Kevin Standlee: Fandom Is My Way of Life

So that was World Fantasy Convention 2021.

( Signing In )

Yesterday evening, after getting some dinner, rather than going to the party for the 2022 WFC planned for New Orleans, I decided to make the most of that extra hour of sleep that having the US-Canadian end of Daylight Time happen this weekend, and went to bed relatively early. I got more than eight hours of sleep again — something that almost never happens at a convention but something for which I was very grateful to happen.

As I mentioned yesterday, WFC 2021 arranged for rapid COVID-19 test for those flying out in the next few days. I had my test done, and to my surprise, the results (negative, thank goodness) arrived only a couple of hours later, while I was sitting in the World Fantasy Awards banquet.

( Breaking Out the Suit )

As I've mentioned, everyone attending WFC had to present proof of vaccination in order to be allowed into the convention, which made me feel a lot more confident about buying a banquet ticket.

The banquet food itself wasn't bad, although like all banquet food, it was overpriced. I went ahead and spent the money because I knew that this WFC really needed to pick up a lot of F&B. Thanks to COVID, attendance was dramatically down, and while the hotel cut the convention a fair bit of slack, everyone was encouraged to buy banquet tickets and buy drinks from the convention-area bars. (For example, C$5 for a 12 oz can of Diet Pepsi.)

There were more people attending as virtual members (or attending members who didn't come to the convention but attended online), but otherwise turnout was rather sparse. It may be possible that more people physically attend Westercon 74 next year than attended WFC in Montreal this year.

WFC is normally a moderately intimate convention, but with so few people here, even moreso. I had some nice conversations with John Picacio (a real gem and asset to our entire field). Yves Maynard was at our banquet table. Toastmaster Christine Taylor-Butler gave a very nice speech, and I got to talk with her for a few minutes after the event to tell her how much I liked it. Similarly, of the people who were here, you usually could find them if you were looking for them.

Personally, I feel safer here in Montreal than I do when I'm in Reno shopping. Mask wearing here in Montreal appears to be widespread, and restaurants require you to provide proof of vaccination to be seated. I did, however, get some food and beverages from the convenience store in Gare Central across the street and store them in the hotel room's mini-fridge. There is no microwave oven, but I found that I could get the cup-at-time coffee maker to produce hot water, and the amount it produced was just about right for a single Cup-o-noodles, so I had backup for when I didn't want to go out to eat.

I'll be here until Wednesday because I figured it would take a couple of days for my COVID test results to come back. On well, I'm sure I can find things to do while I'm here Monday and Tuesday, even accounting for still having to do Day Jobbe work each morning. I don't have to be up as early as I am when I'm at home because I'm in the Eastern Time Zone, which is nice.

I'll pop over to the convention Dead Dog party for a short time, but sleep is on my mind. What this says about how Worldcon will be for me, I don't know. We'll find out next month, I guess.

I made it to Montreal. The start and end of the trip were stressful, but the middle, i.e. the actual flights themselves, were not.

I only got four hours of sleep last night thanks in part to having to run back to Fernley to get my jacket. Then, technical issues with the work I need to do for Day Jobbe while I'm on vacation meant I checked out about 30 minutes later than I planned. It's a good thing it's only about a five minute drive from the hotel to the airport, and that there were no more than normal delays going through Terrorization. I got to the gate just before final call.

The money I spent on upgrades to Economy Plus on United and the Air Canada equivalent were very well spent: in both cases I ended up with a group of three seats to myself, which made both flights much more comfortable. My Bose headphones worked, and on Air Canada, I was actually able to make the in-flight entertainment system work, which is something I could not say about United.

The long layover in Denver was a blessing. I didn't have to rush at all. I could find one of the restaurants (a sit-down place on the upper level of Concourse A) that wasn't crowded, could get a table away from other people, and could eat breakfast without trying to inhale it instead of chew it. I was at the Air Canada gate long before it opened, meaning I was the first person at the desk to get my boarding pass after showing my various bits of documentation.

( Immigration: Zipping to a Screeching Halt )

The 747 Express bus is the least-expensive way to get from YUL to downtown Montreal, but it apparently has two destinations. The driver of the first bus told me to take the second one, which I did. But the second bus seems to have gone to the same destination as the first bus, and I found myself not at all where I expected to be. It took a while, but I eventually figured out that I needed to get on the Metro (fortunately, the same transit pass I bought for the 747 works on the Metro) and ride it three stops to Bonaventure, where the hotel (the former Delta, for those of you who were at Anticipation) is located.

Update, November 4, 2021, 7 AM: It turns out that I was misreading the map, and the route I took was the correct one. I thought it went to the main train station across from the Bonaventure, but it actually goes to the Lionel-Groulx Metro stop, but that is only three stops down the line to Bonaventure, and the Metro day pass works on both the Metro and the bus. (It is also around 1.6 km if I wanted to walk it.) This should make things less stressful going back next Wednesday.

I had forgotten how much of Montreal seems to be full of steps. My hotel room is up a flight of stairs with no elevator. I was able to haul my luggage up those stairs, but it was annoying.

My personal telephone doesn't have roaming in Canada, but fortunately my work phone does; unfortunately, the connection in the hotel room is poor. I was able to raise a phone signal in the lobby and called Lisa to reassure her that I was okay and had not been jammed into a hold with a bunch of Covidiots. Even though there were a handful of people who seem to think that wearing a mask around their chin is sufficient, I kept reminding myself that at least in theory, every one of them had to prove they were vaccinated and had tested negative before the airline would even let them onto the plane, and I was mostly able to stay away from them, and I was wearing my N95 mask faithfully (except for pulling it down to drink my coffee or such, but I pulled it back up after each drink).

I still have to be up early in the morning to do Day Jobbe stuff, and thankfully the internet connection here at the Bonaventure (unlike the SureStay in Reno) is pretty solid. Still, I'm very tired. I may well take a nap mid-day tomorrow if there's nothing pressing needing my attention during the first day of World Fantasy Con.

I have Google Alerts set to tell me about uses of the WSFS service marks ("Worldcon," "Hugo Award," etc.). Over the past weekend, I've had two alerts that trouble me. At least two people writing about their trip to Austin for this past weekend's World Fantasy Convention have called it "Worldcon."

The two cases are here and here. If you go read these, you will see that I've replied with messages correcting them about what the name of the convention they attended was. I'm sure they won't be pleased by that -- after all, who cares, right?

Unfortunately, it's sort of my job (albeit unpaid) to care about this sort of thing.

I'm sure this has nothing to do with the management of WFC or any particular WFC committee. Heck, SFSFC is bidding to host a WFC, and we were the parent non-profit of the 1998 WFC. It's just a creeping erosion of the Worldcon service mark that I feel obliged to do my part to stop.