Saturday,
March 22, 2003
AGGIECON - DAY TWO
Wherein I am in shopping mode
Saturday
dawned somewhat overcast, but thanks to the foresight of bringing an air mattress
I greeted it without groans of pain, which was lovely. After a fast breakfast
at Rumors and some chat with Julia, Kathy Kimbriel and another female writer,
I hit a few panels, then had lunch with Jeff and one of his friends off-campus
(in a Subway next to a fabric store that could have been classified as belly
dancer central -- I ooohed and ahhed before buying $25 worth of fabric and flowers
to make headgear for my dance costume for the Masquerade that night) and talking
about financial investments and stock options. Oh, God, when did I turn into
a grownup?
Back at the ranch and next on the official schedule (actually my only event for the day) was my signing with Julia and Kathy. This was probably the only bobble of the con -- they put us in one of the 4th floor rooms on Rudder, where there was very little chance of anyone wandering by who wasn't specifically looking for us. We agreed that it would have been better if they'd seated us at tables in front of the dealer's room (there were signing tables IN the dealer's room, but they were being used by the media guests most o' the time).
While
we waited, Kathy gave us some excellent advice on pressure points for knees,
and Jeff (who'd just finished doing a reading in another room) came in and offered
to read his Bubbas story to us. Unfortunately that never happened, as that was
the time we got a small influx of folks who wanted signatures.
Afterwards, I went to the Art Show to check on my bids (made a last minute bid on something and was sniped in the 30 seconds my back was turned), then headed off to the auction with Julia. We had a few moments of panic when she couldn't find Ellan, but the younger Kosatka was finally located and herded into the room. The two pieces I'd really wanted only had my bid on them so they weren't sent to auction -- I was there to see if I could get a nice L.A. Williams piece entitled "The Sorcerer's Daughter."
Well, I walked away with a LAW piece, but not that one -- someone had put a $30 bid on this huge, gorgeous piece called "Seek" but didn't show up at the auction. I have LAW's "Titania" from the 2001 Aggiecon (which I paid $110 for), so I bid $35 on "Seek." Much to my astonishment, nobody topped my bid, so I walked away with one hell of a steal. Go me!
After that, I grabbed some quiet time in the room before meeting up with Julia and Ellan again -- we went out to dinner with Jeff, Robert, some other writers and friends of Jeff at some chicken place which is apparently the "de rigeur' place in College Station for hot wings. I finally indulged my curiosity and tried fried pickle chips (not bad at all, but VERY rich) and couldn't finish my chicken tenders dinner, much less the three huge brownie sundaes that were being shared around the table (although I did get to do my cherry stem trick, and scored a new personal best of five seconds).
After rolling back
to the campus, I jumped into my dance costume, only to find out that I'd missed
the Masquerade -- well, drat. But I got some very nice compliments on it, so
I kept it on for the traditional Rocky Horror showing that night, which seemed
quite appropriate. Staggered out of Rocky with my ears ringing, and talked for
a bit with Pat before collapsing into the sleep of the just (and still extremely
full).