Going Rural

Just out visiting with the husband's cousins and he took me for a little walk where I took some pictures ^_^

I really liked this tree:



Road signs tend to stand out 'round these parts:



This is definitely a sign that I'm not in Seattle anymore... or is it:



A very exhausting day today though, helped out for the rest of the day getting the church set up for the wedding. I'll be in charge of filming the wedding so at least I'll have something important to do to keep me distracted from the fact that I don't know anybody (and having an outsiders point of view makes it even more interesting and fun). Should be a fun day tomorrow ^_^

~Liriel

On A Plane...

This is me on a plane...



This is a sample of the scenery I saw a lot of as we flew from Seattle to Minneapolis (this was either Eastern Montana or North Dakota)....



This is the Missippi River as we approached Minne (or least I'm pretty sure it was)...



And this is realizing that where we were going there was a whole lot of... not much...



...the flatness... @_o

Meh, me tired, but happy that this rock-hard-bed hotel at least has free wi-fi :D :D :D

~Liriel

The Last Birthday

So yeah, I turned 33+1 yesterday... not really my last birthday but it feels right to say it's the last one I'm counting. So really I'll remain at 33, at least for a while yet.

One thing that gets me though... why do people give me teddy bears and flowery cards? At least the rose was cool (and even had red glitter on the petals) - my husband knows me best I guess. But my own sister and neighbor seem to have strange... expectations.



Ah well at least the teddy bear is an old fashioned sand-filled one of sturdy construction, proably pretty expensive when it was new (and oddly enough has no tags on it).

~Liriel

CascadiaCon Report 5: Monday & Final Thoughts

Monday... what can I say about Monay except that it was the last day, and like all last days it's the last chance to see anything. I tried hard to settle down at my table and work on the Comic Biography Theater page I was supposed to do, and I even had Frown working on his at the table next to me -



But it was really hard to focus. Eventually both Frown and I gave up, he ran home to take care of his sick girlfriend and I wandered around near my table to see what there was to be seen - I even got to take a quick trip to Mars -



Where, oddly enough, I finally ran into Bobbie Dufault, the Con Chair and righteous lady who'd invited me to the convention in the first place. She stopped by my table to mention passing my contact info on to the NorwesCon folks and to buy both issues - and that was my last sale before I decided to pack up, but not before remembering to get a photo of the table XD -



Final Thoughts:

Over all CascaidaCon was an awesome convention.

The down side was, despite investing in a whole better set up and having much more to offer, I made about as much at this 5-day convention as I did back in February at Emerald City ComiCon (and really I think it had a lot to do with the Hurricane Katrina Disaster creating a cloud of gloom and doom over the entire week).

But despite the financial loss it was a blast and half! I got to meet and hob-nob with a whole bunch of awesome people, and I think I made a pretty good impression myself.

It really was just a lot of fun and I'm really glad I went ^_^

~Liriel

CascadiaCon Report 4: Sunday and... Weird

Sunday was a bit like Saturday, except... not quite as busy. I was surprised by the amount of folks who would just keep coming by to chat, that was kind of neat :) Dr Chaos even stopped by to pick up a postcard and look over what I did for a living ^_^;;

Also too I was really thrilled that ShadowsMyst from Shifters came all the way down from Vancouver BC to see me (and well check out the Con too XD). Here we are having a photo op -



Really though you could tell the Con was starting to wind down. By the time my second panel came around it was really starting to get quiet. This panel was a lot... weirder. A 4pm panel on Writing for Comics, with Roberta Gregory, Kevin Boze, John Lustig as moderator, and... some woman I'd never seen before sitting at our table when we all walked into the room O_o ... Turns out she was Julie McGalliard, creator of Goth House, and had been added to the panel at the last moment.

It was odd too because on Friday night the Noxious Emotion shirt-guy had been touting Goth House to me, and here I was on a panel with her. Still though it was oddly uncomfortable because she was the odd man out. To be nice I chose to sit next to her, but I'm not sure she appreciated it - especially when I demanded the last of her mini-comics XD. Also the fact that she touted degrees in Journalism and Psychology during her panel introduction didn't especially win me over much (yeah me who never went to high school hahahaheh... heh...), but I guess we all gotta be proud of something (especially if we spend that much money on something so... worthless) -- OH CHRIST I'm ranting >_< and dissing on someone I hardly know - bad Liriel! *smacks wrist*

I think too the panel was odd because we were all pretty tired, and there were just as many folks in the audience as on the panel (hey - at least we weren't out numbered!), and we ended up just talking over whatever came up... like at one point copyright issues came up, and we discussed that at length even though it didn't really have much to do with writing (what blew my weary mind at that point was an audience member mentioning PartiallyClips, and me sitting there thinking "Hey, I know Rob Baulder online! He should be here!" XD).

