One of the Cool Kids

I survived day one of WorldCon. After a long nap, I finally got dressed and headed out at about the time things opened. They were short-staffed at the SFWA table, so I volunteered to sit there for the first hour, which was a good place to see familiar faces drift by and to meet new people as they came by the table. During a later wander through the dealers' room I ran into still more people, ranging from a college friend to writers I only run into at cons.

Since I don't have a real schedule at this convention, I decided I want to do stuff that's different from what I normally do. For instance, although I like music, I almost never go to concerts at conventions. Well, they had the musical guests (Tricky Pixie) perform a number at the opening ceremonies, and the band included a cello for the "bass" part. I love the cello sound, and they were very good musicians, so I decided to go to their concert (I guess you could say they had me at cello). I'm even considering getting their CD.

Then there was a brief run through a few of the parties and finally meeting up with some friends in the lobby outside the bar. Thanks to the friends of my friends, that was a rather august gathering. If I mentioned who I was hanging out with, it would sound like I was indulging in egregious namedropping. I got to hear some great stories of conventions from way back, including tales of some of the great Grand Masters (from someone who qualifies as a Grand Master, himself). There was a minor debate/discussion about generation gaps among fandom and a general discussion about fans freaking out about meeting favorite authors -- and authors who still freak out a little about meeting their favorites.

I don't know what it says about me that I usually end up in the middle of a group of men like that -- all married, and while there are some compliments, there's no real flirtation or anything that would upset a wife. I once read a book where a character was described as the kind of woman the boss's wife would hire to be her husband's secretary, and I think I fall into that category, not so much because of being unattractive, but because of some personality thing. I guess I come across as someone who wouldn't be receptive to anything untoward and maybe also as a little remote, like someone you look at and interact with but don't touch. I don't mind because I like hanging out with men like that, but it is interesting that at almost any gathering, I'll be surrounded by admiring men who aren't hitting on me in any way.

I made it until about 11 before I started collapsing, then was up not long after 6 this morning. I did a shift helping out in the SFWA suite, and now I guess I need to get ready for the one official event I plan to do today -- which is another thing I never do at conventions (I'll report on it tomorrow). After that, there will probably be napping before another round of parties and hanging out with the cool kids again tonight.