...We are Space Cadets training to be ready for dangers we may face.

[hazelchaz]

Monday, last day of the convention, part 2 of 2. (See Part 1 to start at the beginning of this report.)

And I met bugshaw on Monday afternoon, finally, briefly. Didn't have much time to talk, though. Shortly thereafter I ducked into the art show and obtained permission from Julie Faith Rigby to shoot some of the empty art show bays. (I try to get pictures of the art show fixtures at every convention I go to.) The set-up is very similar to the standard East Coast art show, complete with "helicopter" light fixtures. While I was in the art show, Lisa Konrad gave me permission to shoot her bay with the art in it, and Warren Hudson did the same for the double-wide bay he was agenting art to, so I got to do that instead of just with the empty bays.

I went to Closing Ceremonies, shot some crowd pictures. Robert J. Macintosh fell asleep waiting for the festivities to begin. I've been in that position -- when you stop moving and sit down, the body stops keeping you awake. It's why I don't go to movies at conventions anymore.

Sparks gave the pre-event safety annnouncements again, with three environment-suited mimes on stage. During opening ceremonies, there had been an announcement about loss of cabin pressure, and being careful to get the right atmosphere in your breathing mask; during closing ceremony, the announcement including pointing out the exits (left, right, back, and up). It was an amusing bit, that kept in with the spaceport/spaceship theme, and there was actually a real reason for doing it. As I understand it, the SECC required some basic safety announcements, including "in case of emergency, follow the directions of the safety wardens." In order to make sure the fans would sit still for something so dry and boring, it was packaged as part of Sparks's pre-event safety spiel.

We had the usual thank-yous to the gohs, special guests, the city, the exhibition centre, the staff, the volunteers, the fans, and the ship's cat. Then the ceremony was turned over to Christian McGuire, chair of laconiv, and he announced the gohs for next year, and urged everyone to come to Anaheim. And then the "Alert!" siren went off, and kevin_standlee -- who up until now had written himself into the events as the calm, collected Captain Standlee -- came on stage panicking because the Armadillo had been hijacked by space pirates. ("I knew we shouldn't have given them those rockets last night.") Christian told him to be calm, that this is a job for the Space Cadets. "Space Cadets, to the stage." Elizabeth Klein-Lebbink and Jerome Scott, resplendent in their fancy Space Cadet uniforms, came on stage and reported, and Christian shanghaied press-ganged volunteered the entire audience into the Space Cadets, and led them in a refrain of the Space Cadets Marching Song. (Lyrics provided on the screen.)

We learned later that the pirates had attempted to engage the hyperdrive while still at the spaceport, and in doing so completely ruined the ship's engines. And now the Armadillo sits, welded to the ground, inert, unable to go to the stars. The Spaceport Authority plans to use it as a concert auditorium.

At the end of it all, Sparks did his Carol Burnett impersonation -- he came on stage, still smoking, with a Space Cadets beret and sash on, sweeping up the stage with a big broom.

I gave Sparks the packet of "Rennie" peppermints I found at a corner store.

Then after that it was time to tear down and pack up the Fan Gallery. Sally Woehrle and Colin Hinz came up and helped, as did Samuel A. Smith. I put them all to work doing various things. We moved some former-dealers tables close in, surrounding the exhibit, and started putting the pictures on the tables organized by last initial. I went around cherry-picking pictures to go to Seattle via airmail. Sally had agreed to take a bunch of photos home to the NASFiC, so I let her pick out her favorites too. And we ended up sending two-thirds of them home with her, and we had some empty space in the packing cases. I wish I'd brought the stuff we'd taken out of the Fan Gallery cases on Wednesday, to put into the cases.

Meanwhile, library_lynn had been trying to get my attention so we could pack up dirty clothes and other stuff we didn't need for weeks, and ship them home, like she did on her Germany trip lo those many years ago. Unfortunately, I didn't hear it, or didn't process what she was saying. I'm more visually oriented, I think it might have worked if she'd grabbed one of the APC packing boxes and waved it in front of my face...

Ann Rudolph suggested Bob Macintosh for the Fan Gallery.

After everything was packed up, and we returned the art show's clips and hooks, and set the cases out to be shipped back to North Carolina and then home, library_lynn and I went to dinner with glittercat13 and darrelx. We went to the Adriatic, which I'd missed out on earlier in the convention, because we knew we could get something Lynn-safe, and it was a non-smoking restaurant. I had some spaghetti carbonara; which reminds me, since bacon is so much different here than in the states, what is the bacon the Italians use like?

Sign of the day, seen at Sandyford Surgery: "Please do not put specimen samples through the letterbox." We had decided that, since my ankle was paining me so, that I'd get it looked at professionally. It was still hurting, and swollen, a week after my injury; perhaps it was broken? The Surgery was closed, so we made a note of the number and resolved to deal with it first thing Tuesday morning.

Lynn and I packed our bags for the morning. We managed to fit it all back in, barely. I hope we haven't exceeded our 70-lb. per bag limit! Virgin Airways is a bit more restrictive about its carry-on allowances, so we don't have as much slack as we did on the way here.

I put library_lynn to bed, and headed out to spend the rest of Monday night at the Dead Dog party -- the Real Ale Bar/Fan Lounge area. Where I learned that the groats still worked. I cashed in some groats, used some cash, and plunked myself down to anesthetize myself for the evening. I talked to Alison Barton and Erik V. Olson about this and that.

I had two lime Bacardi Breezers, a sausage roll (that is, sandwich), and a pint of the Goldi-Hopps. While I was there, we the fans drank dry the next-to-last of the flavors of ale available; and before the end, all of the bheer was gone. The convention had drunk dry the brewery -- three weeks' production, all gone. Susan de Guardiola gave me three groats so I could get myself a drink on her way out. Thanks, Susan!

During the convention I'd spoken briefly to Susan about the mousepad costume from the 1999 NASFiC, Conucopia. I'd been involved peripherally in the costume project, and recently colleency had collected all of the bits and exhibited it at Costume College. I was curious as to whether she thought it would be an appropriate addition to the Masquerade Exhibit at the Worldcon next year. The answer seems to be yes. (If you haven't heard of the mousepad costume, it was a costume made out of Harlan Ellison mousepads. Click on the link for more info and photos.)

A little after midnight, I decided that the convention was well and truly over, and I was simply surrounded by a hundred fans in denial. I took off my ears, and sometime later toddled off into the night.

Comments

[bovil.livejournal.com]

Well, specifically it was 3 weeks of Kilburn Brewery "Dark Moor" that was drunk dry, and that was well before closing ceremonies. I didn't hear anything about draining the brewery dry of any of the other ales, just the stock that the hotel had laid in.