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You know Sunday's going to be a little different when not only do we not scramble to check out of the room in time, we deliberately put off the task until the last hour because we have more important things to do.
Sunday
This Was A Triumph
Oh heck, what's one more Nick I. pic... simply because I didn't catch any of the other Nicks and need to make up for it.
Actually, the main reason is because that Boota plushie is too cute.
For the second night in a row, not everybody slept. In fact, it seemed like a majority of us didn't. Now I'm starting to feel guilty that we used our off hours to rest rather than pace around the staff room anxiously.
Sarah and I swept through the dealer's room quick, picking up a good set of dice from ChAdam Games. One of the ChAdam guys was also playing my America Super Eagles that day in fantasy football, so I felt it appropriate to inform him of his imminent destruction.
Meanwhile, the guest relations team ran into a problem. Sari and Brian had to get back home to Minnesota and didn't have time to return Kyle to the airport.
Remember all that stuff about not needing to ferry VAs around? Yeah, maybe not so much.
The only contingency was that Geek Show had to be finished in an hour. Given the number of entries I had received thus far (four... rivaling No Brand but not going to fill two hours), that wouldn't be a problem. So Sarah and I took the job.
It did add one more dimension to clearing out of the hotel room, as Kyle would be needing trunk space and we couldn't put stuff into our car. So we had a sizable corner of personal effects in the staff room. I'm sure everyone else was thrilled.
This "cosplay photo to break up the wall of text" is brought to you by LucasFilms.
That addition to the agenda did not change the next item on the list: AMV contest.
We received four entries, all of them quality. There was one stand out winner (in fact it was an AzuDai vid that used the Goofy Movie song "Stand Out" to exaggerate Tomo's opinion of herself) and a long discussion about the runner up. We agreed on a sweet Haruhi video set to Don't Stop Believing, but all the videos were in the discussion. Plus the deliberation let us show a few exhibitions from each of the competitors (and us). In fact, my You've Got A Friend abomination played just after we finished.
Once that was done, I snuck out to get ready for Geek Show. Again, we only had four entries, which was a little thin even in the abbreviated slot. And I don't have a midi-mapped Guitar Hero controller like Trae has. I even asked Cheesy if he wanted to be forced on stage like he was at No Brand. He politely declined.
What we did have was pretty darn good though:
We had Erika singing a Len Kagamine song in costume, doing an incredible job.
Some cute and talented Hare Hare Yukai dancers...
Nick I. again, this time *not* dressed as Haruhi (which I mercilessly ribbed him about before he went on). Instead, he sang another angsty song about FMA, this one from Beth Kinderman.
After that, I managed to coax two more improvised entries from some Hetalia cosplayers and Mr. Despair cbeley. Both killed time effectively.
Len brought it home with a rousing run of Vocaloid classic Love & Joy.
So the show happened, the entries were good and we weren't embarrassed. Good enough, let's clean out the car so there's room to escort Kyle and his daughter to the airport.
Did I mention the airport was in Milwaukee, more than an hour away?
Thankfully, with such a long trip, Sarah tagged along to keep up the chatter and keep the guests amused. Again, not much to discuss conversation-wise, although once again it's amazing how routine everyday things become legitimate and interesting topics in these situations.
Sarah also snapped this pic of Kyle's daughter doing unspeakable things to my Babbit plushie.
Upon our return, were we greeted with a hero's welcome for completing the journey? Hell no, it was time to clean up!
Vendors Room: The Aftermath. Le Sigh.
Thanks to a collaborative group effort, we got everything packed up and back to their original owners. I got all of my contributions back save two dry erase markers and some correction tape. Considering that those fan parodies were MIA for a brief span, I can live with that.
While cleaning, Mike found the "Expert" sheet the masquerade organizers used to hold together all the expert-division participants for my clipboard. He gave it a good home. Gotta love the hat too, especially as he's our treasurer.
After a couple hours cleaning house, Natalie declared the con a Huge Success and we adjourned to a nearby restaurant for a nice post-con dinner... save for a couple of us who snuck off to catch the nearby Jonathan Coulton concert. I was so tempted, but I wanted to be part of the feast with all these guys. After all, we all really put our hearts into this thing and I wanted to celebrate with everybody.
Pardon our expressions. After all, we did just get done running a three-day convention. Trust me, we were ecstatic. We drew 1036 people, far exceeding our expectations, and the vast majority were very happy with the result. Now was the time for us to relax, enjoy each other's company without burden for an evening.
And above all, start talking about next year. First meeting for Geek.Kon 2010 is Sunday night!