Greetings to Tor.com from the wilds of Atlanta, where JordanCon Five is full steam ahead! As Toastmaster this year, I am currently running around like a chicken with its head cut off, but I wanted to pop in and give y’all one very important piece of news.
Which is: my Tor.com Re-read commenters are AWESOME.
Click the jump to see why!
First of all, no less than thirty-five folks from the Wheel of Time Re-read have shown up, which is just an absolutely amazing show of solidarity.
Second, they treated me to a lovely dinner last night, at which everyone passed around copies of A Memory of Light and got everyone else to sign. Lookit:
Dinner, of course, included a froofy ridiculous (and delicious) cocktail for moi:
And then I got swag! Swag specially made for the re-readers at the con. Re-reader Insectoid gave everyone handmade buttons with our Tor.com username and icon on it, which was lovely. Plus, everyone had t-shirts, with logos designed by Re-readers Deana Whitney, aka braid_tug, and Sharon Eiben, aka sulin:
Are those not amazing? The headdesking icon is my favorite.
And, there were even a couple of things specially made for me!
People, they even made a banner:
And then they let me pretend I was someone actually important, and had me sign their shirts:
[Pictures mostly courtesy of Re-reader Tricia Grant Irish, aka Tektonica.]
So basically if you don’t think I have the coolest group of commenters ever here on Tor.com, you are wrong. I am so privileged that these folks exist, I can’t even tell you.
If you want to get your own Re-read swag, by the way, go here. All proceeds from the sales go to the Mayo Clinic for amyloidosis research, which is the official charity of JordanCon and a really excellent cause.
And this is just the beginning! Watch this space for Much Much More JordanCon to come!
Thanks for taking a minute to post for us! So cool to see some photos of the t-shirt and button. Wishing I could have made the trip, hope you all
have a great time and the toastmatering goes well!
Will you sign some t-shirts and have them for sale Leigh?
~very big virtual sigh~
Thanks for taking the time to post Auntie Leigh! I’m sure it’s hard finding the time to scratch yourself, let alone post, with all the shenanigins taking place!
Wish I was there… However, wedding plans have gotten in the way.
Have a blast y’all, and maybe next year for me. Combined anniversary / J-Con trip maybe?
(ps: I’ve already got the t-shirt…)
Where was dinner?
Looks like you guys are having a blast! Hope you enjoy the rest of the weekend!
Happy toastmastering, Leigh!
Trying to think of something
wittymoderately clevercoherent to say about this. I’ve been watching y’all on facebook, and it’s great to see so many folks there, and having such a great time together. Thanks for the pictures, the updates, and all!Go Rereaders! Leigh’s Loonies FTW!
Yeah, I too have been following the stuff on FB and currently don’t have anything to match the wit, humour, and wisdom usual for my comments…
Also, isn’t it really annoying sometimes that you can’t edit FB comments- just wrote “it’s” instead of “is”.
Really pleased to see Our Dear Leader getting together with the tribe that managed to go and the fun they are having!
Awesome! WoT re-read fans are amazing!
One of my bucket list wants is to visit the aquarium. Anyone planning to visit? Keep having a great time guys.
Don’t forget, Leigh—YOU are as awesome as we are. And you are important to us. :D
Yes indeedy, thirty-five of us. Allegedly. So far as we (the group) know, six of those are unaccounted for… they probably didn’t make it. (Dunno what I’m going to do with all the unclaimed buttons.)
More to follow later. (I have pictures; gotta shrink ’em.)
(Edited to add italics, ™, and to add that UnoNomesta has confirmed he didn’t make it. So that’s, er, five unaccounted for.)
Bzzz™.
Wow. Bravo!
Good that they’re taking proper care of you, Leigh. But, I haven’t seen a paddle anywhere, and that’s just not right!
In the quibble category, Tricia’s maiden name ends in a “z”. Sorry, there’s no “proofread mode off”.
I so wish I could have been there, it would have been fun to meet you and the rest of the re-readers :D
Leigh, thanks for hanging out with us. You did an awesome job as toast master of the con.
This was the funnest JordanCon I’ve ever been to.
I had a gread time meeting everyone from the reread who could make it. You guys are awesome. I did manage to get some video from the con, but I’m not quite sure what I’m going to do as far as posting it to the interwebs for everyone’s viewing pleasure yet.
And to ChaplainChris,
We’ll take first place in the team trivia quiz next year for sure (to everyone who wasn’t there, our reread team represented you well and were tied for first at the end of the third round).
This was my first JordanCon. Leigh’s Loonies were not only incredibly welcoming and inclusive, but seemed to be the most mature and well-mannered as well (well, until you get a few Vodka-and-VitaWaters in Tektonica, AMIRITE?).
Wilson Grooms is THE MAN. Peter Ahlstrom needs to work on his poker face. Harriet gets more hilarious every time I speak to her. And Brandon is getting far too good at giving cryptic answers.
I had a great time meeting everyone. You guys are truly fantastic. When I decided to get into a bidding war over the kukhuri from the Jordan collection, forkroot, who had met me only hours earlier, offered up his own money just in case I needed it. I turned out not to, but I really appreciated the offer.
In other news, I now own one of Jim’s knives. #SuccessBaby
Huge kudos to Bug for the buttons, as well as everyone else who worked on the shirts and banner. See you guys next year!
Auntie Leigh was an amazing toastmaster, she rocked it!
Leigh’s Loonies FTW!
Dinner was at Brookwood Grill.
Our “Final Jeopardy” strategy killed us in Team Trivia, but it was a calculated risk that smoked most of the other teams too. Matt Hatch’s group fell into Dragonmount too, IIRC (now that’s just wrong).
ETA
(To the tune of John Brown’s Body/Battle Hymn of the Republic)
I wear my Loonies t-shirt in the summer when it’s hot.
I wear my Loonies t-shirt in the winter when it’s not.
And sometimes in the springtime and sometimes in the fall,
I wear my Loonies t-shirt with nothing else at all.
Chorus:
Glory, glory, Hallelujah;
Glory, glory, What’s it to you?
Balmy breezes blowing through ya,
With nothing else at all.
(With apologies to my Scouting friends?)
Strategy? *Scratches Head In Bewilderment*
Did you have a realio-trulio Bunker team?
Wetlandernw- We missed you.
Overall, great time was had by most if not all (can’t speak for everybody). As usual it was great to meet and put a face to many of the names from the re-read and to see once again folks we knew from prior cons.
We did have a real true Bunker trivia team and trust me, Wetlander, YOU and FREELANCER were deeply missed! We would have nailed it. Chaplainchris, Ways: can you post the killer question? It was so hard, I can’t even remember it! Let’s see if they know it without the books.
