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01/07/2004 Entry: "EveCon XXI - What a Long Strange Trip It's Been, Part 2: Feeling better never felt so sad..." But after that programming, I was totally spent. I went back up to the room, dizzy and out of it, and ended up having a bizarre discussion with April about the psychology of brain fixations. April is a sort of psychologist (she can reply to her actual title), but studying to become a brain specialist. Did I mention she was sharing our hotel room? Yeah. She was the same April from our beach trip, and I find her analysis of the human animal to be quite useful in my growing repertoire of knowledge. She changed into her costume, the Slave Girl Princess Leia from "Return of the Jedi" a costume she made herself. Complete with a mini Salacious Crumb on a chain. Now, I have seen a lot of fan girls wear this costume, and I must say, this was one of the best. It was made entirely from cloth, there was no metal, but it still looked VERY much like the original. April, I'd've been more enthusiastic about it, but I was rather sick. You looked good in it. She ordered us Chinese food, and I just got Shrimp fried rice. She didn't want me to pay for it (she had to order a minimum anyway), but she was downstairs when the food came, so I gave the delivery guy a BIG tip instead :). I didn't do masquerade as my usual position of "nonjudgmental judge" this con. Kory was unsure who was doing it, and when I asked Cheryl she said, "Keep your head low, and mouth shut ... maybe they'll never find you." I must say, I felt bad being in my hotel room, but they got Jim Morrison (not the late Doors singer, but ... never mind, just Jim of "Aynne and Jim") to do it, and I managed to catch the last few minutes, and he did a great job. I kind of missed not doing it for one last time, but I am glad I got to rest. The Chinese food had a lot of MSG, which I felt I kind of needed, and after eating it, I felt WAY better. MSG makes my heart rate go nuts, but if I don't have to sleep, that's fine. Shortly before 9pm, I felt good enough to wander about and socialize. I caught the last few minutes of Jim's award performance, and then I spent the rest of the night ... chatting and catching up. But I apologize to the following people for not having a good heart-to-heart: - Albedo: Damn, I have to go see you in Philadelphia some weekend. - Rocky: How did we miss each other? We need to spend a day in DC. - Miguel: I am sorry I didn't attend the poetry panel. I just forgot my poems. - Kory: But you were busy, man. Read your mail: I have some GenCon questions. - Cheryl: I have some plans I want to discuss with you. But they can wait. I stayed up until 4am. Talking. Why do you people let me keep talking? But thanks to some of these chats, I found out: - Arabian Horses are the "dumb blondes" of the horse world - I have actually known Sawa since she was 5. - Crazy people are often customers at fabric stores - A calm, curious, "Well now, how did you do that?" is how Tiger's parents respond to impaling injuries found in their children. - If you liked "Kids in the Hall," or various members of Saturday Night Live in the 1990s... you are alone in Security Central. - Members of the London Rocky Horror cast had sex a lot. With each other. Richard O'Brien and Patricia Quinn are also ... rather free about their choices. Apparently, there's a tale about an orgy where some cast member was trapped against a wall, too afraid to run out the door, because that meant he'd have to move around the people having sex, and might get sucked into the fray, so he just waited for hours until it was over. The next day I felt a lot better, even though I only got a few hours sleep. We had to get up so Dominic (Chris's best friend, who came with us) could call his mom. Then we got breakfast. I did the art auction with Ralph (Sasquatch), which was kind of an honor, because he used to run the art show with Darryl Kummerow way back when, and has been around since EveCon 1 (he was from the first Technicon wave that FanTek received). It was nice to do Auction with Ralph, and sort of a full circle closure for me. This auction had the highest-selling Cjae piece that went for something like $165 (starting bid: her usual $3). It was also, fittingly, the last auction. And even though Christine was not Art Goddess this time around (Moria was), she helped them close anyway. Closing ceremonies was pretty cool. Everyone there got to say who they were, and what they did at the con, from volunteer to just attendee. Bruce and Cheryl really dedicated the last ceremonies to the audience, which was very good of them, I think. I was so proud to see them there, getting the praise they deserve, and to hear so many testimonies from people who grew up, gained a friend, or even met a spouse because of FanTek cons. Man, Bruce and Cheryl have changed so many lives. Ralph then suggested we get a group photo of all kids born because of cons, or grew up from kids at cons. There was like 20 of them, aged 0 - 21 (but most around 5-8 years old). Chris Schaffer and Tony Montori won the computers in the raffle. Chris really deserved it, since she doesn't have a lot of disposable income. Tony was collecting for someone else, and said it would be used as a proxy server. I can't be jealous, because I would have just used it as my new Linux box to add to the 6-8 I have now. After that, we packed up the truck, and met at the Sunrise Buffet, a Chinese buffet in Reston. We did another toast to Bruce and Cheryl, and then Christine and I said our final good-byes, picked up our dogs, and went home. I still have my last EveCon badge in my backpack. It has a photo of Bruce making a sand castle, and I feel like he's been sent off to persue a dream. It was a fitting last badge for the end of an old era, and the beginning of a new. I can't bear to put it away yet, in my ziplock bag of badges past. I just want to hold on for a few more days... FanTek itself is not dead, of course. Bruce and Cheryl will still have parties, bad movie nights, and other events at their house, and maybe show up at other cons, but their own cons and the Castle are gone for now. If they return in a few years, after Cheryl has graduated college, and Bruce's career has given back some good money, they may have something new, like a FanTek reunion, but it will be a while. But I will be there.