Volunteering Fun!

For over a week now I've been meaning to get back here and post something new, but I got sick two weeks ago and while I'm back at work I haven't quite recovered fully. I apologize for the delay and, "Thank you!" to all who've asked if everything was well in my life.

Weekend before last I did my ever first volunteering. It was at a gaming convention here in San Antonio, the ChimaeraCon. Not a huge convention, but popular among its attendees. And it's growing. I had a blast! I'm not much of a gamer, but I loved being around people who love Science Fiction and are enthusiastic about playing games. Their enthusiasm for this is contagious and they have all spent enough time with their passion that they are very expert when you have questions. The people I met there share the same love of books and interaction with fantasy that I have.

My job was registration. I spent most of Saturday behind the counter. They turned me loose briefly to wander the floor and see all the fun stuff that had been set up and games that were happening. I also got time off to go to the food court (we were at Crossroad Mall) and get lunch. But most of the day I was watching folk come in, receiving their money and giving them badges to wander and enjoy the activities that had been planned. You'd think with a barrier between you and others you'd not get sick, right? Wrong, by the end of the day I was coughing and sweating with a fever. This was really disappointing because my volunteering got me into the convention free and I'd planned on coming back Sunday afternoon just to have fun. Now I couldn't do that.

When the planning for this convention started I'd expected bunches of compute games, and there was plenty of that. But there was also lots of board games. We had Game Masters running D&D games and other card or miniature based games. There was jousting. We had MechCorps there with 3 huge pods that you could sit in and fight an opponent from using cool technology. And there were several local guest stars. I met two of them. One was The Defuser, the winner of "So You Want to be a Superhero" from Texas and the other was his nemesis, Lord Vile.

There's a really neat video that the San Antonio Express created when they came and interviewed lots of folk there. I can't embed it, but here's the link. Go and watch, it's really very good. One of our volunteers has put up a really great MySpace page about ChimaeraCon. It isn't the official page which is now on hold till next year but you can get a good feel for the event and its history. Here's the link to that.

Even with me getting sick I had so much fun that I plan to volunteer again next year. This year I was shy and not ready to be fully involved in a large roll because I didn't know any of the ins and outs of running a convention. Now I do and I'll be ready to take on a larger role next time around. Thanks to everyone who took time to train me, explain things, and show me the way! You all were awesome!

An added benefit to having attended, actually one that was part of my reasoning for being there, is that I learned about other places in San Antonio to connect with folk who love SciFi and Fantasy as much as I do. And there are other conventions coming up to attend among them San Japan 2 in August. I've never been to any of these things before and plan on attending as many as I can. Life is looking a lot more fun for the future.