Record of Brony Convention: Day 2 · 3:26pm Aug 11th, 2015
And now I'm in the Baltimore/Washington D.C. airport, with more than two hours to wait for my first flight. You know what that means: time for more BronyCon writeup! Unfortunately, this probably won't get posted until tomorrow because I was a moron and put my wi-fi hotspot in my checked baggage.
Bradel Bound Presents
ブローニコン日記
(Record of Brony Convention)
Day 2 – Trixie Strikes Back
So thanks to Ferret and folks, I didn't get to bed until 2:00am on Friday night—or technically Saturday morning, whatever, stop being pedantic! I'll say the days ends when I want it to, and there ain't nothing you can do about it.
Big surprise, then, that I slept in until about 10:30am. You know what, I'm fine with that. I might have been getting a late start for the day, but the only panel I really wanted to go to (shipping and romance) wasn't until the late afternoon. I figured I'd go hit Quills & Sofas eventually to hang out, but I wasn't in a rush.
In fact, I was in so little rush that I started the morning by hiking down toward the old power plant again, so I could snag some supplies from a CVS pharmacy. I'd managed to screw up my hands in a couple different places on the first day of the convention and just before—the worst of that being a long-but-shallow gash across my palm I got from carrying around broken sheets of plate glass; did I mention I'm a moron sometimes? Anyway, picking up some liquid bandage and some ibuprofin seemed advisable. Also, some soda pop because I'm a filthy addict. Also some [ITEM REDACTED] because you can never be too safe at a convention. Also some mouthwash, because I hadn't had a small enough bottle to bring with me when I left Albuquerque.
Kids, always make sure you have mouthwash. It's good for fighting cavities and preventing gum disease; if you ever have to kiss someone, you'll be glad you used it; and it'll just make you feel better to know your mouth is clean.
JUST DO IT! MAKE YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE!
Yes, this is the sort of insightful commentary you can expect from me. I know, I'm a disappointment to my ancestors. I'll live. Anyway, speaking of disappointing your ancestors and segueing via cheap stereotypes, I headed back to the Hilton and placed a delivery order for Chinese food. Somebody had come around during the badge line on Friday, handing out fliers for a local Chinese restaurant—which is a smart business decision, in my opinion, because I suspect I'm not the only con-goer to have taken one and thought, "That sounds like a great idea."
It wasn't a great idea, unfortunately. The food was okay-but-not-great, and I ordered way too much of it to make the delivery order minimum. On the other hand, the delivery order minimum was only $12.00, which meant that I could get about twice as much food from Baltimore Chinese Palace (name not intended to be accurate) as I'd get from ordering room service.
Kids, room service is a scam. Sure, it's nice to try once or twice, but do yourselves a favor and just call Dominos or something. The cost difference (and thus food quantity difference) totally makes up for the slightly lowered convenience and the less slightly lowered food quality.
Anyway, the Hilton is a Dick Hotel—they don't have refrigerators or microwaves, so it's not like I can keep any of this Chinese for later meals. So I decide, whatever, I'll just make myself sick on it and skip lunch. That cancels out, right? Well, actually, it does cancel out. I was perfectly content waiting to eat again until the author dinner. On the other hand, I made myself nauseous by eating too much cheap, lame-ass Chinese food. This is one of those adult life lessons I really need to learn: when you've just had an idea, and you know the idea is a bad one, that's the point where you say, "Self, stop being a moron. If you don't, you're going to have to write a follow-up blog that seriously overuses the word 'moron'."
Kids, that is a totally actual life lesson, and not fake in any way. Would your Uncle Bradel lie to you?
Okay, fine, fine, I know you're not here for the life lessons and the "Bradel spends his morning engaged in the mundane activities of shopping and eating" part of the blog. You want to know about BronyCon. So I finish eating, I shower, I get dressed for appearing in public again, I grab my laptop and defective WeLoveFine bag, and I head out to Quills & Sofas.
