Yancy & the Lady from Maryland -- and you thought only humans got some action at the con!
Saturday 4 women & 13 dolls, searching for wild things ... Show time in the sales room, at leadt for me. I let Joy and Mariann begin the quest for outfits while I sat behind the table and smiled at the lookers ... well, I did sell 1 jewelry set to Kathy from Oklahoma, as well as another jewelry piece ... Some folks came down from Dallas; we see them at every anime con in our area. I chuckled at the gentleman who claimed that he had driven a van-load of women from Dallas to BJDC Austin ... Brave man -- but he collects dolls, too, so I'm sure the ladies gave him a "legitimate" reason to come, like adults who bring a niece or nephew to a kids' movie so they don't feel out-of-place. I even got to pitch for 4 Winds Faire once or twice.
After the sales room closed at 3 -- and that seemed so early since dealers' rooms at anime cons close about 6 or 7, and even Intergem show rooms close at 5, we had to break down the table. Dolls back upstairs to return to their boxes, stones into containers, etc. Again, that hand cart came in very handy ... As we broke down, the hotel staff was breaking down the tables to transform the sales room into the banquet hall.
Afterwards, we adjourned to the room to check out the goodies. Marcia got out her Obitsu boxes, and we passed around wigs to see whether the color, style or size fit other dolls. Joy had bought the "Magician" by Paulette Goodreau because he reminded her of Harry St. Cloud, a character she created ... and Mariann had bought a forest goddess and fennec mini-fee. Both dolls are less than 6 inches tall, but the sculpts are as detailed as the larger dolls at the top of my post today ... In fact, she already bought wigs and clothes for them ... Myself? I enjoyed the show -- Colette had her new clothes from the swap meet.
The banquet proved that the ladies and gents know how to party ... Joy, as table hostess, provided party gifts; I contributed jingle bell earrings, while the ladies from Oklahoma gave goody bags with glow lights so we could do the "rock concert" thing at the awards presentation. The food wasn't bad, by hotel standards -- the pecan chocolate chip quiche soothed taste buds and kept everyone in a zen state of mind. Many door prizes -- Joy contributed 2 Obitsus -- and three people at our table got something, even Mariann who had opted not to come. (She had her own adventure down at the hotel bar, but that is her story to tell -- not mine.) The 2 hours flew by -- doll people were determined to have fun, meet and greet other collectors, so even 8 strangers parted as friends after the lights came up.
Well, 2 of us returned ... Joy stayed downstairs to hang with Jen and the others while Marcia & I wended our way upstairs ... and the slumber party continued until 1 by 1, we konked out -- Mar, then myself, leaving Marcia and Joy to talk about dolls until the wee hours of Sunday morning.
Sunday Mar had disappeared when I rose on Sunday morning ... so I got dressed & took a walk. Although the hotel is located near a warehouse/business district, the landscapers decided to line the cross streets with trees and build a gravel walking path under them ... the only danger came from the pigeons who populated the lovely trees overhanging the walk. Fortunately, they seemed more interested in peppering the cars than a moving target. I walked about a 1/2 mile circuit before I looped back towards the hotel ... nary a car or another pedestrian in sight. In some ways, it was a fairly safe choice, yet it could have turned nasty if any gangstas or muggers lurked in the area ... and I did have a strange encounter on 6th Street while going from the distant parking lot to the hotel back in January when we vended at Ikkicon. Maybe the Omni was too far from convenient mass transit to tempt panhandlers to the area ...
Mar decided to go for a swim, and the other two chose to sleep -- well, that's what happens on the morning after a slumber party, so we headed downstairs to enjoy the salt water jacuzzi and chat ... Then back to the room and the chores of closing down a hotel room and packing the cars ... a job that took 2 hours, since everyone was waking up and checking out between 10 and noon. Finally, after missing a 3rd elevator car filled with women and dolls, Mar and I decided to use an old anime con trick: you ride an empty car up, then you ride down with other people. It isn't nice, but a few times the car only went up one more floor -- then we were the only ones inside when it came down non stop. 3 cars, 2 filled to the brim (Marcia drives a van, so her vehicle looked empty compared with ours.), then we bid farewell to friends, in Texas and around the country, until the next meeting. I wonder if some BJD fans aren't beginning a countdown to August 2012. As the theater people say, "Another opening, another show."
I'd invite anyone to come to the BJD conventions, if one's in your area ... or go to an anime convention. Joy and I saw our first BJDs back around 2000 or so; he was a Volks that the girl had ordered from Japan, a 60 cm (SD) model ... we were fascinated that, unlike American dolls, he was anatomically correct -- and had changeable eyes and wigs. Over the decade, more and more BJD fans have come to the anime conventions since the dolls are considered part of Japanese culture ... In that way, you can meet other doll people -- and actually see the dolls depicted in the magazines and on line. Be warned: the dolls like company; and they like to have many clothes, wigs, etc. Shoot, Colette has more wigs, shoes, and outfits than I do ... but she looks a whole lot better in them! I guess she might be my avatar ... she's definitely my companion doll. You never forget the first.
Dance quote: "The people who do not dance are the dead." ~Jerry Rose of Dance Caravan
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