Kevin Standlee: Fandom Is My Way of Life

I must have been really worn out when I went to bed last night, because I didn't wake up until 9:30 AM, five hours later than usual.

Late in the morning, I did an interview via Zoom with Cheryl for her radio program. She has been interviewing people to ask them how they're handling the pandemic restrictions where they are. We'd done this once a few days ago, but I'd goofed up the audio settings on my computer, so we needed to do it again.

Between the end of that two-person meeting and the start of the SFSFC Board of Directors meeting (also a Zoom conference), we had a police action in the railroad yard across the street.

( All Hands on Deck )

Lisa and I could spend no more time watching the mini-drama with the trains, because there was an SFSFC board meeting to attend, and Lisa wanted to be there as part of the Westercon 74 Tonopah committee report.

Technically, this meeting was held at our corporate office, but all attendees except the director whose home is the corporate office participated by Zoom conference call. For some people (like me), remote meetings are old hat. Others haven't participated in any of them and there were a few bugs to work out. Existing bugs also had to be worked out, such as my lack of upload bandwidth that caused things to get unstable when I shared my screen to show the marked-up map of the Tonopah Convention Center.

Other than the mostly-online part of the meeting, things went smoothly, although of course the COVID-19 pandemic is on everyone's minds and has affected us all. SFSFC is acting as CoNZealand's agent for the US, which meant we discussed impacts on us and what we're doing to assist them. The CostumeCon 39 Committee was hit indirectly, as their Chair was in Montreal at what was about to be CC 38 when the convention was abruptly canceled due to an order from the Quebec premier cancelling all large gatherings. For the Tonopah committee, I reported that I've been staying in contact with my opposite number at Westercon 73, Sally Wohrle, regarding developments affecting their convention currently scheduled for this July 2-5. There's a lot of breath-holding going on. We also dealt with a matter of parliamentary housekeeping, as we revised the resolution creating the Westercon 74 committee to formally call it the Westercon 74 committee. The original resolution adopted last year could be interpreted to mean it was only the bid committee, which was certainly not the intent, so we fixed it.

Other than that and another piece of housekeeping dealing with one of our bank accounts, there wasn't a lot of explicit action at this meeting. It was almost entirely receiving reports and discussing how our four currently operating committees are carrying out their charged functions. Now I have to spend more time than the meeting itself pulling all of those reports into the meeting minutes and creating a draft set of minutes for the directors to review, which I hope to get done tomorrow. It's not like I'm going anywhere.

Today was the trimesterly SFSFC Board of Directors meeting. I'd originally planned to be down in the Bay Area to attend in person, but the bad weather last weekend scuppered that plan. However, I'm not the only director attending using Zoom video conferencing. (In fact, four of the directors participated remotely including me.) Zoom was more useful than just an ordinary conference call because it meant that I could share my screen when I was composing motions to let the other people attending see it. (I'm the corporate secretary.) SFSFC has multiple standing committees. Worldcon 76 is the largest one, but not the only one, and there are multiple future conventions, not just past ones. So it takes several hours to go through every report and deal with all of the business brought from the various committees. Afterwards, it's best if I get the minutes done right away while it's all fresh, which includes adding all of the financial and organizational reports from the committees and sending the draft out to the Board to make sure I got things the way everyone thought it went.

After that was all done, Lisa suggested we go out to dinner at the Nugget Oyster Bar in Sparks. We don't often go out on Saturday night, but fortunately while the Nugget was busy, we didn't have to wait for a table and we had our favorite shrimp pan roast without much of a delay. We also could then go to the Raley's in Sparks, which has some items we can't get at Fernley, before heading for home.

It was a longish day mostly spent on the computer, but I'm still pretty tired.

I took Cheryl to SFO this afternoon and saw her safely through Terrorization before heading south toward the BASFA meeting. She called me as I was passing through Mountain View to say they were getting ready to button things up and that all was under control. We have a very light turnout for BASFA tonight -- not surprising because so many people are still down at Costume-Con for the Reanimated Canine Party and the Mouse-kerade. I contemplated going down there after the official BASFA meeting, but I absentmindedly surrendered my parking pass when I left this morning. Parking is $3/hour, but was $7/day to hotel guests, and my pass was good through today. Not wanting to spend any more money on parking, I headed home instead. Besides, I'm very tired and really need to get some sleep.

