Well, tonight was the Tea Party. I had a few people show up, but not many; without the signage there just isn't a real way to draw people to the event, despite it being a regular thing since (I think) first MFF. O well. I took a bunch of cookies and wandered til they were gone- people DO appreciate the cookies, its just the signage that slows people up. I'll throw a second make-up party on Sunday, and distribute cookies to whomever wants them. I'll be put some in the Charity Auction as well.

Right now I'm thinking food, so I'll see about what to get in that department. NOT cookies!

It always seems to be that I wake early on Thursday at a convention with a neck tension/dehydration headache. Bleh. This is a tradition I can do without! So I'm awake, but I think that I'll try to get a few more hours sleep in a bit.

Once again tho, THE TEA PARTY IS IN ROOM 5225 FROM 5 TO 10 TODAY!

Hope to see people there!

Well ,the Tea Party went well for the most part, with about 20 or so people cruising through. There was less mess than in past years, too. I've got a TON of cookies left, so there'll prolly be a Sunday party to get rid of 'em. Good thing: The DVD player that I wasn't able to use at AC was able to be used with the TV here in the room. Yay! Bad thing: While I did have an actual 'tip and donations' jar out, I got a dollar. Bleah.

Earlier in the day I spent a fair amount of time with nemetfox, until khirsahdrgn and mirrdae arrived with the cookies and I had to kinda start the setup of the party. As usual, I had no problems with the hotel over my signs, and only one went missing this year- the one in the lobby of my floor! Go figure. Oh, and I got my registration packet, so I miss the 'pleasure' of the lines today.

As to today... The convention officially starts. I am awake way too friggin' early once again, and relatively soon I'll head down for breakfast; prolly after a shower. I have two donations for the Charity Auction- a bag of cookies (6 of each type served at the Tea Party; that number may now increase...) and a motorized Skrat (The squirrel-rat thing from Ice Age).

And thats about it for now. :)

As seems to be my wont at con I woke at about 3:30 AM and spent the next few hours staring at ths ceiling; I gave up on this about 5:30, and wandered out to do the previous post, then later showered and caught breakfast with derechodragon. The hotel buffet is on the pricy side ($17.50), but with my appetite that price isn't too bad, really. And the food was good. :)

I'll note at this point that my memory is a little hazy today, before I go further.

Anyway, several things took place- first, with jalendragon's and other's help (can't remember names- sorry guys) I got the Tea Party supplies that were needed from a local chain-drugstore, plus some gatorade. Thereafter, I did something I've not done for on the order of 10 years- I volunteered at a Con.

I started with running an errand to the Art Show, and later assisted with Registration setup; from 2:30 til 4 PM I actually worked ON Reg, which was kinda fun, other than being blinded by devil-devil holograms on various drivers licences.

And after that, of course, was the Tea Party. :)

I had a pretty good crowd this year, with on the order of 30-50 people stopping by through the evening, including prismo, susandeer, greenreaper, Roustabout, Ghostwolf, Valent, Felder, and many others whose names are dodging me at the moment- guys, leave a comment here and I'm sorry I couldn't remember!

I shut things down around 8:30 when things got pretty quiet, partly for that and partly because A) I was exhausted, and B) I was STARVING. So several of us popped over to the (crowded) Pizza Parma, got foodage and returned to the room; on the way I picked up a Heineken from the hotel bar. Mmm, pizza and beer. :) Shortly thereafter I crashed, ending a pretty good day. :)

I think I'll do more volunteering and get the free T-Shirt. I should check if its the conshirt or something special.

The tea party went well, with nemetfox supplying the use of his laptop and media cables so that we could watch Godzilla: Final Wars, Kung Fu Hustle and other things. Many people swung by, including Gatomo, hunterdpanther, Farin, Pat, and many others. :) The cookies are GONE.

I've got most everything packed up, and Gatomo is going to get me to the airport tomorrow- Thus I avoid a taxi fare! And so, the con endeth- I still await my sketchbook from DC Rabbit, but he'll get it to me before I bail, I'm sure.

I don't wanna go, but I do wanna go home.

It's 5:26 and mirrdae isn't here. Nor, obviously, are the cookies. He and Foxfeather got a late start. Bleah. Hopefully, they'll be here by the revised start time for the Tea Party, at 6 PM.

On other things, I sliced myself open with an Xacto knife when I was cutting the foamboard for the party signs... Ouch. But, its okay I think. Its bleeding/oozing whenever I take off the bandage, but given as nasty as it was, its not surprising. But, I'll be okay.

