Dragon*Con 2010 is for winners!
Okay! So, I have developed con crud and am pretty much in my post-con slump, so what better way to deal with both of those things than to ~*fondly remember*~ this weekend's exploits?
Or something.
ANYWAY. THE CON REPORT.
***
~*FRIDAY*~
Friday dawned hella early, guys. Like, 3:45am early. I was exhausted anyway because I had been in a writing coma for two days after working on that epic TW story, so I was not super excited to be awake, but whatever. I very quietly got ready and very quietly snuck outside to wait for my 4:15 shuttle to the airport. Let me tell you, sitting on the curb at 4:15am? Awesome. There are a million serial killers just waiting to strike at any given moment. It's especially awesome when the damn van is five minutes late and you spend those five minutes jumping at every sound.
It got there eventually, though! And then picked up a bunch of other people who were all hella late. HELLA late. Like, we got to each place a minute or two late and it still took them forever to come out and get in the damn van. Christ, it's not like they could choose the time or there were other people waiting to get to the airport or anything. OH WAIT. BOTH OF THOSE THINGS WERE TRUE.
Anyway.
Eventually I got to the airport and through security and such. At first I thought there was no coffee at my gate, but I found some and everything was okay. The flight itself was okay, despite being stuck in a middle seat. We landed more or less on time and navigating through the airport to MARTA wasn't hard. I made it to the hotel in good time and they were 100% ready for me to check in, which was nice. I discovered, en route, that Gary's eyestalk had snapped off again, but luckily the hotel shop had superglue! Hurrah!
I collapsed in the airport for a bit and fixed Gary's eyestalk, before heading out for the pre-reg line. At this point it was a little after ten, I guess? I sent a message to Twitter that I was bored and would be writing Twitterfic for what would approxmiately be three hours, according to a random sign. It was CRAZY. The pre-reg line wrapped all the way around two corners of the building. I ended up standing in front of a family (mom, dad, ten year old kid) who were there for the first time. I gave the mom some tips and we bonded over nerdery. The outside line moved rather quickly and we were inside within an hour and forty-five minutes. Then it started to get hairy.
We moved inside pretty quickly, up until a point. They had the lines break up into letters of the alphabet by last name. My line buddies were pulled up front. So were my next line buddies. And my next. Eventually, we went from moving at all to a long line of people whose last names started with 's', waiting for the 's' line to get shorter. It was kind of a nightmare.
Eventually, I got my badge and was allowed to leave. Hurrah! I texted leiascully and found out she and coffeesuperhero and two of their friends were eating at the Hilton, so I skipped over there and joined them for a quick lunch. We chatted and hugged and bitched about people on the internet we didn't like, and then dremiel texted me to tell me that she had arrived and stowed her bag at the Sheraton. She came over and I introduced her to Mary, Erin, and the fangirls, and then we went BACK to the Sheraton to put dremiel's bags in the room. Afterwards, she got on the pre-reg line. I stood with her for a bit and listened to adorable stories about her son, then couldn't take the heat/standing anymore. I disappeared into the Marriot and checked out, I believe, both the dealer's room and exhibitor halls, before staking out a chair and just costume watching for a bit. I was kind of nervous going into this con--I was meeting a lot of people I hadn't met IRL before and was in a perculiar place with my main fandom. I wasn't sure how it was going to go, but just sitting in the con, taking in the con atmosphere helped put me at ease.
I eventually bought dremiel a soda and joined her on the pre-reg line again. Her line moved a bit more quickly than mine, and she was done before I knew it! We went back up to the room to relax, after which she ran out to meet the Torchwood peeps for dinner and I waited (im)patiently in the room for krabapple to arrive! And she did! Eventually! And it was wonderful! There was much hugging and exchanging of birthday presents and talking at length about picture books that make us cry. Neither of us had eaten, so we tried to find a local, cheap place to eat and ended up at the diner across from the Hyatt, attached to the mall. This was a poor life choice for several reasons, not limited to the service and the noise levels.
