Dragon*Con Report Part 1

It's been 5 days since Dragon*Con closed it's doors for this year and I've been home for 4. I had to build up to blogging as for the first day back I was too tired to be coherent, the second day the change in environment caused a fair bit of tightening to the point were I could barely breathe without it hurting and yesterday and today I was doing catchup of mail, webcomics and internet memes. So I'll cover day one and two of Dragon*Con in this post.

Thursday was mostly spent travelling, I had to fly from Dublin to Atlanta stopping in JFK on the way. It pretty much went very smoothly, I waltzed through security and breezed through customs in Dublin before boarding a very nice plane to JFK. As I posted before I love flying but this was one of the most geeked out planes I'd been on yet. Every seat had it's own screen in the seat in front of it and it was all on demand content. I got to watch The Losers, The A Team and The Karate Kid during the flight and still had time to listen to an album or two before landing.

Once I got to JFK I went through customs again and asides from a quick question about the food I'd declared it was all good. I've watched to many of those Border Patrol or Passport Control shows on TV . . . . I follow the rule "if it goes in my mouth, it's food!", so I always declare that I have Chocolate in my case. They never question how much Chocolate I have and let me go through without even opening the case. Then I headed for my second flight and quickly made my way to Atlanta. Once I landed in Atlanta I got my bags and got out of the Airport in record time. This year I utilised the MARTA (Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority) system instead of a cab and saved myself a fair bit of cash (around $5 for a round trip vs $40 each way in a cab) got off at my stop, checked into the Sheraton (my first hotel) and had a very relaxing shower. I was planning on meeting up with some of the other Forumites from the Devils Panties forum but I ended up crashing on top of the Bed and woke up bright and early Friday Morning.

I got up and went downstairs to pick up my Pre-Reg Badge for the Con which took about an hour and a half (worth for a saving of $50) and then went back to my room for a quick shower before checking out of the hotel (yeah I know I only showered the night before and all I did since then was sleep and queue but Atlanta is gorram hot, so it was needed). I left my case in storage and then walked to the Marriott, Hyatt and Hilton for the convention Proper. Once the Halls were open I went in to see the Artists Alley and got to say hi to Jenny B (thedevilspanties.com/) and Gina Biggs (www.redstring.strawberrycomics.com) again and drop off what is becoming my traditional batch of Chocolates. After I scanned the artists alley for other Webcomics I read (with not entirely satisfying results) I went over to the Dealers and Exhibitors rooms to check out the Merch on sale.

At this point I should mention that I was planning on going through the Con with one or two purchases in mind and scrimping on everything else as I was a little short on funds due to a little credit card snafu (They had blocked my card due to suspected fraudulent activities . . . . I live in Dublin and suddenly there are charges on my card in Atlanta sure looks suss, of course if they went back through my charges and saw the airline tickets to Atlanta and the Hotel room reservations in Atlanta maybe they'd have cracked the Rosetta stone). So I was window shopping trying to locate the bargains and at least whittle down my options. There was a lot of stuff and I reckon if I had both the monies required and luggage enough to carry it all I'd still of had trouble just choosing one item from each stall. There was Steam Punk gear, Sci Fi gear, leather items, DVD's of childhood shows, Action Figures and memorabilia . . . . It was a glorious sight to behold. I finally left the hall with an idea of what I wanted to pick up and list of things that I could neither afford nor pack but wanted regardless.

I went back to the Sheraton to pick up my case and tried to book into the Marriott (Hotel No. 2 for those of you keeping count) but here's where the Credit Card snafu became a major Charlie Foxtrot (look it up or ask a friend with a little experience with military parlance) as my card had been temporarily blocked for security by the Credit Card Company they couldn't use it to check me in . . . . so I had to pay Cash for one night get the mess cleared with the Credit Card Company and use my card to cover the next two nights the next morning. So when I finally got to my room I just put my stuff away and headed back out to see more of the Con.

This time out I did my first sweep of the Walk of Fame . . . . just really to place where people were and to see how many people actually showed up (you still get last minute cancellations. There were one or two people who I did end up saying "aww Damn" about but there were still a lot of people to see. I ended up getting my Trek on and chatting with Robert Beltran and Garrett Wang who play Cmdr Chakotay and Ensign Kim respectively. And I think I managed to make conversation with them without failing my fanboy check.

And that pretty much wraps up my Dragon*Con Friday . . . I had intended to make it to the Saturday Morning (1am) Kilt Blowing but again I ended up crashing after a shower.

More on the Kilt Blowings and the Saturday of Dragon*Con tomorrow.


And why the hell not?!!

Come fly with me!

I love airports, I really do. Maybe it's from my childhood when we would go out to meet people coming home, or say goodbye to those leaving again and we'd usually end up getting a McDonalds on the way home. Whatever the reason I tend to get a thrill when I go to one, they always seem to have a happy energy to me anyway.

I think Kevin Smith nailed it in the establishing scene in Dogma??? If you don't remember it, here's an except from the script:

]---------------------------------[

LOKI

Now here's what I don't get about you: why do you feel the need to come
here all the time?

BARTLEBY

(off travelers)

I like to watch. This is humanity at it's best. Look at them.

**A reunited family share a group hug and move on, making way for two young
lovers to embrace and kiss passionately.**

OC BARTLEBY

All that tension, all that anger and mistrust, forgotten for one perfect
moment when they come off that plane. See those two? The guy doesn't even
know that the girl cheated on him while he was away.

OC LOKI

She did?

**Bartleby and Loki continue to watch the arrivals.**

BARTLEBY

Uh-huh. Twice. But it doesn't matter at this moment because they're both so
relieved to be with one another. I like that. I just wish they could all
feel that way more often.

]---------------------------------[


I've seen that scene played out dozens of times while I've walked through the Arrivals area. The last time, it was a girl waiting for her boyfriend, she was standing there on her mobile to him waiting for him to clear customs. And she had a couple of coffees balanced on top of each other so they could share a drink. I liked that . . . . made me a little warm and fuzzy inside.

So I'm a romantic, I'm ok with that, . . . . aren't you?

And why the hell not?!!