Ret-Con 2023 – page 13
…what, you thought when I said I wound up actually doing something on Sunday, that meant something OTHER than standing around in the hall for hours digging up decade-old pictures on our phones? Hey, by my recent standards, that’s EXHAUSTING levels of direct engagement. And yes, we shared a LOT of pictures over those couple of hours. Like, whole albums at your Grandma’s house levels of pictures, complete with rambling stories, all about events YEARS before the one we were actually attending. And that’s the thing: I walked away from Ret-Con 2023 in a better mood than I’ve been in at the end of a con in a LONG while… and it was because I spent the whole afternoon goofing around and talking about old memories from OTHER cons. I guess that’s kind of a backhanded complement, but it is the ultimate pay-off to what I was saying all the way back in the first page. It actually IS possible for me to still have a good time doing the whole “hanging out in a hotel full of geeks” thing… provided it’s a VERY SPECIFIC SELECTION OF PEOPLE I ALREADY HAVE A HISTORY WITH. I’m long past the point of making new friends at these things, it’s just a matter of reconnecting with my old ones.
Speaking of which, I need to clarify that my sudden bout of sociability wasn’t JUST because Casey showed up out of the blue. Despite me LITERALLY HOSTING A PANEL WITH KURT on Friday, Sunday was the only time all weekend that I actually got to meaningfully interact with him either (because the dude was kind of busy actually helping DO things). I may not have much of anything in common with the average congoer in terms of specific interests anymore, but I CAN still share personal history with my fellow old timers.
…AND YES, YOU YOUNG WHIPPERSNAPPERS REALLY WILL FIND YOURSELF IN THIS POSITION ONE DAY. All of our futures eventually become somebody else’s pasts, so go ahead and start bracing yourselves for it now.
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