In keeping with the main theme of this blog, I’m not going to go into too many details about the convention I ran security for this past weekend. It was a great con with a minimum of drama, very few problems, and a lot of good stuff.

I made some hard decisions about the direction my life will be taking, and one of them had to do with dropping toxic relationships.

More importantly, I set myself a budget and some rules for doing this convention, and I stuck to them. I took care of myself in terms of food and sleep. I didn’t try to do too much. I took care of my security team. When I needed help, I asked for it and received it.

I set myself a budget of $50/day for the convention, including food and the dealers’ room.

I spent $40 on food for the two days, making sure I had a good breakfast each day. I got treated to dinner Saturday night by some friends, which helped, and was unexpected but welcome. Had I not been treated, I would have eaten dinner in the Consuite, which would have been okay, too. My only indulgence in the dealers’ room was a handpainted silk scarf (reasonably priced, well within the budget I had set, and a one-of-a-kind souvenir), made by one of our guests of honor. I did participate in the Interfilk auction, but stopped when the bidding went over my budget.

Since my train trip to the convention was not during rush hour, I paid about $5 less than my ticket would have cost if I had travelled during the afternoon rush hour.

I got a lift from the train station to the convention (thanks, Marc), which saved me about $30, and I got a ride from the convention to my front door (again, thanks Marc), which saved time as well as money.

So, in terms of both making some decisions, and in terms of sticking to my plans for budgeting and self-care, it was a successful convention.

(Note for these who were there: The gas attack on Sunday happened after the con was officially over, so I am not considering it part of the convention. Further, I do know what caused it, and it was not a lack of caring for myself, but a thing that arises without warning due to some screwed up surgery last year.)