Kevin Standlee: Fandom Is My Way of Life

Having been awarded the right to host Westercon 77 at BayCon 2025 (by the Caretaker Committee assigned by last year's Westercon to find a site to host the convention), BayCon's parent non-profit corporation has filed a write-in bid to host Westercon 78 in conjunction with BayCon 2026. There were no bids filed before the April 15 deadline, and no other bids have filed, although they still have time to do so. The deadline is the close of voting at Westercon 76 in Salt Lake City this Friday at 6 PM MDT.

Only bids that file the necessary documentation with Westercon 76 before the deadline are eligible to win the election, except that None of the Above is always eligible. Should no eligible bid win, then the Business Meeting in Utah can select a site, and nearly all of the restrictions go away other than the "must be in North America west of 104°W or in Hawaii."

Lest people think my pointing out the final deadline for filing a bid is silly, note that back in 1992 I administered the voting for the selection of the 1995 NASFiC. I had earlier rejected the "I-95 in '95" bid's filing because it did not have a valid facility agreement that met the technical requirements of the WSFS Constitution. Their organizers frantically hunted around for something that would meet the technical requirements. (The election administrator isn't allowed to rule on whether the site is sufficient to actually hold the convention, only that the agreement between the bid and the site is legal. In theory, it's up to the voters to decide whether a site is suitable.) The I-95 bid managed to file their bid with one second left before the deadline. They were therefore eligible to win. Atlanta (Dragon*Con) won the election, and we did not count the subsequent places (there's no reason to do so in a Site Selection election), but it's possible that I-95's write-in bid would have placed second. I'm sure that they would have placed no lower than third, with a serious None of the Above campaign in the race and another bid on the ballot for New York City, which almost certainly would have placed fourth in a field of two candidates on the ballot.

While I know how to administer a "failed" site selection, having had to do so several times, that does not really mean I want to do so. I'd much rather let the members select the site than have to go through complicated additional parliamentary maneuvering.

We woke up a little earlier than expected this morning, which might suggest that we managed to catch up on sleep, although today's activities might have erased that.

Because we were up early, we took the opportunity to do another load of laundry. We also packed a few of the Tide pods to go with us to Churchill, in case either we or some of our friends traveling with us wanted to do laundry at the four-bedroom house we've rented for our stay there. It sounds extravagant, but the cost per person, split six ways, was less expensive than hotel rooms in Churchill, and gives us a full kitchen as well as a living room area and four bedrooms. Besides which, most of the hotel rooms in Churchill seem to be dedicated to tour groups.

( Train Stations and Hotels )

The walk to the train station is only about 1 km each way, but it was (by local standards) warm and (by our desert-accustomed standards) humid, and was a bit hard on Lisa. When we got back, I left Lisa to recover in the air-conditioned room and walked down to the auto repair shop to find out what the status of the minivan was.

( Looked Promising at the Time )

For this particular expedition, Lisa had loaned me one of her amateur radios. By a reciprocal agreement between the USA and Canada, our licenses were good in Canada as long as we followed certain rules. We were able to stay in touch with each other until after Central Park (about 1000 m from the Delta Hotel), after which I was no longer able to contact her, and even on the way back, I wasn't able to raise her until we were within eyeshot. However, that might have been a mistake on my radio handling.

By now it was well past lunchtime, so Lisa and I went to lunch with Chris Marble, once he was able to free himself up from the Office. We returned to Elephant & Castle, in some part because there were still things on the menu that Lisa wanted to try. We did not rush. There was still plenty of time to pack.

After lunch, we spent the rest of the afternoon separating those things that needed to be stored in Winnipeg from those that were going to go with us to Churchill, plus a few things that we would leave behind or finish consuming. I went over to Rexall for a final container of milk. The price difference between a 1.5 and a 4 litre container of milk was such that it was more cost-effective to buy the larger container even if I only drank half of it.

At 5:20, having heard nothing from the mechanic, I called him, and received bad news. After he put the repaired pipes back into the unit and charged it up, the coolant all ran out again. There's another leak. He needs more time to find the additional leak or leaks. Well, we get back from Churchill on July 31, so I told him to keep working on it, leave me a message when he has more information (much of the train trip will be out of phone coverage), and we'll get it back from him next week.

