I have looked forward to this for the last couple of months. I had four major events this planned for this Summer. Since the trip to the San Diego Comicon fell through this became the highlight of the season.
By far not the biggest convention out there. Even our own local Comicpalooza convention in March is bigger but I was shocked by the growth this year. They hired out the Westchade Marriott hotel in west Houston as the venue and already it is overflowing.
I arrived at 2 P.M. just after work and thought parking would be a breeze since most folk would be at work. Ha! I spent forty minutes driving round and round looking for parking till I finally had to park far out in the street. Inside it was worse. A long circuitous line wrapped round the lobby to get tickets. Took me another forty-five minutes for a simple 3 day pass. Walking was almost impossible and this was only day one. Who knows how it will be during the main day!
Once past these onerous tasks I settled into my convention tasks. I took a couple of loops round the artist alley and the dealer’s room. Saw some old friends and acquaintances that I see all the time at these events. They mostly travel the local convention circuit but some go around the nation doing these things.
I skimmed all the dealer booths to see what would be worth a return visit or three. I never buy the first day of the convention. Hate carrying stuff around and you never know what you might see that you like later.
I had some time to kill and took in the autograph booths. Mostly minor celebrities. Some recent and some from my childhood. They had varying expressions on their faces ranging from being bored at sitting around for the locals to gawk at, to nervous excitement at meeting people. Some chatted amicably with their fans for a good long time, others just scrawled a name on a picture or memento and sent the fan on after receiving the money.
I took in a sing along performance at the end of the first day. You truly get a sense of camaraderie when you sit in a room packed with strangers and do silly things and sing silly songs.
I spent most of the second day at the convention. Began with Tracy and Laura Hickman’s killer breakfast. Essentially an en masse Dungeons and dragons game where the Hickmans invent the most amusing way to kill you and humiliate you in front of everyone assembled.
After that something a bit more serious. Some writer’s workshops reflecting on building the backdrop to stories and how to edit and proofread your works. Some really good ideas there. More importantly for me some things to reflect on as I go through my pieces.
A book reading by a few authors there. Very compelling writing,
The final event was a fan made star wars movie. Stood in line for 45 minutes but it was so worth it.
Took my final turn round the dealer’s room and bought a couple minor items and took a last look round. All the people in costumes, the kids running round, the adults acting like kids, people really get into these things. And then there’s me. As always I feel slightly apart from it all. I still do yet here I feel more comfortable, I enjoy all the silly events, the costumes, the throngs of people, all the confusion.
I know that it’s all just pop culture nonsense and it’s not educational or improving me in any way but there’s more to life than those things. Stop some time, look around and you may notice that life is happening and passing you by.
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