been to his panel before and therefore knew most of the answers already. Look for "He's not gay, he's just British" as the title of many a slash story in the near future ;)
The banquet was nice. The food was actually good which was surprising for the price. My only beef was that the hotel staff was not on top of things like drinks. I ultimately had to go outside to a water fountain to get a glass of water for myself (although some lovely fans - and again I'm sorry because I can remember your faces but not your names - scolded me and said I should have just asked to borrow their water pitcher instead of walking all that way) and my tablemates had to ask like a thousand times before they were actually served some coffee. But in spite of all that I would say the banquet was great and well worth going to.
The play was fun, and the vid show also fun, although heavy into LotR and TS. I was surprised at the lack of Smallville vids, although I'm told there are some out there. There were a couple of SG vids though and - damn!! People, why didn't you tell me Wesley had an American cousin? Rmeow! Lucky for me Daniel's not on the show anymore or else I'd be in serious trouble of succumbing to a new fandom here. I told Mick and Mal they could feel free to pimp me stories though.
After the vid show I was going to go directly to bed, but I ran into Mad Poetess, Wolfling and WitchWillow in the hallway and what was meant to be a quick "Please tell me you're coming to the Buffy panel tomorrow" conversation turned into us gossiping and talking about Buffy and Angel for hours until some bitchy mundane yelled at us to shut up. So I didn't get into bed until 4am (stupid daylight savings) which left me a bit tired and headachy for Sunday but hey - it's not a con if you don't lose some sleep, right?
The Buffy panel was tons of fun. Lots of people there brought up ideas and points of view that I'd never seen or considered before, which for a Jossverse slut like myself is a very welcome and surprising treat. Mega thanks to all who participated!
I also have to mention the wonderful Kath, who brought her pictures of Alexis from the Posting Board Party. DAMN! How the fuck does AH let him out of the house? He's even better looking in person. Kath can attest that I was literally drooling and saying "oh my god" to every picture in the 3 roll pack. Kath? Sweetie? You will be scanning those in so people don't think I'm exagerrating.
The rest of Sunday was pretty much a blur. My apologies to those who either got very quick goodbyes from me or no goodbye at all. I was going on pretty much no breakfast by 2pm and I had to eat, get directions and get ready to go to DC by 3. As it was I literally made it to my 5pm train with just a few minutes to spare.
Let's see - random extras. I bought both Duets zines (neener neener neener), Love's Bitch which I read on the train home and thought it had only a couple of good stories and a few others that really needed a stronger editor/beta-reader. All the stories had interesting concepts but it was frustrating to see those concepts get lost in a mass of some very basic writing mistakes. Still, I got more than a few plot bunnies out of it which I consider worth the price of admission right there, so to speak. So we'll see how those stories hash out over time.
I was also seriously surprised by how many of y'all came up to me to mention the 800 page thing. Not that I'm complaining mind you - it's nice to see the RPG from Hell being appreciated by people who don't live inside of my head ;) - but I never would have thought people would be as interested as they were. Here's hoping the rest of the RPG from Hell doesn't disappoint you.
And.... I'm sure there's more that I want to talk about but I'm totally drawing a blank on it. Oh well - I can always post later. =)
I got in on Thursday night which I think was a wise move. I liked having the luxury of checking in without having to worry about what time it was. I was rooming with my lovely wife Cin and my old friend and family member Mick C, and two better roomies could not be found.
Let me get the hotel stuff out of the way by saying that it was frustrating. Our room was sub-standard (there was a near constant leak in the bathroom for instance) but the con area was great. Likewise the hotel service was this odd mix of really, really bad and really, really good with little in-between. Really bad such as when we told the front desk that the A/C wasn't working, the woman basically snotted to us that obviously we weren't turning it on correctly, but really good in that when Cin complained about not being able to hook up her VCR because of the protective caps around the PPV box, the manager sent up someone who did all the work for us.
Now I have to try to remember what panels I went to. I did the "We have met the enemy and they are us" panel, which I thought was a very good one. Having come in to fandom by way of VC, I was definitely feeling all of the problems raised at the panel. No real solutions were suggested, but it was good to talk it all out.
I did the LotR panel but I'm not as big in that fandom as I am elsewhere so that was mostly me sitting and listening and enjoying the little rings that the mods brought.
I want to say that I did other panels but if I did I'm totally blanking on them. I may have spent some time in the dealer's room before finally heading off to my Angel panel.
I know I ran into them elsewhere, but here is where I really met
mpoetess, witchwillow, wolfling, Kath and - fuck, more and I'm blanking on your names. Please don't be offended. I'm sure it will come to me once I'm more clear-headed.Anyway, I loved everybody at the panel (even you Fred-lovers) and thought some interesting ideas were raised. Although I'm told by others one of the real highlights of the panel was me falling to the floor and twitching, Angel-style, at the traumatic suggestion of Fred and Gunn recreating the days of slavery back in the bedroom ;)
Fri. night vid show was great. There was even an Angel vid which made my heart do a happy dance. There was also a vid - and damned if I can remember which one - which put a plot bunny in my head so insistant that I turned to Mick C and said we had to get a keyboard hooked up to her palm pilot so I could write it out. However, better still, Cin had her laptop with her so she and Mick fell asleep to the sounds of me typing. Cin's still got the story on her computer so I'll be posting it to the varous Angelslash lists I'm on once she mails it to me.
