Having gone once before really helped this time around; I wasn't quite so completely blown away by the crowds, the noise, the too-many-panels-and-not-enough-time, and especially the too-many-artists-to-see-in-four-days of the whole experience. And then there's the exquisite frustration of having nowhere near enough money to buy EVERYTHING I wanted...
I traded a few sketchbooks and bought a whole bunch from the many fine people who were there...and I got to meet a few artists from deviantART as well: Bill Reinhold, Dan Panosian, Alex Riegel, and Franchesco, all of whom were delightful.
At one point on the exhibit floor when I was nearly overcome by heat and the crush of bodies I found myself thinking, "this is the last year for me; it's too much!" But by the end of the weekend I was making plans for next year. At some point I expect I'm gonna be too old for this kind of craziness but evidently I'm not there yet.
