Current stuff going on
As I type this I’m sitting at the dinning table where Joey-Poey and Tooiebird live surrounding by their two dogs and my daughter who is busily decoding all the things in her two new Gravity Falls books.
I was contacted by Joey last month because he’s out of town this weekend and Tooie also needed to leave for the weekend and apparently nobody else was available to look after their dogs. As it happens, this weekend is the *only* weekend in August where I’m *not* otherwise traveling and attending conventions and so I agreed to come up and give ‘em a helping hand to keep the pooches happy.
The drive up today was decent and the weather ought to be alright while we’re visiting… a bit of rain in the mornings and hopefully not too hot or muggy during the day. We’re located pretty close to the Ohio river and I’d like to spend some time going out there for a walk. Might also look for a park to take the dogs to. Of course I’d *really* like to make a trip up to the Air Force Museum north of here, but Samantha remembers when I took her there about ten years ago and says she’s probably look at the airplanes for maybe ten minutes before zoning out. "So you really don't want to go?". "I would resist.". :/
She's more interested in going to the Cincinnati waterfront area and walking the area because there's a park and some interesting things to do, which she's previously experienced. I wonder if there's a Cincinnati Reds game being played? Don't know if I'd try to attend because of the price of tickets, but I guess we'll see. Another possibility would be to search out the Neon Museum which I'm told is worth the trip. I remember there used to be a restaurant in Cincinnati about 40 years ago that I attended called the Music Palace that had all the seats arranged around a giant set of piano and organ keyboards in the center of the restaurant that was hooked up to various banks of musical instruments arrayed throughout the restaurant in a sort of hugely extravagant version of the one-man-band concept. I only ever went there once but it was a pretty awesome memory. Sadly I think it burned down many years ago and nothing like it exists now. Another possibility we might visit is the Hall of Justice! There's a building in Cincy that served as the inspirational design behind the cartoon structure, and even though I have a picture of Samantha there from year's past I think it might be fun to see it again.
Beyond this weekend though things are going to be stepping up the pace of activity. We head home on Monday and will be doing family lunch and dinner one last time before Samantha catches a plane flight to Los Angeles to spend time with her grandmother before school starts up for her again in September. Then on Thursday I drive up to Indianapolis to attend the Indyfurcon, which will be my first time and fingers-crossed will be a good profitable endeavor. Once Indyfurcon is concluded I have from Monday until Wednesday to drive to Orlando for the Megaplex convention, which sounds like a long drive but ought to be pretty managable over two - three days. Megaplex is going to be a BIG show and I hope it'll be very profitable like last year. I wish I had more time to be in Orlando because my 50th birthday will be taking place that Friday and I'd love to do something fun while in town, but I'm going to be putting in a lot of hours that evening along with Saturday to get commissions done and I just don't think I'll be able to get much opportunity to do anything special. If I had my druthers I'd take an extra day and go to the coastline beach of Florida, or buy a ticket to the Kennedy Space Center, or just spend a day sitting in the Polynesian resort enjoying the ambience. Some other time I guess. On the monday after Megaplex (Sept. 2) I begin the drive up to Minneapolis, where I'll be visiting with Mehndi and Sunny once again and working the following weekend's convention Furry Migration. It's a smaller event compared with Megaplex but it's fun and should give me plenty of opportunities to draw for people and entertain them. I look forward to it! And since Furry Migration is the last of the back-to-back-to-back conventions I won't have to depart immediately after the show concludes. I'm going to take some time to visit with Mehndi and Sunny and hopefully relax in Minneapolis for awhile before eventually making the return trip home.