So many highlights! Besides meeting Leigh and all you Loonies, the best was kaffeeklatch with Harriet, Alan Romanczuk and Maria. The kaffeklatch session are just 10-12 people, and you just sit and chat and ask questions. I wore my “Bela Lives” button, and Alan and Harriet both asked if I had more — which I did! Harriet wore hers several times through the rest of the con. I told her that “when I get my copy of the Encyclopedia, I want to open it to the ‘Heroes of the Horn’ entry and find Bela’s name there.” She smiled and agreed that if wolves could be Heroes of the Horn, a horse could too. She signed my book, “Bela indeed lives! Best, Harriet.” I love that woman!
Brandon was great, and a little later I will recap our conversation about what Moridin was doing in Thakandar in the Prologue to aMoL. *smile, grin*
Oh, so much to tell. “You want stories? I have stories and I’ll give them to you. I will make them come alive before your eyes.” But, I see that I have 2950 emails to check. There might be one or two that are important…
— Thom
P.S. I see you have all been entertaining yourselves, and that is good!
@Rand – Thanks! I’d love to have been there, but at least I got to enjoy seeing all the pictures and reading about the shenanigans from afar. Many thanks to those who kept the virtual bunker posted about the physical bunker. :)
@Man-o-manetheren
Dang, I’ve forgotten the round 4 question too.
I remember the “What are the names of Min’s three aunts” question we had trouble with in the first round and the easy ones like “who is the person with two souls” but I cannot make my brain recall that last question.
P.S. Still had a great time (and at least it wasn’t those cocky theorylanders who ended up winning thank the light).
Ugh! I’m right in the front of the restaurant picture and it looks like I’m grimacing.
rossnewberry@14
We were all pretty emotionally invested in the auction at that point. You were the right person to have that knife and we needed to see justice done. So cool that it all worked out.
(To other rereaders: Be jealous of me – I got an author’s proof of Ross’ forthcoming book. I’ll be able to say I knew him when.)
Ways@15
You trying to take my job? {:: grins ::}
It was so cool to meet you.
wcarter@13
Excellent to meet you as well. What you might not have made clear to the others was that there were only four rounds. So in other words, we were tied for first going into the final round, which was a single-question “final jeopardy” affair (you could bet up to your entire stash.)
chaplainchris1@16
You were another rereader I really enjoyed meeting and getting to know better. As for our strategy, no regrets! You were our team captain (and our best player) and you said we should go for the gusto. It would be more fun to win by betting all our points and getting the final question than by chickening out.
Man-o-Manethran@19
You hold a special place in my heart – as long as you are around, I’m not the oldest fogie on the reread! (For the benefit of those who weren’t there … Man-o did an outstanding Thom Merrilin costume — but he started with a great advantage because the white hair and mustache were his own!)
OK – A paraphrase of the final question …. Rereaders, have some fun with this (no cheating by looking it up): When Perrin was contemplating solving Blacksmith puzzles he thought about someone in the Two Rivers who could solve them purely by feel. What was that person’s name?
On your honor now folks … anyone get it without looking it up? (None of the teams did – so if we had bet zero points we would have won .. but who wants to win that way?)
Wetlandernw@17
Mostly. ChaplainChris was our team captain and chief instigator (he couldn’t stand the smug looks on the Theoryland team who thought they were going to win in a walkover.) The problem was that the Team Jordan signing was going on so some of our rereaders were doing that and joined in later rounds. Our initial team had two non-bunker members (although one said he had posted on the reread years ago.)
Oh yeah – Theoryland crashed and burned with us on that last question. It was some tail-ender team that bet very little that won.
forkroot@22
I sincerely hope that proof copy is worth something one day, for purely selfish reasons.
My offer at the Con stands, and is accessible to everyone on the Re-read. Drop me a note to my shoutbox with your email and I’ll send you a pdf of the story, but only if you’re interested in hairy cryptids and insane Gurkha commandos.
-Ross
Wish I could have been there, though I’ve been mostly a lurker rather than an active commenter due to a VERY late start on the re-read. Leigh, you are the best! But this past week was INSANE, so a last-minute road trip was out of the question.
@22 – My best guess (totally guessing!) would be Master Luhhan. I remember the event, but not the specifics. Now I’m going to go look it up.
ETA: Huh.
Did not look it up, which will be backed up by the fact that I am totally wrong.
Cenn Buie
I remember two. Jan and Miren. It’s really goofy, because I inadvertently put faces with two of them, even though they are only mentioned once (?). Helen Mirren (I know, I know, different spelling. It still stuck a face with the name), and a friend at church who is called Aunt Jan, because she has lots of brothers and sisters who all have lots of kids. She’s called Grandma Jan now too.
Zippo for aunt #3. Would that have been better than nothing?
And most definitely Master Luhhan. No need to look anything up for that, Perrin is thinking of his mentor.
I will have a semi-official journal of my stay at the Con soon, as soon as I get my iPod notes typed up.
Free @11:
I think there was a Team Spanking paddle in the opening skit.
Other than that… During the costume contest, Lannis (after flourishing, in true Min fashion, five hidden knives from her lovely dress) pulled out a wooden spoon and gave it to Leigh.
Ross @14:
Very cool that you won a knife! All are welcome for the buttons.
Ways @15:
LMAO!! Forkroot will have you writing songs yet…
Ways, Chaplainchris:
Bet everything, huh?
Man-0 @19:
You do a great Thom Merrilin impression. :)
wcarter @21:
I remember hearing Min’s three aunts being one of the questions, and I’m sure I wouldn’t be able to remember such a thing!
Fork @22:
It was great meeting you! Thanks for the songbook.
Final question: Right, I remember hearing about that one too. But I don’t know the answer to it either.
mutantalbinocrocodile @24:
Great name!!
Wet @25:
My mom had the same guess when I showed her Fork’s post.
Were you right?
Bzzz™.
Freelancer@27
Congratulations! You remembered two more than we did – we completely struck out on the “Aunt” question.
I’m afraid your bat missed the ball on the Perrin question. My paraphrase may not have been the best, but I did include the important point that the gentleman in question solved the puzzle by feel. (The other clue is that nobody answered the question – Harold Luhan would have been much too easy.)
On a critical note, the consensus within our team as well as what I could gather from other teams was that the questions were either way too easy or nigh unto impossible.
Bug@28
Good job on the Asha’man costume. Also, thanks again for doing the buttons. Mine is going right into my keepsake drawer.
Speaking of our own lovely Leslie Annis (lannis the Blue Scholar), she was “on the podium” for the second straight year in the costume contest. She didn’t win the overall (like last year), but she got one of the judges choices.
In order to make her hair appropriate for her Elmindreda costume, she had to spend two hours with a curling iron right before the contest started. This meant she had to miss the big Team Jordan Q/A at 4PM – a sacrifice indeed!
Re: the blacksmith puzzles – as I said, I’d have guessed Haral Luhhan, but I would also have said “but I know it’s not right, because it’s too obvious.” I know he enjoyed making them (that’s mentioned elsewhere), but he couldn’t really be the one who could solve them purely by touch.
