Confuzzled Recap--somewhat exhaustive, part 2

Monday

(Time slept not counting naps: ~5 hours)

I THOUGHT Monday was going to be a slower day because the Dealer’s Den wasn’t open. I was wrong.

That morning, after breakfast (MORE smoked salmon this time) I finished four badge commissions, slightly out of order from my list but it was easier to do them all at once than change mediums. After that, I wrote more notes I never got around to doing, for the Building Worlds panel I had with Kandrel, mainly so that I had my mind prepped for going in.

Building Worlds panel went well; we ere derailed a couple times when it got to the gray area of building worlds for your plot/building plots for your world but I think it was pretty good. In the meantime, in the middle of the panel, I received a note asking for, serendipitously, the four badges I’d just finished that morning, so I just handed them over to the runner.

It was lunch about that time but I was basically functioning from breakfast, so I just went back to my room and worked on the last two sketchbooks I was commissioned. I realized that what I’d told people on sunday—that the books would be ready by “pick up” was ambiguous. The art pickup listed in the book was for pickup for the art show/auction and not something separate for people receiving commissions from the dealer’s den that was running late. (Kinda obvious after I thought about it) so I needed to find some way to deliver these things to their respective owners by the time the afternoon pick up time rolled around.

Well, I’d finished sketching for both of them (one was a sketched sketchbook, then other was inked, so only the first was finished) it was time for the closing ceremonies, held a bit early because they had to give the stage back to the hotel after that. I puttered around there for a while until I was filed onto the stage, and thankfully I wasn’t required to say anything. The highlight was when the representative for that year’s charity (A big cat rescue charity) basically started crying because the con had raised £11,000 for them—which meant that they could start doing things they’d planned for next year next month instead. (The total charity figure ballooned to £13,000 by the time the con was actually over).

There was also the silly leg-waxing of the security personnel that was bid for in the auction but that was disappointing!

Anyway, after that, I just HAPPENED to run into the person who’d commissioned the sketchbook I’d finished around noon—just, in the hall. She was easy to spot because her character was a capybara obsessed with Doctor Who—she wore a Tom Baker scarf—and so I handed it off to her. She seemed rather upset by something (not the picture, just something) so I do really hope it wasn’t anything I caused …

Mixed Media panel was in an hour, and I still had to ink the one picture so I sat outside the panel room as people slowly started to congregate around it and chatted (people do seem to be able to find me better when my schedule is listed in the conbook).

The Mixed Media panel had me, Lex, Kandrel, Twll and Nidoconu and it was kinda nerve-wracking in the beginning—I tend to obsess over what I’m going to say but having to wait for it is hard.

Fortunately, the last sketchbook I had was commissioned by a guy who was sitting in the front row of the panel. Just … more serendipity, it was crazy. I handed it off to him, and after that panel I was DONE.

… or, well, erm …

Okay, I hadn’t eaten lunch so it was my intention to find somewhere to order dinner, then MAYBE attend a party later, when I suddenly got a text from Washu (or Silver) saying that I was supposed to judge the fursuit dance competition.

Which was starting about fourteen minutes ago.

I’m not the sort of guy that’d refuse these things on purpose—they didn’t EXPECT me to be knowledgeable of dancing at all, and neither was Lex.

Funnily enough, the conbook jokingly says that the panel of judges would be “hastily arranged”. I don’t think they meant that seriously but that’s what ended up happening. Actually, it was probably better they didn’t inform me ahead of time or I would have tried to do some research and failed.

The judge who WAS a dancer and won a lot (he was in suit on the panel, I can’t recall his name aaargh—black and red wolf with glowy clawtips) seemed like he had a hard time finding words for even stuff he was familiar with but it was kinda cute so we all gave him a pass on it. I eventually got the hand of what we were supposed to be doing by the third set, and by the sixth I’d sorta figured out how to “watch” the dancers and try not to form opinions in words until it was done (write down notes that popped into my head, that sort of thing) … so it was kind of a valuable learning experience?

So yeah, it was fun if completely unexpected, and I was STARVING by that point. Silver had graciously gotten me a sandwich before the event started so I wasn’t distracted, but I needed FOOD—I’d completely forgotten room service had existed, and thankfully it was (just barely) before 11 that night so I ordered penne with arrabiata sauce, garlic bread and coke … which ended up knocking me out cold with all those carbs.

