RathaCon is tomorrow!
The event is in Athens, OH at the Athens Community Center from 10 am to 5 pm (the length of the con. Yes, it’s a one-day event). More details can be found on their site.
I’ll be there selling comics and offering commissions, so if you’re in the area, I hope to see you there! Continue reading “The Night Before RathaCon”
Last week I packed all my stuff into a car, left enough room for Marc the Boyfriend, myself, and some food, and we drove all the way from Phoenix, Arizona to Saint Clairsville, Ohio.
According to Google Maps, it’s a trip totaling 2,033 miles.
My car is amazing. Not only did she not break down but she’s like a bag of holding, because I managed to fit a bedroom and an office in it.
On Day 1 we made it through Arizona…
And we stopped at New Mexico and camped out for the night.
We hit the road again in the morning and stopped at Albuquerque because the last time I passed through there, I stopped at a place called the Owl Cafe. I freaking loved their food there, so Marc and I had to stop and get breakfast.
We kept going and passed through the rest of New Mexico, then the Texas panhandle (we passed Cadillac Ranch), and then into Oklahoma.
If there’s any one thing I noticed about the Texas panhandle and Oklahoma, it’s that the wind never stops blowing.
I’m not joking. All of the trees grow at crooked angles because of the wind.
We stayed the night outside of Oklahoma City, and then the next day we went on through Missouri.
I drove us through St. Louis because the interchanges from I-40 to I-70 are a butthurt-and-a-half and I had driven it at least twice before.
Then we got pizza in Illinois and stayed the night in Indiana.
It was the darndest thing, though.
Marc and I were trying to get to Ohio before we finished the day, but ended up staying in Indiana at three in the morning because we were too tired to keep going.
When we hit the road in the morning, the Ohio border was (I kid you not) right next door to our hotel.
But we made it home on Sunday.
I took a few days to unpack and settle in.
But now I’m available for conventions in Ohio and the surrounding states!
In fact, on the road trip over here, my friend Chloe and I secured a spot at the Toledo Art Walk next month!
The Toledo Art Walk is happening July 24th from 6 pm to 9 pm. More details about the art walk can be found on their website.
That’s all for now, but thank you for reading!
I need to share this big news with you.
Right now, I’m in Arizona.
Let me say first that I love being here. I love being able to freelance and enjoy the weather and go to different attractions in the city. I love that everything I need is within driving distance of me. (I’m also a fan of living in a city that has a Trader Joe’s.) Phoenix has been very good to me. I have no complaints.
However, I’m moving back to Ohio soon.
The plan is to move at the start of July. If I can manage it sooner, cool, but if not, no big deal.
I’m not moving because of lack of work, although a lack of conventions does have a bit part.
There just aren’t that many comic or anime conventions that happen in Arizona. Phoenix Comicon is the largest one and is one of only a handful that happen in the entire state in a year.
So lack of conventions to attend is a part of it, but there’s a larger part.
The biggest reason I’m moving back to Ohio is…Marc the Boyfriend.
Right now he’s in the National Guard in West Virginia. He tried to transfer out, but the Guard base there won’t let him, and they haven’t let him move out of state for the past year.
I can’t explain why he is unable to leave because of security reasons. All I can say is he’s part of a team that’s understaffed at the moment, and they haven’t had any new recruits to replace him to let him transfer out to Arizona.
We both talked about it. As sad as he is that he can’t come out here to the desert, he supports my decision to move back.
If anything, I’m the one hesitant to move back.
I love Marc. I love my friends and family in Ohio. That’s not the issue.
The issue is, I’m not a fan of the town I would have to stay in.
After being in Phoenix for around 9 months now, I really, really, REALLY like city-living.
(I’m also not really looking forward to freezing cold and snow. Now that I have had 100 degrees baked into my system, I don’t know how I’ll handle ice anymore.)
If there’s anything to look forward to, it’s more conventions to attend.
The plan for next year is to get to SPACE, Animarathon, ColossalCon, and perhaps even Youmacon, plus maybe a few local shows around my area.
Turns out when you live in a small town in the middle of nowhere, you get bored, so you either host or go to conventions just to draw in other nerds so you’re not as lonely.
Thankfully my freelancing is portable, so moving won’t really affect my work.
And who knows? Maybe some friends of mine and I can get started on making Rubber Duck: The Reckoning into an actual indie movie.
Wouldn’t that be fun?
