"And as you stay for the play Fantasy has in store for you, glowing light will see you through..."

My brain has finally recharged after my first World Fantasy Convention evar! I met so many people, renewed some old acquaintances, and once again was shown just how much Barcon and Con-Suite-Hallway-Con and people's individual readings are slowly starting to matter more to me than panel programming. Unless I'm on a panel, of course, which I was!

Here's what else I learned...

1. You can't carry enough business cards at WFC.
2. Like an air traffic controller from a '70s disaster movie, I just failed to realize just how much James L. Sutter was on my radar until I met him face to face.
3. I've heard of shitty hotel con bars before, but the bar this year was just, overall, the worst bar ever.
4. When kids nowadays say, "This is this shit!" they're talking about Michael J. DeLuca's chocolate pepper stout home brew.
5. Speaking of DeLuca, a 7" tablet full of panel notes is simply no match for his MacBook Pro's worth of notes.
6. Speaking of panels, I found that I felt less like a redshirt on the Bibliofantasies panel and more like Chekhov in his first few episodes of ST:TOS.
7. If there really is such a thing as an "Asian YA Mafia," I SO want in. Just tell me who I have to whack. Hell, I'll even start writing YA (maybe).
8. I really need to write and submit something to Beneath Ceaseless Skies.
9. After 2 or 3 cons, I finally learned that, yes, I could have a brief conversation with Ted Chiang without my face melting off like I'd just poked the Arc of the Covenant.
10. If I'm at a con where Cheeky Frawg has a party, I'm so there!
11. ChiZine throws a mean party, too!
12. Annalee Newitz and Charlie Jane Anders from io9 are every bit as cool as I'd imagined!
13. The most innovative drunken-snacking invention ever--taco fixings in a Dorito bag! Thanks, Ad Astra!
14. It's odd how I could not see someone from my town the whole con, yet it seemed every time I turned around, there was Peter Straub. Kinda like how I barely saw my Dragon*Con roomies two years ago, yet Sylvester McCoy was just everywhere!
15. Next time, how about saying something when a legendary 40-year veteran of SF/F editing comes into your party room and NOT just sit on the couch, slack-jawed as he walks in, heads for the swag, grabs a book, and walks out?  Gotta say, though, the Dagan Books meetup was still a blast!
16. "And now it's time for a breakdown," as the song goes: Carrie, Wes, Mike, Scott, James, Simon, Eugene, Carol, Michele, Amy, Tina, Helen (and her sister), and the 4 or 5 others (at least) I know I'm forgetting (Sorry!!), you made my con!