Tuesday

(Time slept not counting naps: ~12 hours)

I didn’t have anything to do but I ended up waking up on Tuesday about 8, ate breakfast in the executive lounge, took a shower, and then went immediately back to sleep until about 1. I eventually shuffled downstairs to meet with Washu and a bunch of the other staff and their friends I hadn’t had the chance to meet during the con. Everyone was in cleanup mode, so eventually, Silver went with me over to the lounge and I sat down on the couch, which is where I ended up staying all day.

I am quite literal here: besides a few minutes where I got up to go to the bathroom or get something from my room I did not move from that couch. There was a dead dog party happening, I think, in the Miller’s Bar, but there ended up being an offshoot of it hovering around me as a lot of people came in and out, talking about whatever and drinking beer and/or cocktails.

Chicken/stuffing/cranberry sandwich for lunch, fish and chips for dinner, drank lots of coke. I wish I could remember the other people who’d joined besides Silver, Vasmeth and Washu, I do recall writing their names down at one point but the only one I recall off the top of my head was HyperRiffic who was a really giggly sort of guy (apparently he has passed out from laughing too hard before)

And that was basically it. I was too tired to do much else.

Wednesday

(Time slept: ~10 hours)

Wednesday was the buffer day that we’d originally planned where Washu and Tungro would take me someplace so I could actually say I’d seen England while I was there, but it ended up being that we just went into town for sushi.

Part of this was because the attendees were still filtering out so slowly; the “last day” (tuesday) there were still like half the attendees present, and Wednesday morning there were still at LEAST 200. Once again we sat around in the lounge talking with all sorts of people who just happened to congregate around as they were waiting for the opportunity to head home.

Our sushi party ended up being 10 people, and instead of lunch it ended up being dinner. I hadn’t eaten breakfast—slept through the cutoff time—and was expecting lunch so I was VERY hungry by the time we navigated the trains and walked through downtown Birmingham to the all-you-can-eat sushi place.

I ate like twenty plates. That was some good sushi.

(Aside—I’m pretty sure the eel is a lot different in the UK than in the US. US eel tends to be a lot more oily. On the other hand, it was the first time I’d eaten squid and it wasn’t rubbery.)

There is a lot of hugging that goes on when furries leave each other so it is rather kinda sad. Once we got back it was just me and Washu and Tungro, and I left for my room right after (yes, there were hugs) where I started being depressed because it was the last day and I was going to have to do traveling again in the morning.

Washu said I could use the rest of my allowance if I wanted, and as I’d used barely half, I did order room service, but since I was still STUFFED from the sushi, it ended up being tomato/red pepper soup and ginger ale.

Thursday

(Time slept ~5 hours)

There wasn’t anyone left to point me anywhere so I checked out at about 6 that morning and made my way toward the airport, which is quite a walk when you’re dragging a roller suitcase that’s nearly 50 lbs and a laptop bag filled with everything else.

I changed my cash for traveler’s checks at the airport when I was there. Exchange rate was rather brutal—if better than anything I could get outside of Amerex (they gave 1 to 1.5, most places in the US is 1 to 1.3 when the real rate is about 1.7)—so I was still rather depressed as I eventually found the place to check in so I could get rid of the luggage.

Birmingham airport was … odd. After you pass the security checkpoint, you MUST walk through the duty free shop as it’s smack in the middle of the hall. I’d paused briefly at the entrance and looked back to see if I’d missed the turn, but no, the airport turns into a glitzy wonderland of mostly jewelry for a few moments. After that, once again you walk in to an area like a mall before you actually start moving toward the gates.

I drank of bottle of the UK Fanta for, well, for breakfast basically. European Fanta is a lot better than the US stuff which is just like sunkist soda—THIS Fanta uses actual orange juice, so it’s like orangeade. I like orange soda, but I think I’d probably drink Fanta a lot more if that stuff was available in the US.

Got on the flight, watched almost four movies I never got around to seeing (Cloudy with a Chance Of Meatballs 2, Thor 2, Parkland, and most of Wolf of Wall Street). I think it helped stave off the depression but I was still wrestling with a lot during the 7 hours back …

Landed early in Newark. Eventually got through customs, felt like I was doing everything wrong (because I was, security officers kept directing me to do things like I was a child apparently), then took the plane to DC, then, after ~an hour delay due to rain, took the plane home.

So that was it. It was really, really fun, really exhausting, and I’m still sad that it’s over.