Gasp, Ringtail Cafe has a life outside the furry fandom you say? Madness!

So we went to a science fiction based symphony in our home town of Cincinnati which was awesome. There was a private after party for a limited crowd after that with the special guest of the symphony, George Takei. We were on that list and very much looking forward to meeting the man.

So we sit through the symphony, which was a ton of fun (Everything from Lost in Space, to Battlestar Galactica, to Star Trek was tributed) and we make our way upstairs to the tower for the party.

Sal goes up to the lady at the front and goes to give our names for the check in. The lady looks up and goes "Oh! I know you, Ringtail Cafe...from the Conventions! Go on in." I was a little startled to be recognized and ushered in. That was a pretty cool moment.

We mingled about in the party room with snacks and drinks and George finally came in. He was super nice, when we got to talk to him. When we talked about our comics and how we respected how open and unabashed he was with his orientation and try not to shy away from such things in our own books, he said "What you are doing is very important." I have rarely been so flattered by a single sentence. Now, I'm not the sort to fan-boy but I admit, that gave me a thrill.

We circulated the party a bit, getting to hang out with other folks, party goers and special guests (like the symphony conductor). Eventually we wound up hanging out with George's partner, Brad, and several other folks. We knew him from facebook, since that's where George Takei lives.

We even joked about how we have a game "Can you post it before George Takei" and that got a lot of laughs. Also apparently both George Takei and Brad like the way I dress, because they both took time to talk about it. Go figure. When Brad mentioned as much I started talking about "It's my show look, it helps me stand out at conventions." and he asked what we do. I started to explain about how we do comics, and then the coolest thing happened.

Someone else in the crowd realized who we were and went "Oh! You're Ringtail Cafe!" and they started complimenting and gushing on about our books and explaining to Brad all about Yuck, and Tofu, and ice cream monsters and stuff. When Brad said "Oh, from the convention? I need to check that out." I just about squealed.

At best, we're E list local celebrities. For a night, we got to feel like B level :D

Seriously, anyone who gets the chance to hang out with the Takei's I highly recommend it, they're both SUPER nice people. They've also dedicated their lives to working towards equality and human rights, worthy of a lot of respect.