Q&S is packed with people. That's pretty common. Jordanis had just posted a blog saying he'd be down there, identifiable by the big logo on the back of his own laptop. I spotted him, but didn't say hello because he was in a giant circle of authors all chatting up a storm. Bad Horse was also in this circle, once again being fawned over by his adoring minions. I'm not big on dealing with large groups, so I decided I'd just stake out a spot beside this table and wait to see if anybody wanted to talk to me. I opened up my laptop, and went back to working on my current story project.
“Pinkie, your folks are farm ponies. You gotta understand what I’m talking about. Agriculture’s dangerous business, and zap-apples are the most dangerous of all.”
We were standing around the kitchen of Sugarcube Corner, the morning after my fight with Twilight. Well, I was standing around. Pinkie was mixing the batter for a batch of red velvet cupcakes and doing her best to ignore me.
“That’s not the point, Applejack. You said some very mean things to Twilight, and you need to go apologize to her.”
“But she’s messin’ with powerful forces she doesn’t know how to control!”
The whisk-whisk of Pinkie’s mixing stopped, and she stared at me. “Zap-apples?”
Suddenly, my phone starts buzzing at me. I pick it up, and I've got a text message from Ferret. "Where's you? Trixie could use quiet," she says. I ask where I can find her. "Follow the cries," she says.
Aww, poor Trixie. Okay, well, babies are more important than story-writing. I high-tail it out of Q&S and track down Prince Rutherford, who's trying to comfort a very unhappy Baby Trixie. He bundles her up, and Ferret and I lead them back to my room in the Hilton. Since I was staying solo (expensive, but oh so nice), Bookplayer and I had talked about letting Trixie nap up there during the convention, if she needed it. And on Saturday, she really needed it.
On our way back to the hotel room, we pass John de Lancie in the hall. He sees Trixie, and he gets this look like, "Kid, I understand." I've never met John de Lancie, never heard him on a panel, never seen him except at this one particular moment, but I have to say, I love the man just for his expression at that moment. This is the expression of a Good Guy.
Anyway, we mosey back to my room, Baby Trixie wailing like a wee banshee all the way. Ferret and I drop Rutherford off in my room and I leave him a card key in case he needs to duck out and back in for anything, then we head back down to the convetion to tell bookplayer where her daughter went and assuage any fears she might have that Trixie had been abducted by changelings.
I mean fairy changelings. The ones that are notorious for kidnapping babies. Not the pony changelings that feed on love. There are different types of changlings, okay? And fairy changelings make more sense in this context. And... oh, nevermind.
On the way back, Ferret and I talk a bit about the convention so far, and some of the panels she's been to, and what she's enjoyed and what she hasn't. Honestly, I'd completely forgotten how much I like Ferret. I hadn't forgotten that I like her, but I'd forgotten how much fun it is to just hang out and talk with her. Unfortunately, Ferret is as extroverted as they come and I'm... not. Which means this time we're walking around is really nice, because it's just me and her talking, rather than trying to handle Ferret and her legion of minions
Wait. She's not evil, so she doesn't really have minions. Also, all of the people she hangs out with are really horse-famous. What do you call that? Oh yeah, an entourage.
Ferret's entourage is full of cool people that I really don't know very well, which is a situation perfectly calibrated for making me uncomfortable: I know this one person, but I don't know any of these other people, and now they're all hanging out together. This is pretty much exactly how BABScon went south on me, and thankfully I had the sense to spend BronyCon meeting people in small groups so that now I can be in a big group with them and still have someone to talk to.
Getting back on topic, it's fun to get to talk to Ferret for a while sans entourage and remember why I like her so much. We get back to Quills & Sofas, though, and she heads off with The Entourage, so I'm back to writing my pony-words.
“Don’t you see? Think how much trouble Twilight could get in!”
“You’re not worried about Twilight, Applejack. You’re worried about yourself. You don’t want somepony else to be able to grow zap-apples.”
“That’s…” I huffed. “That ain’t it at all, Pinkie.” The lie stuck in my craw. I could taste it, like a sour persimmon that's two weeks past ripe.
I barely even get started this time before bookplayer shows up, wanting to know what's become of her daughter. So I bring her up to the room, and of course we get there right after Trixie has started settling down. She sees her mother, and she goes straight back into Super-Sairan mode. Baby Trixie really didn't have a great Saturday.
