The head of Exhibitions took a cute plushie — a white rabbit wearing
a red velour robe. I asked if I could see the plushie and immediately
pulled up the robe and began pulling it over the bunny's head. For this,
I received a good amount of ribbing, but I admitted that I always try
to undress plushies wearing clothes. This goes back to childhood days,
when nothing irked me more than dolls or stuffed animals with their
clothes sewn on. I liked to have the option of dressing them in other
things, such as clothes I made myself.
I asked the other women present if they had the same habit, and none
confessed. But towards the end of the meeting, I heard my name and turned
around. The head of Exhibitions pointed to another female staffer, who
was holding the "naked" plushie in one hand and the robe in
the other. She waved them and smiled. Turns out I'm not alone!
Between the board meeting and the general meeting, we only had a brief
break. I was hungry, so I told The Gryphon I'd get us some food. I met
The Corgi Mama in the hallway and asked her where I could go. She suggested
Starbucks and agreed to go with me. We got directions from the front
desk, but I got confused coming out of the parking lot, and The Corgi
Mama pulled up directions to Starbucks on her iPhone. We were amused
to discover there were at least 12 within a three-mile radius!
When The Godfather, who was the head of Guest Relations and my superior,
he praised me for my handling of Press Relations and said that the department
had received accolades from both major media organizations and guests.
It was nice to hear, especially in a public forum.
Of the other reports, the most entertaining was by the head of Logistics,
who gave a Power Point presentation for each of the sections he oversaw,
with slides giving the key points. When we got to the slide for Main
Events, it had only two points: "Stuff didn't die. No one blew
up." If all the reports had been so pithy, we would have been out
of there at 1 p.m.
(Faster-loading
version)
At the end of the meeting, which wrapped up exactly on time, we headed
over to The Godfather's house. He was hosting a cookout for members
of the Relations, as well as a few other local staffers. It was the
first time I'd been to The Godfather's place and the first time I saw
his cats in person. They really are adorable. I found them to be extraordinarily
outgoing and calm, compared to my high-strung kitty, who hides from
every visitor.
I was particularly fascinated by the short-haired kitty, Fuu, who has
extra toes that look like thumbs. At one point, another guest and I
were trying to figure out if she could use them like thumbs. He was
holding a pen out towards her and waving it, to see if she'd grab it.
I announced to The Godfather that we were teaching his cat to use her
thumbs.
Of course, The Godfather barely noticed, because he was busy preparing
the food. Unfortunately, his grill fell victim to an undiagnosed trouble
and much of the food prep had to move inside. I thought everything turned
out fine, but The Godfather lamented that he couldn't grill things as
planned. He provided a nice selection: sausage, hot dogs, hamburgers
and chicken, with lettuce and tomatoes, buns, a fresh salad, tortilla
chips, salsa, cookies and a selection of different types of cheesecake,
as well as a wide supply of beverages.
He had an expanding picnic table bought at IKEA, which he placed in
the community yard near the playground, behind his town house. We gathered
around it on both his chairs and some folding chairs people had brought.
For a brief period, Hellbuny tried out one of the spring ponies at
the playground, just long enough for us to get some silly photos, with
him making an angry face and brandishing a wooden pop gun. Love it.
(Faster-loading
version)
One of the more amusing conversations in the early part of the evening
was a heated debate over which was better, Star Trek or Star
Wars. As two guys on opposite sides were making their points rather
vehemently, we joked that it might turn into a throwdown. The Godfather
shook his head sadly and sighed: "I knew it would come to this
some day."
I'm fairly certain which side of the argument The Godfather would come
down on, because he gave me and a couple other people the grand tour
of his place. This included several rooms upstairs, where he keeps his
cherished collector's items: shelves lined with books and magazines,
many of them signed; collectible figurines from various SF shows and
movies, including some original Star Trek figures and a series
from Lord of the Rings; and autographed photographs and anime
cels.
I hadn't seen such a collection since college, when we used to hang
out sometimes at The Mad Hatter's place. He had a wide selection of
collector's items, emphasizing collectible toys and models. I'd imagine
that by now, nearly 20 years later, it's even more extensive.
Considering that we were all Otakon staffers, it actually took us more
than an hour to start talking about the con, which is something of a
record. Around the dinner table, we mostly swapped stories from this
year. I always love such chat sessions, because it gives me a chance
to learn what happens in other parts of the convention. It's easy to
get tunnel vision and think of only your own department, forgetting
there are more than 400 Otakon staffers, going through their own interesting
experiences.
As the evening wore on, people talked more seriously about Otakon business,
evaluating what we'd done this year and talking about how to improve.
Since The Gryphon and I were highly interested in this discussion, we
stayed later than we probably should have and eventually excused ourselves,
citing our long trip home.
As it was, while I felt perky when we took off, I gradually grew more
tired. We had to stop at not one but two rest areas so that I could
take a nap and refresh myself. That's why I ended up adding even more
calories to my day, purchasing a Starbucks bottled frappuccino for the
extra boost.
We did, however, make it home safely. Fortunately, we'd arranged for
the pet sitter to keep Una overnight, so we didn't have to bother them
in the wee hours.
The thank-you cookout was a nice gesture by The Godfather after all
of us put in so much hard work.
