I had a marvelous time at ConCertino 2012 this year. I managed a good balance of “Enjoying the Con” and “Working at the Con”
Friday Morning I went grocery shopping for the Consuite with
fiddledragon, then transported the groceries &
orawnzva to the Hotel. From there the hugfest began.
I decided to start the weekend with a couple of traditions. When I first met Mich & Marilisa in 2007, it was early Friday afternoon, before FKO reg had opened, so to pass the time a group of us went out for dessert. I thought sweets before the con is worth being a tradition. The second tradition was the visit to the Burnside Fountain (a.k.a. the Turtle Boy Statue). Seanan enjoyed visiting it in 2006; Brooke went to see it in 2009; so I decided to continue the tradition.
As we were about to leave, the fire alarm went off. This delayed our trip as we tried to decide if we had everything we needed without heading back to the rooms. I took Mich, Marilisa, David, & Socrates in my rental car. Randy & Kira followed in Kira’s Volt. The group seemed sufficiently in awe of the Turtle Boy Statue, and the cupcakes at
Sweets in Worcester were a big hit.
Back to the Hotel around 3:30, which gave me time to print up program grids, bring some merch to the Dealer’s room, bring in the soda for consuite and hug lots of people before the start of the con.
Then came the first real hurtle of the con. The hotel was also holding a wedding Friday night (this we knew). What we didn’t know was that with a wedding in the courtyard, the only way to get from the lobby to the con rooms was to walk half way around the hotel. There was a half hour from 6 pm to 6:30 pm (when many of our con attendees were arriving) where I stationed myself in the lobby to direct people around the wedding. After that the wedding ceremony shifted over to a reception, and they let us walk around the edge of the courtyard.
The Con birthday (20 years since the first ConCertino) was well attended (maybe a bit too well attended). While the consuite was a good size for a suite, it was not big enough to handle events being held in there.
The concerts on Friday were great, although I spent a lot the time bouncing from one place to another, so I didn’t see any complete concerts Friday. I often do that at cons, it is my attempt to be everywhere at once so I don’t miss anything. No, it doesn’t work, but I can’t seem to stop myself. I was also acting as gofer to consuite & dealer’s room.
I did go to the Memorial Circle, and I sang “307 Ale” for Alice Washburn. I don’t remember what I sang if anything in Open Filk on Friday night.