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Back from my first AC!
17 years ago
General
*whew* what a time!
The trip there on Thursday wasn't too bad - I navigated and, save for a breakfast stop and a bathroom break on the way, we made great time. The car consisted of myself,
Derranged and 
Sierra who did the wheel-work whilst I led the way.
We arrived at the Westin about 30 minutes to an hour earlier than the rest of our merry crew, which consisted of
Androo, 
Bowrll, 
Krowy and Krowy's friend Kitty (don't have her FA link).
Meeting Krowy in person for the first time was the biggest highlight of the trip without a doubt. I was pretty charmed, I guess you could say and took to her fairly quickly. Looking back on the whole trip, I think I ended up pulling off a "lost little puppy" routine - following her around most of the time... kinna feel a bit guilty for that =p
Derr, Sier and I made one very irritating mistake - we didn't pre-register. Their excuse was that they didn't have a credit card... mine, well... it's a common thing that happens to me - nobody tells me anything! By the time I found out I could pre-register, it was closed. So, we waited in an exhausting, very irritating line. All but Bowrll waited with us (she went off to mingle... no problem), though it was safe to say they too were very tired. While we waited for registration, Droo was waiting for something else - our hotel room. We got two neighbouring rooms, but on Thursday, we were only getting one room... but the occupant was taking longer than expected. Eventually, we did get the room up in 612 and got 4-5 room keys. As we did, I insisted that Krowy, Droo and Kitty go up and rest and that we'd be up when we were registered. Once we registered, we went up, relaxed a little, then got our luggage from the car.
Ah... before registration, a bit of a funny story... we went for lunch at the pizza place in the hotel. While there, Krowy, Derr and I mentioned that we all had to find
Seely at some point, claiming that it would probably be pretty tricky. A few minutes later, I saw a group of people walking by and two things caught my eye... a tell-tale red jersey belonging to the infamous 
Skifi and the blue-haired individual within the crowd next to him. Go figure... it was Seel. I leaned over to Derr and whispered "Hey... isn't that...?" she looked around, saw her and just squealed "SEEL!", making her jump and spin around. We all shook hands and I met Seel and the Skiff-meister... as well as 
AyCee and I gave Seel the badge I made her.
The first night was a bit of a pain - 7 people, 2 queen-sized beds. Bowrill was going to sleep in our room that night, then go to the next-door room for the remainder of the weekend when it opened... but for that night, it was pretty crowded. When it comes down to it, though, I'm a bit of a gentleman - I took, what I can only consider the most awkward bedding decision overall - 2 chairs and a pillow. Droo and Sier took one bed, Derr and Krowy the other. Kitty took a sleeping bag Droo brought and Bow made a bed from some pillows and one of the thick comforters. Believe it or not, I slept well enough... maybe because I only had 3 hours of sleep before we left. =p
Friday - we scoured the dealer's room. On that day, I did two major accomplishments. The first, I saw a replica weapons stand and in a moment of pure stupidity and impulse, I bought a replica Master Sword for fifty bucks. After taking that back to the hotel room (because it was annoying to carry around after a while), I grabbed my sketchbook and went back to all the tables of people I recognized and had the upmost respect for for an autograph. Before doing so, I put at the top of the signature page a header:
The "OMG! IT'S... YOU!" Page
I added a note encouraging doodles if people wanted. Boy, did I get a list of people! I'll write it down at the bottom of the journal. This was, pretty much the main part of that day... other than Krowy getting a big, 3-limbed hug by Capt. Jack Sparrow (or at least a stunning likeness... lol). If you're wondering... two arms and one leg.
Saturday, Derr, Krowy, Kitty and myself decided to try to get a table at the artist alley. Our odds were phenomenal and I was 39th chosen. Krowy was chosen shortly after, so we went together to scout out space enough for the four of us. Luckily, we all got in... but Kitty changed her mind early on and left. We weren't really prepared, however... but tried pretty hard. Derr originally undersold herself by a great deal, but changed her prices later. Both her and Krowy got a lot of comissions... so much so that Derr had to sadly turn down drawing something in a book given to her by Uncle Kage himself. The two of them made over $100 that day, but really overworked themselves. I, on the other hand, got pretty depressed at my little spot of isolation. I sat most of the time like a puppy in a pet store window, only to watch as people completely ignored me. I watch people go down the line of tables, looking at all of the artwork of the artists to my left, then, without taking so much as a first glance at me or the art in front of me, went straight on to Derr's spot, then Krowy's and everyone beyond. It seriously looked like most people looked at every other artist on that row but me. I did, however, make $20 selling "Skribblez", which were little more than $5 sharpie sketches on a half-sized notebook page of lined paper. Both Krowy and Derr, as well as a couple other people catching me talking about my 'despair' wanted to also buy a Skribblez, but to me, it felt like more of a pity thing than anything else. I made one for Krowy for free and told Derr and the others that I'd be fine. Derr mostly figured I was thinking my art sucked too much. While that was a part of it, my main problem was that I felt nonexistant... and for some parts, pretty lonely. In the end, for our various reasons, we decided not to do another artist alley sales run this year and come back next year more prepared.
