DragonCon Recap!!
I know I'm way overdue with this update. So now you get to suffer through a delayed posting of me going on and on about how much fun I had at DragonCon. I have been going non-stop since days before leaving. I still have a ton of things sitting here that I absolutely MUST get done today. But I also want to get things written down before I begin to forget nifty details!
Since I don't have classes on Friday and school was closed on Labor Day, I was able to fly out early Friday morning and make it to D*C without missing a single class. (Yay me!) This was quite an accomplishment on my part, since Tuesdays and Thursdays are my hardest days at school. I had a pleasant, though crowded, flight. I don't know who keeps making the reports about fewer people flying ... because every flight I've made this year has been overbooked and security has certainly been as crowded as ever. But I've traveled enough now that I have streamlined what I carry and go ahead and pay the $20 to check my big suitcase; which makes it fast and easy for me in security.
I think one of my favorite parts of DragonCon every year is that first meeting with friends I only see once or twice a year. When I arrived at the hotel I went straight to the Weyrfest room, luggage and all. It makes a girl feel good to walk into a room and hear squeals and cheers and have people rush to hug ya. ::grins:: Todd was first of course and then I started at the back of the room and worked my way forward getting to say hello to Ceara, Robert, Susan, Loren, Diana and of course the ever gorgeous Cat along the way. It was amazing how many of our regular attendees were already there at 10:00 when the convention doesn't officially start until 1.
After a whirlwind of hugs and smooches I took my luggage upstairs and managed one of those rare Con moments of being able to quietly catch up with a friend and have an actual conversation. It is kind of crazy that in four days I only managed two quiet heart to heart, "so how is life really going" moments. The first with Todd and the last night with Nat. D*C is one mad whirl of activity from start to finish!
A couple of hours after I arrived Natalie, Steve and the babies found me! I admit, I go to DragonCon each year very much to see my extended family. We didn't have long to catch up and get all my things put away before it was time for the panels to begin. Friday's panels were fun and well attended. Which is encouraging since we've been fighting to keep Weyrfest from being merged with another lit track for a few years now. The larger D*C becomes the more space is an issue. One of the crazy things about Friday was the last panel.
For years now, we have been playing Are You a Werewolf late at night in the Weyrfest room. We never put it on the schedule. We would just tell a few people we would be playing and other's who have played with us in the past would come looking for us. But this year, it was made official and Cat scheduled it as the last panel of the day at something like 8:30. Now, usually werewolf is played with about 12 to 15 people and by the last night of the con we'd have somewhere around 25 or so playing. Which according to the rules is too many. But we have so much fun and are so loud when we play, there is no way we could have two different groups playing in the same room. So as 8:30 approached we had more and more people appearing. Many of them were people who have become regulars and it was great to see them again. We kept making the circle of chairs bigger ... and bigger ... and bigger. Till finally there was no more space to make the circle any larger. We ended up with 46 people playing the first game. 46!!!!! And we still had people standing in the doorway alcove watching. It took us about an hour to play the first game, but it was hilarious. After that the numbers tended to hover each night in the high 20's to low 30's for participants ... but there were often nearly as many people watching as playing.
Saturday started with the DragonCon parade. This is always a huge hit. THOUSANDS of geeks and freaks all dressed up and marching through downtown Atlanta is something everyone should experience at least once. There were the usual Stormtroopers, Klingons and Alliance troops; but there were also the table of elements and a group in costumes from Monty Python's Holy Grail that included a wooden rabbit. Some people put a LOT of work into their parade contributions. It is seriously cool. Saturday's panels were also pretty well attended and things were lots of fun.
In the late afternoon I went and got dressed up in preparation for our Costume Contest, and was very glad I was already looking spiffy when I was gifted with a very coveted and hard to get ticket to Saturday night's DragonCon Awards banquet. I don't want to name any names as to who gave me the ticket, but he was hugged within an inch of his life and I am sooooo grateful! Banquet turned out to be a little slice of geek heaven. I sat two tables away from Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner and Kate Mulgrew. ::happy fan girl swoon:: I was close enough to hear the good natured heckling Shat gave Nimoy during Nimoy's acceptance speech. But in Shat's defense, Nimoy was attempting to sic the entire room on Shat to ask for autographs after the banquet. It was lots of fun and obvious that these guys really are friends. That was really nice to see.
Afterward we had another night of werewolf that was just a teensy bit wilder than the night before. This seems to be the con trend, each night is a bit raunchier than the night before. ::laughing:: Another fun benefit of playing werewolf each night is when people have so much fun they begin coming to some of our actual panels during the day. That's when we KNOW we've hooked another victim!
Sunday had some of what I think were our best panels ever. Anyone who missed the "A Time with Anne" panel that we had in one of the ballrooms in the morning missed a lot of fun and a great treat. Basically, we had several talented and well known types sitting around telling stories on Anne. I say on Anne because anyone who has met her knows she is quite the character and has been known to get into a bit of mischief now and then. You know it is a good panel when at the end of it the guests on the panel say things like "We should do more panels like this in the future. That was fun!" I agree ... we should. And we should film them, because a lot of amazing sci-fi history was being reminisced about up there. We had Todd McCaffrey, Jody Lynn Nye, Katherine Kurtz, Don Maitz, Janny Wurts, Scott MacMillan and Chelsea Quinn Yarbro for that panel. Quite frankly, it was awesome. And even though I embarassed myself horribly later in the afternoon by calling him Don ... I fell absolutely in love with Scott MacMillan on Saturday. But more on that later.
