luckykaa

Wow!

What a weekend.

Worldcon is big

Really big.

You may think that elephants are big, buts that's nothing.....

Okay. Time to talk about Worldcon.

I was hoping to travel by teleporter, but apparently that hasn't been invented yet, so I took the train. Advance booked tickets on Virgin trains were so cheap I could afford a first class ticket. First class is fantastic. It meant I got to wait in the (slightly grotty but comfortable) first class lounge at Euston, had complementry tea, coffee, wine, and sadwiches on the train,

So I arrived. Ate some food and drank some Cider in the conveniently located pub and then went to the SECC, where I registered (the badgename "squigs" caused comment), and caught up with friends in the moat house where they were serving Real Ale. I tested it. It was real. Sci fi fans like their drink, and this being a Scottish convention, they were promoting some of their local brews.

The convention was at Scotland's SECC, the main auditorium is in a building tht looks a like an Armadillo. The organisers duly fitted it with repulsar beams and a tachyon drive, and rechristened it the W.F.S.F Armadillo. The rest of the conference centre was fitted out as a spaceport. Sadly I didn't stay long enough to see the launch. But I did go the opening ceremony. That was really quite impressive, with bagpipes and wine! Chatted with

gaspodex and the rest of the d'Gaspodes. I really can't remember how the conversation went but someone seemed slightly uncertain when we explained that you can just randomly chat to people. I demonstrated by grabbing a random person and chatting to them.

Main events

Ceilidh on the Thursday night. I went to the beginner's session beforehand, and later, after a bit of work, managed to get drunk enough to want to dance while remaining sober enough not to fall over and make a fool of myself. It's a careful balancing act. This was good fun though. all cons should have a ceilidh. It's a great mixer event.

Play on the Friday night. Lucas Back in Anger – A Star Wars Parody (well, duh!) starring Luke Skywalker, with R2D2 and C3PO replaced by a dalek and a cyberman.

The Masquerade on Saturday. The talent there is fantastic, and most of the stuff was made from scratch. The con provided a chaos costuming room, so some of this was actaully made at the convention!

The Hugos on Sunday. These are taken pretty seriously. They are, after all, considered highly prestigious awards amongst fans. This didn't stop Kim Newman and Paul McAuley from being very funny presenters.

Rollerskate Quidditch. For the kids. The rules were simplified a little. The snitch was thrown between various organisers for the beaters to try and catch it, and the beaters hit each other rather than hitting the bludgers.

Parties. There were a lot of these.

But of course, none of this is the point. Neither are the famous attendees. I did get to meet Terry Pratchett, but had nothing to say so I thought I'd be cheeky at him. And then got worried I might have come across as rude. But as I say that's not the point. Neither are the panels, the art room or the dealers room. Those are just a bonus.. The only single reason I see for going to conventions is to meet other fans. And I did! I met lots of people. And I think I should talk about some of them.

nayela seemed like a nice sweet innocent girl. And she was a sweet girl. Just not so innocent. We talked, we danced, we drank, we kissed, we had a great time together.

tinkerbell1980 is a serious nutcase, but cool with it. She liked my accent and wanted a snogging buddy. I'm a total tart at conventions, so I was happy to oblige. And she's a cool person. Insane. But cool. And she plays a mean game of rollerblade Quidditch.

watervole who knows most of the people I know. I thought I thought I should say hello because she seems undefinably cool.

A shaman or something guy. The number of different denominations of Pagan and theology experts I know I really should know what's what a little better. And I forgot his name, which was a shame because it was a very cool name.

Another guy whose name I've forgotten but he had a goose with him, and a vast number of badges. I could spend many a happy hour reading him.

I had fun so much fun. An unforgettable time. Best. Convention. Ever.