anotheranon | Costume Con pros and cons

I've started 3 different posts about Costume Con, and none of them really capture the mood or add anything to the blow-by-blow I did on Twitter (look back through recent entries). So, I'll hit some highlights:

It was fantastic seeing shemhazai and stanci again - first time since Italy and not nearly often enough! There was much geekery and intense conversation, and full on revelry!
Local people reprazent! vree and ladyaelfwynn were both there for the first time, and it was good to see familiar faces from home, as it were - this was my first CC in 4 years and it felt like starting over socially in some ways.
- Made an effort to talk to new people. This doesn't come naturally to me, so it's noteworthy.
The classes: I hate to say it but....most didn't really blow up my skirt. The corset class was mostly review, the anime vs. sci-fi panel was illuminating but not really about costume, and the fang class was so terrifically disorganized that not only did I not come away with the promised pair of fangs, I didn't even get a dental mold out of those 3 hours. Not sure whether it was the classes or me though - I certainly don't know everything there is to know about costume, but with my feeble output I surely can't have done/learned that much
As with many things, it's the "off-line" conversations and activities that really make or break a weekend, and they made it in this case: Breakfast conversation about books. Chat in the hotel bar about construction. Catching up with long-lost Pink Ladies. Red and Black Ball with hot/funny burlesque (vree's idea, and a good one!). Birthday dinner with dreamtigress. And more I'm not accurately recollecting right now!
Sleep deprivation: plus booze makes the whole thing so much more surreal :P
The masquerades: the Sci-Fi carried the spectrum from clear beginners to rip-roaring comedy and droolingly good steampunk, but the Historic masquerade left me thinking that there are some sterling costumers who were completely under the radar until that competition - even the "novices" were that good.

All in all, it was a roller coaster weekend - exciting and fun, but I'm still recovering from it.

The wonderful thing about events like this is that they both expand and re-focus my mind. My costuming hobby has definitely fallen second to my fencing in recent months/years, but I'm inspired to do/make more - the trick is finding hours in the day. As with all things, I need a more disciplined approach, and as ever, to spend less time goofing off online (which is without question my biggest time suck - worse than tv).

One good thing about the fang class is that I met a local woman who runs a sewing circle. Evidently it's been going on for ~10 years, and if I could even meet with a group like that once a month maybe I'd experience some accountability and encouragement.

Also got many ideas for costumes. This merits a post of their own.