Notes and Motes
Sep. 21st, 2010 06:55 amDragonCon & everything since
All I can say is it’s been a wild few weeks. Before, during and after the US Labor Day holiday, we entire family was abuzz with activity.
As many know, I took Brenna and Chris to Atlanta for DragonCon (www.dragoncon.org) which is arguably the largest sci-fi/fantasy/anime/comic book convention in the world. This year’s unofficial attendance was approximately 102,000 according to staff I chatted with on Sunday evening. Only ComicCon in San Diego rivals DragonCon for attendance and sheer mass of events and activities. For weeks before the event, we all worked on costumes, props and carefully considered what we wanted to see and do. Tammy and Michael didn’t attend with us. Tammy had work and is still recovering from a nagging back injury. I saw no reason or sanity in bringing a 5 year old with us to this mayhem, so Michael stayed in Huntsville. In the end, my work related duties and several family situations kept me from finishing several of my props, but we still packed up and left on time Friday.
The drive to Atlanta was pretty much uneventful save for the constant stream of excited chatter. In a stroke of luck, I found a Hilton property just north of the city months before the event and pre-paid for a room for us with complimentary breakfast. The hotel was quiet, comfortable and an easy drive to and from downtown. Therein lay its only fault; it was ten miles from the convention site. If we wanted to change clothes, take a nap, or take purchases back to the hotel, we had to drive out and back. Parking in and around the convention site is at a premium and can be pricey so this was an inconvenience we tried to avoid. On the other hand, parking for the three days only cost us $47, so it easily was less than the price of a room in the convention hotel for even one night.
The plan for the event was that Brenna would mainly hang out with the Revenger Crew (local steampunk group from Huntsville) and Chris and I stuck together. This was pretty much the norm. I had to drag him into a number of the panel discussions. Chris was more interested in the merchants and the art displays than he was interested in hearing about the how’s and whys of various things or activities. Sigh.
Anyhow, we saw a bunch of shows, climbed out on a building ledge to watch the parade, ate at Trader Vics and I even did a photo shoot with a beautiful model (“Lady Rosetta Fires”).
More tomorrow – gotta run.
All I can say is it’s been a wild few weeks. Before, during and after the US Labor Day holiday, we entire family was abuzz with activity.
As many know, I took Brenna and Chris to Atlanta for DragonCon (www.dragoncon.org) which is arguably the largest sci-fi/fantasy/anime/comic book convention in the world. This year’s unofficial attendance was approximately 102,000 according to staff I chatted with on Sunday evening. Only ComicCon in San Diego rivals DragonCon for attendance and sheer mass of events and activities. For weeks before the event, we all worked on costumes, props and carefully considered what we wanted to see and do. Tammy and Michael didn’t attend with us. Tammy had work and is still recovering from a nagging back injury. I saw no reason or sanity in bringing a 5 year old with us to this mayhem, so Michael stayed in Huntsville. In the end, my work related duties and several family situations kept me from finishing several of my props, but we still packed up and left on time Friday.
The drive to Atlanta was pretty much uneventful save for the constant stream of excited chatter. In a stroke of luck, I found a Hilton property just north of the city months before the event and pre-paid for a room for us with complimentary breakfast. The hotel was quiet, comfortable and an easy drive to and from downtown. Therein lay its only fault; it was ten miles from the convention site. If we wanted to change clothes, take a nap, or take purchases back to the hotel, we had to drive out and back. Parking in and around the convention site is at a premium and can be pricey so this was an inconvenience we tried to avoid. On the other hand, parking for the three days only cost us $47, so it easily was less than the price of a room in the convention hotel for even one night.
The plan for the event was that Brenna would mainly hang out with the Revenger Crew (local steampunk group from Huntsville) and Chris and I stuck together. This was pretty much the norm. I had to drag him into a number of the panel discussions. Chris was more interested in the merchants and the art displays than he was interested in hearing about the how’s and whys of various things or activities. Sigh.
Anyhow, we saw a bunch of shows, climbed out on a building ledge to watch the parade, ate at Trader Vics and I even did a photo shoot with a beautiful model (“Lady Rosetta Fires”).
More tomorrow – gotta run.