ZebraCon/2005

ZebraCon 17 (2005)

cover 2005 Program Guide, designed by Office Max

• The convention website is archived here: 2005 - Zebracon 17
• A copy of the 2005 Program Guide in pdf form can be found here.
• Attendees: 272
• Amount raised in Charity Auction: $2500
• Amount raised by the raffle: $700
• Amount to be shared by the Pediatric AIDS Foundation and Noah's Wish
• Number pre-registered for ZCon 18: 135
• Number of outfits Karen wore: Only 11! (Source: annual Huggy Award pages)

Vid Show

Playlists and vid show reviews from the 1990s and 2000s are being collected at ZebraCon/Vid Show.

Art and Fiction Awards

See Huggy Awards.

Program Book

The full program is available here: File:2005 program guide zcon 150x150.pdf

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  art show and auction

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  party schedule

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  songvid show

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  programming schedule

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  programming schedule

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  programming schedule

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  video room

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  misc

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  misc

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  flyer for room party

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  flyer for room party

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  flyer for room party

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  flyer for room party

Convention Reports

• dargelos I give up; archive.today (October 24, 2005)
• renka54's Bummed (October 19, 2005)
• dargelos's The continuing story (offline, not archived) (October 25, 2005)
• twinkelbelpeach's Chicago, Z-Con, Autumn,etc.; archive.today (October 24, 2005)
• dargelos And on to days four and five of ZCon (offline, not archived) (October 28, 2005)

....I just want to say upfront that I had an absolute blast at Zebracon. Meeting people you've only previously talked to on line, putting a face to a name, knowing that some obscure reference will still be immediately understood. there's no drug like it. Even when chatting with women from fandoms other than your own!...

Friday the rush for the dealer room when it opened at 11am was like a feeding frenzy. Must have new zines!! I unfortunately managed to miss picking up copies of Back to Back, and Kass' zine through oversight. Will get them at SHarecon in a year, I guarentee. I got many S&H and also The Sentinel zines. I sat on an interesting panel for Numb3rs. Much discussion about the family dynamics, that many people hate the new woman Megan (I don't, for the record) and whether there was slash in Numb3rs. Since I won't

slash Don and Charlie (will read it, I'm such a slut) but it was suggested that maybe Charlie and Larry would work, and I am warming to that. Also sat on a Firefly/Serenity panel, which was mostly about the movie and hopes for sequels. Many like Mal/Simon slash, which I would not even read, I think. I still have odd Mal and River vibes, which a few shared. There were panels on House and a few other series that I enjoy, but I seemed to have missed them, but can't remember for the life of me why now. Oh, went to one on the influences of Jim and Blair's childhoods on their personalities, and only what was canon was allowed to be discussed. I also sat sentry on the art room for two hours and bid on a few beautiful pieces while there.

What was Friday night? (pause to pull out con schedule) Oh, three hours of awesome vids in all fandoms. Loved the ASJ one, as I've said. all the S&H ones (Morgan can do no wrong) Loved seeing some Pros ones with Doyle shot--made me definitely want to see that ep. I messed up my feedback paper so badly that I doubt the vidders will be able to read mine.

Saturday, the rooms opened earlier, and much buying was done. Also, it was Starsky and Hutch day, since all our panels and festivities were on the same afternoon. Went out to a very late breakfast with Kimberly and co. Seven of us crammed into the PT Cruiser. I got to know Jen Hutchinson, Sel and Minx very well in the back seat. I had chocolate chip pancakes and Jen had pumpkin, but I don't remember anyone else's breakfast. Then we went to a Halloween store and perused the stuff. I would have liked to buy a mini bondage fairy costume (still got the legs for that) but I settled on a bondage witch hat. Jen got a zebra striped pantsuit and Sel had a red 'velvet' pimp suit with zebra striped trim. Quite the fashion statement. Moon had sweet black fairy wings.

The S&H panel on new generation fans was at one, and a lively discussion it was. Flamingo introduced one of the founding mothers of our fandom, Ruth Kurz, who apparently is a great artist and author, but I'm not sure I've read anything by her. I plan to rectify that soon! Several older fans were there, and then the new younger ones who weren't even old enough to breathe when the show was on the air. It was a well attended panel.

