FCN has went
on Thursday I was planning on bailing from work at Noon and being on the road by 12:30, but I was so overwhelmed at work that I couldn't get to the Winter Haven printing until after my shift ended, and so I was working on printing and cutting stuff until 1:30. I got home and threw my stuff into the car and was on the road by 2pm.
The drive was easy and very straight-forward. The hotel was easy to find and was close to a Meijer, restaurants and even an office supply store. Leo Starre, my roommate for this con, arrived early, but they wouldn't let him into the room even with his name on the room without a credit card that could handle the cost of the room. I arrived a little before 5 and we got checked in and after some dinner at TGI Friday's (the Prime Rib Strogenoff was good), we headed back and I spent the evening drawing in the lobby, meeting Artful Dodger and her girlfriend Mari.
On Friday I got up and hung out in the Overflow Artist's Alley. There were some "issues" with the Artist's Alley that I think could have been handled better just by looking at how other cons have handled theirs... (first-come, first-serve and telling people that they can't line up won't ever work.. people will still gather, people will still try to line up. A raffle system, like other cons, probably would have been better. Also, 14 seats for an Artist's Alley? I understand that the Dealer's Den is only, like, 16 tables, and if they don't want to upset the Dealers, giving that answer would be better than saying "we didn't know", or "we didn't know how to use the room", or "be glad to have ANY Artist's Alley because you didn't have one last year." *sighs* ) Aaaaaanyways.. that gripe aside, I personally wasn't even trying to get into tha AA, so I didn't have any sort of ground to stand on.. so I'll let the folks who it actually affects take care of their own concerns. The room that the AA was in was listed as being only for AA on the convention map, but they were only using 1/3 of the room for that. I guess there was an un-written idea that the 2/3 of the room was for the general gathering area for the con... but no one but other artist's used it for that. But they didn't want to make any changes to it until the next day for some reason. So I just sat there and drew.
So I spent the day there, drawing with folks like Dodger, Chad and helping Jenn Neko draw nice herm bottoms. :)
I hung out with some folks and made some connections and put out some feelers for dinner plans, but by 7pm or so, it'd been 24 hours since my last meal, so I hit McDonald's and returned back to the table where I kept drawing. Eventually Dodger and Mari came up to my room to draw until about 4am and they headed back to their room and I crashed.
Saturday I woke up a bit late and returned to the Artist's Alley Overflow and they'd increased the Artist's Alley from 16 to about 32 seats and they'd gone from using 1/3 of the room for the AA to 2/3. But still, the rest of the un-used room wasn't used by anyone but artists, so I'm still not clear as to why they didn't just make the whole room AA like the booklet said it was supposed to be. *sighs* But, again, I digress... I sat in there the whole day. I grazed through the Dealer's Den briefly and was back to my table. Artful Dodger was holed-up in her room all day and so at 5, I went up and "rescued" her and Mari from the room and we went to TGI Fridays. (by the way, deep-fried provolone cheese as a topping on a Chedder Bacon Cheeseburger is awesome!) Afterwards we headed back to their room and I hung out there until about 3:30am and then crashed again.
Sunday arrived and I woke up at 11:30am. I checked out at the front desk at Noon and took my stuff out to my car and wandered around a little bit, but there was no one I knew available, the folks I did know were occupied and I was starting to feel down on myself. So by 1pm I was already out the door and driving home.
20 miles out of Novi I was on 96W and coming up on a construction and was trying to merge as my lane was ending. Just as I was moving into an open spot, another car jumped into it and having no where else to go, I slammed on my breaks and wound up clipping a barrel with my car and snapped off my driver's side mirror. :( So with the wires keeping it attached (and mirror scattering onto the pavement behind me) I kept driving and pulled it into my car so that I didn't damage the connectors or anything... unfortunately I couldn't close the window and the next 2.5 hours of rain with an open window was annoying. :(( I arrived home by 3:30.
So, again, after another furry convention I find myself asking "Why do I go?" Really it turns out to be a really expensive opportunity for me to sketch and doodle. Is it worth the con badge cost? Is it worth the hotel cost? Travel? The emotional let-down at the end? I really don't get as much out of it as I wish I could... but .. *sighs* So I don't know if I'll be going back, or even going to MFF at this point. When I walk out of conventions at the end, I just wind up feeling let-down or depressed and that sort of baggage just isn't a good way to wrap up what shoul be a vacation. However, my muse was pretty active during the con, so even if I feel like crap as I reflect on the con, I at least have proof that while I was there, I was somewhat productive in some way.
