The Background!

Despite a whole lot of fallout from the girl I met last year, I really did adore YaoiCon, and I spent a lot of time tapping out another Tybalt story, Dreamfever, for the anthology, and Wanting More, an all-original story, for the contest.

I got into the anthology and scored well in the contest but didn't win, so I prepped the Catboy Suit and shipped off to YaoiCon. This time I felt like less an outsider and more like a part of it, no matter how tangential, so I made an effort to really get into the nuts and bolts of things. I signed on as a volunteer and managed to secure my requisite 14 square feet of sleepspace, so I could be there the whole time and not have many bored stretches running through.

I wanted to have a second costume to tear around in, but my fabric supplier crapped out on me and I couldn't finish it in time. One of these years, I'm going to start getting lines in my face and won't be able to pull the walking real-life chibi that is the Catboy. As with last year, I am me; I use the first person. The Lost Catboy is also me, but this is my alter-ego and he has his own little quirks that I like to mess with. So if I talk about the Lost Catboy doing something, it means I was in-costume and therefore in-character. Outtakes are in italics.

The Chronicle!

Day the First: 28 October, 2005

I spent most of Friday this year going to my one class and taking a friend out to lunch and coffee. We spent a few hours just walking around and talking about things, and it was a really good way to get out of this depressive funk I'd been in for the past week or so. Near the end of it, she came up and saw the Catboy Suit and some other stuff. She offered me a ride to the BART station when her meter ran out and we had to go, but I needed to get a few more things, so sadly I did not get to take her up on that.

I did get safely to the BART station though.

I got to SFO about the same time my friend Ava got to Millbrae, and then found out she was walking to the hotel. This did not seem like a good idea to me (it's a pretty healthy walk) so I asked if she wanted me to wait at the SFO BART station and have her BART there, where there is a shuttle to the hotel, but she thought it would be OK. We got there probably more or less the same time, but I was wandering around trying to meet up with LinKitty, register (badge plus bright orange wristband of indestructibility), check in with the volunteer desk, and go get food, so she was playing Bingo by the time I was ready to meet anyone.

That was okay, though; I sat in the lobby (Wi-Fi enabled!) and did a little bit of work on the next couple Tybalt stories that are coming down the pipe. Later when she came out I missed her again, but I had gotten into a very interesting discussion about hydrogen/electric power and its mechanics with someone, which wandered into tea and food, chocolate and all sorts of weirdness. We were sitting in the middle of YaoiCon talking about Unix variants, which was probably about as surreal as anything got. That lasted until about 2:00, but that's okay. I woke someone up so I could get into the room, got a shower, bumped into someone coming out (causing a vaguely surreal bit of "Hi!" "Uhh... hi." "Who're you?" "Just crashing out on the floor. Don't mind me." "Uhh... okay."), and went straight to sleep, ready to start the con in earnest the next day.

Day the Second: 29 October, 2005

I only got about three hours' sleep before I popped awake at 6:15 and couldn't get back to sleep. Nothing really opened until 10:00, so I mucked around on the PowerBook until people started waking up and I could be assured of getting breakfast and getting back into the room.

Lost Catboy! Second YCon. Still pretty lost. Confused. All alone. Pleasehelp. Thankyou.

The day looked up quite nicely soon after, because he also ran into Anne Blue walking the other way. She did not read his sign though, and went along elsewhere. That was okay; there was still a big weekend ahead and plenty of time to find her again. <nodnod>

Ava found him quickly once he made his way to the Westin (she had been told to look for the big sign) and took him around, which was very much enjoyable. Many people stopped them for pictures and headpats. The Catboy likes headpats, because they are a very good way of showing well-wishes and affection, and is very likely to return them, which did cause one problem. One boy with very spiky hair headpatted him after a picture, but he moved away when Catboy tried to return the headpat, because (I think) his hair was very delicate. Unfortunately such subtleties are beyond Catboy's comprehension, and he did not understand why anyone might not want to be headpatted, which made him sad. The boy must have realized this, because he came back and patted him again, which cheered him up promptly and lead to another headpatting attempt. Everyone was laughing, and it took a few times before the Catboy settled on just giving him a hug. The world is such a confusing place when you are Lost.

