Conifur 2002
Oct. 7th, 2002 10:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dolphins_logDisclaimer? Furry Fandom has picked up a bad rep. I blame it on the media looking for a good story, sensationalizing the more 'out there' elements to create that story. In the process they create the very thing they say they are reporting, attracting into furry fandom those thing they report. Suffice it to say' I am not "one of those" fans.
"Would you please draw in my book your character fornicating with a lizard?"
I shudder. I like to write about characters that have an animal connection' be it uplift or genetic or natural. There is a lot of painting and drawing I want to do and a small part of that is anthropomorphic. That's my only connection to furry fandom. Am I Furry? That's just a label. Why should I care for a label?
I enjoy commuting to this con. Yes, I'm missing some of the evening gathers with my friends, yet by going home and getting some sleep I'm remaining alert throughout the rest of the weekend. By going home at 10:00 I don't miss too much. Besides, I get to debrief the day with Juli.
Book Bag Friday:
I stopped off at Fred Meyers on the way down. I felt it was time I had a decent book bag. Actually it was time I had any book bag at all. They had them on sale for $18.00, further marked down to $11.00 at the register. SCORE! Book bags have come a long way since I last had one in the early 80's. Everything fit great. CD player, con bag, cords, CD case, Lunch, all fitting in one handy dandy package.
I arrived at con and, due to some confusion, stood in the wrong line for about 10 minutes. Ah well. I bumped into people right away.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
brombear, and miertam passed through on there way to and from securing and running the con. I went straight to the Tai Pan table and found myself behind the table with kehf . Being behind the table was a privilege this con. There were more then enough people to help, and we all wanted to be behind the table. It a great place to be and have the rest of the con pass in front of you. Everyone you want to see will eventually pass by. It's a great place to sit and be creative. …although [guilt] I ended up playing Sim City on my limping Visor for most of the time. Damn Game Addictions!
My Visor is in pain. Mike took me over to a gentleman who works with them for a quick consult. He gave it a once over, lightly squeezed the sides and diagnosed the screen connectors as damaged. The squeezing is a temporary fix. He advised me to call in to tech support. It was nice to find out there was actually something seriously wrong with it rather then a phantom unidentifiable hit or miss problem. ...that's an odd way to look at it, but I feel somewhat reassured when I can point at a problem.
By 12:30kehf expressed some concerns. She was scheduled for the panel 'The Editorial Process' with jefferycornish at 2:00, and jeffreycornish wasn't on site yet. sora_kitsune let her use his cell phone to make a call and she left a message on his voice mail. Jeff called back at 1:30, he was going to be at work until 3:30. Oops. Anyone else kehf could have grabbed to join her was already committed to other panels. We asked sora_kitsune to man both his and the Tai Pan table and Kehf absconded with me to join her as a panelist.
After first searching out a coffee bar some two blocks away, we returned and we actually filled an hour and forty minutes with some interesting bits and pieces of knowledge that we both have picked up through the years. Hey, not bad. Things do stick in this gray matter, and we can retrieve it with some amount of proficiency. And yes, the four audience members ran away with the panel a number of times, raced off topic and made lots of good fun noise. We would eventually pull them back, or showed them how their 'off topic' topic was really 'on topic'.
We returned to the table and Meirtam immediately pointed out that I had a car and he needed to get to Seattle to pick up a monitor. My first reaction was to hem and haw, a knee jerk response from being at conventions where parking was a premium. But then I remembered that I was there, not only to have fun, but to be support for my friends who were extending themselves all over in an effort to make the con work. So off we went. On the way north we noted that the southbound I-5 traffic seemed to be stacking up. We elected to take a zigzag course back from Seattle to Tacoma by way of 99 to 513 to 167. That turned out to be a mistake. It took us about an hour and a half to get back to Tacoma. Yes, I groused about it a little before I made myself stop. I wasn't really that miffed about it, but grousing made a good story. Damn! The reporter's knew what they were doing.
I managed to find the crew at a Chinese restaurant and ordered dinner. Yum. Due to some confusion with the bill I ended up not paying for anything. For me this is not a score, it's an embarrassment. I made up for it at the next Chinese dinner
Speaking in Voices on Saturday:
Again I arrived at about 11:00. This time there wasn't much room behind the table, but no matter. I dumped my gear back there and wandered about the dealer's room. I bought a couple of things. One is stone resin wall ornament of a window sill that had a cat and mouse on it. It's caption is "Happy is the home in which we live". It's a dream I have for our two cats I guess. It's cute. Another item is a Mickey Mouse Yin Yang pin like my two t-shirts I got on our honeymoon at Walt Disneyworld. It has a special meaning for me. The third was a print of Sora_kitsune's latest creation. It's a departure from his other work. Sky's work is cool, but when anyone steps out of their line of creative vision it's extra special. This one was of Chucks character Felicia drawn in an angular style reminiscent of Samurai Jack.
