Today it was the usual refrain: James had to work. We'd already made sandwiches last night, so this morning was just for loading up the backpacks. We had some lunch, got gasoline, and then headed down for the airport; despite it being officially before rush hour, the traffic from our house to the intersection of I-20 was bumper-to-bumper. After that it was clear sailing, but we have to decide which is worse: stop-and-go traffic that is actually paying attention or the high-speed traffic where everyone is out to kill you. We were a little rattled by the time we got to the airport Hilton—but we did find a good parking space.

After registration, we bumped into the Spiveys and sat down to talk. They had the same complaint about the hotel that we did: the food is too expensive! The sports bar has the cheapest food, but it was terrible, expensive, and the service was bad. We never did see the prices on "good" restaurant, the Magnolia Grill, just the supposedly "moderately priced" Italian restaurant, where spaghetti and meatballs was $28! This offends the frugal part of my Italian soul to the limit. So they had sandwiches, and we had sandwiches, so we went up to their room to eat supper. This was fun! Clay and Maggi arrived while we were eating and came upstairs to talk as well.

Right before six we went downstairs for opening ceremonies. The guests this year included Janet Fielding, who played Tegan with with fourth and fifth Doctor (described fliply as "a mouth with legs"). Later we all went on to the first literary panel: "Why We Read." (Well, because it's not possible to do anything else. It's like breathing. And you can't live without breathing, can you?) 

Janet Fielding at Opening Ceremonies

Afterwards I went to the Doctor Who reboots panel, discussing which regeneration was the most significant . Surprised no one mentioned the original reboot: Patrick Troughton! Different actors had taken over a role before, but the difference in look was never acknowledged. This was the first time "regeneration" had happened and the change of face was acknowledged.

James and I took a turn around the dealer's room and then decided to leave early, since Saturday will be a long day. We are planning on staying very late.

Labels: conventions, friends

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:23:00 PM

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