The epilog and anti-climactic return home.

[grinninfoole]

 

millari and I slept in a bit, and then had to scramble to pack our bags and tidy up enough to leave the room behind before Joke and his adorable daughter arrived. fuschia headed for the airport before we did, and blue_crow and blaaksable dropped by to say farewell, though they mostly spoke to M while I bustled about.

 

We checked out, piled into their car, and drive to a café called the Flying Biscuit, where we met the Reverend Mrs. Joke (pray for a better nickname) and their surprisingly well-behaved three-year old son. 

We tried the biscuits in gravy, which were absolutely amazing, and put the rest of the quite good food to shame.  We talked about the con, and travel, and comics, and all sorts of random things.  I suspect that we were a welcome bit of grownup interaction for our friends.  I really love Joke, and his family has completely charmed me.  I very much wish they lived next door.

Then they took us to their place, where we gave Joke a birthday gift (two games: Chrononauts and Pandemic) and they showed an episode of a sitcom called Big Bang Theory featuring a pointless and geeky variant of Rock, Paper, Scissors, which, despite adding the additional options of Lizard and Spock, still completely failed to resolve any disputes between them.  I have to admit, I laughed, despite my being too cool to enjoy any sitcom.

Then, a mad dash to the airport, a tolerable flight home, picking up the car, driving home, ended in a late bedtime.  The cats were only normally psyched to see us.  Clearly, our cat sitter did a great job in making them feel loved and secure.

I had a sore throat by that point, so I spent most of Tuesday sleeping, and then BAM!  Back to the soul-crushing grind of professional nerd-dom.  :)

ETA: some press coverage of this year's con.  None of them mention me.

The Emory University paper on the whole con; the Journal Constitution on the Shatner/Nimoy panel (with video clip), the DesMoines Register on the guy who organized the blood drive, and someone at a website called BSC Reviews on her Con experience, complete with cute pictures of her daughter.