Connecticon 2008
Friday August 1
US Airways owes me a day of CTCon minus $10. Long story short, my 1:30 from Pittsburgh turned into a 6:00 from Pittsburgh that actually boarded at 7:30 and got in at 9. Larom, you're an awesome webcomic liason, sorry to leave you with an empty table.
Saturday August 2
The Webcomic Artist Auction began at 9am. Fortunately, I arrived at 9:15 in time ot hear that it was still going on. I snuck in and managed to sell myself, a tweaked Nerf Maverick and a copy of my latest and greatest strategic tabletop war game for a pleasant $45 to charity. The name of my buyer is sadly still sitting in a box at the convention center, so I won't risk typing it here. Check back tomorrow. When I finally opened up my table, I learned that I unexpectedly had a full table, not just a half. I could have probably taken all 3 between Jen and Brian, but I only had enough stuff to fill half of one. Speaking of Brian, remember the incident last year? Threats of escalation were made. This year Brian successfully auctioned off Chris' plane ticket home. For some three-digit value or other. Remind me not to mess with that guy.
As expected, I met up with Lyn a few times, completely forgot to mention my usual web handle to Karen and Thomas, leaving them very confused, and handed a little something off to Hawk as a peace offering for the coin... fiasco. I saw some random peeps doing their thing in the dealers' room, and chatted briefly with Aaron who did in fact have injured hands, but was somehow still drawing through numerous painkillers. Most of my con budget ended up going to complete boxed copies of the original Star Ocean and Seiken Densetsu 3 from the awesome fols at Mad-Gear, but I did make an earth-shattering $12 back on table merch before doing my first-ever commission. Now, I don't plan on making a habit of commissions, but if you can give me a good argument with enough persistence, it is possible to get me to draw something. Just remember- I'm not a real artist, I just play one on the internet. About 10 minutes before the Diodes table closed down for the day, it was relocated to a nice little slot near the door, a couple slots away from Garth (from whom I adopted a penguin, and right next to the commissioner of the afforementioned commission, who is representing a personal studio which has a domain but no actual website. Tomorrow I'll probably be back in around 9, but due to a continued need to rely upon a certain now-questionable airline, will likely be leaving by about 2, just before the closing ceremony.
Sunday August 3
Another good day of tabling, as far as I've ever had. Notable events during the day: I dropped off Amanda's commission, made a second flashy light-up badge (buy it next year!) and got one board game sale closer to taking over the world. At noon, the entire artist's colony was Rick Roll'd on the PA, which was odd. At 1-ish, all the artists were assembled for a massive group photo in which Jen may have been caught showing her affection for the only utilikilt I noticed all weekend, which happened to be conveniently attached to my body. At 2-ish I suddenly realized my new table location was right behind Comiku. So sue me- I've never seen them a) both present, b) from behind, or c) with a whole huge vertical array of stuff for sale. I also touched base with Dave, congratulated Garth on his new book, and engaged in mutual soul-stealery with some roving steampunks. I had to make a hasty exit at about 3:45 to ensure I could get to the airport in time to go to Philadelphia. And I hope, by midnight, Pittsburgh. Next week I get to go hang out with family at a cabin in Tahoe with a 2-story hot tub (well, maybe not 2-story...), and then back to Connecticut, and then probably to Osaka maybe through Pittsburgh. And I wonder why I don't squeeze in more cons every year...
A big thank-you and shout-out to anyone who stopped by the table, drop me a line and I can keep you in the loop if I come up with any more crazy awesome stuff. Here's to an awesome CTCon '08 and high hopes for '09!