Oregon Trip Report
Dec. 12th, 2002 09:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gridloreOk, I had planned to write this when I first got home last week, but computer problems prevented me from getting to my good copies of Word and my LJ client. So without further delay, here's the Oregon trip.
Sunday the 17th. Kirsten dropped me off at the SF Greyhound terminal at way too early in the morning for my 0515 bus. Of course, most of the escalators were broken. The terminal was a haven for that element of the homeless I like to call "bums." No fewer than five people tried to hit me up for cigarettes or money.
I almost missed my bus because of the damn bums. A homeless guy was screaming at a security guard, claiming that he had a right to sit in the waiting room because he had a ticket. Said ticket was for a trip three days prior.
Once on the bus, which was almost empty, things were nice and calm until we hit Oakland. Y'see, the bus was one of the Reno special, and was soon filled with seniors (mostly Chinese women) going to gamble. I just looked out the window until we hit Sacramento.
The Sacramento bus station reminded me of Mos Eisley space port. "A wretched den of scum and villainy." I immediately placed my bags in the proper line for the northbound bus, and plopped myself down with a book to wait out the forty-five minute lay over. Once my bus showed up, I found a seat in the back and took in my surroundings. I lucked out, since I ended up sitting with several cool people and had my two-seat section to myself for the entire trip. We pulled out more or less on time and headed north.
What can you say about an eighteen hour bus trip, other than it was far too long? Lots of little towns, some good conversation, and nice vistas until the sun went down. I over packed, as usual. I shouldn't have brought the CD player, since the noise of the bus made it impossible for me to enjoy the music.
Eventually, we hit Oregon, and about five hours after that, I was in![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
eleri's arms.
I had planned to callkshandra the moment we got to eleri's place, but she made the mistake of showing me the bed first… *thud*. I slept the sleep of the just.
I actually slept in a bit on Monday, and was just finishing dressing when I had a visitor. Mousie was looking for a place to have a fit and ran into the TV room. She stopped dead when she saw me. You could see the thought processes in her head…
"Captain! Unidentified object dead ahead!"
"Reverse course, get us out of here!"
Later, I was sitting on the floor next to El as she cuddled Miri. Miri was watching me, and then suddenly swarmed off of El and gave me a big hug before climbing Mommy again. I had been accepted.
There really isn't much to say about my first few days in Oregon. I relaxed. I sat around. I played with cats. I played with the Mouse. I actually watched Elmo tapes. I learned to play Nintendo games. I went for long walks. My Ghod, how I needed that kind of downtime.
Blade, Chris and I talked gaming, especially the new Hero system, which was nice. I got to accompany Eleri and Mousie to speech therapy which was very interesting. Miri decided that the best game in the world was stealing my hat off my head. Depending on her mood, the hat would either end up on her head, the floor, or back on my head.
Losing the Leonids was disappointing, but not fatal to my enjoyment of the trip.
Despite her best efforts, Eleri couldn't arrange childcare for the Miri Mouse on Friday. This meant that I had to bet to OryCon on my own. Dawn could take me as far as a park and ride lot, and I had directions on what buses to take where, but I was a bit insecure as I always am when I have to do something like this. Dawn and I got a little turned around finding the park and ride, but I got there in plenty of time.
Doug will now gush about Portland's public transit system.
My first bus came right on time. The driver was extremely helpful, and told me that the instructions that we had downloaded were a little off, and he would tell me where I had to get off to catch me bus out to the con. The busses were clean, with no graffiti or obvious vandalism. When I got to my transfer point, I was amazed to see that there was a digital display in each shelter giving an accurate update on the arrival time for each line. When my bus came (and I will not comment on how weird the concept of an interstate bus is to a Californian) the driver not only told me that he would let me know where my stop was, but pointed out interesting sites along the way! Christ, you're lucky to get a Muni operator who speaks English (or will admit to it..)
So I arrive at the legendary Other Hotel in plenty of time. (There are two Doubletree Hotels right next to each other. They were both used for a Westercon a few years back, leading to the constant comment that whatever you wanted to see was in the Other Hotel.)
So, I'm at a strange con, with no idea when Eleri will show up, and three panels to do. I check in, and am immediately impressed. The Green Room is up and ready for all of us weirdoes. (It's also fun to be in a line in front of Larry Niven.)
My first panel is "Not With a Bang" about destroying the Earth (or just the annoying humans) without big explosions or near-c rocks.) For a panel at 1200 on Friday, we had an impressive turnout. Especially considering that this was not a holiday weekend. Lots of good discussions, interesting ideas, and a few belly laughs.
