Okay so

FRIDAY, cont.

Now, I had invited  astolpho over as my guest (Guest of Guest of Honor?) and it was a really good setup because, for the most part, water runs through me like an open faucet, and he actually planned on being places other than the dealer's den. He is also super awesome, and made of win, and best of all, willing to hang out with me.

So okay, an hour after opening I had the GOH panel, which was the first panel I ever did, and it was somewhat rattling except that there was only maybe 20 people at most so it wasn't absolutely terrible. I had fun! And it was about this point that I started loosening up and actually talking to people.

So then I was BASICALLY in the dealer's den until 5. During that time I was swamped by people throwing me money and it was awesome actually meeting so many people who were fans or who just wanted my things. (I also took probably too many commissions because I didn't finish them all until the middle of the afternoon on Saturday.)

And the Comics panel was at 5:30, which was me,  astolpho and  mitti and it went really well; we had a good turnout I think despite the fact that most people were probably still expecting  blotch who was unable to do the panel. We were all pretty much unprepared, but it was basically talking shop so we had a lot to fill an hour.

So after that, the dealer's den had already closed so I was looking around for the art jam room. Did you know that MFF doesn't have an art jam room? I was exasperated and not a bit disappointed, even after asking all, like, four of my contacts if they knew where it was. So it ended up  astolpho, Quilrynn and Sleet and even though astolpho and I were the only artists we had like a fun time, cause I had brought my MST3K dvds.


SATURDAY

So okay, I was late again, though this time only for the opening of the dealer's den cause this time I got into the O'H. Their eggs benedict was good, but not as good as the corned beef hash version I had the day before. Anyway again it slipped my mind that there was a Sponsor Brunch, and it sucked and I was feeling bad because I felt like I was snubbing pretty much every cool thing the staff was providing for me.

Saturday was slightly slower business, but I stayed in the dealer's room pretty much all the time again because it was FUN. Guys, I like being busy? And even if you were interrupting me I didn't care because I really like meeting you guys and it's important.

Oh I don't even remember who all showed up on saturday. I know I saw  falconmccooper who gave me an original sketch he had done for me a few years ago and he was real cool. I remember I saw  strype either then or on Sunday and I feel bad because I was so completely tongue-tied I didn't get a chance to thank him for the commission he'd done for me.

After all that, I had dinner with  tahoetaxidinae and  greyloch at the Red Bar, where Tahoe and I had sushi. Despite the fact that we're located in, like, Chicago, the sushi was REALLY good.

 astolpho and I then went to  mitti's room for an art party, but she had like one of the standard double rooms and it was too cramped, so we ended up going to  thornwolf's room a bit later and oh my goodness it was so fun. I remember besides her and  skorzy there was  westly and  mbala and  foxfeather and  ironfeathers and it was SO COOL. I actually felt like part of the cool people group for once!


SUNDAY

Dealer's den opened later. There was, apparently, a miscommunication and some people thought it was opening even later, but eventually we were let in.

Apparently, more people buy the small trinkets on Sunday. In hindsight, this makes sense.  astolpho was away most of the time and a lot of people were throwing money at me for his stuff, which only ended up doing once through  thornwolf because the girl in question was in a hurry.

I only ended up making a very quick once around the dealer's room and I wish I had a little more time because I had an itch to get furry things, but you know, maybe next time!

That evening after dinner,  tahoetaxidinae had invited me to a game of Once Upon a Time with  greyloch and  jdpuppy and a few others who came and went, and also Sleet tagged along saying he didn't want to play but he ended up doing it anyway! Once Upon a Time is one of my favorite card games, it is basically an in-joke generator. Here are just a few!

The (foreign-local) Kingdom of Georgia
Who is going to play the Boat card?!
This Plan Can Fly
Orphans like to congregate at the well, of course
The orphans are also Aquarians
It was all the dream of a hobo in a magical cardboard box

Sometime near the end of our game,  joeysparkz came around in suit and he was, uh, tipsy. He was also pretty funny, though, and despite being drunk he was awfully nice (except maybe to  tahoetaxidinae but I have been told that was in jest. He came around again later just before we played a game of bananagrams and threw his glowsticks at Tahoe, which we then promptly hid before he remembered they were missing).


MONDAY

This day sucked. Less because the con was over (I finished up three commissions and delivered!) and more because I was stupid and needed to get a duffel bag, and thought I could walk at least part of the way. I ended up spending 2:30-5 being stupid because I didn't want to pay for a taxi twice. At least I didn't get lost. Well I finally got on a bus at O'Hare and now I am in Napanee for Thanksgiving so I guess it wasn't too bad.

Thanks a bunch to everyone who came by my table, and I'm sorry I'm not super talkative, but I am trying to be moreso! Maybe I'll see you guys at a future convention, because now I'm pretty much convinced these can be worth it!