Arisia con report
It was a con. :)
Friday: I took half the day off, and good thing, too. I got word at 2:00 p.m. that we were going to have a room for a party that evening after all, so I did my best to pull a room party out of my hat on a couple hours' notice by engaging in an emergency BJ's run. Bought more supplies than necessary, but I guess that's better than too few. :-} turtleduck helped me cart the stuff up to the room, and she set much of it up while I ran back home to finish packing, collect trowa_barton, and return to the con to check into our own room for sleeping. Upon checking in, I made some signs and helped finish the party setup, then went back to the room to chill for a few and dress up in black velvet for the party.
I never saw any of the rest of the con that evening except for registration, but that's okay, because it was a successful party. :) Lots of friends showed up, as well as some new folks, and many other friends who were too zonked or otherwise busy to swing by were missed. I also got lots of practice saying "no" to one particular man of persistent, if somewhat amusing, lecherousness. "No" is a very useful word. Anyway, I think we got to bed somewhere between 4:00 and 5:00 a.m.
Saturday: Turtleduck, Trowa, and I awoke earlyish to clean up the party room. That went pretty smoothly, but I needed to sleep again after that. Trowa slept a bit with me, then went out to attend some panels. I opted to sleep a while longer, then managed to drag myself out of bed to shower, dress, and see some of the con for the first time yet.
First stop: Art show. Took a spin around the show, admired many pieces, bid on one, a Mark Roland etching. Wished I could afford to bid on many more things, including some extremely cool masquerade masks fashioned of brass wire and crystal.
Next stop: Dealers' room. Got to talk to Lyn C. for a bit, which was nice, and browsed a few tables. Trowa and lillibet found me in there, I bought some buttons from chanaleh, and then we went to the con suite, where I was very pleased to run into geekchick and engaged in sampling of fine teas at a tasting organized by ian_gunn and Trowa had an encounter with a woman who seemed to find him just a little too dreamy for his comfort. I can understand why, of course, because he is quite dreamy, but I also understand the discomfort, having had many of my own encounters with fanboys who didn't understand that I wasn't interested. (Amazingly, the Shambling Mound did not hit on me this year, but I digress.)
Turtleduck, whuffle, and I then had a mini garb-swap, which ended up rather well for all concerned, I think. Trowa and halleyscomet seemed to agree. :) Then Trowa, Turtleduck and I went to dinner at CPK with, lillibet, jason237, muffyjo, gilana, gatewaygirl, kirkcudbright, and young Kylie. After dinner, we checked out dealers' row, which I hadn't yet visited, and I tried on a corset at Brute Force Leather. We also caught some of the masquerade on Arisia TV. By this time, though, it was getting into prime party time, so we went back to the room to change. I wore my new bodice and the shimmery skirt with my stompy boots and felt pretty. :) (Lillibet has a photo of me and Turtleduck that should be viewable to those on her friends list, though I hope she'll let me post it myself as well.)
Notable parties include rmd and kjc007's annual gathering, Cris's annual rocket-fuel-soaked shindig, and the Chaos Theory party, which was imaginative and fun. Lots of socializing, snacking/drinking, dancing, and fun that evening! I saw lots of friends, but, as usual, didn't get to spend a lot of time with most of them. Such is the nature of cons. As for when we got to sleep, I think it was something like 5:00-5:30 a.m.
Sunday: It was oh-so-difficult to drag ourselves out of bed around noon, but necessary. Turtleduck graciously let us store our stuff in her room after we checked out of ours. I went to the art show room to see if I'd won my Mark Roland etching, and I had -- a steal at $25. I remember many cons at which every piece of his went to auction at prices far above anything I could afford, so getting this one made me pretty happy. I also bought a T-shirt in the dealers' room and, with shameless id-tempting from Turtleduck and Trowa, ordered a corset from Brute Force that will fit me. It's reversible, with black-on-black patterned fabric on one side and a green-and-gold dragon-patterned brocade on the other side. Squee!
There was also more conversation and last-minute dealers' row browsing, and all too soon it was time to consider packing out. This was the point at which we realized just how bloody cold and windy it had gotten in stark contrast to the previous two days, which had been warm and rainy. Poor Trowa had forgotten his gloves in his other coat, too. Suck! But we warmed up in the car on our way to lionofgod's birthday gathering, where we spent the next few hours hanging out. That was a nice, mellow way to end the weekend.
All in all, though I didn't necessarily see and do as much as I might normally have (I didn't make it to a single panel, for instance), I enjoyed Arisia quite a lot and was glad to have a weekend full of geekitude, dressing up, and socializing. Thank you to everyone who made it happen!
