London town

Ok, so, London, innit?
It wasn't at all as bad as i'd feared, but then again, it wasn't exactly fun either.
I was eating a ton of painkillers all weekend, and as long as i did that, and did my exercises, i felt fine.
Actually, sometimes i even felt a little loopy, but hey, it sure beats being in pain, so i was ok with that.
Of course, halfway through the weekend, Allan's cold decided to find a new host and i was its victim of choice.
As if one of us having a terrible cold wasn't bad enough, right?
I am still struggling with that, by the way, as is Allan, but that's a different story.

But being sick and cold (London was not as pleasant as last year, weather-wise) wasn't what bugged me most about this trip.
What bugged me was this feeling that something important was missing.
The secret ingredient to having a good time.
The spark.
And it wasn't just me being weird as usual, lots of people was feeling it.
In Allan's words, the magic was gone.
The way i felt was this; it was like being at a party, where everything is normal and everyone should be having fun, but it feels like the person who is always the life of the party, the one everything revolves around, isn't there, and nobody can even remember who exactly that person was.
Now, in real life, a bunch of people were in fact missing, and missed, but that wasn't even it.
Something had changed, and i think maybe it was us.

But good things did happen, and despite our misery, good times were had.
We saw some great friends and met some nice new people too, and that alone was worth the trouble, and we probably will go back next year, but this weekend has just made me all the more comfortable with our decision to not do that many conventions anymore.

Just off the Stansted Express
(look how light we traveled, the tiny, knee-high suitcase is mine)
Home, sweet blah
Thursday night, we went to the venue to set up the booth
Chriss' banner had gone green
Yeah, Kent, show some consideration, ok?
I'm not gonna name any names, but this is where the vegan and the vegetarian of our little group do their shopping... who likes the oceans anyway, right?
Hotel restaurant pasta
Friday, unlike last year i reminded Allan to take a picture of me once in a while
Yup, i wore sweaters all weekend... it's the most dressed-down i've ever been at a convention, i think
Allan hated doing this, but he was in no shape to work
This was in the artist and helper toilet (yes, we finally got our own toilets, that was a pleasant surprise!)
Allan already posted his three tattoos, so here's a sweet one that Chriss did, on Saturday i think?
Saturday, Allan felt in ok shape to work, so he was happy again
My view
During the weekend i did a lot of booth-sitting for Kent who was working the TAM booth alone (you can't really tell in the picture, but i'm wearing these awesome navy/glitter tights from Japan)
Laurits and Rikke got awesome new tattoos
Shige did crazy long sessions on huge pieces
Sam* brought donuts... this was Sunday by the way
Monday, look who's ready to get the fuck out of there
Eckel the Tourist
I bought a new scarf and some tea for my grandfather and absolutely nothing for myself, not even these fancy shoes
Hunter, Allan and me on our annual Regent Street/Topshop trip
Oh, and i came home to this shit, and this was just one of my email accounts... that's what you get for ignoring the internet for an extended weekend, i guess

So, yeah, that was the short version of what we did this weekend.
There is a longer one (there always is) but that one involves details that implicate other people, so i'll just leave it at this.
I wish my story was more cheerful and uplifting, and i wish i at least had a sweet new tattoo to show off, but we don't always get everything we wish for, and that's ok too.
Compared to what i'd expected, or feared is more like it, this weekend was actually pretty ok.
Allan has tattoo pictures up on his blog, so don't forget to check those out!

*I'm sorry for the double-chin picture, guys, but the other one i took was way too bright!

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