BRAINPAN LEAKAGE

WillyCon XI is now in the history books. Dead dog party and all. We rounded it all out by having supper in the lower cafeteria, which features an on campus Taco Bell Express. So, Burrito Supreme and a Crunchy Taco for me.

Sat around table and enjoyed a wonderful conversation with some absolutely great kids. Yeah, I know, they probably don’t like being called kids, but I’m likely to be older than some of their parents, so I’ve earned the right to call them that. Like it or not, they’ll always be kids to me. But, let me tell you, this group is dynamic, intelligent, spirited, and absolutely wonderful. They put together a con, ran it, and pulled it off without any major incidents or troubles. I’m happy to have these particular kids taking over the reigns of our world. They’ll do fine. Probably better than we have if they can hold on to their idealism.

The following is the last report from WillyCon. Tomorrow’s report – which may not be filed until Tuesday – will concern my trip home, unless it is completely uneventful. In which case, it won’t be filed at all.

Please note, there’s not as much funny to this last, short update. Probably because we were, and are, all exhausted. In fact, I am hoping to finish this by 9 PM so I can hit the sack early…

6:07 PM

@cashier – Dead dog party? O_o

@cashier – What’s that?

@Faculty_Advisor – Just a party to celebrate the con being over.

@cashier – You don’t have a real dead dog do you?

@Faculty_Advisor – No.

@cashier – If you do, don’t show it to me.

@mrsellars – It’s okay, we have a dead cat for the people who can’t handle the dead dog.

@cashier – O_o

@mrsellars – I haz a taco. NOM!

@mrsellars – I haz a burrito. NOM!

@mrsellars – Urp. O_o

@Con_Staffer – …And so he was supposed to be a gopher for a Guest of Honor but he overslept.

@mrsellars – Yeah. He told me that story something like five times.

@Con_Staffer – Yeah, that happens with him. We think he already has alzheimers.

@Con_Staffer_2 – [out of the clear blue]  You know, maybe we should buy @not_here_guy some pink underwear.

@Everyone – O_o

@mrsellars – I love you guys, man…

@everyone – We love you too, man…

@mrsellars – Me go now. Do sleepy thing. Nom tomorrow. Then go bye-bye on airfly thingie… Miss you already.

And, there you are… Once the pics are developed I’ll be throwing together a small retrospective.

Night all…

More to come…

Murv

I can’t even mimic Brando at this point…

Not my night? Hell, it ain’t been my week apparently.

If you read my previous blog you know that Momma Nature in all her bitchy glory, sent freezing rain and sleet down upon our heads today. And, as a result, my flight to Detroit was canceled, effectively keeping me from arriving at ConVocation, where I was to sign books, present workshops, and hang out with tons of really cool people.

Well, okay… bad enough… The airline managed to re-book me for a flight early tomorrow morning. All good. Not exactly the most convenient time as far as getting to the airport, etc, but I made the arrangements, left my bags packed and by the door… I was ready.

Well, Mistress Nature is gearing up to give us another ice lashing. She should start in on us again around midnight and continue on through tomorrow evening. Soooooo, in what must have been a preemptive move on the part of the airline, my flight was canceled, yet again…

I just can’t catch a break…

I suppose it was probably a combination of the weather, and accommodating passengers from other flights as well as those already booked prior to all this. Not to mention that for all I know the new flight might have been coming from one of the points East that is now getting beaten by waves 1 and 2 of this storm system.

At any rate, the best they could do is get me to Detroit sometime Saturday. Maybe. If I was lucky, the weather dominatrix sleeps tonight, and if I held my tongue just right while clicking my heels together and saying “There’s no place like Detroit, there’s no place like Detroit…”

I was willing to give that a go, but the problem is this – I would get in sometime Saturday… Maybe morning, maybe afternoon… Maybe even evening… Not really sure. They were shooting for morning, but hey, they were also shooting for today as I recall, and we saw how that turned out… Either way, the event ends by noon on Sunday. So, in essence I would have arrived (maybe) and someone would have had to come pick me up, then get me back to the hotel, check me in, etc, etc… By that time I might be able to mingle for a bit then go to bed, get up, pack, and go to the airport to come home.

The long and short of it… I’m not going to be at ConVocation this year. I’m not happy about it and neither are they. But, we all realize there isn’t much we can do.

So, save your programs. If you see me in the future, I’ll be glad to sign them… Hey, it will be a collectors item. The event I was supposed to be at but never made it to… If you are after one of my books while at the con, they have those there too. Tell Dorothy Morrison I said she could sign them for me.

My next tour date? The Ostara Festival in Harker Heights, Texas… That’s a couple of weeks away yet… Let’s hope the weather bitch is in a better mood by then…

More to come…

Murv