Kevin Standlee: Fandom Is My Way of Life

The alarm went off at 2:00 AM, much too early for my liking. I dragged myself out of bed, went and set a cup of coffee to brew, and got dressed with minimal prep. While I was answering messages, Lisa came in at 2:30 as we'd discussed last night. I finished the food bar (which she had brought home with her all the way from her train from Munich to Hamburg), took the coffee, and we headed for Reno.

As usual when you shop at WinCo at this hour, there are more shelf-stockers than shoppers, and we spent our shopping dodging forklifts and piles of goods being put on the shelves. However, we had no wait to check out, and we did a very large refill of our pantry.

We got home around 5:30 AM, unloaded everything, and Lisa said goodnight. I had drank enough coffee that I would not be able to go back to sleep, so shortly after 6 PM I walked to the Wigwam and had breakfast. I also retrieved my players club card from the casino, where kayla_allen had left it after she used it yesterday.

Much of my day today was taken up by a Montreal in 2027 Worldcon Bid Committee meeting. As part of my contribution, I sent a message to BayCon/Westercon asking for a bid table for Montreal. I won't necessarily be around for much of BayCon, but Kayla is probably going to be doing stuff there, and the Montreal committee didn't seem to have a problem with her doing the bid table work.

It took longer to get this announced while BayCon's parent non-profit organization did some work behind the scenes, but the committee (Lisa and me) that was charged by the Westercon 75 Business Meeting at Loscon 2023 to either find a group interested in running a Westercon in 2025 to to do or to do it ourselves reached a conclusion and "transferred the license" to BayCon 2025.

Westercon 77 to be Hosted by BayCon 2025 is the announcement on the Westercon website.

I must say that I'm relieved no not be in the position of having to organize another Westercon. While I'm very proud of the convention we ran in 2022 in Tonopah, one of the reasons that we were able to do so was thanks to what I have called an "all star" team of conrunners, including multiple Worldcon, NASFiC, and Westercon chairs, who agreed to help put on that convention. In addition, Lisa and I were at that time in a position to "backstop" up to $5,000 in losses the convention might have incurred, although as it happens we never had to do so, as we were able to obtain financial support (grants) from various convention groups that allowed us to do things like have guests of honor, which we initially said we would not do. While the Tonopah Convention Center is very inexpensive to rent (About $600/day including the kitchen and bar) &emdash; so much so that when we won the election in 2019 (a contested election, I will remind people, against a "real city" that we won handily), we already had enough money to cover the largest fixed cost of the convention, which was the convention center rental.

( For Those Who Say 'Let It Die' )

In any event, if the members of Westercon conclude collectively that the convention's time has passed, there is an orderly way to wind it down: repeal the Westercon Bylaws. This was Scenario 1 that the 2023 Westercon Business Meeting considered last year. Repealing the Bylaws would take two years (passage this year and ratification next year), after which there would be two final Westercons without a Business Meeting or Site Selection, with the Last Westercon happening in 2027. At that point, the owner of the Westercon service mark, the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society, would have to decide what to do with it. They couldn't just hold it indefinitely without holding something to keep the mark alive, because trade/service marks are "use it or lose it," but perhaps if LASFS really does think there's no further interest, they might just formally abandon the mark and leave it to anyone else who might want to try holding an event by that name; it would be up to them.

This year's Business Meeting in Utah will consider ratifying proposals that would effectively "undock" Westercon from the US Independence Day weekend in a procedural sense. (It was not a requirement before, only a "traditional" recommendation.) This would increase the freedom that some groups, including other conventions, would have to try other dates. Possibly Westercon might have a future traveling around and combining with other conventions around Western North America at other times of the year, giving interested fans an incentive to try out other conventions that they've never attended.

Combining the 2025 Westercon with BayCon makes sense, and it might even make sense to consider doing so for 2026 as well. Or maybe we should just wind it down and "hand in the keys" to LASFS. But as long as Westercon has its own bylaws and is governed by its members, it should be the members who decide.

