PCOC Paperfolding Fiesta

This is a post about the recent Pacific Coast Origami Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  So why then is the lead photo of a hotel urinal?

You're one mouse click away from the answer....




Patricia Grodner, the Albuquerque Origami Society, and OUSA put on a well-organized, above-and-beyond, enjoyable Convention.  So much was put into the Convention goodies and the detailed decorating of the Marriott Pyramid Hotel where the Convention was hosted.  The Convention coincided with the annual hot air Balloon Fiesta- the most photographed event in the world.  So the hotel was decorated from top to bottom in origami hot air balloons.

I did not stay in the hotel, but at a friend's house.  But I did use the Hotel lobby men's room.  Hence the top photo.  Hence my only complaint:

That urinal is waaaay too high!  It's the only one in the lobby area (I ultimately discovered a couple of other public restrooms in the building, as evidenced by the photo below).  I had to stand on my tippy toes in order to aim above the rim.  Embarrassing.

And I'm relieved to say that I wasn't alone in the "short people" complaint about it!  I ran into Michael LaFosse in there and he echoed the same sentiments I had about it!  As did Andrew Hans.  What are young boys supposed to do?  Tinkle in the sit-down toilet, I suppose.  Urinals should never be made exclusively that high.  Tall people can pee in low urinals.  But us shorties are challenged to pee upward.

Now this is more like it!

Anywhoo....moving on.....








I taught Herman Lau's dollar flower-in-a-pot on Saturday and Wensdy Whitehead's $ spinning tip top on Sunday.  I didn't take any classes but spent much of my time in the vending/exhibition area.  There was good traffic that came through there, thanks to good promotion.  I asked people who were not registered for the Conference, how they heard about the exhibit.  Responses ranged from local newspaper to seeing Patty's televised interview at the Balloon Fiesta.  One family said they heard it through the library, where the Albuquerque Origami Society promoted it.

The Shumakovs had the most perfect centerpiece exhibit for the Conference exhibition room, themed to perfection with Albuqurque's Balloon Fiesta, and includes an ori-replica of Albuquerque's Old Town Church - San Felipe de Neri Church:

Joe Hamamoto folded  lots of giveaways for me to hand out.

In addition to learning Glenn Sapaden's Encyclopedia Origamica, the only other model I acquired learning in the hospitality area was "Leaping Willy", from Mark Kennedy:



Mark's jokes never get old to me- probably because whenever he tells it to a new group of people, the reactions are fresh and fun to see; plus, after 6 years away from him, I did hear a couple of new material from him:



I only stayed until early morning Monday; then began my 13 hour drive back to Los Angeles (because I had to work Tuesday).

After having dropped off the convention map since 2007, it was so good to be back, seeing old friends from around the globe (as seeing lots of my friends from LA).

 I say it every year to myself (and others), but I plan to make it back to NYC next year.



All my photos can be seen here.

Photo courtesy of Sok Song