I looked it up… and would not have gotten it if I’d thought about it with both hands for a week.
Freelancer way outdid me on the aunts question; I don’t know if I’d have remembered any of them! I will now, though.
The problem with trivia contests (or crossword puzzles, as I discovered) is that it’s really, really hard to find the balance between “too easy” and “nigh impossible.” And what one person remembers in a heartbeat, a dozen others could stew over all night and never get. That’s one of the very good reasons to use teams. In any case, it sounds like y’all did a fabulous job of representing us! (And yes, I couldn’t repress a small snicker at the thought of the Theoryland team crashing on the last question… even if we did too. It’s kinda fun when the whodat team wins, though it would have been even more fun if the whodat team was US.)
Re: the man was blind, oldest man Perrin knew. He was … pretty sure he had the al’ as part of his name, but otherwise I cannot help.
Was he a the thatcher prior to Cenn ?
oh it was fun. now to see that the whole group was up too.
Wet @31:
Are you going to share? Inquiring minds want to know! :P
Bzzz™.
Well, I was wrong about his name and other details, since none are given.
COT, Chapter 8, Page 223 HB. Yes, it’s an answer, but not the answer!
Our trivia team deliberated on both Cenn Buie and Haral Luhhan as the answer to the final question…and decided neither was correct. We couldn’t come up with a viable alternative. Come on, Wet, give forth.
Was my pun about Theoryland falling into Dragonmount really so horrible that no one wanted to comment on it? Maybe it was just too subtle, even with the hint. ::pats back::
forkroot @wherever upthread
How ’bout I can be your apprentice? No way could I take your job. It was one of those rare, late-night, sleep-deprived inspirations, and a rip-off of an old Scout song, so I can’t honestly claim originality.
Did Terez show up at the Con? There was a post on Facebook that seems to indicate she was there. I never ran into her. Speaking of Facebook *headdesk*, Tek and Braid have posted several attachments (photos?) that are not showing up. Hmmm.
Braid @34
OMG! I thought Jeffrey Idon’trememberhislastname (the big guy with the difficult questions who said he helped Wet with the crossword puzzle) said that was not the correct answer. Perhaps I’m recalling a comment on a different question (and he was foreshadowing).
And it was AWESOME to meet all of you!
Edited for clarity.
Gah. I was remembering Perrin talking about Haral Luhhan teaching him how each puzzle has a secret, and once you find it, it comes apart without any force.
The blind man who could pull them apart by touch, he isn’t mentioned any other time, so it can’t be Cenn or Ban or anyone else on the Village Council. I need to get home and look at CoT. It’s Perrin saying he needs to see something to understand its parts, unlike … ::mumble::
Highlight for the answer: Nat Torfinn
Ways @35:
Don’t worry—your pun was punny enough. ;)
Terez was indeed at the Con; arrived late Friday, I think. I PM’d her on FB and met with her Sat. morning so I could give her her button. I also saw her at the big AMoL panel.
Wet @38:
Well, I certainly wouldn’t have guessed that. (Don’t remember much of what happened in CoT anyway!) Not too unlike several of your crossword questions…
Bzzz™.
OK, Nat Torfinn. I’ll try to remember that for the next time.
And Min’s other aunt is Rana. Nothing connected that name to something I could draw upon. Hadn’t really tried to create memory keys for any of them, just that two of them clicked onto existing thoughts.
Wetlander, Freelancer – I told at least some of the team that we should blame our loss on the two of you, for not coming! Looks like the blame is off, though! As Forkroot says, the vast majority of the questions were much too easy; those were interspersed with Obnoxiously Obscure Questions o’Death (henceforth called OOQoD), like the names of Min’s maiden aunts and the name of Puzzle Guy Mentioned Once and Once Only and Has Nothing Really to do with Anything.
Suffice it to say I’ll never forget his name again! (And that we’ll let you keep guessing a bit – no spoilers!) But it’s all good. We had a fun time – well, I did! And we proved that our ad hoc reread crew could trivialize the Wheel of Time as well as anyone! (Wait…that didn’t come out right…;)
So here’s how the trivia thing came about. One of the early panels on Friday was an individual trivia contest. I went to it. At that point I’d still only met a few of us, so I went alone. Of the 25 or so trivia players, roughly 2/3 were Theorylanders in their black tees. And they were chatting with each other about which of them was going to win.
Let me hasten to add that no Theorylanders were *actually* doing anything wrong or obnoxious. However…I’m, er, mildly competitive. And I feel pretty confident in my WoT knowledge. And I was looking forward to making the black-shirted Theorylanders take note that one of Leigh’s Loonies was in their midst.
Individual trivia (The Trivia Bee) was run by the same trio who would later run Team Trivia (Daes Daemar). Same mix of questions – pretty easy softballs and OOQoD. (Wetlander and others may be interested to know that the OOQoD from both games were all contributed by James Starke.)
Anyway, for individual Trivia Bee, one question wrong and you’re out. You get one and only one pass.
In the first round, I got something obscure enough that I don’t remember – I passed. In the second round I was asked the name of the horse Rand left the TR. Not a bad trivia questions, but I had no idea. (It was Cloud.)
Just like that, I was out. It was sort of fun, sort of disappointing, and sort of…irksome…that I knew every question answered by the first and second place winners. So I thought it would be fun to try again with team trivia.
Cut to day 2. I’ve forgotten about trivia, not asked anyone to play. I’m looking at the schedule deciding where to go next. Team Trivia! I check it out, and the Theorylanders are fielding multiple teams!!! (max of seven on a team)
Well, I thought, that’s obnoxious! And they clearly think they’re going to win! (Ok, I was having fun with creating a faux-rivalry. Look, they called the thing Daes Daemar, they were asking for inter-fangroup rivalry!) So I saw Forkroot passing, and I grabbed him! He was in. We went looking for other victims…er, teammates…and found wcarter, Ways, and Man-0-Manetheran. Two guys were looking to enter the contest without a team, so we snapped them up too. JanDSedai came in shortly after, but by that point we had maxed out at 7 players and so she gave us moral support.
And we did great! After the 1st rd ended – tied for second with several teams, with a 2-way tie for 1st ahead of us 5 pts ahead of us (two teams came up with the maiden aunts). After the 2nd rd – pretty much the same places. In a clutch performance in the third rd, where we and one other team were the only ones to correctly identify Janya Frende’s Ajah, we pulled into the lead, tied with one of the Theorylander team.
So time for the last question where we can wager any amount up to our total points. I, with a manic gleam, shout outk “go big or go home!” The others don’t protest loudly enough – Forkroot very politely agrees, with a little murmuring that this might not be the best strategically but will be fun. “Yes,” I manically gleam, ruthlessly suppressing strategy and good sense (as I’ve always done), ALL IN.
