cornerofmadness

in the pouring rain at night at 65 miles per hour all I can hear is Jack Burton saying I never drive faster than I can see...and it's all in the reflexes.

So I had to give two of the bone tests today and it left me leaving later than I wanted to get to Athens for the writers meet up (i.e. me and MKF) and from there on to Marietta so it's about 80 miles of highway from here to there. Ah well I'm here, alive and well and apparently only a handful of doors down from Eddie Munster and several wrestlers who are all guests at the Marietta Monster Mash. It should be fun (and it starts an hour later than I thought so I should find something to do in the morning. I wouldn't mind going to Jeremiah's but the onstreet parking for that coffee shop sucks it hard)

And the lady I talked to last night did me a favor. I have a mini suite with two couches AND at the con rate of 70$ and she introduced me to the con's showrunner (guess she liked me)

Let's do fannish friday

Starting with my review of Hazbin Hotel's 3rd and 4th episodes

( under here because 98% of you aren't into the fandom and it got long because I got excited )

And I wrote a story for spikesgirl58's challenge and yes it IS spoilery for Hazbin S2E3

Title: No Matter How Strong, I'm Gonna Take You Down

Summary: Anthony knows it’s either him or his father and he will do what he has to. The aftermath isn’t all he expected

Notes: Major spoilers for S2 Episode 3 and Angel’s backstory. Definitely watch the episode first.

Written for spikesgirl58’s 6 word challenge. The words were Harmony, Abort, Drug, Muddled, Slippery, & Apathetic

Also written for the allbingo prompt of I didn't want power. All I wanted was control. over my life and the lyrical titles bingo challenge for the prompt an angry song. I chose Dinner at Eight by Rufus Wainright

( Story under here or at the above link )

And all the fandom recs will have to wait maybe til tomorrow. It's quite late.

My knee is in business for itself and the rest of me is thinking WTF are you DOING? I was over at the con by 10 AM to hear the first of my planned panels. (Here's the funny thing THREE of the four panels I picked out today were all Vitamin H panels) This one was not. It was run by a cute nerdy kid who was SO thrilled to see me as I was only the 4th person through the door and the other three were his friends. (more people did come but the con didn't open until 10 so it's like maybe schedule the panels on the half hour?)

It was about all the literature in Bungo Stray Dogs. If you don't know this anime/manga all its characters are named for literary figures and/or references. He had slides for all the references and did a kahoots quiz at the end. It was a lot of fun but damn I need to reread this (and you know finish it. I trailed off midway)

From there I went to a slasher movie panel (all the remaining ones are by Vitamin H) which was just a blast. Hey they put in Suspiria, Italian horror from 77 (I just learned the other day it had been remade about 8 years ago) After that I had a BIG break with nothing much I wanted to see until 3 pm.

Here I go into the vendor's room unsupervised. I'm thirsty and this asshole convention center has NO water fountains so you have to buy from their concessions (this is not Tsu's fault) which is like 8$ a damn glass so I get in line for Wild Bill's boutique pop brewery because he FINALLY has a zero sugar option. I get up there and the cheapest you can do it for (because you HAVE to buy the 'collector's stainless steel mug') was THIRTY-FIVE fucking dollars. FOR POP! He wanted another 15$ for the lid/straw. Thanks. I'll take my fucking chances and the cooler mugs were north of 50 bucks. And the zero sugar blueberry pop SUCKED. It was SO bad. So I said fuck it, this is like Dana at a buffet. I'm consuming 35$ worth of stuff to offset the rip off pricing. I made a choice 'just be gross about it. Consume all you can. You have insulin. Get the full sugar birch or root beer which are the only 2 pops you like outside of gingerale (i don't like pop. I don't like carbonation) I have a full mug in my fridge right now. It was COMING WITH ME. I drank so damn much pop.

Lunch was a shitty pepperoni roll and pop.

