I WENT TO WORLDCON AND ALL I GOT WAS THESE EXCELLENT FRIENDS – PART FOUR (finally)

And then it was Monday, the last day of the convention. We had belatedly decided to stay one more night, but the Village was asking for a bizarrely high price so we booked at the Crowne Plaza instead.

Since the Village stops serving breakfast at nine thirty on a weekday, I got four hours of sleep and dragged myself down by nine fifteen. Except that there was basically nothing left in the buffet and they didn’t replentish it. I had coffee, a spoonful of mushrooms and some egg and not much else before packing up and leaving my suitcase at reception while I ran over to the SEC for Lounge stuff.

Earlier in the convention Joe Siclari had dropped by the Lounge with some wooden dragons on strings – they had apparently been raced in fanzine lounges past and recently rediscovered, so he suggested it might be a bit of fun to have go. The idea is simple but clever; flat-bottomed wooden dragons with a long string tied to their fronts, the other end tied around the middle of a pencil held taut by the corresonding racer. On the word go the racers start spinning their pencils to wrap the string around, dragging their dragon closer with each turn.

We had arranged for Monday morning, which seemed like a good idea at the time but I had forgotten about Hugo night and its effects. In the end it was the perfect time, foot traffic was not yet at its height but there were plenty of people about, and after two races for the adults in the lounge, the children in the adjacent Children’s Lounge had taken note. A further three races amongst the kids followed. It was a delightful bit of fun that I wouldn’t mind seeing revived.

Then it was time for Octothorpe Live! Which had the usual chaotic Monday morning vibe from previous live recordings, but with compounded post-Hugo high. The audience was rollicking and the Discord was in full swing, and the result was a lot of fun.

Afterwards I had to collect my remaining art from the art show, close the lounge, and check into the Crown Plaza. In the process I forgot my suitcase was still at the Village, so I had to go back for that, and eventually it was past lunchtime and I was very tired and hadn’t eaten – which is a mistake even when you aren’t at the end of five days of Worldcon. I compounded things by dealing with a bit of stressful future Worldcon business that I really should have left for a later date, and ended up a bit upset and tired, but John came to my rescue, and then to my delight we ran into the one and only Chuck Serface, who was not on duty as a Listener but was kind enough to supply a couple of very his patented Everything Is Gonna Be Fine Hugs.

Clearly what I needed was food and a nap, so we checked into the new room, I had a shower, and ordered room service, and by the time Dead Dog rolled around I was feeling much better. 5-2-1 exists for a reason, guys.

Dead Dog was lovely, I got a change to properly meet Olav and Amanda, spent some proper time with Kevin and Andy, and say goodbye to Lori and Kevin, who already had their eyes turned towards Dragoncon just a couple of weeks down the road.

Tired yes, but as with the best conventions I came out of it full of plans and ideas. And it really was the best of Worldcons in recent memory.