JAWC Volume 2 : Picking up the pieces... Picking up the shattered remains of what happened is amazingly insane... I mean geez.. what's been only a few weeks seems to feel like a couple of months... during this time a whole lotta crap happened, and knowing the shit that's happened to other people makes me realize that my shit isn't as bad as I could and usually make it out to be. I'm pretty damn lucky overall with the people who helped me out after all that happened, from those who commission me and those people I know, I'm not without and things are starting to normalize. My stuff is safe, I'm doing better, it'll be another month off and then comics all the way to the end of the year... unless some weird shit comes up but hell, everyone knows that sometimes things come along and throw off your game... it's the rebound that's a real bitch. Anyhow... I figured I should say something about the hiatus, cause I mean really, I just up and disappeared for a few months.... but things got in order and all appears to be going well at the moment. So good news, the comic is up, things will be going smoothly from now on and I'm off the emo bus to angry town and back on the optomistic bus to happyville... or some wacked out shit that people would chalk up to a euphamism that could denote getting out of a rut onto a hill or something... fuck.. what the hell am I even talking about... -_-;;; Anyhow, I went to AnthroCon and my con report is as follows... good luck following it. ^^;; AnthroCon - Emo and Awesome wrapped up in a neat little package. I'm not that great at conventions, I mean, I miss out on so much and I don't even know it until much later after the fact. I arrived on Wednesday, met up with a cool guy named bubby, saved me cash on a taxi to the westin, chilled there and met up with Bunny Boy, who let us up into his hotel room where we chilled and talked for a bit before I had to leave and try to check in to the Omni... which is the best hotel in the Pittsburgh area where the con is located currently. After a long wait, I finally crashed for a couple hours when Jordan gives me a call and lets me know they'll be arriving soon... so I wake up, grab a bite at the local McDonalds, woot for the dollar menu, and wait in the park for a bit til they arrive. Well I don't really remember too much but we haul Jordan and Ambers stuff into the hotel room, and then I forget what else we did that night... and trust me this is a major reoccurance for me because I can't really remember all the details, just ... bare with my forgetfulness. Anyhow, we finally get to sleep and crash until the morning, in which we wake up and chill for a bit, waited on some peeps to show up and got to see Spice and Cheetah before hitting up the Westin to see who's shown up over there. Regardless, go and get my dealers badge and learned that if you don't get something done right, make sure that the person that fucked things up isn't friends with the person you're with, otherwise you get a shitload of attitude and they get defended for giving you shit, cause well, they don't know you and although they fucked up, god knows that it's not their fault suddenly when you get upset and ask that they fix it... Yeah, I'm still jilted over this, of all the things I remember I can always remember the bad things the best. Anywho, guy gets friendly with Amber and Jordan cause they're all canadian now... although Amber was originally from the U.S.A, since she lives in canada although still a U.S citizen, she claims she's from canada... I don't get it, I think it's nuts, but eh, who the hell am I?... anyway, all them canadians get along, I'm the foreigner here and I get treated like second class cause of it... yeah.. I'm still bitter. After that wonderful happening, I get a chance check out the dealers room, and head back to the zoo or something, I don't remember what we did, cause it usually sums up to hanging out in the zoo or meeting up with peeps in the lobby... eventually we eat meet up with peeps... fuck if I really remember I was still feeling meh cause of the canadian at Dealers Reg. Anyhow, I'm not gonna fucking bother including all the odd shit that I can't remember instead I'm gonna fucking type down the shit I can recall as well as what I did and can remember... I shoulda written this damn con report on the plane.. instead I crashed on the damn plane... sue me, I was fucking tired from being awake for 30 plus hours on sunday/monday.... anyhow, back to the con report... I believe we left off on Thursday Night... Met up with peeps, the days blur at this point so no more fucking defining days on this report... live with it, welcome to it. Met up with Matt and Darcy from Codename Hunter, along with Cat and Ash Pup, all of these guys kick ass!... seriously... ash is always a fun british guy from London who shies away from the porn... which in itself is hilarious... Cat is a model who has a body that's just... awesome... and she owns some kickass boots and renfair outfits... on top of which she's now a master leatherworker taking over from her master craftsman Matt... so it's really cool that she's not in charge of her own trade. One of the coolest moments of the Convention is the fact that Matt gave me a Wacom Tablet... I mean seriously how cool is that?... I'll tell you it's fucking awesome... seriously... I'm not going to rave as much as I did in the room, but still damn freakin cool awesomeness... never had a tablet before and it works damn well, so it's gonna take me a while to use it correctly, but I'm getting the hang of it. and hopefully it's gonna help me get some things done more quickly in terms of colouring for future folios... Anyhow, back to the con itself... which has now turned into hilite mode... Dealers Room, I was sitted next to the wonderful and awesome Club Stripes.. I mean damn that sucked for sales but was seriously awesome... PonyGirl, Ross (Not Miu) and Daria were all awesome, and it was somewhat disconcerting cause it's like am I really fit to be placed near such amazing talent?... Regardless... had my assistant Amber with me... who in turn wasn't an assistant so much as just there to do her thing without alerting the Canadian authorities about her earning a little bank on the side but without having to deal with PA taxes... cause how would it look trying to defect to Canada and coming to the U.S to make the mad money... oh, well... I like having her around... when she is around but mostly she's not there... I really pissed her off this con... I'm sure of it, and sure this could just be paranoia rocking the boat, but shit, I'm pretty damn sure