I think I shopped for an hour, and then went to the Starsky and Hutch party. HL was annoyed that I missed the Lost party, and so was I, since apparently a photo of Sawyer was threatened by small stuffed boars, but the S&H party was great! She did forgive me and gave me a picture of Charlie. Lots of food, some left over from the Lostaways, continuous vid shows, and dancing to the music (mostly by me and Jen whenever Discovery Channel was playing). I handed out magnets and stickers and let people oggle my rare pic of PMG [Paul Michael Glaser]. Flamingo is the sweetest person ever and she gives good hugs.

Directly after the party was another S&H panel on whether they could be lovers and partners. Much discussion on the pros and cons of living together and the historical significance of that versus fictional reality. Could they both live in the same house and do they still own that fixer upper?.....

I didn't end up going to the Art auction because I gave into to my Invisible Man yearnings and went to the video room to watch the pilot. I hadn't seen it in over a year, I think. Turned out the woman who was pimping Iman was someone I'd met on line and we chatted a bit but the Pros people (I think) came to throw us out so that they could show one of their one.

After, S&H fans trooped to Flamingo and Anne's room for S&H vids until you fell asleep or dawn, whichever came first. I ate chocolates and tried to ignore an asthma attack--too much barometer pressure changes, cigarette smoke and a humid room, so my croaky wheezey voice and I left at about 1:30 for my inhaler. I read Timeless for a long while, and Kimberly and Moon came back after I'd turned out the light.

Sunday there was the charity Auction. I bought two Sentinel zines. Cyanne spent a great deal on a Stargate charm bracelet! I forget how much the S&H one went for, but I didn't even bid on it since it was tres expensive. Did attempt to bid on a Lost one, but it went out of my meager price range very quickly. Maverick, who had made the marvelous bracelets, looked faint at how high her creations were selling for. The set of six Qleap comics I had donated went for $40 which amazed me, since Qleap didn't seem a vocal

fandom, and I'd gotten them for a Christmas present! All proceeds went to EGlaser pediatric Aids Foundation and Noah's Wish, which helps pets in disasters....

Monday morning goodbyes. Sigh. Sat with a group and scrounged CC's toast while I was waiting for my taxi. I won't see most of these people for another year!! Waah. But I had my zines on the plane to console me. Molo's Jericho is a winner, thumbs up from me. S&H has the best fans!!

...Friday morning we shanghaied silver_cyanne, went to breakfast at IHOP where other tables were also filled with ZCon-attendees, and finished our party shopping. silver_cyanne had created the ‘Cowley’s Pure Malt Scotch’ labels and hauled the Scotch and Swiss rolls (courtesy of my daughter) from Maryland. We had the Scotch and we had the little bottles. We needed a funnel to pour from the big to the little without losing a drop. abelladonna suggested we buy a catsup squirter since we couldn’t find a funnel small enough. We put the small bottle into a coffee mug and squirted away. By the time windrain10 and EDioVal returned from the airport the room smelled like a distillery. They helped with the finishing touches, hauling everything over to the party suite and setting things up.

I managed to squeeze in some time at the Sentinel party, a quick run through the Dealer’s Room and delivering my DVDs to Media Mugs in between fretting about the party. Did I mention how much I love my friends? Don’t know what I’d do without them!

I think the (Pros) party went ok. Everyone seemed to have a good time. There was much laughter and talking. The party bags were black (couldn’t find any green ones); had a picture of Doyle on one side and Bodie on the other; a disk with pictures and articles; a Swiss roll, and the bottle of Scotch. Each attendee was given a ticket for drawings. We gave away several trinkets with small handcuffs, a Larton Chronicles disk courtesy of Elessar, one of my Pros 2003 songvid DVDs, Arabian Nights (zine), and a beautiful Pros travel mug courtesy of Media Mugs. The winner justacat of the ‘name that episode’ game received a region-free DVD set of the series.

Immediately after the party was the Pros panel. I managed to catch part of it after cleaning up the party suite. justacat, przed, and Elessar were moderators. An hour is never enough time to discuss Bodie and Doyle.

Next came the vid show. We were given a playlist and comment sheets so the viewers could give feedback to the vidders while the vid was fresh in their minds. What a novel idea! My vids were the fifth set in the show so I was good up until then. During the break between vidders, my wonderful friends moved their seats until I was surrounded by them. (I always sit at the back of the room – cowardly, I know) I’m an absolute nervous wreck when my vids are being shown and totally intimidated by some of the older (meaning long-time) vidders. It wouldn’t matter if I won an Oscar, I’d still feel my work wasn’t good enough. Conditioning, indoctrination, whatever you want to call it, is hard to fight. After this I was free to enjoy the rest of the weekend without pressure.