I got a few more gifts for friends. Keep me away from dice. I was really annoyed that I wanted to get Loona (helluva boss) for a friend's daughter and every Helluva boss woman I found from bigger vendors were grossly sexualized. You know the type, gravity defying boobs of doom and barely clothed with tongue lolling out just for youuuuuu. Ugh. I did find her a little keychain. I got dice with little purple owls in them for reasons. But my favorite purchase of the whole con was from
Pink Pig studios who had sweet shippy stuff for Cherri/Pen (the one I mentioned last night) Huskerdust (guilty I bought it) and Vaggie/Charlie but also she was a huge Keith David fan and she did one of Husk in Keith's role in John Carpenter's The Thing!!! Yes it's mine. And I'm obsessed. I told her I am absolutely writing fanfic to this. Husk can't wait for me to find time. Too bad none of my spook_me prompts fit it.

I wander to the hotel to rest up for a bit since I'm done shopping and no panels I want. Open my social media to ALL the Hazbin and Glitch news from NY comic con (will share on tuesday's post) and people have been clipping Valentino's beautiful art of Vox he drew in the meeting and now I can't get it out of my head, he drew Angel too back in the love bombing days. Plot bunnies all over the damn place. Found calls from my brother and Mom (I had the phone silenced). Thought maybe someone died. No. My brother go another kitten. Cute bugger too.


I go to my last panels (grabbing pop before, between and after because dammit 35$) one on Studio Ghibli behind the scenes and one on Youkai (the theme this year) both excellent. I had never heard that Kappa will reach up your ass to grab out your soul. Well then. Or that tanuki have balls that can be stretched out for yards to form tents, blankets, whatever it needs. side eyes Japan hard.

Runs for more pop. Attends the great manga swap and fail at it miserably. HAHA. Honestly I didn't want to swap. I had a bunch of manga. Sorted it last night, left about 6 here because I realize I only had half a set for a few so back home they go. Before it started I asked the traveling manga library librarian, if no one wants this ancient manga (all of it was from 2000-2015) can I donate it to you? YES. Great.

I didn't even have it all laid out before someone swooped up 'you have tactics!!' what do you want for them? I look at her offerings. Nothing, they're yours. She danced off. A young girl sweeps up from nowhere, 'Vampire Knight?!?' I want nothing from that disappointment of a series. Take it from my sight (I said it nicer naturally)

I give my single volume one offs to the library for two volumes of Interlocken and now I'm left with 5 volumes of Venus vs Virus and the only thing I really want is the drifting classroom omnibus but the guy is like no, I have that (meanwhile it was HIS girlfriend who scooped up tactics but whatever dude) I find one guy with some BL stuff and I know who he is, a vendor who is trying to get stuff to take to his stand. Give me these Stars of Chaos light novels for this 5 volumes? no? 2? yes.

I'm now done. I get more pop. Leave and look to go to Fazio's. rated best Italian restaurant in WV. I find it. No one is on the street, park out front. Go in and it was as I feared. I was WOEFULLY underdressed. See, my dress shirt? It got trashed by blue crab/goat cheese cream sauce yesterday. And why I didn't think of putting on my Edalyn shirt/skirt until just now...I'm tired yinz. I'm the only one in a t-shirt (thank god it was the dark blue one you can barely make out). I'm shocked I wasn't turned away. There were kids in black tie (Prom? Nah that's spring. Wedding? Probably)

They had both Negronis and Aperol Spritzs on the menu so I am content they at least know Italian cocktails and the place has no windows (comforting, for reasons) and a diverse menu. They bring a salad (body is going what is this, no it has vitamin K but OMG Italian dressing. Face down yummy) and then give me three pieces of garlic bread sopping in garlic butter/cheese yay for scarpettas! (Wait, bread? AGAIN! You had four slices last night. Your diabetes....shut up and eat the bread). I got the baked manicotti. Oooo good. I got the aperol spritz too (see, T-Shirt girl can afford your cocktails). By the time I leave (I got there at like 630) the line was out the door to get in. At least this waitress wasn't a snot like last time.

