While in Seattle, I visited my friend Dani at her condo and got reunited with Mina, her domestic shorthair cat. I’ve previously featured pictures of Mina on my blog in the posts “Hello, Mina” and “Hello again, Mina.” It’s been over two years since I last shared photographs of her though, so during this trip, I did a nice, long photo shoot so everyone can see plenty of Mina.
This past weekend, I went to the Sea-Meow Convention, which, as you might be able to tell by its name, is a cat convention in Seattle, Washington.
I do a lot of traveling and I’ve been to a lot of conventions, but all the conventions I’ve been to so far have been work-related, or at the very least, industry-related—all of them have been focused on video gaming or technology. This may come as a surprise, because I live in Las Vegas and there are a lot of conventions hosted in Las Vegas, so you’d imagine that I would’ve had many chances to go to a wide variety of different conventions… but I guess I never really seized any opportunities.
When I received an email encouraging me to attend Sea-Meow, I took it as a calling to finally go to a fun event completely unrelated, and not even adjacent, to my work. I did a bit of research first to make sure that it was actually a cat convention and not a furry convention in disguise, and when I confirmed that the organizations running and sponsoring the convention were cat cafés, cat shelters, and veterinarians, I bought tickets.
Con-goers were allowed to bring their own cats to the convention. Not too many people did, but I got some photos of a few of the cats that attended.
There were also cats that had been brought in by cafés and shelters, which con-goers could pet after making a donation to their cause.
There was a balcony-like area on the sides of the exhibition center from which I was able to look down onto the main floor. Here is what it looked like from the top-down perspective.
Here are photos I took of some of the booths on the convention floor. It was interesting and different than most other conventions I’ve been to in that, instead of it being filled with companies trying to promote their product, a majority of booths were run by independent artists trying to sell their art, custom-made cat toys, or other creations.
On one end of the convention floor, there was a stage that had a handful of panels scheduled. I didn’t watch any of them, but they seemed to have taken a fairly educational approach for their topics.
I got a VIP ticket, which came with free drink refills. Unfortunately, the website did not disclose that the only drinks that are free are hot coffee and hot tea—all specialty drinks were excluded, and even regular iced beverages didn’t count. I don’t really prefer hot drinks, so I didn’t really get much value out of that perk.
Here are some cat-shaped macarons:
The convention was interesting, but small. I don’t know if it’s because I’m just used to conventions of a much greater scale, but there didn’t really seem to be that many booths, and there wasn’t really much to do. I got a VIP ticket for full access on both days of the convention, but I think getting a one-day general admission ticket is more than enough to experience everything.
In the convention’s defense, I feel like there might’ve been more activities in which I could have participated if I combed through everything more carefully and was more willing to wait in line for things. I also went together with a friend who I had not seen in almost three years, and she wanted to spend time walking around and exploring downtown Seattle with me as well while I was in town, so we didn’t stay until convention closing time on either of the days.
Based on my experience, if you own cats and/or are a fan of cats and you already live in or around the Seattle Metropolitan Area, this could be a fun one-day trip to check out a bunch of cat-related artistic creations, buy your cat some new toys, and support independent artists and small businesses.
The VIP ticket I got was US$99.00, but there is a much more affordable US$27.00 one-day general admission ticket, which I think would be worth it for regular cat enthusiasts.
If you know me, you know I adore cats, so when my friend Billie-Rae asked me to accompany her as she went to pick up her new kitten, of course I said yes. She already has a cat named Goblin, and this new kitten would be the second feline addition to her family. She decided to name him Bee Wizard, or Bee Wee for short.
When we went to the foster family’s apartment to pick up Bee Wee, I also had an opportunity to meet some of the other kittens that were up for adoption.
I made quick friends with this one after it emerged from under the dresser and greeted me.
After bidding farewell to his siblings, Bee Wee made his way into the cat carrier and sat peacefully on Billie-Rae’s lap in my pickup truck as we drove to his new home.
After we went indoors, Gobby noticed Bee Wee’s presence and went up to him to investigate.
Moments after arrival, Bee Wee got to enjoy the addictive Inaba Churu.
Time for a quick Gobby intermission.
Bee Wee found the water fountain and made sure to stay hydrated.
After filling up his small belly, Bee Wee went on an adventure and did a great job exploring Billie-Rae’s home, making sure to check out all the corners and edges. Whenever he encountered something new, I tried to go over and teach him how to interact with it—like how to swat at a feather toy, or how to scratch corrugated cardboard panels.