Saturday morning, while the OAT (Outback Assault Team) slept in, I caught a ride to breakfast with Elessar and a couple of other Pros fans. I’m sorry I don’t think I ever put names with faces, but have seen the ladies several times. Finally got to shop in the Dealer’s Room and picked up my order from Lionheart (all Pros zines!) The ladies manning the Dealer’s tables miss so much of the con by standing fast and feeding our habits. Went to the ‘meet the vidders’ panel and received the feedback forms from the vid show. Except for one or two comments, the only negative feedback was about the sound and a few dark scenes which were because of the show equipment, not my vids, so I was pleasantly surprised. Some people are pressuring me to drop Pros and Starsky and Hutch and get into a ‘live’ fandom – not going to happen ladies. I may add to, but will not drop my older fandoms.

Attended the Starsky & Hutch party in the afternoon and touched base with old friends. Discovered one of my vids was instrumental in starting a plot bunny for a story – what a compliment! Had to go by the zine, of course. (one of my roomies had a story in the same zine!) We marched across the street for dinner at the pizza place, but when the tables around us started filling up with kids we decided to get ours to go. We ate pizza and watched Stargate Atlantis eps. In between all these activities was meeting friends in the lobby.

Saturday night was the con party and awards. Several attendees dressed up and lots of pictures were taken. It’s a shame that all of the nominees for awards couldn’t win. It’s like choosing between Red Delicious and Golden Delicious apples – the same, yet different. I wonder if there’ll ever be vid categories like story categories. The skit performed was very funny and the actors did a great job. As always, everyone in the room sang ‘The Rose’ at the end of the party. It was beautiful and sad at the same time. It will be devastating at the next/last ZCon. After a short break came the Art Auction. The talent in fandom is absolutely awesome. I went up to Flamingo’s room briefly, but it was a bit crowded so I didn’t stay. We went down to the vid room and I don’t even remember what we watched. I know I fell asleep. *g*

Sunday morning I had breakfast with a S&H group.....Anyway, I enjoyed listening to everybody since I’ve been more into my Pros place than my Starsky place the last couple of years.

The Charity Auction was something. There were some beautiful bracelets made by Maverick that went for over $300. I lost my bid for the Pros annuals but justacat said agentxpndble has them all online, so I don’t feel so bad. My roomies all left so I moved my stuff to the OAT’s room, but kept being drawn back to the Dealer’s Room. paris7am was kind enough to haul my overflow to her house since she drove. It’ll give us an excuse to get together soon and rehash the con and her trip to the UK. *g*

I didn’t get to say goodbye to everybody, but maybe it’s for the best...In the great scheme of life, I don’t seem to fit anywhere, but the closest I’ve found is at cons. .... On the whole, ZCon is at the top of the list of favorites and this past weekend was great. And so ends my long-winded report on ZCon. I’d list all of the great people I got to see again, but would forget somebody and feel terrible so I won’t try. I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did.

[Dargelos]: I heard rumors that my art was already getting a lot of attention, so I broke for lunch during a lull and went down to scope out the art show. It was kind of thin compared to previous years, but there was some nice stuff down there. Suzanne Lovett had her usual collection of stunning work, but what really knocked me out was Kate Nurenberg's stuff. I recall when she first started putting art in the ZCon show. It was nice, but nothing special. But she's improved consistently over the years, and this year I saw several pieces I'd have loved to own if I was buying fannish art at all. I have to hand it to her, she's worked hard to get to this point and it's been worth every hour she's spent. My own stuff was already bid on to the point where two pieces were set for auction, and only one had no bids at all. Secure in the knowledge that it would allow me to eat for the rest of the weekend, I went up to the concession stand the hotel had set up for us, and got a tuna salad sandwich, some chips and a can of pop.

[justacat] ZCon was ... well, it was fantastic, the most fun I've had at a con in a while (and I always have fun at cons), and leaving was more difficult than usual ...