Roll on home to have like an hour before the online Abney Park Halloween concert I had bought before realizing I'd be sitting in a hotel room listening.

And guess what I'm drinking. That's right POP (and my blood sugar is 130...go figure)

I had my writerly ways nearly done, the browser crashed and for a second time the blog did NOT save a draft. I'll do that another day.

And my title isn't a lie. It is spooky. I went down to microwave something and the whole lobby/halls were empty. Just a few hours ago it had been bustling with all the steampunkers. Now it was like we were never there.

This morning went really well if you can ignore the low energy/half the people already mentally checking out. I went to a make your own tea blend thing. I've always wanted to do this with Adagio (still do) I wouldn't have called this a workshop really. It's like here's the tea, here's the mix-ins, go for it. I'll let you take 1 ounce for the 10$ you paid.... I mixed up whiskey black tea with some lapsang sou chong, added in cacao shells, ginger and cinnamon with a sprinkle of elderflower and called it Husk. I haven't tried it yet.

The next panel was by my friend Leanna on Poe and mesmerism. I very much enjoyed that. I thought I had an hour for lunch but no. The Victorians and the supernatural in literature was next. 15 minutes into it, no one showed and I thought well maybe since all the other talks were at the half hour not the top of the hour maybe the speaker was mistaken (wondering if it was Leanna since this is her forte). Someone went to find staff and next thing we know (it was a packed room) Leanna swoops in. No, this wasn't her panel. That person bugged out without telling anyone (how to get uninvited next year) and like I said it's Leanna's thing. She did well.

I said goodbye after that because the final panels had no interest for me. I headed out to Evergreen Cemetery to find Jennie Wade's grave (the one civilian death in Gettysburg) That was easy. There were other cool graves. and some fun names, can't remember them all but there was Solomon Toot, someone named Zephaniah and a mausoleum bearing the name Ball-Dickson (yes I became 12). Also found one mausoleum entirely in Italian.

From there I rolled down the street (past the hotel I usually stay in with my brother and SiL because it's in walking distance to all the interesting stuff. This con hotel is about 3 miles out) and stop at Mr. G's home made ice cream and texted my chocolate peanut butter to my brother to taunt him ( he loves it) God made the chocolate drip on my shirt in retailation.

Then I went to the battlefield to get pics of some of the monuments. After that it was dinner and I went to GarryOwen's Irish Pub. It was metered parking only (but I found plenty) and it's old fashioned meters, only takes quarters. I forgot about that. Then I remembered in some states handicapped tags can park for free. I google it. In PA I can do that for one hour so up goes my tag and in I go for the crab imperial 'poutine' (fries, cheese and the crab imperial in the place of the gravy) Tasty but SMALL for the price (ended up stopping at Sheetz for a hot dog to round out the meal, really goes together). I also had an Earl Grey Sour, gin, lemon juice and earl grey simple syrup. I think it needed a strong earl grey taste (I need to try making this syrup)

I was going to go ghost hunting but I'm exhausted and there was a writers' meet up on Discord tonight. I did that instead and got a little writing done before Discord fucked up and that was that.

Here's what I would have mentioned on the writerly ways: Always be on the watch for story fodder (Well Gettysburg is good for that) As I pulled into the Sheetz there was a man on the corner holding a nearly full sized cross and he had a microphone/transmitter with him. He started haranging people. As I was pumping gas, he was screaming at two women in a car at the redlight. JEZEBEL! You're whore like your mother. JEZEBEL JEZEBEL. You need to find God. Better hope you don't die tonight or you'll be in hell you diseased JEZEBEL.

Holy shit.




On to Hershey tomorrow.

