DragonCon Part 1 (Thursday and Friday)
Thursday
So Thursday was mostly spent traveling. I went into work for about an hour due to deadlines, then went home and packed. Mothoc gave me a ride to the airport, which was my first time at that airport. It is tiny! I was expecting the air ride to Houston to be cramped and uncomfortable but in reality it was very spacious. The seating was nice. A bumpy ride but still comfortable. I spent a small layover in Houston before starting a flight to Atlanta. That plane was cramped and uncomfortable. The seats were smaller, the leg space annoyingly short. The upside was that the flight attendant thought was a comedian and he was actually rather funny. That and I had a pleasant conversation with my neighbor across the isle, and also got almost all of the last Dresden Files book (that is published). I highly suggest the series.
So I arrived and Keystone was already in the airport. We met up and got my luggage and made our way to the hotel. We road the MARTA/Train from the airport to the hotel. It was a small walk to the hotel. It is a very nice hotel. There was a minor mix up with with reservations was it was easily fixed. We ended up ordering pizza from a local place that was really good, and then crashing.
Friday
So about seven in the morning we woke up. Showered and took the MARTA to the con. There were plenty of people around which made it easy to find out where registration was. When we got there there was a HUGE outside line. Both Lance and I were surprised. Luckily they were just lining up people so they could easily sort them into pre-reg and onsite and ticket master lines. Lance had to do onsite so I went to pre-reg alone. It wasn't too bad. The line was hugely long but it moved quickly. I read more of the Dresden Files book since everybody around me wasn't that interested in talking. There was a cool couple in Steampunk costumes though. At some point someone brought a beach ball and that got amusing. Registration went smoothly. Pat signed a transfer form for me to get his spare badge since he got a guest badge. So by about 9:30 I had a badge and wandered to the on-site reg to find Lance.
Lance was still in line, so I waited and talked with a nice old woman for awhile, while reading the program book. After Lance got his badge we wanted back to the mall that connects the train and the con hotels and had lunch and planned out what we wanted to go to. There was a new alternative history track that really caught our eye so we wandered down there to do that. However the panel was full when we got there so we wandered into the anime room across the way. The anime that was showing was called Rideback, and it was awesome. It was about a girl who's life was to be a ballet dancer but she hurt her ankle and so she ends up becoming a driver of a type of mecha motor-cycle with arms. I know weird huh? But its awesome. We watched the first two eps and got up to go to the first steam punk panel, only to find it over flowing and not allowed in. So we went back into the anime room to watch the last ep they were showing today (there is more tomorrow I plan to go see).
So once that was done we wandered up to the art-show and wandered around there. There was a lot of really cool art. We didn't have a lot of time to wander around but we got a lost of business cards for the possible future. So after that we got back to the steam punk panel room just in time to get in line for the Repo! The Genetic Opera! panel. Apparently the alternate history panels are so popular and the rooms so small. Lance and I were 2nd in line, so we got front seats which were okay seats but still we learned a lot about the film, like how it was originally supposed to be 3 hours long, and how Lions Gate really tried to bury it. Its rather amazing. After that panel I wandered to a John Ringo reading while Lance wandered off. The John Ringo reading was hilarious. He focused on a book coming out in February called "Life Free or Die" that sounds hilarious. I can't wait for it.
After that I met up again with Lance and we wandered through the dealer's room. I bought the Cthulhu Living Card Game basic set and a new Cthulhu based Steve Jackson game that looked fun, as well as a copy of Wizard, and another Jim Butcher book to read on the plane back home. After that we wandered around looking for food, got some burgers from the con vendor's for fairly cheap. Not great food but it was food. Ended up eating it on the bottom floor of the Hyatt in the area near where Todd McCaffery was going to be hosting a 'Are you a Werewolf?' game. A guy in a wheel chair joined us to bitch about the con and how inaccessible it was to handicapped people, which I didn't mind because he had valid points, but it was kind of annoying that all he did was complain about this and that. After finishing our food Lance and I wandered back to the anime room to see what was going on there, which was nothing interesting, so we wandered to a corner and tried out the Cthulhu LCG. Fun little 2 player game. Basically a CCG but with fixed cards expansions from what I Could see. We didn't get far enough to finish the game until 'Are you a Werewolf?' started.
We made it to the panel in time to help re-arrange chairs. The game had 48 peoples, which was amazing. I ended up being a villager, while Lance was a werewolf. Todd McCaffery is a funny guy. Ultimately we didn't fully get into the spirit of the game but the villagers won over the werewolves. I survived as one of the last 13. I made the final accusation that killed the final werewolf. Go me! I was the town bartender. :) And I was never accused. After that Lance and I tried to decide if there was anything else to do but we were tired, so we headed back to the hotel. We played a full game of Cthulhu LCG and mostly wound down. Its 1am now and I'm gana catch some sleep until Pat, Trip, Janel, and Jen call or knock on the door to wake us up to let them into the hotel room. Wheee!
Tomorrow I'm hoping to catch a panel: Tips to podcasting your novel, and watch the next three Eps of Rideback, and probably go to a dark-wave concert late that night. Other than that I'm not really sure...
