Home safe and sound.

I got home from Denver Tuesday morning, just before 1. The con was fun, though as always, I didn't get to see everything I would have liked to. I say that despite the fact that I found programming a little thin this year; there were several times that I could find nothing of interest in the pocket programme, but there were always people around to chat with.

There was some Anticipation business I needed to conduct, including a meeting with the people in charge of the Hugo Awards ceremony and the recruitment of a new Masquerade Director (as we lost ours a couple of weeks ago). As part of the Anticipation committee, I helped host a couple of parties in conjunction with the people who ran last year's Worldcon in Yokohama. One of them was the Post-Hugos party, at which I tended bar with klingonguy, while mishalak and others toiled in the back. (Thanks again for opening the bottles for me, mishalak. I don't know why I'm so useless with a corkscrew... breaking one cork is one thing. But three? Good thing you were there.)

It wouldn't be a con without an embarrassing anecdote - I was behind the bar when an attractive guy came up and said, "Where's the guy I need to sleep with to get a drink?" Now, he was clearly being facetious, because we were pouring the wine as fast as people could drink it, and there were several as-yet-unclaimed glasses on the counter in front of us so that people could help themselves. (He couldn't have mistaken them for abandoned glasses... there were just too many, all neatly lined up.) I, of course, couldn't let this line go without a response and said, "Well, I'll sleep with you, but it's not really necessary if you just want a drink." I later found out that the gentleman in question was the convention's toastmaster...

I did get to see the Artist Guest of Honour's slideshow, though - this year's Artist GoH was Rick Sternbach. He showed quite a number of slides of paintings he did for book covers as well as art he had done over the years for various Star Trek shows and movies. I also got to see about half of the Star Trek: New Voyages episode "Blood And Fire" by David Gerrold, based on his unused TNG script. (David wasn't there, unfortunately - I'd heard that he hurt his arm, though I don't know any details.)

I didn't get to do much shopping - the Dealers' Room closed about half an hour after I got there on Friday, and I never made it back. I'd actually intended to get there earlier, but as I was walking towards the entrance, I heard my name being called out - Joey Shoji (a rather well-known filker) was standing in line to get andpuff's autograph, so I hung out with him for a while. When I first discovered fandom, I was heavily involved in musical theatre and some friends gave me a tape of Joey's songs, thinking that I might enjoy them. It's kind of funny that now, Joey yells my name across a crowded convention centre exhibit hall...

The other funny thing about that particular experience was that when we got to the front of the line, andpuff looked up at Joey and said, "You again???" That's exactly what she used to say to me every Saturday afternoon when I walked into the bookstore where she worked when I was in high school... so of course, I had to tell her. :)

Anyway, I did pick up one book:

( Love In The Time Of Fridges, by Tim Scott )

and one t-shirt:



I also got to go for dinner a couple of times with friends from the Gaylactic Network (I'd list names but I'd be here all night :) ), and made it to a few room parties. I also tried absinthe for the first time ever, courtesy of bovil and kproche - I don't think I'll be developing a taste for it, however.

The travelling itself was, as always, beset by Murphy's Law. The first leg of my flight down was delayed in leaving by about an hour due to a mechanical problem with the refuelling system. Air Canada made it up to us with complimentary bevvies for those of us who wanted them (I would have preferred a free sandwich or something, but I made do with a Heineken *grin*). I made it to Chicago in time to make my connection (the plane had started boarding just as we arrived, and I had to change terminals, but the airline ferried us across the tarmac by bus), and upon arrival in Denver, made my way to the ground transportation counter to see about getting a bus ticket to get downtown. While I was there, a woman standing nearby asked if I'd like to share a cab. It turned out that her husband is friends with someone I worked with on Torcon.

For the return trip, the plane was delayed by something like two hours in getting to Denver, so we didn't land in Toronto until about 11pm (our scheduled arrival had been something like 8:30). con_girl, I hope you got back to Ottawa okay.

As I said in my opening sentence, I arrived at home around 12:45 and quickly unpacked so that I would have my toiletries, if nothing else. I hadn't eaten since some Chinese food from the Panda Express at Denver International about ten hours earlier, so I decided to pop over to Dominion and grab something quick to throw in the microwave, but they're renovating the freezer aisles. Despite the fact that what I wanted was in a working compartment about three feet from the end of the aisle, they wouldn't let me in to get it and the store employee I talked to just stood there like a bump on a log. So I said, "Fine, I'll go elsewhere," and walked over to the McDonald's half a block east... which had just closed. :( So I ended up getting a slice of pizza. There are an astounding number of drunks on the street at 2 on Tuesday mornings.

I had to be at work today, but getting up early wasn't going to happen. Staying up until 4:30 in the morning for a week straight is bad enough, but when you're doing it on Mountain Time and you live in the Eastern timezone, getting to sleep by 2:30 is easier said than done, especially with a stomach full of pizza... however, I wasn't much later than usual and had a pretty productive day, all things considered.

I'm sure I'll think of other stories to share over the next little while. I'd actually intended only to post, "Hi everyone, I'm home - more later!" but my verbosity got the better of me...