And sometime this week I WILL catch up with comments (if there is any blog post you think I need to see, send it to me)

I'm too tired to do it justice (and friday's fannish 50 will probably be moved to tuesday). I hit a new museum here in town, Beyond the Battle out of the Adams County Historical Society. It was a nice idea and a small museum (with two enthusiastic older lady docents) It starts with local dinosaur findings, then a wee bit (very wee) on the local natives and then the making of Pennsylvania (and it's skirmishes with Maryland)

There was some on a famous local abolitionist and naturally quite a bit about the battle of Gettysburg and afterward (including Mag Palm who I learned about last year, the woman who beat up the slave catchers who came for her even though she was a freeborn woman)

It also went into the Spanish flu pandemic, WWI and WII I guess the Eisenhowers retired here.

But the really cool thing was 'Caught in the crossfires' It was set up like the sitting area of a typical house in the mid 1800s in disarray. You're sat in there and it's five minutes of what it was like in Gettysburg in those three days. The 'family' is in the basement and you can hear their voices as cannons and guns fire on the house with lights appearing in the 'bulletholes' in the walls, screams of animals and people and the floor shakes. They put effort into it (Not recommended for people with PTSD related to battle)


From there I went to the Shriver House museum and cracked the key as to when to get to downtown historic Gettysburg. Get there by 11 and you can find plenty of on street parking (during the week at least) The house was down up in period pieces and tells the story of the Shrivers. The husband was set off to war (thinking it wouldn't last long) while Hettie takes care of their two daughters and tries to keep the business going, a saloon in the basement and a two lane bowling alley (Shriver had sold off his farm and had a fair bit of money when he built this place.

It doesn't have a happy ending. I got the diary of the neighbor girl plus the one about the Shrivers (and a book on battlefield hospitals) These Shrivers are distantly related to the famous ones, like Arnie's wife.

Since the festivities didn't start until late today I went to the movie theater here on campus and saw Fantastic Four. I loved it with one major exception. I'm biased. I can't remember if FF was my first comic or if it was Justice League but I know Johnny Storm was my first comic book crush so there's that. I adored the mid-Century American feel (with the futuristic tech). What I liked, they reduced the origin story to a news clip since most of us know it and that Sue didn't get sidelined because she was pregnant.

What did annoy me: Reed, the world's smartest man, saying something stupid in a press conference that he could have not said a word about and for what? 10 minutes of drama? We could have done that a different way. Other than that, really liked it

At the con, I got to see my friends and I've already bought a few things. One thing they can do better (and I'll put that in my response if they do a survey) was tell us WHO are doing the panel talks. I went to one and it was Calamity Dawn and her cocktails which I didn't mind. I like her but I didn't even know it WAS her. Drank malort. don't rec.

I did notice that a lot of the usual actors aren't here in the vending room. Hmm, I need to look at them more carefully tomorrow. It's holiday shopping time.

I went dancing and I went to the magic lantern 'castel' presentation. I need to work magic lanterns into a story somewhere.


If I'm slow in answering you, sorry but man I didn't even get back til nearly midnight. I'm getting old for this place.

Still the best name for a con, still tacked onto a tiny con in Athens that fights in a basketball court. Mostly my friends are running it (trying to rope me in but right now I'm quoting my health issues as why not but I will look for vendors for them).

Speaking of health issues, I could hardly move today, I'm so exhausted. I got there an hour later than planned but it worked out. I wanted to enter the raffles and this year...not a lot there that I was interested in anyhow. I didn't win anything this year (last year I won three things so it balances) and one of my friends said, 'watch me win the thing I didn't want but accidentally dropped my ticket into' And she did. She was going to give it to me (a merman illustration) but someone else wanted it more than me so I gave it to him. Karma owes me (and I don't mean the storm it served up, more on that later)

I didn't get to any of the talks because I knew I would never be able to get to them and manage to stay long enough to get to the raffle (in the future I will have to plan my one-day con trips well if I can't get my energy back). I did however get some fun stuff at the vendors.

