Arisia: aftermath and thoughts
I had a pretty good time at Arisia, while I was there. I wasn’t there enough, didn’t get to see all the people/panels/events/etc I would have liked to see, and can think of things that I might have done differently, or better. There are also things I couldn’t have changed, like the weather, the folks who were at Confusion instead (not helped by Arisia’s date move this year), or the obligatory work crisis Friday morning. (Confusion sounds like it was lots of fun, too, but lacking bilocation I couldn’t do both, and Arisia’s local.)
As with my USENIX and Worldcon experiences, I’ve had more thoughts about the wisdom or otherwise of commuting to cons. The Snowpocalyptic Event this time around clearly gives these thoughts some new strength, since it meant missing an entire day of the con.
Several folks who were local stayed at the hotel anyway, and seemed to have the best of both worlds (modulo the cost of the room, of course); they could get home relatively easily even though the airport was closed, but had a room to go back to during the con and therefore no parking/T issues.
On the other hand, it’s unlikely that I’ll change my plans for either of the local cons coming up in the next few weeks. Vericon has no hotel, and Boskone’s hotel rate is Bostonian enough to be way too high to justify a room, even if it weren’t already past the hotel reservation deadline. The “Standard Single” that the Park Plaza has for Arisia may work for next year, though; a couple nights of that will obviously raise the cost of the con by a factor of five or so compared to commuting…but had I done that this year, I would have had something like 40% more con time (later nights and all of Sunday). Something to think about for next year, I suppose.
That said, there are other cons to think about. If I’m willing to pay for a hotel, Readercon starts looking quite good; the hotel rate isn’t too bad, I can get out there and back on the MBTA’s 350 bus from Alewife for free (other than the time it takes) since I already have a combo T pass, and last year’s program looks really, really tempting.
Out-of-town cons, too, are a possibility; next year’s Confusion has Vernor Vinge as GoH.
I could, just possibly, even make it to a con that isn’t in Massachusetts this year. Heh, heh, heh…watch this space.
