A glorious evening at the cinema!

Well, I made it to GenCon without melting or spontaneously combusting - though I came pretty darned close, a couple of times! (Apparently I alarmed a couple of people when I showed up to claim my badge, face matching my red dress...)

I had many happy meets, had dinner at the TGIFriday's that's attached to my hotel. Well, attached to the hotel that's attached to my hotel.

And THEN!!!!

It was off to the Circle City Cinema for an epic double-feature of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.

What a fantastic experience - being in a theatre full of happy nerds, all bouncing with excitement.

It was so much fun to see these movies on the big screen, again, after all these years!

And you know, despite all of the silly jokes about Kirk, Wrath of Khan was really a vehicle for prime Kirk-ness - the cunning tactics, the epic battles, The Line! (Oh, yes, when he screamed, "KHAAAAAAAAAAN!!!!!" the entire auditorium burst into cheers!)

I spent the whole time with a goofy grin on my face, and left feeling thoroughly exhilerated.

Almost time for GenCon!

Just a couple more weeks until GenCon!

It will be a much different experience for me, this year, as I will not be working at the booth - except for giving some people breaks as needed. Instead, I will be leading several activities in the SPA (non-gaming) programming track, and *gasp!* actually attending some games, myself!


I'd pondered doing the zombie lurch, but it conflicts with another activity that I'd really like to do. No problem, though - as my glorious plan to go as a Borg-ified Starfleet officer went down the tubes when I couldn't find anyone who could lend me a Starfleet jacket in my size. (Though, there's still my Dead Redshirt costume from a couple of Halloweens ago!)

Speaking of Star Trek, I'm looking forward to the double feature of Star Treks II and III on Wednesday night.

But most of all, I'm looking forward to getting to hang out with some good friends, whom I only see at GenCon. We have many plans, already - from heading to our favorite Indian restaurant that is within walking distance (but just far enough away that the other 30,000 people don't seem to know about it), to amassing the entertainers and the authors and storming the WotC booth.

There will be media guests, this year, so I suspect we won't have as huge a space for impromptu jam/dance sessions as we did, last year, though. However, in the past, we've been able to get our "booth neighbors" to join our impromptu jam/dance sessions, so who knows what might happen?

GenCon!!!

It's two days away, and I'm not nearly prepared.

I've been working on costumes (with the help of my good friend H), but life has gotten in the way, so I just know it will be down to the wire.

I haven't submitted any events, this year, so it will be kind of different.

GenCon or bust!

Let me explain. No, that would take too long. Let me sum up:

Wednesday:
Arrived in Indy, missed the driveway to the Westin because taxis were blocking it, drove around the block several times, finally made it.
Tried to check in, but they had lost my reservation. Then they found it.
Met up with M and the booth monkeys. Carried stuff to booth, collected badge.
Met up with my roommate, went to dinner at Alcatraz, played some games.
Tried the hot tub - it was busted.

Thursday:
Woke up, got into costume, set up booth.
Ran to Westin to warm up M's bellydance class while she danced in the opening ceremonies, returned to booth, drove to airport to collect C, went to grocery store to get Real Food, returned to Westin, went to Subway, returned to booth.
Met up with T for dessert, ordered Great Wall of Chocolate.
Tried the hot tub - it was still busted.

Friday:
Woke up, got into costume, set up booth.
Danced around in exhibit hall all day.
Managed to cause a superhero dance party to break out:



Met up with several friends for dinner at PF Cheng's. Found the wait to be too long. Triangulated and found seating at another restaurant. Watched one friend eat a piece of ice cream cake the size of a 3-ring binder.
Tried the hot tub - it was still busted.


Saturday:
Woke up, got into costume, set up booth.
Checked out exhibit hall.
Did kendo demo in the Westin. Returned to booth wearing kendo gear.
Impressed Morgan Shepard, apparently...
Met up with group at Buca di Beppo's for dinner. Had lots of food.
Tried hot tub - still busted!

Sunday:
Woke up, packed, got into costume, set up booth.
Checked out exhibit hall.
Checked out of hotel, dragged loads of stuff down to car, returned to booth.
Danced around all afternoon, closed up booth, packed up, hugged lots of people, came home.
Wondered what to do, now that GenCon is over for another year...

Geek On!

In just two days, I will be shutting down my computer, setting my phone to voicemail, locking my office, and heading off to GenCon!

I can't believe it's already here! I've spent months looking forward to it, planning for the booth and the kendo demonstration and the roaming performances (OK, I'm still working on that last part). It's hard to believe that in less than a week, it will be over, again.

What with the official "busy season" at work having ended last week, and the flux of fall conferences all being off-site, I'm not quite sure what I'll have to look forward to, for the next few months!


My main goal in the exhibit hall (aside from selling my own stuff), is to locate and acquire a couple dozen factory seconds gaming dice. I have grand plans for a tassle belt strung with d10s and the like, to wear especially whenever I do that "White and Nerdy" number. (Though, that reminds me... i need to sew some bric-a-brac trim onto the sleeves of my Redshirt red shirt.)

The kendo demo is worrying me a wee bit, as well... as all of my helpers have cancelled. This leaves me with no one to spar with. ): Ah well. In times like this, I ask myself, WWASD? (What would a samurai do?) Well, I'm sure the samurai would track down the people who backed out on him and force them to commit seppuku, or something... but I'll settle for improvising - killing some time by dressing some random six-year-old up in my armor. That's always a crowd-pleaser, because a) the kid gets to feel important and stuff, and b) let's face it, I may be small, but even my armor looks ridiculously huge on a child.


Now... here's to hoping that I remember to pack everything!