So we bet all 80 points. And ended up with zero. The winning team – which going into final jeopardy was in 4th or 5th place – won with 65.
Cest la vie. Thanks for being good sports, gang! I had a blast, we demonstrated that we were a threat even if our ad hoc team was recruited randomly in the space of 9 minutes, and by loudly and crazily betting it all, we forced the other leaders to do so too, so we got to play the spoiler.
Next year!
Well done!
Re: (Wetlander and others may be interested to know that the OOQoD from both games were all contributed by James Starke.) Well, I’m not surprised. He’s the only person I know of who thought my crossword might be too easy.
Bummer about the individual trivia; it always seems to work that way. You get the one question in the entire game that you really don’t know – and you get it right off the bat, so you don’t even have the chance to show that you know most of it! Trivia games are as much luck as they are knowledge.
Hey everyone,
It’s 4:00 AM on Tuesday morning and I just got home an hour ago. Yes, it took 12.5 hours to get from Atlanta to Seattle. Snow in Denver kept us from leaving on time (2 hours late) but since everything was 2 hours late at that point and stacked up, we still made our connection. Then we sat on the tarmac for another hour to go through the deicer and antiIcer pads before we could take off.
I’m typing by touch as I can barely see the keyboard.
LOVED MEETING YOU ALL AND I’M STILL GEEKING OUT!
Where was I the whole Con? I feel like I missed a TON! Damn. The trivia contests would have been epic to witness!
I did spend a lot of time in the Art room, volunteering and squiring Michael Whelan around to kaffeklatchs…squeeeeeee!!! He was amazing. Very forthcoming about his influences, how he works and his projects. Most artists are not very articulate about their work, but he is. And he is generous with his time and info. It was a real treat to get to know him, and his lovely wife, Audrey. (And I got lots of signed books and covers!)
The religion in the WoT was a fantastic panel. Jay will be posting audios of the various panels, I believe. Where Jay?
All in all, the Con was GREAT! It was so wonderful to have so many Rereaders there. Theoryland and Dragonmount are the founders of the Con, and have always made up the bulk of the attendees. Last year, there were only 5 Rereaders! This year, 30!! And we rocked!
Travyl came from Zurich! Linda T. from Australia. Many Canadians made the trip. The poor people coming from the West, encountered terrible weather/airport delays and got in late, but made it! It was so nice to meet each other face to face!
The lovely Leigh, graced our Rereader dinner, which I hope everyone enjoyed. Next year, the Rereaders should have their own hangout room, aka: Bunker. This year the hotel was sold out, and thus the Bunker had to comandeer a corner of the lobby, but we didnt’ mind! We could corral people walking by from there.
The costumes and Dance Hall of the Tower, Saturday night were both awesome. It’s just a small enough Con that it’s casual and intimate. Brandon and Harriet and the other guests are just “around” and are available most of the time, when they’re not on a panel or a KaffeKlatch. Often times you can end up having breakfast or lunch with one of them.
I do hope all that attended had a great time….I certainly did! And I hope more and more Rereaders will come in future years! Good times!
Next year, I’m going to offer to have everyone out to my house for Friday dinner, or maybe a Friday Bunker Party after the day’s panels are over. It’s only 10 minutes away from the DoubleTree, and I promise you’ll pay less than the Brookwood Grill!
Was great to meet you, Tektonica (and everyone else)!
Tek, I think you chose wisely. For you to not have been focusing on the art aspects of the Con would have been unthinkable. I mean, Michael Whelan!!1!
Still, I know the feeling of wishing you could see and do everything. That’s what “next time” is always for…
@@@@@ 41 (and others)
OOQoD are what make the trivia contests interesting! (even when they made me groan lol) I thought the moderators did very well with the questions.
And “All in” was the best strategy, win or lose, IMO. As Matrim would say…
Michael Whelan is amazing. I was so fortunate to get a seat to the 2:30 session on Saturday when he talked through a personal retrospective. The session was held in the corner of the “Art/Vendor room” where Michael had a whole bunch of his work on display.
Dazzling – oh yes. The original painting for the AMOL cover was there (not for sale.) Wow. The original painting for the Way of Kings cover was also there (For Sale: Starting Bid 42,000) Double Wow.
There really wasn’t a lot of room, so I was doubly lucky not only to be sitting but to be up close as Michael presented a fascinating career retrospective via slide show. He is trying to shift his career now more toward being a gallery artist and away from illustration (meaning book covers, etc.); however people keep begging him so he’s still doing about half of his time on illustrations.
I was so wrapped up in his presentation that I didn’t realize the audience behind me had grown and grown. At one point, as Michael worked through a slide show there was a particular illustration (Damn … forgot to write the name down) when suddenly a voice piped up from the back of the crowd:
“I was so struck when I saw this that I studied it for five hours straight. It’s where I got the idea for Elantris, which became my first published novel.” Yup – Brandon himself was talking. All of us were stunned – no one more so than Michael! He had not known any of this prior to Brandon’s revelation.
In a weekend full of really cool moments, that one stands out as the high point for me.
ross – That would be awesome!!!
forkroot – scoop! scoop! How cool was that?
ChaplainChris @41
Ha. James Starke. Thanks for filling in that particular senior moment. I was thinking his name was Jeffrey something. Anywhooo, anybody who believes Wetlander’s crossword was too easy has far too much free time on their hands (I thought the difficulty level was just fine, Wet). Do you recall James’ comment about Nat Torfinn not being the correct answer to some question?
JeffS. @43
Planes, Trains and Automobiles – yep. We need a detailed report with photos when you recover from the ordeal and hook up with Wetlander. I really enjoyed meeting you, hope to see you next year.
insectoid
Of course we also need a detailed report when you get together with Freelancer. And thank you again for the buttons!
Ross @45
That’s a very generous offer, if somewhat risky!
Tek
I have to catch up with work, and then will dump the sudio files. I will post links here and at the re-read.
Okay. Let’s try this. Here is the link for the Theological and Mythological Influences panel.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/24634810/Theological_and_Mythological_Influences_in_WOT.mp3
I am not going to try to make it active, so you will have to copy and paste.
Hey guys! It was so awesome to meet so many of you this year at JordanCon! I’m hoping that those who made it will return next year, and that those who didn’t will try to get there! It’s really an experience you won’t regret!
Re: The wooden spoon. Elmindreda gave Leigh Laras’ spanking spoon. Heh… ;)
Well, I’ve finally disposed of the 2900+ emails, and JCon withdrawal is finally setting in.
Let’s give a big shout-out to Tektonica for encouraging, wheedling, and tantalizing us into attending. I know I’d probably not have gone if it hadn’t been for her. THANKS BUNCHES!!!
And also a big THANKS for getting us altogether for dinner. It’s so wonderful now to see a face when I see a post.
Lannis: You, my dear, had the finest costume of all. Seriously. Bravo!
