The Not-Long-Enough OVFF Report
Oct. 29th, 2024 10:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
billroperLet's talk about OVFF, although it won't be nearly as long as it should be.
Other than spending an hour and a half in the lobby waiting for our room, apparently because they forgot to tell me that the room was ready after telling me to go wait there for them to call me, I had a fine time. The room was in good enough shape (although the lamp wouldn't reliably hold a plug, but I had an extension cord and a free outlet :) ), so that wasn't a problem.
The Pegasus Concert was great fun and I really enjoyed getting the chance to perform "The Prophecy Hotline" with K. This is what happens after four years of high school drama...
We grabbed dinner with Erica and Steve. After that, it was time to go off to bed. I had gotten up early so that I could have a chance of getting the table set up in the dealers' room on Friday afternoon, but waiting 90 minutes for the room took care of that plan. And I decided that I would rather have more sleep than breakfast, so I headed directly down and got things set up, opening only about half an hour late. Trace was good enough to bring lunch, which was a fine thing, conversations were good, and business was, well, meh. Sales were down 30% from last year and 17% from two years ago, which is noticeable. But happily, this is not how I make my living. :)
More good conversation at the Pegasus Banquet, a lot of well-deserved awards were distributed, and then it was off to the songwriting contest. I drew the next to last slot for "It's Propaganda", which won the audience choice award, which made me happy. The Interfilk Auction was suitably silly and raised a goodly amount of money.
And now it was finally time to filk. I saw Katy set up in German Village, dropped my checkbook on a chair there, and went to retrieve my guitar. No one moved the checkbook while I was gone, so I had apparently succeeded in buying the chair. The room switched into a theme circle on "Reaching Out" shortly after I arrived, so I contributed "A Distant Song", which was about someone *else* reaching out (and a bunch of aliens who I think I like *much* better than humans). Later, I got to introduce "Wind and Water", which was my other new song for the con (along with "It's Propaganda"), and it seemed to go over well. "You Should Know" started a brief cycle of love songs, and when it was time to go, I pulled out "Third Planet From the Sun".
(On my way home, I had switched to the "Beatles Channel" on the satellite radio, where they have the 24/8 tag referencing -- of course -- "Eight Days a Week". I was contemplating that was something that would be extremely difficult to file the serial numbers off of and repurpose when I realized that "Third Planet" is structurally similar to "The Green Hills of Earth". Just written by *me* instead of Rhysling/Heinlein.)
And that was the extent of my singing for the convention, but it was a fun circle to be in, which was the objective.
The next day, we woke up, packed out of the room, skipped the hotel breakfast (which I'm told was a wise decision), and headed back to the dealers' room. Some time around 3:30, the last customer came through. And I managed to find (with Trace's help) everyone that I owed a check to for new CDs and get those written. I still need to write the rest of the checks and get them in the mail, but work has not been cooperating.
K and I grabbed dinner with Trace and then lit out for Chicago, making it in the excellent time of about six hours and fifteen minutes, accompanied for part of the journey by the USB stick of this year's Pegasus Concert.
Some year, I will find a way to do more singing at OVFF. Staying for the dead dog would help. When I no longer have children at home (or in school), that may be more feasible.
That day is coming much faster than I had expected. I'm not sure that I am going to like it...
Other than spending an hour and a half in the lobby waiting for our room, apparently because they forgot to tell me that the room was ready after telling me to go wait there for them to call me, I had a fine time. The room was in good enough shape (although the lamp wouldn't reliably hold a plug, but I had an extension cord and a free outlet :) ), so that wasn't a problem.
The Pegasus Concert was great fun and I really enjoyed getting the chance to perform "The Prophecy Hotline" with K. This is what happens after four years of high school drama...
We grabbed dinner with Erica and Steve. After that, it was time to go off to bed. I had gotten up early so that I could have a chance of getting the table set up in the dealers' room on Friday afternoon, but waiting 90 minutes for the room took care of that plan. And I decided that I would rather have more sleep than breakfast, so I headed directly down and got things set up, opening only about half an hour late. Trace was good enough to bring lunch, which was a fine thing, conversations were good, and business was, well, meh. Sales were down 30% from last year and 17% from two years ago, which is noticeable. But happily, this is not how I make my living. :)
More good conversation at the Pegasus Banquet, a lot of well-deserved awards were distributed, and then it was off to the songwriting contest. I drew the next to last slot for "It's Propaganda", which won the audience choice award, which made me happy. The Interfilk Auction was suitably silly and raised a goodly amount of money.
And now it was finally time to filk. I saw Katy set up in German Village, dropped my checkbook on a chair there, and went to retrieve my guitar. No one moved the checkbook while I was gone, so I had apparently succeeded in buying the chair. The room switched into a theme circle on "Reaching Out" shortly after I arrived, so I contributed "A Distant Song", which was about someone *else* reaching out (and a bunch of aliens who I think I like *much* better than humans). Later, I got to introduce "Wind and Water", which was my other new song for the con (along with "It's Propaganda"), and it seemed to go over well. "You Should Know" started a brief cycle of love songs, and when it was time to go, I pulled out "Third Planet From the Sun".
(On my way home, I had switched to the "Beatles Channel" on the satellite radio, where they have the 24/8 tag referencing -- of course -- "Eight Days a Week". I was contemplating that was something that would be extremely difficult to file the serial numbers off of and repurpose when I realized that "Third Planet" is structurally similar to "The Green Hills of Earth". Just written by *me* instead of Rhysling/Heinlein.)
And that was the extent of my singing for the convention, but it was a fun circle to be in, which was the objective.
The next day, we woke up, packed out of the room, skipped the hotel breakfast (which I'm told was a wise decision), and headed back to the dealers' room. Some time around 3:30, the last customer came through. And I managed to find (with Trace's help) everyone that I owed a check to for new CDs and get those written. I still need to write the rest of the checks and get them in the mail, but work has not been cooperating.
K and I grabbed dinner with Trace and then lit out for Chicago, making it in the excellent time of about six hours and fifteen minutes, accompanied for part of the journey by the USB stick of this year's Pegasus Concert.
Some year, I will find a way to do more singing at OVFF. Staying for the dead dog would help. When I no longer have children at home (or in school), that may be more feasible.
That day is coming much faster than I had expected. I'm not sure that I am going to like it...