Vikingcon Part Two
The best work of artists in any age is the work of innocence liberated by technical knowledge.
-- Nancy Hale
Saturday, August 19, 2000
One year ago: Cleaning the Car
Three years ago: When Committees Gather
Jack was awake very early this morning. I think he got about four hours sleep! He was in the shower when his wake-up call came from Ops. But he likes being needed.
I slept on until eight or nine. Jon came downstairs and tottered around. He doesn't wake up quickly! He made some good tea (he carries it with him) and shared it with me; I got him to taste some of that Dubliner cheese I'm crazy about now. He gave it the Singer seal of approval. It's nutty, and just slightly sharp.
* * * * * * * *
Jon, Jack's daughter H----, and I all walked over to the college. I took the shuttle bus over to the other building for the first time. I wanted to join in Julie (Artist Guest of Honor) Laquement's thing on rubberstamping. This was billed as "the new art of stampmaking," which intrigued me. I wanted to know what was new!
I was shocked to find that I was the only one there, besides Julie. I hadn't known it was a three-hour workshop, either! (This info wasn't in the program book.) Julie was understandably disappointed and a bit miffed, I think. So I changed my plan of ducking out at eleven (to see Jack on a panel), and decided to stay.
We had a nice time! Julie could see that I was an experienced stamper, so we just sat down and played with her stuff. I did a card that turned out very nicely (I have to find a suitable person to send it to), and a bookmark with autumn leaves.
* * * * * * * *
Between twelve and one, I got a snack in hospitality, then rode the shuttle back to Arnsen Hall, home of programming. I wanted to be present for the Fan History panel.
On the panel: Jon Singer, Astrid Bear, and Garth Spencer. Greg Bear was there also. He kept saying he was leaving, but had a lot to say and ended up staying the whole time. He was mostly talking about the changing impact of fandom on those folks who go on to be pro writers. Garth has been thinking about fandom as a safe space for the unsocialized (or the hard to socialize) to finally pick up on normal social cues.
I don't remember what happened for the next little while after that. I know I visited the dealers room, and walked through the art show. Something I really liked: all the geological displays next door in the Environmental studies building next door. Lots of cool local fossils, and much petrified wood. At the back of the building, near where we caught the shuttle, were large bins marked "free rocks."
* * * * * * * *
At dinner, I bought barbecue tickets for Jack, H---, and myself. The concom was in trouble with the barbecue; their first estimate had been taken for a final count! And the price was too high for what you got, so the tickets didn't sell that well, and the con lost money on the deal. We ate burgers and salad.
We were all sitting around in the dorm lounge. There was a special event coming up: Baby Cthulu. This is a parody thing, like Barney, but starring Cthulu. Big, green, with tentacles around the mouth. He's very popular at V-con, apparently.
H----, after being bored all day and using the lounge computer for internet chat, wanted to see the Masquerade. I warned her that this would probably be a pretty low-key affair, but she was ok with that. So back again to Arnsen hall.
There were three real contestants, plus the three children of the organizer. This was actually good for H----, since it made her realize that she could create a costume and compete herself! The masquerade at Norwescon was so huge in scale and had such high production values, that it might discourage a beginner. She wants to do a dragon costume.
There was one costume that did impress me. A guy has been working on a suit that makes him look about eight feet tall, and muscular! A lot of work went into it, and it's very devilish and spooky looking.
While we waited for the judging to finish, there was a performance by one-armed juggler Jason Quick. He had a good routine, and was almost in control of the audience -- things got away from him a few times, though. A running gag grew out of a shout from an audience member when Quick was pretending to have difficulty with a trick: "YOU CAN DOOO IT!" Is this line from a commercial or something? It did make me laugh.
* * * * * * * *
I put H--- in a van that was driving back to the other part of the convention, and I walked across campus. I hung out with Jon Singer at Paul (Fan GoH) Carpentier and Julie (Fan GoH) McGalliard's room party. By this time in the evening, I was glad to just sit down! Jack was around for a bit, but was still working.
A friend of Jon's who wants to remain anonymous, but whose initials are J--- D----, had brought along an aroma kit, from France. This is apparently a popular activity there! Each box had about eight small vials of scented oil, and strips of filter paper. Jon, Jim King, Jon's friend (and someone else), and I, all went off to another suite to have a smell party.
This was really fun! (and I did really well.) We did smells of Provence, distinguishing between lavande and lavandin. (One is the flowers, one the leaves, of the lavender plant.) Mushrooms, truffles, rose, lemon, lemongrass, mandarin. Some of these were tough to guess -- then when the name was revealed, we were all, "oh yeah, of course!"
When our noses were tired out, we gave up. I wandered down to Ops to see when Jack would be done. Oops! Where was H----? I hadn't been with her for a while. Jack started looking everwhere. She finally turned up, with some other young kids, on the sixth floor (not a part of the con). Jack was pissed! She'd not checked in with him as he'd asked her to.
* * * * * * * *
The last exercise of the day was some psychodrama and arm wrestling between the concom members: who would stay on duty all night? They were basically out of non-exhausted people, but Jack wanted someone around, besides the volunteer group that was working. They were good, but he wanted a member of the committee around. Finally this was arranged, and he felt free to leave around one in the morning. Once again, we could have walked, but he drove us.