After this little bit of comedy, Ava took him back to watch some of the bishounen-types as they got ready to practice for the auction-show. LinKitty was one of these people, and they were all very friendly and quite interesting (and pretty in ways that Catboy does not always comprehend), even if they got perverted and drew stick-figures doing naughty fun things all over the Catboy's board. It was all good fun though. If he meowed too loudly in protest, they would erase particularly dirty things.

Eventually rehearsal started and all the visitors had to leave, so Ava and a few of her friends took the Catboy out and ran into Anne again. They talked a little bit, and Anne said to go pick up my contributor's copy of the anthology, to which the Catboy was quite happy and made appropriate meowing noises. It was getting pretty close to my Volunteer Shift of Doom, though (more on this later) and I wanted to go up to my room to retrieve the shopping list that Chibi Alice gave me. So the Lost Catboy promised to show up in the Dealer's Room later and find his friends. Unfortunately nobody was inside and he had to go find someone else with a key.

Much wandering happened before he found the other-Chad (Chad2000) and some of his friends. They had a key and were going back to the room to make tear-away costume parts for LinKitty, so he followed them. The girls were much dirtier to Catboy than Ava's friends before. One of them wrote that he was "riddled with disease!" He meowed very loudly in protest and eventually erased it on his own when she did not take it back. The Catboy has had all his shots; he just has no sense of direction and a general faith that people are nice and will help him if he is nice back to them. Also they wrote "Has anyone seen my dignity? If so, please return." Catboy has not much answer to that. He's pretty sure that older catboys learn these things once they're experienced in the ways of the world, and he will learn them in time. Until then he is Lost and needs all the help he can get.

On the way they met some nice Pixy Stix Fairies who gave him some of those wonderful little sugar capsules. Pixy Stix are yummy, but Catboy has trouble eating them, because big kitten paws are very clumsy with thin things like that. Eventually he managed to hold one and nibble on it as they went.

Once back in the room I changed out of costume (that thing is warm) while they drew on the board and worked on LinKitty's costume. This time they accepted that the Catboy is really quite an innocent little creature, so they came up with something more appropriate ("seeking strong, protective, guiding type") and drew a giant octopus ("Pervert friends stuck an octopus on me!"). I gave them some suggestions on how to make LinKitty's pants tear apart and loaned them my pocketknife to make the cuts. After a little lounging around and getting my knife back, I wandered out to go see if people were still in the dealer's room.

I made it there, but Anne was gone and I couldn't find my other friends, so I headed back out to see if Yami was around yet. In retrospect I should probably have seen if anything on Chibi Alice's shopping list was available, but I only had a little time before I had to change back and go volunteer anyways. I did find Yami (after calling her to see if she was around), but someone sitting nearby wanted nothing to do with me and I was worried she might raise a scene or something, so I hijacked Yami off to the Clarion for icecream.

Footnote: I don't think I've ever been proud of being able to feel absolutely nothing before. The girl I wanted to love, the girl I thought my friend, and the girl who actually exists turned out to be three very different people, and it's nice to know that that understanding has finally wound down into the deep structures of my brain. On another note, the Clarion overcharges something truly stupid for icecream, even by hotel-food standards.

After this I went back to the room and tested LinKitty's tear-away pants for his friends (we are about the same size) before changing back into the Catboy Suit and going off to volunteer. Unfortunately part of the town the octopus was rampaging had to be erased, so the Catboy could have a place to write things.

Off to Westin. Check in at Westin. This takes a little while because people are not good at understanding kitty, despite their best efforts. Catboy does much sign-writing. Drop off the Yami with her friends. Back to Clarion for Volunteer Shift of Doom!

Five in the afternoon, through three in the morning, then another hour for second three in the morning (Daylight Savings). All of it sitting in the Video Room (excepting a break for dinner). Not a healthy shift. There is definitely such a thing as too much of a good thing. If I ever volunteer for this again, somebody smack some sense into me.

