getting in the spirit of things

[burnunit]

In case you haven't been paying attention, those WERE my Convergence post-con reports...

But if you don't read space-looney speak ,

Wednesday: worked. like at my regular job. I put in for the time off so long ago that I forgot I had signed up to take the day off from work, and consequently didn't go help with Connie's. I feel like an ass every time I review the email from our HR guy: "OK. It looks to me like you worked today, so I'll change your PTO slip. You had requested 6/30, 7/1 and 7/2 as PTO."

ARGH! The extra PTO later in the year will be nice, but damned if I couldn't have been more useful to the cause.

Thursday: morning spent gathering the van and eating good juice & bread. A day of truly minor injustices began when my check card was declined by Jamba Juice and I had to go get cash. They made it up to me by upsizing my juice order to the Truly Titanic size, or whatever. I had a tureen of oj. So I guess it was also a day of good turns done by nice people in the light of minor injustices (see later about a certain super-nice person)

Then down to S & C's to load up the van with more fur furniture! and giant speakers! and other things! It was much hotter on Thursday, sheesh.

Then worked on the Lounge, then did more loading, then more work. Home for baby bed time, followed by return to assist where I could. Space Lounge setup went superbly well, owing to the awesomeness of volunteers (much appreciation!) and the fact that we've been doing it for four years, you'd think we'd have caught on. Spacebug & Velouria came up with a genius method for hanging the plastic that made it go like zip zip! And the stage! I cannot say enough about the stage and one key genius behind it, vaxjo.

I had a minor hitch at early registration when I arrived and realized that--owing to nobody's fault but my own, since I had not been to any concom meetings--nobody really knew who the heck I was. So when I appeared with my post card and muttered something about how I'd like to register, I was asked for a chit which I did not have. (I swore C said it would be cool cuz of the concom thing). Course I sort of stuttered (because I didn't know what he was talking about) and hemmed about it. I stood helplessly watching as a fence of bureaucracy flew up and I was directed on how to get a volunteer book and get it filled out. Then I could come back with a chit from the head of the department, "unless that guy can vouch for you." (he pointed directly at T, who, despite being a super nice guy, doesn't really know me from Adam-- in fact, T probably thinks I'm stalking him, since I later introduced myself probably sounding very much like a lunatic with a burroughsian bug poison huffing addiction). Now, I haven't been seen at Concom meetings for what I believe are perfectly legit reasons, i.e., 3 of the last 4 years I've been in outer dakota, and this year I've been working 2 jobs, but I still accept responsibility, I do!

T did not vouch for me (and why should he, I've never been to a concom meeting for christ's sake! or is that crist's sake??) but windelina's mom was there, and after explaining to me how to volunteer, just handed me the golden ticket as it were (she must have liked my friendly boyish face) and I registered. She has got to be the Nicest Woman in the Multiverse(tm)! I was so flustered, because a) I had no one to blame but myself and b) I really really hate being one of those gits who says "oh but, don't you know who I am? I'm on the concom!" Of course, one glance at the badges under my name would have demonstrated that fact, but I do also value a convention that takes its registration seriously. Arg. That moment definitely steeled my resolve to go to a fucking meeting once in a while. The bureaucracy became simply deeply amusing when the registration woman behind 'last names M-P' informed me I couldn't pick up Eleanor O's badge unless she was present or I had ID for her. After my short bout of feeling lame, this was almost too much.

"But she's only 20 months old, she doesn't have an ID," I said softly and sadly, and the woman became very nice and presented me with the badge promptly. Eleanor now has 2 badges and loves to wear them. And chew them.

Setup was just plain fun, and once again I caught myself wishing I'd maybe done more (like NOT WORKED ON WEDNESDAY!) but danged if I can figure out what I was leaving undone. I worked for awhile on a proper altar to the Old Ones- a gesture I felt was necessary to connect to the theme, and to figure out a way to use the excess tubing and lighting, and that wheeled stainless steel cart again. Or for the last time. The Elder Gods appeased, I left and was home and in bed by 2 a.m. Not bad.

Friday: Up early, hung with the babe and momma, then down toward the hotel by about 11. The Other Nicest Woman in the Multiverse(tm) (who unless I'm mistaken goes by hominidgrrl round these parts) had apparently provided the gang with delicious home baked goods and clean dishes. She has quickly become a woman I deeply admire! The scones smelled so good I thought about moving Meat Day up a couple weeks (Meat Day is July 21, long explanation coming) but I resisted.

