jeffreyab: (Lightning)
ConClave has moved back to the Detroit area so I was quite curious and hopeful that things would get livelier.

Friday I packed up including some party supplies since I ended up being part of the ClubFusion party team. Spent well over an hour waiting to cross the border, behind someone who turned out to be Grant Millard with his head shaved. I found out he was a fan when I gave the answer Romulus to the border guard and she replied "Oh, are you going to the SF convention too?"

I arrived at the con and connected with some of the rest of the party crew. Went off to buy beverages and get a new Kroger card, which I only use at that particular Kroger's to buy con supplies. After setting up I spent a brief amount of time reconning other parties and then the rest of the night, until about 1 AM helping host the ClubFusion party. we sold several memberships, more success than I had in the past. Kevin and Teagan of the GT brought free stuff to give away which was quite popular. My roommate obtained a whole box of books. One thing I noticed was that our party seemed spacious and relaxing while the consuite in the exact same size room room seemed dingy and claustrophobic. Strange, its all about the decor I guess, kudos to Diane for her work on that.

The party was mainly about conversation, which was good and Bill Higgins our next Fan GOH dropped by and we talked tech and what he wanted to do at the con. People also dropped by to tell us that their teenage marching band members might drop by and to call them if they caused trouble. We replied that if they did drop by we will sell them a con membership. The next major drop by was con security to tell us that a flight crew had been emergency booked on our floor and could we keep quiet. So it was cool jazz music for the rest of the night. These two factors seem to have jazzed the hotel and con security as there was much more too much noise drama Friday than Saturday, even both nights had the same amount of noise.

Saturday was a leisurely breakfast followed by the purchasing of books, mostly small press and presents for Christmas. I went to one panel. "Quantum mechanics and chemistry" with Catherine Asaro, M Keaton and Bill Higgins. Bil had mentioned it the night before and it sounded intriguing. The former did her Phd on the topic and M was so into chemistry at college that he is forced to make a damage deposit any time he goes back to his alma mater, Bill works at Fermi lab and in the past has dabbled in chemistry. A very interesting panel dealing with chemistry's transition from alchemy to hard science.

Dinner was Middle Eastern with David Gibbs, Rennie and Chuck. The latter can be pretty described as a couple these days in many, but not all respects. The food was good and also the company. I worked on the party Saturday not at all as the Saturday crew seemed to have things well in hand and I was distracted by the Aegis demo and the dance, both of which were fascinating.

Sunday was brief as I was headed to my little sister's for Thanksgiving dinner. It was also my youngest niece's birthday so I bought her a badger puppet which she quite enjoyed. Kids grow up so fast though. I also rode a ferry for the first time in awhile since it represented a short cut to my sister's.

I used my new digital camera so I should be posting pictures as soon as I get my DSL connection up and running. I got to see many folks there, Troy (with short hair!), many of the goths and Ren Faire folk who did not make it last year, the Haas' with whom I had breakfast on Sunday, Sondra and Tom, other members of concom like Ken and Bill and Bill, the Penguicon folk, and some LJ people like Elizabeth who I had never met in the flesh before.

All in all a very enjoyable weekend.

Hopefully more of you can make next time, and even more will be at ConFusion in January!
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jeffreyab: (Space)
It had all the elements of a good con: Dinners with friends and new people: Katherine, David, Charles, Hope, Andrea, Karen, Eric and Sandra; eating Chinese, pumpkin pancakes, Indian and cool multigrain and blueberry pancakes. Parties at least 4 a night including a UFO party with Scotch!. A dance. Interesting programs. A film (anime) track. Cool books to buy: I bought a rare new Howard Waldrop anthology.


It lacked interesting gaming, new faces and about a 100 attendees. Clave never picked up much of a Lansing crowd and some of those left when they graduated from MSU. The attendence this year had as its core the Dorsai, General Technics, Aegis Group, the concoms of ConFusion, Penguicon, Conversation a new MI relaxicon and Confluence from Pittsburg. Missing were the Cityclub and RenFaire crowds who used to live in the lobby and local fans who are not currently on comcoms who have dropped out for various reasons like raising a family or a lack of funds. Also missing were gamers not just in the game room but Titan Games was not huckstering and the local games store Ryders which had been just up the road has closed.

All of this added up to a lack of mystery or an abundance of predictability. I had much fun but it was predictable fun.

I am thinking that moving to Romulus next year will up the drop in rate if not the room block.

Also what ever illness I was fighting before con has gotten worse.
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Jeff Beeler

April 2020

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