kevin_standlee (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
kevin_standlee) wrote2013-09-03 02:33 am
kevin_standlee) wrote2013-09-03 02:33 am
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Worldcon Day 5: Wrap It Up and Take It Home
I thought that I would be able to sleep in this Monday morning, but late last night René Walling asked if I could attend a CanSMOF board meeting at 8:30 AM. (I am a director of the Montreal Worldcon's parent non-profit corporation. Worldcon is one of the few times we have a quorum in one place for an in-person meeting.) I said, "I don't want to do so, but I can make it." At least I didn't have to help Lisa haul equipment to the convention center, but could instead get a coffee and sit in a comfy chair while we discussed stuff we needed to approve as a Board. I would be out of line to talk about the decisions until the corporation officially announces them, however.
I was able to let Lisa sleep while I came back to the room, dealt with the Worldcon Chairs Video upload, and got myself sufficiently together to go over to the Convention center with a tote bag. This was effectively Shopping Day. I was able to get convention shirts from Fo'Paws and I bought books. I also paid up Lisa and my attending memberships to Sasquon and Detcon 1, and I bought us Bon Ami (friend of the bid) memberships to the Montréal in 2017 Worldcon Bid. (Being a director of the bid's parent corporation, I reckoned that I should put my money where my mouth is.) Robbie Bourget, staffing the table, gave me a red cowboy hat with a white maple leaf on it. Later, I saw Andrew Adams from the Nippon 2017 bid, and he gave me one of their headbands and tied it around the hat, making me a "double agent."
Lisa came over later and we made our final passes through the exhibits, dealers room, and fan tables. She stuck with the Luna Society folks breaking down their table while I went to the closing ceremonies. LSC3's chairman gave out many thank-you awards, and the convention gave out various Best Party awards. When Montréal was announced as one of the winners, it turns out none of the folks from the party were there. It was suggested I should wear the maple-leaf hat and go collect it, but that seemed presumptuous. In retrospect, it would have possibly been better public relations (my being a director and all) to collect the award and deliver it to the party team later.
Then it was time to say hello to Loncon 3. A TARDIS was unveiled, and co-chairs Alice Lawson and Steve Cooper emerged to tell us that they'd just come back from Loncon 3, where they had a fabulous time. It was a well-rehearsed skit and very funny to me. At the end, they said, "We'll see you next year, or in just a few minutes" and exited through the TARDIS.
Then there was a nifty video for Loncon that highlighted all of the Worldcon sites that have been in Europe, in order. It's a pity that the Tech Team hadn't been able to work with them sooner so that they could get them queued up without the QuickTime Player frame appearing on screen. I hate to see mousing-around happening on the display screen. I understand Loncon 3 will make the video available soon on their web site.
I also hear that LSC3 may have mislaid the Gavel of WSFS. I hope that's not true, or if it is that they find it. I'm the person who got the current Gavel of WSFS for Worldcon, back in 1994, and I like the symbol of continuity between Worldcons it represents.
With LSC3 over, Lisa and I finally got our first and only real meal of the day over at the food court. I fear that we never really experienced the selection of restaurants around us. We ate twice at Luciano's Italian next to the hotel, but everything else was the food court, Denny's, or camp food in our room. Lisa was sick, and we were too busy to do much else.
We went back to the room and I fell asleep for about 20 minutes, awakening just in time for us to go down to the Con Suite, where the BASFA meeting was about to start. As usual, we had a lot of BASFA regulars along with those people who only attend our BASFA Meetings In Exile, and we had our usual Recreational Parliamentary Procedure, announcements, and reviews. Our Rumor of the Week was that the San Antonio Police Department would start using Daleks as anti-jaywalking patrols, a reference to the robotic "Wait... Wait... Wait..." that so many of us have experienced waiting for the slow pedestrian crosswalks between the two Marriotts and the Convention Center.
LSC3 gave water bottles to members as they registered. The surplus bottles were at the Dead Dog Party with signs saying to take as many as you want. As we drove and had the minivan, we have enough room, so we took a case of them. Now I know what one of our Lovely Parting Gifts for the next few Match Game SF shows will be. (We also received our re-order of Lovely Parting Gift ribbons this weekend.)
It was then on to the Old Pharts Party. I must admit that this was probably the best party of the weekend for me, as there was enough room and air to move around and I had a whole lot of very good conversations with a lot of people with whom I never had a chance to interact all weekend. I think we've set the ground work for some good developments this next year. Fingers crossed.
During the party, we were asked to gather on the patio (which was surprisingly comfortable with a nice breeze making the warm, humid night tolerable). First the Chicon 7 team talked about the death of Fred Pohl, which was just making the rounds about the time of the Closing Ceremony today. After we raised a toast to the memory of Fred Pohl, Dave McCarty presented LSC3 chair Randall Shepherd with the coveted and hard-to-get Former Worldcon Chair ribbon.
As it neared midnight, I realized that I really wanted to do a bit of advance packing, including moving things down to the van tonight if possible. But it took something like 45 minutes to make a full circuit of the suite before I said all my goodbyes.
Lisa had left the Old Pharts Party long ago, finding it boring and feeling like the little kid in the room with the adults. She'd gone down to the Dead Dog Party, but it was too loud, so she took![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
pcornelius out for a late snack at Denny's. As it happens, she came back to the room only a few minutes after I did.
We moved two loads of stuff to the van tonight. This should make it easier to move out in the morning. I also was able to print out our revised return schedule without having to pay for the business center computers. It turns out their printers will print directly from a USB stick without having to sign in to the pay system, which is very handy as the file I wanted printed was just a PDF on the memory stick.