Anyway, we do a little bouncing around for a while, back and forth to Quills & Sofas where bookplayer can do some panel planning, because her shipping panel is coming up pretty soon now. Somebody whose name and comments I recognize but who I can't remember right now comes over to say hello to bookplayer. DbzOrDie? Blagdaross? (ETA: It was Blagdaross.) Damn it, I've forgotten almost half the people I met at BronyCon—and it's about to get a lot worse as the night goes on. I also get to meet Sunchaser, finally, who comes over to ask about the panel. We've chatted a lot on line before this, but I've never had a chance to meet him in person.
Suncahser's arrival also prompts a round of BronyCon Who's On First.
You see, Sunchaser was in charge of organizing this year's BronyCon Authors' Dinner. Being a newcomer to the convention, I wasn't aware that there was some drama surrounding this event. Last year, I guess 50 more people showed up for the dinner than had RSVP'ed for the reservation. Fifty more people. That's a logistical nightmare. So this time, I'd gotten the impression that the dinner was being kept on the down-low a little bit, to make sure it didn't go all Kafkaesque again. Unfortunately, I wasn't completely sure whether I'd RSVP'ed, because I'd never had any contact with Sunchaser over this. I just know bookplayer asked me if I wanted to go, I said yes, and she said she'd get my name down. And I'd been getting questions from some fairly big-name people for about a day now. "Are you going to the authors' dinner?" "I think I am..." Well, now was my chance to check! But I wanted to be discreet.
ME: Soooo... Am I going to the Thing?
SUNNY: The thing?
ME: Yeah, you know. The Thing.
BOOKS: What thing?
ME: The Thing! Tonight?
SUNNY: There's a thing? Do I know there's a thing?
ME: Of course you know there's a Thing! Nobody knows the Thing better than you.
BOOKS: What's the thing?
SUNNY: I don't know.
ME: The Thing! Come on!
BOOKS: Ohh! You mean... the thing.
ME: Yes! The Thing!
SUNNY: I still don't know what the thing is.
BOOKS: It's the thing. Tonight. You know. The thing.
SUNNY: Oh. You mean that thing?
ME: Yes! Am I going to the Thing!?
SUNNY: Oh, yeah, sure. I've got you down for the thing.
So anyway, I went to the Thing.
But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Bookplayer's shipping panel happened before that. And before the panel, we had to do one last round of Trixie Tag. With about half an hour left before the panel, we hurried back up to the room so bookplayer could check in one last time. Trixie was starting to do better, but she was still pretty tired. But conversation turned to how bookplayer and Prince Rutherford calm her down when she gets fussy, and ponies are mentioned, and I feel dumb once again because I knew that and I should have remembered it.
"Wait. She likes to watch ponies? Well... why don't you guys just watch ponies on my computer for a while?" says I.
"You have ponies!?" says Prince Rutherford.
"'Course I have ponies," says I.
So I set up my laptop, pulled up my pony files, and Trixie and her Prince got a chance to relax for a while and watch Pinkie Pie work her magic. Trixie problem: solved! On to bookplayer's panel.
Which I'll pretty much skip over, because she's blogging about it herself. Suffice it to say that I really enjoyed the panel, both for a couple finer shipping points I learned from it, and for a couple new story ideas it gave me. Those story ideas are completely unrelated to shipping, but I still think they're pretty cool. I added them to my story idea archive later that night, and looking through the archive, I realized I've got a lot of really fun ideas I'd love to be writing if I have time. Well, I'm changing my commitments next academic year. Let's hope that frees up more time for pony, because I'd really like that.
Okay, panel done. Bookplayer and I head back to my room and meet up with Trixie and the Prince. Ponies seem to have brightened her day immesurably. She's just a squirmy little bundle of joy now. Prince Rutherford and I head back down to the convention center and leave Baby Trixie with bookplayer for a bit. Then Rutherford goes out for a smoke on his pipe—yes, he smokes a pipe, and it's pretty cool—and I head back to Quills & Sofas. Bookplayer arrives almost the same time as me, and we sit down and chat for a bit. She says she's thinking maybe she'll skip out on the authors' dinner since Trixie's been having a hard day. I still want to go, because obviously. Nobody really knows where the party is meeting up, though. We know their destination, but we aren't sure if they've already left or not. Probably?
