Well, that was… Something. The trip to New York was a remarkable success in some regards, an all-out failure in others, and also bizarrely insightful in still others. A quick run-down:
The Successes

• Getting to stay with Sam and Amanda one more time before their baby arrives
• Onigiri, cupcakes and other delicacies with Emily
• Texas BBQ NYC-style with Sam and Amanda
• Getting to show Laura Rockefeller Square
• Checking out the Gap / PANTONE pop-up store (mimosa yellow t-shirt GET)
• Scoring a couple of choice finds at the NYCC

The Letdowns

• Having the Saturday NYCC tickets cease being on sale online on Friday morning, and then be completely sold out on Friday night
• As a result, not getting to meet up with David, Ellen, Elizabeth and Stephen
• Not getting to meet up with Elizabeth on Sunday because I missed her call (Sorry!!!)
• Not attending a single panel at the Con due to a combination of bad timing, exhaustion and disinterest (the Fringe panel would have been interesting, but getting home before midnight proved more compelling)
• New York traffic
• Taking the wrong instance of route 5 off I-91 in Connecticut, thus sending us strolling through Hartford instead of rocketing up the interstate as planned (seriously, 5 crosses I-91 three times and Google maps didn’t include exit numbers in its directions – Google Maps FAIL)

The Insightful

• I went to the Con planning to scour the half-price graphic novel vendors for my missing Cerebus volumes, but when I arrived at their booths I didn’t have the dedication to thumb through their massively disorganized longboxes.
• Instead, I found half-price editions of the second, third and fourth Collected Peanuts editions from Fantagraphics and the Art of My Neighbor Totoro from Viz Media, and was greatly overjoyed by this discovery – proving that my trajectory into comics history and visual artistry continues
• I had way too much fun tagging along with Sam and Amanda as they went shopping for baby stuff. Not yet, hormones! Back! Back!
• I’m very glad we went and I had a wonderful time, but it’s slightly disturbing that every time I go to one of these things I find myself swearing I’ll never go to another one due to the horrifying crowds. As is usual with cons and the like, the best times were had outside of the scheduled programming and off the convention floor.

So, yes. Another NYCC come and gone, and once again I find myself realizing that, at least at this time of my life, Readercon is much, much more my speed.
And now I’m off to begin chugging through the backlog of emails and work requests that flooded my inbox over the weekend. Once more unto the breach, dear friends…