WorldCon day 1
Sep. 2nd, 2010 07:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kerravonsenI'm back home for the night, since I couldn't get a booking in the hotel I wanted for tonight; I'll be checking in tomorrow.
Not much was going on, since nothing opened until 2pm - I thought that the dealer's room was going to open at noon, but I was mistaken. So I wandered around getting the lay of the land, and went through the programme with a highlighter.
The convention centre was far too warm. First I took off my jacket, then I took off my skivvy and was only wearing a t-shirt and vest on top. Someone must have told the convention centre staff that the place was going to be filled with Americans. TOO HOT! And then going outside was cold again. At least it was pleasantly sunny for much of the day; that was nice.
There were a lot of people around, none of whom I knew. It's going to be impossible to meet up with anyone. I knew I should have arranged a time and place to meet the people I knew were going to be there; they were far too blase' about being able to find each other. (sigh)
Opening ceremony at 2pm. Short and sweet, really.
So then I hit the dealer's room... along with everyone else. So I left very quickly and came back later. The dealer's room was pretty thin for a worldcon. Mostly booksellers, big and little. Two jewellers. One stand with masks, though I'm not sure whether they were for sale or not. Aaannndddd.... the Foglios. The geniuses behind "Girl Genius". So I decided that it was a bit silly not to splurge, especially since I hadn't seen anything else particularly tempting - I mean, so what if Borders were offering 20% off their books? I have 200+ unread books as it is. So I splurged on Girl Genius volume 2-9 (they didn't have volume 1 there). Each one signed by both the Foglios. With a little cartoon from the artist also. Huge dent in my credit card, but it was an opportunity not to be missed. (insert squee here)
The downside of this is that eight volumes of Girl Genius is heavy. I had a shoulder bag, but my shoulder is now aching so much that I'm going to use a backpack for the rest of the convention, no matter that it looks ugly.
And I was SO TIRED, I think it's lingering from my cold. So I decided to leave, even though it was only about 3:15pm. And it took me such a LONG TIME to walk to the bus stop, it was 4pm by the time I got there. First, walk past the Exhibition centre. Then past the Crown Casino complex. Then across the river. Then past the banana vaults. Then walking uphill up Queen street a few blocks. Then I had to wait another 15 minutes in the cold for the bus to arrive. Definitely getting a taxi tomorrow. I expect I won't be able to check in to the hotel until after lunch, that's pretty common, but hopefully they will let me leave my suitcase there. One advantage of having been to the convention centre and come back is that I've been able to revise my packing to take account of the horribly warm convention centre. Unfortunately, while the hotel is ostensibly attached to the convention centre, one has to go outside to go from one to the other, which means braving the cold outside, which is not only cold, but windy. (sigh) I shall hope that my light cape will be enough. I don't want to take my heavy cape because I would have to lug it around all day. And it's heavy. And I have a sore shoulder, as I mentioned before. While I think my light cape could probably fit into my backpack, my heavy cape wouldn't.
I am so tired. I think I shall curl up in bed with Girl Genius.
Not much was going on, since nothing opened until 2pm - I thought that the dealer's room was going to open at noon, but I was mistaken. So I wandered around getting the lay of the land, and went through the programme with a highlighter.
The convention centre was far too warm. First I took off my jacket, then I took off my skivvy and was only wearing a t-shirt and vest on top. Someone must have told the convention centre staff that the place was going to be filled with Americans. TOO HOT! And then going outside was cold again. At least it was pleasantly sunny for much of the day; that was nice.
There were a lot of people around, none of whom I knew. It's going to be impossible to meet up with anyone. I knew I should have arranged a time and place to meet the people I knew were going to be there; they were far too blase' about being able to find each other. (sigh)
Opening ceremony at 2pm. Short and sweet, really.
So then I hit the dealer's room... along with everyone else. So I left very quickly and came back later. The dealer's room was pretty thin for a worldcon. Mostly booksellers, big and little. Two jewellers. One stand with masks, though I'm not sure whether they were for sale or not. Aaannndddd.... the Foglios. The geniuses behind "Girl Genius". So I decided that it was a bit silly not to splurge, especially since I hadn't seen anything else particularly tempting - I mean, so what if Borders were offering 20% off their books? I have 200+ unread books as it is. So I splurged on Girl Genius volume 2-9 (they didn't have volume 1 there). Each one signed by both the Foglios. With a little cartoon from the artist also. Huge dent in my credit card, but it was an opportunity not to be missed. (insert squee here)
The downside of this is that eight volumes of Girl Genius is heavy. I had a shoulder bag, but my shoulder is now aching so much that I'm going to use a backpack for the rest of the convention, no matter that it looks ugly.
And I was SO TIRED, I think it's lingering from my cold. So I decided to leave, even though it was only about 3:15pm. And it took me such a LONG TIME to walk to the bus stop, it was 4pm by the time I got there. First, walk past the Exhibition centre. Then past the Crown Casino complex. Then across the river. Then past the banana vaults. Then walking uphill up Queen street a few blocks. Then I had to wait another 15 minutes in the cold for the bus to arrive. Definitely getting a taxi tomorrow. I expect I won't be able to check in to the hotel until after lunch, that's pretty common, but hopefully they will let me leave my suitcase there. One advantage of having been to the convention centre and come back is that I've been able to revise my packing to take account of the horribly warm convention centre. Unfortunately, while the hotel is ostensibly attached to the convention centre, one has to go outside to go from one to the other, which means braving the cold outside, which is not only cold, but windy. (sigh) I shall hope that my light cape will be enough. I don't want to take my heavy cape because I would have to lug it around all day. And it's heavy. And I have a sore shoulder, as I mentioned before. While I think my light cape could probably fit into my backpack, my heavy cape wouldn't.
I am so tired. I think I shall curl up in bed with Girl Genius.
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Date: 2010-09-02 11:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-02 10:15 pm (UTC)