Mediawest - Post Con a.k.a Why It Should Be Called Crack Barrel

[mrwubbles]

Monday's a sad marker or puncuation mark on Mediawest. Goodbyes and hugs in the hotel is never as sad as the terminal in DTW. Saying see you next year in the hotel never seems too dismal, but hopeful that you will see them next year. Yes, I have discovered saying goodbye within the Holiday Inn still wraps you like an afghan in the illusion the con wasn't ending. I'm not a chick-flick person; goodbyes are usually mumbled and lost in hugs. In the airport, when reality comes in the form of an airplane, I want to do a Sammy-lower-lip. -wibbles-

What blows my mind every single year is that people are nice. Totally. Completely morally generous with their personalities, souls, everything. Shows me a little more hope. Shows me despite a few changes in my life, they're still my constant. It's why I am always grateful to MediaWest and would love to do something for it; I met most of everyone through Mediawest. I met my touchstones, myfieldnotes and penfoldx, through Mediawest.

The con doesn't have actors, no famous Hollywood melon heads. What Mediawest does have is friends. We got enough of the money grabbing -coughcreationcough- cons out there, but Mediawest had always been about reuniting with friends, sharing the passion of a show and sharing fic. Buying fanzines? Well, that's just cake. The friends is the frosting.

What Happened:
1. Saw awesome music videos. Still humming the cowboy song. Still drooling over the Doctor Who and Torchwood clips.
2. Sat in on some cool panels. Got 20 new fic recs to read. I think that's good. 
3. Sat in on FanQ. My friends won! Huzzah!
4. Had more than a dozen conversations in our room; people coming in with some of the most amazing topics
5. Consumed 3 open-faced pot roasts, a stack of chicken dumplings, mac-and cheese, pots of coffee, boxes of donuts, 3 oatmeal-chocolate cookies, 2 cans of Pringles (I shared!! and they were low-fat!!!), milkshakes, fries, and one cup of carrots. -burp-
6. Was a clue room for the con's own Amazing Race. And learned the Race part was literal. -oi-
7. Lots more if I can remember -eg-


What I Denied Happening:
1. I didn't eat all the Tim Toms. The box was half empty.
2. I didn't drool over the Jared photo on our door. Those were humidity marks. 
3. I didn't plot 12 new fics from this con. I just mused out loud about them.
4. I didn't just eat junk food. I had carrots.
5. I didn't consider yet another fandom and asked about SGA fic. I was cloned, I swear.
6. I didn't switched my writing name to Guppy Orchard . ( long story)
7. I didn't promise fics to five zines. Just four.
8. I didn't -squee- when we sighted Cracker Barrel. I was just hungry.


What I Wished Happened: 
1. More fanzines. Sadly, it's been a slow and hard year for everyone. Attendence was a little slower. Hoping it'll go back up next year because I do miss the insanity.
2. Door decoration. I had no time but I had  ideas...(uh oh)
3. Music Videos (see above)

Again, there's probably more, but I'm so sleep deprived (we wanted to keep talking so sleep got exterminated...eg) that things will come up as I remembered. But oh, the fun...

Comments

[deej1957.livejournal.com]

After spending so many years reading your fanfic, then listening to Cathy talk about you,it was a joy to finally get the chance to meet you.

And really, you should know by now that Cathy NEVER sleeps, so I've no clue why you expected to get any.

*G*

[mrwubbles.livejournal.com]

Well, you always hope for self improvement. I for one, vowed to stop flinging myself to the mercies of Bob Evans and Crack Barrel. I swore I would eat healthy, self improvement, good for my declining circulation, blah blah blah.

I had carrots. A cup full. And I barely had coffee. Barely.

Yea me. :)

[myfieldnotes.livejournal.com]

MW definitely exists in some sort of time rift bubble. It speeds by at a different rate than the rest of the world.

Seriously, where else in a single night are ya gonna learn short-cut codes for mass formatting fic for LJ, how to convert and save YouTube videos, discuss Dean's fate and the possibilty of how to get out of soul wrenching deals, the state of Sam's powers for good or ill, the attractive merits of quoting latin from memory, whisper in the dark until you're hoarse as the sun rises, jumpstart with a discussion on the merits of Sam being barefoot, and end it with a debate on whether or not it made a difference as to when midnight was, ie if Dean's deal was in PST time or EST, which culminated in the quote..."Ya know in Hell it's always the right time zone".

All that AND donuts--little, puffy, glazed doses of freshly made sugar filled addiction. Why eat 1 when 20 will do. Right?

I miss it and you already.

[mrwubbles.livejournal.com]

I love love that icon! Was it a manip or canon?

[obelix]

There never is enough time either during or after the con to get everything done.

I have tons of ideas for vids. Grac and I had ideas about a door decoration that we didn't have the time to implement. There are tons of people I always wish I had spent more time with and there are usually one or two vendors I miss because they are out when I'm available or I forget to check until they either run out of what I wanted or it's too late.

There is always next year and more Donuts! ;-)

[margec01.livejournal.com]

It was great to see you again at the convention. And I'm so glad we're lj friends now, so I can keep up with some of the things you are doing. AND read your fics! (g)

[mrwubbles.livejournal.com]

Oooh the pressure! :)

[bradygirl_12]

Always love reading people's experiences at the con! :)

When I first started attending years ago, I did meet a few friends in person, but by now most of my time is meeting and yakking with friends, new and old. :)

Though I still run around to at least four panels a day, try and catch vids, do runs around the Dealers' Room, prowl the halls...all in all, good times! ;)

[mrwubbles.livejournal.com]

I'm finding if I ever want to meet a bunch of people, this is the best place for it! We always wanna do our own con, but it costs so much to rent places and run events. A bunch of us would meet in Lansing. Like a mini-con within the con minus the hefty cost!

Yakking with friends old and new are great here. Finding a zine is good, too, but getting to reunited every year? The best!

[bradygirl_12]

The mini-con is a great idea. I know that in the heyday of Due South fandom, a bunch of us traveled to Chicago just to see the sights from the show and talk DS 24/7. :) We didn't have an 'official' con, just rented our rooms, did sightseeing, and ate out at different places. We'd attended the official DS con, RCW 139, in Toronto, but we wanted an informal thing. There were 18 of us and we had a great time! :)

[mrwubbles.livejournal.com]

Exactly, cons within cons have been done before. The great thing about MWC is we have the entire hotel, a chance to submit panels, the activities like vids, zines, dealers' room already mapped out. All we ever have to do is get people! I knew people who tried to make a con, but frankly, unless you can get over 100+ people, there's no way!

I'm tempted to go around LJ and get minicons going for the fandoms I'm in. We could walk around with our MWC badges and our LJ icons as badges too! :)

[bradygirl_12]

I'm tempted to go around LJ and get minicons going for the fandoms I'm in. We could walk around with our MWC badges and our LJ icons as badges too! :)

LOL! That would be fun! :)

[mrwubbles.livejournal.com]

Of course if they're like me with dozens of LJ icons because we just can't decide, someone's gonna be wearing loads of icons on their shirt. LOL

[bradygirl_12]

*laughs* True! I have at least a dozen, and even more buttons! :)