CONvergence, Day 1

Thursday.
Arrived at 3pm to get checked in. Unloaded the car, put Star Wars on TV (HBO Family) and wandered around. Grabbed my badge (volunteers can get badges a day early). BGFE mle292 arrived with TehDae a little later and we unloaded car #2. Some of it went to our room, and some to the MISFITS party room. Also dropped off a pile of 'old Who' at the Torchwood party. Then more wandering around. Stopped by the OmegaCon room party to say hi. Taped up some weapons for the Batleth competition.

Later we attended the Meet and Greet. Punch and mini-cream puffs ensued. Then more working on the MISFITS room party, which devolved into SMOF'ing, but we still put up many decorations.

Nap Time.

CONvergence, Day 2

Friday.
I have my first panel today. Should be interesting.
mle292 was up early today and ran back to the house to grab the few remaining items that had been forgotten yesterday. She found out this morning that she would, in fact, be working lights for Masquerade. No shock there, but it would be great if the people in charge would let her know sometime before the beginning of the Con that she would spend almost all day Saturday behind the light console. I know she does it so that Skaht gets a break, but FFS, you'd think people that have been running that department for years would have their shit together enough to let people know. (PS, it is now official, she will be running it next year. Please plan panels accordingly, so MLE can attend the ones she wants)

Coffee, then the wandering starts. More later.

First panel went well. I was able to answer questions and opine, but it was mostly the Romeo show, which was great, since I did not need to worry about the panel in the least, just interject here and there. I actually think it is easier that way, since you get a feel for it, but do not feel the need to carry it.

Some light partying ensued, and much eating of tacos in the MISFITS party room. Oh, and much visiting with people.

CONvergence, Day 3

Why the fuck is Firefox launching? (because TehDae keeps setting it to the default [from Safari]).

Saturday started with the Bat'leth tournament. I was down there at 9:00 am and made my donation to Juvinile Diabetes. I also donated to Breast Cancer Research via rosencrantz319. Both good causes. I lost to geohard in the first round, which is not surprise, after all, I am a mere human and he is a Klingon. The off to panel #2 - MMORPGs. Now this panel I could talk. It was a really good panel, although one person went a little too far into game specifics, but really, that is to be expected. I talked a little about the history, pay v. free games, current obsessions, economics, grinding, etc.

After that was wandering and talking. Managed to get in and out of Dealers room twice without spending anything. Then I did a food run for mle292 who was fighting not one, but two lighting system software crashes. Door holding for mainstage crew ensued. Masquerade went really well, considering both the light system and sound system crashed during rehersal. Also, there was last minute re-wiring of old connections.

The most surreal event of the night was the twilek slave girl making out with another girl (with legs wrapped around the other girl) in front of the giant bar TV which was showing baseball. I am pretty sure this is the same event that was referenced at Closing Ceremony ("Gain two levels").

Then the drinking and partying. OMG. I was doing really well until about 1:30, when I was trying to turn a friend into an extrovert (my brain was only mildly addled, but he probably didn't really need or want me to perform this service). Spiked punch, frosting body shots, home brew cider, jello-shots, and too many test-tubes of pink and yellow beverages later, it was closing time and 4:30am. 33.8 oz of water and then sleeping commenced.

CONvergence, Day 4 - 5

Sunday.
I managed to get up for my panel discussion of Manga. I was the first there and was a little nervous at first. Then two of the other three panelists arrived. As with the first panel, my knowledge was dwarfed by the other panelists, which included Anna Waltz. I talked about what I did know, and the series I enjoyed. I also talked about using the library to enjoy manga, found both in the teen section and as dewey921 pointed out, in the 'normal' area due to mature content. I will do my one name drop and say that after the panel Lois McMaster Bujold asked me where to start with getting into manga.

Then I saw a KC at the Bat'leth, in which Klingons played baseball with Tribbles. Then for music, mle292 went to see Luke Ski. Good humor music. Very fun. After that was the second Dr. Who panel I attended - this one about creatures. Towards the end I getting tired and had a minor headache. So I went and had a 1.5 hour nap. Then I attended the Closing Ceremony. Some good jokes, and Soylent Theatre was pretty funny. My headache was worse, so I bummed some ibuprofen and took another nap. I woke up a little while later with a full-blown migraine. PAIN, restless sleep and vomiting ensued. OMG PAIN. BGFE mle292 brought me food, which I ate. Or rather attempted to eat. I finally fell asleep. Got up about 9:00. I could still feel the pain hiding there behind my eye and had some more ibuprofen. I also downed another couple bottles of water (which stayed down, yay!). Packed up the room and loaded the cars. I called my Dr, who fit me into his morning schedule and then I got to go to hospital for a cat scan or two. One with and one without glowie brain bits. {voice="arnold"} Its not a tumor {/voice}. Nor am I bleeding out my brain. Took my prescription to the store and picked up some Excedrin Migraine. Need to go back to store tomorrow to get the prescription as they were out. Unloaded the car and most of my bag. Now I am writing whilst most of this is fresh in my brain.