I pissed her off cause I wasn't as attentive as I was, I wasn't always lingering around her... but it's like a fucking catch-22 in this case... cause how do I wingman someone when I don't even know if she even wants me hanging around... hell... Jordan picked up the slack whereever I wasn't... I totally felt like I was fifth wheeling the entire fucking con... it sucked in that respect... who the hell wants to feel like the spare tire. Anyhow, Dealers room was fun, cause I got to meet peeps that I knew from commissions or auction sales... although it was only two people, it was kinda cool... anyhow, sales for me weren't that great at all... need to rethink the selling aspect and come out with old merch for sale as well as new merch, maybe buttons and definitely business cards, and next year I defintely have to draw badges... they're the top selling thing at the con... which I don't know why, but eh, I'll be charging what others charge for their badge making and then I too will be able to rake in the dough. other things in the dealer room... let's see... Fossil is awesome to hang out with, wish I was able to see him in the zoo, but most of the peeps I like to hang around with weren't in the zoo this year... Spice I wanted to talk to more but sadly I didn't get to talk with her much. Ross of the club stripes table was a blast to hang around, I think I got along with him well, Pony Girl and Daria I'm not too sure about cause I usually leave bad impressions with all females... Oh shit, I almost forgot... SPUNKY!!! my god this girl rocks... I got to do an art trade with her and it was most awesome... My sketchbook was filled with win because of her... I gotta make a note to leave my book with more people this next year... only had two people draw in my sketchbook, but they make it awesome... I think it's Quality not quantity that make my sketchbook teh awesomes... That's about it for dealers room, save for Bunny Boy buying me smut and mischa being my water Djinn... don't ask.. it's better that way... Anyhow if I did forget something... oh yeah... TOFURKY JERKY... dear god, poisoning people for the last few minutes of the last day of the dealers room... beware the tofurky for it is evil. Allright, Dealers room out of the way... now onto the Zoo.. where all the stuff happens.. or not... it really doesn't matter cause it's me griping about being stupid and two awesome events and some cool ones to boot. The Zoo, dwelling of so many con goers and artists... for me though it's a place to catch up with the fun types that I actually do become uninhibited around and gush like a school girl towards... Beowolf being one of them... this man is literally how christ must've been like, always endearing, always benevolent, this man is always fun to be around and puts me at ease, like a warm blanket on a chilly winters day, he, by just being, brings comfort and joy to my person... truely such a wonderful man. Awesome Moment with Beowolf, he gives me original art.. that's right, I was so enthralled I got up on a chair and told everyone off cause they didn't get what I had right there in my hands... He was so embarassed.. but it was so freakin' awesome of him to give it to me... so booyah... highlite of the con right there. Second Awesome moment was when Beetlejuice and Jack Sparrow sparred with a rum bottle of candy glass and walked out of the zoo together... I mean ouch, sure it was playacting, but that looked like it had to friggen hurt... smashed over the head with a bottle... But Beetlejuice took it and got up after being on the ground and they had a jolly good time... Savvy? Another Awesome moment is when Fossil actually cares enough about an aspiring artist to give good advice and book recommendations... so I have to look for a book and learn from it cause seriously, why not take advice from someone who knows better... to cast it aside would be prideful and self damning, and that's not cool... Zoo Bitchings on my part for acting stoopid... Not leaving Sunday night when I should have I ended up being overly ranty in front of gNAW and MaxBlackRabbit... I mean seriously.. I think they thought I was either insane or drunk... and since I wasn't drinking... obviously I was nuts... made it through the night and into the morning... got kicked outta the zoo though cause of the drunks that lingered in there... went into the hall area where I was SOL a chair and heard the wonderful phrase... "The Fun Part Of Being Drunk..." Really?... The fun part of being drunk?... what the fuck is wrong with that saying? Simple... DRUNK... really? the fun part of being wasted is what?... that line just totally pissed me off.... I mean what the fuck is wrong with you that you drink so much that the thought of getting drunk could be fun? I mean I can understand a social drink but when you're with people you know, it's not really social drinking, it's just drinking... cause you've been getting along with these people for some time sober... why drink to loosen up when you've been doing just fine wihtout the drink? Social drinking is fine, but when you need to drink to be social it becomes a habit, that habit eventually becomes a belief that you need to drink, and a belief in drinking is an -ism, called... Alcoholism. I don't mind it, I don't mind a lot of things, but I do worry about some people and when they don't respect the bottle in front of them and they say they don't have a drinking problem.. Listen... the very fact you're drinking is a problem... why the hell do you need to drink in the first place?... I can understand the one or two small drinks at a mixer because you don't want to make others uncomfortable, I can understand the initial social drinking because you're with new people and you want to feel that little warm buzz that let's you loosen up cause you're too defensive around new people... but when you know the people you're with, when you're able to socialize already... why bother to imbibe? Gah... I dunno, I know quite a few cool people, and I worry that drinking will one day lead them to ruin, and that's not cool, cause if they were to lose that ability to say no to another drink, well, that'd just suck... and I like these people the way they are now and I don't want them to change... even though I notice some of them changing for the worse I can only hope they don't go too far... and that's all I can say about that. Anyway, that's all I can think of for my Con report... I should have an update once every week this month and hopefully get back on the horse of updating... wish me luck and I hope everyone has a good month... H|4TU5 ()V3R - Tiki Man