Dragon*Con 2010 Lines, Celebrities and Events

Dragon*Con 2010 officially started yesterday, September 2^nd, but my friends and I didn't begin our trek across country, through miles of airport terminals and lines the length of football fields until today. My adventure started at 3:30am PST and didn't end until roughly 12 minutes ago (10pm EST), and although it was exhausting I can honestly say that it has been well worth the effort.

But, before I go into the details of what it took to get here, let's back up a moment. If you aren't familiar with Dragon*Con, it is the largest Fantasy/Sci-Fi convention in the western hemisphere. From Cosplay (dressing like your favorite fictional characters) to listening to authors read from their latest works, art galleries to robot wars, Chad Vader to Star Trek, comics to film... if you can imagine it you can find it here. Dragon*Con is held every September in Atlanta, Georgia and the convention spans several city-blocks with multiple hotels playing host to panels, contests and the general gathering of geeks from across the globe.

As for me and mine, we headed out in the wee hours of the morning to take a combination of planes, buses and automobiles from three different states to reach this Mecca of Nerddom. All told, Mr. Kawaii and I traveled over 3,000 miles, survived one harrowing taxicab ride, flooded one hotel bathroom, were given suggestions on where to dine by a man who smelled like he might live in the local Pabst Blue Ribbon warehouse and went through a line that reached out the hotel and partially down one block just to get our official Dragon*Con passes.

But really, it sounds worse than it was. The planes were relatively on-time, we didn't lose our luggage, we met up with our friends with ease when we landed in Atlanta, the aromatic Pabst man wasn't rude - just uncomfortably overly friendly, and all the time we stood in line we were surrounded by Fairies, Superheros, Hobbits, Villains and Fairy Godmothers.

The only way to describe the initial feel of Dragon*Con is to say that it has already supremely exceeded my expectations; and I haven't even made it through an entire day of the Con yet. Once here, I wish we had made the trip a couple days earlier so that we could have enjoyed all of yesterday's events as well as the multitude of options on today's schedule.

To give you a hint as to what I could have enjoyed, today's schedule included Hydrogen Cars and Other Silly Ideas, Cryonics, Voice Acting for Podcasters, Popular Psychology Myths, Slaying the Vampire, Fictional Writing and Skepticism, Zombies vs. Unicorns, The History of Star Trek Studies... and so many other panels, projects, contests and events that there is no way I could list them all here. Tomorrow, Sunday and Monday are all packed with their own wealth of geeky wonder and I can't wait to explore as many of them as possible.

Unfortunately, due to my late arrival and the small amount of cognitive thought left when I dropped off my bags at my hotel room and headed for the pre-registration line at the Sheraton Hotel I neglected to bring my digital camera with me to document today's awesome costumes and performers. I also forgot to bring the essential PEN with me for celebrities like Jewel Staite to sign my official Dragon*Con book... a fact I regretted after realizing that yes, that really was Jewel Staite just standing there waiting for me to beg her for a signature (she wasn't really waiting, she was surrounded by people who seemed to know her and who probably would have given me the stink-eye had I bothered her, but it still would have been worth it).

Lucky for me, there are three days of Dragon*Con left, and so my photographic skills and ability to fawn over celebrities will have another few chances to stretch their wings. Lucky for you, I intend on sharing with you my experiences and plan to do my best to chastise you for not attending if you're not here, congratulate you if you are, and convince you to attend in the future if you're on the fence.

Please click here for installments 2-4!