Has it been 30 years?
Posted By Kathleen David on January 25, 2008
Peter and I will be at ChattaCon this weekend. I was thinking this morning when I couldn’t get back to sleep when my first convention was and what my first convention out of town (ie Not in Atlanta) was. So I think I have it figured that I have been going to convention for 30 years now. My first out of town convention was ChattaCon. That’s quite a few years of going to conventions. But then I look at Ariel and Caroline who probably can’t remember a time that they didn’t go to conventions. I know Caroline’s first convention was in urtero and in Europe.
I am looking forward to seeing old friends and the possibility of having an uninterrupted conversation. This will also be the first time since Caroline was born that Peter and I have gone to a convention without the kids. My brother will be throwing his usual party or his unusual party as the case may be. Overall I am going up there to have fun and a little relaxation time since I don’t have any panels on my schedule. Don’t get me wrong, I love the panels that I do at various conventions. It is just going to be interesting to go somewhere as “the wife”.
A number of years ago when Peter and I were just dating, we went to ChattaCon on a lark. He wanted to go to a convention not as Peter David but as Kath’s Boyfriend and since ChattaCon is my old stomping ground, it seemed a good place to do it. My friend Bill drafted him into helping to pour beer in the con suite. So Peter was checking IDs and pouring beer like a pro. One guy came up and handed Peter his ID. Peter checked the date and handed it back. The guy did a double take and said, “You’re Peter David!”
“Yep.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Pouring you a beer now what do you want?”
The guy got a beer and went back to the table he was sitting at with his buddies. There was a lot of animated talking and pointing. Finally one of his buddies came up to Peter and said, “Our pal says that you are the writer Peter David.”
Peter finishes pouring a beer for someone else, turns to the guy, and says, “Yes I am.” To which the guy goes back to his table and confirms what the first guy told them. Which I think gave them a pretty neat convention story to tell.
I am grateful for comfortable conventions.
My first convention was either January or February of 1977 – I used to have the ticket stub somewhere still. I think my first out of state Con was a Creation Boston in the summer of 1983 – at least the first overnight one. A day trip could have been a year or two earlier. I’ve lost count of the number. Chris’s first costume contest was at 10 weeks old, and I’m still mad no one would let me attend Clippercon, I think it was, when Marina was @ 5 days old.
Welcome to the 30 and over club!
My first con was SDCC 1992, and I was 12. My parents sent my brother and I in the convention floor to wander around for a few hours while they hit up Seaport Village. Security was actually very cool back then, letting them in the Convention Center itself to wait in the hallway for us to come out from the main floor, and were very understanding that the parentals were just here to let us enjoy it without being dragged along. I don’t think you could do that at the con today with size of the darn thing.