It took us a long time to even order, which I thought was fine since the Gay Themes in Who panel that I was going to wasn't until 11:30. Then dremiel texted me to tell me, whoops, actually it was at 10:00 and no one knew where it was being held. I wolfed down my food, threw some cash at Jenny, and ran from the diner to the Marriott, getting updates from dremiel along the way. I made it just in time, and took a seat next to dremiel. I was then quickly introduced to 51stcenturyfox, neifile7, azn_jack_fiend, such_heights and... maybe someone else? Then I got a text from second_batgirl who had just entered the panel and I had to run to the other side of the room to hug her. She ended up sitting next to me, which was good because half the panel was about Jack and I think we all know my feelings about Jack.
It was a good panel, though! My only contribution was to bring up Miranda and Min from Jekyll to back up the fact that Moffat can write good gay. (Because Miranda and Min are my favorites eeeeeveeeeer.) People said lots of smart things that I forget now, I didn't get super bored/annoyed when people were talking about Jack/TW S4, and second_batgirl peer-pressured me into writing Sarah Jane/Donna. After the panel, Margot had to leave, but the rest of us kind of clustered up and waited for rm, who was one of the panelists, before deciding to go for drinks. Two other girls whose names I didn't catch joined us. It was not at all as terrible as I imagined it would be. As soon as I said my LJ name, there was a kind of, "Oh! Okay! Hello!" which was nice. I was tired, however, and had given krabapple the only other working hotel key, so I pulled dremiel back to the room pretty early.
(It should be mentioned here that, during the panel, barbed_whispers invited me up to her and momebie's hotel room for drinks. I told them that if I got too bored/annoyed, I would take them up on it. That did not happen, so they whined to me on Twitter for the rest of the night. I am flattered, however, that they told the rest of their guests that if I showed up, they had to say "Jack Harkness sucks." My friends are awesome. Even if they are jerks.)
The sleep thing did not go according to plan, however, so dremiel and I ended up talking extensively about everything under the sun until four am. My brain had been awake for twenty-four hours at that point, and I was sure I would sleep all fucking morning and accidentally miss Torchwood Lunch.
Ha. Hahahaha.
~*SATURDAY*~
Despite going to bed at like, four am, and setting my alarm for 11:30, I was awake by quarter to ten. dremiel was up and about, getting reading to hit a panel and the dealer's room, but I was taking the more leisurely route. I hung out with krabapple and checked the internet and stuff and eventually took a shower and went in search of dremiel. I knew she was going to the dealer's room to check in with a friend of hers, but I couldn't find her. Eventually, just when I was going to go back to the room, she text me to tell me she was in a Starbucks. I found her just in time for us to walk over to Torchwood lunch.
We ended up at a Mediterranean place which was pretty but had shit service. I didn't catch everyone who was there, because a bunch of people came later, but I know we had amand_r, 51stcenturyfox, rm, neifile7, dremiel, such_heights, azn_jack_fiend, someone whose name I didn't get, and eventually two other people whose names I didn't get and who were sitting so far away I couldn't talk to them anyway and a friend of dremiel's, whose name was Beth but whose LJ name I missed.
And me, obvs.
Anyway! Lunch was wonderful! Lots of chatting and me looking like a jerk.
(Foxy: So what do you do with your time now that you're unemployed?
Kait: From 9-12 I apply for jobs, from 12-whenever Becca gets home I read Sherlock fic, and once Becca gets home, we sit in our living room and make fun of people on the internet.
Beth: Wait, you go on the internet and randomly make fun of people?
Dremiel: No, I think she means she and Becca read the internet and make fun of those people out loud, in their living room.
Kait: Yeah!
Beth: So you read people's personal journals and then mock them for your own amusement?
Kait: ....yeah?)
