ACEN 2010 – Saturday

I woke up a little later in the morning on Saturday, and in my sleep deprived state I made my way to the elevator. I was joined by one of the Japanese voice actor guests, Kaori Nazuka (Fruits Basket), who speaks more English than I speak Japanese. we said good morning and rode the elevator up to the green room. Muffins and fruit were the order of the day, and I headed out to the floor to set up before going to my 10am panel.

The 10am panel was interesting, because I didn’t think anyone would actually show. The panel was called “Trevor and the Panel that Shall Not be Named,” and there was no description in the brochure about it. I spoke to the woman that scheduled the panel, and she said that she had just been told that I needed to be in another panel – but no one had told her what it should be on. So she didn’t give it a description. And 5 minutes before the panel actually started, I didn’t even know what the heck I was going to talk about.

And that’s exactly what I opened with.

I turned the panel into a funny story panel, and even talked about some of the origins for the gags in @$$hole!. People tend to enjoy the stories of how Susie came to be a regular character, why I decided to make her a barista, and all of the other crazy things that have happened in the 3+ years that I’ve been updating that comic. I had a pretty sizable crowd, and they enjoyed the stories. Even so much that many of them stopped by the table after and chatted me up, and bought copies of the book. It was a great panel, and I love sharing personal stories like that with a great group of people.

I even had a few friends in the crowd from college. And I think it’s safe to say that I made a few more that morning.

Lunch was waiting for me at the table when I got back, and I spent the day selling and meeting people at the show. A fantastic day, as I sold more than I have at any two shows to date. And the people I talked to were some of the nicest – even when they didn’t buy anything.

Jeenie Breeden (Devil’s Panties) stopped by the table, since the day before she had forgotten who I was. We had met very briefly last year at a convention, and she sees so many faces that I didn’t surprise me that I hadn’t left a lasting impression. Her and I chatted up for a while before she went back to her table.

As the floor was closing up, Josh asked me to be on the East vs West panel with him and Steve. We went to the panel room and I put on the persona of The West. I said a lot of things that I didn’t actually agree with, but did it for the comedy and the entertainment of the crowd. The panel went well, and was followed by Russell and Josh’s Batman Strikes! panel. The room was full, and people asked very insightful questions about the writing process.

The panel ended and we went back to the green room only to find that all of the food was gone. We were invited by the American voice actors to go to Gibsons for steak. We ordered a jumbo lobster for an appetizer – 38 ounces! It was larger than my leg from hip to knee, and fed 7 people. Then we ordered the main course. If you love red meat, you need to go to Gibsons – they do it right.

We returned to the green room after midnight, our bellies full of great food. We drank and stayed up way too late, and then went to bed for the final day of ACEN 2010.

The weekend had been great, not just because of the great sales but also because of the great people. Tomorrow would bring a bitter-sweet end to the weekend. Only because I was having so much fun, and all good things have to come to an end eventually.

To be continued….