After that one finished, I had two hours to kill. So I explored. OryCon is very small compared to what I'm used to in conventions. It's also vertical. All the regular programming rooms were on the second floor, con ops and registration on the first, and gaming in the basement (along with the art show.) This made things closer than at BayCon, but gave the feeling that there was less to see. To me anyway, there were fewer opportunities to run into people. There were a few programming rooms on the first floor, but they were difficult to find if this was your first time there.
The dealers room was tiny. I'd say there were less than twenty dealers there, and very little diversity. Several costume merchants (more on that below) and only two book dealers. It was difficult to find something of reasonable price.
So, I had to go to my back-to-back panels. Two gaming panels (yay!) both labeled "The Brave GM" The first was about difficult players, the second covered death scenes.
The difficult players panel was standing room only. I was amazed. I am moving to Portland. They have a wonderful gaming community. The death scenes panel lost a few people, but it was still a hoot.
El showed up in the early evening. As Ghu as my witness, I have no idea what we did between about 1900 and 2200. I saw that there was a panel on survival techniques, and tracked down the one person doing it, and asked if he would mind me sitting in on it. He gratefully accepted, since in the best convention tradition, he had no idea why he was on the panel. I do remember that we went to the pagan circle. I slept on some chairs, waking up when they performed the banishment of evil forces. I was so tempted to get up at that point, grab my bag, and say "well, I gotta leave now."
We went back to the hotel. What happened then was fun, great, and nobody's business.
I admit it. I'm a morning person. Especially during cons. I freely admit I made Eleri get out of bed at 0830 for breakfast. I through myself on the mercy of the court.
Saturday was my first game, GURPS Traveller. The adventure was the classic Night of Conquest for Double Adventure 6. The game was designed for six players, and I got three. To say that this stretched my skills as a DM is an understatement. Everybody seemed to have fun, so I guess it worked.
Strangely for me, I didn't attend that many panels. I just wandered around, taking the sights. I met several people from the Traveller Mailing List (Leonard Erickson, Tod Glenn, and one other whose name has just vanished from my head), people from the rec.arts.sf.fandom group, even a few fans of Ground Forces. Blade showed up with the Miri-Mouse, and she was wearing her new wings. That kid is too cute.
After out visit to the sports-themed restaurant detailed in an earlier post, El and I went to Whose Line Is It Anyway, then the silly ritual panel, and then to the memorial service for a remarkable man named "Ogre." He stood over 7' tall, and was the gentlest man you could ever meet. I'm sorry I never got the chance to meet him. Back to the hotel. Fall over and go snore.
On Sunday, I carefully removed myself from Eleri and quietly dressed and packed my ACQ stuff for the morning game. I really didn't know if I was going to get anyone for a game at 0900, despite the sign-ups. I ended up with five people, and we had a blast. Literally.
After the carnage, I went and wandered some more. Met up with the now awake El, and discussed what we were doing for the rest of the con. She wanted to see the Heather Alexander concert, I wanted to go to the gripe panel. I stayed for the first few songs, the bailed for the "onions and orchids" panel. I had very few complaints, but I felt that several departments deserved massive amounts of praise.
After that, Blade picked us up and we headed home.
We get back home, and I start packing for home, and discover that my tickets are missing. Mousie had taken them. Guess she didn't want to lose a favorite playmate. She also tried to climb into my bag several times. Dawn told us that her copy of the extended version of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring had shown up, so we began watching that. The movie is so much better in this version. You do get the sense that many years pass between Bilbo's party and Frodo setting out.
But the skies were finally clear, so Eleri and I went out to do some star gazing. Living in light pollution and fog hell, I had forgotten how bright the sky can be. Castor and Pollux blazed above us. Procyon was clearly visible even though it was close to the Moon, and Capella could be seen just off Mt. Hood. We just missed seeing Deneb (much to my Traveller-player heart's discontent) but everything else was glorious. But it was damn cold.
Went back in, and watched the rest of the movie.
Monday, and I have to head home.
After some planning, it's decided that I'll head out with the crew to Mousie's speech therapy appointment. Get a tour of the children's hospital (which sits on land that is worth millions) from el, and see that bloody volcano in Washington. I'm more determined than ever to visit Mount Saint Helens.