I picked up A Shade of Winter from Henlo Press a paranormal mystery (some fool forgot her cheaters today. Not mentioning any names....) I've got the first book in several of their series already... which led me to a conclusion (more on that later)

I picked up a couple's earring set of Ozzie and Fizzarolli from Helluva Boss from Unicorn Massacres Designs. It's a cute set. I've bought from them before (artist is trans with a lot of trans rights stuff if you want to take a look).

From Dany Cat Designs I got some soap for me and for gifts. I still have one bar left over from last year. She didn't have any of the dice soap with her this year. I picked up Hades for myself along with Make It So

I said NO more wall art so naturally I bought two postcard sized bits of art from Cocomomo Art because her Hazbin stuff is probably the best I've seen for sale in the past several cons. She also recced a hopepunk queer anime, Promare. I need to find it.

Speaking of wall art, I should have walked past Amanda Scharf Illustration but her water colors were too damn pretty. Did I need a water color of Angel Dust? No. Do I now own one? What do you think? She had so many colors too. If the purple had only been a little richer....I went with dark blue.

There is an artist I get earrings from every con (and other vendors probably hate her) because she sells them for 3$ a pop vs what everyone else does (but I'm also betting she just buys the charms in bulk somewhere) I need to find out if some of my friends wear bigger earrings. Wish evil_little_dog wore earrings because she'd love half of these and sadly the artist doesn't do pins.

I did get some birthday/holiday gifts too. I'll see several of these vendors again in a few weeks at Final Boss con on my university. There was one person selling ITA bags which I need desperately for all my pins but honestly these looked like grocery bags for the same price as much more intricately done backpack styles so I skipped it (and I can make the banners for the pins myself if I take a minute to do it) I was glad I went. Got a few hugs from friends. Yeah I'm not a hugger but on the other hand it's nice to have people who are genuinely happy to see me.

I left the con and went to Kroger for cheese (this one has the fancy cheeses) All was well. I got my cheeses and some absolutely yummy olives that I'm sorry I didn't buy more of. Came out 15 minutes later and it looked cloudy. Five minutes later as I'm getting my Tim Horton's coffee rocket fuel to drive home on, it's even darker. By the time I go 2 miles to Avalanche pizza to pick up my death in a box (otherwise known as the skeletonwitch) it's BLACK. The manager is telling the staff to tell patrons the deliveries will be delayed because of the incoming storm.

I grab my pizza and beat feet. I don't get 5 miles out of town before it let loose. The wind was first, so strong I was literally knocked off the road three times. Then the rain came so hard I thought 'got to stop at the rest stop just up the road and ride this out.' It was raining SO hard I couldn't see the rest stop and missed it. I inched another mile down the highway to the red light where I know there is a gas station. Waited it out there for about 15 minutes. Thankfully my ebook held out because some one forgot to charge it (not mentioning any names) and it was down to 7%.

Luckily after that it was light rain or none all the way home. I'm glad I went. I wish I had energy that 2 hours didn't all but kill me. So that decision I came to at the con...for some damn reason there are a half dozen things I want to do on the 3rd (all in vastly different directions) Ohioana Book festival in Columbus (very late this year), the Gallipolis street steampunk festival, free comic book day, heartwoods mental health festival (in a Chillicothe park), a psychic fair in Logan, the mother's day glass sale in the Hocking Hills.

I decided not to go to the Book festival. My friend isn't going to be there. I haven't read 90% of the books I bought there last year (I'm working on 2 now).I need a new book like I need slapped. Worse, they'll be signed so I won't want to part with them. That doesn't help my space issue. I think I'm better off either doing the steampunk/comic book thing (they're in the same direction) or the glass/mental health fair (also in the same (but different) direction). Decisions Decisions.

Came home and started to watch the newly dropped Gaslight District pilot. Been looking forward to this. I haven't watched more than a few minutes (too tired) and I'm not sure I like the animation style but I'll need to see more.