The drive was easy and very straight-forward. The hotel was easy to find and was close to a Meijer, restaurants and even an office supply store. Leo Starre, my roommate for this con, arrived early, but they wouldn't let him into the room even with his name on the room without a credit card that could handle the cost of the room. I arrived a little before 5 and we got checked in and after some dinner at TGI Friday's (the Prime Rib Strogenoff was good), we headed back and I spent the evening drawing in the lobby, meeting Artful Dodger and her girlfriend Mari.
On Friday I got up and hung out in the Overflow Artist's Alley. There were some "issues" with the Artist's Alley that I think could have been handled better just by looking at how other cons have handled theirs... (first-come, first-serve and telling people that they can't line up won't ever work.. people will still gather, people will still try to line up. A raffle system, like other cons, probably would have been better. Also, 14 seats for an Artist's Alley? I understand that the Dealer's Den is only, like, 16 tables, and if they don't want to upset the Dealers, giving that answer would be better than saying "we didn't know", or "we didn't know how to use the room", or "be glad to have ANY Artist's Alley because you didn't have one last year." *sighs* ) Aaaaaanyways.. that gripe aside, I personally wasn't even trying to get into tha AA, so I didn't have any sort of ground to stand on.. so I'll let the folks who it actually affects take care of their own concerns. The room that the AA was in was listed as being only for AA on the convention map, but they were only using 1/3 of the room for that. I guess there was an un-written idea that the 2/3 of the room was for the general gathering area for the con... but no one but other artist's used it for that. But they didn't want to make any changes to it until the next day for some reason. So I just sat there and drew.
So I spent the day there, drawing with folks like Dodger, Chad and helping Jenn Neko draw nice herm bottoms. :)
I hung out with some folks and made some connections and put out some feelers for dinner plans, but by 7pm or so, it'd been 24 hours since my last meal, so I hit McDonald's and returned back to the table where I kept drawing. Eventually Dodger and Mari came up to my room to draw until about 4am and they headed back to their room and I crashed.
Saturday I woke up a bit late and returned to the Artist's Alley Overflow and they'd increased the Artist's Alley from 16 to about 32 seats and they'd gone from using 1/3 of the room for the AA to 2/3. But still, the rest of the un-used room wasn't used by anyone but artists, so I'm still not clear as to why they didn't just make the whole room AA like the booklet said it was supposed to be. *sighs* But, again, I digress... I sat in there the whole day. I grazed through the Dealer's Den briefly and was back to my table. Artful Dodger was holed-up in her room all day and so at 5, I went up and "rescued" her and Mari from the room and we went to TGI Fridays. (by the way, deep-fried provolone cheese as a topping on a Chedder Bacon Cheeseburger is awesome!) Afterwards we headed back to their room and I hung out there until about 3:30am and then crashed again.
Sunday arrived and I woke up at 11:30am. I checked out at the front desk at Noon and took my stuff out to my car and wandered around a little bit, but there was no one I knew available, the folks I did know were occupied and I was starting to feel down on myself. So by 1pm I was already out the door and driving home.
20 miles out of Novi I was on 96W and coming up on a construction and was trying to merge as my lane was ending. Just as I was moving into an open spot, another car jumped into it and having no where else to go, I slammed on my breaks and wound up clipping a barrel with my car and snapped off my driver's side mirror. :( So with the wires keeping it attached (and mirror scattering onto the pavement behind me) I kept driving and pulled it into my car so that I didn't damage the connectors or anything... unfortunately I couldn't close the window and the next 2.5 hours of rain with an open window was annoying. :(( I arrived home by 3:30.
So, again, after another furry convention I find myself asking "Why do I go?" Really it turns out to be a really expensive opportunity for me to sketch and doodle. Is it worth the con badge cost? Is it worth the hotel cost? Travel? The emotional let-down at the end? I really don't get as much out of it as I wish I could... but .. *sighs* So I don't know if I'll be going back, or even going to MFF at this point. When I walk out of conventions at the end, I just wind up feeling let-down or depressed and that sort of baggage just isn't a good way to wrap up what shoul be a vacation. However, my muse was pretty active during the con, so even if I feel like crap as I reflect on the con, I at least have proof that while I was there, I was somewhat productive in some way.