Re: [CON] GZG East Coast Convention

> I'm coming over to meet some friends (Indy, Jon et al) and attend a 
> SciFi convention  (they probably won't understand about gaming...).

You'd be surprised.

In 1996 I went to GenCon, driving to Milwaukee from Canada. On the way
back, 
I hit the border at Sarnia, Ontario. I picked a short line and waited my
turn 
to drive to the booth. Once I got there, the Customs agent told me to
wait 
for a second and closed his booth. It re-opened with a different agent. 
Checking my watch it was 4 p.m., so probably the end of a shift. This
agent 
was younger, in his early 20s, I guessed.

He asked the usual: citizenship, where'd you go, how long were you gone.
He 
then asked what we were bringing back into Canada. Before I could say 
anything, my friend called out, "Gaming supplies." There was a pause.
The 
agent looked at me and said, "What _kind_ of gaming supplies?" 

At this point I was certain we were going to be searched and was ready
to 
beat my friend rather severely about the head and facial area. "Gaming 
supplies." The guy probably thought we had roulette wheels, or
dismantled 
slot machines in the car! (It was a Honda Civic, so there wasn't _that_
much 
you could cram into it. At this point my friend recovered and said,
"Gaming 
supplies, like dice, miniature figures, rule books."

The agent looked at me and asked, "Where were you, again?" I 
said, "Milwaukee, for GenCon, a game convention." 

The agent looked at something on the monitor (probably getting a report
back 
on the car) and said, "I've always wanted to go to GenCon. How was it?" 

"Pretty good," I said with obvious relief, "but not quite as good as
last 
year." 

"Who was the guest of honour?"

"Walter Koenig," I replied.

He nodded a couple of times, then asked if we had any tobacco or
alcohol. We 
responded in the negative, and then without a word he just waved ust
through! 
This was a good thing, as I was _way_ over my duty free limit on "gaming

supplies", and this is the one agent who would know that a set of
styrofoam 
painted green and brown and glued with model railroad flock was probably

closer to US$20 than US$5!

So, while it's unlikely that they'll know what a game convention is, you

might be surprised.

--
Allan Goodall		   agoodall@att.net
http://www.hyperbear.com   agoodall@hyperbear.com