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Anthrocon 2023 In The Rear-View Mirror
2 years ago
General
Well, we made it to Anthrocon on Saturday with time to spare, despite numerous road closures--yeah, Pittsburgh, have an ant farm, fill it with 10,000 furries, then close four of the roads around Ground Zero.
Other than that, everyone was cheerful, friendly, pleasant, and the staff were super-helpful getting us registered before Registration officially opened so we could set up for our panel.
You can cause quite a stir walking through the convention center with a real live dead hyena on wheels. Many people took pictures of Spots as we walked him from the parking garage up to the conference room and back. Yet many more people didn't even blink. I guess we weren't the weirdest thing they saw that weekend.
There had been an error in the printed schedules. I was told the panel was going to be at 10.30 AM. The printed schedules said 11.30. So we waited til 11 to allow people to drift in. I added about 26 new slides to the program, got a lot of laughs from the audience, and bullshitted my way through an hour and a half talking about hyenas.
I raffled off about a dozen signed prints. Oddly the last one chosen was a copy of "The Mistress Jade Trophy" photo, of a nude young Mistress Jade. Only a few minutes ago did I realize I should have called it "the booby prize."
I also raffled off a rubber hyena mask I'd bought, then found out I was claustrophobic in. The young man who won it seemed very pleased.
We joined some friends for lunch, did a tour around the Dealer's Den, then hightailed it for home because our house dog really, REALLY needed to go outside. We didn't get lost leaving Pittsburgh this time, but out GPS misdirected us off 219 south onto the smaller, twistier, and steeper 160. I hate our GPS. It wants to kill us.
We arrived home 13 hours after we left, had to clean up a rather large puddle on the floor (under the wee-wee pads, don't ask me how she managed that!) and unloaded the car, then spent today decompressing and recapping.
I hope any of you who attended the convention had a great time!
Addendum:
To the guy who sat up front, and showed me the picture of the lion sitting in a wheelbarrow--I apologize for my mystifying comments about "your comic strip characters," I mistook you for somebody else whom you resembled!
Other than that, everyone was cheerful, friendly, pleasant, and the staff were super-helpful getting us registered before Registration officially opened so we could set up for our panel.
You can cause quite a stir walking through the convention center with a real live dead hyena on wheels. Many people took pictures of Spots as we walked him from the parking garage up to the conference room and back. Yet many more people didn't even blink. I guess we weren't the weirdest thing they saw that weekend.
There had been an error in the printed schedules. I was told the panel was going to be at 10.30 AM. The printed schedules said 11.30. So we waited til 11 to allow people to drift in. I added about 26 new slides to the program, got a lot of laughs from the audience, and bullshitted my way through an hour and a half talking about hyenas.
I raffled off about a dozen signed prints. Oddly the last one chosen was a copy of "The Mistress Jade Trophy" photo, of a nude young Mistress Jade. Only a few minutes ago did I realize I should have called it "the booby prize."
I also raffled off a rubber hyena mask I'd bought, then found out I was claustrophobic in. The young man who won it seemed very pleased.
We joined some friends for lunch, did a tour around the Dealer's Den, then hightailed it for home because our house dog really, REALLY needed to go outside. We didn't get lost leaving Pittsburgh this time, but out GPS misdirected us off 219 south onto the smaller, twistier, and steeper 160. I hate our GPS. It wants to kill us.
We arrived home 13 hours after we left, had to clean up a rather large puddle on the floor (under the wee-wee pads, don't ask me how she managed that!) and unloaded the car, then spent today decompressing and recapping.
I hope any of you who attended the convention had a great time!
Addendum:
To the guy who sat up front, and showed me the picture of the lion sitting in a wheelbarrow--I apologize for my mystifying comments about "your comic strip characters," I mistook you for somebody else whom you resembled!
My house dogs aren't used to staying home alone since I 'retired'. I can Visit MIT up by Boston or Southern New Hampshire, but no farther. My GPS got me lost driving from New London to home. I fired it and bought a car with built-in Nav.
So that Christmas I put on my list that I wanted a "stuffed animal." My parents said "You have lots of stuffed animals."
I replied, "No, I want a real live dead thing." Meaning taxidermy.
My Dad had been interested in taxidermy as a boy, and took a correspondence class in it, but I never did get a mounted animal until I started buying them for myself. My first--unless you count the mink collar I stole from y grandma--was a deer head and a fox pelt.
Now I have seven deer heads, a boar head, an impala head, a full bear rug, a hyena pelt, and two Eurasian magpies. The full hyena mount is the jewel of my collection. Almost all of them were obtained for "cheap" at estate auctions. I think the hyena cost more than all the rest combined.
I would like to learn taxidermy myself, but I really don't have time for another expensive hobby, and my husband isn't as enthusiastic about my fascination with the art.
Well-done taxidermy is art; poorly done taxidermy is nightmare fuel.
Vix