But when do I not look like a jerk? Really. Gary came out at some point. Mandr and I had epic coffee drama wherein the waitress never brought us milk or sugar so we had to drink our spectacularly shitting coffee black or die of caffeine withdrawal. Luckily, she realized her mistake with the second cup. We eventually settled our bills and snuck off to the restrooms. dremiel used the men's room after we realized there were only two stalls and no TP in the ladies' room and then Mandr and I sneakily followed in her footsteps. No dudes awkwardly barged in, so that's one up on the last time I used a men's room.
I thiiiiiink we all went our separate ways after that? Or, rather, dremiel and I went back to our room together. She took a nap and krabapple and I watched SGA and then some SGA vids. Eventually I left to do another panel and buy some more presents for people and costume watch and shit. I met up with barbed_whispers and momebie in the food court and just hung out for a bit. Once they had to leave, I caught leiascully on her way out of a BSG panel and had a quick dinner with her and krabapple in the food court before racing back to the Sheraton for the Sherlock Holmes panel. I got there just at 8:30 and they locked the door behind me. It was SRO at that point and they weren't letting anyone in until other people left. Thankfully, some people left right at the start, so when dremiel ran in a couple minutes later, the door was open again XD
It was a good panel! I have a lot of love for Sherlock, and while I read some of the stories as a kid and loved The Great Mouse Detective growing up, I don't have a deep connection to the original canon. It was kind of refreshing and gratifying to hear that people who are close to the original canon have a lot of respect for the new series and get a lot of enjoyment out of it. It makes me feel a bit less like a sheep XD Sherlock is also my happy place right now--it slid in right when TW was starting to hurt me, and I tend to look at it with the same shiny happy thoughts that I look at S5 of Who. I was slightly afraid that the panel would trash it or pick it apart in a way that my brain does not want to pick apart my shiny happy place, but it did not! Which was good!
Some interesting things were said about different aspects of the series (particularly about Watson), but, honestly, at one point someone brought up the Watson-Holmes relationship and used the word "bromance" and the rest of the panel because a blur of me hopping up and down, trying to get someone to notice my hand in the air so I could go on a rant. (We had eventually found seats, but they were literally the last row in the very corner, blocked by equipment, so I don't think I was being ignored, just that it was impossible to see me.)
The rant didn't come, unfortunately, so dremiel suggested we go back to the room for some G&Ts so I could rant at her until I felt better. So we did XD
Eventually, krabapple came back and we talked for a while about queer interpretations of texts and bromance and Sherlock and other stuff, until it was time for me and dremiel to head over to the Westin for the NC-17 fanfic panel. First, however, I made an incredibly resourceful gin and tonic in a poland spring water bottle. I was super impressed with my ability to not only get ice cubes inside, but squeeze the limes out into the bottle. It's possible that I was already a little buzzed at that point, but seeing as how I am sober now and it is a few days later and I am still proud of this accomplishment, I will stand by the fact that I am an alcoholic superstar.
We said goodnight to Jenny and made the trek up the hill to the Westin, where we bumped into such_heights, who was on her way to the Rainbow Party. Once we hit the Westin, we chilled in the lobby with Beth and talked about our shows (I zoned a little while they talked about Robin Hood) and waited for the panel to start. second-batgirl joined us eventually, and when we got inside, we ended up with second row seats.
The general NC-17 fic panel is kind of ridiculously awesome, guys. Pretty much the set up is this: There are some moderators. There is some sangria. The moderators drink the sangria, tell funny fic stories, and encourage the audience to share their funny fic stories. There was a lot of laughter and raunchiness and stories about the worst place you ever read/wrote smut and the first smut fic you ever read and the fastest you've ever hit the back button. Eventually it developed into characters you'd do. I shared the fact that Neal Caffrey is a fandom bicycle and there was general agreement.
The panel went late into the night and ended, thankfully, just as people started talking about TW S4 and how much they hated Gwen. I had to keep myself from rolling my eyes and ranting, but I kept my cool and stumbled back to my hotel room a little after 3am, setting my alarm to wake up the next morning for the Tom Servo vs. Tom Servo panel at 10am.
