tabbiewolf: (Anywhen)
Y'all know me. I go to conventions pretty regularly (though not as regularly as some of my friends), and I almost always go as a dealer. I am also highly critical of how conventions are run, because it only takes one bad experience to make me analyze why the experience was bad (this is what lead to the attendee:dealer ratio thing I do) and to stop going to that convention.

This past weekend, we went to (Re)Generation Who. It was the con's first year, we knew a lot of the staff, and both me and [livejournal.com profile] spotweld are fans of Doctor Who. Since it's not a furry con, I focused mostly on my buttons, as well as bumper stickers (which are a new addition to my convention lineup) and a new cocktail book based on Doctor Who (I'll hopefully be posting a PDF of that book to my Patreon later today, for $10+ patrons). And since it was a small con, and its first year, I was not expecting to make a massive amount of profit.

Straight to the point: I didn't. I covered my table costs, and my part of the room (not Spot's), but in the end my total profit (allowing for the cost of table & room) was around $26.

And yet, I still want to go next year.

So what was the difference?

In all honesty, the entire experience. This was one of, if not the most professional conventions I have ever been to, especially for a first year. It was also a rather intimate experience because it was such a small convention, meaning you were basically walking down the hallway or sharing a dining room with Colin Baker or Terry Molloy (or both at once). My booth was along the back of the dealers room, diagonal to the guests of honor, meaning my weekend was filled with squee moments of listening to Sylvester McCoy talk like Radagast, or hearing/watching him and Terry Molloy play a ukulele/spoons ditty with Cat Smith. You can totally see my banner in the background of that video, so you can see right where I was sitting.

I'm a little starstruck, yes. But it's nerdy starstruck, so hopefully that's normal?

The weekend was also a lot less stressful. Usually I have an emotional crash mid-convention and get really snappy and irritable, but that didn't happen at ALL (I was definitely a bit snappy on the drive down; I think I was nervous about setup). I don't know if it was because I wasn't doing a lot of art (I did a trade with a fellow vendor, and a single badge, and worked a bit on Falconeio's sketchbook -- there were plenty of furries at the con [they kept trying to get me to Fur The More] but it wasn't an art-focused convention), or that we were going out for all the local booze & good food (CRAB AND OLD BAY SEASONING ON EVERYTHING, I'm home!) or it was simply the atmosphere of the convention.

Anyway. I came away from the con, despite the lack of profits, feeling just happy with the world. Maybe I'm hypomanic right now (I'm gonna be getting my brain pills later today and starting that whole deal), but...it was just a completely different experience than every furry con I've been to. So much less drama, no room parties causing too much noise (that we could hear, anyway), and it just seems like the Doctor Who fandom is a lot...quieter isn't the right word, but it's the first to come to mind, than the furry fandom.

Also notable: the gender split was pretty much right down the middle and the age of fans ranged from toddler to senior citizen. The latter probably has to do with the fact that the show has been around for 50+ years -- a lot of old school sci-fi fans were met this weekend -- but the former is interesting to me. I have to wonder: why does the furry fandom lean so heavily male? I used to think that was just fandoms in general (and unfortunately things like the video game explosion [not gonna name it, don't want my journal to get bombed by those people] and all that crap are making the male constituency of fans even more obvious), but that's just not right.

After the con we visited DuClaw for the best beer ever, and then on the drive back home on Monday (after, yes, running into various guests of honor in the lobby because that's just how cons like this go and we were all checking out at the same time...I maintain that Sylvester McCoy is adorable [I want to put him in my pocket] and Terry Molloy is just a delightful human being in general, and Patricia Quinn has amazing outfits, and Sophie Aldred is a joy, and I can't name everyone here but they are all just amazing, wonderful people) we hit Boordy Vineyards, home of my favorite wine of all time. We somehow fit everything in the car, even amongst all my con crap, and we listened to Terry Pratchett's Soul Music on the drive home.

I also want to get everyone to road trip down to Maryland this summer. This is a thing that should happen. Or I can just get some Maryland blue crabs and we can do a cookout in the backyard. Hmmm...
tabbiewolf: (tabbie - fall)
The weather has decided that "wintry mix" was a good plan for one of the busiest travel days of the year. Looking at Google Maps, most of our route is covered in accidents.

Awesome.

You know, I've lived all over the country, and I think Connecticut is the only place I've lived where we get a true wintry mix. It's not "snow in the morning, rain in the afternoon" or "sleet turning to snow sometime when it gets colder as the day goes on"...it is very literally snow and rain and sleet/ice/freezing rain (sometimes all three) all at the same time.

So everything's a slushy mess, and it sounds like it's raining right now, but it looks like the plows and salt trucks are out. We've got a bunch of sci-fi audiobooks, a batch of chocolate chip cookies, and a full tank of gas, so I'm not TOO worried about being stuck in traffic.

I also filled my iPod with Christmas music (next to the John Scalzi and Neal Stephenson), so I'm ready for the drive back. I refuse to play Christmas music or watch Christmas specials until Santa appears in the Thanksgiving Day parade.

The trip hasn't even started and I'm already tired. I blame the weather.
tabbiewolf: (Anywhen)
After my breakdown last week, it was decided that I need a vacation. Technically, I think both me AND [livejournal.com profile] spotweld need a vacation -- possibly he needs a vacation from his crazy wife, though he doesn't see it like that (thank non-specified deity) -- and we were actually chatting about the possibility of going to Florida for warmth and sun a month ago. We decided against it, due to cost of plane tickets and necessary time off, but the breakdown was just a sign that if we didn't do something soon I would combust into a ball of self-hatred. As seen in my last post, I actually kind of did already; we're just cleaning up the mess at this point.

So Spot took next week off and we're leaving on Saturday for a good ol' fashioned road trip. Current route is basically straight down I-95, with stops at DuClaw Brewing and South of the Border. Nothing else is really decided, though I've been poking through online blogs of road trips of the same route and getting ideas (mostly food-related). I'm trying not to overplan, which is difficult for me because I enjoy planning, but I also want this to be a relaxing road trip and planning every hour of it will turn it into a "How come we couldn't do this?" situation.

Hell, I'm not even really sure what our final destination will be, or if we even have one. Orlando, Cocoa Beach, Key West...somewhere warm & sunny, basically.

Spot suggested we bring some D20s for those "What do we do?" moments. This actually seems like a pretty fantastic idea. Leaving it up to the Universe!

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