I have nothing to do this week and yet somehow I am still too lazy to make a decent Con recap post.
The drive to and back was pretty easy since we did the sane thing and broke it into two days this time. Turns out that getting those books of motel coupons at rest areas makes lodging really cheap, so that wasn't a problem. Had great weather on the drive, and it's always worth it just to see Mt. Shasta mock us all with how much bigger it is than us.
House was quite good, big enough to sleep a lot of people, no drama with the owners this time (as far as I know?), good-sized rooms. We probably needed to bite the bullet and have a few more people in hotels to avoid problems like people sleeping in bathrooms - putting four more people in a hotel would cost like 15$ more per person max which seems worth it to me, and definitely an option to keep in mind for future Cons.
I more or less second Ciato's comments on games. Whatever style of humour Dead Rising is going for completely falls flat for me - totally failed to live up to the hype. Blazblue actually looked more appealing this year; it wasn't so horridly slow now that people knew what they were doing? Still not my style of fighting game at all. Scott Pilgrim shows quite nicely why that genre is dead, and FF4 TAY shows quite nicely why most of the DL mocks FF4. That said, the last was at least fun because of being able to put it in French and poke fun at it as a group thing. Soul Calibur 4 was fun at least (but no Shale to play it with is sadness), as was Street Fighter 4. Oh, and Nier is very pretty.
Bowling was fun; it was nice to actually feel competent at DLC bowling for once, even if I pulled a Sopko and had an epic last frame. Quiz contests were also fun, if a little chaotic, but we managed quite well. True/false in Jeopardy is probably an idea that should not return, however!
I actually played a board game (Arkham) this time instead of just watching. In general board games take too long for my impatient self, but still, it was fun. Something to do again next year.
Karaoke was a great idea and part of me wished I'd stayed for it; I love doing it, but the idea of standing around (not even sitting) in a loud, smoky bar in which I could barely talk to people is not my idea of fun at all. I'd love to do this next year, though... just need to find a better place for grumpy ol' me.
I think I was probably quite mopey and anti-social for much of Sunday since Ciato had gone. I mostly cheered up after going out to lunch and talking with Andy and Djinn about IAQ stuff (as well as some less nerdy things. Some) which was great fun. Also got to talk with Ash and Cmdr too - I think this is the most I've ever talked to Cmdr at a DLC and I enjoyed it a lot. The man's shirt speaks the truth. Also, thanks again for finding us that extra copy of S3.
Scott Pilgrim movie was a lot of fun; I considered not going due to my low opinion of the game but that would have been a big mistake. I enjoyed the movie a lot and it was great to just go and do something with people; it would have been worth it even had the movie sucked, I think.
I tried to spend time talking with everyone a bit, although the way the cookie crumbled there were a few I barely got time with (OK and Tonfa come to mind, this year). Dhyer's snark is something I can only aspire to, Jim's always fun to talk to about all things political, Laggy is very knowledgeable and well-spoken and fun to chill with, Tal's a great guy when he opens up a bit, Soppy and I click infinitely better in person, etc. etc. I'm not going to try to list everyone. I'll give special note to Grefter, since we hung out for the better part of two weeks - his sense of comic timing is hilarious and he's always fun to talk to about all sorts of things, even if the two of us rarely talk much when alone - and Meeple, who I shared a solo car trip with - fun to chat with because he's so knowledgeable, even if I have a hard time keeping up with his pace of speaking.
Gate and Jenna are awesome hosts. This Con was a little less controlled than previous ones but I think it generally worked fine; we're big kids after all (... mostly). They still put in so much effort in terms of getting things organised, ferrying people back and forth, and so on. I really appreciate it and hope both of you enjoyed the weekend even if it could be a bit stressful at times.
New folks were great fun too. Rat is so much more well-balanced and well-spoken than his crazy mafia persona implies, Archmage was also a lot of fun to hang out with (and help us suck less at Arkham~). Chiaki I didn't really communicate with much due to the language thing but he was cool too; I'm suprised he and Ciato didn't band together to kill Djinn and I, though! We are such bad people.
I realised that after making a big point to say goodbye to everyone I totally managed to miss MC the morning we left! Arrgh, fail me.
Anyway, MC, it's great to see you doing so well and I hope we can come and visit you in Atlanta soon.
People who couldn't make it were missed and I hope you can all make it next year!
Overall, it was a blast, I'm very glad I came and it was great to see all of you again.
