Saturday, August 12, 2000
Saturday. Hard to believe the con's almost over already. Time's fun when you're having flies.
Breakfast at the hotel this time, 'cause we didn't want to go out hunting up something else. It was good--buffet style with a great custom-made omelet. Of course, we should have looked at the price before we decided--$9.75 plus tip for an omelet and a bowl of cereal was a bit pricey--but hey, live and learn.
Ten o'clock was supposed to be the "Attack of
the Killer Slush Pile" seminar. However, it was not
to be. After showing up on time and sitting there for
about fifteen minutes, we were visited by one of the
Event Staff folks who informed us that the seminar
had been canceled because the presenter had an illness
in the family. Okay, that means more time to prowl
the dealer's room and the art show.
Checked the FASA board and discovered that we didn't advance in the tournament this time. Okay--so when we think we did well, we didn't, and when we didn't, we did. Got it. That's okay, though. We wanted to go to the Safe House one of these nights, and it looks like tonight's it.
Picked up a few more things at the dealer's room:
Big Eyes, Small Mouth, the anime RPG, some
T-shirts (including Pokethulu!), way too many dice,
a couple of gifts for a friend who was watching our
rats for us while we're gone, a new Growf pin because
the old one broke when it got raked against a table,
and another complete set of the Shadowrun promo
badges to give away in the contest (I told you the
contest prizes are gonna be cool this year). Down at
the art show we made arrangements with a lady who makes
very cute little dragons to make me a couple--one gold
with purple eyes, one green--and a snow-camo dragon
with an assault rifle for Dan. She said we could pick
'em up the next day. Also picked up a carved wooden
box with a dragon medallion on the top. Began to wonder
how we were gonna get all this stuff home. Dan says
don't worry. Okay. We'll see.
Headed over to the mall (wonder of wonders, it was open!) for some ice cream and mundane shopping. Didn't buy anything except the ice cream. Back to the room for another nap.
Today's writer's workshop topics were Revising and "So, How Do You Do It?", a general question-and-answer session. More useful stuff. Took lots of notes.
Afterward, it was off to the Safe House. Very
cool place. It's located in an alley, and the only thing
outside is a sign that says "International Exports, Ltd."
Well, okay, that and the line of people waiting to get
in was a bit of a clue. They told us we couldn't get
dinner 'cause they were booked but if we wanted to wait
something might open up. We decided to wait. Once we got
inside, the lady at the door checked our IDs and then
asked for the password. I thought I knew it but I didn't,
so we had to do our best chicken imitations before she
let us in. Once inside we discovered that our chicken
antics had been displayed on closed-circuit TVs all
over the place. The guys at the bar gave us a 1 and a
2. Okay, so we're not very good chickens.
The inside of this place is way cool, though. All
decorated in spy motif. We got a couple of drinks (complete
with complimentary glasses)
and waited. Luckily a table opened up at 8:30 so we
got to have dinner after all. It was overpriced and
just okay, but in this case the ambiance was the
allure and we didn't mind at all. Asked the waiter what
the password was (for next time) and she told us to find
a room with a green ceiling and look at a political
cartoon. Wandered around the place looking for said room;
eventually found it. Felt stupid for not realizing all
along. Next year we'll know. What's the password? You
think I'm gonna tell? Next year we might get to
watch you do the Chicken Dance!
Walked back to the room around 10, past the jazz festival on the water. It was nice. Tomorrow's the last day of the con, time for last-minute deals and gathering up all our stuff. Got to bed relatively early, wondering who was going to win the tournament this year.