{"id":2516,"date":"2008-03-28T10:32:00","date_gmt":"2008-03-28T16:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lordandrei.com\/blog\/?p=2516"},"modified":"2008-03-28T10:32:00","modified_gmt":"2008-03-28T16:32:00","slug":"catching-up-norwescon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.lordandrei.com\/blog\/2008\/03\/28\/catching-up-norwescon\/","title":{"rendered":"Catching up… NorWesCon"},"content":{"rendered":"

So… last weekend (Et al Croce: Seems like such a long time ago…) we went to NorWesCon.<\/p>\n

On the one hand, internally I was giddy like a little kid. shimmeringjemmy<\/a> gave me several hours free time on my own at the con. This was exciting in theory.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, my con experience wasn’t like the ones I had as a 15 year old. NWC seems to be far more based in the social clumping. Seeing friends you don’t get to see except at NWC. Hanging with friends at sessions. Going with friends to gatherings.<\/p>\n

I’m still new to the area so my social experience consists of
\n    seeing about 10 people in the weekend that I kinda know…
\n    Admiring their outfit if they are wearing it…
\n    Asking how they are enjoying the con…
\n    waving as they head off to (sdkfuwef)<\/p>\n

This is an odd feeling.<\/p>\n

When I went to Dragon*Con in Atlanta about 4-5 years ago; I actually knew nobody there. There was the friend from online who invited me to crash on the floor of her shared hotel room. There was the ‘daughter of a psychiatrist’ (a common bond) that I’d bonded with in IM that I’d met thru LJ. That was it.<\/p>\n

However, at D*C I met a tonne of people. People knew of me from the net which really kinda freaked me out. And the scary part was; I got invited on the spot to be on several panels. The funny thing is I actually met s00j<\/a> at this con and chatted briefly with her… but never really filed it away beyond, “Really hot and talented drummer from the circle”<\/p>\n

So back to NorWesCon. It’s a larger con, but a large area con. It’s obvious that this is ‘da sh*#’ when it comes to Seattle area SciFi. I don’t want to hazard a guess on the size. Now… it’s not a WorldCon\/Dragon*con… But the good news is… it’s not a ComicCon either. Comic Con is a trade show…not a con.<\/p>\n

So… Art show.. nice. I’m saddened by how much the scifi fan is economically not in a place to buy art. Yes.. I’m biased. Went to a couple of sessions. I found myself pining to be on panels because sometimes the crowd would pull the panel waaay of topic. And like many cons. I leave with about 5-15 panel ideas.<\/p>\n

One panel was about good and bad characters. It was observed that the most interesting good characters tend to behave at times like a**holes. The further observation is that everyone at one time has been an a**hole. So the question was posed to the room, “Has anyone in this room never actually been an a**hole”. So I lifted Aiden above my head and raised his hand. Okay… so maybe I got to be an a**hole myself.. but it’s worth it for the sake of a good joke.<\/p>\n

At one point we got on an elevator with two women dressed in the style of Eliza in My Fair Lady. Swooping huge hats with flowers. I mean huuuuuge hats. I got on the elevator and joked, “Dear diary. Wife brutally killed today on an elevator. Really can’t go into the details…they are just too… hard to explain.” Good laughter on the elevator. Then someone added, “I’m really sorry I sent flowers to the funeral, he looked devastated.”<\/p>\n

There was also a poker tournament. There were ongoing satellites to win a seat at the final main tournament. I inadvertently won a seat. It was a massively short stacked tournament. (200 in chips, initial blinds 10\/20).. but the fun was going to the final table with 1 1\/2 blinds… Quinting up, then tripling up and finishing third. No.. I’m not going to explain what that all means here.<\/p>\n

But I never really felt connected to anyone at the con. Maybe over time. Maybe I’m too old. Maybe I’ve out grown the 16 year old who wants to take over a panel with hir fanish experiences and then demonstrate the worst british accent ever (Standard Fan Type X13)<\/p>\n

A good con. I just want to know if I’m outgrowing cons or just not close enough to this one yet.<\/p>\n

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