Chicon 8: Day 1

One day down! I took a leisurely approach to the morning -- sleeping in a bit, breakfast at Starbucks, hit registration around 11:30. I ran into bookish_di outside the elevator, and we decided to meet at my first panel for the day, "Ancient Cities and Futuristic Design". This was a great panel, a fairly broad discussion of the technologies and social forces that have shaped cities, from ancient history to today. Annalee Newitz was on the panel, and I will listen to anything they have to say about cities and urban planning, and it did not disappoint. Fran Wilde, with whom I am less familiar, was the moderator, and she did an excellent job.

After that, we did a swing through the dealers room, got lunch, attended a reading by Jo Walton, and then hit the art show. I didn't buy anything, but I'm definitely going back. After hanging out in the lobby for a bit -- where we were eventually joined by justira -- I spent a little time in my room, then went to a panel on cozy games that justira moderated. The big takeaway from that is that people find different things comforting and cozy for very different reasons, so if you want to recommend a game to someone as cozy, it's good to find out what that means to them first.

Now I'm back in my room again after dinner, ready to relax and watch Critical Role (not quite live, but closer than usual), and get ready for the business meeting tomorrow. It's finally time to vote on the Best Game Hugo proposal! If you're here and want to support the award, Ira has a Twitter thread with more details.