So, We wait for the start of the party, one way or another. :)

Well, its Monday morning and Anthrocon '05 is officially over. I had a total blast, with nary a spot of bummed-ness to be had on my part. During the day, I wandered the con, getting a few last sketches from various artists including DarkNatasha, Caribou, Heather Bruton and Lou, of which the DarkNatasha pic is my prize of the con- I'm gonna get a painting of it, and its already arranged but for the money and details (yah, I can afford it.) :)

Last night I threw another Tea Party, with the primary goal of getting rid of the leftover cookies, chocolate and bottled water- This was a success. :) I had a faor number of folks show up, both that I knew and that I didn't, and a good time (as far as I know) was had by all. cuprohastes and Bombur went to Morimotos, Cupro for the second time- Bom was stoked. :)

After the party ended at about 10, a group of us Me, Steve Stackhouse, Lou Frank, jalendragon, Flynn, Bombur and a few others went down to the bar area and yakked a bit, some of us getting foodage as well. I finally crashed about midnight, and here I am.

We'll be heading off to the airport about noon, Tho I'm not sure when sirocco_sahara needs to be at the airport- I suspect its prolly a similar timeframe.

Homeward bound... I want another few days!

I forgot to post this!

The TEA PARTY is from 5 PM til I can't stand it anymore, or the roomies wanna crash, and is in room #2109 at the Wyndam. There will be much tea, some coffee, and lots of cookies and chocolate. DOnations/Tips would DEFINITELY be appreciated. :)

See you there if you can make it!

Well, its 12:30 AM on Monday, and another Midwest Furfest is over. I had a damn good time, spending a fair amount of time with friends like Nemet, Skye-Bluedeer and Hunter, and generally eating VERY well whilst enjoying my time FAR away from work. Sunday night (merely 30 minutes past) I threw a mini-Tea Party, to 'dispose' of the remaining cookies. Most were dealt with, with the remaining few being donated to the Staff Party.

I had a few last-minute arrangements to make, as I seem to have lost my primary arrangements- mirrdae and Foxfeather were originally going to bring the empty cookie bins home for me, but they vanished. So, I was lucky enough to run into N'Rasser, who agreed to haul 'em home for me, along with the Mr. Coffee I was using to make tea water with for the party. :)

I'm disappointed as usual with the end of the con, but at the same time I've missed Luna, my cat, and little things like my own bed, and the ability to cook my own food when desired. But, all in all this has been a good time.

Oh- I also got silly things, in addition to the drawings in my sketchbooks- A Gamera statue, a much smaller Godzilla Junior statue, and (yay) a Totoro stuffty. :)

I leave for O'Hare at 10:30 this morning, and will be on the plane at 1:00 PM. I'll either get transport from the airport from foeclan, or by taxi. And I still have Monday and Tuesday nights off of work. YES.

Upon the continuing adventure to Chicago...

The flight left MSP international right on time, and got into Chicago O'Hare about 5 minutes early. I bailed from the plane, got my luggage, called the limo service I'd arranged (Cheap! Cool! Neat! My Chauffer is the company, they have a NICE <$20 deal from O'hare!), and got to the Hotel. No problems... Yet.

I had to wait to check in- no problem. I was hungry anyway, so I checked my luggage and noshed on the beef sandwich in the hotel resturant. Good, and huge. :) I then ran to the art shop across the way and picked up stuff for the signage for the Tea Party- When they found out MFF was coming, they gave me a 20% discount for letting them know, and gave me a mess of coupons and flyers for the flyer table. Whee!

I got back to the hotel, and it was about 1:30 PM. I checked, and a room was ready! I was expecting to wait til 3 PM! No problems... once again, Yet.

I drag my crap to the room, and unpack. I had decided to check the duffel with the tea-party hardware, on the off chance it'd be a problem at security. This was a BAD choice. A lot of minor things were a little squished, but the hotpot for the teawater had a 1-inch hole punched THROUGH it. Oy.

SO, I grumbled a bit, wrote it off and tried to get online using the nifty wi-fi in the room- Wrong. They don't take Discover, and my Visa is at home, and in a weird limbo cos of something stupid they talked me into. GRR.

Moving on, I ran over to the Woodfield mall J.C. Pennys, and replaced the hotpot with a Mr. Coffee, and picked up new slippers. THAT helped. So did the beer I had when I got back to the Hotel. I'm now in the 'High Piracy' Business office at the hotel, typing in thios little missive for all to see.

Anyway, the trevails are over (I hope!), and I'm safely at the hotel. See whomever is gonna be there at the Tea Party on Thursday!

Oh- for those that need to know- there will be signs up, but the room # is 4118.