Sunday morning we traded the flurry of getting into costume (well, except for me, I woke up before the rest of the girls again so I decided to try to come up with a costume that I could wear home on the plane) for the flurry of trying to get packed--we had tried to get the bulk of our personal belongings away the night before, but of course had to leave our toiletries and everything we would need in the morning unpacked out of necessity. We also tried to straighten up the room as best we could, so the housekeepers wouldn't think a herd of wild beasts had been staying there.

My first order of business, once we got downstairs, checked our bags, and helped Patti finish setting up, was to buy a hat: for one thing, I was not going home without buying something from Starlit Creations, and for another, my costume desperately needed a hat. And I wanted to buy a hat before the Sunday crowd descended, desperate to empty their pockets before the con was over, and took all of the good ones. All of the hats the girls had made were beautiful, so much so that it was almost impossible to choose. Luckily, I have a surprisingly big head (...yeah, no jokes please) for such a short girl, so that limited my choices somewhat. I eventually chose a hat that featured goggles, bullet casings, and a feather in the brim, which is what led to me dubbing the "costume" I was wearing Gentleman of Fortune.

Squeak and his friend Bob came to visit us as soon as the Dealer's Room opened, and I chatted with Bob a bit while Squeak tried on a few of the vests the girls had for sale--he's looking to put together a steampunk look of his own. One of the best things about steampunk is that it's entirely possible and indeed customary to build your outfits one piece at a time, from wherever you find them.

As the morning wore on, we had a few customers--including a few repeat customers, either people who had been scouting the table all weekend and were waiting until Sunday to spend their money, or people who had bought from us previous and were kind enough to show off how they looked in our merchandise. I don’t know if it's steampunk fans in general, or that people who are drawn to Koi, Steph, and Patti's products all share some key underlying trait, but so many of the people we met through selling this weekend were so incredibly nice. And that includes the majority of the other vendors.

Sunday, as is the usual at most of the cons I've attended, featured far less people in costume than the rest of the weekend. For the most part, people are either tired from the weekend (completely understandable; most people spend most of these conventions on their feet, and most of *them* are in uncomfortable, but character-appropriate shoes), or don't want to have to bother with changing before they head for home, but there were still a few cosplayers who caught my eye! I only grabbed my camera when our table wasn’t being visited--I’d never want to leave a customer hanging--but I still snapped a few of my Sunday favorites.

Do you know, it wasn't until I got home and we added each other on Facebook that the beautiful woman I had speaking with off and on throughout the weekend was a mutual friend of quite a few of my friends? I had seen Kham post on other the walls (er...timelines...) of many of my friends--and not just Colorado people, but even some of the cosplayers I met when I first started attending conventions thirteen years ago. It was so nice to finally have a face and a personality to put with the name!

I was lucky that I grabbed some lunch at my usual time (I became very fond of the turkey offered by Starbucks), because I was just about down to the last bite, when I received an automated call on my cell phone informing me that the Super Shuttle would be arriving in fifteen minutes! Way earlier than the time I had originally requested! There was no help for it, though--I mean, not only was I about to argue with a pre-recorded message, but I understand the way the Super Shuttle works, and it does require you to be somewhat flexible. There was one silver lining to having to leave so abruptly; I had to say goodbye quickly, which meant there was no time for me to start breaking down in tears. (And even less time to second-guess leaving; this weekend had been such a bright spot after so many months of being down, there was a good chance I was going to try to pack myself into Patti and Steph's large Tupperware rather than go home.) For the most part, though, I was disappointed that I did not get to make one last run through the Dealer's Room to buy a few of the things I had had my eye on, and even more disappointed to be leaving my friends, both new and old.

At the airport, I experienced on minor fumble to bookend my almost-lost phone in New York: my hat. Cute hat, right? One of the airport workers even complimented me on it while she was watching the line as we waited our turn to go through security. The TSA agents, on the other hand, were not so appreciative of the BULLET CASINGS!!! that decorated the brim. ::facepalm:: I willingly handed over my hat and let them poke and prod it to their satisfaction, and in doing so, managed to convince them they did not have to give my whole body the same treatment. Sigh. Luckily, it turned out I had plenty of time, as my flight ended up being delayed...I forget how long now, but I know it was at least an hour. But after that, the trip back to New York was without incident. Oh, we had some minor turbulence again, just like I had experienced when I had flown back from Nan Desu Kan, and just like that time, I felt ashamed of being nervous when I heard a little boy giggling a row or two behind me, because he apparently thought it was a whole lot of fun. I left the sunny skies of Denver to land in the dreary rain of New York

Thoughts? Well, I don't see myself attending steampunk conventions on my own, although I *did* have a lot of fun, and *gosh* everyone is so very pretty. But, I'm more willing to attend them if other people wanted me to, and if it wasn't too expensive. It was a much more mature crowd--not that I have a problem with squeeing fangirls, I can be one myself. But it's also nice to kick back and meet people like Andrew, who made the mistake of telling me he was reading Atlas Shrugged for the first time, or Bob, who's seen even more horror movies than I have. I was impressed with the way AnomalyCon in particular was run, and I think it's only going to get better; not only do they attract good volunteers, but they treat them right to ensure that they'll come back again. Andrew himself was promoted to second in command of the dealer room, and then on Sunday he was given full charge of the Dealer room in Justin's absence.

Maybe I'll be back. We'll see. :)