nlbarber

I started Saturday at 8 with the Friends of Liad breakfast, catered by the Colorado Conference Center with a made-to-order omelet line and miscellaneous pastries. Had a nice time chatting with growlycub, Preeti, and several Liad list people: Elaine (ellayn), Angie, and Shawna. Chatted with kinzel in the food line and again when he shifted over to our table after a while, on topics of books and cats and living expenses and Maine and on. Looking back at pre-convention email, I'm ashamed to note how many FoL people I *didn't* meet at the breakfast, given what a small crowd it was. I think growlycub, Preeti, and I spent too much time chatting with each other so I didn't mingle and meet other people. My bad.

( First panel and the reading from the new Miles book )

( Lunch, afternoon panels, and the Hugos )
growlycub and I dropped stuff at the hotel again, made some arrangements about room charges for Sunday night when her current 3 roommates were checking out and I would be moving to her room for my last night to help with the cost. Then we trekked to the Sheraton again and cruised the party floor. Found the semi-private Baen party (because we spotted Lois Bujold in a group headed purposefully down the hall, and followed), admired the cover flats that were displayed, and nibbled on the food, but both of us felt out-of-place there. Spent the most time in the Seattle bid party room because we managed to snag sitting space. If there was a Baen barfly gathering, we never found it. It didn't appear to be happening in the Baen party that we did find--that was clearly primarily for author and agent types.

Lovely start to the first full day of the con: Lois had one open breakfast slot, and had told mbernardi to collect a small group and meet at her hotel at 9. The group was Lois, her daughter Ann, and mbernardi, filkferengi, Mary (CatMtn), mmegaera, and me. ( more on breakfast, the dealers' room, rest of the morning )

( afternoon: Lee & Miller reading, Bujold reading TSK )

( Bujold list curry party! )

There are a few more curry party pictures in my Denvention set on Flickr.

First comment from a WorldCon virgin: planning one's travel to arrive well before the "Opening Ceremonies" does not get one here for the first round of panels, etc., unless "well before" is defined as at least 24 hours. At least for Denvention 3.

I got to the con and registered in time for the 2:30 panels *before* the 5:30 opening ceremonies--and panels started that morning at 11:30. Including a couple that sounded really interesting, one with Bujold. Oh, well, you can't do everything at a big con no matter what....

First panel I made was one of a series on classic authors, this one on Zenna Henderson. (  ...more on the Zenna Henderson panel )

Second panel was on Age & Wisdom: The Older Protagonist in SF, with a stellar panel of Elizabeth Moon, Larry Niven, Lois McMaster Bujold, and Robert Silverberg and moderator Margaret Bonham. ( ...second panel )

Oh, at the first panel I hadn't hooked up with anyone, though I saw Bujold come in late and leave early. After a while I spotted filkferengi seated several rows up from me. At the second panel the Bujold listee cluster started, and I met James Bryant, Franz Tomasek, Mary (CatMtn). growlycub found me--we'd planned to meet up. She let me know that Preeti was there, too, a contact primarily from the romance-reading world, though I knew she was also an SF fan.

Anway, following that was Opening Ceremonies, which I skipped to go claim my hotel room as it had not been available when I checked in. Got back (through the light rain that started falling mid-afternoon) in time for the Summerfair reception, and a major listee gathering. ( ....Summerfair and the rest of the evening )

Oh, I did get a little Friends of Liad contact in--found the fan table, collected a set of ribbons to attach to my badge ("Monday is for Saltation" "I follow Theo Waitely" "Friend of Liad" "I Read Advertently"), paid for the FoL breakfast on Saturday, and also chatted withrolanni andkinzel as they passed through the Crowne Plaza lobby on the way to the SRM party.