Head back home, and finish getting ready. Say my good byes to Corrie, Chris and Dawn (not to mention the cats.) Along the way, we visit El's father, and then to Salem and the bus station. Saying goodbye was hard. I really wanted to get home to my Kiri, but I was going to miss Eleri. Not to mention the Miri Mouse!
Things I Learned In The Army That Have Paid Off In Real Life: Once I found out what door my bus was loading from, I dropped my bags there. About five minutes before the bus was due, I went out and sat on my bags. Then the bus showed up… with only five open seats. The station master went down the line, looking for people traveling solo. I was the third person. The next bus wasn't due for an hour. There was much wailing and gnashing off teeth behind me. I learned as soldier to get in line early. Always pays off.
So, away we go. This trip is going to be much shorter, since it makes fewer stops. Twelve hours as opposed to eighteen. But the guy next to me will not shut up. This time I'm glad I brought the CD player.
Actually get a few hours sleep. Wake up in time to see a magnificent dawn over the Sacramento Valley. Change busses in the still-icky Sacramento bus station. Roll into the Bay Area. And I picked a gorgeous morning to do it. We could see the Golden Gate Bridge from miles away. Coming across the Bay Bridge, there wasn't a speck of fog or a cloud in the sky. Damn, I love this city.
Back in SF, my plan had been to take MUNI home, but I caved in and grabbed a cab. Got home, and the computer died. This brings us mostly up to date.
One thing I noticed at OryCon was the "Costume Mafia." It seems that the costumers in Portland are, well, arrogant. They seem to feel that the con is about them. I've also seen this on the OryCon list. I've done a little costuming. It's fun, but is not the end-all of fandom any more than gaming or filking are. It's a facet of the larger whole.
So, I had a blast. Eleri and I survived, and I, at least, enjoyed our… um.. physical interactions. I'd love to go up next year for the next OryCon.
Next up, New York!
Sunday the 17th. Kirsten dropped me off at the SF Greyhound terminal at way too early in the morning for my 0515 bus. Of course, most of the escalators were broken. The terminal was a haven for that element of the homeless I like to call "bums." No fewer than five people tried to hit me up for cigarettes or money.
I almost missed my bus because of the damn bums. A homeless guy was screaming at a security guard, claiming that he had a right to sit in the waiting room because he had a ticket. Said ticket was for a trip three days prior.
Once on the bus, which was almost empty, things were nice and calm until we hit Oakland. Y'see, the bus was one of the Reno special, and was soon filled with seniors (mostly Chinese women) going to gamble. I just looked out the window until we hit Sacramento.
The Sacramento bus station reminded me of Mos Eisley space port. "A wretched den of scum and villainy." I immediately placed my bags in the proper line for the northbound bus, and plopped myself down with a book to wait out the forty-five minute lay over. Once my bus showed up, I found a seat in the back and took in my surroundings. I lucked out, since I ended up sitting with several cool people and had my two-seat section to myself for the entire trip. We pulled out more or less on time and headed north.
What can you say about an eighteen hour bus trip, other than it was far too long? Lots of little towns, some good conversation, and nice vistas until the sun went down. I over packed, as usual. I shouldn't have brought the CD player, since the noise of the bus made it impossible for me to enjoy the music.
Eventually, we hit Oregon, and about five hours after that, I was in
eleri's arms.I had planned to call
kshandra the moment we got to eleri's place, but she made the mistake of showing me the bed first… *thud*. I slept the sleep of the just.I actually slept in a bit on Monday, and was just finishing dressing when I had a visitor. Mousie was looking for a place to have a fit and ran into the TV room. She stopped dead when she saw me. You could see the thought processes in her head…
"Captain! Unidentified object dead ahead!"
"Reverse course, get us out of here!"
Later, I was sitting on the floor next to El as she cuddled Miri. Miri was watching me, and then suddenly swarmed off of El and gave me a big hug before climbing Mommy again. I had been accepted.
There really isn't much to say about my first few days in Oregon. I relaxed. I sat around. I played with cats. I played with the Mouse. I actually watched Elmo tapes. I learned to play Nintendo games. I went for long walks. My Ghod, how I needed that kind of downtime.
Blade, Chris and I talked gaming, especially the new Hero system, which was nice. I got to accompany Eleri and Mousie to speech therapy which was very interesting. Miri decided that the best game in the world was stealing my hat off my head. Depending on her mood, the hat would either end up on her head, the floor, or back on my head.
Losing the Leonids was disappointing, but not fatal to my enjoyment of the trip.