After that panel I finally tore myself away from working Weyrfest to take a turn through the Art Show (amazing!) and the Dealer's Rooms (Overwhelming!) and finally made it to the Walk of Fame that was in the Hilton this year. (DragonCon now needs FOUR hotels to host all the awesome.) I stood in line for a chance to meet Felicia Day and get and autograph'd CD and picture. She is a real sweet heart. Then I met Ron Glass who is hilarious! I couldn't stop the fan gushing and said, "I have loved you since Barney Miller and was so excited when I saw you on Firefly!" to which he responded, "So what can we do to make this obviously brilliant woman happy?!" By Saturday afternoon a lot of the stars on the Walk of Fame were looking a bit tired and as if they wished they were anywhere but stuck in that hot room overflowing with people. But he was energetic and just beaming at anyone and everyone who stopped to talk to him. After over 14 years of attending DragonCon it takes a lot for a star to make me go "wow!" ... but he is one of them.
On the way back to the Weyrfest room, while traveling through the habitrail system linking the hotels, Robert and I had a close brush with James Marsters who was rushing back to his booth with a plate of nachos in hand. It's not often the stars are brave enough to bustle about in the midst of the crowds without staff in tow providing a bit of security. Was kind of cool to see him walking around being just a normal fellow.
Later in the afternoon Jody, Todd and I were hosting a panel called the Delphic Oracle. It is an exerise in hilarious silliness and everyone who was in attendance will tell you that next year it is highly likely this will be a standing room only panel. We were just getting started when Katherine Kurtz and Scott MacMillan wandered into the room and spontaneously joined us in our controled chaos. They were great sports and made hilarious contributions to the oracle's pronouncements. Sci-fi writers are simply the best! I've known for years that Jody Lynn Nye is the bomb for how generous she is with her time and her willingness to join in our craziness, but now I am also enamoured of Katherine and Scott for also being totally nifty and really good sports! If you haven't read their stuff ... do yourself a favor and start.
After that, even though she had already begun to come down with ConCrud, Cat managed to have sex with a standing room only crowd. ::snickers:: Well ... not literally. But still, no one conducts the dragon sex panel like Cat does. As evidenced by the sheer volume of people who will cram their bodies into the room to be part of the hilarity and smutty conversation. Cat totally rocks. Big time. Also, it doesn't hurt that she's hot as hell even when she feels like crawling under a rock and dying. No one person should have that much sexy and attitude in their possesion. It simply isn't fair.
The awesome kept right on going after that when Emerald Rose came to perform for Weyrfest. In case someone reading this hasn't managed to experience the awesomeness that is Emerald Rose ... I suggest all the gamers go and listen to this
Click to viewEmerald Rose is amazing! We had thought we were going to hopefully be lucky enough to have them play for about half an hour. But they, and we, were having so much fun they played for nearly two hours!! It was teh AWESOME!! I was very pleased with our Weryfest peeps when they mobbed the band afterward to shower them with money and buy CD's. The guys stood around and talked and autographed for a while. Great guys, fantastic music. Everyone should be a fan!
Then came the last night of werewolf. There was a tiny bit of intoxication and a whole LOT of silliness. And yes, by request there was even a slightly inebriated telling of the suicidal cow story. ::coughs and whistles innocently:: Somewhere around 1 amish we closed down the weyrfest room and went upstairs to have a few last night drinks. Now, we have a slight tradition of enjoying a lovely shot known as an Orgasm. It is quite as yummy a drink as the name should by rights imply. Well .. as the entourage of about 20 or so people followed through the halls of the hotel on our way to the hotel bar, I was telling Robert about the tradition. Just as we were approaching the lobby of the Hyatt I was saying, "Oh yes, we have a tradition of having orgasms together every year on the last night." I then linked my arm through Todd's and we were all snickering and laughing as I said, "I would say I've had more orgasms with Todd than anyone!" .... just as we rounded the corner near the ATM machine where there were a couple of guys standing who understandably glanced up at such a pronouncement. One of them chimed in with "Way to go Todd!!" ::dies laughing:: Ah yes, gotta love overheard and out of context snippets of conversation.
We hung out in the bar and had drinks until the bar closed down and kicked us out. It was hilarious and tons of fun. I seriously do adore my Weyrfest peeps!
Monday is the sad day of everyone slowly heading out to start long drives home or dashing to the airport. Lots of hugs and email exchanges. We only had a few panels, one of which was Todd doing a reading from his new book and treating people in attendance with a few spoilers about the next few that are in the works. All I can say is the next book is going to have me in tears. When Todd, Ceara and I headed out for the airport I had one last unexpected treat when I met Lois McMaster Bujold. She was delightful, as one would expect I'm sure. ::grins::
And so brings another DragonCon to a close. I have to say, it was quite the challenge for me to attempt such a rushed and on the fly Con. I much prefer it when I get to fly in a day early and stay a day after. It gives me more time for just sitting and talking to Todd, Nat, Steve and seeing the little girls without the need to rush. But better a quickie Con than no Con at all!! This rambling account of the weekend cannot begin to impart how amazing D*C was or how much I seriously adore my Weyrfest family.
Todd, Nat, Steve, my little girls, Cat, Susan, Robert, Diana, Nicky, ... and the werewolf regulars ... you seriously rock my world. I can't wait to see you all again next year!!