***
Okay, pausing here because I am tired. Tomorrow we will cover Sunday and Monday. For the two of you who care XD
Or something.
ANYWAY. THE CON REPORT.
***
~*FRIDAY*~
Friday dawned hella early, guys. Like, 3:45am early. I was exhausted anyway because I had been in a writing coma for two days after working on that epic TW story, so I was not super excited to be awake, but whatever. I very quietly got ready and very quietly snuck outside to wait for my 4:15 shuttle to the airport. Let me tell you, sitting on the curb at 4:15am? Awesome. There are a million serial killers just waiting to strike at any given moment. It's especially awesome when the damn van is five minutes late and you spend those five minutes jumping at every sound.
It got there eventually, though! And then picked up a bunch of other people who were all hella late. HELLA late. Like, we got to each place a minute or two late and it still took them forever to come out and get in the damn van. Christ, it's not like they could choose the time or there were other people waiting to get to the airport or anything. OH WAIT. BOTH OF THOSE THINGS WERE TRUE.
Anyway.
Eventually I got to the airport and through security and such. At first I thought there was no coffee at my gate, but I found some and everything was okay. The flight itself was okay, despite being stuck in a middle seat. We landed more or less on time and navigating through the airport to MARTA wasn't hard. I made it to the hotel in good time and they were 100% ready for me to check in, which was nice. I discovered, en route, that Gary's eyestalk had snapped off again, but luckily the hotel shop had superglue! Hurrah!
I collapsed in the airport for a bit and fixed Gary's eyestalk, before heading out for the pre-reg line. At this point it was a little after ten, I guess? I sent a message to Twitter that I was bored and would be writing Twitterfic for what would approxmiately be three hours, according to a random sign. It was CRAZY. The pre-reg line wrapped all the way around two corners of the building. I ended up standing in front of a family (mom, dad, ten year old kid) who were there for the first time. I gave the mom some tips and we bonded over nerdery. The outside line moved rather quickly and we were inside within an hour and forty-five minutes. Then it started to get hairy.
We moved inside pretty quickly, up until a point. They had the lines break up into letters of the alphabet by last name. My line buddies were pulled up front. So were my next line buddies. And my next. Eventually, we went from moving at all to a long line of people whose last names started with 's', waiting for the 's' line to get shorter. It was kind of a nightmare.
Eventually, I got my badge and was allowed to leave. Hurrah! I texted leiascully and found out she and coffeesuperhero and two of their friends were eating at the Hilton, so I skipped over there and joined them for a quick lunch. We chatted and hugged and bitched about people on the internet we didn't like, and then dremiel texted me to tell me that she had arrived and stowed her bag at the Sheraton. She came over and I introduced her to Mary, Erin, and the fangirls, and then we went BACK to the Sheraton to put dremiel's bags in the room. Afterwards, she got on the pre-reg line. I stood with her for a bit and listened to adorable stories about her son, then couldn't take the heat/standing anymore. I disappeared into the Marriot and checked out, I believe, both the dealer's room and exhibitor halls, before staking out a chair and just costume watching for a bit. I was kind of nervous going into this con--I was meeting a lot of people I hadn't met IRL before and was in a perculiar place with my main fandom. I wasn't sure how it was going to go, but just sitting in the con, taking in the con atmosphere helped put me at ease.
I eventually bought dremiel a soda and joined her on the pre-reg line again. Her line moved a bit more quickly than mine, and she was done before I knew it! We went back up to the room to relax, after which she ran out to meet the Torchwood peeps for dinner and I waited (im)patiently in the room for krabapple to arrive! And she did! Eventually! And it was wonderful! There was much hugging and exchanging of birthday presents and talking at length about picture books that make us cry. Neither of us had eaten, so we tried to find a local, cheap place to eat and ended up at the diner across from the Hyatt, attached to the mall. This was a poor life choice for several reasons, not limited to the service and the noise levels.