It was time to activate Move-Out Plan B. Instead of packing all of our "stays in Winnipeg" stuff in the Astro and then parking the Astro at our friend's house, we needed to store the material itself at their house. They were willing to do so. I also had to change hotel reservations. Our original plan was to stay at the Holiday Inn Express Polo Park near the airport, using IHG points. Because we cannot be certain that our train will actually get back to Winnipeg on time at 16:45 (the shop closes at 18:00), we needed to stay downtown within walking distance of the shop. I canceled the Polo Park reservation and booked a room at the Holiday Inn Downtown, which coincidentally was the Pemmi-Con overflow hotel. (If it were not for all of our convention commitments, I probably would have stayed there for the IHG perks I get from being a Platinum member.) As it happens, I ended up with 2000 more points in my account than when I started, because of the difference in cost between the properties. The Downtown property is a mere 800 m from the auto shop.

Should we arrive on time, and assuming we've confirmed that the van is ready to be collected, we'll take a taxi straight to the shop, collect the van, drive to the hotel and check in, then go to our friend's house and rescue our considerable luggage. Otherwise, we'll just go to the hotel and deal with the van and the luggage the next morning. However in any event, my plan to do Day Jobbe work on that first morning is out the window, and I contacted my manager to tell him so.

Our friend (some of you reading this know who it is) phoned to tell me they were on their way to the hotel. I went downstairs and was able to get a cart. This was a near thing; the World Police & Fire Games are moving in to all of the downtown hotels and the lobby was very busy. There was a person checking in for a 14-night stay (as compared to the 7-night stay ending tonight for Lisa and me). He let me have his cart, and I hurried up to our room, where Lisa crammed all of the stay-in-Winnipeg stuff onto it. We then went back downstairs and managed to fit it in into our friend's vehicle. It was so much that Lisa had to stay behind, and we went to our friend's house.

( Luggage Games )

All six of us going to Churchill are now at either the Delta or Holiday Inn, and some of them went to dinner at the Elephant & Castle, but Lisa was tired and demurred. She and I ordered another pizza and watched a movie, and then she took a bath and went to sleep.

Train time is Noon on Tuesday. We'll aim to be early, even if it means waiting around the station for a while. We'd rather be early and have to wait than miss what is likely to be a once-in-a-lifetime train trip.

Today we needed to be up early so that we be in place for our roles with the first-ever NASFiC WSFS Business Meeting. We made breakfast in the room (instant eggs from our supply of camping food) and were ready to go early. That's good because the meeting room was still locked at 9:30 AM when we came downstairs. Jannie Shae of Pemmi-Con Programming called the hotel to have the room unlocked, and we had plenty of time to set up.

( Meeting Staff )

I was pretty relieved at how smoothly the Business Meeting went. Lisa and I carried the meeting material back up to our room, after which I popped over to Rexall to buy more milk. (Having a refrigerator is our room is a luxury.) Lisa, who had been up too early to suit her, went back to bed.

Initially, I couldn't log in to the Worldcon Events YouTube channel because it needs 2-factor authentication on my US cell phone number. I have the phone turned off because I don't want to pay for roaming. Not wanting to postpone uploading the video until we got back into the USA, I initially uploaded it to my personal account. I then remembered that my personal account is also an Editor on the Worldcon Events channel, so I uploaded it there as well. However, that meant having to "recall" the initial uploads. I changed the personal upload to Private and will eventually delete it.

I made a trip over to the Exhibit Hall to check into my Buffalo NASFiC membership and to chat with people in a more relaxed way now that most of the WSFS business is done for this convention.

( Bid Tables )

Returning to the Delta, I met up with Cheryl Morgan. She had I had a number of things we needed to do related to the Hugo Awards website and social media presence. It's boring technical stuff, which could have possibly have been done over Zoom, but it was much easier to get it done while we were in the same place, which doesn't happen all that often. As I'm not taking any computer equipment with me to China (assuming I get to go at all), Cheryl will need to do the WSFS social media and website updates for this year's Hugo Awards. We are of course hoping that Chengdu does decide to follow current practice and live-stream the Awards ceremony.