I'm not sure what made this con so good. It wasn't the panels - the only panel I went to, in fact, was the Pros panel, which I was moderating! I went to no other panels, and yet every single second of the weekend was occupied with fun stuff. A big part of it, of course, was the people. That's always the case with cons, but this one was unusually ... congenial ... for me, despite the fact that some of my good fannish friends weren't there. Rooming with shayheyred and paris7am was an absolute joy; everything just clicked. Hanging out with them, talking and joking and sharing the too-small space, was fun and stimulating and funny and relaxing and just about perfect. I spent much, much, much - and yet still not enough, never enough - time with przed, who I met in person for the first time here ... She and I had collaborated on a vid, my very first, which premiered here - about which more later.

Actually, thinking about it I'm realizing that what made this con special for me was the focus on Pros, or rather the ease and comfort with which, the company with whom, I could focus on Pros. ZCon started out as an SH con, but in its early years added Pros to the agenda, and it's still a place where Pros fands tend to congregate, including many of the old-time fans, who are so wonderful to talk to and learn from.

And it's a con in which adoring Pros, being obsessed with Pros, is ... well, it's mainstream, I guess. There are Pros fans at the con, Pros stuff in the dealers room, a sense of Pros history all throughout. Pros isn't really a "minority" fandom there - it's one of the mainstays of the con. My roomies were Pros fans, many of the people I hung out with were Pros fans.... I talked about Pros all weekend, with people who love it as much as I do, many of whom I deeply adore, watched Pros vids and Pros eps, went to the Pros party (which was, by the way, great fun - recycledmedia hosted it, and she did a marvelous job), did some happy Pros pimping (gblvr, we have you now!). I suppose it boils down to sharing a favorite obsession with my favorite people, and also having a real depth of Pros presence.

It was truly wonderful. And yet ... I was left with a sense of melancholy that went beyond my usual con Sunday sadness. I'm relatively new to fandom, by ZCon standards, and yet it feels like the end of an era to me, an era I was barely part of. The next ZCon, in 2007, will be the last ... and I started to wonder, where will all those folks, those old-time fans who have been around so long, know so much, where will they go? Will anything replace ZCon? Can anything replace it? I thought a lot about con_txt... should our goal be to replicate Connexions or ZCon, assuming it's even possible to do that? Or is the day of that kind of con over?

The internet has made it so much easier to have fannish communities without cons ... and yet, I don't think cons, fannish gatherings, will ever die out, or at least not during my tenure in fandom - there's no technological substitute for human contact, for seeing and hearing and touching people, for actually being together. But the old-style con, heavy on zines and dealers and art, light on meta ... is there still a place for it? Do newer fans want it? How sad to think of losing that all that ... history, that sense of continuity, of following in the footsteps of those who have gone before... Is there any way to move forward without losing things of great value (to me, at least) from our fannish past?

I don't know, it made me feel wistful and sad. And I had such a wonderful, magical time with people this con .

[twinkelbelpeach ] Hoorah for Chicago in October. The natives may scoff, but I was so happy to see autumn leaves on the maple trees and feel the nippy breeze blowing through my hair. I always love going to Z-con; I don't think I've missed one since 1985 and it is going to seem so surreal next time when it will be the very last one. This year though, even with a few of my favorite folks missing, I still had a great time. It helps that my longtime favorite fandom, Pro's, is still happily toddling along after all these many years. Older fans, younger fans, everyone seems to mesh so nicely in Pro's. Of course, having those wonderful little bottles of 'Cowley's Malt Liquor' at the Pro's party was the perfect crowning touch.

I didn't run across a lot of Smallville fans, but I probably just didn't know where to look. Songvids were my favorite thing as usual. Again not much Smallville (some hilarious MR though), but a goodly bit of Pro's. There was even one 'Firefly' vid that I liked a lot even though I'm not a fan of the show. Can't remember for sure who did it though I'm thinking maybe it was Lithium Doll. Waldo ran a really organized vid show and I don't think she can be praised enough. The art auction was much shorter than in previous years. Doesn't seem to be as much available money floating around in people's wallets these days. Best in Show was a gorgeous 'House' piece by Suzi Lovett that compared House (and co-star, sorry don't know his name) with Holmes and Watson. Some other nice pieces by Kate Nuernberg; some of her portraits are just stunning.

