Saturday and Sunday, 25 and 26 August The convention was quite nice to have a small art show, but a nice one, a small dealers room where I was able to find one book to buy, and lots of new people to meet. I had one panel on encouraging new fans. All of us on the panel had been in fandom for many years. I ended up chatting with people after the panel and for God to my chagrin that I had the panel right after the first one. I don’t usually miss my panels. That evening I was one of the judges at the small but very nice masquerade. This was, of course, followed by parties. I staggered up out of too little sleep for Sunday’s events. I had a panel and auctioned at a fund-raising auction for individuals and the con. Again, we did well. I had a hard time keeping a straight face and was laughing very hard when I auctioned a light switch cover of a hunky male with a part of him missing which would be filled by the light switch. The audience was also cracking up. At the closing ceremonies I was presented with a book entitled “How to Catch a wombat.” After the auction I had a nice chat with Vernor Vinge. He was the literary guest of honor. I had known him for sometime through conventions. After a dinner where they overcooked steak, if I hadn’t been so hungry and tired I would have sent it back, I joined the dead dog party for about an hour or so. I then went upstairs and crashed taking some Ambien to help me through the night. This was a delightful convention,and I wish it wasn’t so far away or I would come back to it. I’m glad my trip down route66 brought me here.
