very abbreviated, fast and dirty con almost-report

I've given up thinking I"m going to ever do a con report for VVC. However, I'd like to share some basic impressions received during my five days in Chicago. (with input from svmadelyn)

Big thing: me and amireal did not hate each other on sight, as both of us half-expected. Also, I have never seen a laptop to fangirl ratio like this before in my life. Met djinanna who I accidentally stood up for lunch due to evil weather and planes, but we got to talk in the lobby for *much time* and it was *marvelous*.

ETA:

amireal: but then it looks like we didn't interact at all!

Jenn's Notes: We interacted *a lot*.



Is there an etiquette to this? I'm not sure.

1.) This is the first city svmadelyn and I visited together that we didn't get lost in. We can pretty much totally attribute this to celli shepparding us toward destinations and not letting us wander off to stare at the pretty lights everywhere. The thing where me and svmadelyn and ficbyzee ended up accidentally at Lake Michigan was a mishap. We knew where we were. It was just unfortunate that the city did not agree. However, I have my black t-shirt of John-ness and feel like everything I wanted to accomplish was accomplished.

(svmadelyn says:

svmadelyn: um, hi. *I* brought the map that led us to celli
svmadelyn: it wasn't ALL celli
svmadelyn: and also, I had the clear post it
svmadelyn: FOR YOU
svmadelyn: that I slaved over)

Correction: svmadelyn's maps and clear posties saved me and ficbyzee from a hideous death from barracudas and slow death on the train.

2.) I'd like to say something abotu that thing that happened outside friday night, but honestly, I could not do justice and sisabet's live action version is so much better.

3.) Talking to just_eunice, vagabondage, and sisabet was one of the more fascinating experiences of my life--I'm not visual at all, but listening to the discussion of technique and art in vidding left me with a frightening desire to clip things and do a Wraith centric vid to Circle of Life, just to see if it can be done. I can pretty much blame them for urges that I can almost guarantee have never surfaced before. I can honestly say that it was fairly amazing to listen and absorb so much about a part of fandom I watched a great deal and still knew so little about, and moreso to listen to the way they went about building it. It was both amazingly similiar to how I go about writing in some ways, and utterly foreign at the same time.

4.) Per usual on every trip I've ever gone on, blistered my heels and balls of my feet, discoverd Urban Outfitters, and fell in love with flat cottom Mary Janes. I don't think I took them off the rest of the weekend. No, seriously, you who have traveled with me before--and I'm looking at the Slumberparty girls here--know me and my heels are OTP. I was wrong. These shoes are my true shoes. I broke the buckle off one side of one? I *pinned it in place*. I cannot let go of these shoes, like, ever. I want a pair in every color. Next slumberparty, you will doubtless see me wearing them.

5.) Met elke_tanzer, who, yes, we were cruel to with that thing that we made her read? But then she put John/Kolya in my head and post Common Ground? God. I want. She was amazing. I sort of expected that, as she's pretty much just like her lj. z_rayne was as incredibly fun as her lj implies.

6.)I really fell in love with the con suite in a big way. God, the *food*.

(svmadelyn says: the food was really awesome. we ate a lot of it.)

7.) I think we channeled a lot of our leftover Smallville rage while karaoking to Drop Dead Gorgeous. That felt good.

8.) Met merryish, which was the height of cool in more ways than I can count, not least because she was one of my gateway drugs into Smallville. Met giddygeek, which was a huge bounce moment as well. Met cesperanza. Wow. Saw astolat again. Awesome. Frankly, most of these people got off lucky in that we met either when I was a.) exhausted with blisters and draped over a couch without any desire to move or b.) trying not to fall from my formidable height in stilettos, so didn't have time to get self-conscious and freak out completely and make incoherent noises at them. Christ. Met destina, liviapenn, and harriet_spy as well. That was very interesting.

8.) I discovered that boots are the best conversational ice-breaker ever. I have *got* to remember this. And to everyone who was taking bets when I was walking down the stairs--I ran those suckers back up. Ask nightchik.

(svmadleyn says:

svmadelyn: *giggles* oh! i'd mention the failed attempt at straightenign your hair
svmadelyn: we tried really hard.

she's right. we really did.)

9.) lierdumoa, fashes, and permetaform were immensely fun as suitemates. Got to see taraljc again, who I miss even now.

10.) The vids in themselves were fascinating, but it was especially interesting to overhear a lot of the technical side of vidding. Fic requires a word processor and basically a working internet connection. Vidding is *accessorized* and more complex than I thought it was, and I thought it was pretty damned complex before. I still have no idea how they do it.

Okay, I know I left out half the people I met and a lot of stuff we did, and to anyone I forgot, I apologize up front. My memory sucks--about a third of this is with svmadelyn nudging me with "Oh but". But it was amazing, and pretty much like five days *high* and I didn't want it to ever end. The organizers did an amazing job putting this together and we had an incredible, incredible time.

(svmadelyn's final words: Chicago > Seattle. Mostly because we weren't ill, druggged, lost or pondering fishing in rivers for food.

Yes, indeed.