Lessons From the Road

This weekend, my wife and I went to Atlanta to visit her mother. In addition, her sister came down from North Carolina, I was planning on taking Sunday to go to Dragon*Con, and on the way home on Monday, we were stopping by my Dad’s place in Alabama, since it was pretty much on the way we had to go. It was a great weekend, but, from it, I got a couple of perspectives on things.

First, I’ll talk about Dragon*Con and what it held for me this year. Really, it was nothing fancy, by my estimation. I enjoyed it, of course. And, there was plenty to do. It was just that aside from seeing the one star I wanted to, and doing some shopping for a few off the wall items (some of which I was not able to get - more to follow), it was a fairly dull convention, and it did not live up to some of the wonder I had built it up to be. Let me start with what I thought was right about it.

Costuming. Excellent costumes again this year. I was impressed by several of them, and many others, just by the effort. I always love to look at the creativity people put into dressing up for these things, and this Dragon*Con was no exception. I’ve always wanted to do costuming, however, my one true effort at it was overcome by a weight gain, so, my musketeer costume does not fit properly anymore. More on this point to follow, as well.

Gaming. Great venues for gaming this year. Though I don’t get to enjoy it as much when I just go for one day, I was impressed by the location and the setup for it. Tournaments had their own space and open gaming had its own space. Miniatures, CCGs, and computer gaming all had their own separate, and roomy areas. The upside to this is that if you were looking for something in particular, you could find it, and probably get a chance to jump in on something. I always like to demo or try games I have not played at conventions, so that I can broaden my horizons. This convention was no exception, as I was able to play a game of Vinci, which was new to me. Very easy to learn, and fun to play.

Staff and organization. Overall, very well done. Traffic flow was pretty smooth with people in many of the areas, with only a couple of exceptions, which were traffic choke points when I first went in 2002, were again in 2006, when I returned, so, it was no surprise to me that they still were this year. I was able to find easily what I wanted to see, so, from that respect, I believe it was well organized. The staff was friendly and courteous (at least to me, and what I observed).

Guests. As usual, there were plenty of media guests from just about every aspect of science fiction and fantasy you could imagine. While there were several I could have stood in line to see, I made it a point to only go to one or two, as on my previous excursions, I ran out of money for autographs, as well as it took lots of time to get to the guests. So, this year, I had in mind to just go see Gil Gerard (Buck Rogers of the 1980 vintage TV show). Part of it was because I met Erin Gray from the show last year, and got an autographed picture, so, I wanted to get one from him, and have a matched set. Another part of wanting to meet him was that I had heard his health history story on Entertainment Tonight (there was a full special on Discovery Health called Action Hero Makeover about it, as well). He was over 350 pounds, and, by his own admission, every one of his numbers was way off the charts, except for his blood pressure. He had stomach surgery, and is now, in my opinion, about the same weight he appeared to be on the show (I may be off in my estimation, but, it is estimation, after all). I did get to meet him, and he was a very likeable guy. I got my autograph, and, when he was done with it, I chatted with him about the health issue, and how inspiring it was to me that he was able to overcome it. He then asked me if I wanted a t-shirt. I asked about it, and he wanted to know if I knew the story behind the t-shirt. I said no, and this is what he told me: About 25 years ago, someone designed a screen print and gave it to him, gratis, for him to use - to be his design. He put it away, and it ended up in storage. Recently, he found the design again, had it digitized, ordered up 100 shirts, and had them sent directly to Dragon*Con specifically for the con. I asked him about sizes. He said the biggest he had was XXL. I said, "I’ll take one. And that, along with your story, will be my inspiration to get down to being able to fit in a two x shirt again." He sold me the shirt, and wished me luck on it, glad that he could help be an inspiration, even if it was just a small way. It made me feel really good that he seemed interested in what I had to say and my motivations on it. But, from my past trips to Dragon*Con, this is the same way every guest I met has reacted to fan conversations that either I was party to or witness to. It makes me feel that they are normal people, not trying to be above the fans, and, some, even eternally grateful to the fans for helping them be successful as actors, artists, or writers. That sort of mentality gives me a good feeling.

