Here comes the book that is the writeup of the weekend. The convention was called Direbrook, which turned out to be a dark fantasy roleplaying realm. Going by the lack of any other reference to it in a brief online search, apparently it was created by the participants, which makes it that much cooler.
Friday
The weekend did not begin auspiciously. Last night James outdid himself with making noises. I should probably have moved to the other room, but I really wanted to sleep in a bed... except that I ended up not doing a lot of sleeping. The half gummy gave me some lovely tingly feelings but did very little as a sleep aid.
The trip into Portland went smoothly. I had forgotten how far the bus went past my old stop when it was traveling northbound through downtown Portland. The good news was that the driver knew where my stop was. It was the one I used to use for commuting home, and I have many not-fond memories of the bus not showing up at least once a week.
I was disappointed to see that the Thai food cart I was planning to hit for lunch was already closed. I didn’t know if they had weekend hours at all, but I planned to check at a better lunch time on Saturday, since that would only take about five minutes. They’re only about five blocks from the convention center, so I’d have thought they’d get enough business from there to make it worth their while to open at least on Saturday.
The hotel was one I’d been to in the past for conventions, but this was my first time staying overnight. The room was definitely worth the convention rate but not really more than that. As usual, I had to find somewhere out of the way to stash most of the pillows. It was a shame it wasn’t warmer outside because there was a nice balcony. I wouldn’t have left the door open at night, partly for security and partly because there was no screen door, but getting air would have been nice if it were warmer.
The folks at the con registration desk were very friendly, though getting to them before there was anything resembling a crowd probably helped. One of them even took pity on me and gave me her spare copy of the printed schedule. (I should probably have printed my own, but then I’d probably have left it at home along with the other paperwork I was planning to bring, which fortunately I didn’t need.) In general, people were going to have to access the website to see what was going on (or refer to the printed ones on the walls in various places), but I find something with that much detail painful to use on my phone. Also, I didn’t want to get stuck carrying my phone around all weekend. A folded piece of paper was much easier and more comfortable to stick in my limited pocketage, and I didn’t have to worry about the paper doing anything unintentional, like butt dialing.
Getting set up in the Art Show was easier than usual because my space was larger than I expected. The hotel didn’t have enough of the right size tables, and as the person in charge put it, she wasn’t going to give us less space, so she went with the next size larger. My only hiccup was discovering that apparently I missed crossing off a piece that had previously sold, and that just meant getting it officially crossed off so no one would mistake it for stolen. While I was setting up, a nice older (than me) woman stopped by to admire my work. I hoped she’d like something enough to bid on it.
Early dinner was an overpriced grilled cheese and bacon in the hotel so-called restaurant. OK, the cheese and the bacon were both fancy, but still… But it was what my mouth wanted, and I got all of it plus the small salad that came with it into me without too much effort. Considering that I was headed in the direction of past being hungry, that was a good thing. I still had the chocolate chip and walnut cookie they gave me when I checked in, in case I felt like something sweet at some point. Right then was definitely not the time.
After a short room break and nap, I went to the opening ceremonies, which weren’t really ceremonial. The convention theoretically took place in a fantasy/roleplaying world called Direbrook, where all kinds of magical/mythical beings lived, including one guy in an awesome Minotaur costume. The mayor of Direbrook gave a short speech welcoming us and kind of setting the atmosphere. It was entertaining, but for me the best part was meeting a very sweet, very thin 13-year-old German shepherd and getting some puppy love.
My next activity was a social meet and greet with some of the residents of Direbrook. To me it came across as kind of an extended in-joke because I didn’t think they really knew how to make their world more accessible for regular folks to understand. I seemed to be the only one without a persona, so when I got tired of being unable to roleplay, I kinda fixed that on the fly by making it so I was only 17, but I woke up that morning with some kind of bite on my butt and looking the way I do at 67. I happened to be sitting next to the mayor’s wife, played by the adult daughter of the person who invited me to the con, and she got right into it. I got to whine a bit about age stuff, and she gave me some advice. I think the hardest part for me was – and will be if I continue with it – not having been a “normal” teenager, and therefore not having any real world basis for the character.
