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The End of GenCon
Aug. 22nd, 2005 06:49 amIt's morning now, and if GenCon wasn't over last night, it truly is now. There's just the cabbing, planing, and BARTing left.
Last night Chris and I walked over to the big war monument, which is just a block from our hotel. It's a very impressive structure. About 12 stories tall, with a central tower upon a dias, and then pools around the center. The whole structure is in a large traffic circle, a couple of blocks straight over from the capitol, and is very much a focal point of the area.
I'd seen it before from afar, but never had quite realized its scale. When I got closer and closer, and it got larger and larger, that all truly came into ... perspective. It was big.
The structure has beautiful carvings all over, though some have faded and been redone. There's also a lot of really nice metal work, including the etched prows (and guns) of ships wrapped around the top. It looks like there's some sort of underground structure, a museum or something perhaps, but it wasn't open. What really amazed me about the whole monument is that it was built 1887-1889. I also find it hard to understand how those massive pre-20th structures were built without the assistance of cranes, bulldozers, and other modern conveniences.
On two sides of the monument are listings of the numbers of people from Indiana who have fought in various wars, from the Revolutionary War to the Great War. Some of it brought a tear to my eye, like the fact that every 10th Indiana boy who went off to fight in the Civil War never came back.
It was surprising that World War II, Korea, and Vietnam weren't represented on the monument.
I wish I had time to visit some of the museums and other tourist spots of Indiana, but there's never time at GenCon, and when I'm done I just want to go home. This time around I noted that we were frustratingly closed to the Indianapolis Rep Theatre, but of course couldn't go. "Sour grapes," I said, "and their upcoming shows were a pretty conservative slate anyways."
Right next to the war monument is a square office building which lights up its office windows red, white, and blue to make an American flag, every night.
Weird.
Two hours to go until departure time, and then another two hours after that until plane departure time, and then another two and a half hours after that until plane from Atlanta departure time.
Which is to say, I'm counting the minutes until I'm back in Berkeley with wife, cats, comfy bed, moderate temperatures, downtime, privacy, Wednesday night gaming, and all the rest.
This con was fun though, if exhausting. The players were really great, which I've found to be the case at every GenCon I've attended.
Oh, and if I had another revelation at the con, it was a reminder that I do truly enjoy roleplaying. Thanks,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
artegal, Kathy, and all the rest. Somewhere in our own regular RPG group I get lost in the need to run games or to help drive the game forward, and so I can't really immerse myself in a character.
But on Friday's CoC run I just played a useless, priveleged mama's boy with little common sense, and a heart full of kindness and optimism. Whether the game moved forward or not wasn't my concern, and so I could truly enjoy the experience (and did).
Here's to the late Carlton Fletcher.
Last night Chris and I walked over to the big war monument, which is just a block from our hotel. It's a very impressive structure. About 12 stories tall, with a central tower upon a dias, and then pools around the center. The whole structure is in a large traffic circle, a couple of blocks straight over from the capitol, and is very much a focal point of the area.
I'd seen it before from afar, but never had quite realized its scale. When I got closer and closer, and it got larger and larger, that all truly came into ... perspective. It was big.
The structure has beautiful carvings all over, though some have faded and been redone. There's also a lot of really nice metal work, including the etched prows (and guns) of ships wrapped around the top. It looks like there's some sort of underground structure, a museum or something perhaps, but it wasn't open. What really amazed me about the whole monument is that it was built 1887-1889. I also find it hard to understand how those massive pre-20th structures were built without the assistance of cranes, bulldozers, and other modern conveniences.
On two sides of the monument are listings of the numbers of people from Indiana who have fought in various wars, from the Revolutionary War to the Great War. Some of it brought a tear to my eye, like the fact that every 10th Indiana boy who went off to fight in the Civil War never came back.
It was surprising that World War II, Korea, and Vietnam weren't represented on the monument.
I wish I had time to visit some of the museums and other tourist spots of Indiana, but there's never time at GenCon, and when I'm done I just want to go home. This time around I noted that we were frustratingly closed to the Indianapolis Rep Theatre, but of course couldn't go. "Sour grapes," I said, "and their upcoming shows were a pretty conservative slate anyways."
Right next to the war monument is a square office building which lights up its office windows red, white, and blue to make an American flag, every night.
Weird.
Two hours to go until departure time, and then another two hours after that until plane departure time, and then another two and a half hours after that until plane from Atlanta departure time.
Which is to say, I'm counting the minutes until I'm back in Berkeley with wife, cats, comfy bed, moderate temperatures, downtime, privacy, Wednesday night gaming, and all the rest.
This con was fun though, if exhausting. The players were really great, which I've found to be the case at every GenCon I've attended.
Oh, and if I had another revelation at the con, it was a reminder that I do truly enjoy roleplaying. Thanks,
artegal, Kathy, and all the rest. Somewhere in our own regular RPG group I get lost in the need to run games or to help drive the game forward, and so I can't really immerse myself in a character.But on Friday's CoC run I just played a useless, priveleged mama's boy with little common sense, and a heart full of kindness and optimism. Whether the game moved forward or not wasn't my concern, and so I could truly enjoy the experience (and did).
Here's to the late Carlton Fletcher.