robotech_master (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
robotech_master) wrote2007-02-18 01:28 am
robotech_master) wrote2007-02-18 01:28 am
Entry tags:
Late night report
Well, shortly after I posted that entry, I headed up to the "West Coast Geeks" party room, and found some things a bit more cheer-inducing.
I'd stopped by the room the night before, sampled some wasabi peas, but not stuck around because not too much seemed to be going on. However, tonight the party room was in full swing, such as full swing was. They had a deal where you make a play-doh monster and get to pick a prize from the prize drawer. So I made a rather clumsy play-doh unicorn, with a torso of the mingled magenta and blue play-doh from one can, and legs, mane, and tail of yellow from another can, and a white horn.
The folks running the room had just moved to Springfield from San Francisco, and they'd raided the shops in Chinatown and Japantown for noteworthy items to bring with them. The prize drawer included "UFO" ramen noodles and some sort of "Full Metal Alchemist" candy, but I chose a package of "Instant Chrysanthemum Beverage"—ten 20 oz packets which contain "Ingredient: Lactose, chrysanthemum extract." Have to try those at some point.
They had also brought back with them samples of lots of sake, wine, and liquor of various Japanese and Chinese sorts, and were holding a sort of "tour of the Orient" whereupon they would pour a dollop of some drink into a little Winnie-the-Pooh dixie cup for you, then expound upon its origin and history. Some of them were interesting, some were peculiar (like a lapsong-souchong tea liqueur called "Qi"), and some were rather vile. And many were rather potent. It wasn't long before I was lying on the hotel room bed staring up at the ceiling and wondering if I dared move.
For lack of anything better to do, I hung around the room and talked with the guy in charge of it, Sandy Clark. He was a writer, and had just written an article about a video arcade for the Springfield Business Journal. He said he'd trained in the Clarion West writer's workshop with the likes of Octavia Butler, then been in Locus, but he wasn't writing science fiction anymore because there just wasn't any money in it. His wife, Crissy, was a graphic designer, and had previously been at some design company in California where she managed an account worth $17 million per year. (In fact, one of the wines they'd brought was a gift she'd received, a California Merlot with a copy shop name and logo on the label. He joked about the bouquet of paper with a subtle hint of toner.) He turned out to be a pretty big animé and Miyazaki fan, though I only found this out in the last few minutes before he decided to crash and I decided to go home. They're looking for more steady work in town now. (I wish them luck. I've not been able to find any, after all.)
The interesting thing is that they turn out to live only about one mile from me. (Closer, as the crow flies, but unfortunately it's not so easy to fly crow-like across the fenced-in suburbia residences around here.) Hopefully I can have them come over sometime, and vice versa. It would be nice to have someone with whom to watch animé.
Around 12:30, I assayed the long bicycle ride up from the Clarion Hotel to home, with my iPod to keep me company. It was cold, but I was bundled up well enough that it wasn't too much of a hardship. I got back about 1:00, and sat down to write this entry.
Now I'm going to take a bath and crash, and try to get back down to the 'con before everything closes, in time to scope the dealer room for any bargains (as if I can afford them!) and pick up the art I commissioned from Fredd Gorham of my City of Heroes characters. I'm hopeful of good results, as I provided him good material to work from, and he's pretty good at furry art. Just have to see what comes.
I'd stopped by the room the night before, sampled some wasabi peas, but not stuck around because not too much seemed to be going on. However, tonight the party room was in full swing, such as full swing was. They had a deal where you make a play-doh monster and get to pick a prize from the prize drawer. So I made a rather clumsy play-doh unicorn, with a torso of the mingled magenta and blue play-doh from one can, and legs, mane, and tail of yellow from another can, and a white horn.
The folks running the room had just moved to Springfield from San Francisco, and they'd raided the shops in Chinatown and Japantown for noteworthy items to bring with them. The prize drawer included "UFO" ramen noodles and some sort of "Full Metal Alchemist" candy, but I chose a package of "Instant Chrysanthemum Beverage"—ten 20 oz packets which contain "Ingredient: Lactose, chrysanthemum extract." Have to try those at some point.
They had also brought back with them samples of lots of sake, wine, and liquor of various Japanese and Chinese sorts, and were holding a sort of "tour of the Orient" whereupon they would pour a dollop of some drink into a little Winnie-the-Pooh dixie cup for you, then expound upon its origin and history. Some of them were interesting, some were peculiar (like a lapsong-souchong tea liqueur called "Qi"), and some were rather vile. And many were rather potent. It wasn't long before I was lying on the hotel room bed staring up at the ceiling and wondering if I dared move.
For lack of anything better to do, I hung around the room and talked with the guy in charge of it, Sandy Clark. He was a writer, and had just written an article about a video arcade for the Springfield Business Journal. He said he'd trained in the Clarion West writer's workshop with the likes of Octavia Butler, then been in Locus, but he wasn't writing science fiction anymore because there just wasn't any money in it. His wife, Crissy, was a graphic designer, and had previously been at some design company in California where she managed an account worth $17 million per year. (In fact, one of the wines they'd brought was a gift she'd received, a California Merlot with a copy shop name and logo on the label. He joked about the bouquet of paper with a subtle hint of toner.) He turned out to be a pretty big animé and Miyazaki fan, though I only found this out in the last few minutes before he decided to crash and I decided to go home. They're looking for more steady work in town now. (I wish them luck. I've not been able to find any, after all.)
The interesting thing is that they turn out to live only about one mile from me. (Closer, as the crow flies, but unfortunately it's not so easy to fly crow-like across the fenced-in suburbia residences around here.) Hopefully I can have them come over sometime, and vice versa. It would be nice to have someone with whom to watch animé.
Around 12:30, I assayed the long bicycle ride up from the Clarion Hotel to home, with my iPod to keep me company. It was cold, but I was bundled up well enough that it wasn't too much of a hardship. I got back about 1:00, and sat down to write this entry.
Now I'm going to take a bath and crash, and try to get back down to the 'con before everything closes, in time to scope the dealer room for any bargains (as if I can afford them!) and pick up the art I commissioned from Fredd Gorham of my City of Heroes characters. I'm hopeful of good results, as I provided him good material to work from, and he's pretty good at furry art. Just have to see what comes.