Sunday was a hectic shopping spree. We went to the dealer's tables one more time, where I picked up J.Axer's finale portfolio. It was a bit of bad news to hear that he was taking a break from going to AC, but I understood his reasons. After that, we left for a couple hours to hit some stores we normally can't go to in Canada. We found a Hot Topic, where Krowy and Sierra bought new Tripp pants, another shop in which I got a NES controller belt buckle and a Ryu collectible figure for my friend. After that, we went to the only establishment I wanted to go to in the US - IHOP. Yep... pancakes. I've never found a stack of flapjacks that could top the ones my dad would make us every few months when we begged... and IHOP was a very damn good contender! Can't say yet if IHOP took the title... but don't tell my dad =p
Today, we took ANOTHER trip to IHOP for our last breakfast - Krowy and Kitty had to go to the airport and we had to drive home around the same time, so we decided this was the best way to round off our AC experience. After the breakfast, gave each other goodbye hugs/handshakes, took a few pictures and with heavy hearts, went our separate ways.
The trip home was pretty much uneventful... until we hit the Niagra area... then we got a bit lost. We took one wrong turn, made a U-turn, missed another turn, did an illegal U-turn, then got to the bridge and finally, customs. Now, remember when I said it was a bit stupid to buy that Master Sword replica? Well... this was the tense moment of truth. We had packed it in the bottom of the trunk and hoped they wouldn't mention anything like "do you have any weapons?" or something to that matter. Go figure... they asked about tobacco and alcohol, as well as if we had more than $400 in US-bought stuff to declare, then let us on our merry way. Instead of taking a break, we drove the 6 hour trip from Pittsburg home in one go.
So, now I'm back and relaxing before passing out completely. I've caught up what I've missed not being on the computer for the 5 or so days and already unpacked. So, tomorrow will just be another day...
...but the memories and bonds we made will be with me for a long time. Yeah, corny, I know... but I don't freakin' care! lol
Anyways... the signatures I got are from the following people (no, not going to put their avatars this time)... in order of appearance in my book:
Note: '*' denotes that they drew a doodle with their signature
V.Kyrie
J.Axer *
KaeMantis *
Fossil
Eric W. Schwartz
Lizardbeth *
Dingbat *
Touch My Badger *
DariaMcGrain *
Ultraviolet *
PurpleKecleon/Papaya Kitty *
Seel *
AyCee *
Max Blackrabbit *
Skifi *
gNAW *
Krowy *
The trip there on Thursday wasn't too bad - I navigated and, save for a breakfast stop and a bathroom break on the way, we made great time. The car consisted of myself,
Derranged and 
Sierra who did the wheel-work whilst I led the way.We arrived at the Westin about 30 minutes to an hour earlier than the rest of our merry crew, which consisted of
Androo, 
Bowrll, 
Krowy and Krowy's friend Kitty (don't have her FA link).Meeting Krowy in person for the first time was the biggest highlight of the trip without a doubt. I was pretty charmed, I guess you could say and took to her fairly quickly. Looking back on the whole trip, I think I ended up pulling off a "lost little puppy" routine - following her around most of the time... kinna feel a bit guilty for that =p
Derr, Sier and I made one very irritating mistake - we didn't pre-register. Their excuse was that they didn't have a credit card... mine, well... it's a common thing that happens to me - nobody tells me anything! By the time I found out I could pre-register, it was closed. So, we waited in an exhausting, very irritating line. All but Bowrll waited with us (she went off to mingle... no problem), though it was safe to say they too were very tired. While we waited for registration, Droo was waiting for something else - our hotel room. We got two neighbouring rooms, but on Thursday, we were only getting one room... but the occupant was taking longer than expected. Eventually, we did get the room up in 612 and got 4-5 room keys. As we did, I insisted that Krowy, Droo and Kitty go up and rest and that we'd be up when we were registered. Once we registered, we went up, relaxed a little, then got our luggage from the car.
Ah... before registration, a bit of a funny story... we went for lunch at the pizza place in the hotel. While there, Krowy, Derr and I mentioned that we all had to find
Seely at some point, claiming that it would probably be pretty tricky. A few minutes later, I saw a group of people walking by and two things caught my eye... a tell-tale red jersey belonging to the infamous 
Skifi and the blue-haired individual within the crowd next to him. Go figure... it was Seel. I leaned over to Derr and whispered "Hey... isn't that...?" she looked around, saw her and just squealed "SEEL!", making her jump and spin around. We all shook hands and I met Seel and the Skiff-meister... as well as 
AyCee and I gave Seel the badge I made her.The first night was a bit of a pain - 7 people, 2 queen-sized beds. Bowrill was going to sleep in our room that night, then go to the next-door room for the remainder of the weekend when it opened... but for that night, it was pretty crowded. When it comes down to it, though, I'm a bit of a gentleman - I took, what I can only consider the most awkward bedding decision overall - 2 chairs and a pillow. Droo and Sier took one bed, Derr and Krowy the other. Kitty took a sleeping bag Droo brought and Bow made a bed from some pillows and one of the thick comforters. Believe it or not, I slept well enough... maybe because I only had 3 hours of sleep before we left. =p
Friday - we scoured the dealer's room. On that day, I did two major accomplishments. The first, I saw a replica weapons stand and in a moment of pure stupidity and impulse, I bought a replica Master Sword for fifty bucks. After taking that back to the hotel room (because it was annoying to carry around after a while), I grabbed my sketchbook and went back to all the tables of people I recognized and had the upmost respect for for an autograph. Before doing so, I put at the top of the signature page a header:
The "OMG! IT'S... YOU!" Page
I added a note encouraging doodles if people wanted. Boy, did I get a list of people! I'll write it down at the bottom of the journal. This was, pretty much the main part of that day... other than Krowy getting a big, 3-limbed hug by Capt. Jack Sparrow (or at least a stunning likeness... lol). If you're wondering... two arms and one leg.