When I came back to the hotel room, Lisa was up and about. We went down to the Pinball Room, where I was able to play for a while without any time pressure. Luxury! We also talked and socialized with people, and given that this is one of the main reason we come to conventions, it was a pleasure to be able to do so and not have to rush off to yet another commitment.

I called the garage where my minivan is located, but nobody answered. I'll need to call on Monday to find out whether they expect to have it repaired on Monday or else they'll need to keep it until we get back from Churchill on July 31.

Lisa and I turned in early, skipping the Masquerade and evening parties, and instead ordering a pizza and watching one of the movies on my computer.

Tomorrow is the final day of Pemmi-Con, but I don't have to set an alarm. My remaining commitments are one panel and the Closing Ceremonies, where I need to bring the gavel for its ceremonial use. I hope I manage to get clearer photos this time than I did at the Opening Ceremony.

Pemmi-Con is now officially open, and today's first day was personally the busiest of the four days I will face. On the bright side, because most things did not start until Noon, I could sleep in a little bit. We made breakfast in the hotel room (having accumulated all of this stuff over the duration of the trip helps). Lisa went over to the Exhibit Hall, where she's one of the staff, to help with final setup. I went looking for my membership badge, which I lost yesterday evening. It was in none of the places where I tried, so I went to Registration and paid the $25 fee to replace it. No excuses; it is my own fault.

I met up with the Site Selection Team. I had brought most of our gear: ballot box, cash box, blank ballots, receipts, and the like. Other material we picked up from the Convention Office. We walked to the Exhibit Hall, where everyone still working on setup had been booted out for a safety hold while an important part of WSFS conventions was being hung from the ceiling.

( NASFiC is a WSFS Event, Too )

I helped the Site Selection set up the area, but I had to leave and head back to the hotel room, as Lisa had cut her hand while setting up exhibits and had gone back to the room to dress the wound. I was a few minutes behind her. She couldn't find her kit, but I also had bandages, so she was able to clean and bandage the cut. She says the cut was rather ragged, which is making it knit better already.

I swapped into my WSFS uniform, but annoyingly, I forgot to get a picture. Dressed for the part, I oversaw the Future WSFS Conventions (NASFiCs, Worldcons, and bids for same). After that, I took the gavel over to the Delta, where it was needed as part of the Opening Ceremony.

( It's Official )

Unlike previous NASFiCs and any US Worldcons, Cheryl Morgan was able to attend Pemmi-Con, and she caught up with during the Opening Ceremony. After I retrieved the gavel (I need it for the Business Meeting), Cheryl and I went over and worked on our schedules. Due to me not taking my computer to China with me (assuming they let me go), Cheryl needs to be the Voice of the Hugo Awards on our official channels, and as we're both in the same place, it will be much easier to set it up if we can get together and work on it together here at Pemmi-Con. We should be able to find a block of time when neither of us in scheduled for something we must attend.

I had been working on getting a group dinner together for Ichiban Japanese Steakhouse. I ate here clear back in 1994 during ConAdian, and hoped to be able to go again. We identified a group of seven fans (including Lisa and me), and I needed to get down to the restaurant (which is located on the lower level between the Delta Hotel and the RBC Convention Center) to make a reservation. It turned out that the only time they still had availability was 8:30 PM, so I had to send texts to the people involved to make sure eating dinner that late was okay (it was).

After getting the reservation squared away, I went to my second panel of the day, labeled as the History of NASFiC, but what in the end turned into "Kevin Tells Stories About NASFiCs He's Attended." But the members attending seemed to enjoy it.

Returning to the room, I changed out of my WSFS uniform (which does seem to fit better than it did a year ago) and after tending to some other business on the computer, Lisa and I went back to the second floor, where I had about 30 minutes available until dinner: Pinball!

