back from AWA

And we're back! Another one in the can. Some old problems solved, some new problems rise up, a little price gouging, some bargains, old friends met, new friends made, friends no longer with us remembered. A fully packed Corn Pone Flicks Bad American Dubbing panel, some pizza, an airport run, candy, costumers, and it rained every single day. That's AWA this year.

sorry kinda maybe

Somebody in the SHFS bought some fabric for $5 using Square, got billed $55, realized it around midnight, went to Public Safety (which is what they're calling Security now). Not much we can do about that. Take it up with your credit card company, I think.

Public Safety told my brother, who texted me twice at midnight. I have the cheapest cell phone in the world with a pay-as-you-go plan that's cheap for Canada but stupid expensive for use outside Canada, and I leave it off most of the time because roaming costs $$$ and texts cost $$$. Texting me is pretty much useless.

Next year AWA will likely get me some kind of cheap burner phone I can use during the con to stay in touch. Which will be great because people will be able to get in touch with me, but terrible because people will be able to bother me all the time with ridiculous questions and "problems" that are not mine.

Seriously, I get dumb questions about how much dealers room tables cost, do I need a badge to get in here, all kinds of stuff that the con has built an informational infrastructure at great expense for you to utilize and educate yourself. But no, let's ask Dave. To be fair, this year was a great improvement over last year, which was amazingly packed with me being First Stop on the Information AWA Superhighway. But seriously fellas, it's AWA, I am really busy, read your program book or check the AWA website on your smart phone you're always staring at before bugging me. I'm busy.

Actually, come to think of it, this year was kind of awesome in that regard. I was not asked for rides to or from the airport, I was not bugged for free passes, nobody made sad puppy eyes at me in an attempt to get a pass to the green room. I was not asked for free Wi-Fi in the SHFS, nobody begged me to show their video in Hell, I didn't have to last-minute panic arrange three carloads of tourism, I didn't miss Sunday dinner while taking down Maid Cafe decorations. Everybody who showed up for a SHFS table was actually on the list for SHFS tables, and was not "promised a free table" by "somebody".

We did have some people who showed up thinking they could sell stuff from tables for free ("because every con I've ever been to let people sell for free") and other people who thought they could sell their new lolita cosplay tiny hats, and some people that just camped out on tables they hadn't paid for, and some people that took over the table next to them because it was empty for five minutes. But that's normal, normal confused fan behavior. I blame air pollution and poor parenting.