Thanks to getting the minivan back this morning, I was actually able to get down to BayCon today. However, because I also needed to get an oil change, by the time I got there, the only panel I really was deeply interested in attending (discussing the current Hugo Controversy) was mostly ending. I spent most of the day behind the Sasquan table, although I did get an opportunity to walk through the Art Show and buy books in the Dealer's Room. I also had my blood pressure riled up mightily by a puppy apologist who has bought completely into the story that the Hugo Awards for the past decade have been dominated by a secret slate of works decreed by Tor Book and voted upon by the large number of Tor employees who have all been funded and ordered to vote by the Sekrit Slate. Still, aside from that one person, who proves that not all Puppies are short-term, never-been-part-of-Worldcon-fandom fans, it was a pretty good day. I want to thank all of the people who have been following my writing here and elsewhere and who have come by to say nice things about the work I've been doing. It's reassuring, really.

There wasn't a lot I wanted to do in evening programming, and I'm too stressed and tired to do the evening parties (and the party floor at BayCon has been pretty dire ever since they moved to the Santa Clara property anyway), so I decided to head back to the hotel in Newark and eat the last of my groceries here for dinner, and maybe turn in early. I won't be going back to BayCon tomorrow, but will instead head home by way of Sacramento and visiting my sister.

One minor worry: while driving into the parking garage in Santa Clara, the Service Engine Soon light briefly flashed on. It hasn't come back on, but I'm still concerned. The van needs to be ready for a long road trip.

When I got back to the hotel, I had a message from Lisa, who went to the Nevada State Railroad Museum for the official roll-out of the restored locomotive Glenbrook. She had a great time and I'm sure I would have enjoyed it. Can't be in two places at once, however.

My mechanic has fixed the problem whereby the van would die when the engine idle dropped below a certain point, but now there's not enough high-end power. He worked on it all day today and into the evening without a solution, and he's going to come in tomorrow to work on it because I'm a good customer and he's a good guy, but he doesn't know if he can fix it. How I'm going to proceed after that I do not know. I've extended my hotel stay another night (through Saturday), but the rental car is due back by 9 AM Saturday, and if I can't return it by then, I'm effectively going to be charged through Tuesday morning because Enterprise rent-a-car isn't open on Sunday or holidays.

I'm thinking I may go ahead and go to BayCon tomorrow morning and leave either when my mechanic calls or 2 PM, which ever is earlier. But then what do I do if I can't get the van back? The current idea is that I would need to get Enterprise to take me back to the hotel, and then have a taxi take me to the train station on Sunday morning very early to catch a train that I hope will get me back to Reno on Sunday. I need to check availability. Logistics are complicated. And expensive.

I went down to BayCon for a few hours this afternoon and evening, which I enjoyed, but after the Meet the Guests and the call from my mechanic, I simply got too stressed out to enjoy the rest of the evening and decided to come back to the hotel room and try to rest. The Memorial Day Weekend is not looking like much of a holiday.

Lisa is now working on versions of Plan B: getting the RV ready to go as the vehicle to which we will travel to Spokane/Portland/Seaside. Expensive as all get-out, but at least we do have the plan in reserve.

Re-reading what I wrote about the last day of BayCon, I realized that I left Lisa in limbo at the Portland in 2016 Westercon bid table. She stayed until a bit after Noon, and then set off for home, leaving me to pinch-hit for her behind Portland's table. (If this was a contested race, I would have been quite leery about doing this, as I am about getting too involved with the 2017 Worldcon race next year on account of being a director of the parent corporation of the Montréal bid.) I lasted until nearly the Bitter End, striking the set just before the Closing Ceremonies.

After packing up, I went up to an unofficial wind-down party ashi (who had actually been at a convention out of state all weekend) was hosting for a while before hanging out in the lobby until it was time to head for BASFA. I took BayCon FGoH Sally Woerhle with me to the BASFA meeting. (That makes Sally the first person other than Lisa and travelswithkuma to have ridden in both the SMOF van and the Rolling Stone.) BASFA voted to declare her the club's "Ambassador to Cascadia."

