Capclave 2013 - Columbus Day Weekend- Washington DC

[Arlingzen Bill]

I will admit to being a terrible person. I had, read, and reviewed dangerous women, but did not take notes on the history piece. But then again it isn't my place to provide detailed information from an ARC.

Thank you all for coming. I am still exhausted. Makotohanabi (easier to write than say) and I got George and Parris to the airport after a brief unplanned detour caused by me making an automatic turn that wasn't where we actually on the way to the airport but the one that would take us home. They got a close up view of the Air Force memorial.

There is a story out there about a woman who saw George at "Not Your Average Joes" on Friday. Her husband asked if he would do a picture. George of course did, fortunately we had finished eating and were just settling the bill. They ended up at Capclave and she won a free book in one of the panels she attended. It is true, you can see my belly in the first picture with George.

Since I am clearly not functional, naptime.

[Lany Freelove Cassandra]

You deserve a major nap. You and your crew did an amazing job and you never seemed to stop moving the whole weekend. Much love!

[makotohanabi]

It was crazy and fun, but I'm just happy to be home. Concluded if I ever do end of the line duty again, I'm cosplaying as a Silent Sister and instead of having a 7 pointed star, I'll have an end of line sign. I did get GRRM to sign the end of line sign as the last signature of the con.

Glad I got a chance to meet everyone even if I didn't have much time to socialize.

Onwards to 2014, but first a nap.

[Xray the Enforcer]

Hey makotohanabi -- what was I supposed to edit your title to?

The sardine of something...

[makotohanabi]

Hey makotohanabi -- what was I supposed to edit your title to?

The sardine of something...

Artichoke of tyranny

[the maid of woodlynne]

Capclave was a blast... It was great to finally put faces to names - And I wish I had more time to chat with everyone individually. The weekend went by too quickly.

The BwB is made up of the most welcoming and accommodating group of rock stars I've ever come across. I feel like I've known you all for years - yes, even those of you who I met for the first time this weekend - and I look forward to spending more time with you guys. :grouphug:

George's readings and panels were great fun, and the book signing was ridiculous. I've never had more fun volunteering - the breakneck pace and chance to usher folks to their moment with GRRM was priceless. Plus, our very own Silent Sisters were such a hit! A great night all around.

Now that I've met Pod, I don't think I'll be able to blame him for anything ever again. The man let me practice my Irish! :wub: I'm still going to wear the shirt, though. ;)

Thanks to everyone for such a fantastic weekend! \m/

[becca69]

Hey Maid...

I was able to get your ADwD signed for you! :read:

[the maid of woodlynne]

Thanks, becca! I knew it was in good hands - we'll meet up soon. PM me so we can put something together. \m/

[Padraig]

There is a danger with any of my posts that I'll get names all mixed up but let's go for it anyhow!

Hope everyone has returned home safely. POD - enjoy your last day in DC!

Thanks! It was brilliant to meet you too even if time didn't allow us to talk for long.

Today turned into a very nice but low key day. I met up with Daveax, Dreamsongs and friend (who is not on the board yet but she should definitely rectify that soon!) for brunch. She was also heading in the same direction as I, so we headed down to DC together. Some great chilled out fun and chat was had.

After that I went on a long walk of DC to Capitol Hill. I probably needed that walk after this weekend!

Now that I've finally met Pod, I can't imagine why we ever blame him for anything. Much credit and thanks to him and JetBoyGirl for making a con n00b feel at ease.

I'm still thinking government conspiracy!

But yes, it was great to put faces to names. Naz managed to turn a 60 minute wait for a table into a 1 minute wait. That's how Naz rolls!

And then there was all the other new faces to meet. Too many to mention using an iPhone but special mention right now goes to my Irish speaking friend : Maid of Woodlynne! And Bill and Makotohanabi for organising such a great con. And the X's for keeping the BwB on a even keel. Even if I am crap at helping at signings. Mr X is another that knows too much Irish stuff. I'm going to have to study to make sure I don't look clueless in future!

And great spread from MC and Kair. I was too stuffed to eat anything excrept a very nice cookie but seeing it was amazing enough.

More anon.

[LugaJetboyGirl]

Lord Varys,

Sorry, I can only answer some of your questions because I can't remember details.

