Tuesday, September 6, 2022

No ReaperCon for Me


Alas life decided that I wasn't going to ReaperCon this year. Not only was it the first year I was going to teach it was going to be my last year attending.

Short version on why I didn't go. Changing my driver's license to my new state resulted in getting a paper temporary one TSA won't accept as identification and then credit card fraud required I get a replacement card. Both of these happened less than a week before the trip. With no TSA valid ID and no credit card flying and renting a car wasn't going to happen.

Why was this going to be my last year? Good question. I'd been enjoying this convention since 2005 (artist con that year but still) but things change. My interests have changed. My painting level and direction have changed. The convention has changed. All those changes combined means this isn't a convention for me.

Conventions are expensive. Travel, hotel, tickets, classes, meals. It adds up quickly. Weighing that against what I got from the convention started tilting the scales in the wrong direction. That's not to say ReaperCon isn't fun. A whole lot of people have fun. I'm just not one of them anymore.

I missed seeing the few people I know. I missed seeing the artists I know. I missed getting to teach my class. I missed the fun classes I chose to take as my final ones. I missed some of the regional restaurants. I missed them more because I knew I wouldn't experience all that again.

I wish I'd taken many, many more pictures of those early years. I tried but it never really happened. They've long ago been scrubbed from the Reaper website in updates and changes. I'll rely on my memories and let them rose color the whole thing.

ReaperCon was the last convention I'd been attending. The ones that were local to me either changed direction away from what interested me or failed. GenCon was always a shopping trip and I don't need to shop anymore. I don't know that there's local conventions where I am but we'll see. I'm not holding out hope and none of the other conventions around the country had interested me enough to consider going. At least not in the last decade or so.

Fifteen conventions and at least two artist conventions later it's time to let this one go.

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