| Friday Oct 1
The day started off quietly. Since the con started at 5pm, I spent the day relaxing at home. My check arrived in the mail early afternoon. Cashed it, paid the months bills, then mellowed a bit more. 4:30, I headed to the hotel. The last 2 years of the convention, the hotel employees were on strike; with the contract demands worked out, the hotel had a full staff, and many of their renovation plans were done. I was amazed to see the changes. Nice work... a pity that they changed the bar, though (it had a look like a combination library/pub before; now, it's a modern-looking glass enclosure). First panel I went to see was Translating SF Into Comics. James Armstrong and Janet Hetherington were there, but there were very few attendees... so they cancelled the panel. :) Instead, I went to see one called Give Us Candy!: the panelists discussed what they considered the best and worst SF and fantasy films they'd seen. A great romp through the cinematic classics and cheese. I'd met one of the panelists, John-Allen Price, in the Green Room before then. Interesting, intelligent guy. Made for a good conversation. After the panel, I visited the dealers' room. A lot of the tables were still empty, since it was still early, but I still got to talk with Keith from Nebula, and kibbitz about my adventures in attempted publishing so far. Spent more time in the Green Room (this is a recurring theme in my con going, when I qualify to be there. It's always a rush to be rub elbows with well-known authors and actors. Besides, Con*Cept has one of the best Green Rooms at a convention in North America.) At 8, I saw a panel called Introspective Anime. Former 'copian Emru Townsend showed a tape of underground anime he was compiling for the Ottawa Animation Festival. A very fascinating set of films, ones that showed how anime isn't just Pokemon, Giant Robots and monsters. I talked with Emru afterwards, and caught up on his life. I felt amazingly out of the loop to learn that he got married last year; even more when I found out that he and his wife are expecting! Went back to the dealers' room. Spoke a bit with the current dealer rep about the job, since I was the dealer rep for 3 years before him. We traded shoptalk for awhile. On the way out, I ran into a friend who'd moved to Toronto, so I really only get to see her at this con and occasionally at Primedia. Back to the Green Room (yup, definitely a theme :)), and saw my friend Mike Aragona. He'd just showed up, and made a beeline for the Green Room to find me. He knows me well. :) We headed out around 10pm.
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