Discworld final day (and I survived it!)

[dalekboy]

Turned up to see the Jack Cohen interview, and yes, he was just as worth it as I remembered. Smart, funny, witty, and just a little naughty. I took some time to catch up with Jocko, which was lovely, then crashed out.

After that was the panel of the future of Aussie Discworld Cons. We got it down to every second year seeming like a good idea, and I suggested that Terry didn't have to be a guest, either. He's 60, he has times of poor health, and the trip out here is hard for most people. Plus the books will outlive him anyway, so the occasional con without him shouldn't kill people.

After that came the auction. I was paired with a wonderful bloke called Miles and we auctioned our little hearts out. The con wasn't quite breaking even, so Terry said that while the auction was for charity (orangutans) the money could go to the con until it was in the black, then to the apes, in the hope of allowing future cons to happen. It went for 2 and a half hours, and there was some gorgeous stuff. In total we raised about nine thousand dollars, got the con out of debt and still had a hell of a lot of cash left over for the orangutans. Yay!

And I got through the auction, and could still walk by the end of it! Woohoo! My throat was buggered, my legs were weak, but I still did ok. The closing ceremony was brief, Pat and his brilliant committee got a standing ovation by everyone including Terry. I retired to the bar and was there until way too late last night.

All up, it was good. Very good. Them not breaking even was more down to lots of people deciding to go to the thing at the library tonight. If a few of those people had bought memberships the con would have gotten through. But the con was a resounding success, and if there's another, I'd certainly be interested in heading along.

And I'm not doing bad today, wobbly and permanently stuffed, but surviving. Either I was having a good run that was masked by the con, or my exercising is paying off in terms of increasing my stamina. I've slept a couple of times and suspect I'll be paying for the con and auction all week, but so long as I get to rest and sleep, I'll do alright.

I'll probably not leave Tiki's much and when I do I'll just have to limit socialising carefully. I find going out tiring, and I struggle with city driving at the moment, there's an awful lot to keep track of. My balance isn't a problem, but I get exhausted, so I'll keep my bedding in the car so I can sleep when tired if I'm driving about, just in case.

If I'm up to it, may hit the MSFC Friday. *fingers crossed*

Comments

Breaking Even?

[thinarthur.livejournal.com]

I heard that con had 300 people at the opening ceremony and it cost $200 for the weekend. Ok, so a lot of people got in cheaper earlier and not everyone went for the full time but I would have thought they'd be coining it in. Is the Carlton Crest that much? Also, I don't think you can say publicly that a certain con event is for a charity and then divert funds to a con, even one in the red, I think that's kind of illegal. If you say upfront that you'll give any money over from a non profit con to a charity that's ok but not "sorry, we're skint, the charity auction is going into general revenue"

[fuschia17.livejournal.com]

I attended the talk at the library. I didn't know much about the convention - I've never been to one I'm sorry to admit... At least the con broke even, and there was money for the orangutans.

Maybe I'll drop by the MSFC and say hi.