I went on a quest for coffee for myself and Kehf. The coffee shop we both visited on Friday was closed. There was a Starbucks four blocks further away, and since I was full of energy I struck out. On my way I noticed all of the shops that had 'for lease' signs in their windows. About 80% of the place was empty. On the other hand it's all been upgraded. The Tacoma light rail is well on the way to being built right through there. The shops themselves look very fresh and touristy. There are pergola type covered alleyways and brightly painted interiors. I found out later that most of the stores are already leased and will fill as soon as the light rail is running. Very Cool.
I brought Kehf her single tall mocha breve and I enjoyed my Chai. For my efforts I was listed as the Tiki Coffee God in the next Daily Howl. *snerk* ;-)
That night we had our Tai pan Radio play. I voiced J.T. Thalarctos, a female polar bear engineer. Even though "A Proper Cup of Coffee" was done once before, the audience still seemed to enjoy it. We were different voices from the last time, so it was a different presentation.
Sunday, Sunday, all is well.
I wandered. I sat behind the table. I chatted. I played Sim City. I watched some cartoons. I watched some auction [I completely missed the art show]. I ate too much of the Tai Pan Candy offering. The gummy bears were getting a little bit fingered and suspicious so I stuck with the wrapped banana taffy. Urk.
We broke down the table at the end of the day. Gene had to race off to the closing panel so he left his keys with Dave and Kristin. We hauled a great deal of stuff back to Gene's car, unpacked it and repacked it. Then we returned to the Onions and Roses panel where people expressed their view of how the con went. There was no room for us. We sat out in the lobby and waited for the end of the panel. While waiting I notice, with a start, that I didn't have my book bag. I knew where it was right away. It got packed in Gene's car.
After retrieving the wayward bag we started a game of 'Before I Kill You, Mister Bond'. Before we got the game too far under way the Onions and Roses panel ended.
Next was dinner at the Keg. I managed to getgenebreshears and Miertam lost. I pulled in front of them like I knew where I was going. I thought I did. All I had to do was find the right street sign and turn left. Unfortunately the sun was in my eyes at just the right time. I drove right through the intersection and on into the residential areas. It was simple to find our way back.
Dinner was great, though impossible to completely consume. I went for a nice teriyaki chicken on a bed of garlic mashed potatoes. We chatted and ate and saw to celebrating the end of the con in fine form. Then, through the night light of the city, we drove off on our separate ways.
"Would you please draw in my book your character fornicating with a lizard?"
I shudder. I like to write about characters that have an animal connection' be it uplift or genetic or natural. There is a lot of painting and drawing I want to do and a small part of that is anthropomorphic. That's my only connection to furry fandom. Am I Furry? That's just a label. Why should I care for a label?
I enjoy commuting to this con. Yes, I'm missing some of the evening gathers with my friends, yet by going home and getting some sleep I'm remaining alert throughout the rest of the weekend. By going home at 10:00 I don't miss too much. Besides, I get to debrief the day with Juli.
Book Bag Friday:
I stopped off at Fred Meyers on the way down. I felt it was time I had a decent book bag. Actually it was time I had any book bag at all. They had them on sale for $18.00, further marked down to $11.00 at the register. SCORE! Book bags have come a long way since I last had one in the early 80's. Everything fit great. CD player, con bag, cords, CD case, Lunch, all fitting in one handy dandy package.
I arrived at con and, due to some confusion, stood in the wrong line for about 10 minutes. Ah well. I bumped into people right away.
brombear, and miertam passed through on there way to and from securing and running the con. I went straight to the Tai Pan table and found myself behind the table with kehf . Being behind the table was a privilege this con. There were more then enough people to help, and we all wanted to be behind the table. It a great place to be and have the rest of the con pass in front of you. Everyone you want to see will eventually pass by. It's a great place to sit and be creative. …although [guilt] I ended up playing Sim City on my limping Visor for most of the time. Damn Game Addictions!My Visor is in pain. Mike took me over to a gentleman who works with them for a quick consult. He gave it a once over, lightly squeezed the sides and diagnosed the screen connectors as damaged. The squeezing is a temporary fix. He advised me to call in to tech support. It was nice to find out there was actually something seriously wrong with it rather then a phantom unidentifiable hit or miss problem. ...that's an odd way to look at it, but I feel somewhat reassured when I can point at a problem.