( The Pinball Room )

Around 8 PM, the members of our dinner party met in the Delta Lobby, and shortly thereafter, we headed over to Ichiban. It's a short trip, and we were early, but they were able to seat up. It was a great meal, and a great show, as such places usually are. I had not eaten a lot during the day (lunch was a smoked sausage from a street vendor), and I got the biggest dinner they had, and was very happy with it. Also, this is the biggest group dinner I've attended since before the pandemic. All of us are convention members, which means we're all vaccinated and have been masking while in the convention. Our cook was also masked, which was reassuring. It was a great deal of fun.

Lisa left a little early (as dessert was arriving) because she was worn out. I did not go seek out room parties, although I did hear that the hotel was shutting them down. I went back to the room and got ready for bed.

Earlier today, Lisa told me that we have to go back to the mechanic on Friday. I asked way, and she said, "Because the tripod for the camera we need for recording the Business Meeting is still in the back of the Astro." We haven't heard back from them anyway, so it's just as well that we'll go there on Friday morning.

Version 04 of the 2024 NASFiC Site Selection Ballot, including fill-in-the-blank fields to make completing the ballot easier, is now online and you can download it from the 2024 NASFiC Site Selection page. Remember that if you are going to be at Pemmi-Con on Thursday or Friday of the convention, you can vote in person there. (Voting ends on Friday at 6 PM.)

You only need the ballot here if you want to vote by postal mail (must be received by July 11), by sending the ballot via email (must be received by July 21 at 4 PM CDT), or you want to send your ballot with someone else who is going to Pemmi-Con to delivery on your behalf.

As most of you who follow me may know, John Mansfield, chair of the 1994 Winnipeg Worldcon and an important figure in Canadian fandom, passed away a few days ago after a long period of decline. His funeral service in Winnipeg was today, and was live streamed and recorded so that people (including me) who could not come to Winnipeg could attend virtually.

John was an important person in my life. He trusted me sufficiently to ask me to be part of the ballot-counting team for the 1994 Worldcon (technically, I was an extra person added by the administrator, as was the third person from the other bid on the ballot). He appointed me WSFS Division Head for ConAdian, at a time when I think a fair number of people in Worldcon fandom still considered me a crank, even though I had the same position for ConFrancisco, the 1993 Worldcon. (To be fair, there probably people who still think I'm a crank, but I'm never going to reach them, so who cares.) The icon on this post is me at the 1994 Worldcon holding a Hugo Award, the base of which I co-designed. I was also later named one of ConAdian's two deputy chairs, along with Christine Barnson, because John didn't want an American as his sole deputy. Christine and I were primarily there to be John's "life insurance" during the convention, but we did also surprise him during the Closing Ceremony to present him with an award including the ribbon that said "The Man Who Made It Happen" because without him driving the effort, I feel certain that Winnipeg would not have been the 1994 Worldcon.

Winnipeg was one of the best Worldcons I have attended. It's better than the one I co-chaired. I regret that I never got back up there, and I was very much looking forward to honoring John as Fan Guest of Honor at Pemmi-Con, this year's NASFiC. He'll still be FGoH, and he died knowing that he had that honor. I'm just sorry that he never got to experience it fully in person.

John was my friend, and I will miss him.

I continue to wake up ahead of my alarm, but that was still several hours after my normal rising time. After a negative COVID test cleared me to be able to face the day and after refilling the makeshift icebox in the room's second sink, I got showered and got breakfast from the nearest Starbucks (that's about 850 m today because the close one isn't open on weekends). After that, I took the Pemmi-Con material down to our info table and set things up. I was ready by 10, but apparently things down that way didn't open until 11. That's okay with me; I answered messages until people showed up to whom I could talk about NASFiC.

I tried to take more pictures today of the many wonderful costumes that passed our table. Unlike yesterday, I am not going to post them all to this entry. Click through the photos behind the cut and they will take you to my Flickr account, where you can look at all of them.