Around this time, GaryOak (with his ten Kanto trainer badges) walks in, looking for the authors' dinner himself.
Time for some straight talk, y'all, though I know this might get me in a bit of trouble. My experiences with GaryOak on Fimfiction hadn't been great. I'll leave it at that and just say this wasn't the guy I was hoping to spend my evening with. But bookplayer pushes me to head out for the dinner, because she's going to leave soon anyway, and Gary seems like he could probably use some help getting there. Even if I'm not super excited at the prospect of spending time with him, I'd hate to leave him in the lurch for something like this. He ought to be there, and if he needs help that I can provide, it would be pretty sucky of me not to provide it. So we head on out.
Thinking I should probably try to make the best of things, I start chatting with him on the walk, asking how he's enjoying the convention, things like that. And you know what? Gary's not a bad guy. Occasionally he says something a bit socially awkward, but I think we can all agree that pony is chock full of people who are occasionally a bit socially awkward. We run into Pen Stroke on the way to dinner, but Pen Stroke has opted out because something he ate earlier isn't sitting well with him. We chat for a bit and move on. Anyway, by the time we finally get to the restaurant, I'm pretty darn cool with Gary. I know him better than most of the folks at this shindig, and I'm having a perfectly easy time talking to him. (There's a reason I keep harping on this, and I'll get to it in a bit.)
We're very late arrivals, though, so by the time we get there, almost all the seats are taken. There are a couple single seats scattered at tables, but I recognize almost nobody here. This is not looking like it's going to be a lot of fun.
I do see Pascoite, though. I didn't get to spend nearly enough time talking to him—this moment was basically it, and that sucks, because Pascoite is cool and I would have loved to talk with him more. What does happen, though, is that Pascoite gives me a rock. Not just any rock, mind. A chunk of pascoite. I am elated! But more on this tomorrow.
Then Ferret grabs my arm as I walk by a table with two free seats. She tells me I need to sit next to her, and points Gary to the seat opposite. Okay, Ferret and Gary, I can live with this. The table's got three other people I don't know—Sci-Fi fic guy, Crossover guy, and other guy—but if I've got Ferret and Gary, I think I'll probably be fine.
Then Ferret gets up to do her social butterfly thing. Then some other guy comes over (was it Wanderer D?) and asks if Gary and I are willing to give up our seats, because we're at a table that has most of the Crossover Fic panelists, and they want to do some planning before their panel that evening. I get a little nervous about giving up Ferret's seat while she's gone, but these guys have a decent reason for asking us to move, and after a couple seconds of hesitation, Gary and I clear out.
This was the best decision I made all night.
So Gary and I try to track down a couple new seats somewhere, hoping we can sit together at least. I meet a couple more people on the way, though Noble Cause is the only one I remember. I think. Or was it Noble Thought? Darn it, you guys. Why do you have to have such similar names. I think it was Cause. I think he said he was coming to BronyCon.
Suddenly, Ferret calls us over again, because she's managed to stake out a spot for us. And this time, we're at a table with Corejo and FoughtDragon01. Oh, and Bad Horse, and TheJediMasterEd. Well. This is a big improvement. Even better, Ferret and I get sat on a couch-type thing, and she spends probably half the meal snuggling up to me, which I'll just say is a very enjoyable experience.
Kids, you need a Ferret in your life.
So I know a lot of my Fimfiction friends are crazy about JMEd. I've liked interacting with him online, but I haven't done as much of it as many of them. In person, though, he just blows me away. This guy is an epic storyteller. He spends most of the evening just weaving stories for the whole lot of us at the table, telling us about other places he's traveled, experiences he's had in his life, the woman he's been going out with (and they sound like such a cute couple). This is the guy you invite to every dinner party ever, because he brightens up the whole room. Jedi Master Ed is amazing. (If it's not already obvious, I met a lot of amazing people this weekend.)