Since I can't seem to get enough of the travels though, the next major event coming up afterwards will begin Thursday the 26th when I rent a van and begin loading all of Tracy and Sam's things from the storage shed into it. Then starting Friday I'll drive 2500 miles in three days to Los Angeles where I'll be unloading it at the family garage since it's ultimately better there since it won't cost anything to keep and Sam is making plans to go to college in the local area starting 2025 anyway. I would have liked to have a little more time to make the drive across the country but in the interest of getting the job done as cheaply as possible I'll be driving 13 hours the first day, 10 the second, and 10 the third. At least I'll be able to see things of interest while looking out the window. I'll be flying back home the Tuesday after unloading Monday the 30th. Hopefully I'll get to see a little bit of Los Angeles while I'm in town for one day.
And then after flying back Tuesday I immediately turn around and drive to the next convention on Friday which is Carolina Furfare near Asheville, NC. I'm staff at that event looking over the Artist Alley and I expect it to be a fun time. For whatever reason despite the North Carolina conventions (there are two) being relatively small I end up doing really well sales-wise, and that is something that makes me happy as I typically end up with some really memorable artwork to share. And yeah, the fun doesn't end there because once Carolina Furfare concludes I then catch a flight to San Antonio to attend the Alamo City Furry Invasion convention! First time attending that one and I hope it turns out well. I've been cautioned that it feels more like a friendly gather rather than a con, but… maybe? I'll get the chance to visit with an old friend of mine that I rarely get to see these days since he's pretty much locked into Texas so even if the con is a dud that will be a great bonus.
AND THEN…! Five days after the con in San Antonio ends and I've flown back I'll be meeting up with friends Jeff, Michal, Brian, and Scotty to spend a week in Cleveland, Ohio just relaxing and drawing silly things for the fun of it. We did this a year ago and spent some time seeing local attractions around Harris, PA like Gettysburg and the Hershey Chocolate factory, and I imagine there will be plenty of things to keep us entertained for the week. I'm super looking forward to that because getting to spend loads of time with friends while drawing is about my most perfect way to relax and have fun. I remember when I used to be able to do that at conventions during room parties but these days I just don't have the time to indulge in that much time off when I have so many commissions that people are paying me good money to complete.
And after that? After October 28? Well… I think I will welcome the opportunity to spend a day in bed sleeping in my own sheets and being grateful for it all. Nothing else will be happening until Midwest Furfest at the start of December.
I was contacted by Joey last month because he’s out of town this weekend and Tooie also needed to leave for the weekend and apparently nobody else was available to look after their dogs. As it happens, this weekend is the *only* weekend in August where I’m *not* otherwise traveling and attending conventions and so I agreed to come up and give ‘em a helping hand to keep the pooches happy.
The drive up today was decent and the weather ought to be alright while we’re visiting… a bit of rain in the mornings and hopefully not too hot or muggy during the day. We’re located pretty close to the Ohio river and I’d like to spend some time going out there for a walk. Might also look for a park to take the dogs to. Of course I’d *really* like to make a trip up to the Air Force Museum north of here, but Samantha remembers when I took her there about ten years ago and says she’s probably look at the airplanes for maybe ten minutes before zoning out. "So you really don't want to go?". "I would resist.". :/
She's more interested in going to the Cincinnati waterfront area and walking the area because there's a park and some interesting things to do, which she's previously experienced. I wonder if there's a Cincinnati Reds game being played? Don't know if I'd try to attend because of the price of tickets, but I guess we'll see. Another possibility would be to search out the Neon Museum which I'm told is worth the trip. I remember there used to be a restaurant in Cincinnati about 40 years ago that I attended called the Music Palace that had all the seats arranged around a giant set of piano and organ keyboards in the center of the restaurant that was hooked up to various banks of musical instruments arrayed throughout the restaurant in a sort of hugely extravagant version of the one-man-band concept. I only ever went there once but it was a pretty awesome memory. Sadly I think it burned down many years ago and nothing like it exists now. Another possibility we might visit is the Hall of Justice! There's a building in Cincy that served as the inspirational design behind the cartoon structure, and even though I have a picture of Samantha there from year's past I think it might be fun to see it again.
