I’m back in town and trying to catch up on all the sleep I missed by being at SkepchickCon. After some calculations this afternoon, I determined that the last time I attended a science fiction convention was in 1982.*
Seriously.
I was at (and helped to plan) AggieCon XIII. AggieCon is “the oldest and largest student-run science fiction convention in the United States.” We showed Rocky Horror for the first time on what was (and still is) an extremely conservative campus with a large military presence. Ted, our faculty adviser, was very nervous that the higher-ups would be upset with the sexual content of the movie. I think that was a pretty realistic fear :)
So, I did go into CONvergence with an idea of what a sci-fi con was.
One of the fun things about Cons is all the weirdos come out to play. But the nature of the play has changed. A lot.
Pretty much everyone at CONvergence seemed to be wearing a corset, dudes included. Huge tracts of land were on display everywhere, as well as fetish costumes that would keep you in your bunk for weeks. Hot damn, things have changed!!
Every flavor of freak flag was flying happily and proudly. Everyone was so beautiful. And they all had AMAZING SHOES.
We also had a great series of panels on the skeptic/science track at the convention, with lots of attendees and great questions. I got to spend some time chatting with Greg Laden and Pamela Gay, which gave my brain some exercise.
I have some interesting stories to write up for you when I’m less sleep deprived.
*the first commenter to mention they weren’t even born in 1982 will be dope-slapped within an inch of their life. You’ve been warned.
I am proud to tell people I was born before people walked on the moon!
I was only 10 in 1982.
If everyone is hot and damn near naked. I’ve got to get to one of these things.
I don’t want to be dope-slapped so I will refrain from comment :)
The Con was awesome! And yes there was a lot of sexy there. All that repressed nerd-sexuality has to come out somewhere.
The panels were great! I am really looking forward to next year already.
Overheard at lunch today at the con:
“Oh, Dragon Con is including the Adult Fantasy Con next year.”
“What? Letting in the weirdos?”
“Oh, excuse me, what did you say? That Thestral with the naked man on it was flapping its wings rather loudly..”
all I have to say is……phallo-blaster. Was fantastic talking to you finally at Skepchickcon. Cannot wait to meet up again :)
Bug Girl – really enjoyed hearing you speak in the panels, though for some reason autobahn and I had a knack for arriving too late to the Skepchick cabana to bat our mite infested eyelashes at you and toast to boobies with buzzed aldrins… maybe next year. I promise to wear my awesome shoes.
The SkepchickCon pre-TAM warmup has proven two things to me:
1. Nerds know how to party
2. My biological party-til-dawn clock is ticking
Ugh. I have eyelash mites. Poopy.
@Gabrielbrawley: No kidding. I miss all the fun.
I wasn’t even born in 1982.
How about if you were born in 1982? I was.
1982. Wayyy before my time.
Reading the SkepchickCon updates as they were posted made me alternate between wishing I was there and being glad I wasn’t.
Maybe next year… But probably not.
Sigh… I’d like to get over my abject terror of organized geekdom. Really, I would. But my prior experiences with geek culture were so overwhelmingly negative that it would take some serious neurological reprogramming to undo.
Oh well. I’m glad it was fun for those who went.
@Vene:
As soon as I figure out how to give you a blog time-out, you’re TOAST.
Shouldn’t the footnote have read first one to say they weren’t alive or didn’t exist in 1982? cuz I certainly wasn’t born in 1982 but I existed in 1982.
Just finished looking at pics you all posted. Kept going back to the pics of Carrie and her boobs. Wow, wow, wow.
’82 explains it. The cons obviously got wild in ’83. My wife and I knew someone in events staff when Minicon was the only big name in town and the Sheraton was still the Radisson. Believe me, the time the Druids tried to sacrifice a goat in their room _really_ left an impression. And, since it was then held on Fertility Day (Easter), I fondly remember the Condom Fairy roaming the halls with a basket of colored condoms. Now that I think about it, I haven’t seen a cop or paramedic appear in years. Let’s just say cons at the Sheraton have mellowed like fine wine into a safe and satisfying weirdness.
Attended a couple of the panels and you guys did great. Hope you are regulars.
@smchris:
There were quite a few cop/paramedic sightings… and Saturday night the parties went on lockdown because of a situation in the room next to us.
Oh good gods if I don’t go next year, I don’t know what I’ll do.
ZOMGZ ZARDOZ!1!!! One of the GREATEST bad sci-fi movies EVAR. But someone should tell this guy he’s no threat to Sean Connery! =^..^=