As has been mentioned previously, I was not a guest at Marscon this year, though attended with my family as a civilian. This convention, what I consider my “home” convention for various reasons, had gone through some changes heading into this year, in terms of management and venue, and I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect; there were some causes for concern in the weeks leading up to this weekend.

I really needn’t have worried. While there were a few hiccups, things mostly ran well enough, and for me, the people matter more than the venue or management. Plus, the new venue was actually pretty nice, and the lessons learned from this year will certainly improve next year’s events, assuming the venue remains the same.

Being badge-buying attendee for the first time in forever did free up a lot of my time, which allowed me to enjoy the experience a bit more than usual. I got to sit down at the gaming table for more than half an hour at a time, rolling some dice and spending a couple of hours roleplaying as a “murder maven” old lady detective in my friend Jonah’s Brindlewood Bay session, which was a definite pleasure. Lacking a guest’s schedule was wonderful for just slowing down and taking things in and visiting with friends.

Of course, this didn’t entirely keep me off the stage; I played a few tunes on Friday night in the ad-hoc filk circle, making music with friends and responding to requests for some of my stuff that I hadn’t played in *years* (and getting to hear some of my former bandmates do some wonderful harmonies!), singing some karaoke on Saturday night, and being added as a performer for the traditional con-ending “Round Robin” musical performance, getting to play a few of my own tunes on stage, as well as backing up and jamming with my friends Mikey, Madison, and Leigh (who I met in person for the first time, which was an absolute pleasure!)

And, on Sunday night after much of the regular rabble went home, a bunch of us stuck around, had a nice dinner down the street, and just hung around sipping cocktails and craft beer and enjoyed the company.

It felt good.