Dragon*Con 2010

Part One: Pre-Con Thursday

By Wolfen Moondaughter
October 4, 2010

I have a recurring nightmare where I find myself at the end of Dragon*Con having somehow missed everything. This year, the nightmare became something of a reality — and not just for myself. More than a few people complained to me that they had several (not just two or three) things they wanted to see that were scheduled at the same time, and that the ultimately only managed to see one or two panels a day. At least part of the reason was that, in order to get decent seats at the celebrity panels, one had to get in line about an hour and a half in advance, which meant not only missing panels scheduled at the same time as the panel you were getting in line to see, but also missing any panels you wanted to see before it — and any other celebrity panels you might have wanted good seats for afterwards.

Some have pointed out to me that there's always a screen in there that you can watch the celebs on, but a) the images are very far from high-def, so they don't really do me any good when taking photos of them, and b) if I wanted to watch it on a screen rather than see the live deal, I'd stay in the room and watch it on Dragon*Con TV, or even just watch it on YouTube — no need to attend the con at all, then!

I enjoy taking photos of celebs, both for the fun of it and because it gives me content for my websites, but while I managed to attend five celebrity panels over the weekend, only two resulted in any decent photos. Yes, part of the panel is hearing what the celebs have to say, but my own photos are the only part of a panel I can't get any other way but by attending and getting a good seat. Yet despite my getting in line early for three of the panels, I still found myself in pretty lousy seats for two of them. So one of my biggest reasons for attending Dragon*Con has become rather unfeasible.

It didn't help that I had very much been looking forward to finally meeting David Hewlett (Rodney McKay of Stargate Atlantis fame), having painted a portrait of him to give him and have him sign a copy of, but he had ended up having to cancel about three days before the con. Then I read that Maurice LaMarche (Egon Spengler on The Real Ghostbusters and, more importantly, one of my all-time fave shows, Extreme Ghostbusters, as well as the voice of Brain on Animaniacs) was going to be there, so I printed out my anniversary drawing for him to sign, only to later learn that he had cancelled as well. I knew James Marsters had cancelled, much to the heartbreak of several of my friends — at least I'd seen him before. There were a number of other cancellations, enough that both before and during the con, the comment "they're dropping like flies" became something of a catchphrase.

Thank Gaia there's still hanging out with friends and cosplay-hunting to do!

Thursday, September 2nd

I tried to keep my chin up, I swear, but I guess I didn't do well enough, as Murphy's Law ("Anything that can go wrong, will") seemed well-enforced this trip. I had a lousy flight in: my bag ended up having to be put in a bin all the way in the back of the plane because all the space up front was taken (and I had chosen that seat in order to get out as quickly as possible, but ended up having to wait for at three-quarters of the plane to disembark), and someone had taken my seat because someone had taken her seat because someone had taken his seat, so I sat in the empty seat in front of the one I'd chosen — which was right behind business class, so I had no tray of my own and there was no space for my backpack.

Despite it being only Thursday and the con not even starting until Friday, when my friend Valkyrie and I arrived at the Hyatt, around 1:30 p.m., all the doubles in the International Tower were gone, so we were stuck with a single king-sized bed . Now, I already planned on sleeping on the floor, but we had three more people coming, and a king barely fits three. Thankfully, they wheeled up a comfy twin at no charge (seeing as we'd booked a double), so if you find yourself in the same boat, know that that's an option. Otherwise, we were given a great, very spacious room (no tripping over each other's luggage!), with even something of a foyer (where I decided to sleep , right next to a floor-to-ceiling window with a gorgeous night view). There were also a sizable desk, a flatscreen TV, and places on the desk for HDMI outputs so we could hook our computers to the TV with ease if we'd wished. There was even a refrigerator! Best of all, the wait for the elevator was minimal, never more than five minutes (I've waited as long as 20 for an elevator in the lobby). I hope we get a room this awesome next year!

After waiting for the bed to be brought up, we went over to the Sheraton to get in line to get our badges. We got there around 2:15, and since they'd opened the line at 10 a.m. this year, the line already extended outside and down the block. A woman was hawking water, but she wasn't carrying it — she had left the bottles a ways off — and I didn't want to give her the money only for her to lose track of me if the line moved before she got back to me with it. We waited about twenty-some minutes outside before being sent to the indoor line.

