Last year, I went to MegaCon and hung out at the Hash booth, where I got to know a couple of the Hashes and met another Hash user (Hi, Elyssa!), all of whom were really cool.

I had fun, so I planned to go again this year — and then promptly forgot until around 12:15 yesterday morning — the day of the con (actually, it started Friday, but work interfered with that). D'oh! So I got a reasonably good night's sleep, then drove on down to Orlando.

Both the Hashes remembered me (James Hash spun around and shook my hand without even breaking stride in his demo), and I talked a bit with whoever was taking a break from demoing.

They were doing really well this year; there was a lot of interest in Animation:Master, and after a while I was pitching in by answering questions (I even made a couple of sales, including to one guy who rephrased just about every question in six or seven different ways, apparently because he didn't believe the answers). As thanks, they bought me dinner and gave me a set of their 2004 SIGGRAPH videos. (Why, why didn't I go to SIGGRAPH when it was in Florida? Apparently the closest it'll ever come again to Florida is Boston.)

Alas, no other Hash users showed up this year. C'est la vie.

I took a turn around the exhibitor floor looking for something for Karen, but didn't really find anything I thought she'd be interested in. There was a DVD booth across the aisle from Hash, and just as things were closing I decided I had to have the movie they'd had playing on one of their TVs all day ("Appleseed: The Movie"). It was cel-shaded computer anime; I have no idea what the plot was, but it was visually breathtaking.

I didn't see many frightening con attendees this year. The usual stormtrooper contingent (with two femtroopers), some Fetts (in both Boba and Django varieties), quite a few Sailor Moons (most of whom were actually Asian), and a lot of girls (and a couple of guys) wearing cat ears. I'm still not sure what that's all about. Furries, maybe? There were also a few cross-dressers (one of the con staff explained to the Hashes that it was an Orlando thing); one of them did a disturbingly good job; I honestly didn't realize it was a guy until I heard him speak. Oh yeah, and there was someone dressed as the Cookie Monster. Still not sure about that one.

Anyway, after dinner, the Hashes dropped me off at my car, back in the convention center lot. I actually spent about fifteen minutes trying to get out of the parking lot, as the only exit that didn't have those severe-tire-damage spikes poking up was festooned with signs reading "DO NOT ENTER". Finally, in frustration, I took the forbidden exit... and found myself in another lot with spikes at all the gates. So I parked and examined the spikes, and found that I could have driven over them, as they fold right down if you're exiting. Arrrgh.

The drive home was a bear, but I managed to stay awake by singing along to Me First and the Gimme Gimmes. My voice was shot by the time I got home, but at least I made it.

And now to watch the SIGGRAPH videos, as there are some techniques on there which will come in really handy for the next freelance job I'm doing.

Addendum: There was a Homestar Runner booth? Why the hell didn't I see it?