( Sunday at CC39 )

Spike joined me in the afternoon and we spent out time talking to anyone who came by about NASFiC, including in many cases trying to explain what Worldcon was and why NASFiC exists and no, there won't be a Pemmi-Con in 2024, just this one convention in 2023, although there is a strong probability that there will be a 2024 NASFiC in Buffalo, New York on account of they are the only group that filed a bid to host it. However, as anyone who has followed me regularly knows, being the only bid on the ballot doesn't guarantee success.

I hadn't expected to sell many memberships this weekend, but we've sold a total of four (including some upgrades from voting to attending), which three more than I expected.

We packed up the table at 6 PM. Neither Spike nor I will be able to be at the table until after Noon on Monday, and the convention ends at 2 PM, but we intend to be here from Noon to closing. I've found that it's a good idea when possible to be out there at the end because there are people who have talked to us that will dither over buying a membership and put it off until the very end, so if you're not there to take their money, they may change their minds by the time they're back home.

I once again walked to BurgerIM to get dinner. This time I tried the salmon burger, to report on it to Kuma Bear. This was salmon with a pineapple slice and barbeque sauce. It was good, but I think I like the Spanish Beef better.

By the time I finished dinner, the Historical Masquerade was over and people were socializing in the foyer of the ballroom. I was happy to socialize, and also to go in and watch the awards, because the ballroom was sufficiently uncrowded (and most people were masked) that I didn't feel threatened. There were awards and photographs and congratulations, and that was the end of the last big event of Costume-Con 39. There's still the one day remaining, but the big events are done.

I walked across the "overland route" (the rooftop shortcut from the ballrooms to the hotel tower, a walk that always reminds me of the scenes from my Doctor Who film "The Zombie Legions" that we shot on that walkway, and I briefly visited room parties. I didn't have anything to eat or drink (although I took a bottle of water back to my hotel room with me), but it was sufficiently uncrowded and people were in my opinion being sufficiently well-behaved that I was comfortable socializing for a while. However, when my day starts early, it also ends early, and I wanted to allow enough time to write this up as well.

Tomorrow I have to run up to Palo Alto to see my doctor. I'm braced for bad news. Not as bad as others of my friends have had, though. We'll see what he has to say after he completes my first annual physical in more than three years.

I walked down to the nearest Starbucks this morning to get breakfast, and learned that is closed weekends. I'm glad to learn that today so that I can make plans for tomorrow. It's a huge hardship; the next-closest one, which is open on weekends, is only about 350 meters farther away.

Around 10 AM, I went down and found which table was for Pemmi-Con, then set up our sales table.

( Letting the Convention Come to Me )

Spike Parsons, who is Pemmi-Con's promotions and publicity person and put together the table material, joined me later in the day until we closed around 6 PM. We packed things up and I took stuff back to the room, then I went out to get dinner. I returned to the burger place from which I got take-out last night and instead of one of their "regular" burger packages, built one up from parts, so to speak, this time with the pre-seasoned patty. I may try and lamb or salmon burger next time

Last night, I wanted some milk, and ended up spending $5 for a tiny container from the hotel gift shop. This evening, I bought a half-gallon for $4 from a convenience store and iced it down in one of the hotel room's two sinks. I figured that even if I end up throwing half of it away, it's still a better deal.

( Evening Event )

Most people headed off to the parties, but to be honest, I'm already uncomfortable enough without more crowding. Besides, my hours don't fit the parties anymore. I wish I'd remembered to go by the Con Suite and get a couple of bottles of water, though.

Tomorrow morning is the Big Event: Adam Savage will be appearing from 9 AM and doing autographs and pictures thereafter. We only have him in the morning, and he's doing us a big favor by coming by. I hope to be able to see him. Then for me it's back to the Pemmi-Con table for most of the day. Rather than wearing my Winnipeg t-shirt, however, I'm planning to wear my WSFS uniform. More about that tomorrow.

Yesterday, the 2023 Chengdu Worldcon announced on their Facebook page and their Twitter feed that they were changing their dates to Wednesday, October 18, 2023 through Sunday, October 22, 2023 and the convention venue to the Chengdu Science Fiction Museum in Jingrong Lake, Pidu District. The new headquarters hotels are the Sheraton Chengdu Pidu and the Wyndham Grand Chengdu. Shortly after I saw the announcement, I posted the news on the Worldcon.org website and updated the WSFS.org, Worldcon.org, and TheHugoAwards.org websites with the revised dates.

