REVELcon report: Saturday
Mar. 23rd, 2005 11:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
amediaIn the morning we headed back to the con in plenty of time to attend the demonstration given by Jamie and Erika on making songvids on the computer. It was fascinating and informative, and I learned a lot. Afterwards I had lunch with Dee and Erika in the hotel restaurant, where they had a decent salad bar and hot sandwiches made to order. I ran into Lorelei a little later who wanted to go get lunch at Whataburger. I wasn't hungry enough to have another lunch, but I came along for the company.
When we got back to the hotel, what I really wanted to do was sit in the con suite and write... I haven't been writing much lately and sometimes being at a con really helps. Usually the REVELcon con suite has a room with a conference table and comfy chairs around it, as well as a smaller area with a couch and a few chairs. We trooped up to the con suite only to find... horrors! ... the hotel, which is remodeling, had shunted the con suite just before the con to a different room, which had *only* the smaller couch-and-chairs area. No big table! We went back downstairs where Lorelei had a brilliant idea; we boosted a couple of extra chairs from the video room and put them at the table in the hallway by the dealers' room. (I'm not quite sure what the table was originally for, but it was entirely empty.) Presto! A place for Lorelei to sit and read stories she'd printed off the Internet, and for me to sit and squeeze out a few more paragraphs of a story I've been trying to write for a long time.
At 3:15 Lorelei talked me into attending the BDSM panel with her, and I have to say I enjoyed it very much. A very brave fan not only outed herself as a partner in a BDSM relationship, but brought along three of her friends from the local BDSM community (not fen) to talk and answer questions. It was fascinating. The "scene" they described reminded me very much of fandom, especially when they talked about how it had changed since the advent of the Internet, which brought a large influx of new people and changed what had been a small, close-knit dynamic where everyone knew everyone else. They also reminded me of folks I know in the martial arts community, where the highest-ranked, most powerful people are also the gentlest and most compassionate. They spoke of control and power issues, but emphasized the importance of trust and responsibility, consent and negotiation.
Another Houston Ratty fan, Linda, came in around the middle of the panel and sat with Lorelei and me. It was good to see her; I wish we could have spent more time together, but I lost track of her afterwards. I did some shopping in the dealers' room and went up to the con suite to hang out for a while, then went to the Several Unlimited pizza party. This was fun and relaxing; we sat around, ate pizza, and talked about Monty Python and Saturday Night Live.
I skipped the cabaret and worked on stories for a while. I found myself getting sleepy, but I really wanted to stay up for the Slashers' Pajama Party. Lorelei had gone home to check on her dog and do some chores, but she came back to the hotel and we went out to the IHOP together. I had bacon and eggs and hot chocolate, and found the combination of warmth and protein very helpful.
We got back just as the pajama party was starting! I got my bathrobe out of my suitcase and wore it to the party, and was surprised to find I was the only one in anything resembling pajamas. But that's okay - I got some nice compliments on it, anyway. The party was simple; folks took turns reading their stories, mostly short, and the rest of us enjoyed them. I got to hear a very touching Sentinel story by Legion called "Perpetual Rain" and a snark-filled Due South interlude by A.K. featuring the two Rays together. I read the Barney Miller piece that I did for ZebraCon a few years ago, "In Flamingo Delicto," and people seemed to enjoy it. J.M. Griffin read a yummy Firefly story she wrote called "Of Books and Boots and Rolling Stones." Glenda read a sidesplitting scene from a Sentinel story by Bone and Aristead called "Out of Whack" - even though I'm not into Sentinel, I'm now tempted to try to find and read the rest of the story.
I didn't manage to stay till the very end, because I got too sleepy. Lorelei had invited me to stay at her house, so I found her in the video room at the NCIS marathon and she was ready to go, too. Like Dee, she insisted on driving me so I didn't have to deal with Houston roads, even though I explained that I had to be over at Dee's the next morning. It was a difficult drive and I was relieved not to be at the wheel; the "scattered showers" we were supposed to get had turned into a huge thunderstorm, featuring intensely brilliant lightning strikes that periodically made the night as bright as day. We made it to her house safely, to our mutual relief, and I carefully climbed directly from the car onto the curb, avoiding the small river coursing through the gutters. Her daughter was away, so I got to stay in her room, once we chased Skittles out (Skittles is the dog, and a dear sweet creature, too). I fell asleep almost instantly because it seemed so late; hey, remember the days when half past midnight was just the *beginning* of a party?!