Lisa left me a message that evening letting me know that she made it home around 6 PM, once again making excellent time because she was traveling against the majority flow of traffic.

After BASFA, I returned Sally to the hotel, but I didn't go in for the Dead Dog Party myself because I really needed to try and get to bed on account of needing to return to my up-at-5-AM schedule for Day Jobbe. I managed, but it wasn't much fun.

I continue to marvel at how different it is to attend a convention without a vast number of stress-inducing commitments about which to worry. It's a good thing, too, because I continue to suffer the ravages of hay fever, just less bad than a week ago. Being able to sleep in, look around when we feel like it, and sit down and watch the convention go by is a wonderful thing.

Anyway: on Saturday we had a lunch appointment with Doug and Kirsten Berry, which have Kirsten the ability to give travelswithkuma his long-delayed birthday present.

( Doctor Bear? )

Speaking of costumes, later in the convention we spent quite a while sitting near the Fan Tables area, which was one of the good places to see people in costume, and sometimes I was able to take pictures of them. This is how I learned also that (unlike what I wrote yesterday), Helsinki in 2017 has a presence here at BayCon, just not a fan table.

( Moose and Costume )

Portland in 2016 Westercon continued to do a land-office business selling pre-supporting memberships as Lea Rush explained why Portland will be a great place to hold the 2016 Westercon.

( Bear helps )

We had a look through the Dealer's Room, and I added books to the pile I will be purchasing later this weekend from Cargo Cult Books. I Tweeted the following picture of the Cargo Cult table.

( Airship Shape & Bristol Fashion )

FanimeCon is also going on this weekend, and some people are attending both of them, along with the Fanime affiliate Clockwork Alchemy. This makes for an interesting combination of costumes on view.

( Kawaii in the Corridors )

I'm not a huge shutterbug, really, but I've been snapping photos with my phone when I see things I like, posting them to my BayCon folder on Flickr, and Tweeting them from my @KevinStandlee account.

Later in the afternoon, I ran into Sally Woerhle, BayCon's Fan Guest of Honor, who was looking for a dinner party. She agreed to go with Lisa and me, later joined by Lea Rush, as we have the Astro and could transport people off-site for a little variety, there being only the hotel restaurant and some fast food places within easy walking distance of the Hyatt. We had a nice early dinner before returning Sally to BayCon to take care of her evening FGoH responsibilities.

Lisa and I briefly went to Saturday's parties, but we both were feeling pretty tired and once again turned in early. We find we really can use the extra time for winding down before getting some much-needed sleep. However, we did enjoy ourselves socializing with people, as we expect to do again on Sunday.

I was able to get away from work after lunch on Friday and get down to BayCon by around 1 PM. I was very concerned about parking the Rolling Stone because the supply of surface parking there is quite limited, and of course I can't park that boat in the parking garage. To my delight, I found a deep corner space available and no parking lot traffic, giving me the time it takes to gently back in.

( Photo: Docked at BayCon )

Heading inside, I went up to the fan tables on the mezzanine, where I delivered Portland in 2016 Westercon bid fliers to Lea Rush, chair of Portland's bid (she'd flown down that morning; I printed fliers for her locally so she wouldn't have to lug them around) as well as some 2016 Westercon Site Selection ballots (just released this week) and put Montreal in 2017 Worldcon bid fliers out on the flyer table.

I found that my hotel room was ready, so I checked in and moved my stuff from the RV to the hotel room. (With the RV, I don't have to pack quite as compactly as when I'm traveling in the Astro; for example, there's a closet in the Rolling Stone in which to hang my shirts rather than having to bag them up in luggage.) There's a nice view of the new home of the San Francisco 49ers, Levi's Stadium, from my hotel room window.

( Stay Away from Here on Game Days )

I went to check out the Dealer's Room, where I ran in to BayCon's Fan Guest of Honor, Sally Woehrle. I made the "I'm not worthy" bow, and she started to make it back to me, saying something about my past Worldcon Chair status, and I said, "Forget that: as Fan Guest of Honor, you have brevet rank over me for the duration of the convention. You don't get to become a Respected Elder Statesman of Fandom until after your Worldcon is over."