The previously-announced dates were August 16-20, 2023, and the previous venue was the Chengdu Century City New International Convention and Exhibition Center, with the Intercontinental Hotel and other nearby hotels as part of the complex. As of when I composed this message, the Chengdu Worldcon website still shows those dates and that venue. No reason for the change of dates and venue was given in their announcement, and I do not have any further information about why they made the changes.

Today I have seen complaints from people suggesting that WSFS Must Do Something, or claiming that WSFS must have approved this, or saying that Chengdu claims that they consulted with WSFS before making this change, or that nothing like this has ever happened before.

Sigh.

( The Long-Form Explanation )

Now I've made no secret that I have never been enthusiastic about going to China. However, while I may not care much for China, I care very much for WSFS, and when Don Eastlake III asked me to be Deputy Chair of the 2023 WSFS Business Meeting, I accepted, and despite my by-now notorious involvement in the other bid for the 2023 Worldcon, Chengdu's committee approved my appointment. If it is possible for me to travel to Chengdu (and between COVID restrictions and getting a visa, this is not certain), I plan to go, in order to keep WSFS's government moving forward.

I'm personally slightly disappointed at the change of venue, because I had already booked a room at one of the Holiday Inns located near the original venue, and was going to be able to use my IHG points for the stay. There are no IHG hotels near the new venue. Fortunately, I was able to cancel the reservation and get all of my IHG points back, so I'll be able to use them eventually.

The later dates may be something of an advantage. Besides the fact that the weather will probably be better, the dates mean I won't be taking close to a month of time off between July and August this year due to both NASFiC and Worldcon. (I'm planning to drive to Winnipeg and then take the train to and from Churchill, Manitoba after the convention.) I will spend far fewer PTO days on China, as I plan only to fly in, attend the convention, and come home; however, it's still a lot of days. Again, this is contingent on China lifting restrictions significantly to allow me to even apply for a visa and then being approved for a visa. This is the first time I'm ever going to travel to a country where a visa is either not required (Canada, UK/EU) or relatively trivial to obtain (Australia), and the requirements for China are onerous. I simply don't know whether I'll actually be able to go or not. Chengdu has not volunteered much information about what they can do to help me and the other people who want to attend. I hope they're more forthcoming about that than they are about how people who aren't already members and who are outside of China can buy a membership!

So there's my initial take on what's going on with the Chengdu Worldcon. While surprising, there's simply nothing wrong legally with their actions. And if any of you reading this think that "WSFS" is a Big Media Company with a massive headquarters, millions of dollars, and an army of lawyers... well, you're wrong. I know, it may be hard to believe (and I've met people who are convinced that I'm lying to them about it), but WSFS is run on a shoestring, and depends on all of the people participating in the society to act in good faith.

I spent most of today editing and uploading the videos I shot a week ago at SMOFCon: The bidding session and voting for the 2023 SMOFCon, bidder presentations for the 2024 NASFiC bids and those future Worldcon bids who attended (including virtually), and presentations from the 2023 NASFiC, 2023 Worldcon, and 2024 Worldcon. As I finished each one, I uploaded it to the SMOFCon 38 YouTube channel. Unfortunately, I ran up against a block that I didn't know existed: a limit on how much video you can update in one day. So I'm on a timeout from YouTube, and I'll have to wait until it expires before I can finish uploading the rest of the video.

You can subscribe to the channel and click the bell icon to be notified when new videos are updated.

I did not record the other panels other than the bid/convention presentations, and I do not know when they will be updated to the channel.

I guess it's just as well that I didn't try to do this while I was in Montreal. While it took a whole lot less time to get the video off the SD cards (as in minutes instead of hours), it took longer to edit the individual videos than I expected, and I would have still hit the maximum uploads limit. This is presumably because it's a new channel, and I'll have to jump through some hoops to show that it's legitimate.