Train tomorrow. Also, thanks to magic, Scott Emily and I are in the Marriott now instead of the Hilton.
I think the opposite of magic. I had apparently made a reservation a year ago that I completely forgot about. All emails and communications regarding this reservation vanished due to me switching to Google Inbox. If only I had found out a day earlier we could have canceled the other hotel for $0 instead of non-$0.
We're in the farthest hotel (Radisson) this year, but we have lodging starting Thurs night through Monday morning. I will put up with much to stay over Sunday night for free.
Pre-con madness has escalated to a whole new level, with the whole family both giving talks *and* being staff.
Plus I will be scooting around the con on an ECV because of injured feet (actually, this will be handy for getting to/from the Hilton for Screenings stuff). And maybe cosplaying anyway. Gao gao.
When I switched to Inbox, my reservations ended up in the "Travel" sidebar item. Did you turn that off?
The Marriott elevators are quite an experience with all the con goers. :-)
Extra fun with a mobility scooter! Good thing I don't need it 100% of the time, because honestly I don't think I could get it back to the room during the dances. I'm going to have to plan carefully.
I got to do a podcast with Victor at the con, which was awesome!
And I feel my panel went really well. The audience was really engaged and nobody left during, which was a good sign, and I got a lot of questions afterwards. People were also really into Wizard Cops!
The only bleh part was that it was booked opposite another RPG panel, so I had a split audience situation. Still, people showed up!
It was so awesome being able to actually meet so many of you in person, even if only briefly. So many faces now put with names I've known for so long. And for the people I've done FNPL and Acceptable Vices with, I know I said this a few times this weekend already, but talking to you guys in person was such a weird and cool experience when I've only previously heard/seen you through the computer. I wish I had the means to come to ConnectiCon every year.
Doing my panels at CTCon was pretty cool too. A few audience members actually watched old versions of my panels before coming to see it live, which is crazy. Even crazier was the audience at the Steven U panel. Holeeeee shit. Was neither expecting that turnout, nor the intensity. I was a little bummed that none of them had seen my YouTube show before, but I have at least one confirmed crossover from it!
Speaking of, doing that panel with Viga was an exciting experiment. We have very different presenting styles but we made it work and we seem to have good on-stage chemistry (at least I think so).
I wish I could have stayed Sunday as well and hung out some more with all of you, but seeing my grandma in Boston was a must. It was a crazy expense, one that I wont be able to repeat for a while, but I'm so glad I did it.
My panels went well. The Screening department had a rocky start technology-wise but rallied, and I took a zillion notes about how to improve for next year, in terms of both operations and content. Also I found a little time for cosplay. And bought a hat at the Hartford Yard Goats Pro Shop.
It is not too early to get on board for Screenings staff 2016. We have openings for both at-con and year-round staff. Screenings needs to be much more than 20% cooler, so we've got a lot of work to do over the fall and winter.
Panels were extremely smooth this year including people queuing which seemed to cause some agita the last time we went (two years ago). Tech mostly worked and when it had issues it got fixed really quickly. Sarah and I had our best experience of the 3 times we've gone. Everybody did great work (and Jen and family's panels were awesome as usual.)
I wouldn't worry too much about audience members leaving during a panel. There's a thousand reasons for that and only one of them is "your panel just wasn't good so we left." When we've left a panel it's either because we got the wrong idea from a description, or we had a schedule conflict, or something. Although this year we only left one that we just weren't feeling. The remainder of the audience was laughing their butts off though, so it was just us.
We shared an elevator to the lobby with Bill Farmer on Saturday morning (I half-shouted "Hello Mr. Farmer!" from inside my Chewbacca head), we waited for an elevator with Deep Roy on Saturday night, which was surreal and awesome, and we sat about 10 feet away from George Takei during his (too short!!!) Q&A. Amazing con this year! We even figured out the Dash shuttle!
Oh and thanks to a Gundam panel and a reminder from the FLCL screening we have a new appreciation for the Haruko bunny suit sequence where she yells out "Daikon!!" before riding a flying guitar into battle with a big mecha. :-)
This was easily the best Connecticon in years, I would have loved to hang with you guys more but I was basically holed up in tabletop anytime I wasn't doing a panel. Hope I can catch you guys next year.
Oh and as current Connecticon Nidhogg champion I think I need to challenge Rym at some point to see who is truly the best.
