Stumptown 2012 ho! ...almost

[slr2moons]

ETA: LOL Stumptown isn't until next weekend. Consider this evidence that I really am out of sorts at the moment. :B

Stumptown is here again. This year I deliberately arranged my work schedule to let me attend (something I was unable to do last year, when I could only hang out in the evening with friends). Shoujo Editor 2 will be here again, much to my delight, for we really get along IRL. ^^

My local friends neekaneeks and mcruthless of the awesome webcomic Gran Grimoire will be sharing a table with EK of TJ and Amal fame. I will be sure to swing by their table several times to squee and offer assistance in any way I can. :3 I hope to go to dinner with them and several more of their friends, and Shoujo Editor 2 as well. XD This is what I'm most looking forward to!

Rather than depending on public transportation, I am taking my car this year (OHNOES my Portlander license application!) and parking it (for free) at the giant mall only a few blocks away from the convention center. This is so I can be certain of getting Shoujo Editor 2 to her temporary digs no matter how late it is or where she might be staying. I'll still be buying a train ticket in case we go out to eat someplace easily accessible from same, and to ride between mall and center, for I don't want to try to walk it alone at night. :S

There are a number of panels I want to attend, including three happening at the same time in different rooms. :P Hopefully I can make as many as possible! Particularly since if I'm watching a panel, then I can't be spending money in the con room. Behold my scheming ways!

This will be my fourth year for Stumptown, and once again I have nothing to show for it. I have only myself to blame. In January, I had all sorts of spare time while I was in-between work volumes. But with so much of my self-confidence linked to my job, I felt terrible and tried to find comfort in reading books, fanfic, watching movies and anime, and too much sleep. While I DID do some work for myself in art and writing both, it wasn't nearly as much as I could and should have done. And of course, the guilt over that only made me feel worse at the time, thus leading to more attempts to lose myself in other people's stories and sleep. It's a vicious cycle.

I need to drive my car once a week to keep the battery charged, and this weekend's foray into the East Side is the beginning of my accustomization to driving in Portland proper. In the end, driving versus taking the train is a trade-off. Drive and you have complete flexibility to go where ever, when ever...but you have to worry about getting lost, parking (a huuuuge concern in Portland), and no drinking allowed. Parking is also more expensive than a public trans ticket. Take the train and you don't have to worry about navigating traffic or finding parking or your car being stolen and you can drink as much as you want...but your schedule is dependent on the public transportation. Also that half-hour ride is really long at night when you're tired and don't want to deal with staring creepers and didn't take your car to the train stop and thus have to walk it home.

Thus, my upcoming Stumptown weekend. I really am most looking forward to hanging out with Shoujo Editor 2 and my comicking friends. ^^