NORWESCON - Day One.

.....It has been entirely too long since the last time I posted to Live Journal, but every time I sat down to journal the only thing I could think about writing on is how bad things are at work. Which gets old fast. But it is vacation and I am going to spend the next four days geeking out with the rest of Northwest Freakdom here at NORWESCON. I love coming here. It is NOT the SCA, and inspirational in its own way. :-)

.....Already saw Alys Firekeeper checking into the DoubleTree. She is out in one of the wings. It'll be good to sit down and catch up with her. She was driving a new Prius, so I'm betting she weathered the bank folding up last year better than hoped. I was worried a little for her. But she is smart and capable, so I pretty much knew she would land on her feet.

.....TBT has Friday LOADED with panels on which she is speaking. Plus her single entry pattern bag. Plus she is judging the masquerade. She never does anything half-way. It's all or nothing! :-) I'm in awe and wish I were half as industrious. :-)

.....Already started watching the movie premiers for the upcoming year. 'Book of Kells' looks interesting. I hadn't realized it was an animated movie. Much in the same style as 'Samurai Jack'. I'm wondering if it is produced by the same people.

.....Am debating whether to turn on the work cell or not. I was still handling traffic on it as I was leaving the Yard yesterday, an hour and a half later than intended. The mid-level boss was a little upset that I was actually taking leave. As a manager I'm supposed to be married to the Shipyard, right? :-) I never did tell the Big Boss. He'll find out soon enough. My Project Manager told me to have a good time and not think about the Shipyard until next Tuesday. I'm liking him more and more. Although he, jokingly, told me to plan on taking no more leave for the rest of the year after this weekend. Hmmm, but he did laugh....

.....Off to do some quick shopping and then sit down and plot out the panels I want to attend. Then hunt down Alys for conversation.

.....Then find time to catch up on Farmville. It's quite addictive you know...:-)

.....Stop on by if you can. We're in room 408. You can use our room as a base of operations and we'll give you a tour if you've never been to NORWESCON before. It's a lot of fun!

.....Aaron / Arontius.

Thursday Evening NORWESCON Update.

.....With the number of people still milling about in the lobby it feels like a Friday and it is still only Thursday. As is evidenced by the fact that the song circles in Evergreen I and II were empty. Which was disappointing, but they'll pick up tomorrow I'm sure.

.....It was kind of a lazy day, but with lots of new surprises. I've been attending NORWESCON now for almost twenty years (WOW! I can't believe that!) and this was the first year as the guest of a Con Pro. They have a number of nice perks, including not having to wait in line to get their badges and 'bag-o'-goodies'. It almost felt like cheating to go to the separate room for this stuff (except for the fact that we waited so long in the other line before being told we waited in the wrong line :-)).

.....I have to work against feeling like a fraud a lot being married to TBT. She is such a talent! And at a Convention like NORWESCON? She'll be in constant demand every year she is here. And I? Get to ride on her coat-tails and get the cheap admittance fee. I know I should just get over my bad self and enjoy the fun, but it's difficult. I'll just have to work harder to make sure my discomfort doesn't rub off the wrong way. I'm still enjoying the heck out of NORWESCON, and tagging along as TBT's bobbing hula doll on the dashboard is O.K. by me because the event is more lively and exciting than it has ever been. And it just started.

.....Tore through my scheduling booklet and marked up all the panels and events I want to attend this weekend. There is some fun stuff scheduled. The hardest part will be deciding which one of three I'll attend at any one time. :-)

.....Attended to Rhys as well. He isn't fully integrated into the Convention circuit yet, so we have to make sure he has fun as well. Which can be work for a pre-teen. But we did manage to get him some pool time today. Gwen and I took a couple of shifts watching him and Briget splash around. :-)

.....Helped TBT a little (mainly watched) as she set up her bags in the art show. I thought they looked good. But if TBT does the display next year I think there is a lot we could do to jazz up her panel. But she was getting her feet wet this year and I'm glad she had enough time to get everything together to even do a display, much less prep for her many panels, sew her single pattern bag, etc.

.....Took a tour of the Marketplace. Lots of Steam Punk stuff, to be expected. Nothing jumped out at me and said 'Buy Me!' :-) But it was fun to see some of the stuff we only see once year. Again and again, TBT and I both were saying, 'That looks cool, but we could make that ourselves.' I suppose the ingredient left out of that conversation though is WHEN. :-)

.....Had dinner NOT at the hotel (across the street at a diner). Still expensive but the service was great and the food good. Then back in time for the kidlets to go and do lazer tag. :-)

.....TBT, Tsuruko and I attended a panel on the re-boot of Star Trek. All these geeks in one place! There were over fifty people in the room and one could immediately tell the excitement generated at the prospect of another generation of Star Trek on the horizon. People may have some difficulty in accepting everything presented in Mr. Abrahms' new Trek, but they all want MORE! Looks like the sequel is already in pre-productions. There is also the prospect of a new series as well. Hmmmm, we'll see.

.....Wandered over to the bardic areas. Not much happening tonight. Dance is in full swing though. But I'm a little on the tired side, so maybe I'll read a little and go to bed. Lots of stuff to see tomorrow. And Labyrinth at 6:30 in the morning on the NORWESCON Fantasy Channel. I still think that a Twelfth Night Autocrat TEam should seriously investigate piping in the whole Twelfth Night Court into all the hotel rooms via reserved TV Channel. I think it would be an awesome way to break up court and allow people to grab food and relax a little. Just a thought. Need to autocrat a Twelfth Night sometime to try this out. :-)

.....YAWN! Bed Time. :-)

.....Aaron / Arontius.