Luckily, I have the most important things (aside from the P3OS): Sketchbook and Money. I manage to get to middleton at 10:45, directions were easy to follow. There's a few people there, no one I really recognize.. and I get random-hugged by Belic, who's running this shindig. (O_o) Yokay.
11 am until 2pm is phase one for me.. bumping into a few people I know, and getting most of the art purchases organized and spent. Commission a badge from WhiteWolf, who knocks one out decently and quickly for me; Get Dalia to draw in my schetchbook, get Louis FurryWolfy to make a badge for a co-worker who wanted one, buy prints from the aforementioned and Winged Siamese. Folks I know include KeithBear, Serenity, Piccillo, JBadger, and.. s'about it. yammered with Gabriel and some-chick-hanging-with-Serenity, but I was about done with things by 2pm and ready to skedaddle. Had to make it to work by 4pm, anyway. Get to the parking lot, forget something, run back in... and just as I'm about to get in the car..
"Yeah, so the Initial D music on v2 is good.."
I turn, and it's Bread, a DDRer I know. And he's got Juggatard with him.. and.. they have Beatmania IIDX and are luring me with it. "Okay, I'm calling out. Someone gimme a cell phone." The deed is done, the fake is faked, and I'm gonna spend the day there.
Yammer with Bread and Jugg a lot.. then Sym shows up, the other known Furry at the casino. We yammer plenty, and then it's onto the DDR tournament.. which bread is theoretically running. I end up as bench coach for it, though, because I've done this before. I'm pretty good with looking responsible, keeping people moving, and fast and adequate rule decisions. (It also helps that I'm not that good, and usually don't have many matches to actually be in.)
Tourney results are Bread 1st, Flare 2nd, Juggatard 3rd and Mikey 4th. Just as they were seeded, so no surprises there..a fter the toruney finishes (late, of course.. a 12-bracket was really needed instead of a 16..), the masquerade is on.. which went okay. I was half-paying attention to it and the other half to IIDX.. except for the belly-dancing girl. I was paying full attention to her, mmyeah.
After that, the Rave was on.. but I wasn't that interested. Played some IIDX, then headed outside to talk with Jugg and Bradley, another surprise DDR attendee. Here I figured I was one of few, and there's a *lot* of crossover in New England. Bradley can also draw pretty well, I must say. After another hour or so, headed out when the techno got to annoying later-90's Prodigy.
So.. a little art, a little DDR, and a *lot* of talk about CSI. Talked about it with darn near everyone, including the Rabbit Valley guys, who are pondering making spoof "PAFCon" t-shirts. I still haven't seen the ep in question, eh.
And as a nice bowtie to it, I stopped at the new 24-hour Walmart on the way home, and ran into my friend Mariah. 'twas nice to talk with her, I unburdened some things with her that'd been bothering me, and vice versa. Real sweet woman, she is.
So, that's the con report. Nothing exciting. but.. it was as good as Anthrocon, for me. Cheaper by far; closer by far; and I didn't have to work the regbooth so I was a lot more 'free'. I imagine next year this'll be even larger a con.. hopefully with more artists/booths, and more space for everything. This one was all good times, though. I left feeling very refreshed, relaxed, and at ease..
..though it was a Saturday I called out from work. I could have watched Full House reruns on TBS all day and I'd still feel frefreshed from not having to work. -1-)
--Chiaroscuro