The only real panel/presentation I went to was an introduction to cryptozoology. It started out with technical difficulties between the laptop the presentation was on and the projector. I had to give the speaker props for keeping her cool, but I couldn’t say I got a lot out of the snippets about Bigfoot, Mothman, etc.
And then I crashed. The room didn’t help because for some reason the thermostat failed, and it kept getting hotter and hotter. At first I fell asleep anyway, because I was just that tired, but I woke up at bout 5am roasting. The power button did not cooperate the first time I poked it, but eventually I beat it into submission and got the rest of my sleep at a more reasonable temperature.
Saturday
This is where I admit that I’d gotten spoiled by hotel showers. Usually the hot water is right there. Not so this time. It might actually have taken longer than it does at home. Also, I hate high efficiency shower heads because of how long they take to get my hair wet enough to shampoo, and then how long it takes to rinse out all the poo. Anyway, the hair washing thing got done, and once again I was grateful that I don’t wash my hair every day.
Breakfast was basically the same as I do at the monthly Mensa breakfast meetup, and for the same price. I was suckered into getting coffee to go, which I thought would be included because the rest of a carafe was still on the table, but it wasn’t. I don’t mind cold coffee, so my tentative plan for tomorrow morning became having that coffee and the cookie I still hadn’t eaten for breakfast, making it a $5 breakfast (instead of $25 including tip) for me, and a net loss for them. Sometimes upselling backfires.
My first presentation of the day was Wing Making 101. It was reasonably informative, but the presenters were hella annoying. At a guess, they were not used to being in front of an audience even when the audience was only five people because they had a lot of what I’d call nervous vocal twitches. I was pretty much ready to leave about halfway through, but I was sitting in the front row. Hopefully my restlessness didn’t show too much. I do try to give good audience.
Then I went out to see if the Thai food cart was open. It wasn’t. Neither was the burger place across the street that was my second choice. After walking around a bit, I found myself feeling slightly off, so I took a room and water break.
My next event was a presentation on sigil creation. The material was interesting but did not really speak to me as a magical practice, so when I get home, I’ll probably just file the notes I took in case I ever find an application. In addition, I got the titles of a couple of books I think I want to add to my collection. One of them looked scholarly, and I hope it’s not from a university press, since those books tend to be very expensive.
By the time that presentation ended, I was feeling kinda wobbly, so I went up to Hospitality in search of food. To my surprise, the gal in charge had picked up a bottle of iced tea with me in mind. That turned into the contents of my water bottle for the rest of the day. There was also enough in the food department to keep me going.
The next and last presentation of the day was about the origins of dark fantasy. It went far afield from the topic, but we had a good discussion.
Then I went back to the Art Show and found that somebody had bid on the set that I most wanted to go home with somebody else. I also got into a long discussion with the gal who invited me into the Art Show and was running it. One useful piece of information she gave me was that the panels were being done using the model of anime conventions, which have one or two presenters, rather than science fiction conventions, which typically have 3-5 panelists who discuss the topic. It was not a format I was used to, but once I understood how it was supposed to work, I could adjust, and I might even try to come up with a topic of my own for next year.
After that I went back to Hospitality to re-tea, and I decided that I didn’t have enough energy for the last two presentations I’d been planning to attend. Instead, I opted for a nap.
Or at least that was the plan, but the best-laid plans… I did lie down and close my eyes, but I never made it all the way to sleep. Eventually I decided to give up and find food. That meant back to Hospitality. The gal in charge had made soup – beef that could have used more cooking/tenderizing time, wild rice, and assorted veggies, which I had along with a mini-loaf of home-baked bread. Once again I got caught up in a long conversation, which took me through to time to get into my tuxish outfit.
My next stop was the room party, where they were dong a tasting of four different flavors of home-brewed mead. The one I tried was professional quality, but I can’t say it was worth the $45 per bottle they were charging in the Dealers’ Room.
Then I went to the Bad Luck Ball, which was not actually a ball at all. The “floor show” was a very good interpretive dance thing that had to do with the future of Direbrook – the realm, not the con.