Really everybody was very nice to Catboy at the video room. They just parked him near a power outlet by the door (must have PowerBooking, after all) and let him check badges and wristbands. This was very easy. "Badges and wristbands make Catboy happy! Please show them before entering." Most people would show them right away, or remember the wristbands if he meowed at them. A couple of the dealers came in and did not have the wristbands; it took a few tries before he figured it out. Also the red staff badges had access everywhere even without wristbands. People kept wanting to know where the AMV showing was (down the hall), and he was tempted to go investigate the bursts of laughter that made it through the doors and echoed down the hall, but he had a job to do. Someone did not want him there anyways, probably.

Around 9:00 I took a break and went back to the room to change out. The line for the Auction was forming and people wanted Catboy to go see, but I was looking to change out (the suit is ridiculously warm), so I gave it a pass. Once again, duty called.

--intermission for dinner--nothing to see here--

The rest of my shift was pretty much a long stretch of boredom, though I got to meet a lot of nice people in the process. Eventually I started recognizing them (the first were the Loveless cosplayers chained together, but I got quite a few eventually), even as distracted as I got. I heard lots of shouting (I distinctly remember a "Thirteen hundred dollars!" and someone playing the CombiChrist remix of Icon of Coil's Regret, which later turned out to be Dante. Props to him for taste, though he did it unprepared and got closed much lower than last year... it's really a nice song, but you need something choreographed for it, I'm sure), which eventually peaked out with the now-infamous $125,000 joke hazing bid on the 'neer. Someone came running out and told me it was real, and the rumor mill got quite convincing until later when I checked it out and got the official word (it was a joke). One of the movies held my attention quite well, Mayonaka no Yaji-san Kita-san. As my summer roomie Mark might put it, that thing is crack on acid. It's a hallucinogenic samurai roadtrip reincarnation farce, and saying that is trying to simplify it and keep it sane. Go find a copy if you can.

Some people said I should go to dance, but I had promised to be there badge-checking, so I pleaded off for the moment, even though the DJ did make me happy over in my corner by spinning up Lucretia My Reflection, since Andrew Eldritch is a minor god who gets nowhere near enough attention. At one point I got a little tired and forgot how strong Bawls is, so I shotgunned one and got very, very bouncy for a while. It was really bad; I was bouncing up and down in my shoes in front of the door while I waited to check people. The DJ spun up a block of VNV Nation right there, and Ronan Harris is wonderfully commanding even when you are not abnormally bouncy, so I checked out for a very small break and headed over.

Spinning was lots of fun, and people were nice enough not to say anything about my tragic lack of dance skill. It got the bounciness down to the point where I could stand still at least, so after the block wound down a little bit, I headed back down the hall.

I got back and monitored the room for a while longer (another hour or so, I forget) when the other volunteer there had to go to sleep and left me in charge of the room. It was pretty straightforward, really, though all the movies really started to swim into one another. Midnight swam into one. One swam into two. Two swam into three and then back to second-two as Daylight Savings kicked in. I was told that I would have relief forces come in at second-2:00, but they failed to show up, even by second-2:30. I was supposed to go contact Elisia (the genuinely wonderful volunteer coordinator, who left instructions on how to find her if this happened) in that case, but there was nobody else manning the room, which was a bit of a conundrum. Fortunately, I ducked outside and found staffpeople (including Stephen (I think?) who had been running in and out all night and was on his twenty-something'th hour of continuous duty) who were willing to come in and watch things. Stephen decided there that it was better not to go find Elisia and instead scratched up some emergency relief forces for me. After so many hours, you take a little bit of ownership, I guess, so I ran through things and triple-checked that everyone got it, checked out, and stumbled back into the room.

Staffing must be a truly thankless job, just based on what I saw, trying to get relieved, but they really care about how things are running, and they deserve a lot more credit than I can give.

I had another shower. The floor was quite hard again, and this time it was much colder. I slept in the Catboy Suit. Somewhere in the middle of the night Catboy decided to attempt CatBed Building 101, so he dumped his suitcase out on the ground and patted it into a shape that he could sleep all curled up on. Discovery: kitties sleep on laundry because it is soft and comfy.