Yelp getting there just as the con opened worked. Of course I pulled into the furthest parking lot attached to the convention center (was I walking from home? Felt like it) but I crossed the con and got registered instantly and was then shunted into a line to...I had no idea (exhibition hall as it turned out so 45 minutes of standing there as my back is absolutely wrecking me.

This is literally the biggest exhibition room I've ever been in. Don't get me wrong I've been here before with Ohayacon before they went insane (illegal and mostly shut down) but they never had THIS much of it opened. I'm in heaven. While I was standing in line I alternated reading with calling Mom. 'Don't you spend money like it's monopoly money!' MooooooooM I'm nearly 60 years old. If I want to spend like a drunken sailor I will.

And I did. Holy crap. Do I need more Helluva Boss/Hazbin Hotel pins and keychains? Fuck no. Do I have them? Damn right. Do I have walls for more art? Fuck No. Did I buy wall art, tell me how was I supposed to pass up a 3-D art piece that is Cherri/Angel/Pentious in one view, Husk/Niffty/Alastor in another AND Charlie/Lucifer/vaggie in a third?

Bought fudge. They're from Pittsburgh. Now we're going there to get more fudge. I met up with my BFF from college and her child who was the one who wanted to come so bad. They dressed as Mimsy and Angel Dust. (I was Edalyn Clawthorne in her PJS)

That brings me to something I've noticed in the last year. It's only been a year since The Owl House has gone off air (well year and a half) and it's GONE from the dealers rooms. Now part of that is probably fear of Disney hunting them down and punishing them but I've noticed now more than ever fandoms fade FAST. Since Hazbin and Helluva Boss are hot there is stuff everyone. Very little anime was represented. pokemon was. Odd.

I only got to two panels, Thomas Lennon from Reno 911 (not that I planned on it but my friend was there because they went to the twilight panel (hard pass) and got front row seats and never left because after Thomas was the Hazbin Hotel cast panel which I wanted to go to as well. I was in the back and the Hazbin one was filling up so fast that I said leave me in the back. No doing. She came and dragged me to the front row (BtW Thomas was hysterical) and I'm glad she did. The cast was so much fun. The fans asking questions a wee bit less so. We're pressed for time just ask ONE question, no extraneous stuff. Everyone had extraneous stuff. Everyone is this is my first con thanks to Hazbin. Made me sad I wasn't in line to ask a question. 'hi I'm Dana this is my 38th year at cosplaying at cons....'

still the questions were fun and the cast was fun. Might even be in a picture. Certainly Alex Brightman has my face on his camera (hiya Beetlejuice!). Alex, Blake and Amir were absolutely hysterical and did the bulk of the answering. Lilli Cooper coming in a close second. Sam Haft (the man behind the music) was there, all shaky excited to see if Hazbin wins in the Billboard awards this week.

SO. MUCH. Hazbin cosplay. I'm sorry my Rosie isn't ready but someone (I didn't catch her dang it) cosplayed Susan which is SUCH a bit part but I'm glad someone did her. In many ways she's my spirit animal. Honestly get me a fox (fake) stole and a hat and I could use my eda outfit to play Susan. Here's susan (and the lady in red is Rosie who I want to cosplay)

.3

Someone I talked up everywhere. She crocheted her ENTIRE Fizzarolli outfit. It was stunning. (Pictures tomorrow. I am so very tired)

My friend's kid wanted to do the Hazbin Hotel group photo. We were too early so we did what she wanted: the pro wrestling they had going on. Things you might not know about me, I was crazy for WWF wrestling as a teen. Yes I knew it was fake and today I learned it looks even MORE fake in person. These were C lister wrestlers dressing up as superheroes to fake it out. I got to see Deadpool taking on Syndrome and Wreck It Ralph. Ghost Face and Captain Kirk went mano a mano (Kirk won) and how geeky are we all hearing like two seconds of music with 'Get Over Here!' imposed on it for all of us to scream as one 'SCORPION!' (Mortal Kombat) who duked it out with several others I can't even remember. and lastly there was a battle royale with the women, Rogue, Spidergirl (Gwen) Domino, Poison Ivy and someone with 1930s music and what might be a baseball outfit (Lucy?) that I didn't know. (Ivy won)

