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nosrednaydujI went to what might be the last Arisia. They are taking a gap year due to personnel issues at the top that I don't understand. It was pretty chaotic organizationally; everything was very very late in getting scheduled. I'm just a peon so I don't know anything. I did try to volunteer to help early on but nobody asked me to do anything, probably because it was more complicated to explain how or what than to just do it. Maybe they will get it together and actually have a 2028 Arisia, or maybe it will just fade into the distance. Last year when we had the same hotel it was too small. This year there were fewer attendees, and so the hotel was a good fit. Probably there was loss of money as a result though.
I volunteered in gaming and coat check again. I ended up playing more games than I usually do. I particularly liked a game called "Magicians Challenge". I went to a couple of sing-alongs and did the "summit Mount Arisia" challenge. Climbing 15 flights three times in a row (with descent in between times) is a good workout and makes your thighs very sore the next day.
They had two new events this year which were pretty popular.
In gaming, somebody had the idea to have a Yankee swap where you were supposed to bring a gift wrapped game (not new) and do the Yankee swap thing. (Google it if you haven't heard of it.) There were about 50 participants. I didn't participate, because I looked at all of our games and said "well these are good and I don't want to give them away, and those are crap and I don't want to inflict them on someone". I actually had one I could give away, because I've been trying to sell my friends copy of McMulti, which I believed was worth something, but I think that was only 30 years ago when I paid $100 for mine. Probably that would have been somewhat popular. A couple of games were stolen several times. So I didn't enter, but I was staffing the table at the time, so I got to watch. Someone had brought like 15 extra games "in case people came who wanted to participate but didn't have a game to give". So I could have participated, but I decided to just watch. At the end, there were a bunch of games that had not been opened yet because not as many as 15 extra people came, and people opened them and then took some, and there was also some informal trading among the participants who had a game that they didn't care about. And then at the very end there were like three games sitting on the table and somebody said "someone come take these games", so I grabbed one.
The other interesting new event was "night market" where crafters were supposed to bring small things and barter them with other crafters. Well I'm not a crafter, so I brought homemade cookies. I got a few random little kitsch things that I traded my cookies for. It was kind of entertaining to wander around. Unfortunately, the dealer's room, where people sell stuff, was primarily little kitsch things, and I wasn't interested enough to part with money for them. There were only two booksellers and there were no T-shirt sellers. I bought a few used books. I also got an old Fantasy & Science Fiction magazine at the night market where a bunch of things were being given away for free. We'll see if some short stories from 1994 are any good.
In an unusual step for me, I actually bought some art. I bought a print of this piece: http://www.clemensart.com/images/tunacookie.jpg . I've been enjoying the artwork by this artist about this cat and dragon for years, and decided that I like this one a lot and it needs to hang in my kitchen. You can see more here: http://www.clemensart.com/mlindex.htm
I volunteered in gaming and coat check again. I ended up playing more games than I usually do. I particularly liked a game called "Magicians Challenge". I went to a couple of sing-alongs and did the "summit Mount Arisia" challenge. Climbing 15 flights three times in a row (with descent in between times) is a good workout and makes your thighs very sore the next day.
They had two new events this year which were pretty popular.
In gaming, somebody had the idea to have a Yankee swap where you were supposed to bring a gift wrapped game (not new) and do the Yankee swap thing. (Google it if you haven't heard of it.) There were about 50 participants. I didn't participate, because I looked at all of our games and said "well these are good and I don't want to give them away, and those are crap and I don't want to inflict them on someone". I actually had one I could give away, because I've been trying to sell my friends copy of McMulti, which I believed was worth something, but I think that was only 30 years ago when I paid $100 for mine. Probably that would have been somewhat popular. A couple of games were stolen several times. So I didn't enter, but I was staffing the table at the time, so I got to watch. Someone had brought like 15 extra games "in case people came who wanted to participate but didn't have a game to give". So I could have participated, but I decided to just watch. At the end, there were a bunch of games that had not been opened yet because not as many as 15 extra people came, and people opened them and then took some, and there was also some informal trading among the participants who had a game that they didn't care about. And then at the very end there were like three games sitting on the table and somebody said "someone come take these games", so I grabbed one.
The other interesting new event was "night market" where crafters were supposed to bring small things and barter them with other crafters. Well I'm not a crafter, so I brought homemade cookies. I got a few random little kitsch things that I traded my cookies for. It was kind of entertaining to wander around. Unfortunately, the dealer's room, where people sell stuff, was primarily little kitsch things, and I wasn't interested enough to part with money for them. There were only two booksellers and there were no T-shirt sellers. I bought a few used books. I also got an old Fantasy & Science Fiction magazine at the night market where a bunch of things were being given away for free. We'll see if some short stories from 1994 are any good.
In an unusual step for me, I actually bought some art. I bought a print of this piece: http://www.clemensart.com/images/tunacookie.jpg . I've been enjoying the artwork by this artist about this cat and dragon for years, and decided that I like this one a lot and it needs to hang in my kitchen. You can see more here: http://www.clemensart.com/mlindex.htm
