On the final Friday of OSCON in Portland, I felt overwhelmingly sad. Like a huge institution that I was a part of suddenly came to an end. The expo hall was mostly dismantled and the resultant space held the bags of departing geeks. I went to the last two sessions and left the conference hall deflated. I feel this way after the wrap-up of any big shindig I attend and now I know that I'm not alone. Scott Kurtz of the seminal webcomic PvP writes about his post-con experience:
This year was different. I’m able to participate now. And I think that makes coming home afterwards a lot harder than in previous years. Instead of spending my evenings in a hotel room, I was out with my friends every night. Then suddenly it’s Monday morning, and somewhere in the night all evidence of the SDCC was picked up and whisked away. It’s like the whole week was a dream.
Tags: geek