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First Day At BiCon

Yesterday, of course, was our first “full day” at BiCon, and it made the difference in terms of feeling welcome and “at home.”

Claire and I went to a couple of welcome-y workshops: Start Here! and Getting To Know You! The timetable’s pretty well organised because despite there being up to 6 activities on at any given time, few people seem to have “clashes” in the things they want to attend: the organisers have taken care to put, for example, crafty things in different slots and BDSM things in different slots and poly things in different slots and so on so that your interests can be satisfied, whatever those interests may be.

There’s a fascinating mix of people here, too: a real mix of age, gender, sexuality (no, not everybody is bi, though it’s a majority), background, religion, ethnic group, etc. I’m not sure what I was expecting but I’m surprised anyway.

I’ve been to a variety of workshops on polyamory, time management,bisexuality, and the labels people use to define themselves. I’ve net a number of strange and wonderful people, and I’ve made full use of the SU bar. So far, so great.

First Night At BiCon

We’re in Glamorgan University, staying in a hall of residence. It’s a little like living in Penbryn but the rooms are en suite and the microwave ovens don’t cook people that stand too close to them. It turns out that WiFi is off the menu so I’m posting over GPRS, hence the lack of photos: might try to get some uploaded at some point.

In the meantime, pretend I’m showing you a picture of my name badge, which is basically a laminated badge with my name on, decorated with half a dozen or more stickers of various shares and colours that serve to identify me to anybody who’s taken the time to remember what they all mean. One says this is my first BiCon, another says I like board games, and so on. Already people have started inventing their own, and I’ve got a unique one that instructs people not to feed me chocolate.

We’ve enjoyed a pub quiz (our team, Dim Parcio, came eighth out of thirteen) and met all kinds of interesting people, and now we’re taking a somewhat early might in anticipation of a busy day tomorrow!

More as it happens.

Excited

I’m really quite excited about Claire and I’s upcoming round trip of the UK. In case you’re not “in the know,” here’s what we’re planning:

BiCon

On Thursday afternoon we’re off to BiCon, the National Bisexual Conference, in Glamorgan. To think, this event’s been running for a almost as long as I’ve been alive and I’d never heard about it before this year. Evidently they were advertising in all the wrong places. And then, after all of that, the first one I hear about is just “down the road” (well, so much as anything is just down the road from Aberystwyth) in Glamorgan.

Anyway, it sounds like a good event; I’ve spoken online to a couple of dozen people about it and it sounds fabulous with a capital FAB. The workshops list is certainly… unusual: Teddy Bears & Whips? Time Management And Non-Monogamy? Writing Erotica To Share? There’ll be Wi-Fi there, so I’ll do what I can to post bits and pieces of my experience back here. I’d love to say that I’m sure Claire will do the same, but it’s a little optimistic, considering her blog update rate.

Fringe Festival

Then a week on Monday (20th August), after the event finishes, we’re driving up North – perhaps with a visit to Preston on the way – to meet with Ruth and JTA and head on up to Edinburgh for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival! A whole week of live comedy, drinking to excess, eating haggis, and loving the Edinburgh Fringe party atmosphere. For a handful of reasons, I won’t be performing this year (probably): still, there’s always next year. My mum and my sisters, Becky and Sarah, are going to the Fringe as well and our visit will overlap theirs by a day or two, and it’ll be good to see them. We’re also informed that Kit and Fiona might drop in on us for a day or so, too.

Nonetheless, it’ll be a great opportunity to see the Free Fringe performers yet again and spend all of our time drunk and laughing. And if Claire manages to get through the week without flashing any old ladies, all the better.

I’ll be on GPRS by this point, rather than Wi-Fi, so weblog updates are less likely, but I’ll see what I can do.

Oxford, back to Aberystwyth

Post-Fringe, we’ll be delivering Ruth & JTA to Oxford, and staying over briefly ourselves before coming back to Aber on Tuesday 28th August. Yes, this means I’m working for about 13 days this entire month. Sweet.

And of course, when we get back, it’ll only be 11 days until QParty, so we’ll be spending the most part of our time fretting and making last-minute arrangements for that. There are those that have suggested that this party-fortnight – and in particular BiCon – should be seen as a “stag night.” Which is a nice idea, but doesn’t really reflect what QParty’s actually about. I’ll write more about what QParty actually means, to me at least, and all that… at some other point. Watch this space.

Meanwhile…

In the meantime, life in Aber will, I’m sure, go on pretty much as normal. Paul will be making arrangements for the intervening Troma Nights, so keep an eye on Abnib Events for them, and he’ll be looking after Mario and Luigi in Claire’s absence. I gather that Sian (no, not that one, the other one) is getting married on the weekend of BiCon; would somebody who’s going to her wedding pass on my regards and best wishes.