I went to Chicago this past weekend for Chicago Area Mensa’s HalloweeM Regional Gathering. It was wonderful. Reminded me very much of the RGs I used to go to: one big hospitality suite, too much wonderful food, lots of great conversations and friends (brand new and long-term), interesting oddball events.

I was also on stage a few times: first, speaking on “A Centennial of Asimov.” Similar to the talk I gave at the Annual Gathering, except this time I wasn’t sharing the stage, and talked the whole hour. I had 80 or 100 people in the audience, and they reacted the ways I hoped at the appropriate times. The only one who left early was my sister, to set up the table of my books for sale.

My second talk was “Publishing and Getting Paid in the Era of DIY and Kickstarter.” A much smaller audience, but it was 9:30 Saturday morning. The audience seemed interested, and there were a lot of questions, so I guess that one went well, too. Later that day, I participated in the AMC round-table, talking about Mensa business.

As usual, I almost completely forgot I had a camera on my cell phone, so I didn’t take any pictures during those more-than-72-hours in the hotel. Besides, I was too busy having too much fun.

But Sunday afternoon, Jon and Karen Gruebele invited me to visit with them and eat lunch, and Jon took me on a great walking tour of Chicago. I’ve been to Chicago several times before, but other than the hotel and convention space, the only things I really saw were the planetarium and wandering the streets at like 2 in the morning. Being out and about while the sun was up was a wonderful way to end the weekend. And for that part of the trip, I remembered my camera.

Next weekend is Philcon. The next RG on my schedule is New Hampshire’s in February.