My first Necon proved to be the first of many for me now. As others have told me, it's like crack: One hit and you're hooked. And baby, am I ever hooked!
As I understand it, this year's Necon was vastly different than previous years', but that didn't hinder the fun as far as I could see. Here's just a few things the Booth family had to deal with this year:
- a last minute venue change where not everybody could stay under one roof
- the only ice machine in the hotel breaking down for the entire weekend
- nigh inedible food from the hotel kitchen
- a drunken Canadian
- a medical emergency involving Peter Crowther and a mosquito
- a thieving member of the hotel staff (later arrested!)
- other, non-con, guests in the hotel complaining about the noise
- Smoke Nazis!
- courtyard lights that worked only when they wanted to
All that, and it was still one of the best times I've had at any convention!
It was also great to meet several people I've only known online for years now, such as
bev_vincent,
leethomas,
lokilokust,
mssrcrankypants and Steve Griglak aka NJhorror from various message boards.
Likewise, it was great to see
dan0oo,
horrorofitall (even if only briefly),
k_dunlap,
kelliwithani82,
marysang,
nick_kaufmann,
redredrage,
susantaylor, Beth Blue, Maurice Broaddus, Deb Kuhn, Wrath James White, NancY and Phyl Kalanta, and Kelly Laymon again. I also got meet Kelly's mother Ann, who is one of the sweetest, kindest people on the face of this planet.
I also had two of the most awesome roommates a man could ask for in Joe 'Tomokat" Branson and Bob Ford. Bob and I usually wound up in bed together and Joe and I... Well let's just say there's a couple of pictures that will probably surface soon enough. Anyone care for a
bean?All in all, a most enjoyable weekend. I look forward to recovering from it and doing it all again next year. Dan, Bob and Mary Booth all deserve huge kudos for doing this each and every year. My hat is off to all of them and everyone else who helped make this a fantastic weekend.