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I do most of my con attending in Michigan these days so attending A2 is always a trip to the Bizarro World.
As usual the traffic was bad on the way in, not helped by gastro problems on the way. Picked up corbet on the way, it was nice to have some company on the drive in for the first time in about 11 years. So started the party at 10 PM and things went well I thought. Anne and Kyle made it and many other people who like beer and scotch. They had many parties this year, which was nice to see, and a contest for best party!
Thought we had a chance until I dropped the chocolate Lolita party, oh well, its hard to beat a chocolate fountain and comely women in cute costumes. Saw Barb Schofield there, the woman who was my groups native guide for my first con expedition, she is talking about retirement! Well it has been 25 years. Dave and I were both ready for bed at the early hour of 2 AM so I decided to close the party since no one was in the room and two other parties, KC in 09 and Hope's were still going, plus I thought the consuite. However the consuite closed about 30 minutes later, kicking out around 12 people because no one was buying anything.
A word about consuites at A2. There is the main suite, which they seem to regard as a store or restaurant since they charge for almost everything and close down every night at 2 AM. There is also a Green Room which has a full free bar, stays open til the wee hours and is open only to concom, panelists and guests. I got in this year as a guest of a panelist but otherwise I would not have had access. Several groups like the costumers and poly/kink folk maintain suites which are open to all at least part of the weekend. The tendency at A2 is to split off into groups and stay in them, there is not as much mixing as at Detroit cons.
One good thing about A2 is book launches, they had several and they do sometimes provide free stuff like food or books. They also have some good presentations like those by Apogee Books on the history of what we know about Mars and how it was reflected in the fiction of the time.
Another good thing is the Beefcake/Cheesecake photo and snack sale which raised over $700 for an AIDS charity. The Tinkler looked cool, I almost did not recognize her and so did Lee Loo. I also remembered to hug the Tink who seemed to get her quota of hugs in.
One bad thing was the lack of nearby restaurants, none you could walk to and the rest far away. The hotel one cost much so I survived on other sources. The dance was good musically, with most people dancing in 1 of 3 or 4 large groups of friends, very few couples much noticed when they switched to a slow song, and no line dancing.
Got to chat a bit with many people, inc Paul Chafe an author from NS I met at Torcon, people mentioned before, Rob Sawyer, Scott Bakker, Steve Jones, Mandy Slater and Amanda Foubister of WHC 07 in TO, some folks from Windsor who I encouraged to make the trip across the river to some Detroit cons and my friend Evelyn who left her work jacket in our closet all weekend. Dave and I found it and had some fun speculating who would carry around surgical gloves, Evelyn it turns out to avoid getting infections at work from plants.
As usual the traffic was bad on the way in, not helped by gastro problems on the way. Picked up corbet on the way, it was nice to have some company on the drive in for the first time in about 11 years. So started the party at 10 PM and things went well I thought. Anne and Kyle made it and many other people who like beer and scotch. They had many parties this year, which was nice to see, and a contest for best party!
Thought we had a chance until I dropped the chocolate Lolita party, oh well, its hard to beat a chocolate fountain and comely women in cute costumes. Saw Barb Schofield there, the woman who was my groups native guide for my first con expedition, she is talking about retirement! Well it has been 25 years. Dave and I were both ready for bed at the early hour of 2 AM so I decided to close the party since no one was in the room and two other parties, KC in 09 and Hope's were still going, plus I thought the consuite. However the consuite closed about 30 minutes later, kicking out around 12 people because no one was buying anything.
A word about consuites at A2. There is the main suite, which they seem to regard as a store or restaurant since they charge for almost everything and close down every night at 2 AM. There is also a Green Room which has a full free bar, stays open til the wee hours and is open only to concom, panelists and guests. I got in this year as a guest of a panelist but otherwise I would not have had access. Several groups like the costumers and poly/kink folk maintain suites which are open to all at least part of the weekend. The tendency at A2 is to split off into groups and stay in them, there is not as much mixing as at Detroit cons.
One good thing about A2 is book launches, they had several and they do sometimes provide free stuff like food or books. They also have some good presentations like those by Apogee Books on the history of what we know about Mars and how it was reflected in the fiction of the time.
Another good thing is the Beefcake/Cheesecake photo and snack sale which raised over $700 for an AIDS charity. The Tinkler looked cool, I almost did not recognize her and so did Lee Loo. I also remembered to hug the Tink who seemed to get her quota of hugs in.
One bad thing was the lack of nearby restaurants, none you could walk to and the rest far away. The hotel one cost much so I survived on other sources. The dance was good musically, with most people dancing in 1 of 3 or 4 large groups of friends, very few couples much noticed when they switched to a slow song, and no line dancing.
Got to chat a bit with many people, inc Paul Chafe an author from NS I met at Torcon, people mentioned before, Rob Sawyer, Scott Bakker, Steve Jones, Mandy Slater and Amanda Foubister of WHC 07 in TO, some folks from Windsor who I encouraged to make the trip across the river to some Detroit cons and my friend Evelyn who left her work jacket in our closet all weekend. Dave and I found it and had some fun speculating who would carry around surgical gloves, Evelyn it turns out to avoid getting infections at work from plants.
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