My Con writeup
Jul. 14th, 2009 06:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rhuCon was awesome. I can't take the time to write it up properly, and I'm not going to link everyone's noms to their LJ user ids, but here are some highlights of what happened after the events of my previous post:
General note: My kids spent a lot of time playing with "Lea-also-known-as-Shmea" (as Alissa kept calling her). They got along really well.
Fri am: Co-solved Fraz's pair cryptic with Geneal. Straightforward and elegant, which one expects from Fraz. Geneal and I each spotted different pieces of the meta, which was nice. Then H and I took the kids to the harbor and did the four historic ships; that was cool. Back at the hotel, I snagged Cazique as he was walking by and we cosolved the third pair cryptic, a lovely piece by Elfman. After a meeting of the website committee, I got ready for Shabbat and we were joined by Btnirn et fam for a lovely Shabbat dinner. The waitstaff in the dining room seemed not at all nonplussed by our shoving all the flatware to the middle of the table and taking out our paper goods and picnic dinner.
Fri evening's program was all writing-based, so I sat back and watched. "Beat Poetry" by Rubrick would have been a lot of fun to do, but fortunately it can't be spoiled so perhaps at some future event I can experience the zen of "Write one letter, pass it on."
Saturday afternoon I was able to do two of the three puzzles in my head. "Vowel Play" was cool and the flats were very entertaining. Splattergories I saved for later. After Shabbat I joined the Extravaganza already in progress, hooking up with the team of En, Tyger, Artistry, and Donimo when they were about 3/4 of the way done. I enjoyed solving with them, but I think had I tried to do the whole thing I would have resented the amount of physical exertion and discomfort involved in running back and forth between the two halves of the hotel.
After the Extravaganza I had the good fortune to fall into a group playing a game that Dart is in the process of inventing and Murdoch was presenting. I really enjoyed it and told Dart that if he makes more sets I want one.
At the prize table I scored two books -- Patridge's dictionary of slang and an OED etymological dictionary. And Tahnan and I came up with an idea for a game/puzzle that we might pitch for the Thursday night in Seattle or Providence.
Overall, I had an amazing time, and the kids and H enjoyed themselves too. I regret not going to the last few conventions. My expectation had been that since I would be unable to participate in most of the official program, it wouldn't be worth the expense and hassle. What I didn't appreciate was (1) how much stuff actually happens outside of the official program, giving lots of puzzle and game time on Thursday and Friday, and late Saturday night; (2) how much of the stuff on Shabbat can be done in one's head; (3) how much I miss these people.
I was quite touched by how many people seemed genuinely concerned that I should be able to participate as much as possible within the laws of Shabbat, and expressed their pleasure that I was present even when I couldn't participate fully. Thanks to everyone who made us feel so welcome!
I'm going to try to figure out how to get to Seattle next July, and the whole family is very excited about Providence in 2011.
The one thing that I would do differently next time is try, beforehand, to assemble an Extravaganza team of "Power walkers who are willing to get a late start" --- that is, not "Runners" (because we won't have a chance to win anyway) but also not "Strollers" (because we want to move efficiently through the puzzles).
So: Kudos with a Bang to Arcs, Pfire, and QED for running a great con and to WILLz and Fraz and all the people who created such amazing puzzles and games.
General note: My kids spent a lot of time playing with "Lea-also-known-as-Shmea" (as Alissa kept calling her). They got along really well.
Fri am: Co-solved Fraz's pair cryptic with Geneal. Straightforward and elegant, which one expects from Fraz. Geneal and I each spotted different pieces of the meta, which was nice. Then H and I took the kids to the harbor and did the four historic ships; that was cool. Back at the hotel, I snagged Cazique as he was walking by and we cosolved the third pair cryptic, a lovely piece by Elfman. After a meeting of the website committee, I got ready for Shabbat and we were joined by Btnirn et fam for a lovely Shabbat dinner. The waitstaff in the dining room seemed not at all nonplussed by our shoving all the flatware to the middle of the table and taking out our paper goods and picnic dinner.
Fri evening's program was all writing-based, so I sat back and watched. "Beat Poetry" by Rubrick would have been a lot of fun to do, but fortunately it can't be spoiled so perhaps at some future event I can experience the zen of "Write one letter, pass it on."
Saturday afternoon I was able to do two of the three puzzles in my head. "Vowel Play" was cool and the flats were very entertaining. Splattergories I saved for later. After Shabbat I joined the Extravaganza already in progress, hooking up with the team of En, Tyger, Artistry, and Donimo when they were about 3/4 of the way done. I enjoyed solving with them, but I think had I tried to do the whole thing I would have resented the amount of physical exertion and discomfort involved in running back and forth between the two halves of the hotel.
After the Extravaganza I had the good fortune to fall into a group playing a game that Dart is in the process of inventing and Murdoch was presenting. I really enjoyed it and told Dart that if he makes more sets I want one.
At the prize table I scored two books -- Patridge's dictionary of slang and an OED etymological dictionary. And Tahnan and I came up with an idea for a game/puzzle that we might pitch for the Thursday night in Seattle or Providence.
Overall, I had an amazing time, and the kids and H enjoyed themselves too. I regret not going to the last few conventions. My expectation had been that since I would be unable to participate in most of the official program, it wouldn't be worth the expense and hassle. What I didn't appreciate was (1) how much stuff actually happens outside of the official program, giving lots of puzzle and game time on Thursday and Friday, and late Saturday night; (2) how much of the stuff on Shabbat can be done in one's head; (3) how much I miss these people.
I was quite touched by how many people seemed genuinely concerned that I should be able to participate as much as possible within the laws of Shabbat, and expressed their pleasure that I was present even when I couldn't participate fully. Thanks to everyone who made us feel so welcome!
I'm going to try to figure out how to get to Seattle next July, and the whole family is very excited about Providence in 2011.
The one thing that I would do differently next time is try, beforehand, to assemble an Extravaganza team of "Power walkers who are willing to get a late start" --- that is, not "Runners" (because we won't have a chance to win anyway) but also not "Strollers" (because we want to move efficiently through the puzzles).
So: Kudos with a Bang to Arcs, Pfire, and QED for running a great con and to WILLz and Fraz and all the people who created such amazing puzzles and games.