Rossnewberry@45: You are ON!!! Finding anyplace that could accomodate our group was a bitch! Being able to mingle and walk and talk to each other would be so much better. We can all pitch in some bucks to defray expenses! Thanks for the offer!!!
Forkroot: Michael Whelans retrospective slide show and accompanying dialogue was the best. Brandon and I were (accidentally) standing in the back, next to each other commenting….Squeee!! Glad to know that Michael was moved by Brandon’s revelation too!
Awww, thanks, Man-O. I’m so glad you came all the way from Denver! Was it nice to get out of the snow? Haha. I hope the traveling “suffer score” for everyone was outweighed by the fun. It was so nice to meet so many of you all.
Really, everyone, to echo Lannis….Come! You won’t regret it! (Wheedling again…already!)
Thanks, Jay!!!
(Jay is the ACE soundman at the Con! He has quite the pedigree!)
J.Dauro@52: Thanks, I’ve just listened to the “Theos & Mythos Infl” Panel and learned some interesting stuff. For example: YES, the Forsaken start as huge, mythologically intimidating figures and gradually diminish to human (or less) stature, while our farmboys/girls evolve into demi-gods (well, at least each is a Hero with a capital letter).
I DO wish the microphone could have picked up the audience! There were long silent gaps on the recording, followed by answers that may have made even more sense if I could have know the stimulus. Maybe next year do the “Book TV” thing and get the audience-participants to “line up” at a mike?
In any case, thanks for posting the session. Wish it could have been even longer.
CChris @41:
Thanks for the summary!
Tek @44:
I feel like I missed a lot, too—but that’s because I did. :( At the very least I should have visited the Con Suite more than once.
Ross @45:
Great idea! Though Tek couldn’t have picked a nicer restaurant—it was a lot of fun!
Fork @48:
Ha! I thought I saw him back there. (I had peeked in on the session after getting out of the post-Last Battle panel.)
Ways @50:
Sure, I can do that… though I’m still working on my Con recap. (I’m nearly ready to put up pictures.)
Lannis @53:
Oh yeah… I remember seeing Laras somewhere that day.
Man-0 @54:
Agree on all points!!
Faculty Guy @57:
Or do what Leigh did at the AMoL Q&A—walk around with a wireless mic.
Bzzz™.
Glad to hear all the positive comments around Michael Whelan’s Retrospective; I was really nervous as all get out that that wasn’t going to go well (it wasn’t much space, and we had to the cut the lights over some of our vendors and other artists), but everyone was great! Brandon himself came up and said he thought it was a stroke of genius to put the retrospective in the Art Show. :-) So yeah, I think I’ll totally take credit for that.
Was great to see so many of you! I’m just really sorry I didn’t get to go to dinner and hang out more. But a director’s work is never done. (I do love my buttons, Insectoid. Thanks for including me. :-) )
Also, have to say the Rereaders make the very *best* Art Show minions. The very best!
Love y’all! See you next year. :-)
Let’s move to recording #2. This one is for Leslie, who had to skip this session, she was afraid it would curl her hair. No, wait, she was afraid it wouldn’t curl her hair. And as Elmindreda in the costume contest, she had to have curly hair. (It worked too, Judge’s Choice Award.)
So here is the link for the “A Memory of Light” Panel.
(Faculty Guy – This was a big panel (400-500 attendees), so the questions were done on mic. The other was a panel discussion in a small room, where everyone can hear (only about 60-80 people.) Sorry about that.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/24634810/A%20Memory%20of%20Light%20Panel.mp3
For those of you who aren’t on facebook, here’s a great recap (with pictures) from Lannis:
http://www.lannis.ca/2013/04/recap-of-jordancon-v-tar-vacon.html
Near the end, there’s a link to her Flikr album of LOTS of pictures, many with captions to tell you who they are. They aren’t all rereaders, though…
That was my team, which was not entirely a Theoryland team (we had Gary Kephart from ewot, a random dude, and then me and bossman and Marie Curie). WinespringBrother’s team was the only one to get Min’s aunts, but by the time it got to the final round they had fallen behind for some reason. I can’t believe WSB remembered Min’s aunts but forgot Janya’s Ajah. (He also put Avarin, Shiaine’s House, instead of Mili Skane, tsk tsk.) As usual, I answered all the questions and no one on my team could help with the ones I didn’t know. It’s usually that way for WSB too; when we split up for team trivia, usually each team has a trivia buff on it.
Questions my team missed:
1. Min’s aunts
2. the wolf one
3. Nat Torfinn
Terez27
Dang! I had wanted to meet you and here you were so close and I didn’t know. I tried to hand out a copy of the songbook to all Rereaders and you’re in that group even if we couldn’t entice you to the bunker :-)
Besides, you’ve got a line in the “Tor places” song.
April @59:
You are most welcome. You and Linda and Terez are welcome in our group, even if you don’t post often. :)
J.Dauro @60:
Yay! I’ll be sure to share this one with my mom.
Wet @61:
Likewise.
Fork @63:
You could have asked around like Man-0 did… XD
Though I didn’t get a picture of her when I had the opportunity (all 3 of them). Oh well.
My photo set on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/44746892@N04/sets/72157633332214639/
Bzzz™.
This is my trivia team. You can see WSB’s team in the background on the right (with Sarevok, Southpaw, and Southpaw’s GF.) You can also click through to the next 2 pics for the other 2 Theoryland teams.
I’ve been a lurker of the re-read (and the SOIAF read) since day one, a huge fan of Leigh and the commentors. I’m glad you got some really fun and well deserved swag, Leigh – that “spanking good time” head-desking button is OH SO APPROPRIATE – because you have done so much to contribute and coordinate the WoT faniverse. You all look like you had such fun, I hope I get to make a JordanCon one day!
Sorry for the delay but there was too much driving and visiting friends to get enough time to post.
I had a fabulous time and it was so great to meet so many re-readers in person. Don’t know if I will be able to make another one but I am certainly glad I got to this one. Many thanks to all involved!
BillinHI: It was great meeting you….glad your other trips lined up with JCon so you could justify a visit from Hawaii!!! Awesome effort! I hope your wife wasn’t too
freaked outbored with us! She gets a gold star!AprilMoore: You are the bestest boss lady ever! Happy Birthday, fellow Taurean! You rock!
Great pix everyone!! It’s hard to come back down off the JordanCon High. I just realized that I arrived there a week ago today. A week already!
51 left to go…….
Gee. Lots of Taurean’s in the fan club. Happy birthday April. Everybody check out Insectoid’s great photos. Good job, Bug!
Terez – what Fork said @63! I thought someone said Friday night that you weren’t coming – must’ve just been that you weren’t coming to dinner, or came late Friday? Or something. Anyway, I totally misunderstood and so didn’t look for you. And I had no idea WinespringBrother was there!