Bad Horse is quieter, but still fun. Corejo and FoughtDragon01 are also quieter, and I don't really know either well—but once JMEd gets going, there's not much need for anybody else to drive the conversation. At some point, we get to talking about Friday night's Hoof of Argon, though, and out come the cell phones. We take a look at some classic Bulwer-Lytton, and Bad Horse pulls up the original "Eye of Argon" on JMEd's phone. And he starts reading it. This was pretty interesting—he was so quiet a lot of the time we were talking that I could barely hear him, but when he gets his evil hooves on "Eye of Argon", his voice gains strength and suddenly he's booming across the table about Grignr the Barbarian and his bloody rampage through the countryside. He's good at this. And not making any mistakes (though to be honest, Eye has far fewer mistakes than our Hoof stories—the big trick here is not laughing at the awful prose). He gets a long way into this before he just can't keep from laughing anymore. We make him stop, and he passes the phone on to me.
Now something you might not know about me, I've got a lot of public speaking experience. I've been a teacher for years, and I used to read scripture at church when I was a kid. So I get this thing, and I just go to town on it, milking the prose for all its worth. I love reading badfic out loud. Eventually, everybody makes me shut up, though—because I'm going pretty strong with this thing, and after a while I just become a barrier to JMEd's far more entertaining storytelling. So I leave off with the Argon.
There's probably a bit of timing confusion here, but at some other point, GaryOak gets called over to a different table to hang out with people, and Bad Horse goes wandering around to talk with a waiter for a minute.
And then Ferret and I get a couple visits from people who thank us for putting up with GaryOak and Bad Horse. Ferret doesn't even seem to understand what's going on. I understand, but I'm kind of like, "Really? Bad Horse is a totally awesome guy, and even Gary is way, way better than I'd been giving him credit for." Not out loud, because that might be weird. Not at first, anyway. But after the second or third time someone comes over to thank us for putting up with them, both Ferret and I are starting to get a bit fed up with it, and I'm pretty sure I did just bust out with what I was thinking. They're both perfectly fine. We absolutely did not mind spending time with them. We were having fun. Y'all need to practice more magic of friendship.
Okay, that's what I was building up for, and now I'll step off my high horse. I'm not mad at anybody or anything, but really now. Both these guys were cool. I literally don't think I could have ended up at a table I'd have been happier with. I had a lot of fun spending time with both of them—and I think that deserves saying publicly.
Anyway, there's not a whole lot more to say about dinner. The whole thing still wound up being a bit insane. I think we wound up with 64 people attending, out of an RSVP list of 50—and between Pen Stroke and bookplayer, I'm pretty sure at least 2-4 registered attendees didn't show. I heard that one table never got the food they ordered, and that definitely sucks. But it sounds like this probably went better than last year, and I know I had a lot of fun at the authors' dinner, so I hope it continues and the kinks progressively get ironed out. And I want to give a big thank you to Sunchaser for organizing the thing and running interference all night. That didn't look like a very fun job, but I really appreciate the hard work he put in, and I'm sure I'm not alone with that sentiment.
I think our table wound up being the last one left at the end, in part because Bad Horse decided to get dessert. That's exactly the sort of petty evil he's well suited for—causing inconveniences for other people by doing perfectly reasonable things. MidnightDancer got stuck on our check and had to wait around for us to finish, though, which kind of sucked for her. At the end, she helped do the math to figure out who owed what on our section of the tab, which was very nice of her. And I shouldn't forget to mention yamgoth who came over to hang with us some toward the end of the evening.
Not a whole lot to report after the authors' dinner. I was pretty tired from dealing with all those people, even if I did enjoy it. I decided to skip out on the late-night panels, headed back to my room, and went back to writing.
“Pinkie,” I yelled at the door, “We ain’t done yet! You gotta help me make Twilight see sense!”
“Come back after you apologize, AJ. I’ll save you a whole batch of cupcakes. Pinkie-promise!”
Grumbling to myself, I turned away. Maybe Rarity would listen to me.
NEXT UP: Sunday!
You, Bad Horse, and TheJediMasterEd... how many years of study and experience were at that table, and you needed Dancer to help you with the math?
