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No Good Deed
12 years ago
File this under general grumbling. But I got up super early (for me) today to help with unloading some stuff for the art show at MFF. Gophering (as volunteering to do work for a convention is known) is typically always interesting, you get to see a different perspective on the convention. I've never gophered for a furcon before and had been wanting to, so I went for it even though I had to get up at around 5am, a time I'm normally still awake from the previous day. Yes, I'm nocturnal, and typically quite happy about it.
The most interesting thing about it to me about this gophering trip was to see a kind of ghost of convention past. Those that went to MFF 2012 may remember the pop machine, instead of the usual rows of ice tables full of cans of pop MFF had a pop dispenser. With custom artwork on the labels to indicate what drink was coming out of what tap.
It was there in the storage facility where they keep all their stuff in the off season. I'm used to seeing the usual boxed up collection of convention stuff. One box of general convention stuff looks much like another, a furcon's stock of stuff doesn't really look any different from a science fiction conventions stock. But the pop dispenser was something identifiable. I could see it and think oh yeah, I remember that, I remember waiting in the line for it, hearing the constant popping sound of the regulator feeding CO2 to the machine. I remember thinking that the character on the Mountain Dew dispenser needed to look a little manic, like he was crazily holding on to the giant can of mountain dew in the image as if it was his "precious". It looked a little eerie just sitting there in the storage locker, I know that sounds absurd but the context of things matter to me. I was used to seeing it in the con suite, typically surrounded by furs who were filling up their cups of the precious sugar water. But now it was sitting there in a dark locker, with some damage to the artwork from some mishap from last year. Maybe being critically sleep deprived made me a bit weird, but I just felt like it was a ghost from the past.
Anyway, gophering went as it usually does. Lots of general bitching about how heavy the stuff is, chit chat amongst the staff that gives you an appreciation about what they go through to make the convention happen, that kind of thing.
After it was over I was driving home, feeling generally satisfied about having done a good deed to help out. And then I took a rock to the windshield, thrown by some vehicle ahead of me. Oy. I've checked it out, and there's a tiny chip that the rock took out of the glass. Hopefully not significant, and hopefully not something that will spread into a crack over time.
So thanks a lot for that one, fate. Way to encourage me to try to be generally helpful. Screw you too.
Anyway, I apologize if this was horribly written, I feel like the words aren't coming out right, my brain is really impaired from how short on sleep I am. You should see what it's like on the inside, it's almost like being drunk but not quite.
It'll be interesting tonight. Either I'll be in supergrump mode, in which case everybody beware, or else I might just be slap happy and laughing at everything, which is rather fun really.
The most interesting thing about it to me about this gophering trip was to see a kind of ghost of convention past. Those that went to MFF 2012 may remember the pop machine, instead of the usual rows of ice tables full of cans of pop MFF had a pop dispenser. With custom artwork on the labels to indicate what drink was coming out of what tap.
It was there in the storage facility where they keep all their stuff in the off season. I'm used to seeing the usual boxed up collection of convention stuff. One box of general convention stuff looks much like another, a furcon's stock of stuff doesn't really look any different from a science fiction conventions stock. But the pop dispenser was something identifiable. I could see it and think oh yeah, I remember that, I remember waiting in the line for it, hearing the constant popping sound of the regulator feeding CO2 to the machine. I remember thinking that the character on the Mountain Dew dispenser needed to look a little manic, like he was crazily holding on to the giant can of mountain dew in the image as if it was his "precious". It looked a little eerie just sitting there in the storage locker, I know that sounds absurd but the context of things matter to me. I was used to seeing it in the con suite, typically surrounded by furs who were filling up their cups of the precious sugar water. But now it was sitting there in a dark locker, with some damage to the artwork from some mishap from last year. Maybe being critically sleep deprived made me a bit weird, but I just felt like it was a ghost from the past.
Anyway, gophering went as it usually does. Lots of general bitching about how heavy the stuff is, chit chat amongst the staff that gives you an appreciation about what they go through to make the convention happen, that kind of thing.
After it was over I was driving home, feeling generally satisfied about having done a good deed to help out. And then I took a rock to the windshield, thrown by some vehicle ahead of me. Oy. I've checked it out, and there's a tiny chip that the rock took out of the glass. Hopefully not significant, and hopefully not something that will spread into a crack over time.
So thanks a lot for that one, fate. Way to encourage me to try to be generally helpful. Screw you too.
Anyway, I apologize if this was horribly written, I feel like the words aren't coming out right, my brain is really impaired from how short on sleep I am. You should see what it's like on the inside, it's almost like being drunk but not quite.
It'll be interesting tonight. Either I'll be in supergrump mode, in which case everybody beware, or else I might just be slap happy and laughing at everything, which is rather fun really.
AH HA! Now that I know that you're hopelessly nocturnal like me expect phone calls from me to start rolling in at about 3AM! You have been warned!
Cause man, it just ain't happening. Normally I can count on a second wind to kick in around 10 or 11 or so, but just getting there is too much of a struggle. Tonight the eyelids keep going into automatic closing mode, and I try reading things and find I never end up finishing and have no idea what I was even reading.
...and then I will talk to you for 3-straight hours about ponies! Man am I evil! LOL!