So your team included you and Matt Hatch and Marie Curie? Theoryland enough for me, plus an Encyclopedia WOTer! Yikes!! :) Kind of you guys to split up the trivia buffs – sounds like if you and WSB had been on the same team, you’d have been at least five points ahead going into the final round.
I was mostly going off t-shirts, and enjoying the faux-competitiveness. Interestingly, the questions your team (i.e. you) missed were the same ones our team (i.e. me – but not really; the only thing I got that most every member of the team didn’t know was Janya’s Ajah – thank you WOT FAQ and the Various Hall of the Tower Shenanigans!) missed.
Do you remember what the wolf question was? I know it was the other one we missed but I’m still blanking on it. Something about the name of a female wolf introduced in AMoL?
So…since there were holes in my recollection/my understanding – did, in fact, your team’s wagering have anything to do with ours? Or were you actually betting everything independently?
Regardless, nice job! Can’t wait to a) meet you, and b) compete with you again!
Tek @44, Insectoid @58 – I think we ALL missed a lot. It’s no wonder I didn’t see as much of you and some of the others as I’d have liked, Tek – I didn’t even make it to the art gallery until the last 5 minutes on Saturday night. (I went back Sunday and picked up the beautiful Whelan print and a cool Mordor recruiting poster from Paul Bielaceyc.) I never made it up to the Con Suite, missed out on the poker and the hearts tournament and any other gaming, etc. There was just too much to do and too many places I wanted to be in simultaneously. But that’s a good problem to have, and a good reason to go back!
Oh…here’s some of the artwork, along with some rereader swag, like my buttons from Insectoid and Man-O.
chaplainchris@70
I think the “wolf” question was: What was the name of the wolf who warned Perrin that Moonhunter (Lanfear) was seeking him in the dream (AMoL)?
@70 ChaplainChris
The question was ‘What is the name of the wolf that that sent Perrin the message “Heart seeker” was looking for him?’
Everyone agreed it was an older female pack leader, but we couldn’t find the actual passage in AMoL.
Hey insectoid,
Thanks for providing us with the awesome pics.
wcarter@73
Forehead slap! That’s right, I stand corrected. (Actually I sit corrected … I don’t type standing up.)
The female wolf Turn Bow warned Perrin that Moonhunter was seeking him. There is no mention of a female wolf warning Perrin about Heartseeker; most of the time, he was looking for her, not vice versa.
So am I doubly corrected? I guess this just proves my memory is lousy.
Turn Bow was the answer (at least I think it was … but who can trust my memory?)
They say that memory is the second thing to go with old age and I can’t remember what the first thing is.
Wetlander – did you know that, or did you have to look it up? if the former, I am back to blaming your absence for our defeat! ( except we likely still would have bet everything on the final question)
I don’t think the wolf question specified gender. WE thought it was a female, but still none of us came up with the name. I am quite certain, though, that someone did say, “Damn. Wetlander would know.”
I cheated. I looked it up. No way I would have remembered that – not without rereading the whole book a time or two. There was simply too much to remember.
FWIW, I’m betting that whoever put together the trivia actually went through the book specifically looking for tidbits like this; pretty sure there aren’t many (if any) who would read the book once, sit down & come up with this stuff.
@ALL: Thanks, guys!
Fork @77:
I actually could use your help making a correction—is that you in this picture seated in the foreground, or someone else?
CChris @71:
I’ve been thinking about those Whelan prints all week, and I’m this close = to buying one and framing it and to Shayol Ghul with whatever my mom says—it’s too cool to pass up.
Man-0 @79:
Heh.
ETA: Where would be a good place to post my Con weekend report, for those not on FB? This thread?
Bzzz™.
Wetlander @80 – James specifically mentioned flipping through and looking for things like this, so you’re exactly right. And yes, A Memory of Light is so massive and so new that the minutiae hasn’t been absorbed yet.
Insectoid – I think this would be a great place for your report. I plan to do some more reporting here as well.
All right, but you’ve been warned…
Okay, this is my mostly-coherent report of my time at JordanCon. Hint: it’s long, and tends to ramble.
This was my first plane flight; indeed, my first trip so far from home by myself. I did pretty well on that part of it (keeping fed and watered, checking in/out, airport shenanigans). But I am shy; I can’t deny it. So I didn’t meet or photograph as many people as I could have.
Thursday
The San Diego airport was a piece of cake, and we only had a slight delay due to weather concerns. The Atlanta airport, on the other hand, was an interesting experience; the first time around, I couldn’t find my way around even with the signs (the map I was carrying seemed to contradict what I was seeing; I understand why now). But everything worked out, and I rode the MARTA to the northernmost stop and called for the hotel shuttle. (MARTA was a piece of cake, too—it’s almost exactly like riding the SD Trolley.)
When I got to the Doubletree, I checked in and met Jennifer Liang, who told me when badges would be given out. Got my stuff upstairs and came back down to wander. There were very few people in the outer rooms, so I eventually found my way to the Dealer Room, where at least a half a dozen of you were hanging out making dinner plans, which I immediately latched on to. (Can’t turn down a nice dinner.) On our way out I met Leigh and we saw Brandon arrive.
We went to the Cheesecake Factory, which isn’t exactly nearby (it’s a little over 2 mi away) but has an enormous menu. There is a picture or three of us on the FB page (I don’t know about anywhere else). We had a good time.
Friday
Got up just a tad late for breakfast at the cafe, but I talked them into it. (Samadai gave me a piece of toast while I waited.) There wasn’t much to do until the Opening Ceremonies besides get my badge and wander, as the other rooms were off-limits. And I didn’t want to go outside, because it was pouring rain. So I just started passing out my Re-read buttons. (R.Fife was amused by my Rickroll of his button.)
The Opening Ceremonies were a hoot, as expected. Leigh did a wonderful job, even with the hijinks by Fife and co. bringing in “props” she didn’t need (a desk for her to *headdesk* on, and a Team Spanking paddle). April Moore (dressed as Siuan Sanche) reminded us to vote for art in the Art Show (which I didn’t remember to do. Sorry, April), and even fit in a fish metaphor. XD Leigh ended the presentation with a giant sparkly YAY.
I then continued seeking out people to give buttons to. I didn’t make it to any of the 2:30 panels, so I went to Couch Con, and eventually had the sense to get something to eat.
Went to the “Prophecies” panel, which veered into Looney Theory territory more than once. Aviendha’s kids were debated multiple times (groan). Among the more amusing discussions were of the Encyclopedia (for which we got a new term: REFO!); one person asked where they found a 5.25″ floppy drive to read RJ’s notes (har!), and whether they were splitting it into 3 volumes. XD WayForward visions, Foretellings (and misinterpretations of), the Seanchan and Sharan prophecies, and the “23 stars” thing were some of the other things discussed.