We were going to go to the Hazbin singalong but it was PACKED in a hot tiny room and it was now 630 so I said I'm out. good call because soon my knee did give out. If I do this again I'll get the attached hotel so I can go and rest as needed. The only panel I didn't go to that I might have wanted to was George takai's but I've seen him before.

My barista back home was performing music here. Said hello. He's probably wondering who is that old crazy woman.

the only bad note (other than my pain) was I was directed to the wrong elevator to the parking lot (I KNEW I hadn't seen that Starbucks on the way up) Luckily someone knew that I needed to cross the parking garage and bingo there was my car.

Came to the casino, had burnt ends at Brew Brothers. I should have gotten the ala cart sides (but didn't want to pay that for freaking beans or fries) because those burnt ends were basically an appetizer. Sigh. I wanted more but I left, went back to the same slot machine, doubled my money again, went back to Guy's place for an appetizer to top off that tiny meal. Calamari frito miso. Worth every damn penny (I did pass on their 14$ cannoli) they even thinly sliced lemons and deep fried them too and gave me the juiciest charred lemon to squeeze all over that yummy yummy calamari. Mmmm tentacles.

Now I'm in the hotel with my leg and back suing me for divorce. Still all in all a great day.



Advent Joy

Write down something positive that happened today. Ha my ENTIRE post is this

No tea today. I'll drink that tisane tomorrow evening

Today was all about Costco and dealing with the deadness of my bad leg (I can feel none of it from thigh down today so it's fun walking on it) so instead let's have fun. I have the promised pictures from Key City Steampunk plus a ton of stories and art to share.

Pictures first ( they're hiding under here )

And now on to the stories

( all the stories )

Dancing until midnight is much easier in my glass slippers and flapper dress. Now on to midnight cannolis to unwind. Today was another good day at the con. The only hiccup today was the hotel pulled the same thing the one for the Loveland Frogman fest. And I get it, I do. They're not used to completely sold out hotels and the kitchen can't handle that many breakfasts and since this is a made to order you have to pay for breakfast (ever notice the more expensive the hotel is the less likely you're getting a breakfast?) they went with a buffet. I get it. I also get that the price of their crap buffet cost more than me eating at Perkins for three days getting exactly what I want. So off to Perkins to reclaim that free breakfast I won (it's less than 2 miles from here, not really a problem)

I did make most of the panels that I wanted to, my friend's ghost thing (which I learned about Wabasha caves, used in the prohibition as a speakeasy, even had a dance floor. I feel a vampire story coming on), the werewolf one turned out to be a game and a couple of the younger teen boys were making it weird before it even started so I noped into the weird cocktail lecture. Caught half of Victor and the Bully again.

I got even more gifts for everyone today and then saw one I need to look for tomorrow. One vendor has hand made a wooden Alastor radio from Hazbin Hotel. Speaking of Alastor I saw him (got a pic) and Mimsy (she was too tired and sagging for pics) I can't wait for you to see all the pictures I got (Monday)

I've already got most of the stuff packed up because the elevators are so slow. I will roll two of them out when I go for breakfast and leave the light stuff in case I have to walk it down 5 flights (Last steampunk con that was almost necessary).

I am going to talk to my PCP when I get home. I'm still easily exhausted. I had to come back a couple times (some of that was sensory overload). I'm not 100% solid it's simple aging. Ever since my hysterectomy I have had no energy.

I plan to drive home late tomorrow.

Oh and I forgot to share the story I wrote for spikesgirl58's 6 word challenge. You can find it
right here.