Friday: I took half the day off, and good thing, too. I got word at 2:00 p.m. that we were going to have a room for a party that evening after all, so I did my best to pull a room party out of my hat on a couple hours' notice by engaging in an emergency BJ's run. Bought more supplies than necessary, but I guess that's better than too few. :-} turtleduck helped me cart the stuff up to the room, and she set much of it up while I ran back home to finish packing, collect trowa_barton, and return to the con to check into our own room for sleeping. Upon checking in, I made some signs and helped finish the party setup, then went back to the room to chill for a few and dress up in black velvet for the party.
I never saw any of the rest of the con that evening except for registration, but that's okay, because it was a successful party. :) Lots of friends showed up, as well as some new folks, and many other friends who were too zonked or otherwise busy to swing by were missed. I also got lots of practice saying "no" to one particular man of persistent, if somewhat amusing, lecherousness. "No" is a very useful word. Anyway, I think we got to bed somewhere between 4:00 and 5:00 a.m.
Saturday: Turtleduck, Trowa, and I awoke earlyish to clean up the party room. That went pretty smoothly, but I needed to sleep again after that. Trowa slept a bit with me, then went out to attend some panels. I opted to sleep a while longer, then managed to drag myself out of bed to shower, dress, and see some of the con for the first time yet.
First stop: Art show. Took a spin around the show, admired many pieces, bid on one, a Mark Roland etching. Wished I could afford to bid on many more things, including some extremely cool masquerade masks fashioned of brass wire and crystal.
Next stop: Dealers' room. Got to talk to Lyn C. for a bit, which was nice, and browsed a few tables. Trowa and lillibet found me in there, I bought some buttons from chanaleh, and then we went to the con suite, where I was very pleased to run into geekchick and engaged in sampling of fine teas at a tasting organized by ian_gunn and Trowa had an encounter with a woman who seemed to find him just a little too dreamy for his comfort. I can understand why, of course, because he is quite dreamy, but I also understand the discomfort, having had many of my own encounters with fanboys who didn't understand that I wasn't interested. (Amazingly, the Shambling Mound did not hit on me this year, but I digress.)
Turtleduck, whuffle, and I then had a mini garb-swap, which ended up rather well for all concerned, I think. Trowa and halleyscomet seemed to agree. :) Then Trowa, Turtleduck and I went to dinner at CPK with, lillibet, jason237, muffyjo, gilana, gatewaygirl, kirkcudbright, and young Kylie. After dinner, we checked out dealers' row, which I hadn't yet visited, and I tried on a corset at Brute Force Leather. We also caught some of the masquerade on Arisia TV. By this time, though, it was getting into prime party time, so we went back to the room to change. I wore my new bodice and the shimmery skirt with my stompy boots and felt pretty. :) (Lillibet has a photo of me and Turtleduck that should be viewable to those on her friends list, though I hope she'll let me post it myself as well.)
Notable parties include rmd and kjc007's annual gathering, Cris's annual rocket-fuel-soaked shindig, and the Chaos Theory party, which was imaginative and fun. Lots of socializing, snacking/drinking, dancing, and fun that evening! I saw lots of friends, but, as usual, didn't get to spend a lot of time with most of them. Such is the nature of cons. As for when we got to sleep, I think it was something like 5:00-5:30 a.m.
Sunday: It was oh-so-difficult to drag ourselves out of bed around noon, but necessary. Turtleduck graciously let us store our stuff in her room after we checked out of ours. I went to the art show room to see if I'd won my Mark Roland etching, and I had -- a steal at $25. I remember many cons at which every piece of his went to auction at prices far above anything I could afford, so getting this one made me pretty happy. I also bought a T-shirt in the dealers' room and, with shameless id-tempting from Turtleduck and Trowa, ordered a corset from Brute Force that will fit me. It's reversible, with black-on-black patterned fabric on one side and a green-and-gold dragon-patterned brocade on the other side. Squee!
There was also more conversation and last-minute dealers' row browsing, and all too soon it was time to consider packing out. This was the point at which we realized just how bloody cold and windy it had gotten in stark contrast to the previous two days, which had been warm and rainy. Poor Trowa had forgotten his gloves in his other coat, too. Suck! But we warmed up in the car on our way to lionofgod's birthday gathering, where we spent the next few hours hanging out. That was a nice, mellow way to end the weekend.
All in all, though I didn't necessarily see and do as much as I might normally have (I didn't make it to a single panel, for instance), I enjoyed Arisia quite a lot and was glad to have a weekend full of geekitude, dressing up, and socializing. Thank you to everyone who made it happen!