After that I went and bought Freelancer his books, to be signed the following day. Also went to the Dealer Room and bought some art prints by Ariel Burgess (who does wonderful work, btw); these were for my mom (I had to fly out on her birthday, so I wanted to get her something nice). The entire weekend I was tempted to buy a signed print of Michael Whelan’s AMoL cover (I’m still itching to).
We met in the lobby at a quarter past 6 for the Big Re-readers’ Dinner at Brookwood Grill; it took at least 4 cars plus the shuttle to get us all there. (And poor Braid_tug got stuck in an elevator. Thankfully she was only 20 mins late.) At the dinner, we had a mass book-signing party and photo-taking opportunities; I got a picture of everyone at the table, all of which (except Samadai) are in the photos I posted. Braid_tug presented Leigh with some special swag (as she illustrated in the interim report), and we all generally stuffed ourselves. Kudos to Tektonica for picking a fabulous restaurant!
When we got back to the hotel we gathered in the far corner of the lobby and took the group pictures with the Bunker banner. I can’t remember who had their Loonies shirt signed first, but I produced the Sharpie I was carrying and Leigh went around and signed most of them. Forkroot gave us paper copies of his songs that he’s posted on Tor. I would have stayed up for the karaoke (and I really should have; I heard Leigh was excellent), but I was pretty tired by that point.
Saturday
Saturday morning was mostly uneventful; I had breakfast in the cafe again, and met up with Terez. None of the early panels save Lannis’s costuming panel seemed particularly interesting, so that’s what I did. (It was mostly needlework sort of stuff, but it was something to do. And Pinky liked my coat.)
The Team Jordan signing almost didn’t have Brandon in it; as soon as I was in the line, I was told he was feeling ill. As he was the reason I was in the line, I quietly backed out and went to have my art prints signed by Ariel. (Really should have gotten more of those, or at least a pack of cards. I did get some bookmarks.)
Came back and had a snack at the cafe, only then to discover that Brandon had reappeared and would be signing. *facepalm* So I got BACK in the line; I had Alan and Maria sign my book jacket (they were amused by my “yearbook” autographs), said hello to Harriet, and had Brandon sign Free’s two books, personalizing one of them.
After dropping those things off at my room I went to the “After the Last Battle” panel, which was similar to Friday’s “Prophecies” panel in that Avi’s kids were once again rehashed. *headdesk* Questions on Rand’s lifespan, the Ogier, Mat/Tuon/Min and Seanchan, the Sharans, Androl/Pevara, the future of channeling and genetics (which got rehashed several times), Heroes of the Horn, etc. were discussed.
After that, I just hung around waiting for the AMoL Q&A panel with Team Jordan, which was very cool (as some of you have doubtless heard already). Volunteer coordinator Kristy Lussier gave a lovely speech that moved many. Brandon gave a (slightly unnecessary) warning (“We will spoil EVERYTHING in this panel! But we reserve the right to RAFO you.”) Leigh walked through the audience fielding questions, which drew everything from Evil Cackles and cryptic, one-word answers from Brandon (he admits he’s much more an Aes Sedai now than five years ago) to lengthy explanations (including a story or two from Harriet). Near the end, Brandon was called to meet his toh in letting Bela die (“In the book *I* wrote, Bela survived!”) by putting her in one of his books. Harriet then came forward and told us about the garden in RJ’s memory she’s having named for Bela. *sniffle* The panel ended with Matt Hatch of Theoryland presenting Brandon and Harriet with gifts; Harriet’s was a printed volume of Q&A’s with RJ that Theoryland collected over the years, which Harriet promptly began reading aloud. (Hearing Harriet say “Read And Find Out” makes me happy.)
Not much to do until the costume contest except eat (there was BBQ by the pool) and wander (which was mostly moping around for me, as I didn’t know where everyone was, aside from the contestants).
The costume contest was a lot of fun, even though I didn’t enter, and my camera (among others) took dreadfully dark pictures. There were 6 Re-readers in the contest (Lannis, Man-0, Scissorrunner, Sulin, Braid_tug, and Branwhin), and many that I did not know. Among the entrants were several Mats and Thom Merrilins (Man-0 was the best, IMO), Elmindreda (Lannis; who had 5 knives hidden in her lovely dress), an Aelfinn (Eelfinn?) female, who won First Place, Marsh from Mistborn, “Creator and Groom” (Bela, natch; my picture came out too blurry to keep:( ). Lastly were “just Rand al’Thor” (Paul of Aradani Studios), and Wilson Grooms himself, dressed as Brandon Sanderson! XD
After that I mostly wandered around taking pictures of those I knew (in proper lighting!!), along with several others. (April had recently donned Aubree’s Amyrlin stole, which was apropos for Cadsuane, so I got a pic when she reappeared later.) After that, many of us set up camp in the corner of the lobby again, putting up the Banner and (while not drinking) swapping stories, WoT opinions, etc. Several of us wandered off to peek at the Hall of the Tower dance and silent auction; most of us preferred to be Sitters. ;) I should have taken more pictures, though.
Sunday
Sunday was mostly about eating, checking out, and going around saying farewell to the people I’d met. There were some I missed (whether because of a volunteer meet-up or a panel), but I found most of you. I visited the Con Suite for the first and only time (which I will rectify the next time I go!)
I eventually came down to the Art Show and got in line to have my AMoL cover signed by Michael Whelan. Unfortunately, Michael took a 1-hour break after I had gotten in line, and as it was already 11:30, I wouldn’t be able to stay and have my cover signed; Tektonica and I were planning to leave for the airport together at 12:30 (my mom suggested I have an “Exit Buddy”). Scissorrunner graciously offered to have my cover signed and then mail it to me, so I owe her one.
Hadn’t seen Leigh around more than once that morning, so by the time I got my bags downstairs and was waiting to leave it was looking like Tricia and I would miss her. But she showed up just in time, and we had a mini-farewell party before departing on the shuttle.
Tek and I parted at the airport, which I had a much easier time with (having figured out the general layout by then). Got checked in and baggage dropped, and sat mostly listening to music for 2.5 hours. Flight was on-time without any delays, thankfully, and I had some fun listening to music, and commenting on Facebook at 30,000 ft (“Are you still at the airport?” “No, I’m flying over I- don’t-know-where!”) About drained my iPod dry, but it was worth it, because the in-flight entertainment was kaput. Landed in San Diego, claimed my bag, and got picked up.
———
And that’s my story. I wish I could have done more, but that will have to wait for the next time I have the opportunity to attend JordanCon. It was wonderful meeting all of you and talking WoT and stuff. And despite my shyness I’d do it all again in a heartbeat, because it was that much fun. :D
Bzzz™.
Bug@81
Unfortunately that is indeed me – that bald spot seems to grow bigger every month … sigh.
OTOH – Fortunately I made it to JCon (thanks mostly to encouragement by Man-O) and I had a great time!
Fork @84:
Duly corrected!