1) Daemon the Uncle Husband does indeed seem like an Uber Targ. He and his dragons are supposedly the most experienced warriors in all of Westeros, thanks to their participation in a previous war/series of battles. Everyone ran to the hills whenever they heard his dragon roar. He and his wife seem to be on very good terms. He seemed to respect her will and position as queen. He gave what sounded like good advice - Rhaenyra's Hand (I think) suggested that they go in blazing right at THAT moment since Rhaenyra had so many more dragons, they should burn Kings Landing to the ground. Daemon wanted to use other means (negotiating with the other lords and pressuring the Usurper, etc) because 1) he thought burning King's Landing to the ground was dumb since they wanted to rule, not destroy, 2) dragons were too precious to risk in battle against other dragons, since many would surely die, and 3) they technically didn't have 9 dragons ready to fly. His wife agrees with him, especially because she is still too sick from the miscarriage to go flying off into battle.

All in all, Daemon sounded like a total badass and I kind of had the hots for him by the end of the reading.

2) Only the two elder sons were supposed to serve as envoys. The eldest was meant to make several stops - the stops that were more 'dangerous' - and ultimately end in the North. The second went to the Baratheon's because the old lord had been super supportive of Rhaenyra and very close with her. They assume that the new lord will also be loyal to her. For this reason the younger son goes to the 'safer' option. Is it really the safer option? Well, probably not, given that the Usurper's crew suspect that they absolutely must have Baratheon's support. They send - IIRC, someone else should verify - Aegon's brother the 'Playah, with Vhagar to the Baratheon's with the command to marry one of the Baratheon women, without fail. He seems to think he'll have no problem and saunters off. My assumption is that the 14-year old Son of Rhaenyra (whose name I can't remember) will then have some sort of encounter with this older Targ/dragon. The younger of the three brothers is not an envoy because he is too young (according to his mom) and plus his dragon isn't big enough to carry him quite yet.

3) It's believed that House Arryn will declare for the Queen because it is ruled by a Single Woman (OMG), and since part of the dispute is that a woman shouldn't rule, she pretty much has to fight for Rhaenyra.

4) At the beginning Aegon II is not in charge of the Greens (his supporters) at all. His mom is the one pushing events, as well as his grandfather Alicent's dad, Cole has a lot to do with the usurpation, and everyone else (including the High Septon) falls into line. It's noted that at the beginning Aegon II seems to be at an advantage because he has all the symbols of power (the Iron Throne, the Lord Commander of the King's Guard, the High Septon, etc etc), but he does not have the dragon advantage. As the story progressed, he made more decisions, although it was noted on several occasions that he was young (22?), inexperienced, and hot-blooded. Rhaenyra was, in contrast, extremely experienced, her Council respected her, her husband was very wise, and they in general seemed to be good rulers. She was furious from the get-go and didn't need anyone to tell her to go after the Usurper but despite her deep anger (after all, they killed her daughter) she seemed perfectly in control of her decision-making abilities. She seems to be in control of the Blacks (her supporters) and can handle her Hand (who didn't seem to have the best advice).

[DreamSongs]

Home again! This was an absolutely wonderful weekend! It was fantastic meeting so many people and put faces to names...Cat Stoneheart, LilyVally, The Maid of Woodlynne, My Lady Ashalind, XRay, Mr X, Padraig, KairParavel, Mercenary Chef, Naz, Arlingzen Bill, DaveAx, Eddie (sorry I can't remember your board name), JetBoyGirl, Becca69, Makotohanabi and Ser Lany Cassandra. Thank you everyone for making Lara and I feel so welcome at the first Con for us both.

I can't blame Pod anymore either :lol:

MC, KP and Carl...I can't thank you enough for all of your hard work. Bill, thank you for putting me to work. I'm more of a doer than a talker :) The Mercenary Dodo glasses were definitely a nice surprise!

And yes...Cat and Lily are now famous as the Silent Sisters...and I missed out on being one because I was in panels all morning :P

DaveAx gets extra points for letting me call him Sam all weekend and not correcting me :blush:

I won a nice pottery piece from a local DC handcrafter during the silent auction. It looks lovely in my living room.

The best part was listening to GRRM read his own work and to listen to the excitement in his voice...as Cat said at the conference 'He has a magical giggle'.

eta...I didn't take a lot of photos either, but I'll upload what I have after Pops downloads the camera for me.

[DragonHawk]

Had such an awesome time at Capclave! I want to thank everyone again for being so friendly and welcoming to OneEyedRaven and I. You guys really made our first con experience memorable. Hope to see you all again soon.

-Brian

[Baitac]

Pod in D.C. Pod walks to Capitol. Government shutdown continues. Coincidence???????????? Doubtful.

[Lily Valley]

I cannot tell all of you how much I appreciate all of the hard work, organization and cooking that went into making this weekend one of the best vacations I have ever had. Cat and I are already talking about LonCon as this was our first con and it was more fun than either of us had imagined. Believe me, I thought a weekend without kids would be awesome. I had no idea what awesome was.

