179 The weekend- F & S

[evile]

 

Friday: Showed up to ArmadilloCon for opening ceremonies at 7:30 pm,
Ignored by main/registration desk personnel. Chastised for not
remembering that I had requested a different 'badge name' than my
real name. I registered for this in mid-august, so excuse the fuck
out of me for not remembering that I'd done that. But, whatever. I
got my badge and went on in. Skipped the 'meet the pros' party after
teh Opening Ceremonies, I just felt too out of place & miserable to
bother.

Saturday. Got up in plenty of time to get to everything, but sat
around at home, drinking coffee & reading _The Oracle Glass_--my own
paperback copy that I got from amazon.com. Showed up for the last
part of a workshop given by artist Ms. Ledet "Sculpting with Clay: A
Chocoholic Dragon". It was very interesting, and her dragons are
pretty cute. But given the processes she described in making a single
dragon--2 hours of sculpting, painting & glazing 3 times, painting a
second area & glazing 3 times, etc. Very work & energy intensive. Not
enough return on the investment. Complicated & costly, hard to make
money at it unless you get a name for yourself, I guess.

Noon: JPL Mars missions. Disappointing--not pictures but computer
generated images of the launch, trajectory, and parts of the space
craft "odyssey" launched in April & arrived at Mars in Oct. Only 1
picture of Mars surface. I left that discussion a bit early.

Went to the Art room, looked at the pieces & found a few that would
be good Xmas. The FAQ sheet said to get a bidder# at the main desk. I
assumed 'main' meant 'registration' and went there. the 3 ladies
there gave me some different stories:

1) there is no art auction
2) you don't need a bidder #
3) you get the bidder # at the art room

Harpies.

Went to the Psychic Fair across the street at the Embassy Suites.
Didn't stay too long.

Lunch at Wendy's.

2:30: Bradley Denton reads from his new novel _Laughing Boy_. Very
entertaining reader, not sure if I'd buy the book, but definitely
will read it if I can find it at the Library. I liked _Lunatics_
okay, and his book of short stories _One Day Closer to Death_ was
sometimes dreadful & sometimes wonderful.

Went to the Art Room and got a biddder#. Bid on a few pieces for
Eric, Andrea & Greg. Eric's is a 3-D piece called "dragon fly". It's
by an artist named "Sherlock" and it's made of a dead gecko painted
gold with little wings, mounted sort of like a specimen. Very cool. A
little ghastly. Then I bid on a drawing called "Sister Huntresses"
for Andrea--a demon/batwing girl riding a centaur girl. Both with
spears, looking rather ferocious. For Greg, I bid on a picture
called "Sitting for a Spell" of a wizard under a tree with an orange
kitten in his lap, reading a book. Greg & Mushi! :)

Saturday, 4pm, "Aliens in Stetsons - Texas Sci Fi" discussion w/
authors Spencer, Barrett, Denton, Moorcock, and Cupp. Very
entertaining, very interesting. Neil Barrett Jr. is a very brilliant
man, has a strange bit of facial/verbal tics (tourettes?) But very
funny, very dry little remarks that were hilarious. revolutionsf.com
was recommended as a place to read good short stories & kind of
cutting-edge stuff.

Ran around a bit. hobby lobby & hancock fabrics. Looking for doll-
face molds for fimo/sculpey, want to make a Harlequin-face pendant
with the Iolite heart as one eye, that would be cool.

Came back in time to outbid a competitor for the 'dragon fly' and got
3 xmas presents for $25. Not bad. Of course, I really didn't want to
participate in Xmas at all....but it is like an obligation. Rather
sucks.

After that, went home, Tom & I went to dinner at China Star. Thought
about going back to the con, but decided to go to bed instead