Somehow I Ran Around More Than San Diego
I’m just going to refer you to the #TopatoCon social media tag because holy crap, I’m tired today.
Okay, part of that is probably because Stacy King, Andrew Wheeler, and Jim Zub enticed me, Ferocious J, and Dante Shepherd to stay up past midnight playing tabletop games which tested the limits of friendship. Part of it was probably from helping the aforementioned Dr Shepherd and Maki Naro run science experiments on alive humans, or my extensive time in the TopatoCo Merchateria with the redoubtable Ms Smith and the entirely doubtable Mr J. Part of it was probably just the energy in the exhibit hall, where people just seemed to be enjoying themselves.
And part of it is probably because the cocktail competition 86’d! with Holly Rowland, Holly Black, Frank Gibson, Katie Donnelly (contestants), Kaliis Smith, Eric Churchill, and Karl Pacheco (judges) that I hosted drew an enormous crowd that seemed to enjoy itself (too busy to take pictures, but video coming soon). Hollys Black and Rowland made it to the finish, prompting the crowd to break into a spontaneous cheer of Hol-ly! Hol-ly! Hol-ly! before Ms Black took the crown. We have got to do this again next year.
But mostly it’s probably because the best idea of TopatoCon is also the most dangerous: there’s a bar and I had an excellent bottle of scotch to share.
Please enjoy these photos:
- Volunteers, ready to be dispatched to take care of a problem.
- Holly Rowland was everywhere during the day, makin’ decisions and bein’ a boss.
- Calm before the programming storm. I heard crowds applauding and cheering from across the hall throughout the day.
- The quiet before the show got started. That’s Kate Leth in that last photo; take a look at her Twitterfeed for her photosafari of the show floor.
- I offered Naro a pair of safety glasses, but he’s a cowboy.
- Tabletop gaming took place in this nest of rooms all day; it continued on an impromptu basis everywhere late into the night.
- Kim ran the bar and didn’t blanch at serving up a drink called The Walnutfucker. We had some nice discussions about cocktails.
- I made Sara McHenry a drink in a pineapple; I’d originally designed it for Maki Naro’s Pineapple Maki contest that didn’t happen, but she’s dubbed it the Pineapple Khaleesi and that’s a damn good name so we’re going with that.
- Scenes from Topato’s Bar: post show hours, pre going home; animated fun times; food desperately grubbed while holding exhaustion at bay.
Now I’ve got to scrub the filth from my carcass and return for Day Two. I am as nontheist as they come, but friends … pray for me.
I know this is from days ago, but your “Mr. J” link is borked. I assume you were referring to the dazzling silver-clad Jon Sung?
By Stephanie on 09.30.15 10:42 am
Fixed, thanks!
By Gary Tyrrell on 09.30.15 1:50 pm
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