It took us a long time to even order, which I thought was fine since the Gay Themes in Who panel that I was going to wasn't until 11:30. Then dremiel texted me to tell me, whoops, actually it was at 10:00 and no one knew where it was being held. I wolfed down my food, threw some cash at Jenny, and ran from the diner to the Marriott, getting updates from dremiel along the way. I made it just in time, and took a seat next to dremiel. I was then quickly introduced to 51stcenturyfox, neifile7, azn_jack_fiend, such_heights and... maybe someone else? Then I got a text from second_batgirl who had just entered the panel and I had to run to the other side of the room to hug her. She ended up sitting next to me, which was good because half the panel was about Jack and I think we all know my feelings about Jack.
It was a good panel, though! My only contribution was to bring up Miranda and Min from Jekyll to back up the fact that Moffat can write good gay. (Because Miranda and Min are my favorites eeeeeveeeeer.) People said lots of smart things that I forget now, I didn't get super bored/annoyed when people were talking about Jack/TW S4, and second_batgirl peer-pressured me into writing Sarah Jane/Donna. After the panel, Margot had to leave, but the rest of us kind of clustered up and waited for rm, who was one of the panelists, before deciding to go for drinks. Two other girls whose names I didn't catch joined us. It was not at all as terrible as I imagined it would be. As soon as I said my LJ name, there was a kind of, "Oh! Okay! Hello!" which was nice. I was tired, however, and had given krabapple the only other working hotel key, so I pulled dremiel back to the room pretty early.
(It should be mentioned here that, during the panel, barbed_whispers invited me up to her and momebie's hotel room for drinks. I told them that if I got too bored/annoyed, I would take them up on it. That did not happen, so they whined to me on Twitter for the rest of the night. I am flattered, however, that they told the rest of their guests that if I showed up, they had to say "Jack Harkness sucks." My friends are awesome. Even if they are jerks.)
The sleep thing did not go according to plan, however, so dremiel and I ended up talking extensively about everything under the sun until four am. My brain had been awake for twenty-four hours at that point, and I was sure I would sleep all fucking morning and accidentally miss Torchwood Lunch.
Ha. Hahahaha.
~*SATURDAY*~
Despite going to bed at like, four am, and setting my alarm for 11:30, I was awake by quarter to ten. dremiel was up and about, getting reading to hit a panel and the dealer's room, but I was taking the more leisurely route. I hung out with krabapple and checked the internet and stuff and eventually took a shower and went in search of dremiel. I knew she was going to the dealer's room to check in with a friend of hers, but I couldn't find her. Eventually, just when I was going to go back to the room, she text me to tell me she was in a Starbucks. I found her just in time for us to walk over to Torchwood lunch.
We ended up at a Mediterranean place which was pretty but had shit service. I didn't catch everyone who was there, because a bunch of people came later, but I know we had amand_r, 51stcenturyfox, rm, neifile7, dremiel, such_heights, azn_jack_fiend, someone whose name I didn't get, and eventually two other people whose names I didn't get and who were sitting so far away I couldn't talk to them anyway and a friend of dremiel's, whose name was Beth but whose LJ name I missed.
And me, obvs.
Anyway! Lunch was wonderful! Lots of chatting and me looking like a jerk.
(Foxy: So what do you do with your time now that you're unemployed?
Kait: From 9-12 I apply for jobs, from 12-whenever Becca gets home I read Sherlock fic, and once Becca gets home, we sit in our living room and make fun of people on the internet.
Beth: Wait, you go on the internet and randomly make fun of people?
Dremiel: No, I think she means she and Becca read the internet and make fun of those people out loud, in their living room.
Kait: Yeah!
Beth: So you read people's personal journals and then mock them for your own amusement?
Kait: ....yeah?)
But when do I not look like a jerk? Really. Gary came out at some point. Mandr and I had epic coffee drama wherein the waitress never brought us milk or sugar so we had to drink our spectacularly shitting coffee black or die of caffeine withdrawal. Luckily, she realized her mistake with the second cup. We eventually settled our bills and snuck off to the restrooms. dremiel used the men's room after we realized there were only two stalls and no TP in the ladies' room and then Mandr and I sneakily followed in her footsteps. No dudes awkwardly barged in, so that's one up on the last time I used a men's room.
