con on the cob
I went to a con over the weekend, and I know what you're thinking.
"But how can you handle a convention when you can't handle most parties?"
And that's a fair question. I didn't attend Gencon this year because it's just gotten too overwhelming for me to deal with. Con on the Cob, which is run out of the Days Inn and Suites in Richfield, Ohio, is a much smaller con, but there is still a lot of stuff going on.
Con on the Cob markets itself as being a celebration of "games, arts, freaks, and fun," and I believe it really delivers on all of those things. Just, on a small-to-medium-sized scale.
The room we got was right on the atrium where a lot of the gaming was going on. Like, it literally had two doors, and one of them opened directly into the atrium. That was pretty cool and convenient when I needed to duck out and just chill for a while, but it also got kind of noisy at night when people were trying to sleep.
This was exacerbated somewhat on the first night, when some nerds were so drunk and excited that they kept loudly declaring that no one should be sleeping because, "It's CON!" After that, we bought some ear plugs.
It's also worth noting that this is a rather old hotel which hasn't been updated in a while. The gamemaster in our group super loves the vaporwave aesthetic, and I have also been getting into it somewhat, so we loved the heck out of how it looked. But yeah, like the lighting in our room was super dim, there weren't a lot of outlets for our electronics, and the WiFi and hot water would cut out randomly while we were trying to use them. Perhaps there were ghosts!?
There was also a pool in the atrium, adjacent to where the gaming was going on, that was very conspicuously empty. I don't know what the story is, but I do know that the pool was closed for use, specifically during the dates of the con. Perhaps this business did not feel comfortable allowing a horde of drunk and sweaty nerds to splash around in there? We felt a LITTLE BIT personally attacked, but quickly recognized that it seemed like a perfectly reasonable thing to do.
I really appreciated how much of a focus on art this con had. The vendor room had a lot of really cool pieces in various mediums, and there was a "paint and take" miniature station which provided miniature figures, paints, and brushes to anyone who wanted to just chill out and paint for a while. It made me kind of want to start doing it as a hobby at home!
I also really appreciated the food trucks that hung around right outside the hotel, and that the Con Suite was full of snacks and music for attendees.
I will admit that I was a little overwhelmed on Saturday, which was the busiest day of the Con. A lot more people showed up, there was more loud stuff like parties and shows going on, and I just withdrew into the room for a while. But I did get a little painting going on, and I met some cool people while doing it.
All in all, it was great. I'm glad I went. I'm equally glad that it's over and I'm at home now. I had been stressed out and really felt like I needed a break in my routine, and I think going to the Con really helped me with that.
I am
reset.
