I Think I Survived Worldcon

[carynb]

As promised, my Worldcon summary.

I've been pretty quiet the past few months, mainly because all my time has been taken up with Torcon 3. If I ever think about volunteering to be part of the concom for a Worldcon again, somebody please shoot me, 'kay?



Wednesday

I checked into the Royal York on Wednesday, and met my friend (and roommate for the weekend) caldarelli. I then went down to the newspaper office, since I'd somehow gotten finagled into being shift editor for one of the two daily editions. Given that concom politics had pretty much exploded the week before, and there had been no less than 4 editors for the newsletter over the previous week, I was a little anxious to check in, and see who'd I'd actually be working for. The original editor was back in place, which was good. I spent a lot of time over the next few days in that room.

Anyway, caldarelli & I went out and got some groceries. She's completely kick-ass, and had actually managed to get the fridge & microwave for our room that I'd asked for when I made our reservation. We thought that might make the whole con experience a little healthier, anyway.

Our 3rd roommate, my sister Krista, arrived later that night. We all crashed pretty early, and were asleep well before midnight.

Thursday

Well, most of Thursday was spent in the newsletter office. Met the main staff - Kim, Tom, Mel and Jan. I had the afternoon edition, which meant I was responsible for the first edition, and so all day was spent getting basic layout and templates set up for the newsletter, and getting that first one out - only a couple of hours late.

Then caldarelli, Krista & I went out for dinner. If you're in the Toronto area, and in the mood for Thai, you might want to try The Golden Thai, at Church & Richmond - the food is great.

Then, back to Diane E's Bujold-listee party at the Renaissance. She'd done up mugs with a logo and quote from Paladin of Souls, Lois McMaster Bujold's new book, and even put our names on them as we arrived. They were pretty cool.

It was great to put faces to all the names I'd known over the years, even if there was an occasional strong conflict between the picture in my head and the reality. So, I met Cat, Andrew, Robert, Marna, James, Scott, Mary Louise, and lots of others.

After leaving Diane's, we went back to the Royal York, and took in some filking. We were in an open filk, where everyone was singing along to stuff they knew, and anyone who had a desire to do so was starting up the next song. It was a lot of fun, but I pretty much crashed by 1am, and headed back to the room to get some sleep.

Friday

Up early Friday morning, and back to the newsletter office (I should probably macro that - every day started out the same). You might as well take as given that I was spending from about 9 until about 3 every day in the newsletter office.

Then caldarelli & I then headed over to the hostel to meet up with other Bujold listees for James B's curry. Alayne, Sarah, & Chris all chopped veggies and stirred pots of goodness to help out, while Marna's Ian seemed to spend a fair bit of time running out the grocery store to pick up one last, forgotten ingredient - I think he actually made three trips, and we never did get the powdered almonds.

The food was amazing, the company great. I've always liked curry, and the stuff James was preparing was fabulous. I met more listees for the first time - Aaron & Joy, Scott, Eric, Paula, Marty & Jerrie for sure, but there were undoubtedly others. I believe there were about 30 of us there.

Went to back the Hotel & met up with Krista. We watched Waiting in the Wings and Conversations with Dead People in the video room, and then we hit some parties. We quickly found that we were both too shy to be doing that without caldarelli along - she's the one who can start up conversations with strangers, not us.

Saturday

You know the drill - got up, went to the newsletter office, stayed there most of the day. The Hugos were that night, so we had lots of stuff to produce. To top things off, the automatic folder chose first thing Saturday morning to break. We were producing everything on 81/2" X 14" paper & folding it in half, and our jobs just got a lot more tedious.

I took a break around 3 and went to Guy Gavriel Kay's reading (Woo-hoo! my first programming item for the Worldcon). He read from his new book - I believe it's called The Last Light of the Sun - and he said that it would be out in about 6 months, so probably March or April. The chapter he read was great, and completely sucked me in. I can't wait until I have the whole thing in my hands. Given that I love the way he uses words, and he's basing at least some of the characters on Celtic bards - culturally, anyway - the language of the book will probably be gorgeous.

Saturday night was the Hugo ceremony - I loved Spider Robinson's introductory filk, and was very happy when Coraline won Best Novella, and Conversations with Dead People won for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form. Jane Espenson seemed completely thrilled with winning, and as Krista said, that was pretty much the perfect Buffy episode - one episode that took you from laughter (Buffy & the vampire), to tears (Willow) to absolute terror (Dawn), sometimes all within a 10 minute span.

After the Hugos, we grabbed some supper - only the second, real sit down meal since Wednesday - and then headed over to the Royal York for the parties.

We hit most of the parties, pretty quickly - everyone told us to get to Interactions, and they were giving away free Scotch, and it was good stuff. So we did, along with at least popping into just about every other party on the floor. We then ran into David G, who we'd met 3 years ago, at Chicon, and came to the startling realization that he was a Bujold-listee's ex. It was kinda funny, actually. We mentioned the Bujold list, and he says "Then, you must know Marna, my ex", and caldarelli and I exclaim, in unison, "You're Marna's ex?". We have since been assured that he's "the good ex".

So, a little more party hopping, and I ran into a team member from programming. We spent the next little while ranting about each other's boss, did some mutual ranting about the con chair, and then I just headed back to the room and went to sleep. I'm pretty sure it was heading for 3 by then, anyway.

Sunday

Sunday's really hazy in my mind - I'd only gotten about 3 hours sleep the night before, and the sleep-deprivation, constant interacting with people thing was starting to catch up with me.

The afternoon edition of the newsletter was completely error-riddled, and pretty much all in stuff I'd done - I just don't work well without sleep. There were all these half sentences, and my usual proof reader apparently didn't actually read anything before saying "sure, it's good"

I know that I went to the Masquerade, and thought some of costumes were great. I was a little peeved about the fashion show in the middle of the Masquerade, but fandom politics being what it is, they couldn't put it at the end, as originally planned. That, it seems, would have been a bit too much of an insult to the organizers, since most people would have left while it was running.

Then, back to the newsletter office for a publications party. I stayed there until almost 2, and then headed called it a night.

Monday

Monday morning I took in my second program item of the con, and the first real panel - a panel on the ethics of fantasy, with Terry Pratchett, Tanya Huff, Elizabeth Moon, and two other authors. It was pretty interesting, with some insight into how stories develop for each of them.

Back to the newsletter office, where I helped a little with breakdown, and said goodbye to everyone. They were a good bunch to work with, and working together was a good way to get to know some people. Volunteering at a con is definitely the way to go, if you're like me, and hugely shy around people you don't know. It gives you something to talk about, y'know?

Took in the closing ceremonies, and then walked over to the train station with Krista to see her off. Given how early I crashed that night, a nap would probably have been a wiser choice.

Anyway, ended up in the fan lounge, with a quick stop at the dead dog party for some food. Played Progressive Whist with David, Ian, Cat, and caldarelli until I literally could not keep my eyes open any longer. 'Course, that was all of 10pm, but still.



Lots of fun, really. I won't be able to make it to Noreascon 4 next year, but I think I'll start looking at Interactions in Glasgow the year after, and see if there's anyway I can swing that.

Comments

No more volunteering!

[caldarelli.livejournal.com]

Have no fear, Caryn. If I'm present when you try to volunteer for something, I will give you The Look.