World Con

You guys.  I totally went to the World Science Fiction convention this year.  It's been on my bucket list since I was 15 years old.  It takes place in a different city every year.  (Last year was London, 2016 is Kansas City, Missouri and 2017 is Helsinki Finland.)  So, since it takes place all over the world, when I found out it was going to be in Spokane, Washington this year, I figured that was going to be one of the closer options for me.  It's a direct flight that takes less than 2 hours.  You can't beat that.

I had a great experience.  I won't write about everything that happened, but it's important to share the highlights.

Free Stuff

Wandering around the convention floor was a great way to get free stuff.  There were lots of authors who just wanted to get their name out who were giving away free books.  Many of them were even signed.  It was great!  There was also the free stuff from the convention itself, like my handy dandy World Con tote and super cool badge.  Here is a pic of my swag.

And look at this super cool badge I wore all week.

It's my first Worldcon, so they gave me a super cool ribbon so that I could be proud of being a newb.  There were lots of ribbons available for lots of reasons.  Some people had ribbons all the way to the ground.  I wasn't into the ribbon collecting.  I just had the one.

Not so free stuff

I'm not a big shopper.  There was lots of stuff available for purchase, but I didn't purchase very much.  However, there were a couple things I couldn't live without.

When I saw this, I couldn't pass it up.  I will have the warmest face of the elder gods.

This children's book about Kirk and Spock had to be purchased.

I bought the Star Trek book for Robyn.  I needed to get her a gift for letting me go on vacation without her.

Stuff they didn't let me take home

Sometimes there are things that are available for purchase, that you just need to try out, but you're not actually willing to pay for them.

I had to try on these claws, but clearly I wasn't going to buy them.

Meeting famous people

It was super fun to see people who have written books I've read.  I got pictures of several people that were famous in my mind.  They may not be famous to most people who read this blog, so I won't mention most of them.   However, the most famous person I met (I think he's even famous among normal people) was George R.R. Martin.  I was sitting there eating lunch when he happened to walk by.  Naturally, I took a creep stalker pic of him.

Later, I happened to run into him as he was just wandering around the convention.  I walked up to him and shook his hand and asked if I could take a picture with him.  His entourage swooped in to let me know that if one person takes a picture then the whole world wants one.  I told him  I understand and that I was a big fan.

I had a big plan that I was going to tell him that I have been a fan since I read Sandkings when I was 15, long before he wrote Game of Thrones.  But I was too starstruck, so I was unable to speak more than to say I was a fan.  Oh well, now he thinks that I was only a fan once it became trendy.  I like to think that I was a George R. R. Martin fan before it was cool to be his fan.

I was disappointed not to get a picture with him, but I did sit on the front row for a panel discussion between him and Robert Silverberg.  I was able to snag this pic of the three of us.

The Masquerade

Conventions are famous for having people in costume.  I think costumes can be super cool.  On Friday night, they did a masquerade show which was essentially a costume contest followed by a concert.  Here are a few of my favorite costumes.

I thought this little girl was super cute as Ms. Marvel

This snow monster was a good ten feet tall.

Groot was probably fifteen feet tall.

This family did a D&D reenactment, complete with one of their children as a 20 sided dice.  (not pictured)

The Art show

I really enjoyed the art show at the convention.  I took a bunch of pictures of the art (even though there were billions of signs saying not to.)  But I won't share any of those pictures, because I'm pretty sure sharing them online is what they are worried about more than me having memories.  However, I did a google search for one of my favorite pieces, and here is a picture of it from the guy's website with his watermark.

Don't you just want to see that movie?

All in all, it was a great experience.  I still need to share some of the things I did outside of the convention center.  And, of couse, I think the thing I enjoyed most was having the opportunity to be at the Hugo awards ceremony.  Both of those things need their own post so stay tuned.

Salt Lake ComiCon 2013

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to bring my geekdom to a whole new level.

For the first time, in the history of the universe, Salt Lake City hosted a ComiCon.  For years, San Diego has been the Mecca where geeks gather together to commune and celebrate their mutual interests.  I've never been a Con going person, and therefore haven't made the pilgrimage to San Diego to partake of the annual event there, in fact I wasn't even going to attend in Salt Lake, even though it was only 30 miles from my house.

Luckily, one of Robyn's friends was inspired.  They had 2 tickets that they weren't using for Saturday.  I had never even met this friend, but apparently Robyn has said enough about me to make it clear that I am nerdy enough to go to something like this.  She called Robyn, and when Robyn asked if I wanted the tickets the answer was an emphatic, "Yes!"

I gave the second ticket to my little brother, Zack, and we were off.

When we first stepped into the Salt Palace, I looked around and saw so many great people.  Among them were Spider Man, Pikachu, and most importantly, Dr. Who.  Best of all, it wasn't just any Dr. Who, but my favorite Dr. Who, the one played by Tom Baker that always wore the hat and scarf.  That was the Dr. Who of my childhood.

I turned to Zack and said, "These are my people."

We only had a few hours at the Con, since we arrived late afternoon on the last day, but we sure packed it with some awesome stuff.

Here are just a few of the experiences we had.

Captain America let me hold his shield.  Or, more accurately, that nice girl behind me let me hold Captain America's shield.

Some estimates say there were as many as 50,000 people there.  It was fun to look down on them all from the second floor.

I met Darth Maul.  Nicest Sith you'll ever meet.

I met Saruman and Gandalf the Grey.

If someone asks if you're a god, you say, "Yes!"

Who's creepier, Zack or Gollum?

We met Lego Batman!

Yes, that Orc is murdering my brother.  Yes, I'm smiling about it.

This is Zack's good friend Sue.  Her Shy Guy costume was awesome.

I met R2D2.  Turns out she's a girl, and she looks way different in person.

We even got to see Stan Lee.  He made up some garbage about how his characters are fictional.

When we went into the auditorium, it was already full so they were ushering people into a second auditorium where they could still see Stan Lee on the big screen.  However, just as we were about to enter the second auditorium one of the workers stepped in front of us and said, "There are a few seats in the front."  He then proceeded to walk us to about 10 rows from the stage.  It was crazy!  I don't know how that happened, but I appreciated that they knew we were VIPs when they saw us.

I met Ursela the sea witch.

I even hung out with zombies, but I never got bitten.

It was a super fun experience.  I'm totally going next year.  Maybe next year I'll even pay for my own ticket.