My Convention Career: 1978

• Kubla Khan Sex, Nashville -- I remember this con fondly because it was the first one I went to where I knew people, mainly fellow Myriad apa members and members of the Atlanta fan community, which I had just discovered. Notable for a gaffe on my part, asking Writer GoH Andy Offutt whether he knew Fan GoH John Cleve (his porn-writing pseudonym). Favorite innovation? "Pee breaks" listed in the programming schedule.

• CoastCon, Biloxi -- One of the all-time dinky conventions, which I only attended because friends Cliff and Susan Biggers were the Fan GoHs. Notable for a hotel with holes in the wall, a truly horrible banquet, an attendance roster that mainly consisted of gamers from the local Marine base, a fraternity weekend going on at the same hotel, and my meeting someone who would be a friend for many years, George Alec Effinger.

• NutriaCon, New Orleans

• Deep South Con, Atlanta -- The first of many DSCs I would attend over the years. I have very fond memories of this convention, at which I first discovered filksinging through the good offices of Murray Porath. Also memorable was a pre-con trip I made with Kelly Freas to pick up original Bonestells from the walls of a local insurance company for display in the Art Show! I also got into the finals in the Hearts Championship of the Universe, and met someone else destined to be a long-time friend, Nashville fan Charles Dickens.

  This con is perhaps also notable as the first con at which I worked, doing registration.

• IguanaCon, Phoenix -- Quite a change from the previous year, I knew a bunch of people of this convention and had a good time despite what I now know in hindsight to be a very disorganized worldcon. Memorable for the Ellison Roast, the first large filksing I ever attended, and my getting to meet Mike Glyer, after reading and enjoying his zines in Myriad. And the Anvil of Ghod was nothing to someone raised in Miami Beach!

  Worked this con as a runner in the Art Auction thanks to Art Show Chair Khen Moore seeing me in a slinky sleeveless dress the evening before!

• Chambanacon, Champaign-Urbana -- Got a ride to my first Midwestern con from Dan Caldwell. This was the trip where Phil Foglio and Jim Fuerstenberg got me hooked on pinball and I nearly lost my typesetting job when I came back due to pinball-induced tendinitis! Great filksinging and an infamous fannish dinner expedition that still lives in memory: a twenty-minute ride to the wilds of Rantoul, where the Passavoys knew of "a great Chinese restaurant." Although they accepted our reservation for 20-some people, the place turned out to be a diner that barely held all of us, with woks that could only handle one dish at a time. We left the hotel at 6:30, the first food didn't hit the table until 8, and we got back to the hotel at 10:30. The wait was almost worth it thanks to Phil drawing Mesklinite cartoons on the placemats (the ones Ross Pavlac didn't try to eat...) I also got to throw my first snowball, much to my delight and the amusement of the hardy Midwesterners.

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