happy
We walked up Woodward Avenue to the ball park, and as luck would have it, some of the other Detcon members (including
gerisullivan) were coming up to the same gate just as we arrived.
We made it to our seats just before first pitch.
Here's a picture of most of our fan group. Unfortunately, I slipped while shooting it and cut off part of Chris Barkley's head. (No jokes, please.)
After a while, it started to drizzle. It was never enough to cause the game to be suspended, but it came close a couple of times, and Lisa made
travelswithkuma take cover under one of my shirts that she'd brought with her to serve as a rain jacket, as a wet Kuma is not a Happy Kuma.
I, however, was happy enough, even with the rain (preferable to scorching sun), and shot this picture of me showing two of my fandoms at once between the shirt and the hat.
I had no dog in today's fight. Heck, I wasn't even in the right league, this being an American League ballpark. Cleveland won 6-2. I enjoyed watching the game and collecting my fifth active and sixth total Major League Baseball stadium. Goodness knows that Comerica Park is a lot more comfortable than Wrigley Field, no matter how "atmospheric" the "friendly confines" are.
After the ball game, we bade farewell to our fellow SF fans, most of whom had to get back to the convention sooner than us, and went to Greektown where we had a late lunch at the same place we ate yesterday, the New Parthenon restaurant.
Lisa had the same gyro plate she had yesterday, but I tried this baked macaroni platter with spiced ground beef, feta cheese, and tomato sauce. I liked it a lot.
We went back to the hotel, set our baseball caps aside to dry, and I returned to the Marriott, leaving Lisa to wash her hair and get cleaned up a bit.
By the time I got there, the Exhibit Hall had already closed and the Fan Tables, including the three 2017 bidders pictured here, were getting ready to shut down. I hung around making conversation with people until Lisa arrived in her Imperial Airship Corps uniform. I then hopped on the People Mover back to the Crowne Plaza and changed into my uniform, eventually re-connecting with Lisa up in the Minneapolis in 2073 Bid Party.
Colonel Chinstrap is without his trusty pith helmet here at Detcon 1, but he has his bush hat and his long-suffering aide at his side.
Kuma Bear got into the act as well, wearing his DangerMouse costume.
Speaking of costumes, I left Lisa up at the Minneapolis party and went down to catch the Masquerade and YA Award Ceremony. This photo makes it look like the place was sold out with people backed out through the doors, but in fact there were plenty of seats in the wings. I went through one of the side doors and circled around to a seat in the front row.
As it happens, I was there for only the last couple of entries in the main masquerade. After the judges retired to deliberate, the Golden Duck Awards were presented. I'm afraid the kindest thing that I can say about their presentation was that they were very earnest, and the event required a fair bit of time to be taken at this point. However, if the GD organizers are trying to convince Worldcon runners to add their award to the Hugo Awards Ceremony, this presentation was not the way to do it.
In contrast, the Detcon 1 YA Awards presentation by Nnedi Okorafor (and her daughter, both of whom looked wonderful) was crisp and efficient, and even better, one of the nominees who was present won.
Co-MC Tom Smith found himself having to vamp for time after the Masquerade Workmanship Awards were announced until the Presentation Awards were ready to do. I regret that I do not have photos of any of the entries or lists of the winners to include here. I merely have a couple of photos taken after the event ended and the lights came back up.
As I was heading back up to the 69th floor after the Masquerade, I realized that I didn't have my membership badge. Thinking that I'd dropped it somewhere in the ballroom, I retraced my steps back to the 3rd level, but couldn't find it. Then it hit me: I returned to the Minneapolis party, found Lisa, and she handed me my badge that I'd left in care of Kuma Bear while we were having our pictures taken. This was a case of so many people knowing me on sight that I'd simply walked past most security without realizing I didn't have my badge.
With the badge situation squared away, Lisa and I made a round of the parties.
At the Kansas City in 2016 "The Last Speakeasy" party, we found
hazelchaz doing door duty looking very dapper, and Detcon 1 Chair Tammy Coxen — who had sat next to me at the Masquerade/Awards event fretting over details and occasionally doing a bit of impromptu stage management duty — came by, whereupon I shot this photo just after Chaz took a photo of Lisa and me in our Imperial Airship Corps outfits.We went to fewer parties tonight, partially because the Minneapolis in 2173 party was so comfortable: not too crowded, not too loud, and not full of people competing to see how drunk they could get and how fast. Our other main stops were KC 2016 and New Orleans 2018 before we had to leave at 11 because we'd not had dinner.
It was too late for the Food Court tonight, so we headed for Greektown again, where we ate at the open-all-night place next to the New Parthenon. It was okay, and I'm glad we went, but it's nothing special.
We could have jumped on the People Mover (and completed the set because the section between Greektown and Millennium Center is the only section we haven't yet traveled), but with full stomachs, we elected to walk back to the Crowne Plaza. It was pretty late, and yes, we were still in our costumes from the convention, but as long as we kept to well-lit streets we felt pretty safe. It did not take long before we were back in our hotel room being very grateful we could take off our shoes and socks. I think that we have logged more than 15,000 steps every day we've been here.
It was a good day at Detcon 1, albeit one where much of our convention day was spent off site. I apologize to my fellow SJ in 2018 bid committee members for not pulling my full weight with our activities at the convention. I've been taking it relatively easy and enjoying myself instead of working. and trying to not feel guilty about doing so.