Creation Con Chicago 2009 Report

Arrival Day (Thursday, November 12th)

Day one of my trip to Chicago started at regular wake-up time, 6:30. I had packed the night before and was late getting to sleep, as I couldn’t turn off my thoughts. Excitement was building, and had been for a while. I don’t take many vacations, and certainly not to conventions like this. I had let myself get carried away on dreams of meeting the stars. And I couldn’t wait.

After feeding the dogs and packing last-minute items, I loaded up the car and dropped the dogs off at work just before 7. Lucky must have known I would be leaving when she saw the suitcases last night (the major reason I wait till the last minute to pack, to avoid stressing her) but she also must have held on to the hope that we were dropping off Crash and her and I would be going together. I felt guilty and sorry as I led her by the collar to her run next to her little brother, but the best way to cope with that is to just make it fast so I gave them treats and said goodbye.

After grabbing a coffee at the gas station, I arrived at Tonya’s house close to 7:30. I left my car in her garage (poor thing has only been parked inside a handful of times) and we made it to the airport on time. Check in went smoothly, as did boarding and take off. We worked a crossword for the hour it took to get to O’Hare, and only got turned around in the airport a couple times before finding the Wyndham’s shuttle. The only other passengers were a mother and daughter, also in town for the convention. (It’s awesome how you can just look at somebody and KNOW.) We arrived at the hotel close to 11 and by the time we unpacked and returned to the lobby, our lunch date Lia was waiting for us. Lia is from Brazil and had come to Kazcon, and it was amazing to see her again! The weekend had officially started!

The three of us walked down the street a little ways to Chili’s, where we (appropriately) had a bowl of chili with a margarita--hey, it’s a vacation, right? I wanted to kick it off right. Lia had never had chili or a margarita, and while definitely not what I consider very spicy, Lia did not like the chili very much. The margarita on the other hand, she drank every drop. That’a girl!
We stopped in to Target on our way back, because Lia had said she really wanted a banana for breakfast. When she couldn’t find one at a restaurant (and didn’t know how to order one) she’d resorted to eating a Twinkie, which was just appalling, really, so Tonya and I had to help her. Of course Target didn’t have any bananas, and we couldn't talk her in to a Pop-Tart (not that they are any better, but they are at least a BREAKFAST food) either. Tonya and I each bought some protein bars in case the con got too busy for a break. Lia, the one who we made the stop for in the first place, left empty handed.

We went back to the hotel after that, and invited Lia to come to our room and chat while we finished unpacking. Either we’re all very boring or not much had happened since Kazcon (I suspect it’s the first) but the conversation was nice anyway. We waited for our other friends to arrive, but it was a few hours later before we finally tracked down Alisa. I hadn’t seen her since my last con when we roomed with her, and her affection for Steve Carlson was so infectious that she immediately turned me into a fan (so much so, that at the meet-and-greet party, I ditched Tonya at the Jim Beaver table in order to sit with Alisa and meet Steve). We’d had a great time, and I was eager to see her again.

Alisa and her roommate Bambi came to visit us and we talked mostly about ‘the boys’, which I think is all you really need to talk about at this sort of thing. It was great seeing Alisa again, and Bambi had lots of entertaining stories, and before we knew it, it was dinner time. Alisa and Bambi had other plans so we parted ways and Tonya, Lia and I headed downstairs to the hotel bar/restaurant where--surprise!--we found Carol and Sandy already there with some friends. Although we sat at a different table, we greeted them and promised to catch up later.

Dinner started off with a round of Purple Nurples (the hotel had created a Supernatural-themed menu) which were disappointingly weak and tasted like cough syrup, sans the alcohol. The food was good, but nothing more, and the service a little slow and unenthusiastic.

Afterward we hurried back up to our room to watch the episode, The Real Ghostbusters, which had already started just a few minutes before we got there. It was enjoyable and I found myself laughing even though I didn’t really want to, and afterward I thought it was pretty pointless in terms of the Apocalyptic story arc. Or maybe I was just sad there was no Castiel. ;)

When the episode was over we went down to register for the convention. Sandy and Tonya had gotten tickets together last year, but Sandy was kind enough to offer me her seat beside Tonya which meant we had to swap passes after registering. Everything worked out great and since Sandy was rooming with Carol, we got a proper chance to say hello and exchanged hugs. After wandering the dealer room for a few minutes, we were invited to have drinks with Sandy and Carol in their room. And since I’ve never turned down a free drink in my life (and never will) we obliged.

Crashing with Sandy and Carol was great. We stayed for a few hours, talking about TV and movies and music and all sorts of hot men. Sandy and I both watch Sons of Anarchy, and we each made movie recommendations for the others. Conversation briefly turned to our pets, then came back to men, and around two AM (when I was about ready to pass out on the floor) Tonya and I took our leave, with plans to catch up again for breakfast.