Dragon*Con: Speed Dating and LeVar Burton
But not speed dating with LeVar Burton, because I feel like that would be strange. Entertaining, but strange.
Friday night at my very first Dragon*Con, I battled the crowds in the Marriott to join the masses of speed daters. When I arrived at the right room there was a line of gentleman to one side of the room, and there were barkers trying to lure ladies in. And where there are barkers, there are people staring.
So yes, I walked into the room with fifty people standing around staring at me, not to mention the line of men I had just passd to get there. It was not the most uncomfortable moment of the night for anyone, I would imagine, but it did make my poor introverted stomach flip, just a little.
Was given a sticker with my number on it and was told to find a seat in an inner circle. I had been pretty concerned when I signed up to attend the event that they hadn't asked me who I was and who I was looking for, only my name and email address. They set it up pretty well, though, even if it did involve a lot of yelling over the crowd that women were in the inner circle of chairs and men would file in around the outer circle of chairs set up around them. For people seeking same sex relationships there were circles as well!
The men found chairs (and let me tell you, this was the part that I found awkward- they had the men slowly find their way to seats, and most of those guys look terrified. Why they didn't wait until they had the same number as were in a circle and let them file in together, I'll never know.) and it was off to the races.
ONE MINUTE.
One minute was all you got in a room full of loud sweaty people to introduce yourself and say 'hey, this is why I am here/i like your costume/boobies/what do you for fun/etc/' It was pretty fantastic. I shook hands with lots of different people and thanked the flying spaghetti monster (I was at Dragon*Con after all) that I wasn't a germaphobe. We all leaned in far too close too actually see one another and I'm pretty damn sure no one remembered anyone's numbers long enough to write them down on the card that was provided- so I doubt anyone was surprised when they didn't get a match.
It is okay though, because it was a lot of fun and there was a lot of shouting and smiles and general goofiness. For the most part everyone seemed really glad to be there and even if lots of us were out of our comfort zones we still really enjoyed meeting people. And it was nice because the rest of the weekend you could say 'hey' to people you'd talked to for one minute. I petted some dude's hair and got my thigh molested so, you know, that's a normal Friday night for some folks but it was big stuff for me.
AND AND AND THE BEST PART OF SPEED DATING:
The next morning at the parade the Pirates came by and one of them had Mardi Gras beads in his hands. Now, there are little girls all around us who of course don't know any of the conotations behind beads, they just think they're pretty, who are shouting for a nekclace. But none of them received one.
I did. The pirate stopped right in front of me and gave me a long lecherous look followed by an 'I saw you in Tortuga last night'. He handed me the beads, gave me a wink, and went on about his merry way. Kelly liked to have died laughing but damn it, I wore those beads the rest of the weekend. The little girls around me pouted for the rest of the parade. I didn't care, I was given a present by one of my 'dates'. I don't even care what was implied, though Kelly's Stormtrooper did narrow his eyes at me a little bit after that one. ;P
So I didn't meet anyone at speed dating but I met someone in line. And now I've gone and um, posted a missed connection, because I let that one slip out of my hands without ever getting his name. UM. *hides in a corner*
I keep telling myself that it can't hurt, right?
SO ANYWAY LEVAR BURTON.
I saw him twice- once at a Star Trek: TNG panel, and once at a Reading Rainbow panel. Why Reading Rainbow at Dragon*Con, you ask? Because he has launched a Reading Rainbow iPad app.
After PBS took RR off the air a few years ago, he and his business partner bought the rights to the Reading Rainbow name. There are lots of awesome things that go along with this, but one of those things is that you should start seeing Reading Rainbow labels back on books in your local libraries and bookstores again soon.
He was very intelligent and funny and kept everyone laughing. He said that hosting RR was the coolest job he'd ever had, and that was from Chief Engineer of the Star Trek Enterprise.
And there was this:
Click to viewYeah, that happened. But don't take my word for it.