SDCC Retrospective
Day 1:
Ok, first of all, I want you to think of every possible circumstance that might delay or disrupt air travel. Seriously, make a list. Got it? Alright, so here's what happened.
Delay 1: change of pilots
We got up at 5am, left Oxford at 6, and got to the airport at about a quarter to 8. Our flight was supposed to leave at 8:40. We get to the gate, only to discover that the flight has been delayed by two hours because they've had to switch pilots, which would make us late for our connection in Chicago. So the plan changes, and we'll now be arriving in San Diego at 6pm, missing some of Preview Night.
Delay 2: mechanical problem
We sat at the airport for about two and a half hours, waiting. Not five minutes after the flight for Chicago -the one we were originally on- leaves, they announce that the plane for Dallas -the one we're now on- has mechanical trouble and won't leave until after 3pm, if at all. So the plan changes again, and we'll now be travelling with another airline, going via Houston and arriving around 10:30 at night. We have to collect our bags, re-check them, go through security again, and wait until noon.
Delay 3: late plane
The plane was delayed leaving Houston, so we're about half an hour behind.
Delay 4: weather
We finally gtfo of Memphis only to find that, when we reached Houston, they were having bad weather. So the plane circled for about an hour. But when the weather cleared...
Delay 5: airline traffic/low fuel
The airport was so backed up from the weather delays that they had to keep us in holding, and the plane was running low on fuel, so we were rerouted to Baton Rouge to tank up and hold tight.
We did get to Houston eventually and managed to get booked on an earlier flight so that we made it to San Diego a little after 8pm. We missed preview night, which sucked, but we did finally get there.
I swear, if somebody told me this story, I'd think they were making it up.
Day 2: Worst eating day of my life. I had a muffin for breakfast, a pretzel for lunch, and nachos for dinner. It was disgusting.
Otherwise, the day rocked. I dressed as Death, filled out a survey, and got to see Henry Jenkins. FTW. Didn't have enough money to buy all my comics, so I had to get some and go back later. Saw a girl dressed as the TARDIS, which was epic.
Day 3: Spent the day in Ballroom 20 (a.k.a. Giant Room no.2). Panels: Stargate Universe (Ming Na had not had her coffee yet), Caprica (James Marsters!), Big Bang Theory (BNL led a sing-a-long of the theme!), and Joss Whedon (with surprise Nathan Fillion). Also, may have been scouted for a TV show?
Day 4: Steampunk costume, got asked to have my picture taken. Also, pretty sure I walked past Mark Sheppard on the floor. Panels: Leverage (Christian Kane needs to brush his hair), Venture Brothers (Doctor Venture was sitting behind me), Sanctuary (sabinelagrande thinks Amanda Tapping is aging in reverse. I concur.), Avatar Pres (Max Brooks has a blue print for a zombie-proof house), and something about urban fantasy from Harper-Collins (I got a free book).
The real adventure of the day occurred that night. We went to dinner at the House of Blues, which was pretty cool and just a few blocks from our hotel. On the way back, notthatheroine, the only one of us who hadn't been drinking, stepped off a curb and sprained her ankle. Thankfully, someone on the sidewalk helped me get her out of the street, and a very nice rickshaw driver gave us a free ride back to the hotel.
Day 5: The Big Day
So we borrowed a wheel chair from the hotel, which turned out to be a really good thing. See, there's a shuttle from the hotel to the convention center, but it didn't start running til 8. We left at 6:30. So I, in my trench coat and tie (two guesses who I was), pushed notthatheroine nine blocks to the convention center so that we could get in line. Turns out, we could get in the disabled services line (The woman who helped us was very nice and recognized my costume), so we ended up eight rows from the front.
Panels: Smallville (Sometimes I remember why I like this show and the people on it), Supernatural (the season 5 gag reel is the best ever), and Glee (<3!). The con wrapped up with a Buffy musical sing-a-long and 100 thousand people went on their way.
I left with $400 in cash and came home with Freakangels vol.1-4, Ignition City vol.1, Buffy Season 8 vol.1-2, Lucifer vol.2-4, some free posters, bags, and samplers, and an advance reader copy of Cassandra Clare's new book. \o/
Getting home (notthatheroine's busted foot and all) was a bit of an adventure, too, but not nearly as interesting as everything else.
And now I has a sabinelagrande, and I am going to go make her lunch.