Hoping the trip here does not augur how the weekend shall go. I started out an hour late because I needed to change my contacts (they're monthly) and I hadn't last week because of the funeral. However they're missing. I know they were at my parents place but they are NOT in the toiletries bag. At all. Nor in the closet, any bathroom drawer, any of my bags in my bedroom or any of my bedroom doors. I literally have NO idea where they could be because they should NOT be out of the bag. Thankfully if we never do find them I'm only out 2 months worth of them. I am mystified and annoyed.

My car was down a quart of oil. I'm concerned it's burning oil a lot lately. It's almost a decade old so.... Get that topped off and off I go. It's a very easy drive across PA because it's all turnpike. I put in the new to me (It's one of their first) Abney Park cds and it was weird because just as I passed the turn off for the cemetery we just put my uncle to rest at and the song End of Days comes on....





The Drive was good Until 100 miles to my turn off. When the heavens opened up. For 40 miles it was blindly bad with rain (and very much a hydroplane accident waiting to happen) the next 60miles was rain and fog but not super hard, just drizzly.

By now I'm tired. Like very tired. So I go to the hotel's restaurant which is giving 10% off to the steampunk con so that was nice. The short rib grilled cheese was nice. My room is nice. And once I settled in, I saw on FB two of my Airship Athena friends (from back home) are here too! Didn't know that. So I'll be able to have someone to talk to on occasion.

Too bad Mom couldn't come. She was but obviously isn't up to it now.

Tomorrow I plan to go to the seminary museum as I've never seen it and maybe to a movie (this place has a dedicated theater. It has like 6 horror films too bad I don't have more time) before the stuff really kicks off tomorrow afternoon. However the shenanigans have already started tonight even though it doesn't technically begin until tomorrow afternoon. It should be fun.

For anyone new to my blog, Rathacon is a tiny pop culture con in Athens OH and at this point my friends are the ones running the whole shebang. I am not up for being there all day yet but I was there half the day at the airship table which was...not the airship, not really. MK had her Audrey II stuff all over the table, showing off her skills (It was super popular) she's working for small theaters this day creating props.

The reality is the three leaders of our airship are gone now and we were talking about maybe using a new winery (whose owners are also steampunk) as a meeting place maybe once a month to see if there is a way to become more cohesive again. MK is a few years older than me and we enjoy chatting. My other friend MFK was there with her witchy stuff and the vendors were...about the same as always. I bought something from an indie comic book creator (who's enby) and a book from an indie publisher Henlo Press I'm going to keep an eye out for their open calls.

For me the vendors were a touch heavy on fan art of which I need NOTHING. Slap me into next week if I buy more. I did find a solitary vendor who had Hazbin Hotel stuff Unicorn Massacres (it's not on their web page yet at least the search doesn't show any) The angel dust one was a bit cheesy cakey so I only got a sticker and a book mark. No Sir Pentious for Flippy. And the Alastor art was cool but it was Radioapple and I don't ship it. the Chaggie print was cute (but not in sticker form sadly)

I got a lot of cool pics and I won two of the raffle items, the Moth Man Squishy and an Amigurumi of the Abominable Snow Man and his Pine Tree (I need to name him).

I had never worn my black lace shirt with my bluish corset before. Um...the results were MUCH bustier than anticipated. Multiple men asked me for selfies with them (which has NEVER happened before) and there's an old dude who has been the photographer for the con (and our steampunk events) for YEARS. He has never taken a photo of me in a decade. Today with my tits half out, he didn't just take a pic, he had me do a photo shoot. Honestly, men.

I left early to go to the Abney Park concert only to get home and find out that while Flippy thought the ticket was in the upcharge for the signed CD (for my upcoming B-day) it wasn't. You had to pay a dollar more. We're all equally unimpressed by this (honestly this band makes such dumb business choices...) Oh well. I'm exhausted anyhow.

Also I met my friends at Sol for Cuban food before I went to the con.

( Rathancon pics )