DragonCon, day 1
Sep. 3rd, 2005 11:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nlbarberI spent Thursday evening doing some quick straightening of the house, having offered Sasha (friend from RRA-L, the Bujold list, and the Friends of Liad list) bed-space for Friday night. Sasha noticed that DragonCon was between her house in Tennessee and the cat show she's headed to on Saturday, so decided to attend on Friday.
Friday morning Sasha arrived a little after 10, we got her cat settled in my laundry room out of scent range from my cats, and we headed to MARTA to go downtown. Got ourselves registered with minimal hassles (apparently registration was vastly improved over the last few years), and headed to the Peachtree Center food court for lunch. We promptly ran into Dawn, another Bujold fan and president of the Atlanta SF Society, chatted a while, then split up to get food. When I emerged with my sandwich, Sasha had ended up sharing a table with Josepha Sherman, so we all had a nice chat over lunch.
Then Sasha and I headed to the Dealers' Room and migrated with the herds slowly through until hitting the back area where some celebrity (pay) autograph sessions were going on. This disrupted the packed traffic flow, so we squeezed our way back out and moved one level up, wondering where the Meisha Merlin booth was--MM wasn't listed as a Dealer or Exhibitor, but we knew they were supposed to be there with the new Liaden Universe Companion. Spotted the Exhibitor Room, which turned out to be another Dealers' Room, just a little less crowded. So we circled through that one, found The Missing Volume and admired the hardback copy of Partners in Necessity at $55, found MM and admired the LUC (but didn't buy--we've both pre-ordered hardbacks), and caught a little snippet of a sales pitch for, um, marital aids but neither of us quite could figure out how the particular device being pitched fitted into that category of merchandise. <g> We then headed out into a lobby area, snagged comfy chairs, and watched the costumes flow by.
Just before 4 we headed to the autograph area, wandered in (there were the various authors, including![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rolanni and kinzel, and maybe 4 other people in there), were chased back out "so we can do a head count", waited while a small crowd of Liaden fen accumulated (but no one for the other authors that I noticed), and were allowed back in. And then were reprimanded for not staying back far enough while waiting in line. Oh, well, this regimented system is probably needed when Anne McCaffrey is signing, but it seemed a little silly when there were about as many people in line as there were authors. But we each got a few things signed, I introduced myself, and then the fen moved out (mostly) to the foyer and started planning dinner. ellayn gave us newbies the quick guide to FoL fandom and con-going in-jokes (very helpful!), I wandered back into the signing to show rolanni my Lord Peter Wimsey Companion (which she used to look up a poem fragment she'd wondered about for years: "my lady gave me a tiger, a sleek and splendid tiger...") and we lamented that the LPWC is OOP, then the signing closed up and the fen headed off to dinner at the City Cafe Diner, while the authors headed to Dinner With Publisher. Had about 9 people at dinner, including one who we insisted read a paragraph of Agent of Change so she could stay at the table.
After dinner Sasha and I headed to the Hyatt to look at the evening options, but ended up doing mostly people/costume watching. I dragged her to the Tom Smith filk concert at 9, then we mutually agreed we were wiped and headed to MARTA. Got home, consoled our cats (keeping them separated), and gabbed for more than an hour before finally getting to bed. Sasha left this morning at 5:30 AM for the cat show in S.C., and somehow my plans to be downtown for the DC parade at 10 didn't come to pass. (Was still drinking coffee at 10...)
I'm headed down shortly with a few programming items I want to hit (including another byrolanni and kinzel), and will try to brave both the Dealer's Room and the Exhibitor's Room for possible purchases of items spotted yesterday. I'm planning to stay for at least some of hte FoL room party this evening--if my energy and crowd-tolerance holds out that long.
Friday morning Sasha arrived a little after 10, we got her cat settled in my laundry room out of scent range from my cats, and we headed to MARTA to go downtown. Got ourselves registered with minimal hassles (apparently registration was vastly improved over the last few years), and headed to the Peachtree Center food court for lunch. We promptly ran into Dawn, another Bujold fan and president of the Atlanta SF Society, chatted a while, then split up to get food. When I emerged with my sandwich, Sasha had ended up sharing a table with Josepha Sherman, so we all had a nice chat over lunch.
Then Sasha and I headed to the Dealers' Room and migrated with the herds slowly through until hitting the back area where some celebrity (pay) autograph sessions were going on. This disrupted the packed traffic flow, so we squeezed our way back out and moved one level up, wondering where the Meisha Merlin booth was--MM wasn't listed as a Dealer or Exhibitor, but we knew they were supposed to be there with the new Liaden Universe Companion. Spotted the Exhibitor Room, which turned out to be another Dealers' Room, just a little less crowded. So we circled through that one, found The Missing Volume and admired the hardback copy of Partners in Necessity at $55, found MM and admired the LUC (but didn't buy--we've both pre-ordered hardbacks), and caught a little snippet of a sales pitch for, um, marital aids but neither of us quite could figure out how the particular device being pitched fitted into that category of merchandise. <g> We then headed out into a lobby area, snagged comfy chairs, and watched the costumes flow by.
Just before 4 we headed to the autograph area, wandered in (there were the various authors, including
rolanni and kinzel, and maybe 4 other people in there), were chased back out "so we can do a head count", waited while a small crowd of Liaden fen accumulated (but no one for the other authors that I noticed), and were allowed back in. And then were reprimanded for not staying back far enough while waiting in line. Oh, well, this regimented system is probably needed when Anne McCaffrey is signing, but it seemed a little silly when there were about as many people in line as there were authors. But we each got a few things signed, I introduced myself, and then the fen moved out (mostly) to the foyer and started planning dinner. ellayn gave us newbies the quick guide to FoL fandom and con-going in-jokes (very helpful!), I wandered back into the signing to show rolanni my Lord Peter Wimsey Companion (which she used to look up a poem fragment she'd wondered about for years: "my lady gave me a tiger, a sleek and splendid tiger...") and we lamented that the LPWC is OOP, then the signing closed up and the fen headed off to dinner at the City Cafe Diner, while the authors headed to Dinner With Publisher. Had about 9 people at dinner, including one who we insisted read a paragraph of Agent of Change so she could stay at the table.After dinner Sasha and I headed to the Hyatt to look at the evening options, but ended up doing mostly people/costume watching. I dragged her to the Tom Smith filk concert at 9, then we mutually agreed we were wiped and headed to MARTA. Got home, consoled our cats (keeping them separated), and gabbed for more than an hour before finally getting to bed. Sasha left this morning at 5:30 AM for the cat show in S.C., and somehow my plans to be downtown for the DC parade at 10 didn't come to pass. (Was still drinking coffee at 10...)
I'm headed down shortly with a few programming items I want to hit (including another by
rolanni and kinzel), and will try to brave both the Dealer's Room and the Exhibitor's Room for possible purchases of items spotted yesterday. I'm planning to stay for at least some of hte FoL room party this evening--if my energy and crowd-tolerance holds out that long.