Despite her best efforts, Eleri couldn't arrange childcare for the Miri Mouse on Friday. This meant that I had to bet to OryCon on my own. Dawn could take me as far as a park and ride lot, and I had directions on what buses to take where, but I was a bit insecure as I always am when I have to do something like this. Dawn and I got a little turned around finding the park and ride, but I got there in plenty of time.
Doug will now gush about Portland's public transit system.
My first bus came right on time. The driver was extremely helpful, and told me that the instructions that we had downloaded were a little off, and he would tell me where I had to get off to catch me bus out to the con. The busses were clean, with no graffiti or obvious vandalism. When I got to my transfer point, I was amazed to see that there was a digital display in each shelter giving an accurate update on the arrival time for each line. When my bus came (and I will not comment on how weird the concept of an interstate bus is to a Californian) the driver not only told me that he would let me know where my stop was, but pointed out interesting sites along the way! Christ, you're lucky to get a Muni operator who speaks English (or will admit to it..)
So I arrive at the legendary Other Hotel in plenty of time. (There are two Doubletree Hotels right next to each other. They were both used for a Westercon a few years back, leading to the constant comment that whatever you wanted to see was in the Other Hotel.)
So, I'm at a strange con, with no idea when Eleri will show up, and three panels to do. I check in, and am immediately impressed. The Green Room is up and ready for all of us weirdoes. (It's also fun to be in a line in front of Larry Niven.)
My first panel is "Not With a Bang" about destroying the Earth (or just the annoying humans) without big explosions or near-c rocks.) For a panel at 1200 on Friday, we had an impressive turnout. Especially considering that this was not a holiday weekend. Lots of good discussions, interesting ideas, and a few belly laughs.
After that one finished, I had two hours to kill. So I explored. OryCon is very small compared to what I'm used to in conventions. It's also vertical. All the regular programming rooms were on the second floor, con ops and registration on the first, and gaming in the basement (along with the art show.) This made things closer than at BayCon, but gave the feeling that there was less to see. To me anyway, there were fewer opportunities to run into people. There were a few programming rooms on the first floor, but they were difficult to find if this was your first time there.
The dealers room was tiny. I'd say there were less than twenty dealers there, and very little diversity. Several costume merchants (more on that below) and only two book dealers. It was difficult to find something of reasonable price.
So, I had to go to my back-to-back panels. Two gaming panels (yay!) both labeled "The Brave GM" The first was about difficult players, the second covered death scenes.
The difficult players panel was standing room only. I was amazed. I am moving to Portland. They have a wonderful gaming community. The death scenes panel lost a few people, but it was still a hoot.
El showed up in the early evening. As Ghu as my witness, I have no idea what we did between about 1900 and 2200. I saw that there was a panel on survival techniques, and tracked down the one person doing it, and asked if he would mind me sitting in on it. He gratefully accepted, since in the best convention tradition, he had no idea why he was on the panel. I do remember that we went to the pagan circle. I slept on some chairs, waking up when they performed the banishment of evil forces. I was so tempted to get up at that point, grab my bag, and say "well, I gotta leave now."
We went back to the hotel. What happened then was fun, great, and nobody's business.
I admit it. I'm a morning person. Especially during cons. I freely admit I made Eleri get out of bed at 0830 for breakfast. I through myself on the mercy of the court.
Saturday was my first game, GURPS Traveller. The adventure was the classic Night of Conquest for Double Adventure 6. The game was designed for six players, and I got three. To say that this stretched my skills as a DM is an understatement. Everybody seemed to have fun, so I guess it worked.
Strangely for me, I didn't attend that many panels. I just wandered around, taking the sights. I met several people from the Traveller Mailing List (Leonard Erickson, Tod Glenn, and one other whose name has just vanished from my head), people from the rec.arts.sf.fandom group, even a few fans of Ground Forces. Blade showed up with the Miri-Mouse, and she was wearing her new wings. That kid is too cute.
After out visit to the sports-themed restaurant detailed in an earlier post, El and I went to Whose Line Is It Anyway, then the silly ritual panel, and then to the memorial service for a remarkable man named "Ogre." He stood over 7' tall, and was the gentlest man you could ever meet. I'm sorry I never got the chance to meet him. Back to the hotel. Fall over and go snore.
On Sunday, I carefully removed myself from Eleri and quietly dressed and packed my ACQ stuff for the morning game. I really didn't know if I was going to get anyone for a game at 0900, despite the sign-ups. I ended up with five people, and we had a blast. Literally.