Sat. was again a day of me doing less panels than I thought I would. I missed out on the DIY cartoon slash panel, so if any batslashers were hoping to run into me there I apologize. I was in the con suite having breakfast and talking Trek slash with Cin, Mick C, Mirrim, Jonathan and Minotaur (and a few fans who happened to pass by).
I did do the legalities of slash panel which I found to be very informative. My only regret about that panel was that it wasn't made clearer that this was more of a technical panel than a "let's all chat about our experiences" one. It was frustrating to try to ask a question only to have someone in the group hijack it by talking about her own feelings. Not that a panel in which we all shared our various legal troubles wouldn't have been interesting, just that we needed a clearer definition of what the current panel was.
I really enjoyed the LJ/blog panel, for all that I showed up late. I liked all the issues that were discussed about the pros and cons of ljs and blogs in fandom. Plus it was nice to go around the room and get usernames and see pratically every name get a reaction of "Oh!" as people were able to put faces to the names they already knew. It was kind of interesting for me when my turn came b/c the person who gave an "oh!" then was someone who's really big into LotR and not much else, so I was vaguely curious how she knew a VC/Angel type person like myself.
Minotaur's panel was good but surprisingly quiet. My suspicion is that it was mostly filled with people who have been to his panel before and therefore knew most of the answers already. Look for "He's not gay, he's just British" as the title of many a slash story in the near future ;)
The banquet was nice. The food was actually good which was surprising for the price. My only beef was that the hotel staff was not on top of things like drinks. I ultimately had to go outside to a water fountain to get a glass of water for myself (although some lovely fans - and again I'm sorry because I can remember your faces but not your names - scolded me and said I should have just asked to borrow their water pitcher instead of walking all that way) and my tablemates had to ask like a thousand times before they were actually served some coffee. But in spite of all that I would say the banquet was great and well worth going to.
The play was fun, and the vid show also fun, although heavy into LotR and TS. I was surprised at the lack of Smallville vids, although I'm told there are some out there. There were a couple of SG vids though and - damn!! People, why didn't you tell me Wesley had an American cousin? Rmeow! Lucky for me Daniel's not on the show anymore or else I'd be in serious trouble of succumbing to a new fandom here. I told Mick and Mal they could feel free to pimp me stories though.
After the vid show I was going to go directly to bed, but I ran into Mad Poetess, Wolfling and WitchWillow in the hallway and what was meant to be a quick "Please tell me you're coming to the Buffy panel tomorrow" conversation turned into us gossiping and talking about Buffy and Angel for hours until some bitchy mundane yelled at us to shut up. So I didn't get into bed until 4am (stupid daylight savings) which left me a bit tired and headachy for Sunday but hey - it's not a con if you don't lose some sleep, right?
The Buffy panel was tons of fun. Lots of people there brought up ideas and points of view that I'd never seen or considered before, which for a Jossverse slut like myself is a very welcome and surprising treat. Mega thanks to all who participated!
I also have to mention the wonderful Kath, who brought her pictures of Alexis from the Posting Board Party. DAMN! How the fuck does AH let him out of the house? He's even better looking in person. Kath can attest that I was literally drooling and saying "oh my god" to every picture in the 3 roll pack. Kath? Sweetie? You will be scanning those in so people don't think I'm exagerrating.
The rest of Sunday was pretty much a blur. My apologies to those who either got very quick goodbyes from me or no goodbye at all. I was going on pretty much no breakfast by 2pm and I had to eat, get directions and get ready to go to DC by 3. As it was I literally made it to my 5pm train with just a few minutes to spare.
Let's see - random extras. I bought both Duets zines (neener neener neener), Love's Bitch which I read on the train home and thought it had only a couple of good stories and a few others that really needed a stronger editor/beta-reader. All the stories had interesting concepts but it was frustrating to see those concepts get lost in a mass of some very basic writing mistakes. Still, I got more than a few plot bunnies out of it which I consider worth the price of admission right there, so to speak. So we'll see how those stories hash out over time.
I was also seriously surprised by how many of y'all came up to me to mention the 800 page thing. Not that I'm complaining mind you - it's nice to see the RPG from Hell being appreciated by people who don't live inside of my head ;) - but I never would have thought people would be as interested as they were. Here's hoping the rest of the RPG from Hell doesn't disappoint you.
And.... I'm sure there's more that I want to talk about but I'm totally drawing a blank on it. Oh well - I can always post later. =)