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Convention Recap
Jul. 6th, 2006 04:28 pmWow! The square dance convention was oodles of fun! Despite missing the past three conventions, I felt as though no time had passed, except that I too often had to admit that I had forgotten yet another name.
Air travel to and from the event was uneventful. There were the obligatory screaming infants, but they really didn't bother me too much. I connected through Chicago on the way out and my return flight stopped briefly in San Antonio. The flight from Chicago to LAX was crewed by a lovely group of lads: Domenic, Daniel and Donovan. Domenic and I exchanged several smiles. He was very cute.
Some of the folks on my friends list would have enjoyed being in a hotel right next to the 2006 Anime Expo. We were treated to many, many examples of costuming creativity. I assume they were all dressed up as anime characters, but I didn't recognize any of them. Looking over some Flickr photographs, I do recognize the Full Metal Alchemist, just because I saw it on Adult Swim while resting in the hotel room over the weekend.
So what did I end up doing on my extra day? My hotel roommate Deb and I went to Downtown Disney to see Superman Returns, then lunched at Jazz Kitchen Express and wandered through the shops. When I woke up that morning, I walked around the region for about an hour, so I got plenty of walking in on Friday.
Thursday evening, I had dinner at a place named Mr. Stox with Tom V., Dennis, Oliver, and Ward. Mr. Stox was a pricey place -- my meal was about thirty dollars, but it was delicious. My only complaint would be that they charged $2.75 for each glass of soda I ordered. Grr.
The rest of the weekend was various parts dancing, eating, napping, and socializing. ("Socializing" is a broad category.) High points were the LJ tip, where we had lots of dancers who frequent LiveJournal (check it out, you may recognize some names!); the moonshine tip, where we had lots of dancers with no clothes on; and the six-couple C2 tip called by Vic Cedar, which was lots of fun.
I did dance a fair amount of C2 this weekend. I made a special point of showing up for the C2 workshop on Sunday. I also showed up for the C2 intro on Sunday, but it was actually scheduled for Monday. What I walked into was the TNP/WFH (translation: Take No Prisoners/Way Fucking Hard) C2 hour. I survived it all. Then I ended up missing the C2 intro on Monday because I had to pack my bags to check out of our room.
Because I haven't been to the past three conventions, I ended up registering for this one on-site and then the next two over the course of the weekend: Denver, CO in 2007 and Cleveland, OH in 2008. I also bought a Denver convention shirt in the loveliest shade of purple and a calendar of tasteful photos of naked New York gay square dancers.
The most touching moment was when![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
nanocub pulled out his wallet to show me that he carries a small print of a photo of him and Cameron that I took a few years ago at the Phoenix fly-in. He told me that he carries it everywhere and it's his favorite photo of the two of them out of all the photos he has. I've shared this photo before, but here it is again.
After flying back to BWI, I immediately took a train to DC to house sit for Jim. There was no MARC service on July 4 and the next cheap train was longer than I wanted to wait, so I took an Acela from BWI to Washington, DC. Those cars are rather spiffy. I'd love to take a longer trip in one someday. Maybe up to New York City.
Last night, I had dinner with David S., a man that I first met at the Mid-Atlantic Men's Gathering in May 2005. He and I had dinner at a vegetarian Indian restaurant in Maryland named Woodlands, then we went shopping at the Big K-Mart and briefly stopped at his house for a tour and some small talk. :-) I had a great time talking with him. We have a lot in common and we're attracted to each other, but we didn't do anything beyond exchanging a hug and a few kisses. That will be for some other time. He drove me back to Jim's house and we said good night.
Tonight, I'm returning to Baltimore, but I'm still not sleeping in my own bed. I'm staying with Jeffrey again tonight. We'll finish watching the first season of Curb Your Enthusiasm and I'll regale him with stories of convention. Then I'm planning to spend Friday night, Saturday and Saturday night with Eric before house sitting for Dayle for a few days. I won't be sleeping in my own bed again until July 18, at the earliest.
Air travel to and from the event was uneventful. There were the obligatory screaming infants, but they really didn't bother me too much. I connected through Chicago on the way out and my return flight stopped briefly in San Antonio. The flight from Chicago to LAX was crewed by a lovely group of lads: Domenic, Daniel and Donovan. Domenic and I exchanged several smiles. He was very cute.
Some of the folks on my friends list would have enjoyed being in a hotel right next to the 2006 Anime Expo. We were treated to many, many examples of costuming creativity. I assume they were all dressed up as anime characters, but I didn't recognize any of them. Looking over some Flickr photographs, I do recognize the Full Metal Alchemist, just because I saw it on Adult Swim while resting in the hotel room over the weekend.
So what did I end up doing on my extra day? My hotel roommate Deb and I went to Downtown Disney to see Superman Returns, then lunched at Jazz Kitchen Express and wandered through the shops. When I woke up that morning, I walked around the region for about an hour, so I got plenty of walking in on Friday.
Thursday evening, I had dinner at a place named Mr. Stox with Tom V., Dennis, Oliver, and Ward. Mr. Stox was a pricey place -- my meal was about thirty dollars, but it was delicious. My only complaint would be that they charged $2.75 for each glass of soda I ordered. Grr.
The rest of the weekend was various parts dancing, eating, napping, and socializing. ("Socializing" is a broad category.) High points were the LJ tip, where we had lots of dancers who frequent LiveJournal (check it out, you may recognize some names!); the moonshine tip, where we had lots of dancers with no clothes on; and the six-couple C2 tip called by Vic Cedar, which was lots of fun.
I did dance a fair amount of C2 this weekend. I made a special point of showing up for the C2 workshop on Sunday. I also showed up for the C2 intro on Sunday, but it was actually scheduled for Monday. What I walked into was the TNP/WFH (translation: Take No Prisoners/Way Fucking Hard) C2 hour. I survived it all. Then I ended up missing the C2 intro on Monday because I had to pack my bags to check out of our room.
Because I haven't been to the past three conventions, I ended up registering for this one on-site and then the next two over the course of the weekend: Denver, CO in 2007 and Cleveland, OH in 2008. I also bought a Denver convention shirt in the loveliest shade of purple and a calendar of tasteful photos of naked New York gay square dancers.
The most touching moment was when
nanocub pulled out his wallet to show me that he carries a small print of a photo of him and Cameron that I took a few years ago at the Phoenix fly-in. He told me that he carries it everywhere and it's his favorite photo of the two of them out of all the photos he has. I've shared this photo before, but here it is again.After flying back to BWI, I immediately took a train to DC to house sit for Jim. There was no MARC service on July 4 and the next cheap train was longer than I wanted to wait, so I took an Acela from BWI to Washington, DC. Those cars are rather spiffy. I'd love to take a longer trip in one someday. Maybe up to New York City.
Last night, I had dinner with David S., a man that I first met at the Mid-Atlantic Men's Gathering in May 2005. He and I had dinner at a vegetarian Indian restaurant in Maryland named Woodlands, then we went shopping at the Big K-Mart and briefly stopped at his house for a tour and some small talk. :-) I had a great time talking with him. We have a lot in common and we're attracted to each other, but we didn't do anything beyond exchanging a hug and a few kisses. That will be for some other time. He drove me back to Jim's house and we said good night.
Tonight, I'm returning to Baltimore, but I'm still not sleeping in my own bed. I'm staying with Jeffrey again tonight. We'll finish watching the first season of Curb Your Enthusiasm and I'll regale him with stories of convention. Then I'm planning to spend Friday night, Saturday and Saturday night with Eric before house sitting for Dayle for a few days. I won't be sleeping in my own bed again until July 18, at the earliest.
