Prefacing this with - It's 3:10am, I've had little sleep and I've been up since 8am or so.

I just need to finally write about the con and stuffs. I figure it's sort of obligatory or something. This may be a tl;dr.

The con was fun. It really was. If at any point I looked busy at my table, I was not. When I get bored I doodle with my markers. I'm wholly aware b&w work is a really tough sell, so I don't expect too much on that front. That being said, it's one of my favorite things to do. Doing b&w on that beautiful paper I have? Yeah, that's some art crack right there. I would like to say about those pieces, they are hard to do. Why? Because I need to keep my pencil light, but I also have to color it in using a flashlight because the pencil is really hard to see because, yanno, gray paper gray lead. I never said I thought that one through.

ANYWAYS, my point. It was a fairly slow con on the dealer's end of things. My table neighbor pretty much owned the entire room, so I just basked in her awesomeness. But we both agreed that there was a lot less traffic compared to the year before, which played a lot into sales for everyone, not just us. I won't go into details because that is not mine to talk about, but nobody took home enough to break even for hotel and travel expenses. I'll be blunt. I took home a whopping $0. If I didn't have some amazeball support that would have been a really crushing weekend, so I cannot imagine how it was for other artists who don't have that. (I'm not trying to garner sympathy here. I'm simply trying to state the facts as they stand.) I'll get into more detail about the den below, but I'd like to talk about the fun parts of the con.

I got to hang with my bifflesauce which is always fun. Her partner was there as well, teaching us all the nature things because mostly I has the dumb. We left early two days to go walking around and it was a lot of fun. There was this lovely little spring we dipped our feet in. it was hella cold, but it was an incredibly unusual weekend for weather here so it felt great. We were getting near 80 degrees when we normally see 70 as a high and the start of scattered storms. But this being Oklahoma, the indecisive state, we got early summer weather and it was so confusing. Truly the dealer's den was the place to be because air conditioning. Plus I hate sweating so there's that. Haha.

If you didn't explore around, the park is REALLY lovely. I plan to head up there to walk the dogs around and take more of the trails and go deeper. I just need to purchase a backpack for water and stuff (and for work) before I can set up something. I took some really neato photos with the trees turning and shoved them up on instagram. Also there was this really photographic bridge there that upon the second day of being there acquired more than a few Slenderman signs on them, which made me think that you could get a group together and have a good bit of fun with one person as Slenderman wandering through those woods.

Last year I hit up Vantid's talk on bird wings because BIRD, but this year I sort of stayed in and didn't hit any up. I was interested in what the horse care panel was over (mainly because animal nutrition is my BIG passion and I wanted to know if everything stated was UTD and correct) but when you are at a table you can't really leave it for stuff like that. All of us skipped Cards Against Humanity this year because it started so early. Last year it was later in the night and there was a fairly large group there. It was a lot of awkward and hilarious fun, so I was bummed to have missed out on it. It didn't mean we didn't laugh our asses off at the hotel. WiFi and Tumblr are your friend when you need a solid laugh and we stayed up as late as we could muster being stupid and stuff like that. There was one point in the night I was laughing so hard I couldn't read what had made me laugh. Literally joyful suffocation at its finest.

Also before I forget. Those of you who came by my table to say hello or chat or flip through my last minute scraped together book. Thank you so much. Literally it means a lot to just do that. Those who complimented my work ;_; Thank youuuuuuuuu. I'm such an insecure derp it strokes my ego to feeling better about myself. It really does mean oodles when you do little things like that. I know I'm not terribly active in the fandom, but I do enjoy it.

My last minute preparations this year were due to multiple factors as well. I had just gotten a new job and had an NCLEX exam scheduled the week of the con. It was also the very last week I could take it before they'd literally boot me. After having a bit of a hiccup I barely got my ATT in time. I also needed the results by Sunday, which the BON does not operate weekends so if it wasn't posted Friday, I wouldn't know until Monday, which was too late. So on Friday I did pay for my results to find another resounding fail (and trust me, it took everything in me not to just start sobbing in the hotel room) so if you guys thought I was just nutty or seemed stressed. That was why. can attest to me having an anxiety attack upon getting into the den. Literally too much was happening at once in my life. Also the reason my business cards were SO red was due to printer error. I needed them for the con so if the dragon piece looks a LITTLE different online, that's why. It also makes a spectacular pillow and you should buy one from my Society 6 page linked in my header and footer.

Now for some beat down. I can't speak for the rest of the con, but there were some issues in the den that needed fixing and there wasn't really anybody set up for it to fix them. The people at the register were already swamped so I just ate it and took it, but that being said I left some feedback and after with some discussion with Flo we came up with some really nifty suggestions to make it better for artists and people who come through. We also discussed picking a charity for the next year and thought considering Oklacon has been there for many years and how much traffic it brings, maybe putting it back into the park wouldn't be a terrible idea. Yes the roost and things pay for your stay, but there's a lot of wear and tear that goes into it. Foot traffic, building usage, road wear and tear, and parking wear and tear. State parks already get crummy funding and the facilities could use some TLC, but that TLC requires money above and beyond what is the flat out fee for simply taking out a chunk of space. A lot of people don't realize that set up happens Wednesday and tear down goes on in the morning of the next Monday. That's a lot of time to be there. Really it's food for thought. I like supporting wildlife and exotic rescue, but a park can be a last haven for many animals and gives them a protected area. That's the ultimate right there.

Also with the issues in the den, I've been heavily considering asking if I could volunteer to handle the den. With nobody manning it, it's tough for artists and it's tough for the con to support our needs. They're SUPER awesome about providing power which is something not guaranteed at larger conventions. Mainly it's artist organization, layout, and simply making it a better experience for everybody. has been thinking about doubling up with me and tag teaming if she's in the area next year, which would be a lot of man power for that den. Haha. Plus we'd probably have a table there so we wouldn't be hard to find if there was an issue.

Overall, the con is really more about the people you are with and I was sort of with the best ones, so sorry >___> They're mine and you can't have them unless you pay me a nominal fee. Hey, there's an idea. Friend pimping.

Anyways, that's sort of the short of it all. See you kiddos on the flip side.