Sakura of DOOM

In which I get lost and arrive quite baffled

Day 1 of Norwescon is actually more of a Hour 1 of Norwescon. I hurried home from work and threw together my luggage, left many detailed instructions with the boy re: how to take care of the rats, because I am a paranoid rat owner who loves my pets. Got to the airport. Ate expensive airport food that never tastes expensive. Sat. Sat some more. Got really bored and sick of dragging my luggage with me every time I wanted to go somewhere or use the bathroom. It's really hard fitting all of one's carry-on luggage in a little stall!

Ahem.

I ended up buying Simon Winchester's Krakatoa at the airport, simply because I cannot resist buying books at airports.

By the time I got to Seattle, I had finished Emma Bull's Bone Dance and was also extremely tired. Note to self for next con: do not spend the week before con sleeping only 5 hours a night.

I spent a good half hour wandering around SeaTac airport trying to find the shuttle to the hotel. Of course, said shuttle was located with all other courtesy vehicles, instead of with airporters, which is what I naturally thought. Then there was much nervous waiting for the shuttle and figuring that ohmigod I had landed at the wrong place, the shutle would never pick me up, I had made up the con, yhlee would not be there to greet me, I would be completely and utterly stupid and why in the world was I doing this anyway?

It didn't help that when I was on the shuttle, the driver oh so kindly warned all the passengers, "Just letting you guys know, there's some science fiction convention going on at the hotel. Lots of weird people wandering around." Many bad jokes about Trekkies and people in costume ensued.

I finally got to the hotel and saw Yoon in the lobby! Joy! Someone I knew! Although there was one of those funny awkward moments in which neither of us was sure that the other was the right person. I mean, I was rather sure, because how many Asian women would be waiting in the lobby, but then Yoon looked sort of confused or unsure, so then I felt confused and unsure, until finally we got our identities straightened out. Yoon led me to the registration line, while I was mostly looking around, completely and utterly in awe at the scope of the thing. You see, I had thought that if this was just the Northwestern version of Worldcon, that it would be rather intimate. I mean, maybe it is, comparatively, but it was still huge!

People milled around, some in geeky t-shirts referencing Star Trek or Cthulu or entrails (I liked the entrails ones), some in goth ensemble, some in Ren Faire or medieval type outfits. Lots of people with horns. Lots of people with wings. Some people in full regalia, very cool. Signs everywhere, people everywhere.

Got my lovely little bag of the con guides and freebies (book!) and then wandered up to the hotel room, feeling incredibly lost and overwhelmed. I hadn't even planned out which panels I wanted to attend because I had been so busy with the moving and the feeling miserable. Feeling miserable really takes up a good deal of energy.

Finally got to sit down with Yoon and exchange ritualistic greetings and presents, and I got to see her loot! Loot already, on just the first day! Drooled in envy. I sort of darted around from thing to thing and sniffed at BPAL samples and paged through Korean textbooks and the panel guide and generally felt my brain overload. Luckily, then, there was food gettage and finally sleep.