I've added a bunch more photos, including those from the Historical Masquerade, to my Sunday at Costume-Con 26 page. Note that not all of those tagged "Historical Masquerade" were actually in the event, but were instead photographed in the scrum outside the hall during the half-time.

There are also new Sunday afternoon photos, including some from the Fursuit Parade.

( About the Historical Masquerade )

After the results of the Historical Masquerade were announced, I stuck around and took some more photos, and started chatting with ala_mokita. He said, "This has been so much fun!" And I agreed soundly. In fact, I've had a wonderful time this weekend, and have been very happy to be one of the four former Worldcon chairs working on the con. (The others are ala_mokita (L.A.con IV), David W. Clark (ConFrancisco), and Tom Whitmore (ConJose, co-chaired with me).) Indeed, we've been part of an all-star crew of conrunners from all over -- mostly, but not entirely, from the West Coast -- that kproche recruited to help make this convention work. I think we did a good job, and I don't just mean us Old Pharts -- everyone working on this convention has been putting forth their best effort, and I think it shows. Heck, I feel slightly guilty, as I've been doing one of the lowest-impact jobs I could, running a site selection with minimal interest. That's one reason I volunteered to go help tape down glow-cable last night after the SF&F Masquerade -- I felt I was actually accomplishing something useful instead of just sitting behind a table composing LJ entries and occasionally collecting a site selection ballot.

I decided to have a late dinner, although it wasn't as urgent as last night, for I did get a late lunch as well today. What these carb-heavy and mis-timed meals are doing to my blood sugar, I shudder to think. Back on the diet tomorrow, I say.

Finally, I got the photos updated and this journal entry written. I'm going to make a brief pass through the party floor, and then get to bed. Tomorrow is a work day, and while I'm not heading home until after the morning rush hours, I can't sleep in, either.

Photos from the Future Fashion Show on Sunday morning of Costume-Con are now in my CC 26 Sunday collection on Flickr. This was a "runway show" where the usual rules about "no flash photography" do not apply -- "Make the folks feel like they're on the runway in Paris."

At the conclusion of the show, those members of the CC26 committee and staff who were available and interested were invited to take a walk down the runway as well. I placed myself early in the procession, billing myself as "Kevin Standlee, Site Selection; On leave from the White Star Federated Spacelines" so that I could get out of the room and go get Site Selection open in time for our final 1-3 session. But I did pause for a photo with the Protocol Officer.

( Cut because people yell when I don't cut photos )

Now it's time for jbriggs and me to count the ballots.

There are more photos from Saturday evening in my Saturday photos.

After closing Site Selection, Raven O'Neill helped me take the Cart o' Stuff back up to my room. By then it was close to time for the SF & F Masquerade to open. There was a queue that stretched down the stairs and toward the Dealers' Room entrances, so Raven and I sat down and waited until the queue started to move before heading in to find seats on the wings. Everyone who wanted a seat got one.

( Some words about a Masquerade with many fine entries )

After the first run through, I realized that I hadn't eaten a whole lot since breakfast (although I did have several small snacks throughout the day) and made for the Coffee Garden lest I keel over. Raven had bailed out about 2/3 through the event for similar reasons. I went back upstairs as the ancillary awards were being presented, and stayed through the end of awards. The event ended just about the stroke of midnight, and I and the other half-dozen or so people who had volunteered to help went downstairs to help tape a string of lights to the other stage being used for Sunday's "runway show."

Then it was up to the parties for short while, but it was after 1 AM and I was fading out, as I am now, but I wanted to get these photos online before going to bed, so I went downstairs to use the internet. I'm going to post this and get back upstairs and in to bed.

I have added a few more photos from Saturday afternoon here at CostumeCon to CC 26 Flikr page.

Late last night, I realized to my chagrin that I'd left the only site selection ballot received by mail locked up in my safe box at home. I had to drive back up to Fremont around Midnight to go retrieve it. Of course my prime location parking space was gone by the time I returned, but at least I didn't have to park in the "back 40" parking lot. Costume-Con isn't as large as BayCon and therefore doesn't put so much stress on the parking facilities.

( Kevin obsesses over blood sugar again )

After breakfast and exercise, I changed into my WSFS uniform and packed things for today. The highlighter in my travel kit had dried out, so I went down to Ops, where Sarah Goodman gave me one of the supply there. Then it was time to bring the Cart o' Stuff down to the Site selection table.

