Arriving in San Jose the day before the big event, ConJose, I checked into my hotel then sought out the registration desk and picked up my membership packet. As there wouldn't be much to do this day (Wednesday) I decided to wander around downtown and see what was in walking distance, especially important places like the Tied House. Strolling into the Waldenbooks by the hotel, I ran into Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, doing a spur of the moment book signing. Turns out they traveled in from Maine by train.
Having coerced Sara and Gene to join me downtown for dinner, we checked out the one party that was going on, two doors down from my room. I called the front desk and requested a room change to a non-party floor. With some effort, they complied. I had, after all, made my reservation back in February and was specific about not being in the party zone. I moved; then we went to join the party. This being the first party, it was a little low key, but fun, never the less. They even made ice cream. On the spot. Using liquid nitrogen. I could just imagine the voice of Uncle Red saying "Now, don't try this at home" and "if the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy". But no duct tape. The ice cream froze in record time and was doled out to any takers.
I decided to crash early, which was sensible as I had been up since 5AM Minnesota time.
Thursday, since the con opened in the afternoon (registration was well under way), so people were hanging around the convention center, socializing and waiting to make a first pass at the dealers room. I heard my name. Turning, I saw it was Mark Tiedeman flagging me down. Mark is a writer from Missouri whom I met at MiniCon the year before through another friend, Pegg Kerr. Mark and Carol were, of course, waiting for the dealers room to open. Mark was going to check in at his publisher's table and see when he should be available for them. Me, I had looked for his books shortly after meeting at MiniCon, unsuccessfully, and figured now was a good opportunity to pick them up. When the dealer's room opened, he lead the way to the table where his books were, where I bought them and he signed them for me. Now, the fun part, reading them.
After that, I was able to spend a goodly amount of time catching up with my friends that I hadn't seen since I "upgraded" to Minnesota (I'm a Silicon Valley transplant). This, in turn, was followed by lot's of partying in the evening.
192k JPEG Mike Wilson, Mary Boyle, Gene Paxton
104k JPEG Sara Bruce
The hotel was set up that one could wander from floor to floor to hit all of the parties. And in the night time, this is where you would be most likely to run into the most action.
I have to give kudos' to the Glasgow 2005 bid party (they won...Interaction). They had a wide selection of single malt scotches (second only to Larry MacDude) and was THE hotspot all weekend.
183k JPEG Gene, the Party Animal
Across the hall from the Glasgow crowd was the con suite, where soft drinks and conversation could be had. Conversation was easy as it was a little more low key (quieter) than most of the other parties. You could also find a place to sit. And score some chocolate.
128k JPEG Sue and Barry
Moving down a level, there was the bid party from the night before, serving up a variety of mad scientist concoctions. Further down was the Japan 2007 bid party, a welcome sight to see, especially since they were serving saki and plum wine. :-)
It seemed as though there was a different party on every level, and this, was very nearly true, all the way down to the 10th floor.
Friday, daytime, I hit some writer's panels, which was one of the main objectives for my being there, then hooked up with the Klingons for dinner at Gordon Biersch, skipping out on the Patrick Stewart appearance. Given a choice between listening to P.S. or drinking with the local Klingons, well, no offence Patrick, but hanging with friends at the local watering hole wins out every time. We were loud, we were boisterous, we eat and drank lots, and we tipped well. Who could complain?
I also managed to see the Libertarian Futurist Society's Awards Ceremony, where Donald Kingsbury received the Prometheus Award for Best Novel, "Psychohistorical Crisis".
123k JPEG Donald Kingsbury
If Thursday's party scene was good, then Friday's was better, as we started off at Mara's Bar, hang out of the Ring of Fire Fleet, then proceeded upward. Once again, to the Glasgow Bid Party, this time switching to Aquavit (Scotch still available) and meandered (stumbled?) down from floor to floor, party to party, eventually ending back at Mara's. The Klingons were in full force, many of whom I hadn't seen since my migration to the Mid-West, and a few new faces to boot. And the blood wine (whose blood DID they use, anyway?) flowed freely, and reports have it that some 7 gallons was consumed that night.
What WorldCon would be complete without Hall Costumes:
113k JPEG Mad Scientists
136k JPEG Mike and Mary
Saturday was another great party day, but I did something a little wacky and had dinner with the Libertarians. Good group and reconnected with Hugh, one of the locals whom I also hadn't seen in sometime.
This time, we were smart. We took the elevator all the way to the top BEFORE the post-masquerade rush (dinner with the Libertarians didn't break up until midway through the masquerade). Back on the 20th floor, it was good times again, as we snagged some good brews and some chair space for friendly conversation and a plethora of good (bad?) Scottish/Kilt jokes. How that got started, no one knows, but I did finish it ;-)
Meandering down, I have to give special note to the LA in 2006 Bid Party, by far the best this night. They had two suites in operation, and although we only hit one side this night, it was a good one. The one we hit had the Space Cadet Weapons Instructor demonstrating all the new fire power available to the trainees, from ping-pong ball launchers to full auto nerf cannons capable of making mincemeat out of alien invaders (no bugs here!). Of course, this guy wasn't exactly sure what to make of a couple of wise cracking Klingons and a mad Scot (no relation to madcow).
Sunday was, during the daytime, a relatively quiet time, as there were only a couple of panels I was interested in, and they were in competition with the San Jose Tapestry in Talent Art show. Guess where I went, albeit not in costume.
I did do a personal comparison of what was available at the ConJose Art Show, and Tapestry, and the San Jose event certainly didn't have a sculpting exhibition.
126k JPEG
Evening time was back to party central, and once again the wise got to the top floor BEFORE the mad elevator rush, and worked our way down. After first finishing off what was left of the Scotch. Even Agent T (Cassandra's dog, Tillie) got into the act whenever a tankard was left within reach.
200k JPEG Agent T and Klingons
177k JPEG
At this point, I've pretty much covered all of the party high points, at least the ones I made it to. All in all, a good time was had by all.
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