Sounds like a blast! Here's hoping I get to go next year!
Yeah, last year's author's dinner was fucking amazing. And fucking nuts with that many people. I cannot remember who I sat with.
I don't think you actually mentioned the place. Was it Tir na Nog again?
Sounds like a lot of fun!
D'aww.
3311865
Everyone knows mathematicians can't add. Well-known fact.
3311993 Yep. Good food i thought.
I also second the need for a ferret. She's adorable.
Incidentally, isn't it like, super socially awkward to thank someone for taking someone off your hands in the first place? I think some folks may not be as well adjusted as they think they are.
And who classes Bad Horse in that category?
Has he been tying people to railroad tracks and letting them escape?
3312137
I don't think it was Bad.
~Skeeter The Lurker
I heard so much about that writer's dinner that it's hard to believe that it qualifies as having been kept on the down low. I suppose I was busy attaching myself to all the people who would know about it though. I didn't try to get in since I heard a lot about the logistical nightmare they were trying to avoid, along with technically not really counting as a writer around here anyway.
I'm okay with that though, since it meant I spent Saturday evening hanging out with the art crew, which was a totally different experience, and I still ended up meeting most of the people you did, but in a totally less hectic environment; though I may have spent most of that time just staring at Thornwing as he regaled everyone with con tales. My god can he talk good.
Yes, it was me, Bradel :3 It was a real pleasure finally meeting you, dude!
also: "Kids, you need a Ferret in your life." <- QFT, because Ferret is awesome.
3312166
Actually, we did get thanked for putting up with both of them. Gary made a bit more sense to me, but I've heard that Bad Horse rubs some people the wrong way, too. Mostly, though, getting thanked like that just made me feel sad. I enjoyed spending time with both of them, and I think pony of all things is one place we really should be trying to encourage more friendships. Sometimes it's hard and people rub us the wrong way.
And boy do I understand that one. I've had a really hard time dealing with the standard form of con-goer socially awkward for around a decade, now. It just sets off a bunch of little red flags in my head. I dislike the fact that this happens to me, though, especially at something like a pony convention. Most of the people I met are very nice online, and I like talking to them, and I don't want to feel uncomfortable around them in person. I think taking people bit-by-bit really helped with that, giving me a chance to talk and get to know them all better one-on-one.
And that's, I guess, why I wanted to bring up the GaryOak thing. Because he was probably the principal test case for this sort of thing. If I'd met him in a group, I probably would have defaulted to avoiding him a little (sorry, Gary!), but having gotten the chance to deal with him one-on-one on the walk over to dinner, I really did start to enjoy his company. And I kind of feel like some folks don't want to give him a chance, which is sad because he's got a nice, sweet side to him. He can get pretty wrapped up in talking about his writing, but he's not alone in that and he's very writing-focused outside pony, so no big surprises there. And I think he sometimes doesn't quite know what conversation topics other people are going to find appropriate or not, but I've got plenty of other friends with identical issues. When he thinks he may have screwed something up, though, he's very apologetic-Canadian and looks for ways to make it right. He's just, like I've been saying, a sweet-but-somewhat-socially-awkward guy. Which describes a lot of people in this fandom. And I guess that's why I want to say something about it, even though saying something may not be super smart, because I felt like he was getting a bad rap in some quarters this weekend, and I'm of the whole "we should be trying to do more with the magic of friendship" school.
3312137
(See also below)
But I wanted to say, for whatever reason I didn't actually find this action all that socially awkward. Probably because it was kept pretty much on the down-low—more like whispered words and less like a toast. On the one hand, I did kind of appreciate the sentiment being expressed. Sometimes you get stuck having dinner with people you don't much like, and it can suck, and it feels a little nice when people notice that fact and acknowledge that you're having a hard time and might rather be elsewhere. On the other hand, we really were having a perfectly good time, and in this case it felt a bit mean towards two people who hadn't earned it. And because of that, I thought it was worth bringing up in my report, because I have an inordinate fondness for friendship lessons.
3312227
I can understand that, actually. He just has a tendency to bring up really awkward topics during slightly awkward times. And a little bit of an ego and puns.
