No Strings Attached

Posted By Kathleen David on June 1, 2016

We are table P-8 in artist alley at Awesome Con, come on by and say Hi.

Got the face and body done yesterday onto the clothing today along with laundry and everything else that needs to get done before we leave tomorrow.

Pictures after I get everything done.

While walking through the artist alley at Mega Con, I noticed some things that I am just going to put down here.

There is a sweet spot between engaging the people walking by your table and being overly aggressive to the point that people are avoiding your table.

But you do have to engage people. I watched at people were looking at things on the table and the artist was playing around on their phone seemingly oblivious to the fact that they had potential customers there. At least acknowledge their existence.

I do like that Mega Con and many other conventions are taking the harassment of cos-players seriously and do something about it rather than take the attitude of fans will be fans and all kinds of excuses for bad behavior including the trope that fans are social awkward so they didn’t know they had crossed a line.

I am asking that cos-players be aware of the space around them especially if their costume includes something that expanded their footprint. It got tight in the aisles at some points even with the lovely large areas we were given to walk in. I got hit in the head, by accident, with a mallet more than once just trying to walk from point A to point B. Hawkmen in large wings had their moves down and were hyper aware of the world around them so kudos to them.

Also pictures taking and this is on both parties. Let’s get out of the path of traffic first. Taking a photo on the fly is different than stopping the foot traffic to get that photo you want. Cosplayers should be aware of the world around them and encourage people to get out of the flow of traffic for a photo. If you place yourself right in the middle of where I want to go and the space between where I need to go and your photo op, I will walk through. Yes, I am that person in your photos that you probably curse at a lot.

Everyone deserves their time with the celebrity they wanted to meet. Again there is a sweet spot between meet and monopolizing. There were some handlers who were trying to get as many people through the line and in pushing people through that the purchaser of the expensive autograph felt that they were ‘ripped off’ because they didn’t get any interaction time with the reason they came to the convention. But there were other people who would stand there until forced to leave by the handler and they were holding up the line for everyone else. Want to see how to do it right? Watch George and Brad Takei. They have it down to a science. Everyone gets their time with George and he is much beloved.

Yes, there are lines for food, the bathroom, and even the ATM. Some conventions seem like they are nothing but lines. The convention center did try to make it possible to get something to eat without waiting too long. They had two large food courts and other food carts along the back wall. The ATM was a cluster-F no matter which way you sliced it.

I’ll give you my bathroom hint, if the lines are coming out of the first bathroom check out to see if you can see other restroom signs. I have found lines at the front of the hall but quick access from the back of the hall. Even though we had a restroom entrance close to our table, I would make the trip to the back of the hall because it was, in terms of time, shorter to walk there and back then it was to wait on line at the closer restroom. Also cosplayers, got to call you out on this one, the handicap stalls do serve a purpose and that is not as a changing room especially if there is a line.

It is very different attending as a fan and as a pro. Yes, I do have some advantages that most people don’t have including a chair and some space, which I appreciate a lot.

Thank you to everyone who allowed me a moment to talk to some friends. I know a couple of you got some good stories out of it.

Looking forward to seeing some of you at Awesome Con and all the other conventions we have this year.

I am grateful for the opportunity to meet Peter’s fans.

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Posted By Kathleen David on May 31, 2016

So this week I am making a puppet within a 48 hour period while I am also unpack and repacking us for Awesome Con. There are some complexities and details to the puppet that are going to take some cleverness but it is in the range of doable. Here’s a hint, the eyebrows are going to be the biggest challenge.

The Rose Tyler puppet went over well. Billie loved it.

More on the Awesome Con puppet next week but now I have to go and build the silly thing.

I would like to note that this makes 5 months of posting at least something every day. Hasn’t always been easy but I am rather proud that I have gotten this far into the year without a skip.

I am grateful for materials at hand.

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Posted By Kathleen David on May 30, 2016

One of those night that I couldn’t get comfortable led to me getting up a 6 and packing us up while my husband and daughter slept. It is much easier that way.

We got to the convention and managed to score a prime parking spot which was not easy this weekend. I had a chat with the manager of valet parking at the Hilton and he said that between MegaCon and a US Volleyball tournament, there was no where to park in that part of Orlando. Also apparently the number of cars was up this year for MegaCon from last time.

We spent the day at the convention doing various things. I introduced Caroline to Michelle Gomez and Peter and I went around getting a couple of friends some autographs. We had interesting conversation with each person. I had a nice chat with Jeremy Bullock who did remember me and my puppets and that strange conversation we had oh so many years ago at Dragon Con. I also had a lovely chat with his wife.

The one thing we wanted to see out of the whole weekend was the Twisted Toonz panel where a bunch of voice actors read the movie script of the Ghostbusters in various voices. I have to say a big thank you to Maurice and to Ashley for getting us to the panel and making sure we had seats. I have not laughed that hard in ages. Jason Isaacs joined them and did a dead on Ian McKellen as Gandalf and a very good Sean Connery as Bond.

The rest of the afternoon was seeing friends and saying good-bye. We left for the airport and a series of pieces of good luck saw us in New York when we were suppose to be in New York without too much stress.

We got home and the cats seemed happy to see us.

