Toronto Trek ! (I've been having publishing problems, so this was actually written quite a bit earlier in the day than when it appears.)

Wow, what a weekend. It blew past in a whirlwind that I still haven't recovered from, despite nearly twelve hours of sleep. Yee, there's so much to say - so much went on... I don't really know where to start or what to include or what. Phew. Okay, let me take a moment to think about it...

...

Okay. Let me start with the artshow. First of all, the woman who paints dragons on feathers was not there, which pleases me greatly, but the woman who puts wings on kitties and kitties in teacups -was- there. I was surprised that there was no real professional artist represented, at least not one who you might have heard of. I feel that any convention that does not bring in a decent professional artist does its own artshow and auction a great disservice. First of all, it attracts many more people, and it adds a bit of class to any show. It raises the bar and gives the other participants a chance to meet someone who's really made it in the artworld. Anyway, on the other hand, one of my favourite Elfwood artists, Maery Morrison, was there and that was great. After trying to find her booth, finally another artist said he'd send her to the Vendors' Room to find me. She arrived and she... ROCKED. We hung out a bit, I met a couple of her friends that came with her to the convention from Montreal, and we hung out on and off through out the convention. She was very displeased with how the artshow was run and was irritated by the number of bullshit artists that were selling their work while we struggled. Also, for the first time ever, I was served with about three very backhanded compliments concerning my art. At one point, I was lumped in with all the other fan artists, which I am NOT, and at another time I was told, after a friend was praising the excellent work of one participating artist, "No offence Maya, your stuff is nice, but... you know what I mean?" As if I can't handle someone praising the work of another artist, I'm a big girl, but qualifying their comment with that statement really put my back up. And now for the answer to the pressing question: Did you sell anything? I sold a print. One. It paid for the print I bought of Maery's Drow Priestess picture.

I had a great time helping Nicole with her booth, and I worked my ass off for her. I held the fort all of Friday night so that she could attend a full moon ritual, and where ever I went, I pitched her stuff. (I also pitched my stuff - I think I'm getting a handle on this self-promotion/networking thing.) I made some key sales for her, too. Of course, I drove her and all her stuff to and from the convention, lugged it around, and all that stuff. I really enjoy working shows with Nicole as she's such a wonderful and interesting woman. When it's the two of us, everything runs pretty smoothly and we just don't get stressed out. She knows I'm reliable and I know she'll let me run off and play every so often. She made out very well this weekend and I guess I did, too. She doesn't pay me to work these events with her, I do it for free attendence at the conventions, but this time, she gave me a marvelous gown that fit me like it was made for me. Thank you so much, Nicole, you are wonderful !

Okay, now let me talk about the guests. Anthony Stewart Head (Giles on Buffy) was one of the guests of honour and he was great. He braved the thronging crowd and entered the Dealers' Room where I was lucky enough to meet him. He was witty and charming, and a LOT of fun. When I said that I was taking the opportunity to harrass him now because I might not have the chance again, he replied, "Mmmm, I -love- harrassment," and sidled up to me, grinning. If you thought he was attractive on television, he is even moreso in person. He exudes charisma and he twinkles with mischief. I chatted with him for about five minutes telling him that he was very courageous to brave the crowd this way and he answered that it was precisely us (the crowd, the fans, etc.) that kept him employed and he enjoyed meeting us this way. Very smooth, Anthony. His talk was great, too, the entire hour filled with questions from the audience. Garret Wang (pronounced Wong) was another interesting guest who was pretty keen. You would know him as Harry Kim from Voyager. He left the stage during his talk and just walked out into the audience to meet people and shake their hands and pose for photographs. He has long hair now, which is just weird. He was very funny, I must say, especially when he told the story of how his traditional Chinese parents reacted when he dropped out of pre-med for acting.

An interesting thing that I attended was the Pagan ritual and panel discussion. Nicole was volunforced to preside as the ritual's priestess (she's been initiated, after six years of study, as a first degree priestess - Go Nicole !!) and I'm glad I did attend it. It was very interesting and they did an incredibly good job of explaning what they were doing and how it worked. I've been to a lot of churches and I've seen a lot of people just going through the motions, but Nicole, the Priest (one of the High Priests of the Wiccan Church of Canada), the Handmaiden and the Summoner absolutely were in this with their hearts and souls. It was refreshing and very beautiful. We, the audience, were encouraged to participate in the Circle and that was a lot of fun, too, with all the singing and the crazy circle dance that we did. I can certainly understand how paganism of this sort is growing in Canada, it offers a very different type of faith, full of study and companionship that offers balance between the genders and community to everyone involved.

Finally, I should mention the insanity of Saturday night. Nicole and I rarely attend the specific convention events because we're tired, or we have other commitments, or something, but this time, we made a special effort to attend both the Masquerade and the dance. It's a good thing we did, too, since we had our egos pumped up enormously. I was dressed in a shirt and tie, pin-striped corset, black pleated skirt and my "Sith" robe (which in this case was pretty Potter-esque) and much to my surprise, I was stopped for about seven or eight photographs. I had something of a Harry Potter school marm sexy chic going on. Someone told me that all I needed to complete the outfit was a riding crop and a book. Okay. Next time, I'll do it, just for the effect. *cackles* Conventions are so much fun ! I danced with one of the guests, the Canadian on the list, Chris Owen, who played Agent Spender on X-Files. He was hysterically funny, dancing like a crazy university student and pissed out of his mind. He was a lot of fun and he danced with EVERYone. I also made a special effort to pull my old highschool chum, Eric Briggs, out onto the dance floor and helped him out of his no-dancing shell. He has rhythm, now all he needs to do is practice ! God, what fun. After all the attention Nicole and I received, the final moment was when we were driving home, late that night, and were sitting in the turn lane at Spadina and College, next to a super stretched white limo. The window rolled down and there were two guys who looked like they were drunk frat boys sitting inside. To say they were checking us out puts it mildly. "Hey, hi !" they called out, "Pull over !!" Pull over? We were in the left-hand turn lane. We enjoyed their attention until the light changed and then waved somewhat mockingly and left them behind. What makes this even better is that while they were in this mondo-limo, we were sitting in dirty, rusted Scarlette ! I love my car, I've had so many silly adventures while driving her. :)

I think that this post more than makes up for the lack of posts over the last five days, so I'll end it here.