In the meantime, I actually saw a few people I knew while waiting out there! Despite the tens of thousands who attend the con every year, I still manage to just "run into" people — it's great! Two of the people I saw then, Dash and Bex, are people I'd met while standing in another line at the con last year; I ended up going with Dash recently to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Her friend Ry had gone with us to the park, and he was with her and Bex now. Dash and I have become great friends, as have some other people I've met at Dragon*Con over the years, so despite any complaints I may have over the course of this article series, remember that going to this con can also be rewarding and enriching in the best way possible!

Anyway, Valkyrie and I apparently were supposed to pick up our badges at a different desk, but we decided to have me go through the line while Valkyrie looked into whether we could just go right up to this desk or still needed to wait in the regular line first. Again, I saw some people I knew. I was about the hundredth person in when I decided to ask the water hawker (who was stationary) in the room how much water was, so I could get my money out of my backpack and get a bottle on the next pass. She insisted on giving me the water then and there, though, so I had to hold up the line while I dug through my bag, and a few things fell out, so I scrambled to get all my stuff together. Honestly, why can't people listen when you tell them to wait? When i think of all those people outside who had to wait out there even longer for space to clear in the line for them to come in .... So there's a tip for you: if you dehydrate as quickly as I do, especially at cons, have money for water easily accessible.

Valkyrie found me and told me I needed to get out of line after all, so I had to crawl under a curtain-covered set of stanchions. On the way out the door, I heard someone call my name; it turned out to be my friend kmcgeijyutsutka (KMC), whom I had known online for a couple of years and met in person at last year's con! Given the situation, though — her in a moving line and me already having my badge, so I had to leave — we didn't get to chat then. Little did I know how often we would get to talk later ....

The blood donation drive had a station right outside the badge line room, so I decided to go and get that over with. It was while I was sitting there being processed that I realised that my wand was not in the holster I had made for it. I was baffled — how could it have fallen out? Then it occurred to me that I must have lost it when I was crawling under the stanchion — it was the only point at which the holster could actually have tipped downwards! I told Valkyrie, who went into the badge line room and got people to keep an eye out, while I went on into the blood drive waiting room.

There I had a pleasant time chatting with the others waiting for the next hour or so, including a man who is a Ghostbusters cosplayer, as is his wife. He showed me how they'd tricked out their car Ghostbusters-style, and I was pleased to learn he'd actually seen fan-art I'd done for the 26th anniversary of the Ghostbusters franchise. Always nice to meet a fellow Ghosthead!

I also tried to call some people while in line, but got zero bars on my cell, just like last year. I have Tracfone as my plan, but several others around me, with a variety of service plans, had the same problem. This ended up being a problem throughout the course of the weekend — half the time, I couldn't even send or receive texts, and the few times I was able to call anyone, I usually could hardly make them out. Reception at the Sheraton was the worst, but the Hyatt, Marriot, and Hilton weren't much better. Bear that in mind, as it made coordinating with friends extremely difficult, and most of my friends had similar complaints about terrible reception. I have to wonder how businessmen who stay in these hotels get anything done!

Moving along ... for some reason, when it was my turn for the questions and physical, they had me go out into a scuzzy maintenance hallway first to do the questionnaire, then told me to talk to a woman who, it turns out, wasn't in the room. Finally I was sent to the curtained area for the physical; the girl behind the curtain was surprised that half the work had already been done. Frankly, I would have preferred having done that part with her, as the questions are very personal and I didn't really feel comfortable talking to the guy who asked me the questions. In fact, it's a bit irritating that you have to have someone else fill it out and ask the questions, rather than being able to just do it yourself. I guess they do that in case a person can't read and doesn't want to admit it? Never mind that they give you a boatload of literature that you're supposed to read before even signing up. Anyway, I was informed that I have high hemoglobin — 17 — and told that I need to give blood more often for the sake of my own health.

Note that between the questionnaire, waiting for the physical, and the physical itself, that was another 15 minute or so spent there. Next, I was sent to another waiting area, where I waited about another 20 minutes.

