A Much More Punctual Bronycon Report · 9:12pm Aug 6th, 2014
So for those of you who saw my last blog post, where I resigned myself to being unable to go to Bronycon, looking at bright sides like being able to save my money (more on that later), it's because of that very post that I was able to get the situation fixed. I'm pretty sure my jaw dropped when Present Perfect offered me a spot in his and Midnight Quill's hotel room and car ride to Baltimare and back. Up until that moment I wouldn't have called myself a friend of his, since even though I comment a lot on his blogs, we didn't have that much interaction with each other and I was nervous about approaching him at Bronycon '13. But we had a great time together at the con, so I think I can consider us friends now. And considering that a blog post I put up made more of a difference than I could have thought, I'm going to try and make more of them, if only to keep me writing on a regular basis.
As for the con itself, arrangements were made for Present and Quill to swing by Richmond to pick up me and a local brony I'd met recently, Stephen. Stephen was going to stay in a different hotel room with other RVA bronies, but could only get a ride with me. Right away the trip turned out better than last time because I wasn't driving up there all by myself. I had company and didn't have to worry about my car getting into an accident that would cost me money and prevent me from making the date. I packed light, though I discovered later that I forgot to bring a razor and deodorant, though nobody seemed to notice. Present picked the music, and on the way up we listened to this boy band called 2Getha (can't remember a note of them) and some other pony music that I wish I knew how to look up now. Since Stephen and I were only in the car for a small fraction of their driving time (all the way from Ohio!), I conceded the music, waiting for another day to introduce Present to the wonder that is PJ Harvey.
One other thing I kind of, sort of screwed up with was the registration. For those of you who don't know, you can preregister for the convention online to pick up your badge earlier and cheaper. Since it was kind of up in the air until the last few weeks or so whether I was even coming, and since I hadn't saved much money for the con, I didn't register online in time. So instead of being able to pick up my badge on Thursday with the others, I had to wait until Friday morning and pay $20 or so extra. Annoying, but it ended up only being a minor inconvenience. I got my con book and map, which I don't remember being separate things or as big as they were back in '13.
The first thing I did was try to attend opening ceremonies this time around. Last time I took one look at the giant goddamn line and blew it off, but I thought I might as well see what the big deal was this time around. Let's just say that I'm not convinced that I should do this next year.
Anyway, a reason I had made up as to why missing Bronycon might not be that big a deal is because I remembered there being stretches of time where I was lost and alone, sitting in the hallway, web browsing with my phone while it was plugged in and recharging ever so slowly. But even though my phone seems to recharge more slowly than ever these days, this wasn't a problem this year. I came prepared this time, giving myself offline documents to work on with my laptop, being less concerned with panels and more with hanging out with my crowd at Quills and Sofas, and just being more comfortable overall with the atmosphere of a convention.
It's at this point that I should probably mention the people I met at the con, but honestly my memory is worse than Present Perfect's and most of them just went in one ear and out the other. There was Present and Midnight Quill (who paid for the room, parking and gas), as well as Aramis and Aramis's friend whose name I never caught, staying with me in the hotel room (they were courteous enough to leave me a bed since I brought no sleeping bag). Stonershy, who I roomed with last time, met me again a couple of times on Friday, at which point we resumed our FoE conversation about Anywhere but Here and the fic I'm working on, as well as sitting next to me in Jitterbug Jive's facial expressions class (Jitters being someone I never got the nerve to strike up a conversation with). Pascoite and Bad Horse are folks I ran into, sitting in on a writing panel on Saturday. Golden Vision made himself memorable by making some plushies dance to Moves Like Jagger at Five Guys, proving Trenderhoof isn't too much of a hipster to groove to Maroon 5. I talked a bit with Pav Feira about the foundation of the Seattle's Angels feature that keeps popping up on here. And that's about all I can remember.
There's a rule for con attendance that you should get 6 hours of sleep, 1 bath, and 2 meals per day at the minimum. The 1 bath tends to be emphasized because nerd stank and all that, but it was the 2 meals that I ended up having the hardest time sticking with. Eating out is expensive, especially con food (the burger I got at the con floor was not worth the price at all), but at least restaurants were fun with friends! The Friday dinner was the most extravagant, featuring dozens of writers sitting at a long table and eating at Tir na nOg (I had a fancy burger). Then there was the lunch at Five Guys on Saturday (another burger) and Luna del Sea later (fried shrimp because I thought I had enough burgers).
I also managed to get more souvenirs than last time. In 2013 I was hampered by having to spend money on a cab ride to pick up a replacement phone charger for the one I lost, but I didn't lose anything important this time around. I misplaced my water bottle a couple of times, but I managed to retrace my steps and find it where I left it both times. The only thing I lost was the commission card I got from Andy Price, the one I waited hours in line for, missing Present's panel, but the photograph is on Derpibooru and Twitter so I don't really mind. I would be more upset if I lost my deck of Twilight Sparkle's Secret Shipfic Folder, the card game everyone was playing (I saw many games but couldn't join any.) and the clear highlight of the convention in my mind. I also got art prints from Ajin, Jitters, Braeburned, and the Russian Bronies booth. My favorite one is Vombavr's poster of badass Lyra in power armor with a gun. I'll have to see if I can put these up in my new apartment.
There's also the matter of the internet at the convention. I was overjoyed to find that this time there was indeed a free wifi network that we could use while there, and I made use of it on Friday night... but from Saturday morning onward my laptop wouldn't connect to anything, so back to the phone for browsing I went. Turns out this antivirus program I had, AVG, thought that it should treat me like a teenage daughter it thinks should be forever virginal. I've booted it and it works fine now.
I know this isn't organized by day like everyone else's posts, but this was easier for me to remember and write. Now I have to think of what to write for my next blog post. Later!
God, if there's one single thing I'd ask them to change for next year, it would be to make the maps into a booklet if they're gonna be that big. The friggin' roadmap was ridiculous.