It's Con Season

The other day I was with friends who decided to figure out who was the nerdiest among us.  Competition was fierce.  No one wanted to be the least nerdy, but no one wanted to be the most either.  The accountant was accusing the Magic player, but the leader of the marching band was sure it was me.  Then I mentioned I was planning to attend a science fiction convention soon for a series none of them had ever heard of.  We had a winner.

Manti-Con will take place in two months, and I will be attending for the first time.  It's not number one on my list, but I did read all the books.  I'm actually really interested in finding out about the culture, and why is it has such a big following here.

The other draw for me is that it will be very cheap.  It's literally blocks from my work, which is a place I can crash on the weekends for free if need be.  The place is mostly deserted, and I keep a hammock in the back.  I may or may not miss a day of work.

I am also planning to put together an uniform from that series for Convergence, so that will probably be a good place to get some ideas, and the badges I need, and such.  I wouldn't be surprised if I could buy the whole uniform fully assembled.

Then there is Convergence a month and a half after that.  I was informed the other day that I once again did not get a hotel room.  I'll be staying about a twenty minute walk away instead.  That doesn't sound like much, but leaving the hotel, versus not, is a big difference.

Next year I will have a plan.  If you volunteer at the convention for 25 hours, you get put ahead of the non-volunteers on the hotel list.  I never really considered it, because I didn't want to miss out on the convention while volunteering at it.  Then I found out that, not only can I volunteer before and after it, but those hours count as double.