Day the Third: 30 October, 2005

I got another three hours' sleep and did a little work on the Powerbook. Around 9:00 I got dressed and took one of the keys so I could wander down to the dealer's room and check out Chibi Alice's shopping list. Sadly Aestheticism had them the day before, but sold out and was not resupplied, so I could not help her there. I did though get my copy of the anthology, so it was not a total loss there. I returned to the room shortly after and returned the key to LinKitty (he was quite worried about losing it, as the hotel apparently wanted $25 for replacing lost pieces of plastic) and started packing up. Chad2000 was still not back (I did not see him again, so I hope he is okay), so we threw his stuff into bags and started moving it out. Noon checkout times may be normal, but they're pretty lame for the last day of the con. It basically meant that I couldn't do costume changes, so I stayed out of the Catboy Suit for the whole thing.

Fortunately the hotel would hold baggage, so I had them do that before I wandered off for my second volunteer shift.

I found Ava again and got to actually talk to her this time, being out-of-suit. It was only for a short time, because of my impending shift, but I got assigned to be the Wandering Badgecheck, subbing in for stationary badgecheckers who had to get up for food or bathroom breaks or whatnot. Once again I was surprised by the really long distances that people will go to get to YaoiCon. I wonder if I will do the same next year, because I will be graduated and perhaps not within easy driving distance.

Anyhow, after some time doing this I started talking with one of the other badgechecks, who started talking about the differences in yaoi and yuri fandoms and whatnot. She said that boys tend to be less language-oriented and less emotional in the connections they make, so I asked if I could show her Wanting More and see what she thought about it. She said that would be good, and I wandered off to let her read while I finished my badgecheck duties. One of the volunteers upstairs hadn't reported in and wasn't there, so I filled in for the rest of the time, mostly talking to Ava (since she came up there shortly after) and Anne (when she came by to bid on an art piece that had gone to auction). Anne talked to me for a while about the possibility of another Tybalt sequel, which sounded fine to me, and other things. This made the time pass much more quickly.

I freely confess that I got careless with my wristband-checking duties near the end of the last hour. Anyone in that obscure little corner of the con with a badge was probably not sneaking in, especially if there was an ornate costume involved.

Around 3:00 I finished with that, clocked out, and went back to talk to the other badgecheck who was reading this story. By this time she had discovered about how much a basket-case B.T. is and that she rather enjoyed my general writing style. We talked for a while and I gave her the copy (with my website address on it), though I don't think she's emailed be about it or anything.

After all this, I got to go out to the Westin lobby and end the con more or less the way I started it, lounging around and talking to people. It's really one of the great pleasures of congoing, having people wander in and out of random discussions for a few hours. It's very relaxing. I got licked at one point when Yami said that people were molesting her, which was exactly wrong for YaoiCon, which was not entirely unpleasant but still disconcerting (I have intimate-contact issues with people I don't know). Nice guy though. He asked for a story later so I gave him the printout I had of the Tears of Anael (also with a website scrawled across the top). Haven't heard from him either. I found out about Dante's sales flop around here, and also ran into Vincent Valentine from last year, who did indeed find his clothes. Vincent remembered the Catboy too.

Sorry if I've gotten a little less reflective here... there's just not as much to reflect about, and I'm trying to wind this thing down.

Afterwards I went up to the staff-and-volunteer party, which was good, silly fun. I ran into Ava a little more and got introduced to the famous Shiki, who seems like a very nice guy on the whole. Someone passed around a very well-loved pair of jeans and a Sharpie. I had to think about it for a moment before I signed it "Where am I and why is there a pair of jeans in front of me?" in classic Catboy confusion.

The trip home was actually quite nice, since the trains were pretty empty, except for the people from Media Blasters, who seemed really, genuinely happy to talk to fans about whatever randomness came up. Their prices are better than fair, too, so they have as close to an official stamp of approval as I can give anyone (footnote to self: must order the rest of Genshiken from them). After they got off, the ride was pretty boring, but that's okay. I was exhausted.