Got quiet in here all of a sudden…
Bzzz™.
Great report, insectoid! Thanks! Glad you had a good time. :)
Haven’t read it yet because don’t have time right now, but looking forward to reading it later on Insectoid. Thanks in advance!
Hello Everyone,
Well, I have yet to learn how to imbed pictures into a Tor.com post, but you can see a few images in my profile from JordanCon V. The rest are going on Flickr and Facebook, so I’ll post a link later.
Wall of text heading your way!
First, to everyone who was wearing a Re-Read shirt, I cannot put into words the special thrill I got every time I saw one of you wearing something I helped design. Thank you!
Being able to see a Re-Reader at 10 feet was great.
My review of JordanCon V:
JordanCon V was my first JordanCon, and my first convention to attend in over 8 years. There is a vibe that exist at a small con, which cannot be captured at the massive ones. I felt comfortable and at home, even while being surrounded by strangers.
I knew my two roommates personally, and the Re-Readers virtually. Ron (Man-o) was the first person I ran into and started talking with. We were waiting around in the Art Room waiting to be told what to do and how to help. The re-reader just seemed to appear from there. After helping to cut art show ballots we made dinner plans. Once again with the help of Tektonica.
What a blast! All us virtual friends getting to know each other personally while joking with the other tables.
Thursday night was a casual mingling social in the main lobby. I meet Leigh for the first time and presented her with some “No ASoF&I Spoiler” stickers. Which gave her a good laugh. And continued to meet people whom I became friends with over the weekend.
Friday morning rolls around and I’ve volunteered to help. As have many other Re-Readers. Really people, Volunteer! Kristy Lussier &
Sarah Nakamura, are great ladies to work with.
Most of us helped with registration. And because we did, the staff saved us seats up close for the opening ceremony. We had a great view of all the silliness around Leigh’s speech.
Another benefit to volunteering? Swag! At the Sunday volunteers breakfast we were handed AMoL bags full of fun things and some got Memory Keeper shirts. But I digress.
The Friday night Re-read dinner was wonderful. I made a bad call. Ran back to get my jacket, since the temperature had dropped. Then was stuck in a non-operating elevator for 20-25 minutes. But the hotel had their shuttle on standby and I arrived to dinner before food orders were taken.
Passing our books around like it was a high school yearbook signing party was such fun.
Presenting Leigh with the Re-Reader’s shirt, mug, and her own special “I Survived Writing the WOT Re-Read” bumper sticker was a personal highlight.
Following the dinner were many pictures and the Karaoke!
Y’all, Leigh can SING! Her “Son of a Preacher Man” was fabulous! Many sparkly “Yay!” for her.
And right before the Karaoke came to close Richard Fife called our own Forkroot to step up to the mike. With his iPad in one hand and great sense of humor, he nailed his “Re-Read Tradition!”
Saturday is a fun blur of volunteering, panels, the Team Jordan Signing, and getting ready for the costume contest. The Saturday night parties are… you just have to stay for the parties. Even if you only come up for a day, stay for the parties. From the dance floor, which was crashed by two wedding parties (that included one bride and groom), to the smaller room parties where you just sit and BS about your favorite topics with strangers. Yet they are not strangers because you share the love of reading and the worlds that opens up because of it.
Sunday rolls around. I rushed around hoping to get the last few signatures. Attended two last panels, and started saying goodbye to good friend whom I just meet. I left on a JordanCon high and anticipating seeing my family again. Another part of me was sad that the experience was over…for the moment.
So the “which body conceived Aviendha’s quadruplets” debate is finally closed. And it brings to mind one thing I kept forgetting to address while it was raging. Several commenters expressed concern over how to answer the children’s questions of why they don’t look like their father. At least four different times I completely forgot to bring up that Rand never asked that question, even when he got to be substantially taller, redder of hair, lighter of eye than Tam. He refused to accept Moiraine’s hints that he was adopted, until Nynaeve couldn’t answer him straight up about it in Baerlon. People want to believe what is comfortable, especially children. It won’t be something which needs to be explained, until they are old enough to understand. It will have to be explained anyway, since all of the stories about Rand al’Thor will include heron-branded palm, dragon-marked forearms, and a missing hand, which won’t square with the man who visits from time to time, and who must be kept secret from the rest of the world.
On another note, I’m already trying to figure out how I can justify going next year. Though I have been mildly involved in the WoT online world for about eight years, fantasy fandom remains a fairly tiny portion of my life. Spending the coin to trip across the country, to meet folks I have become virtual friends with, is absolutely a valid thing, but I have more than myself to consider. We shall see.
insectoid
Awesome synopsis. Read it several times. 1 question. When you say BBQ, for a boy from NC(me), what do you mean?
PS: insectoid’s post mentioned shenanigans. I will pistol whip the next poster who mentions shenanigans (Reference anyone).
Braid_Tug
Awesome synopsis too.
Freelancer
I feel what you are saying about attendance. Fantasy fandom is a tiny portion (sorta) but giant passion in my life. I am praying that I can express the passion to my wife and she will be “on-board” with letting me attend in the near future.
I would like to add my greetings to all those who attended! I was held up by traffic on Friday; so much so that I feared missing the dinner! But thankfully I had worn my Loonies T-shirt, so someone tagged me as soon as I walked into the lobby! I don’t remember where I went when we came back from dinner, but I missed the pictures of the Bunker.
But I caught up with everybody at the Karaoke. Oh! I remember– I went to get the cookies out of the car! We really did have snickerdoodles in the Bunker!
Braid @89:
Great review!
KSE @92:
Grilled hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken, etc. I am not to blame if they misadvertised the food…
“Shen”… well, it seemed like a good word at the time, and everyone else was using it, so… *ducks*
JanDSedai @94:
And I totally missed out on them. :( (Tektonica too, I think.) Next time!
Bzzz™.
Hey insectoid
Wasn’t criticizing you for using shenanigans. I was attempting to be funny by referencing one of my favorite parts of one of my favorite funny movies, Super Troopers (obscure I know). I highly recommend it. If you don’t enjoy silly-funny though, you might no like it.
I got no snickerdoodles!
I got a WoT backpack at the volunteer’s breakfast, but I didn’t see any Memory Keepers t-shirts! My backpack only had a couple bumper stickers… :-{(
However, Kristy gave me my own special swag for volunteering: a portrait of Thom by artist Ariel Burgess. A surprisingly good likeness of moi.
Seriously, as Braid_Tug and Tektonica said, “volunteer!” I spent most of Friday morning at the registration table. I got to meet everyone as they checked in, and picking out (and buttoning) re-readers was a thrill. I also got to know most of the core organizers. A big perk was that we had first crack at the sign-up sheets for the kaffeeklatch sessions. These are small groups of 8-10 who get an hour of time with Harriet, Maria, Brandon, etc. What a thrill!
VOLUNTEER! You’ll be glad you did.