Saturday, Derr, Krowy, Kitty and myself decided to try to get a table at the artist alley. Our odds were phenomenal and I was 39th chosen. Krowy was chosen shortly after, so we went together to scout out space enough for the four of us. Luckily, we all got in... but Kitty changed her mind early on and left. We weren't really prepared, however... but tried pretty hard. Derr originally undersold herself by a great deal, but changed her prices later. Both her and Krowy got a lot of comissions... so much so that Derr had to sadly turn down drawing something in a book given to her by Uncle Kage himself. The two of them made over $100 that day, but really overworked themselves. I, on the other hand, got pretty depressed at my little spot of isolation. I sat most of the time like a puppy in a pet store window, only to watch as people completely ignored me. I watch people go down the line of tables, looking at all of the artwork of the artists to my left, then, without taking so much as a first glance at me or the art in front of me, went straight on to Derr's spot, then Krowy's and everyone beyond. It seriously looked like most people looked at every other artist on that row but me. I did, however, make $20 selling "Skribblez", which were little more than $5 sharpie sketches on a half-sized notebook page of lined paper. Both Krowy and Derr, as well as a couple other people catching me talking about my 'despair' wanted to also buy a Skribblez, but to me, it felt like more of a pity thing than anything else. I made one for Krowy for free and told Derr and the others that I'd be fine. Derr mostly figured I was thinking my art sucked too much. While that was a part of it, my main problem was that I felt nonexistant... and for some parts, pretty lonely. In the end, for our various reasons, we decided not to do another artist alley sales run this year and come back next year more prepared.
Sunday was a hectic shopping spree. We went to the dealer's tables one more time, where I picked up J.Axer's finale portfolio. It was a bit of bad news to hear that he was taking a break from going to AC, but I understood his reasons. After that, we left for a couple hours to hit some stores we normally can't go to in Canada. We found a Hot Topic, where Krowy and Sierra bought new Tripp pants, another shop in which I got a NES controller belt buckle and a Ryu collectible figure for my friend. After that, we went to the only establishment I wanted to go to in the US - IHOP. Yep... pancakes. I've never found a stack of flapjacks that could top the ones my dad would make us every few months when we begged... and IHOP was a very damn good contender! Can't say yet if IHOP took the title... but don't tell my dad =p
Today, we took ANOTHER trip to IHOP for our last breakfast - Krowy and Kitty had to go to the airport and we had to drive home around the same time, so we decided this was the best way to round off our AC experience. After the breakfast, gave each other goodbye hugs/handshakes, took a few pictures and with heavy hearts, went our separate ways.
The trip home was pretty much uneventful... until we hit the Niagra area... then we got a bit lost. We took one wrong turn, made a U-turn, missed another turn, did an illegal U-turn, then got to the bridge and finally, customs. Now, remember when I said it was a bit stupid to buy that Master Sword replica? Well... this was the tense moment of truth. We had packed it in the bottom of the trunk and hoped they wouldn't mention anything like "do you have any weapons?" or something to that matter. Go figure... they asked about tobacco and alcohol, as well as if we had more than $400 in US-bought stuff to declare, then let us on our merry way. Instead of taking a break, we drove the 6 hour trip from Pittsburg home in one go.
So, now I'm back and relaxing before passing out completely. I've caught up what I've missed not being on the computer for the 5 or so days and already unpacked. So, tomorrow will just be another day...
...but the memories and bonds we made will be with me for a long time. Yeah, corny, I know... but I don't freakin' care! lol
Anyways... the signatures I got are from the following people (no, not going to put their avatars this time)... in order of appearance in my book:
Note: '*' denotes that they drew a doodle with their signature
V.Kyrie
J.Axer *
KaeMantis *
Fossil
Eric W. Schwartz
Lizardbeth *
Dingbat *
Touch My Badger *
DariaMcGrain *
Ultraviolet *
PurpleKecleon/Papaya Kitty *
Seel *
AyCee *
Max Blackrabbit *
Skifi *
gNAW *
Krowy *
FUCK YEA!
I hope that I'll be able to do it again some time in the future.