VCON 35, 2010- Friday, part 1- Establish camp

This might take a few posts, the con was a blast.

October 1

I wake up. This annoying habit happens every day, but today the mission was different. As a parallelogram, a paralegal, a parenthesis, heck, a gimp, I had to pack a little extra gear for my 2 nights away from home. I had most of it all ready, as well as my books, the stuff for my table, posters, banners, and a handful of things I wouldn't need... but.. just in case..

I only needed help getting the cargo to the con, but my nominee for that favour was my dad, who made it his mission to make sure that I didn't have to face the evils of transit. This year, transit was a tad more favourable that previous years. VCON likes to settle in 3 hours from my home via transit, but this year it was going to be 2. But he was determined. My Aunt Brigitte joined the party, and we ended up using her car.

To those not in the know- Getting a paraplegic into any given car can be a challenge, depending on the car. But we got it working. I bit farewell to my darling Caitlin,

"What? You're still here, dad? GET LOST, ALREADY!!"

And we were off. A block later, our organizational skills were put under the microscope. "What do you MEAN it's in RICHMOND?"

Alright, alright, the V in VCON stands for 'Vancouver', but.. he never saw the address, and I had my plans written in transit instructions. No matter! Between the three of us, we could figure it out! We were one member short of of a Seinfeld re-enactment. I wasn't too fond of that show.

It wasn't that bad. Aside from 2 minute clusters of panic, separated by 20 minutes at a time of holding our breath, we finally got there. Never having been issued a map of the convention venue itself, (VCON info can be hard to track down...) getting to the vendor room was an extra little cap off to the navigation fun. The con was actually held in two neighboring hotels. Upon finding the room, the tables were not yet all set up.

Jeff, (an ex bouncer, no less) who's been an organizational asset to VCON for at least as long as I've been going... (probably a lot longer) Anyway, Jeff sees me and my crew coming. He knows I was looking for a table that was at an end, so my getting in and out wouldn't mean trashing my wheelchair through someone else's stuff. I got a table right inside the door visitors would pass by, and with a wall to my back. Score. Couldn't have picked better, really.

I put my big black box of doom onto the end of the table. The fellow setting up the table for 'Atomic Fez Publishing' asks me, "No spikes this year?" He was referring to these:

I attended VCON last year with those goggles and spiked shouderpads. The hair, face-blood and bunny ears evolved later that month.. But I didn't want to wear all that to the con. I wanted to appear.. a TINY bit professional... I guess..

When he asked about the spikes, I smiled, and tapped on the big black box of doom. Until that moment, I wondered if I'd even be bringing them out. Steel-belted chafing aside, I'm glad I did.

I got my stuff spread out- this big poster of Alisia on the table, serving as a colourful 'placemat' to the books. One tower of the three, completing the design on the spines...

Then a semi-circular array of each book showing its front, angled like reflectors feeding sunlight back to the central collector. In the space between, I laid down each book face down, inviting people to pick em up, and read the back. I set up a couple other posters on the handy wall behind me, like Regan and an eye-catching one of Alisia.

BC Chains' Kevin (Kevin? I think..) was set up all the way across the room. I'd have to raid his little treasure chest of candy when I got my VCON bucks. A lot of familiar faces from the last 2 years were in effect. The first time I went to a VCON, it felt like a family of nerds, and that notion becomes more apparent every year. Lets save us both some time. If you wanna see a list of 'the gang', look here. A couple are new, a couple are missing from previous years, but yeah. Well timed lent tape, nods and chatter as the last bits were being put into place. It was 1pm. We were now 'on'.

Next post: Friday, part 2- Rehearsal.