Con Report:

AggieCon 34: It’s Just Like Jazz

Friday It was Paul and my 22nd wedding anniversary. I started throwing up on the way to College Station. How romantic. I had to stay in the hotel all day Friday and Friday night. I was ill. Oh boy, I was ill. I sent Paul out to scope out the lay of the land, and he comes back full of bubbly enthusiasm. He’s met Steven Gould and it looks like the interview is on. What’s more, Steven and Paul know all the same folks in SF fandom and it’s amazing to us both that they’ve never met before now. Paul also has mysterious bag that appears to be a load of SF books, but he’s not sharing that info with me currently. Probably doesn’t wanna admit how much he’s spent. Paul also ran into Frank (VF-XX), but Zack (Consoletations) is no where to be found. Saturday I don’t think I’m going to barf my guts out, so I drag myself out of bed and head over to the con with Paul. We head for registration, where Sidra is Queen. We check in, make mutual plans for dinner, buy a con t shirt (art by Brian Stelfreeze, yum) and head off to check out the con. The art show is great, as usual! I remember AggieCon 5, where the art show consisted of some comic art my boyfriend at the time was doing, and a couple of whale paintings. That was it, folks, the art show of AggieCon 5! Anyway, there were tons of various types of art, and I bought a "magic wand" made of cherry wood right away. I bid on this really cute print of a bad boy dragon who was being punished and sitting pissed off in a corner. Paul bid on this weird print entitled "Spin Fishing," which featured aliens in a alien landscape, um, fishing. We go to the dealers’ room. This year the room was quite diverse. We had everything from a guy giving massages to jewelry to odd animal crocheted hats. The standard con fare was there, too: SF books, action figures, gaming paraphernalia, comics, and medieval pointy objects. I would have liked more comic dealers, but that’s just me. As it was, I bought a new SF book from the good folks at Edge Books. Paul is one of their best customers: ) Paul also got an anthology book from them. If I was on a unlimited budget, I probably would have gone nuts in the dealer’s room, but as it was, I needed to restrain myself. Sidra and Zack joined us and we went to the charity auction. Sidra bid on the Munchkins card game and Paul and I bid on a dragon statue featuring a cool crystal ball. I admired all of the original art from the Iron Artist Contest. Each year some of the guest artists are given a challenge. Last year it was finger paints, this year it was crayons. The results are always amazing. One of these years I am going to have to attend the actual contest. I noticed that Zack had paid for a full con pass. I remarked to him that he didn’t have to pay for a full con pass, that he could have gotten a press pass. Zack then responded with my favorite comment of the entire con: "I would rather pay for a con pass than to have to write more stuff for you." Here’s proof that I’m The Future Mother In Law From Hell, folks! Mwah ha ha ha! We went out to dinner and then we sat in on the last part of the art auction. I discovered that Paul had indeed won his piece of odd alien art. I didn’t get my dragon, though. The costume contest followed the auction. It was great this year. Myhr came out of retirement to MC the event this year. Myhr is the entertaining cat person who MCed a lot of cons here in Texas. It was great to see his shart wit in action again. Myhr got spanked by a lady wielding a cat of 9 tails, he leered down various female contestants’ décolletage, and had his leg humped by a werewolf. It was one of those costume contests that can only happen in Texas. It was very entertaining. Next up was the Miss AggieCon Contest. Last year’s winner was a guy and a rat. This year the winner was SF writers Laura Mixon and Steven Gould’s youngest daughter. She stole the show, too. She stood up on stage and told Myhr she had paid everyone 3 dollars to vote for her. She stood up there and waved in her best Miss America fashion, too. Laura and Steve are gonna have to lock her in a closet when she turns 13, too, I can tell. Sidra left about this time to get ready for the Rocky Horror Picture Show production. She was playing Frank N Furter this year. Zack went off to sleep. I enjoyed watching the annual con dance. It was great, but too brief. After that Paul and I helped the cast members set up the room for the midnight movie. Being Sidra’s parents, we got nice front row seats. This years production of Rocky was even better than last year’s. I’m not just saying that because Sidra had the starring role, either. Most of the cast was the same as last years, and they were more familiar with their roles this year. It was really entertaining. After it was over, we dropped Sidra off at her dorm and then went and died. Sunday Dead tired, we headed to the con bright and early. Sidra had done her interview with Marv Wolfman, and Paul was scheduled to do his interview with Steven Gould. I helped Sidra and her assistant tear down registration, then Sidra was free to shop. Zack joined us on the shopping trip. We went to the dealers room, and Sidra saw a dealer was selling Munchkins, so I bought that for her. We headed to the art show, and I discovered that a laser print entitled "Cat Wants In" was still available and hadn’t sold in the auction. Very cool, I bought it. Now I have even more art that needs to be framed. *groan.* Eventually Paul returned to the con, and he had not only gotten the Gould interview, he had gone out to lunch with the Gould family. He sucked, I was jealous.