It's Fun to Stay at the IPMC

My outing started with an unusual note.  It seems like I never see anyone when I'm in the elevator or
 lobby.  I generally only take the elevator down when I'm in heels anyway.

On the fifth floor, the elevator stopped and a young woman with two young daughters got on.  I said hi, she said hi, the girls didn't say anything, and we rode down.  I had to remind myself to exit the elevator without waiting and holding the door (although it would have been appropriate, since she had to herd those cats.  I think.  I don't know all the rules yet).

The hotel was very quiet when I walked in.  I saw a sign directing visitors to the meeting rooms.  There was a restroom between the entrance and the meeting room so I thought I'd take care of business while it was quiet and no-one might think to follow the "intruder" to see what she's up to.  No, that's never happened, but I try to plan ahead and be safe and non-annoying no matter how I'm dressed.  The ladies' room was empty while I was in there.

There was no sign-in desk this time, but I was greeted by a man who thrust a "visitor's choice" ballot into my hand and explained that I should vote for the model I thought was best.  I thanked him and talked briefly about the models at his table and moved on.

I spoke with many of the guys who were exhibiting models.  It was kind of lunch time, so people were

Yes, it's paper

leaving tables unattended.  I complimented several guys on their fantastic models and said, more than once, "now I won't build for the next few months because I'll remember how good these were and know I can't do the same kits justice."  Which is true.  I'm not an artist nor extremely serious modeller.  My current works-in-progress include a Very Large Dalek and an Edmund Fitzgerald.  The ship isn't going together well, but I feel confident in blaming the model (even though I could never design anything like this myself).  The eggcrate just isn't adequate, and the fore/aft sections don't mesh as well as they should.  On the other

Also paper.  The treads are made one piece at a time

hand, someone had a spectacular Notre Dame ~ I have the kit and put it aside when I started doing the same structure Over and Over again.  It can be tedious, especially if not every one comes out perfectly.  The same builder had a Japanese plane transport ship that had about two dozen perfectly identical Zeroes on deck.  Each was no more than an inch and a half long.  Each had a shaped fuselage and wing.  If I didn't go insane before finishing, the first and last would resemble each other as little as the starting and ending word in a game of telephone played by nursery school students.

I spoke to one guy who's name I recognised as another old timer. 

Paper Laura Croft was very complex, according to the builder

We had spoken last time I was there (at least five years ago).  We both remembered one modeller who had a plane with spinning propellers.  I said "I remember.  It was hooked up to a fueling truck which contained the batteries."  When we were done chatting, he said "it's nice to see you again," which is really special, if you think about it.

Near the end of the second room, one guy said "you're Meg from the list."  I was floored and said "how did you know?"  He said my picture shows up next to my posts.  I had asked a question about the convention and he had answered it.

I asked him to point to give me some scale!

I did chat with several guys I'd met in years past (in drab).  I didn't identify myself; I wasn't identified.  I still don't know if that was the right course of action.  I'll see if anyone (including me) starts talking on the list and take it from there.

Halloween bonus below.

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