sinanju | Orycon 30 Recap--Now With Pictures!

sigh Another Orycon is history now.

I arrived Friday about noon with my lovely and talented wife (

snippy) and Twoson. We checked into the room at the hotel, settled in, then went down and picked up our badges and assorted loot (souvenir con booklet, pocket program, etc.). We hadn't even checked in yet, when we ran into Rory and Kami in the lobby. Yay! Rory's been out of the country for several months in an undisclosed desert enviroment, doing things he's contractually obligated not to talk about. But even so, he had some amazing stories he could talk about.

snippy and I (and Twoson) are all still recovering from a cold, so we didn't have the energy we usually did. I enjoyed the con, but at times I felt like I wasn't fully present. I also spent more time than usual resting in our room and net surfing. I even napped on Saturday afternoon. Being run down sucks. But nonetheless, the con was fun.

We had a late lunch (or an early dinner, depending on your POV) Saturday at Mandarin Cove, a Chinese restaurant literally just across the street from the hotel. Nine of us in total, eating a family style assortment of dishes and talking. It was great fun.

The Dealers Room was less interesting than I'd hoped. I did finally buy four books, but there was a lot less stuff I was interested in overall. (We get so many of our new books via Amazon these days, that we already have almost everything we'd ordinarily buy there, I think.) I never even got to the art show.

Panels were fun, though mostly I attended panels that Rory was on. Rory did a panel where he gave us the Use of Force class he teaches (well, taught) to other cops for years. He did a later panel on Saturday evening about violence--what it's really like as opposed to what Hollywood and novelists portray. I've seen both panels before, but they're always entertaining nonetheless. And informative. And some of the pictures he has available in a binder to look at if you're interested are amazing (and violent and bloody and disturbing).

I drifted in and out of gaming and hospitality frequently over the weekend, though I never actually played any games. I also just wandered the halls, observing the local fen in their natural habitat. I even took pictures of some of them, something I don't usually do. The observant reader may note a trend in the photos, in that they're mostly of women. I regret nothing!

First up is

sodapopprincess, dressed as Agent Scully from the X-Files. She also was taking pictures, and doing so far more indiscriminately than I was. At least while I was around, she was photographing lots of people, in costume or not.

Next--you can't expect to encounter Scully without running into Mulder eventually. So here you are:

sodapopprincess again, with her friend Scott. She had several others costumes for the weekend, but I never saw the others, alas.

Yet another friend of

sodapopprincess made his second annual appearance as the Tenth Doctor. The Doctor dropped by for a refreshing adult beverage on Friday evening:

Starfleet was well represented at Orycon. Numerous fans in Star Trek uniforms of varying quality were to be seen this weekend. Here's one representative example:

Dark Phoenix made an appearance Saturday. This photo was taken outside the main ballroom shortly after she'd participated in the midnight tradition of dancing to The Time Warp and Rasputin. She demurred at first, saying she was hot and sweaty--but she didn't feel the need to vaporize anyone, so that's a bonus. Or maybe there were no asparagus people to annoy her. <---X-Men comic geek joke.

Flag Admiral (and Duchess of the Star Kingdom of Manticore and numerous other titles I can't remember just now) Honor Harrington was also present this weekend, along with Nimitz, her ever-present alien treecat companion.

Last but not least, is one of the dealers in the Dealers Room, dressed up for no particular reason except why not!?. After all, she looks awfully good. As an extra added bonus, that's the notorious Rory browsing her wares in the background. (He ended up buying a pin that reads We put the SHIV back in chivalry.