I thiiiiiink we all went our separate ways after that? Or, rather, dremiel and I went back to our room together. She took a nap and krabapple and I watched SGA and then some SGA vids. Eventually I left to do another panel and buy some more presents for people and costume watch and shit. I met up with barbed_whispers and momebie in the food court and just hung out for a bit. Once they had to leave, I caught leiascully on her way out of a BSG panel and had a quick dinner with her and krabapple in the food court before racing back to the Sheraton for the Sherlock Holmes panel. I got there just at 8:30 and they locked the door behind me. It was SRO at that point and they weren't letting anyone in until other people left. Thankfully, some people left right at the start, so when dremiel ran in a couple minutes later, the door was open again XD
It was a good panel! I have a lot of love for Sherlock, and while I read some of the stories as a kid and loved The Great Mouse Detective growing up, I don't have a deep connection to the original canon. It was kind of refreshing and gratifying to hear that people who are close to the original canon have a lot of respect for the new series and get a lot of enjoyment out of it. It makes me feel a bit less like a sheep XD Sherlock is also my happy place right now--it slid in right when TW was starting to hurt me, and I tend to look at it with the same shiny happy thoughts that I look at S5 of Who. I was slightly afraid that the panel would trash it or pick it apart in a way that my brain does not want to pick apart my shiny happy place, but it did not! Which was good!
Some interesting things were said about different aspects of the series (particularly about Watson), but, honestly, at one point someone brought up the Watson-Holmes relationship and used the word "bromance" and the rest of the panel because a blur of me hopping up and down, trying to get someone to notice my hand in the air so I could go on a rant. (We had eventually found seats, but they were literally the last row in the very corner, blocked by equipment, so I don't think I was being ignored, just that it was impossible to see me.)
The rant didn't come, unfortunately, so dremiel suggested we go back to the room for some G&Ts so I could rant at her until I felt better. So we did XD
Eventually, krabapple came back and we talked for a while about queer interpretations of texts and bromance and Sherlock and other stuff, until it was time for me and dremiel to head over to the Westin for the NC-17 fanfic panel. First, however, I made an incredibly resourceful gin and tonic in a poland spring water bottle. I was super impressed with my ability to not only get ice cubes inside, but squeeze the limes out into the bottle. It's possible that I was already a little buzzed at that point, but seeing as how I am sober now and it is a few days later and I am still proud of this accomplishment, I will stand by the fact that I am an alcoholic superstar.
We said goodnight to Jenny and made the trek up the hill to the Westin, where we bumped into such_heights, who was on her way to the Rainbow Party. Once we hit the Westin, we chilled in the lobby with Beth and talked about our shows (I zoned a little while they talked about Robin Hood) and waited for the panel to start. second-batgirl joined us eventually, and when we got inside, we ended up with second row seats.
The general NC-17 fic panel is kind of ridiculously awesome, guys. Pretty much the set up is this: There are some moderators. There is some sangria. The moderators drink the sangria, tell funny fic stories, and encourage the audience to share their funny fic stories. There was a lot of laughter and raunchiness and stories about the worst place you ever read/wrote smut and the first smut fic you ever read and the fastest you've ever hit the back button. Eventually it developed into characters you'd do. I shared the fact that Neal Caffrey is a fandom bicycle and there was general agreement.
The panel went late into the night and ended, thankfully, just as people started talking about TW S4 and how much they hated Gwen. I had to keep myself from rolling my eyes and ranting, but I kept my cool and stumbled back to my hotel room a little after 3am, setting my alarm to wake up the next morning for the Tom Servo vs. Tom Servo panel at 10am.
***
Okay, pausing here because I am tired. Tomorrow we will cover Sunday and Monday. For the two of you who care XD