I was a little bummed that none of them had seen my YouTube show before,
Well you can't say none had, since at least I watch it.
I'm glad to see the event getting crazier every year. The Tokyo Arcade area is something that wasn't there last time I made it up, and while I got only a few moments with one game, it was a cool thing to see.
We didn't get a chance to play Super Table Flip (I think that's the name) but Initial D was a lot of fun even though Sarah and I were both terrible at it.
Listen To This was significantly better attended than expected. Hell Hell surprisingly only half filled (this was the most missable Hell Hell we've done). I'll be reviving the Andrew Jackson panel next year, because I ran into a lot of people who were interested in it but didn't know about the last minute shift. The people who did attend it really liked it, tho. One guy who went was later in Table Top was pimping his game, and told me that Andrew Jackson loved it.
I think there's a split opinion about that. I don't think they're illegal indoors in CT, but I could be wrong.
We were on a packed Dash shuttle with two guys who were openly using them as if it was the most natural thing in the world. It may not be smoke but I still don't want your humid exhalation floating around and onto me, thank you. It was a thick, white cloud, too. Hardly unobtrusive.
Connecticut is "100% smoke free" and is currently looking to regulate E-Cigs. I don't know if any legislation has passed yet, but it's certainly in the works. While the jury is still out on the safety of e-cig vapor there are a lot of studies finding unsavory things about them (heavy metals, lung irritation, airway constriction) so CT is looking to ban public indoor use.
We should just permit all drug use in private places and prohibit it in all public and shared places. Even if e-cig vapor is safe we can still prohibit it regardless. People are all about banning selfie sticks which are definitely harmless.
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The new hotel is connected to the con, so I can roll downstairs in my pajamas and still be there to open the department if needed.
Plus I will be scooting around the con on an ECV because of injured feet (actually, this will be handy for getting to/from the Hilton for Screenings stuff). And maybe cosplaying anyway. Gao gao.
The Marriott elevators are quite an experience with all the con goers. :-)
I got to do a podcast with Victor at the con, which was awesome!
And I feel my panel went really well. The audience was really engaged and nobody left during, which was a good sign, and I got a lot of questions afterwards. People were also really into Wizard Cops!
The only bleh part was that it was booked opposite another RPG panel, so I had a split audience situation. Still, people showed up!
Doing my panels at CTCon was pretty cool too. A few audience members actually watched old versions of my panels before coming to see it live, which is crazy. Even crazier was the audience at the Steven U panel. Holeeeee shit. Was neither expecting that turnout, nor the intensity. I was a little bummed that none of them had seen my YouTube show before, but I have at least one confirmed crossover from it!
Speaking of, doing that panel with Viga was an exciting experiment. We have very different presenting styles but we made it work and we seem to have good on-stage chemistry (at least I think so).
I wish I could have stayed Sunday as well and hung out some more with all of you, but seeing my grandma in Boston was a must. It was a crazy expense, one that I wont be able to repeat for a while, but I'm so glad I did it.
It is not too early to get on board for Screenings staff 2016. We have openings for both at-con and year-round staff. Screenings needs to be much more than 20% cooler, so we've got a lot of work to do over the fall and winter.
I wouldn't worry too much about audience members leaving during a panel. There's a thousand reasons for that and only one of them is "your panel just wasn't good so we left." When we've left a panel it's either because we got the wrong idea from a description, or we had a schedule conflict, or something. Although this year we only left one that we just weren't feeling. The remainder of the audience was laughing their butts off though, so it was just us.
We shared an elevator to the lobby with Bill Farmer on Saturday morning (I half-shouted "Hello Mr. Farmer!" from inside my Chewbacca head), we waited for an elevator with Deep Roy on Saturday night, which was surreal and awesome, and we sat about 10 feet away from George Takei during his (too short!!!) Q&A. Amazing con this year! We even figured out the Dash shuttle!
Oh and as current Connecticon Nidhogg champion I think I need to challenge Rym at some point to see who is truly the best.
I'm glad to see the event getting crazier every year. The Tokyo Arcade area is something that wasn't there last time I made it up, and while I got only a few moments with one game, it was a cool thing to see.
We were on a packed Dash shuttle with two guys who were openly using them as if it was the most natural thing in the world. It may not be smoke but I still don't want your humid exhalation floating around and onto me, thank you. It was a thick, white cloud, too. Hardly unobtrusive.