( Photos cut for the bandwidth-sensitive )

Having had only one ballot by mail and one on Friday, there was almost nowhere to go but up, and we did eventually have a few people come by and vote, so the large ballot box (suitable for a Worldcon site selection) did not look quite so forlorn and empty.

jbriggs joined me shortly after opening time, but things were generally quiet. I tried getting a few photos of us at work, but our location is so brightly backlit that most of them did not turn out. Eventually with the fill flash on, gil_liant was able to get a photo of us.

( Hard at work or hardly working? You decide. )

Of course, with only one bid (NJ/NY Costumers Guild, Site TBA), interest in actually voting is slight, so we're not expecting a lot of business except for the hard-core costume SMOFS. I've had several people come up and express an interest in voting until they hear that the voting fee is $10 at which point they balk.

I got to the Doubletree without incident and snagged one of the better parking spaces. (Which means of course that I am trapped and cannot drive away without losing my prime space.) Just as I was checking in, jbriggs, who is my deputy in Site Selection, found me, and helped me move into my hotel room. He went off to see about our Site Selection table while I unpacked and donned my WSFS uniform. I then wheeled the Site Selection material down to the desk, stopping to collect a cash box. We were ready to go by the published schedule time of 3 PM, but there wasn't exactly a gang of costume SMOFS waiting to vote. In fact, we didn't take any ballots until just after 5 PM.

I had picked up a sandwich from Subway on the way to the hotel, and was able to eat it while not fighting off voters with sticks. Alas, my blood sugar is high again -- 198. Not being able to go for a walk right after eating is taking a toll on me. Next week I resolve to get out and walk more often.

My location here should be pretty good for seeing the convention go past me. I've already taken a few photos, but I've left the camera-to-PC connector up in the room so I can't post them.

I collected clothsprogs and Tom from the Fremont BART station about 1:15 and we high-tailed it down to the San Jose Doubletree. I dropped them off out front with their copious luggage and parked the van for a while, then wheeled in my ice chest. As it happens, Teddy and Tom were just finishing checking in, so I helped them roll their luggage up to their room. They were surprised at the size of the room. I explained that Red Lion Hotels (which the Doubletree originally was) tended to build oversize, and the accountants were unable to move the walls closer together, so they get a room that is the size a British mini-suite would be.

They came down to the second floor with me, where Con Suite move-in was in progress. I dropped my ice chest (and a two-liter bottle of Diet Pepsi as a minor contribution to the pile of drinks), then popped down to Con Ops, where I was to loan them a USB hub. Ops head Sarah Goodman was busy dealing with someone else, but I left the hub with Mo Starkey, who promised to give it to Sarah when she came up for air.

Then it was down to the lobby to meet up with the others going on the Winchester Mystery House tour. Arrangements had gone surprisingly well for a group of more than twenty people from all over converging on one spot at one time. We got sorted out into cars, and those of us who knew how to get there gave directions to the others, and off we went.

( More about the tour )

( After the tour; tales of broken telephones )

After a very tiring day, I got back home, where Cheryl has been slaving over a computer all day and probably will be for most of the weekend. Neither of us had eaten, so we went to Chipotle and bought some burritos. For all that I'd been walking around the Winchester House today, I had actually only put in about half my usual amount of walking, and did not go exercise after that burrito, with the result being a 224 blood sugar. 10:30 at night or now, a walk was in order. Cheryl tore herself away from work to accompany me on the loop to the train station and back. An hour later my blood sugar had dropped back down to the 140s, which was a little better, but still not great.

Conventions are not good for blood sugar management, and the convention doesn't actually start for me until tomorrow.

This evening Cheryl and I collected clothsprogs and Tom from the Fremont BART station and came back to the apartment before taking them off to tonight's BASFA meeting. Cheryl, alas, was not able to come along to BASFA because of pressures of work that probably will keep her from even being able to attend Costume-Con this weekend.

It was a fairly typical BASFA meeting, and that means that Teddy and Tom fit right in with the general lunacy. At Cheryl's suggestion, I proposed that Teddy and Tom be appointed BASFA Ambassadors to the Far Isles, and this was adopted with a minor amendment that will turn up in the BASFA minutes.

I've agreed to take them down to the Doubletree Hotel on Thursday afternoon and to the Winchester Mystery House tour as well, which is not really a problem, as there's lots of room in my van and I'm going down there on Thursday anyway. I'm not moving in to the hotel until Friday morning. If I weren't running an area -- site selection -- with Cheryl now not being able to go, I would have been very tempted to commute, but duty calls.