By 12:30
kehf expressed some concerns. She was scheduled for the panel 'The Editorial Process' with jefferycornish at 2:00, and jeffreycornish wasn't on site yet. sora_kitsune let her use his cell phone to make a call and she left a message on his voice mail. Jeff called back at 1:30, he was going to be at work until 3:30. Oops. Anyone else kehf could have grabbed to join her was already committed to other panels. We asked sora_kitsune to man both his and the Tai Pan table and Kehf absconded with me to join her as a panelist. After first searching out a coffee bar some two blocks away, we returned and we actually filled an hour and forty minutes with some interesting bits and pieces of knowledge that we both have picked up through the years. Hey, not bad. Things do stick in this gray matter, and we can retrieve it with some amount of proficiency. And yes, the four audience members ran away with the panel a number of times, raced off topic and made lots of good fun noise. We would eventually pull them back, or showed them how their 'off topic' topic was really 'on topic'.
We returned to the table and Meirtam immediately pointed out that I had a car and he needed to get to Seattle to pick up a monitor. My first reaction was to hem and haw, a knee jerk response from being at conventions where parking was a premium. But then I remembered that I was there, not only to have fun, but to be support for my friends who were extending themselves all over in an effort to make the con work. So off we went. On the way north we noted that the southbound I-5 traffic seemed to be stacking up. We elected to take a zigzag course back from Seattle to Tacoma by way of 99 to 513 to 167. That turned out to be a mistake. It took us about an hour and a half to get back to Tacoma. Yes, I groused about it a little before I made myself stop. I wasn't really that miffed about it, but grousing made a good story. Damn! The reporter's knew what they were doing.
I managed to find the crew at a Chinese restaurant and ordered dinner. Yum. Due to some confusion with the bill I ended up not paying for anything. For me this is not a score, it's an embarrassment. I made up for it at the next Chinese dinner
Speaking in Voices on Saturday:
Again I arrived at about 11:00. This time there wasn't much room behind the table, but no matter. I dumped my gear back there and wandered about the dealer's room. I bought a couple of things. One is stone resin wall ornament of a window sill that had a cat and mouse on it. It's caption is "Happy is the home in which we live". It's a dream I have for our two cats I guess. It's cute. Another item is a Mickey Mouse Yin Yang pin like my two t-shirts I got on our honeymoon at Walt Disneyworld. It has a special meaning for me. The third was a print of Sora_kitsune's latest creation. It's a departure from his other work. Sky's work is cool, but when anyone steps out of their line of creative vision it's extra special. This one was of Chucks character Felicia drawn in an angular style reminiscent of Samurai Jack.
I went on a quest for coffee for myself and Kehf. The coffee shop we both visited on Friday was closed. There was a Starbucks four blocks further away, and since I was full of energy I struck out. On my way I noticed all of the shops that had 'for lease' signs in their windows. About 80% of the place was empty. On the other hand it's all been upgraded. The Tacoma light rail is well on the way to being built right through there. The shops themselves look very fresh and touristy. There are pergola type covered alleyways and brightly painted interiors. I found out later that most of the stores are already leased and will fill as soon as the light rail is running. Very Cool.
I brought Kehf her single tall mocha breve and I enjoyed my Chai. For my efforts I was listed as the Tiki Coffee God in the next Daily Howl. *snerk* ;-)
That night we had our Tai pan Radio play. I voiced J.T. Thalarctos, a female polar bear engineer. Even though "A Proper Cup of Coffee" was done once before, the audience still seemed to enjoy it. We were different voices from the last time, so it was a different presentation.
Sunday, Sunday, all is well.
I wandered. I sat behind the table. I chatted. I played Sim City. I watched some cartoons. I watched some auction [I completely missed the art show]. I ate too much of the Tai Pan Candy offering. The gummy bears were getting a little bit fingered and suspicious so I stuck with the wrapped banana taffy. Urk.
We broke down the table at the end of the day. Gene had to race off to the closing panel so he left his keys with Dave and Kristin. We hauled a great deal of stuff back to Gene's car, unpacked it and repacked it. Then we returned to the Onions and Roses panel where people expressed their view of how the con went. There was no room for us. We sat out in the lobby and waited for the end of the panel. While waiting I notice, with a start, that I didn't have my book bag. I knew where it was right away. It got packed in Gene's car.
After retrieving the wayward bag we started a game of 'Before I Kill You, Mister Bond'. Before we got the game too far under way the Onions and Roses panel ended.
Next was dinner at the Keg. I managed to get
genebreshears and Miertam lost. I pulled in front of them like I knew where I was going. I thought I did. All I had to do was find the right street sign and turn left. Unfortunately the sun was in my eyes at just the right time. I drove right through the intersection and on into the residential areas. It was simple to find our way back.Dinner was great, though impossible to completely consume. I went for a nice teriyaki chicken on a bed of garlic mashed potatoes. We chatted and ate and saw to celebrating the end of the con in fine form. Then, through the night light of the city, we drove off on our separate ways.
