The Longest Day - in a while
Aug. 16th, 2011 10:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
howeirdUp 15 minutes before the 5 am alarm. Showered & drugged and finished packing and out the door by 5:30. Amtrak station by 6, when they open. Still enough people ahead of me in line to make for a 15-minute wait to get a parking permit. Did not help that most of these people were buying tickets, and did not know prices or options. Rushed to put the permit in the car and haul my stuff to Track 4 to catch what I thought was a 6:24 train, but turned out to be 6:40. Got a good seat, and wonder of wonders my portfolio fit with room to spare in the overhead compartment, along with my snacks bag.
Uneventful ride to Emeryville, arrived at 7:40. Next train not due till 9:10, another 15 minutes in line to check my suitcase - thanks to two women ahead of me who had 12 items to check, and couldn't put down their cell phones while doing so. Still, no rush but it would have been nice to not stand in line so long. Another Sci-fi fan whom I'd seen around struck up a conversation, and at 9:10 when there was no train in sight we went outside to see what was up, which is when they announced the train would be 20 minutes late. Got there 20 minutes later than it was supposed to leave, and then stuck around till it was 35 minutes late. We made up a tiny bit of that on the scenic ride to Reno, but only a little. The fan sat next to me, and we had some interesting conversations. I watched him make some chain mail pieces. Now I know why he looked familiar. Did not take too many photos because it was foggy early and was on the wrong side of the train most of the trip. Got some good ones of people tubing and rafting on the Truckee River late in the ride. Scarfed up two small bottles of chocolate milk, two sliced apples (all from my cooler), and a couple of ding dongs. Did not touch the many other snacks I'd brought, partly because I wasn't hungry and partly because it would have meant hauling the snacks bag from the upper compartment, which meant crawling over the guy next to me.
Arrived in Reno, baggage took a while to arrive, but mine was about the 5th off the cart, got a taxi right away, $12 fare to the Atlantis. Checked into the hotel, they gave me a room with 2 Queen beds, I'd asked for one King. But it wasn't worth hassling about. Dumped most of my stuff in the room,grabbed the portfolio, walked the two miles to the convention center to register, get a MIMO badge, check into the art show, and was presented with two panels at right angles to each other instead of the promised two panels side by side which I'd designed my layout for. It was not a total fail, but robbed me of several square inches of space which I needed. Took the missing space out in shorting the space the Con bid sheets took up. Some are half under the photos. The left panel looks fine, the right panel is way crowded.I am not pleased, especially since I had asked the show director specifically what the panel layout space would look like, and she said I had a 4'x6' contiguous panel. Boo hiss. I'm not complaining that my display is almost the last one out of the 100 in the show, even though I was one of the first to sign up. I should, but I'm not.
It did not take long, only 11 photos to hang and I pretty much know the drill after 4 other cons.
Back to the room to drop off the portfolio, now filled with con program, art program book, con water bottle & note pad. Also changed into shorts and took off the Hawaiian shirt, leaving the Conjose T-shirt.
Saw lots of BASFAns, also saw![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lemmozine on my way to registration, but he was deep in conversation with someone at a desk, so I just waved as I walked by. He did not see me. Was seen by johno, kevin_standlee, bovil, maurinestarkey, kproche. I think I saw cmdrsuzdal on the train, walking by very quickly, and I saw lisa_marli at the dessert stand in the buffet as I was being seated.
10 pm, I am beyond drained. Nitey nite. Actual con starts tomorrow.
Uneventful ride to Emeryville, arrived at 7:40. Next train not due till 9:10, another 15 minutes in line to check my suitcase - thanks to two women ahead of me who had 12 items to check, and couldn't put down their cell phones while doing so. Still, no rush but it would have been nice to not stand in line so long. Another Sci-fi fan whom I'd seen around struck up a conversation, and at 9:10 when there was no train in sight we went outside to see what was up, which is when they announced the train would be 20 minutes late. Got there 20 minutes later than it was supposed to leave, and then stuck around till it was 35 minutes late. We made up a tiny bit of that on the scenic ride to Reno, but only a little. The fan sat next to me, and we had some interesting conversations. I watched him make some chain mail pieces. Now I know why he looked familiar. Did not take too many photos because it was foggy early and was on the wrong side of the train most of the trip. Got some good ones of people tubing and rafting on the Truckee River late in the ride. Scarfed up two small bottles of chocolate milk, two sliced apples (all from my cooler), and a couple of ding dongs. Did not touch the many other snacks I'd brought, partly because I wasn't hungry and partly because it would have meant hauling the snacks bag from the upper compartment, which meant crawling over the guy next to me.
Arrived in Reno, baggage took a while to arrive, but mine was about the 5th off the cart, got a taxi right away, $12 fare to the Atlantis. Checked into the hotel, they gave me a room with 2 Queen beds, I'd asked for one King. But it wasn't worth hassling about. Dumped most of my stuff in the room,grabbed the portfolio, walked the two miles to the convention center to register, get a MIMO badge, check into the art show, and was presented with two panels at right angles to each other instead of the promised two panels side by side which I'd designed my layout for. It was not a total fail, but robbed me of several square inches of space which I needed. Took the missing space out in shorting the space the Con bid sheets took up. Some are half under the photos. The left panel looks fine, the right panel is way crowded.I am not pleased, especially since I had asked the show director specifically what the panel layout space would look like, and she said I had a 4'x6' contiguous panel. Boo hiss. I'm not complaining that my display is almost the last one out of the 100 in the show, even though I was one of the first to sign up. I should, but I'm not.
It did not take long, only 11 photos to hang and I pretty much know the drill after 4 other cons.
Back to the room to drop off the portfolio, now filled with con program, art program book, con water bottle & note pad. Also changed into shorts and took off the Hawaiian shirt, leaving the Conjose T-shirt.
Saw lots of BASFAns, also saw
lemmozine on my way to registration, but he was deep in conversation with someone at a desk, so I just waved as I walked by. He did not see me. Was seen by johno, kevin_standlee, bovil, maurinestarkey, kproche. I think I saw cmdrsuzdal on the train, walking by very quickly, and I saw lisa_marli at the dessert stand in the buffet as I was being seated. 10 pm, I am beyond drained. Nitey nite. Actual con starts tomorrow.
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