BentoCon

So now I can finally talk about the big project that has kept me virtually silent on all social media for the last month or so.

It started... oh, a couple of years ago, when I realized that the year 2011 would mark both my 50th birthday and kateyule's, but also our 20th wedding anniversary. This confluence of major milestones seemed to call for a big celebration, and after some cogitation I decided I wanted to hold "BentoCon: A Science Fiction Convention and Square Dance." The name BentoCon commemorates the fanzine Bento that Kate and I have been producing on an approximately annual basis since 1989, and the combination of science fiction and square dancing commemorates the two hobbies (or is that ways of life) that have occupied so much of our time together.

The idea of a birthday convention is not our invention. The first one I'm aware of (though we did not attend it) was elisem's EliseCon, which begat janeehawkins's JaneCon (which we sort of crashed), which was followed by best_donya, wild_irises, and Jeanne Gomoll's CroneCon and klages's month in France. But BentoCon was going to be the first with a square dance.

( Click for extensive con report )

All in all, it went fabulously well. The worst problem we had wasn't even at the convention, it was when scarlettina got rear-ended on the way home, damaging herself and her car.

We spent Monday packing up and moving everything out of the hotel. After that Kate and I both came down with sore throats, aches, and general overall exhaustion that has kept us near-comatose since then. But it's a good kind of comatose.

That was a lot of fun. I think we might do it again... in another fifty years.