I want to say a big THANK YOU to the staff and owners of MegaCon for making our experience so lovely. Any problems that arose were taken care of swiftly. I can highly recommend MegaCon as a convention that tells you that they are going to do something for you and they do it. They came by and fed us lunch each day, which made life so much easier. So two thumbs way up from the David family regarding MegaCon.

Cosplayers, MegaCon goes the extra mile for y’all. There was a “Cospital” where people went for repairs and the like. They had everything that you could need to fix your costume or make-up along with a very helpful staff. There were signs all over the place with Cosplay is not consent and what would happen if one stepped over the line. They had a system set up so people could report these things and they were listened to.

Now I would like to say a special Thank You to some people.

(For the VI: This is a picture of four of our friends Dawn, Graham, Em, and Karl. Dawn is blond and wearing a green top, Graham has brown hair, glasses and a black shirt with a white piping pattern, Em has long brown hair and a white and blue jumpsuit, Karl has blond hair, glasses, and is wearing a green and black shirt.)

When Peter had the stroke, we had a lot of people helping us and in our corner but Dawn, Graham, Em, Karl and (not pictured because she was working her booth) Emily were our support system. Karl and Dawn let us stay with them until we moved Peter to Jacksonville. Em and Caroline have been best buddies since the age of about 2 ½. Graham and un-pictured Emily spent time with us and made sure we were looking after ourselves. We met Graham and Karl the night that Peter and I got engaged. There is a phrase that Gonzo says “There’s not a word yet for old friends who just met” and that is the way it was with these folks. I can never thank them enough for all the help that they gave us during that time.

I am grateful for the people in my life.

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Posted By Kathleen David on May 29, 2016

This morning I got up early and packed the family up ready to get back to hearth and home. We have one more day of the convention to go.

Yesterday was a bit of a blur as things fell one into another.

We started the morning by trying to get to the convention early only to find a long line of cars trying to do the same thing. Took a bit of doing, but we got parked and into the venue.

Peter signed a lot of books and we are three items from being sold out of everything. Caroline sold some drawing which she is hoping to do more of today.

I got to chat for a short time with Maurice LaMarche and do a quick catch up.

I did get the puppet to Billie Piper and she adores it. Her eyes just lit up when she sorted out that this was her puppet.

I did get to chat again briefly with Michelle Gomez and hatched a plot about the next puppet I will be getting to her.

I did get to take Caroline and her friend Em to the hotel so they could swim in the very nice set of swimming pools they have here at the resort. They rode the lazy river rapids and the waterslide multiple times.

We did get to a Disney Park. We went to Disney Hollywood whatever they are calling it this week studios.

We rode Star Tours and got a new piece that takes place on Jakku and then an older piece on Naboo. Came out of there grinning like the Cheshire Cat.

We stayed late enough to see the new Star Wars fireworks display. Wow! That was very impressive. I though creating a star field with fireworks was going to be the topper but the end got us all. Bravo whoever put that one together.

Oh and Muppet 3-D is not going anywhere at Disney Orlando. Refurbished is the buzz word so Jim’s last performance as Kermit on film is not going away.

I am grateful for the fact that I am going to be able to see Muppets 3-D again.

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Posted By Kathleen David on May 28, 2016

Peter did a couple of panels and signed a lot of comics. Fans bought books and scripts. Everyone was happy.

Caroline and I started our day at Universal Studios Florida thanks the Michael and Alexandra who were kind enough to arrange passes into the Park. The security screening went fast considering the number of people who were being screening.

I had forgotten how long it takes to get from the parking lot to the actual park of Islands of Adventure. You go from the parking lot to the City Walk (shops and restaurants) and finally to the park itself. It is, as they say, a schlep.

We had one purpose in this for Caroline that was to get to Diagon Alley because she had not seen it. Since we came in on the Hogsmead end of the world, we quickly hopped onto the Hogwarts Express and rode the train to London. We walked by the entrance the first time but figured it out pretty quick and were in a submersive environment where the rest of the park just didn’t exist. The word “Wow” comes to mind. It was amazing.

We wandered around and looked at everything. All the shops mentioned in the books along with one or two that were not are represented. We went to Olivander’s Fine Wand makers and Caroline was chosen to participate in the wand ceremony where the Wand picks the Wizard which was magical indeed. She had a series of magical misevents before there was a great breeze and light and that piece of the soundtrack where Harry finds his wand. Rather powerful over all. She love it and the wand so, we spend most of the rest of the day casting various spells all over both Diagon Alley and Hogsmead. We had lunch at the Leaky Caldron and tasted Butterbeer for the first time.

Before we left the park, we ran over to the Simpson’s part of the park and immersed ourselves in Springfield.

After Springfield, we decided that we were done for the day and we went back to the convention.

Last year Peter was invited to a screening of the first two episodes of the most recent Dr. Who series. I sent a puppet with him for Michelle Gomez which he got to her and received a big hug in return.

Yesterday I got to meet and talk to Michelle Gomez and find out what the puppet has been up to. It is nice to know that it is loved and appreciated by the family.

We went out to dinner with friends and had a lovely time. Lots of jokes and stories to be told.

Tired and probably slightly dehydrated, we got back to our hotel room.

Today should be interesting as we have several things on our docket to do along with a couple of things I hope will work out in our favor.

I am grateful for GM who keeps providing a certain kind of magic in our lives.

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