The weekend has passed and thus has my convention season. I love doing conventions, but they sure take a lot out of me. Attending Imaginarium and Context in back to back weekends was the first time I’ve ever pulled that stunt. Yesterday I hit a wall and did not feel that great. Today, I’m bouncing back.

Context is the convention I look forward to the most every year. A huge bus load of my good friends always attend. There is a sizable Apex fan base. And we generally have a good weekend at our vendor table. Fun. Friends. Cash. A winning trio if there ever was.

I meant to take more pictures, but again, I managed all of 3.

The highlight of the weekend was the Apex party held on Saturday night. I mixed up a 3 gallon jug of the ‘purple’ stuff and a 3 gallon jug of the ‘red’ stuff. They both were hits, if perhaps a bit strong. Geoffrey Girard did a knock up job of running the music and after all us book nerds had a few drinks, some dancing happened.

Another highlight was the Friday night flash fiction contest that I judged with Betsy Mitchell, Matt Betts, and Geoffrey Girard. Participants read their story to the crowd and then each judge gave a constructive criticism of the work. At the end of the night, we selected the winning story. This was a cool event and one I might try to put together locally ever month or so.

I had a hard time getting out of bed Sunday morning and like a chump I missed my 10am panel. Here’s a selfie I took prior to the Apex party. You can tell how pert and happy I am. I meant to do an ‘after the party’ selfie but forgot.

In the grand tradition of name dropping all the cool people you had fun with, I present you my roster of names: Elaine Blose, Lesley Conner, Awesome Dawn, Geoffrey Girard, Janet Harriett, Maurice Broaddus, Andrea Johnson, Elizabeth Campbell, Matt Betts, Jason Sandford, Brick & Lori Marlin, Monica Valentinelli, and that one guy who did that one thing.

Until next year, Context. Until next year.