gonzai | Shore Leave: The Beginning

Shore Leave, for me, began Thursday night with a couple hours of set-up that I would pay for the rest of the weekend (and still am paying for). Not what I expected either - I hung location signs on gridwall with little clips. The little clips turned out to be rather deadly to an arthritic hand. It still hurts like a...it hurts.

Friday - we found ourselves with a right slow art show. Two mail-in artists and that's it. Few artists coming in. When the show opened at 11am we might have had 7 artists showing. Things looked pretty pathetic. The good thing was that I was able to bid on a Theresa Mather original at minimum bid. I've been trying to snag an original Mather for 3 years now but with limited resources, it wasn't happening. People kept outbidding me well above my limit. But I cornered a tiny painting on a scallop shell, of a unicorn. Very pretty. My Tenth Doctor portraits quickly Quick-Saled, but beyond those and Mather's prints, no sales. for most of the day. Vanora and Paul showed up late to save the day - they brought Sarah Clemens' work with them. She mailed to them, rather than to the con. I quick-saled a small print of a winged chipmunk and both

jlinder and a woman with her kids quick-saled several others, literally as I was pulling them out of the bag. Hold that thought for the Sunday posting.

One of my duties on the staff is to find a celebrity judge for the art show. It's my job partly because I buy some autographs from the table actors anyway, and partly because I have the cajones to ask complete strangers to come judge an art show. This may have been the easiest time of it I've had; the actor I was most interested in for an autograph was Miracle Laurie, the art show directors (ASDs) were also most interested in her, and when I asked her, her answer was 'What time should I be there?" Bless. And she showed up at exactly 8pm (the suggested time), asked a lot of questions (which got me in trouble - a certain ASD felt Miracle asking me what category photography should be judged in meant I was telling her she should vote for my art - I have no photography or digital work in the show, so I don't see how it could be), but as a judge was good for her) and her assistant played with a visiting baby instead of shadowing Miracle everywhere. Overall a first rate judge selection. And MIracle bought the other Mather original I was eyeballing, after declaring it her 'Best Piece in Show'. The only other actor I saw Friday was Clifton Collins Jr, who looked like heck. I introduced myself as one of the 5 people who watched 'Thief' and we talked Andre Braugher for a while.

First pass on the dealers room was successful. Photos of all the line guests; good, drawable photos of Abby Sciuto; a used VHS of Mystery, Alaska; a very slightly used series 1 DVD set of Doctor Who (for $40); and two Weevil action figures. Later, at Meet the Pros, I picked up a copy of a

kradical Supernatural novel. Then went author-hunting, finally meeting

drewshi and

tiggerallyn for the first time and getting their sigs on my Quality of Leadership novel, pointing out a boo-boo to

drewshi (who wrote it) and

kradical (who edited it), neither of whom had ever noticed it before; then on to much visitation with

terri_osborne

ETA I've edited the cut on this entry seven times now and it WILL NOT include the last paragraph. I'm getting very frustrated.