Oh god the puns...
If I'm frank with you, I'm happy to actually know the guy. He's pretty chill, all things considered.
Never heard that about Bad, though. I've spent a collected 2 seconds with him in most cases.
~Skeeter The Lurker
3311993
3312128
I agree. Was very happy with the food, and I hope I get a chance to go back in the next year or two. I was even happier with the drinks menu. And honestly, even if everything didn't go perfectly, I'm pretty impressed at their ability to handle a very disorganized mass of 64 fanfiction writers. Tir Na Nog gets gold stars in my book.
3312174
Thornwing. Oh, Thornwing.
Tomorrow.
3312246
It may help that I absolutely love puns... I love puns so, so much. And you're right, he's just a bottomless well of them. They're all terrible, but those are usually the best kind of puns.
3312256
I admit. I chuckled at a few. Most get "Goddamnit Gary" after it, though...
~Skeeter The Lurker
3312137 When we had our twin girls, we used to be able to walk into any family gathering and just hand them off to be adored, and then pick them back up again when we left. It was wonderful. Later when they were older, on the rare occasions we were able to go out to eat, we would occasionally lose track of them for a second and find them several tables away, chatting to some perfect stranger. I love living in flyover country.
3312249 I am so jealous. I'm determined to make it to a con if I have to sell plasma (maybe next year), but after going through roughly what you did, I'm afraid all I'd be able to say is "Um. I met some people, and we talked a lot. I have no idea who any of them are though." (I'm horrible with names)
I am in absolute bloody awe at the notion of rounding up a 50+ seat dinner gathering, and finding a restaurant that can absorb it. The ironclad rule of thumb for convention meals is that trying to assemble over 6 people for food is tempting fate. I regularly opt out of dinner plans just because the group's hit that size cap already, and I've seen the logistical nightmares that result from trying to juggle logistics, cat-herding, check-splitting, food sensitivities, food preferences, etc., for larger groups. There's something magical about going from 6 to 7 that starts to make that un-fun.
Fifty is like … like … I don't even know, I'm struggling for an analogy here. Like firing a slingshot and hitting the moon. That's not even in the realm of convention meals any more, that's literal event planning. That's its own con that split off from its parent. Foodcon 2015.
3312227 Oh let me tell you about bad horse. The thing about bad horse, the real thing, the real issue with bad horse, well, y'see, the problem is... he's bad. He' a bad horse. You all saw him in his top hat right? That's a sign of evil if I ever saw one. And then there's the whinny. That terrifying death whinny...
3312349
I have to imagine they made reservations. Though I've been surprised before; I remember when I went to Boston with a bunch of friends as an informal thing, with like, 30 or so people, there was a place we just walked into and they absorbed us with no problem.
Kind of dicey, though.
This was both incredibly entertaining and enlightening at the same time (the same goes for the comments). Bradel, it was a real honour to meet and chat with you. Would do again, 100%.
Skeets, you're totally awesome, too.
Much love to both of you guys.
3312406
the-games-blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/I-see-what-you-did-there-Fry.jpg
I think my reaction is a mixture of "wow, I wish I could've been there" and "wow, I'm so glad I wasn't there"
I'd love to meet you and a whole bunch of other people from this site, but in much smaller groups. When the group grows beyond two or three people, I tend to devolve into some sort of introverted vegetable
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As long as you're aware of this, you'd probably be fine. I think my overall strategy would probably work for you pretty well. Basically, go to Quills & Sofas with something you can be doing solitary-like (bring your laptop and work on a story, say). Mention on your blog that you're going like Jordanis did, so people know you're there in case anybody wants to say hi. Then scope out who's there and try to get a feeling for who you might want to meet (seeing them on panels first makes this easier). If you see any of them wandering around alone, rush over and say hi, and try to start a conversation. Then, once you've met a few people like this, they won't be barriers for you to meet other people, so you may be able to meet people they're conversing with. Before you know it, you can be talking to everyone.