I really enjoyed the panels and readings I attended, the chance to help out with the signing and being fully submerged into literary geek culture. However, the best part of the weekend was meeting all of you for the first time. You wonderful, diamond-bright people upstaged everything else at the convention, except MC's cooking. He managed to even beat New Orleans at preparing one of our most traditional foods, on rickety tables in a hotel room to boot, sheesh.

Hats off to you all. I am extremely grateful for your hard work and friendliness. I can't wait to see you all again.

[MaryQueenOfScotch]

Just thought I'd leave this here, in case anyone hasn't seen it yet...

http://www.wired.com/underwire/2013/10/game-of-thrones-bad-lip-reading/

[Ixodes]

I had an awesome time meeting everyone. It was Mrs Ix's first con and she had a blast. Much thanks to everyone. I am a little bit upset, however, that my silent sister costume didn't get a single positive comment. You can see Mr X pointing the finger of accusation, implying that I spent no time at all on the costume. Lany had a sweet costume at the signing but I failed to get a pic.

The dinner was spectacular and I wish it would have lasted several more hours. It was so cool but I have to give a special shout out to Snowleo and her significant other (an expert on primate behavior!!). We only got to share a few monkey stories, only scratching the surface. Next con, I guess...

[becca69]

Hey Matt,

I just left you a comment but it looks like Steve was logged into Flickr on my computer.

[Xray the Enforcer]

CapClave 2013 After Action Report

I got up at what-the-fuck-o'clock to hop the train to DC, then the metro to Shady Grove. Kair picked me up from the metro station and thus commenced four hours of OHFUCK. We got to the hotel, found the Seneca suite (total habitrail route, but that gave us some relative privacy). Props to Pod, Dreamsongs and LilyValley, who joined us shortly thereafter and gamely played "Musical Tables, A Packing Problem" while we tried to figure out how to set up the room. That task finished, I checked in and Kair and I headed upstairs for some quiet time and bourbon before MC arrived with dinner.

I am not sure what I expected, but I certainly didn't expect a deep-fryer. Using that in a windowless, unventilated hotel meeting room was...interesting. Very soon, there was a Mist of Pig -- a Pall of Pig -- in the air. We had a visit from the hotel staff -- worried about the smoke. I quickly realized that there was no way I could handle the man gracefully, so I threw MC under the bus and made him sweet-talk the dude. MC's sous-chef K was awesome. At around 4:30, Lany and a few others showed up and dropped off bread and desserts (thank you guys for being patient as we were trying to get our shit together). Naz arrived with ice, so we chilled the beer. And at 4:50, the party was on. By 5:10, the party was rockin'. At 5:35, we had to call an end to festivities because the food was ready. Cottonseed showed up a little late, but he brought beer so he's good. Maid of Woodlynne showed up frazzled, but we gave her a beer and she chilled right out (love you so much MoW -- saved my ass twice that weekend). At some point, we decided there was enough room for House Bannister, so they joined and ate some pig and we all had dessert. Jetboygirl went into a food coma on a table, a Mercenary cookie held aloft, clutched in her hand. Some went to the reading while MC, Kair, me and a couple of others cleaned the room. We felt a little guilty, turning the Pig Room over to another panel, but we gave them all of our leftover wine (6 or more bottles worth), so they had no complaints. The parting words of MC that night, looking at his car which was filled with equipment covered in pig oil: "Oh my god. I think I may just abandon the car...drive it into a river and walk away."

Saturday, woke up early and hung out, then drove Kair's car back home. Had lunch with MC and Kair, settled the financials, and then drank some beer and did a post-mortem on the dinner to see how we could improve organization for any future event. My day then went roughly like this:

1pm -- 12% ABV beer, not bad. But there's no way I am making it back in time for the reading. Gonna text some people and see if they can help as door dragons.

1:15pm

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I AM OPTIMUS PRIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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5:30 pm

6pm -- Oh my god, this hangover.

6:30pm -- Oh my god, this hangover

6:31pm -- Oh fuck, gotta help manage the signing line. *ensuing stress for the next two hours makes me forget the hangover* (Lany, Catelyn, Lily and MoW were fucking rockstars during this)

8:30pm -- Oh my god, this hangover.

9:15 pm -- Ixodes tells the electric toothbrush story

10pm -- I tried to coax Isabella Stark to post more by explaining we have a make-up thread. (Go home, brain. You're drunk. Or, well, really hungover)

10:15pm -- Give me ginger ale or give me death!

midnight -- Fuck it. Tired and still hungover.

1am to 7am -- Hello, insomnia!