Found myself feeling very sentimental near the end of the closing night party. Looking around the crowded ballroom and realizing 'only one more time' made me decidedly mushy. I know there will always be cons, and I will probably keep going to them until time to dodder off into the sunset, but somehow Z-con is special. Maybe because it still has such a Pro's presence, and that means a lot to me having come to Pros back in the early 80's.

Maybe because there are some people that I only ever see at Z-con. Maybe because in the early days you felt like you had joined a wonderful, yet secret community. Like you had stepped into a magic circle and the mundanes couldn't even see you. Maybe just because I know the end is near and I can already see the ghosts hovering around the edges. When that ballroom empties for the final time two years from now and Z-con becomes only a memory, the ghosts will reign. I know everything has to have a beginning and an end. Doesn't mean I'll miss it any less though. Those autumn leaves that I love so well are going to seem very bittersweet.

[Dargelos]

Sunday is usually the day I crawl out of the suite on my hands and knees, wearing the darkest sunglasses I can find. This time it was grab some crap from the fridge and make coffee, get dressed and bounce down to the dealers room for one last try at bringing home big bucks. Instead I spent them, buying four more items from Pat Poole. Alas I didn't get Owl Woman, but that's okay because I got a knockout one she referred to as "Triple Goddess" made of bone and moldavite. Also got a gorgeous, Renaissance-styled diamond-shape pendant in amethyst and aquamarine, one with amys, peridot and what I thought she said was Gasparite, but which looks like old, untreated turquoise, and one perfectly elegant little free-form piece in aquamarine, freshwater pearl and some kind of sparkly bluish-grey crystal.

Things apparently go well at art checkout because no one comes running up to me in tears, begging me to come down and fix things. This is reassuring, but not really surprising because Lislemojin is so incredibly capable, they're probably doing better with her than they did with me. I'm the mean one after all.

It's a slow morning, and at one I have to go do the dead dog panel with Renka. Dog is officially dead, thank you. Yes, we'll do it again. Yes, we made our room block. Just. Everyone was horrified to hear what sort of penalty we were looking at if we didn't meet it. And let's not even talk about cancellation. That's $20,000. I kind of expected to feel more tearful at the dead dog panel, but honestly I was so relieved that we'd gotten through it in good shape, that tears will be on hold for a while. As Renka likes to say, we'll have to have people follow us around with boxes of Kleenex next time. There is one very sad note: Elaine informs us that Tabby Davis, one of the sweetest people in fandom, passed away this spring. I hadn't heard and neither had Renka.

I spend the next few hours hanging out in the dealers room saying good-bye to folks. Mav and her minions are coming back next time and have even bought a dealers table. This is very cool. Even cooler is the fact that Mav's bracelets brought in $750 for charity! I get a ton of farewell hugs and there is much exchanging of email addresses. About four-thirty there's nothing else to do, so we make our way to the bar where we smush four tables together and drink happily for an hour until it's time to go to supper.

Once again I'm longing for time - time to linger over the experience of Zebracon, to go over the many conversations and experiences again, to work through the sense of loss and isolation at being back in the real world again, away from that magical environment. Instead, I have 4 houseguests who arrive in half an hour, and who'll be here until November. I don't know how I'll pull this off.

It was a fantastic experience and just cements my crazy wish that we could create a community for ourselves in reality, where we wouldn't have to leave, but could be at *home* all the time. Yeah, a pipe dream, but oh well. I arrived in time for the Pros party and could hardly believe the plethora of Pros fans. So many women to meet and talk with that it was impossible to meet them all. Such a pleasure - a dream come true. Over the weekend I discovered that there were many many of the first generation of Pros fans there, fans who were very happy to sit down and answer questions, pour out the history, tell their own anecdotes and experiences. I was amazed, just plain amazed. There were also many fans who I've known online, but was finally able to meet in person - so wonderful. And there were complete strangers, not Pros fans, not online contacts, just fans - but it felt like we'd known each other forever, sharing the passion and obsession, even if not directed towards the same things. The comfort and excitement of being 'us' - no longer alone and able to be openly proud and passionate.

Shay and Justacat were perfect room-mates... cannot even begin to say how good it was to have that extra time to be able to talk and get to know them even better, to laugh, read, watch episodes and vids - oh, and to have them give me fashion pointers! Plus, they even brought cows...