You forgot to mention that you're a saint
I enjoy reading Life of Bradel. It's weirdly entertaining
It was good meeting you on Sunday (Oh dear, I've spoiled the next blog post!), and I'm sorry we didn't get a chance to chat more. I hope you can make it back next year--the groups are a lot less intimidating the second time around, I can tell you.
My only complaint about Bad Horse is that my hearing is atrocious and he's soft-spoken (the better to plot in secret).
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There were reservations, but they were not quite adequate to the crowd that showed up, though it was a slightly smaller crowd this year than last. We took over the entire back section of the place. The limiting factor both times was literally the number of physical chairs available.
Sunchaser does amazingly, but I'm starting to wonder about renting a conference room at the Hilton and having Jimmy John's or somebody deliver. The only problem with that is that they don't serve booze~ Well, that and I think it's actually really helpful for some of the people present to get sat down at a table with some other folks they don't necessarily know that well and have to eat and drink and talk. It sort of forces the issue on some of the awkwardnesses and lends some familiarity to part of the situation.
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FRATEQUOS EUNT BALTIMORE
3312174 3312252 I barely talked to Thornwing, but he seemed more... adult than the rest of us. Like somebody who gets stuff done.
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Between him and SR Foxley, that's basically the story of my Sunday. It was kind of strange. Not unpleasant—but not what I expected from BronyCon, that's for sure.
Sorry man, Cap'n and I stole Gary from you for a while but we had an awesome convo ourselves! And again, thank you so much for leaving us the table, I have no words to express how gentlemanly it was from all of you and how sweet for a certain Ferret to put up with it.
3313236 That seems like a very accurate impression, seeing as most of his stories were about the various ways in which he did, in fact, get stuff done, be it finishing a pretty significant series of stories in under a year, (apparently he is a relative newcomer to fimfic) or how he created M.A. Larson's "sharpie box" in the process of moderating a panel on short notice.
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I thought it was you who wanted the table! And I'm glad you had a good time.
No hard feelings, and it was a real pleasure meeting you.
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Jesus, Nadnerb, just ruin all my stories for tomorrow why'don'cha?
(Actually I only used the sharpie story. And it's not like I spent all 4200 words talking about the sharpies.)
Crap, I just wrote 12,000 words of BronyCon coverage, didn't I? There could have been more pony stories!
3313320 I'm sure your thousand words on the topic will do it far more justice than my noodle incident style reference.
I guess now I'm a little sadder that I missed the writer's dinner, though I understand why I wasn't on the list. (I don't actually write anything)
And yes, I'm the guy who said hi and then bookplayer had to leave. Well, after you talked about the thing. Which I knew about.
I didn't even know that a writer's dinner had been successfully set up this year until I started reading your blog posts. I got in last year because I was with Present Perfect, and it was a highlight of the con experience. So this year I kept asking around on Friday if anyone was going, and I ended up tagging along for a writer's lunch that day with Pav Feira, Professor Plum and some others to Noodles and Co. Don't have the mac and cheese there, by the way. They use too much mac and not enough cheese. I should have had spaghetti, because that's what I kept spilling when I tried to think up things to talk about. I was kind of hurt hearing that I missed the dinner until I read that it went way over capacity last year, so... at least it wasn't as hectic this time around?
I saw you at Quills and Sofas one time, said hello, then immediately drew a blank on what to say and left. I thought that I had to talk about the stories you've written and I couldn't think of any. I was feeling uncomfortable and stressed because my con preparations were the bare minimum to get there on my budget, and I sat on my laptop there, not really connecting with anyone.
I don't know why Bad Horse gets the press he does. He was the focus of my "are we gonna have a writer's dinner, huh huh huh?" talk and he took it in stride. Later he PMed me saying that he would have talked to me except because I gave off the impression that I wanted to be left alone. In actuality, I would have loved to talk as long as I didn't have to start a conversation.
All in all, not really the best way I could have handled the con. Next time I'm gonna ask to room with writers so that we can talk about books and writing more often. I was gonna ask if I could room with you next year (It's worth a shot!), but I think I might want to get in touch with JediMasterEd instead!
And I never got the nerve to ask Pascoite what it was like on the set of Ferris Bueller's Day Off, either.
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