Boskone 42: Saturday
In an apparent attempt by the universe to atone for my transit problems on Friday, when I arrived at the bus stop there was already a bus visible and approaching the stop, but not so close as to require me to run for it.
This allowed me a bit of extra sleep while still getting me to the Sheraton in plenty of time for the 1100 panel (”The Red Sox Won — Are We Living in an Alternate History?”). As has already been observed, this wound up being more about sports than about alternate histories. It was still fun, though, as my arrival in Boston coincided with the 1986 season and its infamous World Series, so I got an early education in the Red Sox ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
I then met a group of friends in the Pru food court and had lunch. Afterwards I swung back into the Sheraton, took time to chat with folks working the registration area (which was still fairly quiet) and then headed to the “Year in Biology and Medicine” panel at 1300.
This was a very interesting panel. There’s far too much to go into detail, but it ranged from H. floresiensis through the small mammalian dino eaters to avians. Lots and lots of avians, because Shariann Lewitt likes them. (”Mammals are boring. Avians are weird.”) That was fine with me, because it was all very interesting stuff about bird brains and feathered dinosaurs and avian speciation. Do this panel again next year, as long as Lewitt is on it.
I headed over to the gaming room to see what was going on, and wound up taking over a seat in the Munchkin tournament from someone who wasn’t enjoying the game. With some good luck, I managed to work it up to a win by having the highest level when time was called at 1500.
This left me time to get to “Satire: SF as Social Commentary”. I don’t have any notes from this except for “To the Irish, conversation is a martial art” (Michael F. Flynn).
I was a bit burned out on panel attending at that point, and nothing looked sufficiently intriguing to get me to go anyway, so it was back to the gaming room for some Chez Geek and a very enjoyable five-player game of Puerto Rico. (After someone built the Wharf and said “Wharf, son of Mogh” I responded “Today is a good day to ship!”)
When that ended, I was hungry. Unfortunately, I failed my “find someone to go to dinner with” skill roll, so I just headed to the food court for a burrito. I then spent some time at “Saturday Night Dead”, though I left before the awards ceremony began.
Why did I leave? This was part of my compromise position on the Orson Scott Card boycott. I don’t attend cons for the Guest of Honor as a general rule, so I don’t let the choice of one make a decision either for or against attending. However, I was unwilling to accept him as a part of my con experience, so I explicitly did not attend any panel or other event that he was scheduled on, even if it was one that would otherwise interest me.
I realize that this stance may get me disliked by both sides, but that’s life.
Instead, I headed back to gaming and played some Munchkin Fu. Ironically enough, given that I was playing to avoid OSC, I was hit with one of the sex-change cards during the game…which allowed me to use the No-No Kimono.
That finished up in time for me to head to the Atlanta Nights reading, finding James Macdonald on the way there (his badge sticker list of events had the reading taking place in Kent, but the pocket program had it in Republic B) and therefore making it to the reading literally only steps behind the first reader. The reading was as hysterically funny as I expected it to be, and was definitely worth the time.
After that finished at about 2359, I headed up to the party floor to see what might still be going on. Arisia and the Chicago Worldcon bid were both still open, so I checked both out and bought my membership for next year’s Arisia (which I probably would have picked up on Sunday of that con, but snow way).
Once again I wound up walking across the bridge, and the bus never even passed me. The transit karma adjustment wheel had clearly turned back to the “no bus for you!” side.