Space Lounge needed some more equipment (just something minor like the speaker that was destined to be Channel 6 of the six-channel Sensorium), so I did the hauling thing (much smaller scale this time) and in what has got to be some kind of record for foolishness, missed the opening ceremonies again. Word on the street was positive, though. The Personal Dumbness Leading to Minor Indignities trend continued from Thursday as I attempted to find parking in that liquor store over by Lake & Lyndale (seventy five million years in hell!) and then discovered they don't take plastic money of any kind! The Minor Indignities Followed by Goodness trend ALSO continued from Thursday when I gave up and fled to MGM, where there was ample supply of inexpensive good beer (yes!) and so I felt very good on the whole. My delivery job complete, I help put some touches on the lounge, signed up for a shift, and opened the doors....

WHAM! WHAM WHAM WHAM WHAM WHAM!
That has got to be the busiest freaking Friday at Convergence... Ever. Just a blur! The musicians were stellar! From top to bottom, we should be proud of the Space Lounge stage, the hidden gem of the local music scene, the little engine that could of convention musical atmospheres, the sweet kiss off to cool kids everywhere... The music at the Space Lounge is so eclectic, so fitting and so beautiful, that I can barely stand it. And this year, it totally felt like it came into its own. Must have been the stage. Danger and I played as Danger Unit (someday we'll decide on something cooler, but that was a decent name. currently I'm pushing for Angel Dust Bunnies, but I don't think that'll fly) and actually I felt like we did quite well, considering the awful truth about time and availability to rehearse. By next year, we're going to be one snappy combo.

Regardless, the sign up thing was something I know I really pushed for, which i'm sure risks making me insufferably stuffy, though I like to believe it helped. We just each committed to a shift or two over the weekend and were able to wander through the grounds. I kept coming back to Connie's because for me, that's the secret consuite of the convention within the convention. (oh yes, SubRosaCon 2005 registrations are due October 31, payment in kroner, pounds sterling, bullion or souls is always accepted). But I checked out the "real" Consuite, and some parties, and some folks, and got some damn fine coffee(tm).

I remember standing behind the bar, a little tipsy, pronouncing, "I can make you an outstanding raspberry smoothie!" Then staring into the perilously cavernous freezer and muttering, "shit, we don't have any of those left!" Somehow we got the ravening hordes paid off and shut down the par proper by about 2. We hung out in the Sensorium for a while and then sort of drifted off to bed. Or floor. Whatever. It was awesome.

Saturday: Daytime: brought the baby, who loved to explore and play in the kids activities room. Hung a little with M & E and her kids, who also liked the room. Felt foolish for three days running as I watched my darling daughter stare longingly at the pool and realizing I hadn't packed ANY swimming supplies for her into the diaper bag. That dissipated when she went down for her nap like a little angel, so now I was 3-for-3 on the Failures Followed by Joys score. The Rest of Saturday: yeah. hopping, playing, hanging, running, listening, engineering, dancing, bending, exploring, seeing, laughing, and generally not sleeping. I love my friends.

Two of my favorite memories of Saturday: Standing behind the bar in a slightly elevated state, J comes in, fixes me with a VERY intense stare and crosses the room firmly and swiftly, to come quite a ways within my personal space. "Do you need anything, is everything all right?!" he asked intently. I practically burst into flames! It was an awesome display of intensity and command. He said it was his last official act as "Exec on Duty" and he thought he'd better be official for the last 11 minutes of his shift. I had nothing, he relaxed and I didn't see anything of him until F2E2 much later, by which point I think we were both well into our cups. I know I was. But what made it most amusing happened like an hour and a half after that incident. I remember seeing the very next Exec on Duty standing in front of the Space Lounge bar, staring into the whirling black-lit goodness of one of our new decorative additions, cackling and hooting, "wheeeee! I'm in charge! wheeeeee!"

Execs on Duty. Hear that? That's the sound of the inmates, quietly approaching the asylum manager's office, that's what that is. YAY!

That's got to be one sure reason why I love my convention. LOVE this place.

Thinking about it, I love the people and especially my friends, even more. Many things were spoken to my dearest friends, and every word of it was true.

Sunday: Caught a panel (one panel, all weekend) on costuming. Was pretty awesome. Went home a bit, relieved mrs_lovett of the stresses and the STUPID IDIOCY of me leaving some clothes in the washer all wekend. Sheesh. Staggered back to the hotel for helping, pizza and dead dogging. Somewhere in there i got some sleep.

Monday: home, had the day off, relaxed and planned things in my mind for next year. Starting with going to more meetings. Also I plan to be much more ready by next year.

Comments

[alisgray.livejournal.com]

it was a great pleasure to meet you, mr. burnunit, and you're right, our hominidgrrl is pretty admirable!

too kind too kind

[burnunit.livejournal.com]

Indeed, a delight to meet you too, even in the flashing temporariness of quick "hellos" and "how are you?"s
Reminds me, I think I need to give you ten dollars. Or do i give it to Windy?

J

Re: too kind too kind

[alisgray.livejournal.com]

It's probably Windy's.