Jeff Adams' Radio Drama Blog

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Location: International Falls, Minnesota, United States

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

The Post CON blog

July 11, 2006

I’m beginning today with a deadline. I have to be somewhere in half an hour, so I can’t go on for very long about anything. I could very easily go on because this is my ‘Post CON blog’ and this entry could easily decay into something maudlin and hard to understand, not to mention long.

‘CON’ in this context (no pun intended) stands for ‘convention’ of the science fiction variety. Every year for the past four, I’ve made my way to a gathering named CONvergence in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington. I started going because this particular con hosts the Mark Time and Ogle Awards for excellence in Sci Fi and Fantasy Audio. That, in a small universe such as ours, is a very big deal. There are precious few rewards in audio theater. And a plaque that says ‘done good’ is a wonderful thing to have. It’s wonderful enough to make you re-think quitting for another year and go back to the mics in search of the one story that will make the world take notice. I have been honored by the Mark Times three times. At that first con in 2003, I got much, much more than a plaque and a t-shirt. I got to breath pure, creative oxygen for a weekend. And I did not know I needed such a boost until I came home. Now, I wouldn’t miss it.

When I go, I stay up too late, visit the two dozen or so party rooms (each one with a different theme) watch tons of free movies, attend two or three panel discussions and generally grove on the vibe of 2,000 people enjoying a weekend they all look forward too every year. My son Stephen (now 16) joined me two years ago. This year my daughter Rachel (12) joined the two of us as well. Next year, I hope, my wife, Diane, will have to come along. She’s a life-long reader of speculative fiction, and she hates being left alone with the cats, so attending the con is a natural.

Now, I am back in my hot little attic (the merc is pushing 90 outside) trying hard to re-learn the geography of my own head. in these first few post-con days. The problem has to do with escape, and our need for it. Well, my need, anyway. Just how much escape can one person take before a breakdown occurs, and he ends up living in his parent’s basement, spending all his time online arguing that Ensign Ro really was a worthwhile character?

So much more to write about, but I am trying to keep these blog entries short. Next time, more about escape as well as: “Art and Life in Conflict” or “The Script can Wait. There’s Laundry to do.”