Unusually Social, including Convivial

So dd_b and lydy and I went to Convivial.  I had a lot of very relaxed fun.  The instigators of the convention, laurel and kaustin, had secured two suites and a couple of smaller rooms on the 13th floor of the Holiday Inn Select in Bloomington.  The neighborhood was not very propitious from the ground, being composed almost entirely of airport parking, hotels and their parking, Ikea, the Mall of America, and the airport.  We also suffered from a comedy of errors in which, after we had parked atop a structure somewhat removed from the hotel proper and lugged all  our stuff through winding chlorine-scented corridors to the lobby, the clerk couldn't find our reservation and then told us that they didn't have "anything like that" when David said we were here for Convivial.  She sent us to the other Holiday Inn in the area.  As we drove up to it, David said, "This hotel doesn't have a thirteenth floor.  Luckily, by then Laurel was on the case and had gotten the real hotel to call the wrong one, so the clerk at the wrong one just told us that "unfortunately," we would have to drive back to the first hotel.

But the view from all convention space was really gorgeous.  The National Wildlife Refuge near the airport was spread out to the south, on either side of an amber-colored building that reflected the con suite's autumn-leaf decorations, its strings of orange lights, and at certain times of day, anybody standing at the window.  Across the hall, the view to the north encompassed downtown Minneapolis, doing the best one can do with an elevation of only about 800 feet above sea level to look like a shining citiy on a hill; and downtown St. Paul, sunk lower on the horizon and often shrouded in gloom, but doing its best as well.

There was comfortable seating and cider and beer and glorious munchies; I particularly liked the dried fruit, especially the chilii-flavored mango slices, and the pepitas.  After starving in the very well-supplied Minicon con suite earlier in the year because, apparently, no vegans or quasi-vegans like me had made any requests, I'd consulted with Laurel and brought along goat cheese, several vegan pates, hummos, baba ganouj, pita bread, and sheep cheese. And cakmpls had gone to Lund's and consulted Patrick the Cheese Guy and gotten some really lovely milder goat cheese as well, not to mention some smoked salmon.  Laurel and Kevin provided bagels and orange juice and fruit for breakfast, cupcakes and blog (the latter made by jbru) or Minn-Stf's 40th birthday, Jim Beam for a memorial smooth for Bob Tucker,  a lot of inivisible hard work, and endless good nature.  I missed the BPAL swap, the Deadwood game, and even the memorial "smooth," but I've seen the photos.  I was glad to see elisem show up on Saturday.  There was much talk of Mike, which was a goodness.

I was at a pretty low ebb in terms of both energy and intelligence, but I had a good time talking to and listening to people.  I still feel guilty for enjoying the game of Moneyduck so much when I'd refused to participate in it.  The hotel got a noise complaint about it, which seemed fitting to me, though usually it taks music, rather than laughter, to get a noise complaint, in my experience.

I didn't even really talk to a lot of people there, but I was glad to see everybody.  And I enjoyed watching the knitters.

For dinner on Friday my household kidnapped carbonel and went to the hotel restaurant; and for dinner on Saturday, when most people were ordering pizza in, we kidnapped minnehaha B and went to Sambul in Eagan.  B probably thinks he kidnapped us, since he suggested the restaurant and all, but I don't think so.  The food was really good.  I adore Indian food and will happily eat pretty mediocre Indian, but this, while perfectly recognizable, was somehow more delicate, with sauces where you could taste every separate ingredient.  They were very generous with the salmon in the fish vindaloo, too, and the breads were good and the fried appetizers light rather than greasy.

People who had to miss the convention really should come next year.  It's a wonderful space for a small convention, and Kevin and Laurel are wonderful hosts.

Also, the hotel restaurant is better than that at the Sheraton Bloomington.

Below the cut is appended an entry that I wrote but never made. It's even more boring than the above.

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