Kevin Standlee: Fandom Is My Way of Life

This morning at 11 AM was the last SFSFC Board of Directors meeting to which I'll be able to walk at the Centerville Train Station meeting room. I got over there early, just after 10 AM, because I was responsible for setting up the computer, speakers, and microphones for our Skype-based conference call. The technical aspects went quite smoothly, although we did have to go audio-only as there just isn't quite enough bandwidth to do video-conferencing there. However, before the bandwidth bogged us down, we all got a chance to wave at Cheryl Morgan, joining us from London.

SFSFC met for about three hours, going through all of its committees and discussing future plans. I'll have more to say about those plans later once they mature a bit and once the directors have a chance to review the minutes and confirm that what I wrote down was what they meant.

A few mechanical things: we changed the date of our July meeting to July 21 to accommodate two directors (including me), and we expanded our internal definition of "San Francisco Bay Area" to include adjacent counties where we either have held board meetings or expect to possibly meet in the future. Those changes are all up on the SFSFC web site

I did not hang around too long after the Awards Ceremony/Guest of Honor Presentation/Closing Ceremony at Corflu, as I found myself surprisingly tired. I say "surprisingly" because I got more sleep last night than I've normally been getting these past few weeks, despite not getting to bed until after 1 AM.

I'd agreed to collect used Corflu badge holders (for those people who don't save theirs) for use by FOGCon, which has asked for contributions to help them economize on start-up costs. I had therefore made a box with a sign to that effect and Chairman Chris Garcia announced the drop-your-badge scheme during the closing festivities. He graciously agreed that I didn't need to hang about all afternoon and that he'd bring the box-o-badges to BASFA tomorrow night, so I headed home.

Once I got unpacked and checked my mail, I found myself falling asleep. I fell into bed at 5 PM and slept for a bit more than two hours before waking back up. Feeling a little better, I got back up and made sure the video I shot of the play last night came out okay. Somewhat to my surprise on account of us not using any amplification, the audio came out pretty well. What didn't work out as well as I would have liked was the video quality. This was primarily because the room itself was dark, even with the lights turned as bright as they seemed able to go. Still, it being a radio play, the audio is what matters anyway. I put it into MovieMaker, added front and end titles, trimmed the rhubarb at the start and end off, and as I compose this my other computer is turning it into something I hope to be able to upload to Vimeo tomorrow. I'll post here and on corflu when it's ready for downloading.

I managed to get down to Corflu this afternoon and evening. Not a lot was happening in the late afternoon, but I helped ice down the sodas and bheer. I also was the stand in to make sure the UStream feed from the convention was pointing in the right place for the Opening Ceremonies. And speaking of which, I did not pay to have my name removed from the drawing to be Guest of Honor, but my name was not selected, and thus Corflu can continue. (I've suggested that if I'm ever Corflu's guest of honor — I've attended about five of them — Old Tyme Fanzine Fandom will declare the Final Death of Fandom As We Know It.)

Andy Hooper will be putting on another of his radio plays tomorrow night, and I volunteered to take a part. I only wish I'd remembered to carry the cheapest of our tripods — the one I took to Australia — back from Oregon. If I'd done so, I'd take my camera with me tomorrow and record the play as well.

I'm commuting to the convention tonight (about a 20 mile one-way trip). Tomorrow night only, I'm staying in a hotel, but not the con hotel. I'm staying a bit down the way at a Holiday Inn Express in my quest for the suitcase full of Priority Club points. It's also the first time I get to use my new 15-year service award from work (the rolling duffel bag).

Fortunately for me, there's nothing needs my attendance early tomorrow, so I will not be under a huge amount of time pressure. And while there is wi-fi available at the hotel, I don't know if I'll be online much tomorrow.