Tuesday, we hope to be on the road by Noon. We have one stop in San Antonio, and we plan to take the scenic but slower route on US-90 through Langtry, Texas, heading for Fort Stockton. It could be a very long day, and I've had only about three hours of sleep in the past 48, so it would be wise if I tried to get a few more hours before we pack out of here.
I was able to let Lisa sleep while I came back to the room, dealt with the Worldcon Chairs Video upload, and got myself sufficiently together to go over to the Convention center with a tote bag. This was effectively Shopping Day. I was able to get convention shirts from Fo'Paws and I bought books. I also paid up Lisa and my attending memberships to Sasquon and Detcon 1, and I bought us Bon Ami (friend of the bid) memberships to the Montréal in 2017 Worldcon Bid. (Being a director of the bid's parent corporation, I reckoned that I should put my money where my mouth is.) Robbie Bourget, staffing the table, gave me a red cowboy hat with a white maple leaf on it. Later, I saw Andrew Adams from the Nippon 2017 bid, and he gave me one of their headbands and tied it around the hat, making me a "double agent."
Lisa came over later and we made our final passes through the exhibits, dealers room, and fan tables. She stuck with the Luna Society folks breaking down their table while I went to the closing ceremonies. LSC3's chairman gave out many thank-you awards, and the convention gave out various Best Party awards. When Montréal was announced as one of the winners, it turns out none of the folks from the party were there. It was suggested I should wear the maple-leaf hat and go collect it, but that seemed presumptuous. In retrospect, it would have possibly been better public relations (my being a director and all) to collect the award and deliver it to the party team later.
Then it was time to say hello to Loncon 3. A TARDIS was unveiled, and co-chairs Alice Lawson and Steve Cooper emerged to tell us that they'd just come back from Loncon 3, where they had a fabulous time. It was a well-rehearsed skit and very funny to me. At the end, they said, "We'll see you next year, or in just a few minutes" and exited through the TARDIS.
Then there was a nifty video for Loncon that highlighted all of the Worldcon sites that have been in Europe, in order. It's a pity that the Tech Team hadn't been able to work with them sooner so that they could get them queued up without the QuickTime Player frame appearing on screen. I hate to see mousing-around happening on the display screen. I understand Loncon 3 will make the video available soon on their web site.
I also hear that LSC3 may have mislaid the Gavel of WSFS. I hope that's not true, or if it is that they find it. I'm the person who got the current Gavel of WSFS for Worldcon, back in 1994, and I like the symbol of continuity between Worldcons it represents.
With LSC3 over, Lisa and I finally got our first and only real meal of the day over at the food court. I fear that we never really experienced the selection of restaurants around us. We ate twice at Luciano's Italian next to the hotel, but everything else was the food court, Denny's, or camp food in our room. Lisa was sick, and we were too busy to do much else.
We went back to the room and I fell asleep for about 20 minutes, awakening just in time for us to go down to the Con Suite, where the BASFA meeting was about to start. As usual, we had a lot of BASFA regulars along with those people who only attend our BASFA Meetings In Exile, and we had our usual Recreational Parliamentary Procedure, announcements, and reviews. Our Rumor of the Week was that the San Antonio Police Department would start using Daleks as anti-jaywalking patrols, a reference to the robotic "Wait... Wait... Wait..." that so many of us have experienced waiting for the slow pedestrian crosswalks between the two Marriotts and the Convention Center.
LSC3 gave water bottles to members as they registered. The surplus bottles were at the Dead Dog Party with signs saying to take as many as you want. As we drove and had the minivan, we have enough room, so we took a case of them. Now I know what one of our Lovely Parting Gifts for the next few Match Game SF shows will be. (We also received our re-order of Lovely Parting Gift ribbons this weekend.)
It was then on to the Old Pharts Party. I must admit that this was probably the best party of the weekend for me, as there was enough room and air to move around and I had a whole lot of very good conversations with a lot of people with whom I never had a chance to interact all weekend. I think we've set the ground work for some good developments this next year. Fingers crossed.
During the party, we were asked to gather on the patio (which was surprisingly comfortable with a nice breeze making the warm, humid night tolerable). First the Chicon 7 team talked about the death of Fred Pohl, which was just making the rounds about the time of the Closing Ceremony today. After we raised a toast to the memory of Fred Pohl, Dave McCarty presented LSC3 chair Randall Shepherd with the coveted and hard-to-get Former Worldcon Chair ribbon.
As it neared midnight, I realized that I really wanted to do a bit of advance packing, including moving things down to the van tonight if possible. But it took something like 45 minutes to make a full circuit of the suite before I said all my goodbyes.
Lisa had left the Old Pharts Party long ago, finding it boring and feeling like the little kid in the room with the adults. She'd gone down to the Dead Dog Party, but it was too loud, so she took
pcornelius out for a late snack at Denny's. As it happens, she came back to the room only a few minutes after I did.We moved two loads of stuff to the van tonight. This should make it easier to move out in the morning. I also was able to print out our revised return schedule without having to pay for the business center computers. It turns out their printers will print directly from a USB stick without having to sign in to the pay system, which is very handy as the file I wanted printed was just a PDF on the memory stick.
Tuesday, we hope to be on the road by Noon. We have one stop in San Antonio, and we plan to take the scenic but slower route on US-90 through Langtry, Texas, heading for Fort Stockton. It could be a very long day, and I've had only about three hours of sleep in the past 48, so it would be wise if I tried to get a few more hours before we pack out of here.