Life & Times of a Would Be Somebody: Steamposium 2014

PICTURE HEAVY POST!!

Day 1

Day one has, mostly, come to a close. The drive over was uneventful, except for the extra hour spent in North Bend, relaxing. As the sole driver, I need a break from the car and a chance to rest.

Upon arriving, we slowly made our way through the traffic, intent on finding our hotel. Or rather, hostel. I've never actually stayed in one before, so this was a new experience for me. Dropping off the bags, we went to the event center. That was another adventure, as we misread the instructions and there was general chaos getting in.

One settled there, the three of us headed back to the hostel for a bit, before getting dinner. Sadly, most of the places at Uwajimaya were closed, but the place we went was beyond amazing. A little Korean restaurant, with a wonderful owner. I had a bento dinner with teriyaki chicken. He also gave us dried seaweed to make our own 'Sushi' with. Freakin' amazing.

As a side, there was also a beef and radish soup. Also wonderful. I want more even now.

The beds in the hostel are small, but ok. You don't get much, a bed (top or bottom bunk), a locker, a fan and light at the top of your bed, blanket and top sheet. Still, it's a place to sleep, and that's all you really need.

Next day we wanted around Uwajimaya for a bit, mostly looking, at the cool foods. After a slightly easier drive down, we went to the vendor hall.

The folks on either side of us are nice. Marie on the left makes tons of interesting things. On the right is a woman who attaches hand sculptured krakens to bottles. Wicked cool.

Across the way from us is Miss Haley who sells lovely corsets. Her lovely helper is wonderful to look at

who we got to watch put on a back tie corset, on his own. It was fascinating to watch.

Sadly, it wasn't all perfection. The port authority kept telling the staff different parking instructions. I had to move my car two times over the course of the day. Not enjoyable.

No sales on the first day, but I gather that's fairly normal.

By the end of the day, I was grumpy and tired. Got a nummy hot dog bun and a Bismarck bun. Back at the hostel cafeteria, I got a cup of tea and wrote. Felt much better.

So, that was day one. More about day two below.

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I didn't get to pretype up days 2 or 3, so I'm working on them half awake after the longness of day 3.

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Day 2

For the most part, day two went fairly basic. It took a while, but about 1pm I had my first paying customer of the event. After that, it took 3 more hours to get another one and by 5:30, I'd received my 4th and final customer of the day.

There had been a rumor that the celebs were going to walk through after closing to check out the vendor hall, but at the last minute it was canceled. Oh well. Since I'd actually made money, I was able to get some fresh food that night and even got a lovely Hazelnut Mousse Cake for dessert.

After chatting with my brother for a bit, and generally hanging out, we once again headed to bed and were mostly fast asleep by 11pm.

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Day 3

Most likely due to the nature of the bed, I woke up each morning about 5am. This could also be because our parking expired about 5am, and since it was my car I got worried they'd tow it or something.

Sunday, I woke up at 4am, but managed to get back to sleep for a while. At 6 one of the ladies with me got up and I tried to get back to sleep. No luck, so I got up and showered and headed down to breakfast by 6:30. This was the start of a very long day.

We had some time, so breakfast and lunch buying happened first. Then I got lost [again, this was now normal] on the way to the Con and we barely arrived by 10 when they opened.

Despite the small crowd, I could have perhaps not bothered to be there on days 1 and 3. I sold one item all day. By the end, I hadn't even made back the booth space.

To slightly disappoint even more, Jewel Staite did a short walk through and I got the impression she wanted to look at my things, but her dog ended up being a distraction [Cute little twerp. ^^] and she missed getting more than a passing glance at my table. Wasn't too much of a disappointment, since I hadn't expected a sale from her, but still made me pout some.

I did get to try on some corsets and hope to raise the money to pick one up. Honestly, I could see wearing it for almost all of my shows.

And near the end, the Steamgirls did a sort of walk through, mostly just smiling and waving for everyone. I know one of the photographers for the magazines and when Kato stopped to look down at my jewelry, I heard my friend mention to her that she likes my pieces and hopes to work with me, or something close to that. Made me smile and blush.

Once it was over, we started to pack up and headed back one last time to the Asian market to pick up things to attempt to cram into my little car. Let me tell you, that wasn't easy. Subaru's may have lots of space, but we had it piled just below too much in the trunk and everyone but me had luggage resting on them.

By about 7:30, we were on the road home.

I have to say this... Seattle, not a bad place but I HATED driving there. Every night we'd get lost on the way back and I'd be ready to murder someone for being an idiot. Crossing streets without a light, lane changes for no reason, roads that are one way and then as you cross an intersection they're two way, but it makes no sense. Turns you couldn't make during certain times of the day and a million one way streets.

Getting out of there was wonderful... Once we managed it.

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Final Thoughts

There was stress and what felt like a never ending supply of problems to be had. But as first conventions go, Steamposium was good. I had hoped it would be more of a chance for me, but my name did get out there and I made a few contacts I'm glad to have made.

Would I do it again?

Yes. I plan on applying for a vendor spot once they're open and working to get either a booth or a 2 table slot once I'm able. This was their first year and with 6 months to plan it all out, it was the best they could do. I would get it 2 more times, before deciding yes or no.

Below are the pictures from the Con, the City and the Asian market we stopped at. Plus a few from before I left. I hope you enjoy.