I feel such regret at the thought of all the cons I've missed out on, and at the thought of many cons coming to an end. I'll certainly be at the last Zebracon, and knowing that Contxt is being born is a great comfort - I guess I'll hang on to that. I hope that everyone is surviving the first day post con and the travelers had safe journeys. It was truly an incredible and wonderful experience getting to know you all and share this experience with you.

ZCon was ... well, it was fantastic, the most fun I've had at a con in a while (and I always have fun at cons), and leaving was more difficult than usual ...

I'm not sure what made this con so good. It wasn't the panels - the only panel I went to, in fact, was the Pros panel, which I was moderating! I went to no other panels, and yet every single second of the weekend was occupied with fun stuff. A big part of it, of course, was the people. That's always the case with cons, but this one was unusually ... congenial ... for me, despite the fact that some of my good fannish friends weren't there. Rooming with shayheyred and paris7am was an absolute joy; everything just clicked. Hanging out with them, talking and joking and sharing the too-small space, was fun and stimulating and funny and relaxing and just about perfect. I spent much, much, much - and yet still not enough, never enough - time with przed, who I met in person for the first time here ... She and I had collaborated on a vid, my very first, which premiered here - about which more later.

Actually, thinking about it I'm realizing that what made this con special for me was the focus on Pros, or rather the ease and comfort with which, the company with whom, I could focus on Pros. ZCon started out as an SH con, but in its early years added Pros to the agenda, and it's still a place where Pros fands tend to congregate, including many of the old-time fans, who are so wonderful to talk to and learn from.

And it's a con in which adoring Pros, being obsessed with Pros, is ... well, it's mainstream, I guess. There are Pros fans at the con, Pros stuff in the dealers room, a sense of Pros history all throughout. Pros isn't really a "minority" fandom there - it's one of the mainstays of the con. My roomies were Pros fans, many of the people I hung out with were Pros fans.... I talked about Pros all weekend, with people who love it as much as I do, many of whom I deeply adore, watched Pros vids and Pros eps, went to the Pros party (which was, by the way, great fun - recycledmedia hosted it, and she did a marvelous job), did some happy Pros pimping (gblvr, we have you now!). I suppose it boils down to sharing a favorite obsession with my favorite people, and also having a real depth of Pros presence.

It was truly wonderful. And yet ... I was left with a sense of melancholy that went beyond my usual con Sunday sadness. I'm relatively new to fandom, by ZCon standards, and yet it feels like the end of an era to me, an era I was barely part of. The next ZCon, in 2007, will be the last ... and I started to wonder, where will all those folks, those old-time fans who have been around so long, know so much, where will they go? Will anything replace ZCon? Can anything replace it? I thought a lot about con_txt... should our goal be to replicate Connexions or ZCon, assuming it's even possible to do that? Or is the day of that kind of con over?

The internet has made it so much easier to have fannish communities without cons ... and yet, I don't think cons, fannish gatherings, will ever die out, or at least not during my tenure in fandom - there's no technological substitute for human contact, for seeing and hearing and touching people, for actually being together. But the old-style con, heavy on zines and dealers and art, light on meta ... is there still a place for it? Do newer fans want it? How sad to think of losing that all that ... history, that sense of continuity, of following in the footsteps of those who have gone before... Is there any way to move forward without losing things of great value (to me, at least) from our fannish past?

I don't know, it made me feel wistful and sad. And I had such a wonderful, magical time with people this con ... So it was particularly difficult for me to leave today, to say goodbye; I felt sadder than usual, though I was exhausted.

Ah, well, enough musing for the night. Perhaps I'll go gaze at some of my new Bodie and Doyle pictures, read a zine... always the best escape. A bit more about the con, the vid, the Pros panel, the banquet, etc. - including perhaps some pictures - to follow ...

[...]

Friday

Don’t listen to Moon, I did not wake her up at an obscene time, honest. We had to get up, get going, buy stuff! Getting Sel, Sarah, Jen, and Mynx we all crammed ourselves into the PT Cruiser (the backseat got to know each other really, really well) with David Soul playing on the CD player and headed off to Max’s Diner. Very Jewish, very nice, and they serve milkshakes at 9AM, so they win. I sorta almost killed Mynx because the “Door is Ajar” light really did not tell me she was hanging out of the open door or anything. I didn’t mean it, promise. When we got back we helped Sel drop off her art prints, I dropped off my charity donations, and then Sel dropped off her artwork. By that time, the dealer’s room was open and it was all-out feeding frenzy.

