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[Jun. 26th, 2007|10:37 am] |
Here's my write-up. It ended up kind of long.
As a reminder, my photos are here.
This was the 6th annual MoCCA Art Festival, and it was my 6th MoCCA Art Festival. MoCCA was the first convention I ever went to, and confirmed for me that comics were what I wanted to do. I officially met Dave at the very first show back in 2002. MoCCA is run by a group of people I know and like, and used to volunteer for myself.
With a history like that, you can bet this is my absolute favorite convention, hands down, bar none.
Dave and I played host to a bigger gang of out-of-towners than usual this year, which included inviting groups of people over for apple pie, pizza, and Avatar episodes on various evenings.
Things got rolling on Thursday, with a trip to Astoria Park with Toby and Dalton, and just as it was starting to rain and we were contemplating heading back to my apartment, we ran into Ellen and her newlywed husband, Stephen. This was mostly notable because they live in London, and here they were 5 blocks from my house. That's the beauty of a comic convention in your own city! They came over to escape the rain, and as soon as the sun was back in the sky and they were on their way, our next round of friends showed up--Marion and John along with Tyler and Cori. We all headed up the street for awesome Greek food, and then came back here and hung out for awhile.
On Friday, Sara's flight got in at 10, and soon thereafter she was on my doorstep. I made everyone waffles to celebrate. Dave had to go to work, but the rest of us trooped off to Whole Foods to pick up lunch, then took it across the street to Central Park for a picnic. It was an amazing weekend for weather, and I couldn't have been happier--breezy, mid-70s, puffy clouds, low humidity. We spent 4 hours wandering around, drawing, taking pictures, listening to dixieland banjo bands play, and feeling merry. Dalton got a snowcone. Sara drew a flying truck. Toby took a lot of pictures. I got sunburned, but only a little.
The MoCCA badge pickup/pre-party was hopping when we got there, and a little overwhelming. The plan was to head over to the Rocketship party, but we got distracted by the thought of watching cartoons, and instead took Ali and her friend Rawles back home, ordered a pizza, and cued the Avatar. None of my houseguests had seen it yet! So we gave them a crash course over tomato sauce and fresh mozarella. Dave arrived home from a serious conquest: picking up the wayward boxes of Life Meter from the UPS collection center in Maspeth (absolutely nowhere nearby). It's a good thing he did--the book was sold out by the first day of the show!
Saturday morning came way too quickly, and after not quite enough sleep. It's really hard for me to write about what happened at the actual conventions sometimes, and this time in particular, because it went by in a FLASH. We were swamped from start to finish. I never stopped talking, never stopped seeing familiar faces, never stopped smiling. All I did was sell stuff and see people I knew. And drink several cups of tea, lose my voice, and feel like the happiest girl on earth. According to the MoCCA folks, this year smashed all previous attendance records. There was a new exhibitor space on the 7th floor, a beautiful, airy, light-filled space with gleaming wood floors and picture windows overlooking SoHo. Waiting for the elevator to go up, two senior-citizen-aged women were standing next to me, talking about how they found out about the show. One said, "I heard about it on the radio." The other said, "I read about it in the newspaper." Clearly, the con organizers are doing their jobs, and getting the word out to actual, local pedestrians who might never set foot in a "comic convention" otherwise. As a result, the kind of people you meet at this show are unlike any other show's customers: they're just regular people. It's amazing. I brought a variety of wares, including the little paintings I've been showing off here on my journal this past week. I sold out of almost everything on my table, needing to re-stock a few things for Sunday, and still going home with a practically-empty suitcase at the end...save for the cool things I bought and recieved while I was there.
I'm usually an Organizer of Dinners during MoCCA, as I'm a local and people often look to me for suggestions. I kinda stepped away from that this year, as I just didn't have the energy to do it. Luckily Ali rose to the challenge, and I just followed her (along with 28 or so of our friends). The reward was delicious eggplant with garlic sauce down in Chinatown, and a fun group of people, some of whom I only had just met. And some of whom I've known since forever: Steve, Zack, and Steph, to be specific. Zack and Steph moved away to Providence last month, so it was really nice to see them again.
The Top Shelf 10th Anniversary Party seemed like the gathering everyone was going to, so we headed up after dinner. On the way to the door, we ran into about 10 people leaving the party who all said the same thing: "It's really hot in there." They were right. The air must have been broken or something, because it was an inferno. A humid, stinky inferno. It's too bad because there were people in there I would have liked to talk to, but there was just no way. The crowd out on the street was really big as a result, but it wasn't long before Dave and I, plus Toby, Sara, and Todd, headed home.
Sunday was a repeat of Saturday, except I had a different shirt on and was more tired. And more happy, if that's possible. I met so many LJ friends, so many neat creators, so many new friends.
When the show ended a bunch of us instinctively knew we were going to end up at our usual Sunday-after-MoCCA dinner venue, Spring Street Natural. Somehow it's never crowded there on Sunday nights, which is important when people keep showing up with more friends. The more the merrier. It was especically nice to get to talk to Dean, who had a mini-comic that he had drawn when he was 15 and it was actually good. Teenaged Dean knew proper punctuation! I also got to catch up a bit with Rosemary, and met her sister, too! I always like meeting the siblings of my friends, and seeing how similar they are (or not!). I ate what the menu called an "Organic Beet Salad," and drained the restaurant of their free kukicha tea. And felt very nice, thank you. Another successful MoCCA come and gone.
Sara sort of missed her flight Monday morning, due to stupid La Guardia not announcing a gate change. So I got to spend a bit more time with her, which was nice, on top of the suckitude of the missed flight. I also went into the city for brunch with Marion, John, Dalton, Cori, and Tyler. I ate more waffles and they ended up being the thing that wrecked me--I finished them and then I hit the Wall of Tired. Maybe it was the sugar. Also the weather had gone back to being crap, overly hot and humid. We shuffled over to Kinokuniya and I got my copy of Yotsuba&! 4, which redeemed everything. Then I came home and alternated between headaches, tummy aches, soul-crushing tiredness, sore throat, and drowsy relaxation. I feel waaaaaay off of my game right now, which is the main downside to cons. They take several days to recover from, even if you don't have to travel anywhere for them.
But, it's okay. All our guests are safely home now. I've got a SMILE page updated and ready to go for tomorrow. I've got a few emails and interviews to write. Last night when I was falling asleep I came up with a new idea for a new book. I start drawing BSC4 in about a week. And in 3 weeks, Dave and I are off to San Francisco to visit my family, and then we're driving down to San Diego for Comic-con.
I hope my entire life is always this wonderful.
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