I am back from OMG con yesterday around 1700 hours. Today I’m still exhausted. My feet still hurt. And it’s time to return to the mundane world of commissions, clients, and computer screens.
I broke even on hotel and table costs, but not on how much it took to get everything ready at the last minute. But this is no reason to get upset, unless we’re discussing my house payment or the light bill. This is actually a big success. My table had a couple of major issues I couldn’t compensate for in regards to layout. If I had been 100% prepared, I would have done a lot better. And I have returned with determination to fix the table as a result.
The highlight of the convention for me was a bomb threat. Or maybe it was because someone pulled the fire alarm. I’m not sure which of the two stories I heard are true, but I’m going to go with bomb threat because that’s the more interesting version. Yes, I’m sure the perpetrator was watching everyone file out of the convention center with a smile on their face and an evil chuckle. But this didn’t stop the fun. The boffer groups did outside fighting. All of the colorful cosplays were there for my personal viewing pleasure. And then the ice cream truck came.
It’s my personal theory that the ice cream truck driver was the person who called in the bomb threat. They drove by and you could hear the crowd cheer. And then dozens of cosplayers were bounding across the convention center lawn after the truck. It was like a scene from a crazy movie. All I could do was laugh.
I got a little cranky on Saturday because being in the sun from the bomb threat for so long made me ill. I can’t do sunshine anymore, which is tragic considering I’m from Florida. So in my crankiness I thought I was doing very poorly. After I was able to go to the hotel, rest, and take a shower I realized I had done better than I usually do. Thumbs up.
I did a lot of filming, heard the OMGcon drama story of why they’re not close to my house anymore, and overall had such a wonderful time I was sad to see it end. All I did was sit in my booth, too. I can’t imagine how much fun it would have been if I’d been able to go to some of the panels and events. Alas, my husband was not able to attend with me and I had to man everything alone. I’m a big girl. I didn’t mind. But that is where the exhaustion comes in – from not being able to take a break and having to leave the table alone just long enough to run to the bathroom.
So on my project list I’ve got to buy another modular wire cube set. I’ll have to order it because it’s not available in stores anymore. That’s the key to fixing my table. I’m going to start ordering prints of my work, create a display book, and move along. One person at OMGcon said I had a lot of stuff. Actually, I had about as much as a lot of other people it’s just that I was unique in my wares… and I couldn’t organize them as well as I should have. I’m going to fix that. And what I’m doing will transform, too. I usually have a lot of stuff because I do a lot of things. But I want my table to specialize more.
Some of my things sold out, which helps with the transformation. I know what I’m going to have on my table, and I already have an idea of the layout. Now. I just have to execute.