My First Mythcon

Just back from my first Mythcon! Well, my first in-person Mythcon .... I attended the virtual one in 2021, which was my first year as Awards Steward. This year's event was held in Albuquerque, which isn't that far from Tucson, and the wife and I were doubly excited because of our admiration for Breaking Bad. By sheer coincidence, the city was unveiling statues of Walter White and Jesse Pinkman on the day of our arrival, and the actors, Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul, were in attendance.

We missed the statue unveiling, but we twice tried to reach the Convention Center to see the statues. The first time, the Center was closed (it was a Saturday), and the second time it had closed temporarily due to "lockdown" -- certainly, a weird thing. Who calls a threat to a Convention Center? Luckily, our first Uber driver told us that the actors were throwing out the first pitch in the Albuquerque Isotopes game, i.e., the Triple-A minor league affiliate for the Colorado Rockies, and we managed to find some cheap tickets. The game ended up being the Istopes's best attended game ever; besides the actors throwing out the first pitch, there was a silent auction of Breaking Bad memorabilia that raised over $100,000 for charity. Later on, after the conference was over, we explored town a bit, including a special Breaking Bad store that was completely awesome.

Mythcon itself was fun, and although I'm awful at meeting people (it's just so exhausting), I was able to put faces to several names on our scholarship and fiction awards committees. That was great. I also announced the MSA and MFA award winners on Sunday night, and there were no catastrophes. So, all in all, a successful conference.

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