Public Arisia update

[chanaleh]

Though there certainly are people who had particular external reasons for bad experiences, the general impression seems to be that this convention was a strikingly good time.


Helped set up Thursday night (the first time I'd come for this in years). Got to help Arthur Ganson (this year's Artist Guest of Honor) haul his crates of sculptures up to the Presidential Suite for safekeeping. This set the tone for interacting with him at some length over the rest of the con. What a positively swell guy, and what a good time he seemed to have with us... and how amazingly well his works fit into the geek mindset! (This last surprised a whole lot of people, including Arthur himself -- although not, I am sure, Carsten.)

Despite good intentions, did not get to the con until late Friday night. Sad to have missed the steampunk ball... but loved the Dresden Dolls show.

Went, as usual, to No Panels. I suppose this dramatizes the distinction between Events and Programming. :-)

House-managed the Masquerade on Saturday evening. Would have completely bollixed this task were it not for the mad ushering skillz of Opus&Ruth&Ken, mycroft, and Jen T., all of whom I was grateful to have on my side team of volunteers. As it was, I heard approving comments at the Sunday-afternoon Gripe Session about how Smooth and Well-Ushered the Masq seating had been. Yay!

Got a lot of mileage out of The Black Dress (see userpic).
Drank Rocket Fuel, and other fun things. Realized after the fact that giving a pint of blood earlier in the day, and failing to eat much in the way of dinner, made this a slightly more interesting pursuit.

Got a lot of mileage out of the new button maker. Sold some buttons; cheerfully gave away at least as many (but hey, an initial burst of PR is a good thing). Both made me happy. The clear winners seem to have been "shabbat shalom, motherf*cker" and "certified kosher", with runners-up for "*so* not the con chair" and "good kisser". Next stop: Lunacon!

Saw a lot of people (duh!). Refreshed acquaintance with a number of people (penghuin, agrumer, laurion, quiet_elegance). Met a few briefly for the first time (tikvah, vvalkyri, jonbaker). Missed a few altogether.

After a wee dram of psychodrama...
(in ways both good and bad. Gratitude to cthulhia, and to Merv, for both listening to my tears and making me laugh through them. Gratitude to ablock and kalessin for trying to keep this alcoholic out of the bar [metaphorically, people], and to burningriver and geraty for their consummate tact even when drafted into the Brute Squad.)

... did not officially get home until 12:30am Sunday night.

Slept until 11:30 am Monday morning. Yeah. :-)

Comments

[dragonfriek.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was planning to go to Arisia, except the day of I discovered that I would be walking into my own psychodrama and decided to hide in my room and feel sorry for myself instead. I'm still pretty sure it was the right decision. It's great that you had fun though. :) Maybe next year for me.

[hawkegirl.livejournal.com]

Sorry we never found you, I'd still be interested in that button though. :>

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

Yes! You were one of the people I never saw! :-) And I had the very button with me all along, but it never occurred to me to give it to cos (whom I did find several times) to pass along. Anyway, I'll get it to you one way or another.

As you may have seen else-LJ...

[happypete.livejournal.com]

[Unknown site tag] and I, etc., really liked the buttons. Since it was all set up in e-mail, I really didn't know what to expect and I was most pleasantly surprised.

Too funny about Sunday morning. Who did you think was calling you? * grin * When you said "hi, honey," I just assumed you were being convention-friendly! * grin *

It was nice to see you again--wish I could have been up for partying...pouty-lip!

[gilana]

So, will the Hebrew Hammer buttons be available later? 'Cause you know I need them!

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

Oh, you bet! I'm going to make up a couple DOZEN of them next.

[skreeky]

The black dress is really fabulous. I was admiring it from afar all evening.

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

Wow, thanks! Coming from you (mistress of fabulousness), that's especially cool :-)

[red-queen.livejournal.com]

Wurra, wurra. Hug.

Hey, how did the hair go over? Musta looked grand with the black dress!

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

It was a hit! And not as drastic as I originally thought. Or else it just calmed down in the intervening day or two :-) But also, it was fun to see who's really reading, because I swear they all came up and made nice comments about it!

[avram]

The userpic does not do The Black Dress justice.

[laurion]

Agreed, having now seen it live... *rowr* -wink_

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

:-) You guys are awesome.

I have other pictures that showcase more of... er, of the dress ;-) but they don't scale down well into 100-pixel userpics!

[infinitehotel.livejournal.com]

Drank Rocket Fuel, and other fun things. Realized after the fact that giving a pint of blood earlier in the day, and failing to eat much in the way of dinner, made this a slightly more interesting pursuit.

You should have been wearing a button announcing that fact. I might have given you a smaller glass. (Or maybe a larger one. That dress *was* very nice. :)

There's a long version?

[beardedone.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to hear that you made it through the convention. Be thankful that it was not Universicon whatever, may it rest in peace.

One of these days I will have to see this black dress that everyone else seems to have seen. You didn't make the dress yourself, did you?

[geraty.livejournal.com]

Hmmmm....a tactful brute? Thank you, I think. :) It was a fun convention.