After the carnage, I went and wandered some more. Met up with the now awake El, and discussed what we were doing for the rest of the con. She wanted to see the Heather Alexander concert, I wanted to go to the gripe panel. I stayed for the first few songs, the bailed for the "onions and orchids" panel. I had very few complaints, but I felt that several departments deserved massive amounts of praise.
After that, Blade picked us up and we headed home.
We get back home, and I start packing for home, and discover that my tickets are missing. Mousie had taken them. Guess she didn't want to lose a favorite playmate. She also tried to climb into my bag several times. Dawn told us that her copy of the extended version of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring had shown up, so we began watching that. The movie is so much better in this version. You do get the sense that many years pass between Bilbo's party and Frodo setting out.
But the skies were finally clear, so Eleri and I went out to do some star gazing. Living in light pollution and fog hell, I had forgotten how bright the sky can be. Castor and Pollux blazed above us. Procyon was clearly visible even though it was close to the Moon, and Capella could be seen just off Mt. Hood. We just missed seeing Deneb (much to my Traveller-player heart's discontent) but everything else was glorious. But it was damn cold.
Went back in, and watched the rest of the movie.
Monday, and I have to head home.
After some planning, it's decided that I'll head out with the crew to Mousie's speech therapy appointment. Get a tour of the children's hospital (which sits on land that is worth millions) from el, and see that bloody volcano in Washington. I'm more determined than ever to visit Mount Saint Helens.
Head back home, and finish getting ready. Say my good byes to Corrie, Chris and Dawn (not to mention the cats.) Along the way, we visit El's father, and then to Salem and the bus station. Saying goodbye was hard. I really wanted to get home to my Kiri, but I was going to miss Eleri. Not to mention the Miri Mouse!
Things I Learned In The Army That Have Paid Off In Real Life: Once I found out what door my bus was loading from, I dropped my bags there. About five minutes before the bus was due, I went out and sat on my bags. Then the bus showed up… with only five open seats. The station master went down the line, looking for people traveling solo. I was the third person. The next bus wasn't due for an hour. There was much wailing and gnashing off teeth behind me. I learned as soldier to get in line early. Always pays off.
So, away we go. This trip is going to be much shorter, since it makes fewer stops. Twelve hours as opposed to eighteen. But the guy next to me will not shut up. This time I'm glad I brought the CD player.
Actually get a few hours sleep. Wake up in time to see a magnificent dawn over the Sacramento Valley. Change busses in the still-icky Sacramento bus station. Roll into the Bay Area. And I picked a gorgeous morning to do it. We could see the Golden Gate Bridge from miles away. Coming across the Bay Bridge, there wasn't a speck of fog or a cloud in the sky. Damn, I love this city.
Back in SF, my plan had been to take MUNI home, but I caved in and grabbed a cab. Got home, and the computer died. This brings us mostly up to date.
One thing I noticed at OryCon was the "Costume Mafia." It seems that the costumers in Portland are, well, arrogant. They seem to feel that the con is about them. I've also seen this on the OryCon list. I've done a little costuming. It's fun, but is not the end-all of fandom any more than gaming or filking are. It's a facet of the larger whole.
So, I had a blast. Eleri and I survived, and I, at least, enjoyed our… um.. physical interactions. I'd love to go up next year for the next OryCon.
Next up, New York!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Leaving your bags...
Date: 12 Dec 2002 12:07 (UTC)the bus. Twice. Aren't you scared someone
will make off with them? What if you need
to go to the can?
Z
P.S.: "Damn, I love this city," and "I am
moving to Portland"? Huh? ;->
Re: Leaving your bags...
Date: 12 Dec 2002 12:39 (UTC)If I need to go to the latrine, I ask someone else who is doing the same thing to keep an eye on the bags.
P.S.: "Damn, I love this city," and "I am moving to Portland"? Huh? ;->
The bit about moving was a bit sarcastic. An actual gaming community? Heaven!
Re: Leaving your bags...
Date: 13 Dec 2002 03:30 (UTC)no subject
Date: 13 Dec 2002 03:29 (UTC)Regarding the transit system:
The clean/no graffitti/vandalism is true enough. Partly culture, partly size.
The digital displays bit only exist along the bus mall downtown (about half a mile along two streets). They've had it for a *long* time, and it's not really "digital". It's essentially closed circuit TV tied to a set of displays in some office somewhere.
As for the bit about leaving the circle when they banished the evil, I expect the reaction would have been "interesting". I used to *live* with one of the folks conducting the circle. He's a long time gamer (as was everyone in the household).