MarsCon 2009

Well, MarsCon 2009 is over. I had a free pre-reg this year because of all the volunteer hours I pulled last year, which was nice.

I didn't get out to the Con on Friday at all. Friday is my busy day - I've got classes all day (9 AM - 8 PM). I did manage to get out of there earlier (7-ish), but I'd been awake since 5:30 AM, had a splitting headache, so I didn't feel much like hitting the Friday night parties. I also had some sewing to finish on my Jedi Robe for Saturday, and had also been looking forward to a new "Battlestar Galactica" all week so I decided to forego Con Friday.

Then, on Saturday, I overslept and realized I'd forgotten to hem the sleeves on my Jedi Tunic so I had to do that quickly. Which meant I didn't actually get to the Con until 1:00 PM on Saturday. Ack! I joined a couple of my friends in the "Panel About Nothing," which - contrary to the name - is about a LOT of things. It just doesn't have a set agenda.

After that I had to go up and see the Propatorium. Lots of cool stuff this year again, plus a full size remote control R2-D2! It ocurred to me, since I was going as a Jedi this year I probably should have put my scratch-built Star Trek Assault Phaser on display. Oh well, maybe next time.

Made a turn through the Dealers Room, which is pretty much always the same stuff - and you know damned well you could find it online for less. Seriously, does anyone buy anything at the Con? Poked my head into the Dementia Music Track once. Not sure who was on stage, but I didn't stick around long. Not that it wasn't good, but I wanted to get up to the ConSuite and see if I could get in on some of the REAL food. Which I did - a small bowl of Chili and some Nachos, but it wasn't enough to fill me up, so I joined friends for dinner and drinks in the Hotel Lounge.

After eating I went to the Web Comics panel. I don't follow that many web comics. I should probably bookmark more of them. Actually I should subscribe to the feeds so I just, you know, GET them when they update. Except some people don't have feeds for their comics, which I totally don't understand. Maybe they just don't know what it is or how to set it up. I should do a post about that actually. . .

Then came Masquerade. This year I actually knew one of the judges, and I'd put in major effort on my Jedi costume - I probably should have entered, but I felt I'd rushed the costume (I didn't feel my "workmanship" was anything to brag about). I'm also not really comfortable being up on a stage in front of people - not that I haven't been pulled up there before, but that's why I know I'm not comfortable with it. As is typical of every Masquerade I've attended, there are always more (and sometimes better) costumes on people in the audience. Anyway, with so few contestants at least the event went by quickly - unlike some previous years where they not only had many people in it, but disorganization made it run long (even excruciatingly long). Besides, once Masquerade is done it's PARTY TIME!

Parties were pretty good this year. Thanks to the "TARDIS Tea Society" and "No Brand Con" for having actual bottles and cans of BEER! I can only stand so much "Vodka+Fruity Drink" that seems the staple of Con parties. I don't like not knowing fully what's in it, or how strong it is, and I've never been a fan of hard liquor - I'd much rather enjoy a beer, ale, or cider. Also, kudos to the ConSuite for continuing to have REAL FOOD even during the parties. It was sweet to take a break, have a bowl of chicken noodle soup, a hot dog - and recharge before heading back into the parties.

The coolest party room this year, though, had to be the Green Lantern Corps party - I have NEVER been in a room bathed in such intense green light!! Thier lime-flavored drink was actually pretty damned good too. I spent about an hour hanging out there, the only downside was when I left all that green light had red-shifted my vision for a good 20 minutes afterward - which is extra wierd when you've had a few drinks. LOL

Since the clocks were also being changed for Daylight Savings it was kind of fun/funny that the Con schedule had a bunch of panels listed as running from 2:01 AM - 2:59 AM. They were things like "A Practical Guide to Traveling Forward in Time" or something like that. I stuck around until the end of the parties and then some. I didn't actually get home and into bed until about 5 AM (well, 4 AM if you take the clock change out of the equation).

Consequently I slept right through my alarm on Sunday morning and by the time I finally stopped being a total Con Zombie it was after noon. Since Closing Ceremonies were around 3PM I didn't see much point in going back out to the convention. So, like so many MarsCons before it, I only experienced Saturday afternoon and evening. If I hadn't had the volunteer pre-reg thing I'd probably have taken advantage of the "day pass" (which I did one other year they offered it). Which makes me wonder why/when CONvergence is going to do that - as it stands now I doubt I'll be going to CONvergence this year because I probably won't be able to do, nor afford, 4 days! It's all too easy, when you're sitting at home, to think to yourself "do I really want to drive back out there?" I really do believe you get a LOT more out of the conventions if you can stay AT the hotel (or at least within walking distance of it). I had an absolute blast last year staying at the hotel and doing the Con front to back. But hotel rooms aren't cheap, and if I was going to do that regularly for a Con I'd feel better about the expense if it was somewhere far away from where I live and couldn't just run home with the car anyway. Which, for now, is out of the question.