Expectations, Schmexpectations

Try saying that title three times quickly....  *grin*

Current (and temporary) employment situation aside, I tend to rule the portions of my destiny that I care to manage.  In other words, I tend to get what I want/need out of life. 

It's just that it usually comes to me the opposite of the way I expect to get it.

I learned that fact early on.  The West Point Glee Club, of which I was a proud member, tended to take long trips over Spring Break to exotic locations, where we would party and enjoy life.  And, um, sing a little, of course.  One such incident, we split the trip.  The first several days, we went to Bismarck, ND, a stop I steeled myself to survive, somehow, until the second half in Orlando, FL.  It didn't start well; the military cargo plane we took to North Dakota stopped in Fargo to refuel, and as it touched down we saw the snow flying past us sideways.  The plane came to a stop, and we were sad to see that the snow was still flying past us sideways. 

I had a blast, though, and I believe I'm okay in saying most of the others felt the same way.  Our second day in Bismarck it warmed right up and gave us absolutely beautiful weather the rest of the trip.  The people were wonderful; we were treated like visiting royalty by the state officials who welcomed us.  I almost didn't want to leave when it was time.

Almost.

Hey, we were going to Orlando.  Disney World, specifically, where we were going to sing in the beautiful Florida weather.  Unfortunately, the beautiful weather turned out to be a myth.  As soon as we landed the skies opened up into this cold, wet drizzle.  That, plus the fact that the West Point Glee Club just isn't all that big a deal in the Magical Kingdom, made the second half of the trip what we'd expected the first to be.

Funny how that happens, right?

My trip to RavenCon followed a similar pattern.  I blogged a few days ago (click here for the post) about the upcoming trip and the panels and what I kind of expected.  Trust me, I'll grace most of them with their own blog posts in upcoming days.  That said, I have two overall observations: 1) wow, what an incredible time; and 2) the panel I least expected to enjoy turned out to be the most enjoyable.

Yeah, I know, I know.  I vividly remember writing that I was "not sure this doesn't belong in the 'what the heck was I thinking?' category" when I described the upcoming Princess Culture panel.  It was great, though.  We sat there for an hour and had a very engaging discussion of--well, I'll cover that in the blog post about it.

Soon!  Very soon!  I'm not going to leave you hanging!

In the meantime, have a wonderful week, and mark your calendars for next spring.  RavenCon just gets bigger and better every year.

- TOSK