So Thursday was mostly spent traveling. I went into work for about an hour due to deadlines, then went home and packed. Mothoc gave me a ride to the airport, which was my first time at that airport. It is tiny! I was expecting the air ride to Houston to be cramped and uncomfortable but in reality it was very spacious. The seating was nice. A bumpy ride but still comfortable. I spent a small layover in Houston before starting a flight to Atlanta. That plane was cramped and uncomfortable. The seats were smaller, the leg space annoyingly short. The upside was that the flight attendant thought was a comedian and he was actually rather funny. That and I had a pleasant conversation with my neighbor across the isle, and also got almost all of the last Dresden Files book (that is published). I highly suggest the series.
So I arrived and Keystone was already in the airport. We met up and got my luggage and made our way to the hotel. We road the MARTA/Train from the airport to the hotel. It was a small walk to the hotel. It is a very nice hotel. There was a minor mix up with with reservations was it was easily fixed. We ended up ordering pizza from a local place that was really good, and then crashing.
Friday
So about seven in the morning we woke up. Showered and took the MARTA to the con. There were plenty of people around which made it easy to find out where registration was. When we got there there was a HUGE outside line. Both Lance and I were surprised. Luckily they were just lining up people so they could easily sort them into pre-reg and onsite and ticket master lines. Lance had to do onsite so I went to pre-reg alone. It wasn't too bad. The line was hugely long but it moved quickly. I read more of the Dresden Files book since everybody around me wasn't that interested in talking. There was a cool couple in Steampunk costumes though. At some point someone brought a beach ball and that got amusing. Registration went smoothly. Pat signed a transfer form for me to get his spare badge since he got a guest badge. So by about 9:30 I had a badge and wandered to the on-site reg to find Lance.
Lance was still in line, so I waited and talked with a nice old woman for awhile, while reading the program book. After Lance got his badge we wanted back to the mall that connects the train and the con hotels and had lunch and planned out what we wanted to go to. There was a new alternative history track that really caught our eye so we wandered down there to do that. However the panel was full when we got there so we wandered into the anime room across the way. The anime that was showing was called Rideback, and it was awesome. It was about a girl who's life was to be a ballet dancer but she hurt her ankle and so she ends up becoming a driver of a type of mecha motor-cycle with arms. I know weird huh? But its awesome. We watched the first two eps and got up to go to the first steam punk panel, only to find it over flowing and not allowed in. So we went back into the anime room to watch the last ep they were showing today (there is more tomorrow I plan to go see).
So once that was done we wandered up to the art-show and wandered around there. There was a lot of really cool art. We didn't have a lot of time to wander around but we got a lost of business cards for the possible future. So after that we got back to the steam punk panel room just in time to get in line for the Repo! The Genetic Opera! panel. Apparently the alternate history panels are so popular and the rooms so small. Lance and I were 2nd in line, so we got front seats which were okay seats but still we learned a lot about the film, like how it was originally supposed to be 3 hours long, and how Lions Gate really tried to bury it. Its rather amazing. After that panel I wandered to a John Ringo reading while Lance wandered off. The John Ringo reading was hilarious. He focused on a book coming out in February called "Life Free or Die" that sounds hilarious. I can't wait for it.
After that I met up again with Lance and we wandered through the dealer's room. I bought the Cthulhu Living Card Game basic set and a new Cthulhu based Steve Jackson game that looked fun, as well as a copy of Wizard, and another Jim Butcher book to read on the plane back home. After that we wandered around looking for food, got some burgers from the con vendor's for fairly cheap. Not great food but it was food. Ended up eating it on the bottom floor of the Hyatt in the area near where Todd McCaffery was going to be hosting a 'Are you a Werewolf?' game. A guy in a wheel chair joined us to bitch about the con and how inaccessible it was to handicapped people, which I didn't mind because he had valid points, but it was kind of annoying that all he did was complain about this and that. After finishing our food Lance and I wandered back to the anime room to see what was going on there, which was nothing interesting, so we wandered to a corner and tried out the Cthulhu LCG. Fun little 2 player game. Basically a CCG but with fixed cards expansions from what I Could see. We didn't get far enough to finish the game until 'Are you a Werewolf?' started.
We made it to the panel in time to help re-arrange chairs. The game had 48 peoples, which was amazing. I ended up being a villager, while Lance was a werewolf. Todd McCaffery is a funny guy. Ultimately we didn't fully get into the spirit of the game but the villagers won over the werewolves. I survived as one of the last 13. I made the final accusation that killed the final werewolf. Go me! I was the town bartender. :) And I was never accused. After that Lance and I tried to decide if there was anything else to do but we were tired, so we headed back to the hotel. We played a full game of Cthulhu LCG and mostly wound down. Its 1am now and I'm gana catch some sleep until Pat, Trip, Janel, and Jen call or knock on the door to wake us up to let them into the hotel room. Wheee!
Tomorrow I'm hoping to catch a panel: Tips to podcasting your novel, and watch the next three Eps of Rideback, and probably go to a dark-wave concert late that night. Other than that I'm not really sure...