Andrian's (Late) AC report; last episode!
Andrija Popovic
I'm not exagerrating when I say that Sunday is, by far, the busiest of
all days. At last, for the art show. The room was abuzz with last minute
bids and everyone worked to get things ready for the upcoming auction.
After helping Capricia pack, then heading to the art show, I spent most
of the morning taking care of last minute art affairs.
And I defended a bit or two. I'd promised myself I'd come away with at
least one piece of art and I had two bids in on Carspecken pieces. While
one went to auction, the other fell neatly into my hands and made a
lovely gift for my roommate, Jenn.
I also managed one or two last-minute runs to the dealer's room. I had
hoped that Lisa could do a sketch or two for me, but I saw from accross
the room that she was obviouisly swamped. The last thing I wanted to do
was add to anyone's workload.
I did pick up a book from the Waldenbooks stand there (The first Paul
Anderson/ Gordan R. Dickerson Hokas collection) and caught up on all my
back issues of "Finder," a comic that sadly has a hard time making it's
way through Diamond Distributions.
Then, back up to the art show. Around noon, we all lined up and gently
herded people out of the room. Then we broke into teams and scoured the
panels for any and all pieces going to auction. Then we double checked
ourselves before settling down for a quick lunch. After a breakfast of
granola bars, I was really happy to get some protien in me, even if it
was just lunch meat.
The break was all to brief. We got ourselves in order for things to
come. I felt bad for the people who had to handle credit card orders.
The hotel had trouble getting a phone line open in the art show room, so
we could not dial out to the credit card processing company. So they did
things the old fashioned way...with 'kachunk' machines. Remember those?
I was given artist check-out duty along with Cecil, a new volunteer
staff member. Yes, field promotions don't just happen in warfare. :) We
checked out all the unsold bits of art from artists vacating the room.
PeterCat gave me a secondary duty as well: making sure artists picked up
their special ribbons for guest's choice and Kage's choice awards. We
didn't want to mail them. Last year, we mailed someone their ribbon and
the post office was not kind to it.
Things went like a blurr that afternoon. Capricia had to leave around
1pm for her flight, so I didn't have much company. Cecil and I were
hopping back and forth, checking everything. Slowly, bit by bit, the art
show emptied out. When things calmed down, we started to take the
pipework down.
Everyone worked well into the evening, cleaning things up, taking care
of the last minute items. This included doing paperwork for sold art
that had not been picked up and doing packing work for mail in-artists.
At around eight thirty, after helping PeterCat haul the last of the
supplies to his room, we decided to chip into Rowan's pizza fund in leiu
of an art-show only dinner. We headed up to our rooms to clean up and
relax for the night ahead.
I was beat, but I had vowed to be sociable. Or as sociable as I could be
after a 12 hour day. :) I did bring my laptop down to finish the short
story I promised Lynx. While I did not hand deliver it, I did get it
e-mailed to him as soon as I got home.
Initially, I thought the night would be a wash. Little of interest was
happening. But things did pick up when Dale Farmer started telling his
Zulu Five Oscar stories. Essentially, they're a unit in the Navy that
exists to test security on naval vessels. Sounded like a good movie idea
for me, so I took a note of it.
Oh, and then there was the Kevin Duane incident. It was rather
interesting watching everyone watching the parking lot. Kage kept
himself under cover, peeking out from behind a wall like he was in a
combat situation.
Then Skates wandered in and we started chatting about film, stories,
etc. Apparantly he impressed Paul Kidd; Mr. Kidd gave him his personal
e-mail address. We chatted until the grub showed up. The pizza arriving
was a sight to behold. The bar in the zoo was covered in pizza boxes.
Skates snagged us a pepparoni pizza and we inhaled most of it, along
with a bottle of Mountain Dew.
The post con dead-dog party did give me a chance to say goodbye to a lot
of friends I only got to chat with a little, including Rob, who came all
the way from Arizona, and Lisa. If there is one big negative about AC,
it's I don't get to spend nearly enough time socializing. Ok, admitedly,
I'm cripplingly introverted, practice can't hurt and there were quite a
few people I wish I could have spent more time with.
But AC is an exhausting weekend. Maybe I'm older than my 26 years
inside, but most nights I barely have the energy to move, much less get
out and be sociable. I didn't get a chance to go to the pool this year,
marking the second AC in a row where I didn't get to immerse myself in
H2O.
Still, I shouldn't complain. AC's become one of the premier Furry cons
out there and I work with a damn fine set of people. We put on a good
show despite all the difficulties we run into. From what I've heard, we
may not be as free and wild as CF in it's halcion days, but we've got a
good reputation with both fans and guests. I think people can rely on us
to put on a good show, solve problems when they arise, and make sure
that the weekend runs as smoothly as humanly possible.
And, after all, isn't insuring the enjoyment of others why we volunteer?
Our rewards may not be all that tangible, but few things light you up
like hearing Steve Galliaci say, "You guys did a great job this year.
Thanks" or seeing Chris Goodwin's face when he found one of his
paintings topped the auction at $1,200. :)
All in all, it was a good year.
It'll be better next year. :)
Andrija
--
Andrija Popovic
vu...@erols.com
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