A little San Diego recap

Hey, there’s no better time to recap San Diego than when you’re siting in the airport indefinitely, waiting for your flight to a foggy red dot on an otherwise green FAA flight schedule nation. That is, San Francisco.

So I did the Comic-Con thing and it was pretty awesome, but you really do need to be an insider to truly enjoy it. The average person who goes is missing out on so much, I am learning. There’s a whole back-end that most people never see. And then there’s the random run-ins and encounters. Comic-Con is TEEMING with interesting people. Overally, I think Dragon*Con is more fun for fans and has better costuming. Comic-Con is a really big media event in general. Also, SDCC is really exhausting. I did one and a half days. I can’t imagine going whole hog.

I did some other things, too. I took a ferry to the beach on Coronado Island (I missed the really nice beach apparently) and wandered Old Town, and visited a couple nice observation spots where we could look down on the action below.

And now I wait for the next phase of my trip.

Bleed American

So where have I been all my life? Or at least this past week or so. That’s a good question. The answer is I’m currently ready to start sleeping off a long week. See, it’s Labor Day week and that means … you know what that means. So recent highlights include:

• Working some heavy hours due to reduced holiday staffing and a desire to keep things at a reasonably productive level
• Celebrating the contributions of the Working Man to the United States of America over Labor Day weekend by
  • A. Working (To be honest, everything is either closed or crowded, so I don’t mind working on this kind of holiday.)
  • B. Checking out the Dragon*Con (sci-fi/fantasy/anime/Star Trek/everything convention).
• Riding the train home from work on Sunday and meeting a guy covered in fake blood holding a sign that says “free hugs”
• Watching that guy and another guy not only engage in physical contact of the friendly-male sort, but also eat some of the bloodstuff
• Finding out that the blood has a strawberry-mint essence
• Getting “evil energy” drinks for free
• Waiting in line
• Fighting my way through crowds
• Eating tasty Willy’s Mexican Grille chow in an eating area full of Storm Troopers
• Watching a storm trooper trying to buy sundries in the souvenir shop without removing their costume.
• Watching a storm trooper rip his helmet off in disgust and say to the security guard telling him to go to the other door: “Awwww, man!”
• Not being able to tell friend from foe from security guard because everybody looks evil and weapons-equipped
• That guy dressed as a robot with a cardboard codpiece made out of an Apple Macintosh box.

I like codpieces. They’re the best part of Ren Faires, which are otherwise typically hot, dusty, expensive and generally difficult, with often nightmarish traffic.

There’s a certain society in these Cons (at least this one) and it can be a little odd for people like me who feel sort of like outsiders. On the other hand, I saw a good deal of people doing Cosplay that wasn’t really true sci-fi or fantasy. There were Spartan cheerleaders, and I couldn’t count the number of “Clerks 2” work uniforms and Silent Bob wannabes. (Granted, there is a tiny bit of geekery present in these fandoms)

I think a funny storyline for a movie (of the cheesy romantic comedy sort) would be a person who tries to geek themself out to attract someone. I mean think about the humorous possibilities of Joe Cool…

[Pause to kill speedy roach intruder. Seriously.]

…trying to learn about D&D and putting on a fur suit at a convention. I think it would be totally sweet. Hell, I’m going to write it up.

It’s about time I got back to work on the Great American Novel. Until later, I bid you adieu. Anyway why am I dinking around on teh Internets at 3 a.m.? Shame on me.