Sunday was pretty mellow. Had breakfast with Etulftune and AManNeedsAUserName. Then did something, I cannot remember what. Then lunch with Frisco, Jetboygirl, Pod, Naz and Lany. Then hung around some more. Lily Valley rolled up and declared "I had to finish the beers. At 5am. I am still drunk. I blame Pod." I wish I could have joined the late crew because they sounded like they had a great time, but it's tiring being Optimus Prime. And one hangover is enough for a weekend. Said a lot of goodbyes, which sucks. I hate that part of every convention. Eventually went to a panel, then managed another GRRM signing line. This one was less hectic than the night before. Then there was the inevitable slow slide into Sunday night. Hung out for a bit with GRRM and Parris. Then I went to bed at 9pm.

I need to thank everyone again and again for such a great weekend. It was great to see old friends (Jetboygirl, Frisco, Sir Knight Somerville & E, Naz, Lany, Etulftune, B, Pod, DaveAx, MC, Kair, Bill, MoW, makotohanabi, GRRM and Parris, P Lurie), old friends anew (Snowleo and R!), and meet new friends -- Michelle Stark, Isabella Stark, Cottonseed, Brock, One-eyed Raven, Dragonhawk, Lily Valley, Catelyn Stoneheart, Becca69 & Mr. Becca, MaryQueenofScotch, Ixodes and Lady Ixodes, My Maid Ashalind & daughter. The costuming was amazing. Everyone stepped up and helped out when help was needed (thank you again and again for helping me manage the signing lines and for stepping up for door dragoning). Thank you for the lovely desserts and donated booze (beer, mead, cider, wine). Thank you for the conversation and laughs. Thank you for the ginger ale. I cannot wait to see you guys again. :)

Some photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7375412@N08/sets/72157636555550946/

[Padraig]

Pod in D.C. Pod walks to Capitol. Government shutdown continues. Coincidence???????????? Doubtful.

Spoke too soon! Although I wouldn't be back next Jan/Feb, so somebody else will have to sort you lot out. :p

Just thought I'd leave this here, in case anyone hasn't seen it yet...

http://www.wired.com/underwire/2013/10/game-of-thrones-bad-lip-reading/

:lol: Brilliant. I'll have to watch it a few more times but they seem to have nailed that.

[Padraig]

I meant to write a more substantial post but I have already written posts that ended up longer than initially planned for anyhow. So those cover a lot of things. To summarise. I thought this was a great little con. Because of it, i'm half thinking I must get back to the US next year but we'll see what happens when reality sets in.

It was great to see everyone. While this was a small con, there was a lot of BwBers. It would have been Worldcon numbers a few years ago. I doubt I said hello to everyone, never mind having an actual conversation. That became clear to me when 4 BwBers popped into my room at 3 o'clock Sunday morning and I hadn't even seen these people before (at least, I don't think think I had). There was a bunch of us there already, so it was all very amusing.

There was those that I have met quite regularly down the years (the X's, JetboyGirl, Arlington Bill, Makotohanabi, Frisco and Daveax). Always a pleasure. I have mentioned a lot of their great work at the con already, so only a special shout out to JetBoyGirl here, who I haven't mentioned before I think. Always one of the people you want to hang out with at a con and clearly she paid more attention to the readings than I did given her respones here!

And then there are the people that I have met seldom but it was great to renew acquaintances (Lany, Snowleo, Snowleo + 1. Ser Knight Somerville). I don't have to say these are all wonderful people because they obviously are.

And then there is everyone else (if I haven't forgotten somebody above). Loads of new people. The advantages with coming early and leaving late is that you get a chance to meet people when there isn't 100 others around. So I got a proper introduction to Lilly Valley (I think she tried to corrupt me!!!), Catelyn Stoneheart (the 2 of them would later turn into the best non-silent Silent Sisters ever) and Dreamsongs. Actually, this might have been the first con with more females than males. But hard to say for sure. And at the end we had Dreamsongs, Lara and Daveax. I'm running out of superlatives here, so lets move on.

Between those events, it was great to meet everyone else. I've touched upon names before. In fact, for some i'm not sure of their board names (I know there is a person missing from the following list because of that, so I hope you know who you are). Maid of Woodlynne, Naz, MC, kair, OneeyedRaven, Dragonhawk, Cottonseed, Etulftune, B, and too briefly, Maid of Ashalind, MaryQueenofScotch, Ixodes +1, the person I had a late chat about guns with (this was the US after all. :)) And everyone else...even more briefly.

Anyhow, the BwB doesn't dissappoint me and I hope nobody left dissappointed.