Random Thought from the Weekend ...

It's good to be in the middle!

Dorkstocky Goodness!

So that's one November convention down and another to go and despite my haphazard last-minute planning efforts, it went very well!  I evidently managed to pull it off, but even by my own estimate this was probably the worst planning job I've ever done for a convention.  It really snuck up on me and I almost screwed it up badly.  "What do you mean Dorkstock is in two weeks?  I swear it was just August a week ago!"  Having a load of paying work pop up in October didn't help matters, even if I really did need the money.  Still as a good friend reminded me over the weekend, I can call on my friends to help me when I get overwhelmed like that ... I just wish I had remember that myself a bit earlier.  (Thank you!)

Lots and lots of Really Good Things!  Inevitably there were lots of good games, with the many variations of Munchkin and Chez Geek  figuring very prominently, of course, but also a lot of Out of the Box  games and other John Kovalic ( muskrat_john  ) and Dork Storm related games.  (Is that enough links in one paragraph, do you think?)  I particularly enjoyed getting to play the "final prototype" version of an upcoming Out of the Box game called Ciniplexity -- sort of a combination of Apples to Apples and an unlimited movie trivial game.  Much thanks to John and the guys from Out of the Box for showing that one to us!

No Dorkstock would be complete without the Saturday night trip to Beef-A-Roo and the usual odd stares from the mundanes as this motely assortment of geeks and freaks decend upon their quiet little burger joint and ... well, be our usual selves, actually.  From the comic book and gaming discussions to terheyt 's story about how she earned the nickname "Liz the Tackle Taker," we did a wonderful job of freaking the mundanes ... even if we weren't doing it on purpose.

Apparently Dorkstock attracts celestrial phenomena. Last year we had the total lunar eclipse on Saturday night and this year we had a fantastic aurora borealis on Sunday night. We were driving along near the border of Wisconsin and Illinois heading East when I noticed the faint dancing lights in the sky. After confirming with Fran that they were in the North, I pulled over so we could watch them for a bit without running off the road! Very beautiful and a fitting end to a wonderful weekend.

Finally, we're a damn good looking bunch, that's for sure!  And my but aren't we friendly!  (But I also noticed that no one offered too much "friendliness" to anyone who wasn't open to it ... something I particularly appreciated.)  It's always great seeing those old friends that I rarely get to see and making new friends that I didn't know I had.

Dorkstock: See you next year!
Midwest FurFest: See you in two weeks!