Hello Gobby.
After getting Bee Wee set up in his new room with some food, water, a litter box, a bed, and plenty of toys, Billie-Rae and I went to grab a quick dinner. Upon our return, we discovered that Bee Wee seemed to have tired himself out with all of the toys and eventually fell asleep inside a ring torus tunnel.
Before heading out, I grabbed him for a quick picture.
Bee Wee and I are glowing purple here because Billie-Rae had some purple mood lighting on. Alternatively, we are glowing purple because Bee Wizard is an actual wizard and he cast a spell on us.
This past weekend, I took a very quick trip to Southern California to meet up with Doug Wreden while he was in town. While we were there, we visited some of Doug’s friends, and to my joy, I got to meet their pets.
One of the people we visited was his friend Dash, better known online as Altrive. He has two cats, one named Killdozer and another named Jones BBQ & Foot Massage. Yes, I confirmed with him that those were indeed their actual, real names.
Jones BBQ & Foot Massage is apparently only a few months old, and he is a very energetic little kitten. He spent a lot of time entertaining himself by digging through a paper bag lying on the kitchen floor.
As you’d probably expect from trying to take pictures of a black cat, most of the photos I took of Jones BBQ & Foot Massage were big black blobs, and a lot of them were out of focus. I did my best to edit the raw data from my camera sensor to enhance some of the details of his body, while still trying to accurately portray the light-sucking void that was his hair.
Killdozer is a very well-behaved cat who was very curious and friendly within minutes of meeting me. He was fairly active and always on the move, but after about half an hour, he finally calmed down a bit so I could take some still shots of him.
Like a majority of very young kittens, Jones BBQ & Foot Massage didn’t mind getting picked up, so I made Doug take over as the photographer and had a little photo shoot.
At our next stop, Doug introduced me to Eric and Abby, better known online as PointCrow and AbbyBagel. Their pet is a goldfish named Tortellini. Yes, just like the pasta.
You can literally feel the 🤌 through his piercing eyes and arching frown.
Last month, I met Mina, a domestic shorthair cat. Before heading out of the Seattle Metropolitan Area to continue my transcontinental road trip, I had a final opportunity to visit and play with her one last time.
Earlier that day, a few friends and I went exploring at Alki Point, an area near the West Seattle neighborhood in Seattle, Washington. One of the friends I went with was Doug Wreden. We took another “typical Doug and Parkzer”-style photo in front of the Seattle skyline.
I wore long pants because I brought my point-and-shoot camera and I wanted sturdier pockets to hold it, but it was perfect shorts weather. The sun was shining but not too uncomfortably hot, and there was a light breeze coming from the water. The views were great, and we went on a weekend so there were a lot of other people out and it was fun people-watching.
We got some lunch from Marination Ma Kai. I ordered an entrée of four miso chicken tacos and a can of strawberry-lilikoi-flavored Hawaiian Sun. The food was great—the chicken was high-quality, the tacos weren’t excessively seasoned, and the garnish perfectly complemented the meat without being too sour.
After eating, we walked along the coastline to the Alki Point Lighthouse (which we later discovered was closed, as the tours only operate until Labor Day), then we found some rental scooters and rode them all the way back to our parking spot. The last time I had used one of these scooters was way back in 2019 when I went to St. Paul, Minnesota, and I hadn’t ridden a scooter, bicycle, or anything of the sort since then. It was fun riding one again, especially because Alki had a separate, designated bike lane that I was able to use.
Overall, it was a very enjoyable trip.
Last night, I met up with some friends to get dinner together and walk around Volunteer Park for a bit. After our adventure, I stopped by and visited her condo to meet Mina, her new cat.
Mina is a domestic shorthair that was originally a stray cat with some severe health problems, but she was able to be nursed back to health. Now, Mina is an extremely active, agile, and affectionate cat—probably one of the friendliest I’ve ever met. We suspect Mina is about a year old and has reached cat adulthood, but she still has the size, youth, and energy of a kitten.
It was a bit tricky to get some good pictures of Mina because the lighting wasn’t that great and she was always on the move, but I still got a handful of decent shots, especially after she had calmed down a bit and started grooming herself on the couch.
For the record, I’m not actually as tan as it may seem from this next photograph… Mina’s white hair just radiates light, so when I edit the photo such that her hair no longer blinds you, it ends up making my skin look pretty dark.