When we got back to the hotel, what I really wanted to do was sit in the con suite and write... I haven't been writing much lately and sometimes being at a con really helps. Usually the REVELcon con suite has a room with a conference table and comfy chairs around it, as well as a smaller area with a couch and a few chairs. We trooped up to the con suite only to find... horrors! ... the hotel, which is remodeling, had shunted the con suite just before the con to a different room, which had *only* the smaller couch-and-chairs area. No big table! We went back downstairs where Lorelei had a brilliant idea; we boosted a couple of extra chairs from the video room and put them at the table in the hallway by the dealers' room. (I'm not quite sure what the table was originally for, but it was entirely empty.) Presto! A place for Lorelei to sit and read stories she'd printed off the Internet, and for me to sit and squeeze out a few more paragraphs of a story I've been trying to write for a long time.
At 3:15 Lorelei talked me into attending the BDSM panel with her, and I have to say I enjoyed it very much. A very brave fan not only outed herself as a partner in a BDSM relationship, but brought along three of her friends from the local BDSM community (not fen) to talk and answer questions. It was fascinating. The "scene" they described reminded me very much of fandom, especially when they talked about how it had changed since the advent of the Internet, which brought a large influx of new people and changed what had been a small, close-knit dynamic where everyone knew everyone else. They also reminded me of folks I know in the martial arts community, where the highest-ranked, most powerful people are also the gentlest and most compassionate. They spoke of control and power issues, but emphasized the importance of trust and responsibility, consent and negotiation.
Another Houston Ratty fan, Linda, came in around the middle of the panel and sat with Lorelei and me. It was good to see her; I wish we could have spent more time together, but I lost track of her afterwards. I did some shopping in the dealers' room and went up to the con suite to hang out for a while, then went to the Several Unlimited pizza party. This was fun and relaxing; we sat around, ate pizza, and talked about Monty Python and Saturday Night Live.
I skipped the cabaret and worked on stories for a while. I found myself getting sleepy, but I really wanted to stay up for the Slashers' Pajama Party. Lorelei had gone home to check on her dog and do some chores, but she came back to the hotel and we went out to the IHOP together. I had bacon and eggs and hot chocolate, and found the combination of warmth and protein very helpful.
We got back just as the pajama party was starting! I got my bathrobe out of my suitcase and wore it to the party, and was surprised to find I was the only one in anything resembling pajamas. But that's okay - I got some nice compliments on it, anyway. The party was simple; folks took turns reading their stories, mostly short, and the rest of us enjoyed them. I got to hear a very touching Sentinel story by Legion called "Perpetual Rain" and a snark-filled Due South interlude by A.K. featuring the two Rays together. I read the Barney Miller piece that I did for ZebraCon a few years ago, "In Flamingo Delicto," and people seemed to enjoy it. J.M. Griffin read a yummy Firefly story she wrote called "Of Books and Boots and Rolling Stones." Glenda read a sidesplitting scene from a Sentinel story by Bone and Aristead called "Out of Whack" - even though I'm not into Sentinel, I'm now tempted to try to find and read the rest of the story.
I didn't manage to stay till the very end, because I got too sleepy. Lorelei had invited me to stay at her house, so I found her in the video room at the NCIS marathon and she was ready to go, too. Like Dee, she insisted on driving me so I didn't have to deal with Houston roads, even though I explained that I had to be over at Dee's the next morning. It was a difficult drive and I was relieved not to be at the wheel; the "scattered showers" we were supposed to get had turned into a huge thunderstorm, featuring intensely brilliant lightning strikes that periodically made the night as bright as day. We made it to her house safely, to our mutual relief, and I carefully climbed directly from the car onto the curb, avoiding the small river coursing through the gutters. Her daughter was away, so I got to stay in her room, once we chased Skittles out (Skittles is the dog, and a dear sweet creature, too). I fell asleep almost instantly because it seemed so late; hey, remember the days when half past midnight was just the *beginning* of a party?!
