figmo | GAFilk report, Part I (Reply)

I'm back from GAFilk and haven't yet recovered.

Part 1: The Trip Out

This was my first cross-country plane trip since 9/11. I wore a blazer because I didn't want my Palm IIIxe x-rayed and read they make your remove coats but don't make you remove blazers. It worked. San Jose airport security was nice and hand-inspected the Palm IIIxe and the PowerBook.

I was stuck in an aisle seat for the first part of the red-eye out. I got a little rest, but no real sleep. I watched "Sweet Home Alabama." Good acting, lousy script.

At Chicago O'Hare Airport I had a hard time finding a Smarte Carte onto which to put my heavy carry-on bag containing five oversized lemons. When I did, it was free and waiting for me. I had a nearly two-hour layover, so I walked the length of the terminal a couple of times.

I arrived at the hotel just before 10am. They were moving out a group and didn't have my room ready, so I printed out Consonance flyers and got onto the Internet. When, after about half an hour of goofing around, I was told they normally charge and that they wanted to charge $5.00 to my room (I was only using the Internet because the woman said it was okay to hang around because "nobody's using that computer"), I shut everything down and left. Luckily, since I still had no room, there were no charges.

I hung out with

jerusha and her husband Jason, Marty Burke and Diana Gallagher, and eventually the Snyders,

spiritdance and her husband, and [Bad username or site: AUTOGRAPHED CAT @ livejournal.com] and

kitanzi joined us. This was my first time meeting the latter two, and I was greeted warmly by all.

A bunch of us went to the Waffle House for breakfast, and I got my first taste of authentic southern grits in years (hadn't had 'em since Musicon in the early 90s). I like grits.

After breakfast my room still wasn't ready, so I hung out some more. Around 2:30pm my room was finally ready, leaving me little to no time to clean up and sleep before the con officially started. Registration was supposed to start at 3pm, and I wanted to figure out whether I could eat the banquet food before buying a ticket, so I wanted to get there around 3:15pm. I was one of the first in line when registration finally opened, and since I could eat the food, I bought a ticket.

I then went back to the room to rest a bit and try to tweak my MIDI files, but the computer crashed. I went back to see what was going on in the lobby, ran into lots more folks, and eventually ran across the street to the A&W with

jhitchin for a quick bite and a chance to catch up on things. After that I changed into my "1.5 hour dress" and went to the champagne reception.

GAFilk decided to celebrate the new year and we sang all the verses of "Auld Lang Syne." I joined in on harmony and was well-received.

Next was the "My Filk" game. I was tired and needed to rest a bit, so I went back to the room, but I caught part of it. It was cute.

That evening blurs together from there. I shmoozed with lots of folks, met lots of new people, put names to faces, bought

adamselzer's CD, and caught up with folks I hadn't seen in years. Wow.

When I made it down to the open filking Bob Asprin was holding court, doing old Dorsai Irregulars songs. It was interesting getting a feel for that kind of filk compared to the more modern stuff. I wanted to set up my 2x10, so the one song I did was "Poetry's Greatest Hits (Volume I)." Bob Asprin thought it was funny and shook my hand. I had to restrain myself from going into gushy "fangirl" mode. I then was really ready to drop, so I went to my room and konked out.