2013 Convention

I had the best day at the con this year. It was so much fun!! I have to say, from the moment I woke up I started feeling the excitement, but once I was in the convention center and I saw all the other fans who were just as into their fandoms as I am into mine, I had that all over adrenaline rush jumping up and down excitement that is hard to find in everyday life. So, from the beginning.

I woke up at 8AM, got dressed in my Doctor Who TARDIS T-shirt, jeans, and sneakers. I did my makeup in the TARDIS color scheme: a blue eyeshadow look that was subtle but coordinated. I used my Maybelline Color Tattoo in Barely Beige as a base, then used a TARDIS Blue from my elf palette on the lid, and the sky blue color from the Maybelline Twilight Rays palette on the inner corner and blended that across the browbone in one arc. It looked pretty normal for blue eyeshadow. I had fun with it.

We left for the train at 9:20, left on the train at 9:46, and arrived at the train station downtown at 10:15. Then, I got a little misdirected and walked to a farther shuttle stop than necessary, where we waited a while then decided the line was so long we wouldn't get on the bus anyway, that we just packed all eight of us into a minivan cab. We got to the con at 11.

The rest of the day was a whirlwind of awesome and excitement! We started on the show floor and found the Doctor Who vendor booth fairly quickly. I got a set of buttons and a glass there, then another two buttons at an independent vendor's stand. Her blog is http://thecolorfulgeek.com/ and her designs are amazing! I got a button that was a Deathly Hallows/Mockingjay crossover, but she also had a really great Pinkie Pie/Mean Girls crossover that was creative and fun. I really liked talking to her.

After those vendors, I met up with a friend who was arriving separately, and he and another friend and I went to artist's alley. On the way there, we wandered past the autographing area because I didn't want to pay for autographs, but I wanted to get a visual on some of the signers, particularly Felicia Day. It's so cool to me that I can see them with my eyes and without a screen, so that was enough for me. One of my friends did the 8-bit challenge that an 8-bit artist had at his booth. There was a banner with the artist's designs and if you could name 10 characters correctly, you would win a print. He was a really fun artist to get to chat with, and after staying there for a while, we went to catch up with the others.

In catching up with the others, I lost the guys I was with in artist's alley because they stopped to play a game and the rest of us went to the Patton Oswalt panel. He was funny, and all throughout Brian Posehn, another comedian, was tweeting insults at him which he stopped to read aloud to the room full of hundreds of fans. Brian ended up leaving his seat in the back and sitting against the wall right near where I was, and so I watched him tweet and then react to the dramatic readings by the panelist. It was super funny. Oh! And before the panel, I talked to the lighting designer about what she was using to create a really cool rainbow effect on the fabric panels on either side of the stage, and she used colorforce strip lights, which I've used before, so that was cool.

After the panel, we went to get food, and Nick Lang of Starkid was directly in front of me in line. As he and then I was paying for our sandwiches, my friends basically said we had to say hi to him, so I said, "Hey, we're huge Starkid fans," and he was like, "Thank you....what are your names....?" and it was super awkward, but worth the awkwardness to not have the regret of not talking to him.

We ate our sandwiches while watching a Double Dare game and congregating the entire group before heading up to the Fierce Females of Television panel, which was probably the highlight of my day. Jane Espenson, writer for Buffy, BSG, Caprica, Husbands, and bajillion other awesome things, was the panelist I was most interested in hearing, but her cohorts were Janina Gavankar (actress from The Gates, True Blood, The L Word, and others) and Ashley Eckstein (voice actor for Anakin's padawan on The Clone Wars). They had really great things to say about gender roles in the industry, and I asked Jane a question about how she approaches writing her characters. After the panel officially ended, I caught Jane for a picture, and Sean Hemeon, one of the actors on Husbands, came to meet her, and I got a photo with him as well. It was pretty cool to have any sort of interaction with creators who I respect so much, and when I was out of sight, I literally had a victorious fangirl jump. I try so hard to let my love of the things the creators I love create show through in my interactions that I want to ask smart questions and really listen and not be a screaming fangirl, so when all of that goes well, I am so happy, and I take a private fangirl moment to celebrate.

