WONDERFEST 2023

SUNDAY
Considering the hour I went to bed, I woke up at a decent hour. Around 9. After a hot shower and food I was feeling great.
Time to go hit the contest room and see how I did. Big Kong got a silver, and little Kong got a bronze. Sweet!
Everything else got a merit. I was pretty stoked about that, until I got to looking around a bit more. Seems like everything got at least a merit.
Hmm. I can see both sides of this. Yeah, it's nice and gives people a bit of motivation knowing they got something from a contest. But I am also old school. I remember when getting a merit was pretty tough. It meant something. You were very close to medaling, but just not quite there.
Now the judging on the medals themselves seemed pretty good to me. I don't remember seeing anything that got a medal and made me wonder why. I might have wondered why it didn't score higher, but I also wasn't seeing all sides of most of the stuff, or getting real up-close to it.

Next, it was upstairs to catch Annya's demo on skin. The hallway was packed with people waiting for the previous demo to let out. When people finally started going in, it was apparent that it was going to be standing room only.
I wasn't that interested in the demo.
So, once again, another show where I saw zero demos or discussions.
Back to the dealers room. I went ahead and bought a contrast paint set of Citadel paints that I had been eying the day before. Not a bad deal. Nine paints for $45. A nice deal from Upscale Hobbies. I ran that back to the room and went back to the contest room for more pics.
After that I stopped in the hallway for a sandwich. I discovered last year that the sandwiches were pretty good. Got a ham & cheese croissant for $8. Yeah, a little pricey, but you pay for the convenience. It was good, and filling, so I am not complaining.
I little carbs and protein go a long way to keeping one moving on the last day of a convention.

Back to wandering between dealers room and contest room, checking things out and visiting with people.
I was sad to see Atlantis has packed up and left pretty early on Sunday, I was hoping to have some time to talk a bit with him about the PS reissues. Things being so chaotic on Saturday, I didn't manage to make the time for that.
Same for Monarch who also packed up and left like around noon. I really wanted to spend some time chatting with Scott, but he was pretty busy all Saturday with everyone else stopping at his table. I only had the opportunity for a few quick/short chats.
All weekend long I had been lamenting the lack of having Michigan Toy Soldier at the show and the lack of paint brushes to buy. I had been meaning to ask Jesse where his brushes were but either he wasn't at the table when I went by, or he was dealing with a customer.
Then, Sunday afternoon someone ran into me in the dealers room and mentioned Garage Kits USA had brushes on the table finally!
So, I made a bee-line for his table. I found a set of pastel brushes and a set of the detail synthetic-sable sable brushes from Kolibri. I have one of the detail brushes I got a few years ago, and I love it. So I was stoked to be able to get more. I might have gotten more drybrushing brushes but he only had sets and no individual ones. He also had packs of sanding sticks for $5 so I grabbed that as well.
I ran that stuff back to the room and got the entry forms for my two medal earning kits. It was almost time to pick up kits (3 PM) and I thought I might get a jump start.
When I got back downstairs, the line to pick up kits was really long, like almost down to the dealers room. So I took a peak down the hallway to pick up awards, and saw a couple people there. I went down the hall and had my silver and bronze in like 5 minutes.
So that was out of the way, picking up the kits can wait until the line goes down. I'm not waisting show time standing in line, even if my buying was pretty much done. I took my awards back to the room. Saw Ross and Bill sitting at the Embassy, so I stopped to join them.
Got to talking about the brushes I finally got and ended up running to my room to get them to show them. Bill wanted to get some. So, off to the dealers room we all went.
I was surprised at how many dealers were in the process of tearing down and packing out.
About this time, a storm started moving in as well, so those dealers leaving early were getting caught in the rain.
Eventually, round 4:30 I decided to try getting my entries again. There was no line, and most of the kits were gone. I walked up to the door with my box, and entry forms and grabbed them all and left in like 5 minutes. It helped that I had the forms in the order that I wanted to pick up the kits so they would fit in the box. Took them back to my room and just left them there.Back to hanging in the dealers room visiting as much as I could.
Eventually it was over and I got kicked out of the dealers room  Back to the Embassy.

Luckily only one of the chairs got wet from the rain. We decided to get food early. Real food this time. Britny wanted Bob Evans as she can't get that in Denver. Her boyfriend had never had it, and I am always up for Bob Evans.
Dinner was very satisfying. Of course, upon our return, we went back to the Embassy after swinging by the dealers room to say bye to a few more people as they were still loading up.
I went and took some pics of my awards and goodies I bought and packed up a bunch of stuff and took it to the car so I wouldn't have to do it on Monday.
Then to the Embassy.
It was packed. Lots of people. The courtyard had a bunch of people gathered at the tables too.
Everyone was ready to cut loose and have some fun.

Then the rain started again. We stayed on the patio under the balconies and continued to drink and socialize.
After a while it got cold, so I grabbed my hoodie and wandered a bit. Ran into a few people briefly, then back to the Embassy. Things were starting to break up as the Canadians were heading out early as they had a long drive ahead of them.
After that I headed up to the Cult-suite. I had made an appearance on Saturday, but wasn't feeling the vibe. Tonight though, things were quiet, chill, and lots of great conversation. Spent a couple hours up there.
Then I ran into more people in the lobby and courtyard.
Finally called it sometime after 3 AM.

Got up in the morning, Ate, hauled the rest of my stuff down to the car, drove around to the front and checked out..

Ride home was just as uneventful as the drive down. Traffic moved along nicely and I made great time. At least until I got on this side of Cleveland, then it was frustrating.
Being one a  busy 2 lane stretch after flying along on 3 lane highways most of the day was a bit aggravating.

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