Origins, part 2

[stevekenson]

I’d planned to post the rest of this when we got home, but it turns out the Columbus Airport has free WiFi (yay!), so...

Day Three — Saturday
Saturday was not quite the busy day I’d hoped it would be: traffic in the hall remained somewhat sluggish and, although some customers did buy (and sometimes bought quite a bit) many more were still assessing, mulling it over, or said they had simply spent all their allowance. I ran into ray716 in the hall once again and we got to walk and talk a bit.

In the afternoon, I did another panel, this one on villainy, super-villains in particular. The discussion was lively and the audience engaged. princeofcairo and I found the opportunity to enjoy lunch at the North Market, a combination of decent Mexican food and the better part of a very nice wedge of Stilton cheese.

In the evening, I joined torcboy and our friends svyyn and eyeofnewt2000, who came up from West Virginia to visit. We all went out to dinner at Elements, where utu_eros works, and had a wonderful meal: the food was fantastic and it was great to just hang out and talk and unwind a bit. We closed out the restaurant, then made our way over to the bar next door for a few drinks (okay, more than a few drinks), a fun night.

Day Four — Sunday
The last mile, the thousand-yard stare: Sunday at Origins. A good part of Sunday seemed to drag. Sales picked up a bit as folks made last-minute purchases and we discounted a few things to encourage them. Trading likewise picked up as industry folks scurried about with copies of their latest products. I picked up a few trades, but there seemed to be a general dearth of new product for the show.

Then it was over. We broke down the booth and got everything packed up and ready to ship to GenCon in good time. We were out of the hall by 5:30 or so. roninevil takes the register and some product back home to bring with him to GenCon, the rest goes on ahead of us to be there in August.

Christopher, Ken Hite, and Rodney joined us for dinner out at the Asian restaurant on the Union Station side of the convention center (which has an Asian name I can’t recall or spell). The food was excellent and plentiful, as was the conversation.

After dinner, we retired to the Big Bar on Two, where Rodney and I chatted a bit about comic books before Schwalb started off a “discussion” about fans of my work that quickly spiraled into speculation about “Kensonism” and what its various characteristics, tenets, and traditions would be. It wasn’t long before I had to call it a night.

Day Five — Monday
Right now (as I write this), we’re waiting at the Columbus Airport for our flight to Baltimore and then on to Manchester and home. It was a good trip, made more so by the opportunity to visit with scattered friends I don’t get to see for most of the year. For me, Origins is less and less about the games and more about both the game industry (or at least the people who make it up) and our other friends in Columbus. Maybe it’s a growing-up thing, but overall it’s a nice trade-off.

This week (today and tomorrow, at least) will be doing laundry, catching up on things at home, and getting settled back in. See quite a few of you at GenCon in five weeks!

Comments

[ptevis.livejournal.com]

Christopher, Ken Hite, and Rodney joined us for dinner out at the Asian restaurant on the Union Station side of the convention center (which has an Asian name I can’t recall or spell). The food was excellent and plentiful, as was the conversation.

Dang it. I knew I didn't want to leave early.

[roninevil.livejournal.com]

It was all for you, sir. Why, I'm the first disciple after all. It's my duty to spread the gospel of Kensonism :)

[eyeofnewt2000.livejournal.com]

Steve, you rock! Thanks for a lurvly weekend! I'm glad ya'll made it home alright. Happy Anniversary! We'll talk with ya'll soon!

[gamescribe.livejournal.com]

Had a good time hanging out with you this year, by the way. My comic book shop owner thanks you for the recommendations to me of Supreme and DC New Frontier!