As we chatted, Warren Buff, out to BayCon to promote the DC in 2017 Worldcon Bid, joined us, and the three of us repaired to the bar for a round of smoffing, about which more later. The DC2017 bid is the only one represented here (aside from the Montreal fliers I brought). Lisa and I could conceivably have run a Montreal bid table, but with my current work stress and Lisa's dental/tinnitus issues, we have too much going on in our lives to do so right now.

After our smof session, I went to check on Lea Rush, who was happy to have sold a handful of Portland bid pre-supports including a Friend of the Bid, but who was also looking very faded out, having been up since 3 AM to get her flight down from Portland. At my suggestion, she closed her table and after she returned from stowing her things in her room, I showed her where the pod of fast food, including a Togo's, is located a short distance north of the hotel. After we returned, she headed back to her room to eat and maybe rest from her travel.

After my late lunch, I returned to the Dealers Room, started a pile of books with Cargo Cult, and was talking trains with Scott Dennis when my phone rang. It was Lisa, who had made absurdly good time driving down from Fernley against the flow of getaway day traffic and was here about two hours earlier than I expected. We unloaded her things from the van and went off to dinner. Later, after dinner, I called Lea Rush and (based on an earlier conversation) offered to take her to Trader Joe's for something they had that she wanted. Also, thanks to the hotel rooms here having mini-fridges, she was able to lay in some supplies, as were we.

Lisa and I did a brief troll of the Party Floor, but both of us were tired and we retired early. Having no commitments on Saturday of BayCon, we were able to sleep in. I guess I was tired. I slept for more than ten hours.

It's rather strange to me to have almost no time-specific commitments at a convention. I hardly know what to do with myself. But OTOH, I've been working so hard that having the weekend at a nice hotel where I don't have to work myself to death and can sort of relax is a Really Nice Thing.

...of the Hay kind, I'm afraid. The cold I had last week must have ended eventually, but I didn't notice because it morphed into hay fever, some of the worst I've ever had. I have to be very careful with anti-allergy medications because of my high blood pressure. I've found some that has an antihistamine without the decongestant (the latter being what's contraindicated for HBP), and it might help a little, but for now I'm suffering from itchy, watery eyes and a raw throat from the coughing and congestion. Even here in the office, I'm doing as much communication my e-mail as in person because I can barely talk. If this lasts through BayCon, I won't be good company at all.

The fourth and final day of BayCon was the first time that Lisa and I managed to get there before Noon, which is ironic considering that this was move-out day and things were much quieter. Most of the fan tables were unstaffed or closed early. We, however, started to do business. Indeed, we ended up selling more Westercon 66 memberships in the last four hours than in the preceding three days as people took stock and determined they could afford to buy a membership and take advantage of the $5 BayCon discount. I have no doubt that the awesome party hosted by Kevin & Andy (and ThinBot) the night before had something to do with people deciding that they should go ahead and join the convention and start planning to come to Sacramento next year for Independence Day.

We stuck around (excepting a break for lunch) until the hotel started taking down the fan tables, after which we both agreed we were quite tired and went back to the apartment. Both of us napped a bit, me much longer than Lisa, before we headed out to tonight's BASFA meeting, where, for a change, I stayed clear through to the end of the meeting.

Commuting to the convention is much cheaper than staying in the hotel, but it clearly is a different experience, and not, in my opinion, for the better. Even being only about ten minutes away from the convention makes for a less enjoyable experience than being right there on site. BayCon itself, what I saw of it, was fun and enjoyable and there were over 1,600 people attending and having a good time.

Lisa has had a minor infection in her foot for some time now, but last night it started getting worse. It wasn't bad enough to need a visit to the ER, but by this morning, she decided it was bad enough to require a visit to Urgent Care.

( Possible TMI warning )

Because of the time we had to spend at PAMF today, I was unable to attend my scheduled 1 PM panel at BayCon about the Future of Westercon. When we finally did get to the convention, I went and apologized to Programming and to the other panelists, but nobody faulted us for having a family medical emergency.