Enter the Dragon*Con: Part 1

Due to the length of this post (far too awesome to be contained in one), this post will be split into two. Behold, part the first!

So this year’s Dragon*Con was… Different.

After hearing my stories from last year, two of my friends decided to give the con thing a shot and come along with us. I was a little nervous that they might be let down. After all, every con is different, and last year’s D*C set the fun standard pretty high.

The result?

I’m still trying to decide where to begin. Each night got exponentially more awesome, so perhaps I’ll only give you the highlights.

Thursday was a travel day, primarily. I wasn’t expecting much. Upon arrival I found Alex and Renee White waiting for me (okay, not really :P ) and I had dinner with them and their entourage of good friends. After my roommates arrived, it was time to get down to the real business of Dragon*Con: drinking.

In the bar, I found PG Holyfield (my roommates are fans of Murder at Avedon Hill), and ordered my drink… while standing next to Colin Ferguson. This led to a conversation soon joined by more of my friends and they geeked out talking about cameras and hockey with Sheriff Carter. Colin is incredibly nice and approachable. Hardly what you think of as a typical Hollywood personality.

 

My friends went to bed happy and wondering how the con could get better.

Friday started off slow (this was more or less true for all con days), but picked up with the afternoon panel of Eureka/Warehouse 13. Dinner came and went, as did Scott Sigler’s “one for the junkies” panel. I am astounded at the number of projects one person can have going simultaneously. But I think it helps immensely that A Kovacs is his assistant. I introduced my friends to a few more folks, including Sigler, the amazing, the mighty Mur Lafferty, and Dr. Pamela Gay. Again, they were humbled by my awesome friends. I don’t blame them. My friends blow me away regularly!

Later on, say, 3 a.m.-ish, we were congregating outside the hotel when Robin Thorsen wanders out. Yes, the same Robin Thorsen from The Guild. Me, being the outgoing social butterfly I am (when drinking), call her over and she chats with us. The end result was her upending our bottle of Tuaca and downing the last ounce and a half with mucho gusto, and asking for a FB message to tell her where the party would be following night.

 

Soon after, we meet a blogger from lifehacker.com who has heard of me and The Dreamer’s Thread through a friend of his. OMGWTFBBQ.

Apparently, when I’ve jokingly said “I AM the party” in the past, this seems to actually be true at Dragon*Con.

My friends go to sleep wondering how the con could POSSIBLY get any better.

Saturday proceeds much the same way. It was dress up day, so I was in full Steampunk regalia. The only slated event for me was the Parsec awards, at which I won a door prize again this year.

After dinner it was time to head back into the party zone. After starting the evening with Alex and Renee and company, I was paged to the bar by Paul Cooley and PG Holyfield. When it comes to con, I generally follow my instincts, and my instincts said “BAR”, so to the bar I went. At which point I started talking to the Bad Astronomer, Phil Plait, who OMFG KNEW ME BY NAME. The husband missed this meeting, and was greatly perturbed as he had also missed Colin Ferguson Thursday night.

 

We then met up again with A Kovacs and Scott Sigler, chatted with George Hrab for awhile, and then watched A chit chat with Wil Wheaton for several minutes. At our 4 a.m. breakfast, I grilled her about how the what the what did she know him and what were they talking about. We watched Sigler take pictures of his Parsec award (dude? Ouch. Srsly. Why you gotta make a Parsec loser hold yer props?), then headed to bed.

At which point even I am wondering how this con could in any way get better.

But it does.

(continued in Part 2)