The gal who collected my blood had a difficult time tapping a vein, and kept having to move the needle, which much more painful than most times I've been stuck. She wanted to try the other arm, but I'm sad to admit I really didn't want to risk going through that again. Unfortunately, my blood kept clotting, so they only were able to get half a bag — meaning my entire contribution was therefore unusable. Her superior explained that I was likely too dehydrated. Reading up on the net, I've since learned that being dehydrated will give you a falsely high hemoglobin count. It didn't occur to anyone there that that might be the situation with me? They give everyone water after giving blood — if dehydration might be a concern (especially given the large number of diabetics I've encountered at this con over the years), why not give it just before, after we've been sitting for an hour and a half? Altogether, nearly two hours of both my time and theirs was wasted. They did bring in a great haul, though — according to the Daily Dragon, 7351 units, nearly a 1000 more units than last year!

At any rate, my arm didn't end up hurting afterwards, like it had last year, but it did look really scary all weekend, eliciting many "What happened to you??" reactions. I imagine most people have a better experience, though — for that matter, mine was better at the Marriott last year. Just make sure you're very hydrated before going in, bring water with you, and be prepared to lose about two hours of your day (especially seeing as I went really early on and still had a long wait). I think the line might be considerably shorter in late evening.

After that, we checked with the info desk nearby; they didn't know if anyone had turned my wand in, but advised me to check with the Lost and Found in the Marriott. I didn't actually manage to remember to look for the Lost and Found until Monday, when I was about to leave, alas, so I didn't get to play with it over the weekend. Thankfully the Lost and Found did have it when I finally got there, so many thanks to whoever found it and turned it in, and thanks to the staff for safekeeping it all that time!

Valkyrie and I headed to the room and met with our other roommates, then took the new skywalk between the Hyatt and the Marriott to get to the SGMT room. At the Hyatt, the walk can be found over in the back, between the bar and the coffee shop, on the lobby level. At the Marriott, it's across from the corridor that leads to the mall, at the intersection between the hall with the blood drive and panel rooms and the rest of the Atrium level. In other words, traffic through there is now worse than ever before. At the track room, we dropped off the charity items I'd brought and asked if they needed any help. The staff there had things well in hand, so after chatting with friends there a bit, we headed off with one of the volunteers to get an early dinner. There were several new places to eat, including a Checkers (a nation-wide fast food burger chain), but Valkyrie and I decided on the pan-seared chicken wraps from Kameel's Café, which I'd had last year. They were still delicious!

We went back to the SGMT and hung out there for a while. I got a text from my friend and fellow Tart, Patti Martinson, but since cell reception was so bad and I'm a ridiculously slow texter, I just went out to find her and brought her back. I thought I had downloaded the con's pocket guide to my netbook but apparently hadn't; she let me use her netbook and the internet she paid for the night to download the guide to my SD card. Thanks, Patti! Slowly, some of my Squirrel friends (fellow David Hewlett fans) trickled in, including some that I'd never met in person before.

Eventually, some of the Squirrels, Valkyrie and I decided to head over to the unofficial Squirrel hang-out, the High Velocity bar in the Marriott. Alas, the "fishbowl", the glass room in front, was in use, so we ended up in the back room — and rather forgotten. One Squirrel ordered a pie; it turned out to be a whole (albeit small) pie and took 45 minutes to cook! The waitress barely checked on us to see if we needed drink refills. The food there is rather expensive — I think it was $10 for my chili cheese dog (good enough, but nothing like a Chicagoan would expect) and fries! I was very happy to see that they had Strongbow Cider, though — I've asked for hard cider the past two years to no avail.

My friends called it a night, but I wasn't quite tired yet, so I went cosplay-hunting (taking photos of people in costume) — and quickly ran into my friend KMC, her husband, and some of her friends! KMC, her friend TheJokerHa and I hung out in the mall for an hour or two, and had a really great time talking, to each other and passersby who just joined in! That's one of the things I like best about con, the conversations!

Well, I think I better cut this conversation short. Come back next week, and I'll tell you how the first actual day of the con went.

Dragon*Con.org
Into the Belly of the Dragon*Con — My personal Dragon*con-related site.