Fannish 50 Challenge 2024: Post # 28: Local Fannish Meetups FTW

[ride_4ever]

Last week I met IRL for the first time oldtoadwoman who I know from the Firewhiskey Fic comm. We met at a restaurant for dinner, followed by dessert at an ice cream parlor. I already knew her to be extremely artistic and literate, and with her having done fic and art in several shared fandoms, but it was only meeting her in person that I was able to experience how charming she is, a lively conversationalist with a depth and breadth of life experiences.

Local fannish meetups FTW!

Comments

[senmut]

OH YAY! Love seeing good people meet each other!

[ride_4ever]

Thank you kindly for sharing the fandom love!

[kass]

Oh how very lovely! This makes me happy.

[ride_4ever]

Sharing the fannish happiness, yes!

Wish you were local so I could introduce you to that restaurant. I know how much you appreciate well-made food, especially with an ethnic flair. It was this one: N Rebozo Mexican Restaurant.

[kass]

Ooh, that looks lovely! <3

[ride_4ever]

Oooh, what an excellent icon you have there! Did you make that one?

[verushka70]

👍

[ride_4ever]

And then you and I have a fannish meetup coming up for the summer solstice! :-)

[verushka70]

Indeed we do. 🙂

[torino10154]

Oh, that's awesome!!

[ride_4ever]

So much yes it was...and I gotta thank you for FWF because without that I wouldn't have met her.

yay!

[oldtoadwoman]

Oh, that's so sweet of you! I never in a million years would have described myself as "charming" or a "lively conversationalist".

Re: yay!

[ride_4ever]

Well, we often don't see ourselves as others see us. <3

[adafrog]

Great!

[ride_4ever]

Yes, it certainly was!

[amedia]

People getting to meet fellow fans in person is SO FREAKING AWESOME!!! *jumps up and down with excitement*

[ride_4ever]

...and some time Nacogdoches!

[amedia]

Yes!!!

[smallhobbit]

Excellent!

[ride_4ever]

Excellent indeed!

[thisbluespirit]

Aw, that's great!

[ride_4ever]

Yes, it really was a great time!

[mekare]

How wonderful!

[ride_4ever]

Yes, it sure was!

[corvidology]

How lovely for both of you! ♥

[ride_4ever]

It was indeed!

(And every time I see you write about your Asheville vacation spot, I think "oh, what a lovely place...I would like to visit there...and I would like to meet Corvid and MG...wouldn't it be awesome if some time I got to vacation in Asheville and it was a time when we could do a fannish meetup there....")

[corvidology]

I have never done a fannish meetup.

Not because I'm against it but most of my fandoms for the longest time were centred in the UK and I was never home when they were happening or I was but it was impossible to break free from family who get to see me once a year if we're lucky and disappear for a long weekend.

[ride_4ever]

Does "no fannish meetups" include that you've never attended a fancon?

[corvidology]

Noooooooo!

Even when I attend professional conventions to present and/or help organize them I'm careful to stay in the hotel so I can escape on a regular basis when it all starts closing in on me.

Also, I'm very much into characters not actors so the 'lure' of meeting the cast of my fandom isn't there for me. The only actor meetings I ever enjoyed were ones back when I was studying drama and we had some great actors come and teach workshops.

[ride_4ever]

No, not "actorcons" -- I didn't make myself clear. I don't go to "actorcons" (Creation Entertainment et cetera) that are centered around meeting the actors and are run by big for-profit organizations (and no disrespect intended to those who do attend them -- it's just not my thing). When I say "fancon" I mean a con run by fen for fen and for the purpose of hanging out with fen, and the cost involved is just operational expenses, not for profit-making. Also, I choose small gatherings, not a gathering of hundreds: one of my most favorite fancons has an attendance of about twenty-five or so fen.

[corvidology]

The type you're describing have always taken place at times of year I'm just not available due to family obligations, etc.

Also, erm... the one I would have been most likely to attend has always had the one person in fandom I've always wanted to avoid in attendance, particularly hard to do at a tiny fancon.

[ride_4ever]

Ah. Well the tiny one I <3 so much is Con*Strict, and takes place in September, so if it's not the one you avoid to avoid a particular fan, and you ever want to know more about it, ask me anytime.

[corvidology]

I looked it up and it's more of a general slash theme than I was expecting although I'm guessing there are concentrations of fans. ;D

I'm usually in England for at least part of September but I'll definitely keep this one in mind!

[ride_4ever]

You have piqued my curiosity with that "more than I was expecting" comment -- I am wondering what you did expect. My two fave cons -- Con*Strict and Escapade -- are both considered slash cons, but that does not mean that every single participant is a slasher and that every panel and every vid of the vid show is slash -- there's gen stuff too within these cons.

(And if you ever do decide to give Con*Strict a try, please tell sian1359 -- the organizer -- that ride_4ever sent you.)

[corvidology]

Ah, no, you misunderstood me/I phrased it badly. Having only heard about cons, they seem to divide into big cons = many fandoms represented, small cons = one fandom represented.

[ride_4ever]

Oh, now I see what you had in mind. YMMV but in my more than a decade of attending between three and six fancons every year (well, every year except during the COVID lockdown) I didn't experience a divide like that. The only single-fandom con I attended was the every-other-year "RCW 139 due South con" in Toronto, and that was neither the biggest nor the smallest of the cons, while the multifandom cons I attended ranged from the smallest I attended to the biggest I attended.

[clarasteam]

yay for local fannish meetups!

[ride_4ever]

Yay indeed!

(And a bit of LOL here: for a time I used to think that your username was like "clara steam" before I realized it was like "clara's team".)

[clarasteam]

ha, yes - I like that it can be read both ways, but 'batting for Clara's team' is the origin!