Anime Detour 2013 - AAR
It was the best of Detours, it was the worst of Detours. It started with an 18-hour delay, a misplaced phone, and an early-morning taxi ride through the slush; it ended with an unscheduled check-in at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center, about which I've already written way too many words. In the middle, I got to see a bunch of friends, learned how to play mah-jongg Japanese style and got my annual dose of egoboo as the organization and convention I helped found gets bigger and better and smoother and cooler. It's true that I didn't get to spend as much time as I would have liked with a lot of people, but by Saturday evening I think it was obvious to everyone but me that I was not well and Sunday I was pretty much unable to enjoy anything. I bowed out of the Postwar Japanese Politics panel and slept through both the loadout and the Dead Dog, which I bitterly regret. Damn you, staphylococcus!
I did score several copies of the "You Can't Handle The Catgirls" prints from 2006 - autographed, yet! - which I have plans for, and a black AD water bottle which unfortunately proved to be too cheap and cheesy for regular use. It ended up in a wastebasket at the hospital. Didn't bother with this year's T-shirt as the art did not appeal and they didn't have any in sizes above 3XL anyway. Managed to get in my usual hours of volunteering for the button, T-shirt and prize pulls, which netted me Evangelion 1.11, Evangelion 2.22, and the DVD edition of Burn Up. May actually get to watch those this summer. Also met the Chairman's wife, who turned out not to be Asian after all but was one of the numerous People Who Know Me That I Didn't Know. Very nice person.
Monday was pretty miserable. It took forever to pack up and leave the Doubletree for the Thunderbird (and I wound up forgetting some important things that I had to go back for later) and I really appreciate jtrainor and Dan helping me with the move. We three went over to Chez stuckintraffik for the afterparty, but arrived too late for the food; we hung around for a little bit being social (or as social as I was able to be considering I was deathly ill) until about 2100 when we lit out for Teppanyaki on Lake for food. I'd like to try the place again when I'm not so damn sick; maybe next year.
And starting on Tuesday, you know the rest of the story.
So the 10th anniversary came and went without any huge fuss or mess, which is good. All things considered, I didn't mind not getting any recognition at Closing Ceremonies. The people recognized had put in ten solid years as volunteers and staff, which I had not, being fired for cause in 2007, and I have the satisfaction of knowing the memetic underpinnings of ATC and AD that I put in place are still solidly in place and running strong. stuckintraffik and I discussed this some when he came to visit me in the hospital; his (and others) recognition of this was worth more to me than any amount of public kudos. I have accomplished four great things in my life, and Detour/ATC are two of those things; pity they won't be able to mention it on my tombstone at The Family Plot.
I did score several copies of the "You Can't Handle The Catgirls" prints from 2006 - autographed, yet! - which I have plans for, and a black AD water bottle which unfortunately proved to be too cheap and cheesy for regular use. It ended up in a wastebasket at the hospital. Didn't bother with this year's T-shirt as the art did not appeal and they didn't have any in sizes above 3XL anyway. Managed to get in my usual hours of volunteering for the button, T-shirt and prize pulls, which netted me Evangelion 1.11, Evangelion 2.22, and the DVD edition of Burn Up. May actually get to watch those this summer. Also met the Chairman's wife, who turned out not to be Asian after all but was one of the numerous People Who Know Me That I Didn't Know. Very nice person.
Monday was pretty miserable. It took forever to pack up and leave the Doubletree for the Thunderbird (and I wound up forgetting some important things that I had to go back for later) and I really appreciate jtrainor and Dan helping me with the move. We three went over to Chez stuckintraffik for the afterparty, but arrived too late for the food; we hung around for a little bit being social (or as social as I was able to be considering I was deathly ill) until about 2100 when we lit out for Teppanyaki on Lake for food. I'd like to try the place again when I'm not so damn sick; maybe next year.
And starting on Tuesday, you know the rest of the story.
So the 10th anniversary came and went without any huge fuss or mess, which is good. All things considered, I didn't mind not getting any recognition at Closing Ceremonies. The people recognized had put in ten solid years as volunteers and staff, which I had not, being fired for cause in 2007, and I have the satisfaction of knowing the memetic underpinnings of ATC and AD that I put in place are still solidly in place and running strong. stuckintraffik and I discussed this some when he came to visit me in the hospital; his (and others) recognition of this was worth more to me than any amount of public kudos. I have accomplished four great things in my life, and Detour/ATC are two of those things; pity they won't be able to mention it on my tombstone at The Family Plot.