Well now, that was fun...
DragonCon was frakin' insane, and the whole thing is something of a blur. It was like every few hours was a new episode of the This Is Awesome Show, guest starring another half-dozen fabulous people.
The con was definitely on the rowdy end this year, though that's a mark in the Good Thing column in my book -- of course, I tend to be more accepting of life's little quirks like random muggings and glass to the face than I maybe should be. Still, I was talking with some old con vets, security people, and party throwers like ConTorage as early as Thursday night, and we could already sense that this con was going to be off the frakin' chain. It didn't disappoint. I did my part to help out but dismissing my typical "no drinking" policy in favor of a bottle of rum. Sleep was also optional, of course, and not to be encouraged.
I'm trying to make it through my first day back at work, so I can't really give a detailed run-down or post any pics -- I'm still working to get them sorted and cleaned, but eventually that will all get blogged. But, a few highlights...
First, the broken window story: something got out of hand in an 8th floor room in the Hilton (rumors of a fight abound, but their official story was, "I slipped") and they broke out their window. As it happened, I was directly below this window on the street outside smoking. The guy next to me got a bit cut up and was whisked away by medics. My wife heard the noise, recognized that it was from above, and got back under an awning. I remember thinking, "That's an awful lot of glass for a spilled drink..." then WHAM! A big hunk of glass hit me right across the bridge of the nose. From fear as much as pain, I spend a few seconds holding my face and thinking, "OH GOD MY EYES!" before looking down at my fingers... which are clean. "Am I OK?" I ask my frightened wife. "Ya, you're ok," she replied hesitantly, not quite believing my luck. "I'm OK?" I ask, then as the adrenalin slides from pre-flight to victory dance, "
I'M OK!!!" I spent the rest of the evening high on my apparent invincibility, well pleased to have passed my armor saving throw vs. building.
The Maker's Expo was a blast, I was both thrilled and slightly ashamed to be included in such illustrious company. It was great hanging with some of my maker buds, and meeting some of the folks behind some of the things that have inspired my madness. Oh, hay, someone took a pic for me!
The Time Traveler's ball was also great, so many friends in one place, and SteamPunk Boba Fett
totally got me with "his" little joke before the Contraptions went on. ConTorage still throws THE room party (ok, they threw two of 'em, both were great) Though, I've got to say, possibly the most randomly "me" kind of fun I had was with the traveling street rave. Some friends and I were outside, realizing we were all sick of waiting on some folks, and had just started to wonder what we should get into when about 80 people came around the corner following a few lads with amps and speakers on their backs. We joined this motley crew as they passed us, dancing our way around streets and buildings of the con until we ran into the other random street party.
Lots of dancing, lots of drinking, lots of wonderful people (new friends and old). I fucking love DragonCon. I'll let y'all know when I get my pics ready.
