Balticon Report In Brief

[drcpunk]

On Friday, mnemex and I managed to catch our bus and eat breakfast. It seems that Greyhound is trying to be competitive, so we had relatively inexpensive bus tickets. Of course, the "downtown" Baltimore station is not as convenient as it was back during Bucconeer. We took a cab to the light rail rather than attempt a bus.

We got to the con in time for dinner at the hotel restaurant, a reasonably priced buffet, and to make the steampunk dance, Dancing in the Gears. I hope that someone got pictures and tells me where they're posted. I totally forget what website marcmagus got his cool accessories from.

After the dance, we decided that we'd crash early, which was the correct choice. We were fairly sure that the filk was over for the evening, it being about 1 am by then.

Saturday, I made some guesses about panels. I didn't check the souvenir program book, but the stapled handout only had descriptions for about half the panels. And, I didn't read the supplemental material to notice an interesting panel that David Hartwell told me about after the convention, a panel on themed anthologies. But, there wasn't anything I thought I needed to get to on Saturday afternoon, so I did the dealers' room with lordess and and Steve (whose lj name I don't know). I found myself a copy of Heinlein's The Past Through Tomorrow, having decided I wanted one on my shelves.

mnemex and I joined lordess, Steve, and selki for dinner at the Nautilus Diner. Then, mnemex did gaming, while lordess, Steve, and I watched the masquerade in the overflow room, did some party crawling, and went to the Ghost Stories circle. We peeked in at the filking at about 1 am, and then found mnemex in the Gaming room. After that, lordess and Steve went home for the evening. mnemex and I did some party crawling, as I wanted a second go at the chocolate fountain. It was 2:30 am when we got to the filking, which had, alas, vanished into the mist. mnemex played a game of Werewolf while I did some scenario prep for an rpg, and we crashed at around 4 am or so.

Sunday, I made the Writing Adventures and Campaigns panel and talked to Kory Kaese, who is looking for writers and editors. I need to drop him an email. I went to R.I.P. 2008 / 2009, where my exhaustion caught up with me. I remember hearing something about Marty Gear (who is still with us) having film that was flown at most rapid speed from point A to point B, and I cannot remember if this was something needed for the Apollo 13 flight or if it was somthing else.

mnemex and I did dinner with nancylebov, cathyr19355, her husband Eric, and David (whose last name I'm blanking on). To fit the various cuisine desires and requirements, we were forced, forced I tell you, to go to a Japanese steakhouse.

lordess and Steve came by in the evening, catching most of the film festival. I made the Storytelling circle, and they joined me there. Then, I played spotter for Maugorn, who needed to drain an infected hangnail. I also was able to supply Purell and the pin on the back of my badge, and to fetch paper towels from the women's room, the men's room being fresh out. The trickiest part, as I understand it, was getting through the callus. And that is why I was in the men's room with three guys (Maugorn, David Silber, and peacespear (who insisted I blog about it)) at about 1 am, cheering at the sight of blood.

Maugorn and I then went to the con suite in search of hot water for him to soak the finger in. All in all, the only thing we overlooked was adding salt to the water, which I should have remembered to suggest. Jon Singer noted that we should also have added peroxide, I think, though I don't know if there was any to hand.

mnemex and I did a bit of filking. Then, he went to the Gaming room, while I stayed outside, chatting with Jon, nancylebov, and leiacat about all sorts of stuff, including the lolcat pidgin, which will only be a creole if people start speaking it as a native language, I think. But, we thought that artificial languages are popping up too quickly to become creoles. mnemex later said that AIs would have to speak them.

Monday, I failed to make the panel on Zombie Apocalypse Preparedness, but did make the panel on Creating Opponents and Villains for Your Stories, a gaming panel. I joined mnemex in the Gaming room, where snacks migrated from the closed con suite. We were lucky enough to get a lift from a fan named Walter. This was his first Balticon.

So, we arrived at the bus stop on time, and then had to wait an extra hour for the bus, which was delayed in traffic. But, we got home fine.