Ugh so yeah I came away from that panel very confused and tired, like... like I had been hit by a vampire O_o ...

Eventually though I recovered, with help from ShadowsMyst, who continued to hang out, doing a sketch trade and talking about trying to do a table at SakuraCon together (we're working on that right now in fact :D). Eventually though they had to head back home, and things again wound down.

I puttered around the table for the rest of the day, and finally headed back to the hotel room to just relax. It was raining pretty good all day and night, so it was just a good evening to get some room service and chill.

~Liriel

CascadiaCon Report 3: Saturday; Werk it Girl~

Saturday was all about actually being around to work at my Artist Alley table; talk to folks and give away free postcards and sign the things they buy.

But first, on my way to the Table that morning I paused outside for a smoke break, still trying to wake up to a weak cup of coffee from the Hospitality Suite, the brisk morning air, - and the Catman and friend stopping to ask for a light and having the most normal conversation I ever thought I'd have with a guy who's spent thousands on having his body modified in such a way. I chuckle now to think that folks are afraid to talk to him. Silly, silly people. Poor guy though, he had a room in the Hilton, but all his panels were in the Radisson :(

Anyways, speaking of panels - I was on a Webcomics panel at 10am, with John Lustig, Scott & Georgia Ball, with Phil Foglio moderating. There wasn't a huge turn out (it's a sci-fi con -- I wasn't expecting a whole lot XP), say like 7 people, but they listened patiently and had great questions, and one fellow even went so far to school John on a few points XD... The most embarassing moment for me was having John and Phil say how great they think BadBlood is XD ~!

I HAD instructed Jack to come snap a photo of the panel, but appearently he got abandoned alone at the table and couldn't make it (they all got fired when I got back, but then I had to hire them again... it's hard to find help you can trust XD).

Eh well, so then I grabbed Lea Farr for a photo op -



She single-handedly did a most excellent job as Artist Alley Coordinator, as in making sure the 24-hour Alley got food, water, coffee - even B12 vitamins! She rocked :D!

A glimpse of Saturday afternoon traffic (folks lining up for Masquerade showing) -



Really though it was all about working it I ended up staying at the alley for as long as possible that night to try and catch some of the Masquerade and Fantasy Fetish Show folks - turns out a really good call as one VtM gamer became really "intrigued" by what he saw and bought both issues - that "intrigued" part made my day :D.

I was pooped though by the time I called it a day and headed back to the hotel room -- to find Craig and friends playing Exaulted ... XD I was really beat, tried to play along, called it quits, went outside for a smoke break, and then returned to find Scott Alan and Georgia Ball in the hotel room - somehow they had been stopped for pics and gotten dragged in by Craig - I promptly rescued them and fled with them to places more interesting.

Scott Alan arguing with his brother -



Scott & Georgia being good sports while Craig is armed with a drunken camera -



I had a fun time running around with them even though I was tired, and actually got some enough energy back, so that when they decided to call it a night I ended up back at the hotel room dragging Craig and friends out ("It's a con for crying out loud what are you guys doing in here gaming?!") to BioHazard.

Ah yes... hanging out on the patio sipping rum, chain smoking and looking for interesting conversation. Didn't see the Mad Scientist or his friend, but the scary lady and her pet came back. At one point I was talking to another lady about filking when the scary lady hollered out "Oh I wish a sexy lady would come kiss me!" ... and the filking lady obliged... @___@ I stood there thinking "Mono, TB... Mono... TB... I don't... really want to know these people - time for another drink!" They were gone by the time I got back - replaced by a white haired old-timer going by the name of Dr Chaos hailing from Anahiem. Now there was some interesting conversation :D! I learned more about Con history since the 70's then I bet anyone else I know knows!

*sigh*

Eventually though, I had to call it a night, Sunday would be yet another working day.