On the road again: Chicon, day 5

For lots of different reasons, none of them fun, I ended up getting very, very little sleep last night and awoke exhausted and grumpy.  After work and a shower, I headed off the Baen traveling slideshow. 

I've led and participated in many of these events before, but this one was a first, because via Webcams we were linked live with the same event in Atlanta at DragonCon.  All things considered, it went quite well.  Toni Weisskopf led the proceedings in Atlanta, Jim Minz ran the show here in Chicago, and all the authors present in either venue spoke briefly about their latest works. 

After a work break, I toured the dealers' room and the art show.  The con has placed in the fan lounge a bunch of old video-game machines, so I indulged an old vice and left the top three scores on the Robotron machine.  (The only reason I did that well is that no one else playing was any good, either.) 

Dinner was a fun meal with friends at Gene & Georgetti, a Chicago steakhouse institution that does it old school.  We all left happy and full...and having sent back food we could not finish. 

For most of the Worldcons I've attended, I've attended the masquerade.  I did so again tonight.  I don't like to bash the work of volunteers, so I'll restrict my comments to this:  It needed a lot of work.  Even so, some of the contestants brought admirable work.  For my taste, the best in the show was a comic piece on the 1962 Seattle Century 21 Exposition (aka the Seattle World's Fair).  As of this writing, I don't know if won the Best in Show award, but it should have. 

As soon as the masquerade ended, we rushed to the elevators and headed to the top floor for the Baen party.  I helped out around the party and talked with a lot of good folks.  After a while, though, my social reserves gave out, and I headed back to the room to decompress, work, read, and crash. 

A day that ended far better than it began, for which I am grateful.