This really wasn’t the ideal weekend for me to spend at a fan convention. The previous weekend involved a long road trip, that while pleasant and enjoyable, involved a lot of driving…and picking up some sort of viral crud that kept me running at below optimal conditions all week. Also, the previous week was spring break, which meant that the rest of the family wasn’t working on any particular schedule, so I was rising and settling in earlier than everyone else. Also, there was the houseguest, who although welcome and pleasant, by her presence upset the balance of my universe, particularly regarding the behavior of my children (a phenomenon I’ve alluded to before, which remained in force this weekend).

So, I wasn’t in the best frame of mind to embark on the whirlwind of activity that was RavenCon, my home town con.

So, I didn’t really expect to have the kind of fun and enjoyment that I did. Despite the occasional hassles of being the parent of part of the roving pack of con kids, and an hour or so of wooziness due to the heat and crowd in the “Doctor Who” panel, It was a remarkably good time.

I caught a couple of good panels talking about various subjects, from the challenges writers face in creating believeable alien races to a discussion between neuroscientists and costume tinkers about how the human brain is more of a steampunk machine than a digital computer, and another great discussion on the theory of game design. Also, I sat in on a couple of readings – a “rapid-fire” reading from several authors affiliated with Broad Universe, an organization dedicated to promoting female talent in genre writing, including Leona Wisoker, Gail Z. Martin, and Danielle Ackley-McPhail, as well as another reading-concert-variety hour with the multi-talented Danny Birt.

As usual, I spent a bit of time in the game room, coming in second in a hand of Munchkin and taking on the role of an enthusiastic newspaper photographer on the surface of a Victorian-pulp Mars in a session of GURPS on Friday night with one of my favorite MIBs, though not as much as usual, because some of my usual gaming friends weren’t there this year, and because there was some great music happening all afternoon on Saturday.

Yes, once again I spent much of my time coasting along the music programming track, camped out in the New River room for a big block of music, featuring Wizard Rock ensemble The Blibbering Humdingers, nerdcore/comedy rapper Devo Spice, the aforementioned Danny Birt, and the amazing paranormal folk singer/songwriter Jonah Knight.

My better half spent a bunch of time doing much the same thing, but ended up working in a couple of jewelry-making workshops with artist Loren Damewood, hand-crafting some beautiful jewelry, including a silver bracelet and earrings. Also, the eldest child spent Saturday morning in a young writer’s workshop conducted by local author and convention buddy Pamela Kinney, which she reports she quite enjoyed.

Otherwise, we hung out with our con friends and acquantances, including visits with the indescribable Lady Ozma, Rob Balder (who writes a little webcomic you might have heard of called erfworld), and the previously acknowledged Jonah Knight (thanks for the beer!), and a bunch of other people who don’t publicize their web sites (like Bert, Mike, Charlene, and Shannon). We also bought a few odds and ends (game stuff, books, CDs, and other various and sundry ornamentation) in the dealers’ room and spent some time admiring costumes (steampunk Vader and the Time Machine were really pretty awesome).

After all that, I went home and mowed the “grass” and did some laundry on Sunday afternoon. That’s about as mundane as you can get after all that geeking out.

So yeah. Convention time. Good time. Also, tiring, but I’ll probably be ready to do it all again next month at Balticon.