WorldCon Day 1 - Good Vibrations

I woke up this morning feeling good.  Like the Beach Boys song whose title I'm borrowing for this entry.  A good little emotional buzz.  

For me, it's a weird feeling.  One that needs to be examined.  

Obviously, I think it has something to do with being in San Antonio for WorldCon.  

Is it the accommodations?  The room is nice.  Clean.  It has plenty of plugs for all my electronics, which is something I look for in a motel room when attending a convention.  No refrigerator, though, which is a disappointment.  And the internet isn't free.  I paid extra for the REALLY high speed connection so I could play my online baseball without having to deal with latency in the connection.  It's a real pain to be down in the count, needing a run to tie the game in the ninth, and have the pitcher's four-seam fastball you've been looking for stop dead cold a foot off the plate.  

But I digress.  The accommodations get a C+ overall.  Not enough to account for the good vibes I'm feeling.  

My allergy symptoms are getting better.  A bit.  I still have the redness, but the bumpy hives seem to have disappeared.  I went to Urgent Care the night before my flight and got a steroid shot and pills and they seem to be doing the trick.  I still itch.  The ointment they prescribed for me helps with that, but it's a pain to rub on.  I did sleep nine hours straight through last night.  That was refreshing.

Still, it won't be the distraction to my vacation it could have been.  A plus.  Health is important.  But it doesn't cover the good vibe thing.  

I met some con-going friends of mine on the shuttle bus on the shuttle bus to the hotel.  That was a genuine pleasure and a relief.  Next year's WorldCon is going to be in London, England.  A number of the con-going crowd I hang out with decided to skip this year's convention to save money for that one.  It made me think that this year's convention may be like the one I attended in Australia, which a lot of people skipped as well.  Informative, but not a lot of fun.  

Like one of my friends said, "I go to WorldCon to see the people I see at WorldCon."  

That could be part of it, I think.  It definitely improves the experience to share it with like-minded people.  I'll say that it is assisting the good vibe feeling.  

It certainly isn't that I've accomplished anything.  This is the first bit of writing I've done in 48 hours, because of packing, going to the doctors' office, flying, getting my room and getting registered.  I've been fighting with myself and my words recently.  I've been hoping that the convention would do something to shake things loose in my head. 

And THAT might be it.  It is the POSSIBILITIES I look forward to in coming to WorldCon.  It's like baseball, in a way.  There's always a possibility to win each and every game, despite what the scoreboard says.  If you take your time a bat, you can at least extend the game until you can win.  

So here I am, stepping up to the plate.  Just be patient.  Don't be greedy, but don't be afraid to swing for the fences if they leave a curveball hanging over the plate. 

And most of all, have fun.  That's what I'm going to try to do.