I was in the dealer’s room exactly 8 minutes before I bought something. That’s a record I think. It was a signed picture (from the Wedding Picture collection) that both Paul and David had signed during the March Media Tour in 2004. I don’t know where my mind was since I called Sel over, pointed at the picture, and asked “do I need that?” The answer was, of course, yes. It’s younger boys in the picture, signed by the older boys….BOTH the boys! It’s my prized possession now. I picked up the three zines I tribbed to and just looked around. I also looked around the charity auction selections and decided on what I needed to bid on…which I did immediately. Going over to the art show, I browsed around and bid on a black and white Lorraine Brevig. Then we turned the corner and looked at Suzan Lovett’s pictures. OMG! She had a Devil/Angel SH picture that literally gave me a hot flash. Yet, I kept telling myself that I wasn’t gonna bid on it. Keep that thought in mind for later. Alas, the Evolution originals I was thinking about bidding on weren’t there, so I got the prints and two others. Dealers room again, just looking, and then I gave in and bid on the Lovett piece. 4 hours! I lasted 4 hours! Come on, give me credit. It was time to be off to an early dinner.

My idea was that if we leave at 4PM, 2 hours should be plenty of time to go to the Indian place, eat, and come back in time for my 6PM Due South panel (which I was sitting on) That, however, was a very bad assumption. The Indian waiters were very….amused? by us. Fine, a few of us (me included) were wearing handcuffs. And we were all wearing our badges. And we were all female, but seriously! WTF?! They didn’t know what we were ordering, they didn’t know what to make of us, and they certainly couldn’t handle splitting the check. After watching them at the front desk for ten minutes, supposedly running our credit cards but mainly just glancing over at us and talking about us, we went up to the front and rushed them along. I tried like crazy to get back to the hotel by 6PM, but we made it at 6:30PM. Thus, I missed my Due South panel. However, having an hour and a half to kill, Moon and I went to our room and I started looking through her zines. I picked up VP5, glanced at the table of contents, and zeroed in on the most amazing fic ever called “Handicapped Access” by Windrain. It’s the only one I read out of the whole zine that night and the whole time I’m smiling so much I can’t stand it. I almost didn’t wanna leave to go to the vid show, but I finished and we were off.

SO many great vids. I premiered two, which I’ll have online once I send them to Sel. Morgan’s vids were amazing, Kass’ also, and we had a lot of SH love. There was also a lot of Tour of Duty love which….okay. I’ve never seen the show, but I do now have CDs with their songvids on them, so maybe I’ll be pimped. After the vid show it was time to sleep. Sleepy, sleepy, sleep.

Saturday

It’s SH day!! David Soul is playing on the CD player. Breakfast this morning was IHOP. Woo! IHOP!! Um, yeah, IHOP. But, then we went to the Halloween store so that Mynx, Dawn, Sel, and Jen could get costumes. We hit the dealer’s room upon our return and I got VP5 so that I could have my own copy of Handicapped Access. I also got another zine, too, bringing my total up to 5 I think. 1PM was the first SH panel of the day—“SH: The New Generation” which I was the moderator and my co-panelists were Flamingo, Moon, and Sabrina. It was a very good panel, very good indeed. We touched on the many reasons why we all love the show so much. New fans, older fans, all fans with the SH love. One hour between then and the SH party, I think did the dealer/art/charity rounds again. This is a repeated process, as you can tell.

The SH Party was fantastic! We watched wonderful vids and talked and visited, but I did wanna note one thing that happened that made me overly happy. During the vids, everyone’s doing their thing and wandering in and out and eating and laughing and singing and sharing the love. When my vid, Remember When, came on there was a drop in conversation and people stopped to watch. That meant the world to me. I once again thank everyone who has ever mentioned their love for this vid. And the two hours passed too quickly, but it was alright since we were going from the SH Party to the second SH panel—“SH: Keeping it in Perspective” about balancing the SH work relationship with the SH romantic relationship. I made Moon sit up there with me and Flamingo. Apparently I’m one of the few that doesn’t see them back on the streets after SR, but that’s okay. I tend to write towards that, mainly by disabling or killing one of them, so maybe I’m doing it on purpose.

