My son, the consummate con-goer

We just got back from our first weekend-long con as a family of three, and AwesomeCloud did astonishingly well.

It was a very small con, taking up two hallways' worth of convention halls, and a single elevator up to our hotel room. It was a very easy setup for a two-year-old to memorize, and not a lot of opportunity for him to get lost. The consuite (the room filled with endless free snacks) was a straight shot from the dealer room - if we ever lost sight of Cloud, he was likely to be found in that corridor.

He had cheerful, boundless energy all weekend, with, amazingly, no naps. Fortunately, a few of the other congoers found themselves charmed by him and helped us burn off some of his hyper energy. I really thought he was going to overload, but today he seems like his normal self, so I guess he's not as subject to burnout as I am.

The dealer room was very quiet most of the time, and Cloud was able to run and spin and play in the mostly-empty middle of the room. He won't be able to do that in more crowded shows, so in the future, we'll have to make more effort to lead him away from the table and find fun things for him to do at the con.

Most amazingly, he didn't damage ANY of the merchandise! (He did manhandle a cat minicomic with damp hands, but the book managed to survive unscathed. And I think we sold it later.)

The genre of the day was steampunk. For those of you who are not familiar with steampunk it is Victorian-era fantasy tech - what people dreamed the future would be like 100-odd years ago. There were top hats and goggles, an antique phonograph and a pair of pseudo-hydraulic, copper-springed stilt-boots. There were hoop dresses and Ren-faire dresses with bodices, and even a couple of steampunk bodices - it's fun to mix genres! Wear what you've got! The woman in the Dahlek dress got applause wherever she went.

Pi-con attracts a lot of women. I was thinking about BlogHer a little, and all the preening that I've heard goes on there, and all the preening that went on at Pi-Con too. The woman in the green satin hoop skirt dress must have preened quite a lot, although she told me the dress was designed to get into and out of very easily. (It's not so authentic that way.)

Now I'm all into the idea of costuming again. What did little boys wear in the Victorian age? And I'm wondering about getting a leather aviator cap, with the flaps. I'm such a dreamer! Always wanting to start the next novel project, and I haven't even finished the giant squid yet. Of course, costuming always makes me want to get in shape, even though I was slimmer than 75% of the other people there, so now I'm thinking of starting the Prodigy workout again. (The Prodigy workout is me dancing to the music of The Prodigy. It's like clubbing, but without the alcohol, people, DJ, funky lights, or admission fee.)

I should start networking, writing to all the wonderful people I talked to, but I can't remember their names. Eh. Guess I'll do laundry instead. And draw something.