After that panel, we walked the show floor some more so I could try to find D&D dice, but nobody was selling them (although they probably had them in the gaming area where I didn't look), so we just wandered instead. I ended up buying an Adipose plushie (finally) because they're so freaking adorable. It was my last purchase of the day, and I got things I liked without spending a ridiculous amount of money, so that was very successful. In the walkings, we met the props/production designer for The Guild (he's also worked on other webseries and films, Lincoln and Jurassic Park were some name drops). His name is Greg Aronowitz, and he was so smart about the way he compared web content to film content and how he approaches his work when he handles both ends of the funding spectrum. I liked getting to meet him.

The end of the day consisted of two panels. First, we saw Peter Davison, the actor who played the Fifth Doctor. He was very funny and has such a lovely voice to listen to. He told a very funny story about his daughter, Georgia Moffett, who married David Tennant after playing his daughter, Jenny, in "The Doctor's Daughter" (so there are a million layers of relationships between her and the series/characters/actors and it's complicated). He said that she made a video of her son, his grandson, and she asked him who his favorite Doctor was, and he said, "David Tennant." When asked who his second favorite was, he said, "Tom Baker." And his third favorite? No third favorite. This was also before Georgia was with David, so there's really no excuse not to say "Grandpa" and it was a very funny story. I enjoyed him a lot.

I went straight from there (actually left a bit early) to get to the Husbands panel with Jane Espenson, Brad Bell, and Sean Hemeon. This was a much smaller panel because not as many people have seen this show (it's on YouTube; go watch it), and it really inverts the form of a newlywed sitcom because it's a gay male couple. They think about their work so thoroughly and truly believe in their message of marriage equality, so the stories they tell are hilarious hijinks that happen to all newlyweds, but with a sociological twist. The panel was streamed online, so it's probably findable if you search for it, and I asked a question about writing for guest stars since they have a lot of fantastic people come in for guest roles. I got to talk to Brad after this panel, and he and the team signed a promo card for me. Autograph I didn't have to pay for: win! It was really awesome. They were great.

When this final panel ended, we made our way home. Of the nine remaining members of my group, six of us packed into a car and three took the train. I was in the car since it was my friend's friend who was driving, and we drove home. Halfway home, she declared her pizza craving, so we got a pizza, then dropped everyone at their respective homes, then went back to my friend's friend's place to eat pizza and watch the new Doctor Who. It was super fun, but a very long day and night.

I love Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS. I love anything to do with the TARDIS, really. I thought the hidden chambers were really cool, and I loved seeing the library and the swimming pool and the Eye of Harmony and the engine room. It also advanced the Clara plot, so that was wonderful. I am really enjoying Jenna on the show, and I am happy with this transition. It'll be another good one next week, I'm sure!

So, while today was awesome, I did find it challenging to be the coordinator. Since I'm the one who organized the trip and figured out train times and bought the tickets at the group rate, I had about 15 people checking in with me throughout the day to find out what the plan was. It was overwhelming, and I just wanted to enjoy my panels. I also did a fair amount of group and person hopping because I have a lot of varied interests, as do my friends, so it was hard for me to keep everyone together and do all the things I wanted to do. I feel bad when I mix groups of people because I want to spend time with everyone, but it ends up being a little bit with each rather than a cohesive experience. I definitely want a large group of people, but I think I need to better strategize about how everyone can be more independent.

All in all, it was fantastic. I have already decided that I want to get the 3-day pass for next year, and I can't wait to be back in that Con environment. The palpable excitement and passion is so energizing and inspiring, and I will go as long as I have a reason and a way to get there. It's just great.

Today is awesome because I had a wonderful time at the Con I've been looking forward to for a year!