We went out to dinner at Fuddrucker’s and then headed back for the con party. Sel and Jen sported their zebra pimping clothes and Mynx looked lovely in her costume as well. Dawn wore the perfect witch hat (it’s a BDSM witch hat, honest) And Moon was a bad angel, with black wings and everything. I wore my Army fatigues. How sad is it that my costume came out of my closet and it’s clothes that I wear normally? Oh well, part of my charm. The play was great, the awards were wonderful, and the desserts were good. Kicked out while they set up for the art show, we wandered around and did much of nothing. Then, it was art show time!

I knew I wasn’t getting anything, but I was certainly gonna try. It was a fun attempt. The SH AU piece was still very, very hot. I wanna get prints of that if they’re every released. After my loss, we headed over to Flamingo’s room for SH Part: Part Two! Vids, fun, vids, talking, vids, photo albums. I don’t know how it happens, but every single time I look through Flamingo’s albums, there’s always new ones. I kept flipping through the pictures of the older boys and getting lost in the pretty. It was decided that Dandruff would be a fine episode to watch, so we ended the night with Mr. Marlene and Mr. Tyrone. SO VERY GAY and I love them for it. It was now 3AM and time to sleep.

Sunday

There was no breakfast, there was no hurried ventures out of the hotel, because we had a charity auction to go to. I lost the Harry/Johnny zines, but I was determined to get the SH bracelet. Umm….I didn’t get the SH bracelet, but anyone who was there can tell you that I tried REALLY HARD. Auctions really make you lose the ability to think clearly, but it was for charity and that’s what mattered.

With the con pretty much done, we headed off to the Cheesecake Factory. The plan was cheesecake, rest, movie. Plans don’t always work out like that. We went back to the hotel and read. I, for the second time in 24 hours, read Handicapped Access because I am so in love with the story. Then we were gonna go try to find a movie theatre that played Serenity (the Firefly movie) We even called the hotel and some poor person read Moon every movie listing for the greater Chicago area. NOBODY in Chicago was playing our movie. How wrong is that? But, not to be shut down, we made our own fun.

Umm….how can I sum up this bit? Well, alcohol was involved and we had NO GAS! After trying to find a liquor store and also running through a drug store (they should have beer at least, come on!) we found a grocery store and got raspberry vodka and blueberry juice. We took our loot down to the basement of the hotel and set up shop. Our conversations were interesting and varied and crack-filled. We talked about Paul and David and so much love for the fandom. Then Moon got hungry, so we hid our half-empty bottles and we ended up at Denny’s at 2AM where we played SH Pictionary. http://www.dream-somehow.com/temp/SHpictionary.jpg We are GENIUS! And then we were dead tired, so we didn’t even go back for the booze. Some hotel guy is having a grand time with our alcohol.

Monday

Last day of con and there was sadness. Sel and Moon and I decided to take one more trip to Max’s Diner after getting fueled up. Again, milkshake, how I love thee. A quick run back to the hotel, we threw our stuff in the car and said goodbye and started on another very bad day. The only good point was that it flurried while we were going back to the airport. My plane was leaving at 12:11PM. I got through the line and up to the counter at 12:15PM. Arg! So, I’m on standby for the flight that leaves at 4PM. Fine, whatever, I’ll sit with Moon. We came up with wonderful plane stories to pass the time and then she was gone and I was alone. That’s okay, I’ll read zines…and wait…..and wait….and wait. They boarded everyone and it was not looking like I’d get a seat, but finally, being the last person on, I made it. I arrived at RDU at 7PM. That’s when it went from “I’m four hours late” to “I hate traveling, I’m never doing this again.” I lost my parking ticket. The parking ticket that had my location written on it. You can see where this is going. I can’t find my car, I’m dragging 50 pounds of stuff in my duffle bag (no, really, they weighed it) and I have no strap because the stupid airline destroyed it! I’m having a breakdown in the airport parking lot. I called the parking people and they said they’d send someone right out to help me. 55 minutes and 5 phone calls later, the guy shows up and tells me he doesn’t know where my car is either. Thank you so much. After he drove around for a long, long time, I found it. I got home at 9:30PM when I was supposed to get home at 4PM.

At some point during the weekend, we talked about Paul’s Boston accent, too, but I have no idea when. It was very important, too...I think. It’s all a blur. Con was SO FUN! Plus? I've been watching the shows I TiVoed while I was away and on one of them is PMG's Credit Counseling Commerical! Treadmill? WTF?! Paulie!?!