The Leak at the Con

Haha, just HAD to call it that! But I swear that it will be the only time I will refer to it as the "Con"....maybe. Such a word is only to be used by the nerdiest of nerds, those who think that it makes them cool, but really they're only enhancing their geekiness. So anyway, G and I headed excitedly to SD early Friday morning, hit a couple of patches of unexpected traffic, but on the whole we made good time. I couldn't stop the cursing and the impatience (oh, and the cramps), but G kept me sane by reading me the latest, juiciest gossip magazines. Aww, what a great friend! But everyone knows how great G is, and as to not inflate his ego any further, we shall continue. We met up with Vitatwin and Sven at their hotel and walked to the convention center a few blocks away. I won't bore you with the details, which included these poor people dressed head to toe in skin tight blue spandex unitards handing out SBC Global blue bags, a Klingon family, way too many storm troopers to count, a few SpiderMen, some scantily clad Viking women with rolls of fat bursting out of their chain mail, some more scantily clad Anime girls wearing thongs and fishnet hose, a teenage girl with the BIGGEST and most balloon-like chest I have ever seen, and mothers trying to distract their 7 year old sons to look in a different direction. The booths were, I don't know, not as great as last year. Maybe because last year was my first time going, I was caught up in the moment of toys and costumes and really fantastic displays. But this year, perhaps attribute it to my oh-so-familiar "meh"ness, I just didn't have the heart. I only bought 1 book and picked up a cute little thing for my awesome manager, Papa J (thanks for spotting it, G!), and that was it. Last year, I spent close to $400, I think. So a huge change. When I'm not spendin', I'm not happy.

Oh, I forgot to mention that all 4 of us were wearing t-shirts I designed that said "Veronica is my B.F.F." and a line-art version of Veronica. It's very cool, a la "Free Winona" and "Save Martha" with pink ink on a brown shirt. I was hesitant to wear it at first, because I always feel awkward when others are wearing the same clothes as me. But eh, it's Comic-Con, it's only once a year, and I would clearly not be the nerdiest person there. Although I did wear a jacket over my shirt for most of the day. We DID see an actor hired to dress as Willy Wonka, and I got a good picture with him. Everyone was just standing a ways in front of him and Darth Vader snapping shots, but no one had the guts to actually go up there and ask for them to pose WITH someone. I dunno, I think I got a lot gutsier because of Comic-Con. With a little nudging from G, I walked up to Willy and asked politely, and he said sure. Of course, that's what he was paid to do, so perhaps it wasn't as bold of a request as I imagined. Anyway, as we were posing, he said through the corner of his mouth "So you guys like Veronica Mars? Have you seen every episode?" "Yes! Do you watch it too?" "I'm in it." My head whipped around so fast just as G snapped the shot. Wonka laughed and we posed again. Apparently he plays one of the cops, but he only has like 1 line per episode. But it was still cool.

Things brightened more when we got to the Veronica Mars panel. As Sven and I headed to the room, he said "Let's try to sit in the very front so that the panel sees our shirts!" Great idea! Except that as we approach the room, we see a line of at least a hundred people who had already thought of the same thing. Granted, none of them had cool shirts like us, so we were not jealous. While standing in line, the poor kid in front of us--in fine Comic Book Guy form-- kept trying to chat us up about the "rules of the Con" and what-not. He held a bag of trash in his hands, and I noticed that something started to drip it. Trying to be nice, I pointed it out by apparently saying "Um, you're leaking." It doesn't sound so funny as I'm typing it, but it was funny last night as we were discussing it over dinner!

So the panel was great, consisting of VM's creator Rob Thomas, Joel Silver, Enrico (Keith Mars), Francis (Weevil), Teddy (Duncan), Jason (Logan), and Charisma Carpenter (I didn't know her, apparently she was in Buffy and Angel as Cordelia? Now she's on the cast). G took the initiative to be the first person to ask the panel a question and to show off our fabulous shirts. RT mouthed to him something to the effect of "Great shirt." I had printed a shirt for Kristen Bell (Veronica) as well as Rob Thomas and was going to give it to RT at the post-panel autograph session. But judging by the size of the crowd and fearing I wouldn't meet him then, I also went up to ask a question and give RT the shirts. He was very appreciative and was surprised that I made him a shirt too. He said "You're so sweet!" and Enrico said to me "What about me?" Already prepared, I told them I didn't know their sizes, handed him my business card, and told him to contact me. As I walked away, Weevil said (and everyone heard) "Dude, I got her number!" Teehee! Hello, self confidence now at a 10! :)

We left the panel early to try to be one of the first to get an autograph. Again, WHERE DO THESE PEOPLE COME FROM THAT THEY BEAT US AGAIN? There was a long line already formed, and the crowd controllers told us that we might not get autographs. :( They put a cut-off line a few people in front of us, and for 45 minutes it was pure torture. The line ahead of us thinned down, and I had a straight visual shot of "Logan." I made eye contact at him, and he waved at me. I gave him a pleading look to let us through and pointed down at my shirt. He gave me a sympathetic look and gave a two-handed "sorry, I can't do anything" wave. :::Sigh::: Turns out he's married, I found out today! So we DID end up squeezing by at the end, we were some of the very very last lucky fans. Of course the cast recognized us when we got to the front of the line, and Enrico (Keith Mars) knowingly brought out my business card from his coat pocket. I got them all to sign the back of my shirt, although I did offer that Francis and Jason could sign the front of my shirt. ;) And maybe I was hallucinating, but it seemed as though Francis might have fancied me a bit. I dunno, G might have a more unbiased view. They were all very sweet, but unfortunately the crowd controllers were pushing us along and wouldn't allow us to really chat or take pictures with them. Oooh, I'm mentioned in the Television Without Pity forum too! Woohoo!

After our giddiness subsided, G and I went to visit our coworker DK who was selling his comic book. He hired us a few months ago to design the cover of his book, and it looks great. He took a break from his booth and we walked around a bit to a few of the toy companies' displays. Sven and Vitatwin met up with us again (they were in line for Elvira's autograph), at which point I was beyond pooped. I ended up taking a break at one of the eating areas and let the others walk around until the convention was closing up. We ate back at the hotel's cafe and drove back home. By that time, it was 11:00pm and G agreed to come with me to pick up my copy of Harry Potter. We were exhausted and completely irritated by the excited and extremely annoying children and parents, but I got my copy! I started reading it last night and picked it up this morning right where I had left off. I finished it by 4pm, and now I'm kinda sad that it's already over. I might start reading it again tonight. :) I read through it so quickly the first time that now I might go back to savor all the little details and hints I probably missed during the first go-round.

And this post is a lot longer than I expected it to be. So sorry for that. But yay for Nerd Weekend 2005!