The next hour was music that was not in the least danceable, and I had a crashing headache, so I sat down with a couple who were cosplaying Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett. We’d been crossing paths all weekend, and I had a nice long chat mostly with him. We turned out of have a lot in common – music, acting, neurodivergence – and it was really nice to find a kindred spirit. He even came from upstate New York, where I went to college. The convo lasted almost to the end of the music for dancing part of the program, which came at midnight instead of 2am as advertised, because apparently somebody didn’t read the hotel contract as carefully as they might have. That was OK. I was tired, and my feet were hurting because of new shoes, so I was ready to call it quits anyway.
I got back to the room and was all ready to “fall back” the bedside clock, but there did not seem to be any way to do it. I hoped that meant it would happen automagically. (As it turned out, it did not.) I did, however, find a port on the clock to plug in my phone charger, so I wouldn’t have to worry about it dying on me. Not that it was anywhere near out of charge, since mostly it just sat in the room.
Sunday
Predictably, I did not sleep all that well, and I woke up early even relative to the time change, which I wish they’d freakin’ stop doing. On top of that, the weather changing to higher humidity had my sinuses upset. I’m kinda used to that, but being used to it didn’t make It any less uncomfortable.
I had the big cookie for breakfast, along with the cold coffee. I’m a grownup, and I can do that. The cookie made me glad I’m not allergic to nuts because it had a lovely lot of walnuts in it.
My only panel for the day was called “Bookish Cosplay,” but in my mind I added, “for people who lack imagination,” because quite a bit of it was bout resources for other people’s interpretations of character descriptions. Part of what I like about playing characters from books, or rather characters from literary universes since I don’t normally play other people’s characters outside of actual acting work, is that it doesn’t give the costume nit pickers any ammunition. I was amused that the presenters considered eight years a long time to be costuming, but then I was at least one generation older and have had a lot more time to get experience. I really do need to get back into costuming, since I got too fat for my old stuff and gave most of it away.
Hospitality closed at noon, which was sad, so I came back to the room to take advantage of having late checkout. I decided it would be a good idea to eat something before I got back to con stuff, so I hiked down the street to the Burgerville I’d forgotten about until somebody mentioned it in front of me and got myself some fries, which I ate while walking back to the hotel.
My last event was closing ceremonies, which weren’t really ceremonial, but more thanks and farewell from people in charge.
I did some more chatting until it was time to check out of the Art Show. I sold a total of three entries, which covered this year’s membership, next year’s membership, and the cost of the table. Not bad, all things considered. Also, several people took my business card, and I mentioned to a couple of them that I take custom orders, so we’ll see if anything comes of that.
The trip home took longer than it needed to because the mass transit schedule sucks on Sunday. The rain held off until I had to go out, of course. As usual with these trips, what took the longest were the connections – three of them in this case. At least the waits were either at stops with shelters or on the bus while it waited until the schedule told it to leave.
When I got home, I was pleasantly surprised to find nothing that made me mutter dirty words. James even remembered to change the clocks, including the one in the new-cat room. I thought he might miss that one because it’s not visible while passing by the doorway.
And now, on to today, which was pretty much a nothingburger. I crashed a bit early last night and got good sleep, but I’m still not completely recovered. I can't even blame my age because I've always been like this. I'm just glad I didn't have to take my fatigue to work any more.
The only thing I can say I accomplished was laundry, which turned into two loads because of the extra couple of days of James clothes. Oh, and I chopped my fingernails. Normally that would have happened yesterday morning, but I forgot to pack the nail clipper. Oh, well. It’s done now, and typing is much less annoying.
Much as I enjoyed the weekend, I have to say it’s nice to be back home in my own space with the cats. Among other things, I’ve cleared my head enough to do some thinking about my upcoming Direbrook character. Her name is Flora Janus – Janus because of her dual young/old aspect – and she’s quite a bit girlier than I am. Then again, most people who identify as female are. Somebody at the con mentioned Monster High, which I vaguely remembered from back when I used to make dolls when I was bored, as a possible source of inspiration for her clothing, so I did some poking around online. I found a couple of pictures that will work in a general way. I’d like to do a dark floral theme for her, and I’m hoping that Goodwill will produce some things I can use as bases. The theme of the next con will be Monster Prom, so I figure that next June or July I’ll be checking out the used prom dress section. Just thinking about it is making me smile more than I have in a while.