Ok, first of all, I want you to think of every possible circumstance that might delay or disrupt air travel. Seriously, make a list. Got it? Alright, so here's what happened.
Delay 1: change of pilots
We got up at 5am, left Oxford at 6, and got to the airport at about a quarter to 8. Our flight was supposed to leave at 8:40. We get to the gate, only to discover that the flight has been delayed by two hours because they've had to switch pilots, which would make us late for our connection in Chicago. So the plan changes, and we'll now be arriving in San Diego at 6pm, missing some of Preview Night.
Delay 2: mechanical problem
We sat at the airport for about two and a half hours, waiting. Not five minutes after the flight for Chicago -the one we were originally on- leaves, they announce that the plane for Dallas -the one we're now on- has mechanical trouble and won't leave until after 3pm, if at all. So the plan changes again, and we'll now be travelling with another airline, going via Houston and arriving around 10:30 at night. We have to collect our bags, re-check them, go through security again, and wait until noon.
Delay 3: late plane
The plane was delayed leaving Houston, so we're about half an hour behind.
Delay 4: weather
We finally gtfo of Memphis only to find that, when we reached Houston, they were having bad weather. So the plane circled for about an hour. But when the weather cleared...
Delay 5: airline traffic/low fuel
The airport was so backed up from the weather delays that they had to keep us in holding, and the plane was running low on fuel, so we were rerouted to Baton Rouge to tank up and hold tight.
We did get to Houston eventually and managed to get booked on an earlier flight so that we made it to San Diego a little after 8pm. We missed preview night, which sucked, but we did finally get there.
I swear, if somebody told me this story, I'd think they were making it up.
Day 2: Worst eating day of my life. I had a muffin for breakfast, a pretzel for lunch, and nachos for dinner. It was disgusting.
Otherwise, the day rocked. I dressed as Death, filled out a survey, and got to see Henry Jenkins. FTW. Didn't have enough money to buy all my comics, so I had to get some and go back later. Saw a girl dressed as the TARDIS, which was epic.
Day 3: Spent the day in Ballroom 20 (a.k.a. Giant Room no.2). Panels: Stargate Universe (Ming Na had not had her coffee yet), Caprica (James Marsters!), Big Bang Theory (BNL led a sing-a-long of the theme!), and Joss Whedon (with surprise Nathan Fillion). Also, may have been scouted for a TV show?
Day 4: Steampunk costume, got asked to have my picture taken. Also, pretty sure I walked past Mark Sheppard on the floor. Panels: Leverage (Christian Kane needs to brush his hair), Venture Brothers (Doctor Venture was sitting behind me), Sanctuary (sabinelagrande thinks Amanda Tapping is aging in reverse. I concur.), Avatar Pres (Max Brooks has a blue print for a zombie-proof house), and something about urban fantasy from Harper-Collins (I got a free book).
The real adventure of the day occurred that night. We went to dinner at the House of Blues, which was pretty cool and just a few blocks from our hotel. On the way back, notthatheroine, the only one of us who hadn't been drinking, stepped off a curb and sprained her ankle. Thankfully, someone on the sidewalk helped me get her out of the street, and a very nice rickshaw driver gave us a free ride back to the hotel.
Day 5: The Big Day
So we borrowed a wheel chair from the hotel, which turned out to be a really good thing. See, there's a shuttle from the hotel to the convention center, but it didn't start running til 8. We left at 6:30. So I, in my trench coat and tie (two guesses who I was), pushed notthatheroine nine blocks to the convention center so that we could get in line. Turns out, we could get in the disabled services line (The woman who helped us was very nice and recognized my costume), so we ended up eight rows from the front.
Panels: Smallville (Sometimes I remember why I like this show and the people on it), Supernatural (the season 5 gag reel is the best ever), and Glee (<3!). The con wrapped up with a Buffy musical sing-a-long and 100 thousand people went on their way.
I left with $400 in cash and came home with Freakangels vol.1-4, Ignition City vol.1, Buffy Season 8 vol.1-2, Lucifer vol.2-4, some free posters, bags, and samplers, and an advance reader copy of Cassandra Clare's new book. \o/
Getting home (notthatheroine's busted foot and all) was a bit of an adventure, too, but not nearly as interesting as everything else.
And now I has a sabinelagrande, and I am going to go make her lunch.