Beyond this weekend though things are going to be stepping up the pace of activity. We head home on Monday and will be doing family lunch and dinner one last time before Samantha catches a plane flight to Los Angeles to spend time with her grandmother before school starts up for her again in September. Then on Thursday I drive up to Indianapolis to attend the Indyfurcon, which will be my first time and fingers-crossed will be a good profitable endeavor. Once Indyfurcon is concluded I have from Monday until Wednesday to drive to Orlando for the Megaplex convention, which sounds like a long drive but ought to be pretty managable over two - three days. Megaplex is going to be a BIG show and I hope it'll be very profitable like last year. I wish I had more time to be in Orlando because my 50th birthday will be taking place that Friday and I'd love to do something fun while in town, but I'm going to be putting in a lot of hours that evening along with Saturday to get commissions done and I just don't think I'll be able to get much opportunity to do anything special. If I had my druthers I'd take an extra day and go to the coastline beach of Florida, or buy a ticket to the Kennedy Space Center, or just spend a day sitting in the Polynesian resort enjoying the ambience. Some other time I guess. On the monday after Megaplex (Sept. 2) I begin the drive up to Minneapolis, where I'll be visiting with Mehndi and Sunny once again and working the following weekend's convention Furry Migration. It's a smaller event compared with Megaplex but it's fun and should give me plenty of opportunities to draw for people and entertain them. I look forward to it! And since Furry Migration is the last of the back-to-back-to-back conventions I won't have to depart immediately after the show concludes. I'm going to take some time to visit with Mehndi and Sunny and hopefully relax in Minneapolis for awhile before eventually making the return trip home.
Since I can't seem to get enough of the travels though, the next major event coming up afterwards will begin Thursday the 26th when I rent a van and begin loading all of Tracy and Sam's things from the storage shed into it. Then starting Friday I'll drive 2500 miles in three days to Los Angeles where I'll be unloading it at the family garage since it's ultimately better there since it won't cost anything to keep and Sam is making plans to go to college in the local area starting 2025 anyway. I would have liked to have a little more time to make the drive across the country but in the interest of getting the job done as cheaply as possible I'll be driving 13 hours the first day, 10 the second, and 10 the third. At least I'll be able to see things of interest while looking out the window. I'll be flying back home the Tuesday after unloading Monday the 30th. Hopefully I'll get to see a little bit of Los Angeles while I'm in town for one day.
And then after flying back Tuesday I immediately turn around and drive to the next convention on Friday which is Carolina Furfare near Asheville, NC. I'm staff at that event looking over the Artist Alley and I expect it to be a fun time. For whatever reason despite the North Carolina conventions (there are two) being relatively small I end up doing really well sales-wise, and that is something that makes me happy as I typically end up with some really memorable artwork to share. And yeah, the fun doesn't end there because once Carolina Furfare concludes I then catch a flight to San Antonio to attend the Alamo City Furry Invasion convention! First time attending that one and I hope it turns out well. I've been cautioned that it feels more like a friendly gather rather than a con, but… maybe? I'll get the chance to visit with an old friend of mine that I rarely get to see these days since he's pretty much locked into Texas so even if the con is a dud that will be a great bonus.
AND THEN…! Five days after the con in San Antonio ends and I've flown back I'll be meeting up with friends Jeff, Michal, Brian, and Scotty to spend a week in Cleveland, Ohio just relaxing and drawing silly things for the fun of it. We did this a year ago and spent some time seeing local attractions around Harris, PA like Gettysburg and the Hershey Chocolate factory, and I imagine there will be plenty of things to keep us entertained for the week. I'm super looking forward to that because getting to spend loads of time with friends while drawing is about my most perfect way to relax and have fun. I remember when I used to be able to do that at conventions during room parties but these days I just don't have the time to indulge in that much time off when I have so many commissions that people are paying me good money to complete.
And after that? After October 28? Well… I think I will welcome the opportunity to spend a day in bed sleeping in my own sheets and being grateful for it all. Nothing else will be happening until Midwest Furfest at the start of December.