Finally, seeing my friends. Two friends of mine live in England now. I attended their wedding as part of my honeymoon, and have not seen them since that time - one year ago. So, I was very eager to see my friends again. In the past, my friend who lives in Maine has come down, I have a friend in Atlanta who has gone, and, over the years, you make a few friends n the con circuit, and, every once in a while, you run into them, as well. This year was just the English contingent, and, towards the end of the day, we all met up with our Atlanta friend. That sort of thing gives a familiarity to the event that would not otherwise be there. Last year, I went alone, and had a great time, but, it was not the same. Having the shared experience makes what would have been rather boring and dull (mostly) entertaining. And, I certainly would not have done some of the things I did had it not been for my friends (I was prepared to eat MREs to avoid food expense, I learned about an online mapmaking program, and entered to take a chance at a customized gaming laptop, as well as played a new game with them).

On to the parts that were not so good, in my opinion.

Dealers. This year, there were plenty of them, and plenty of exhibitors, as well. However, I went looking for particular gaming items, and did not find them. I wanted, in particular, a couple of RPG books from a rather obscure game publisher, and could not find anything from that publisher at all, let alone what I was looking for. I was also looking for some Axis & Allies War at Sea individual figures, and there were none of those around, either. I wanted to find some Magic decks for a co-worker, and could not find any starters. While I did find some great games and gaming items I was looking for, I was limited to Troll & Toad, Atlas Games, and Chessex for the stuff I wanted, and was unsuccessful at all other endeavors. A few bright spots: I got Mr. T in Your Pocket, Cajun in Your Pocket, Brian (from Family Guy) in Your Pocket, and Da Mayor (of Chocolate City fame) in Your Pocket; I got the Family Guy Drinking Dice Game; I got some additional zombies for the game of the same title (great beer and pretzels game); I got Dust and Die Macher for great prices; I got a replacement die, new dice color set, dice boot, ocean hex mat, miniature box and dice bag from Chessex; I got three GURPS 4th Ed. Books, which got me three 3rd Ed books for free; and probably a few things I’m forgetting.

Panels. I have attended panels in the past, just this year, there were none I wanted to go to. Don’t get me wrong, there were plenty around the con, on just about every topic imaginable, I just had no inclination to go to any of them.

Gaming. Yes, I had them in the good, but they were also in the bad. The space was a little smaller this year, overall, and, there were no good games dealers to help drive the gaming. That is a bad combination. They can both help each other out, but they have to talk to each other. It seemed that they did not, and, when I tried out that new game, I could not find it, nor did the sellers offer me a card to see if they could order what I wanted. The dealers that had collectible stuff were selling singles of everything but what I wanted. There was one guy who was selling Pirates of the Spanish Main singles, but, this year, I was not going after those, so, he was not helpful. It was a little bit of a letdown.

I think that about covers the con. No on to other issues.

I learned that my sister-in-law is a beer connoisseur. She wanted to take a trip to World of Beverages, so, I volunteered to go along. I was impressed - they had lots of variety on just about anything you could imagine, not to mention beers. I was doubly impressed when I found not only Abita (a favorite micro brew locally), but also Baltika, a Russian beer that I was very fond of while on my study abroad program in Moscow. I was very happy when I walked out of there $60 poorer.

My mother-in-law is concerned over my wife’s diabetes, and has asked me for my help in getting both of our weights down. I’m up for that, and the Gil Gerard incident just gave me motivation that I could shout from the mountain top. Great match up of goals, opportunities, and happenstances.

My Dad is just as weird as he ever was, but he means well, and cares about us, even if he still likes to drink himself silly from time to time. It’s a little annoying at times, but, he does mean well.

What all this led us to believe on the drive home was that part of what makes life difficult for us here in New Orleans is that we have no true support structure here. It seems to be just us against the world. My mother is loony. Our friends who are here that we have known long enough to be helpful really are the type to "you think you’ve got it bad, you ought to know what we’re going through" us. Our friends who could be supportive are relatively new friends, or are so busy with their own families that we don’t get together as often as we would like. Our support structure is outlined in the above paragraphs - and out of New Orleans. However, we could not imaging living anywhere else. It is where we are familiar. Where we know what’s going on, have roots, and feel like we belong. No where else in the world has that feeling for my wife and I. That is the crux of it. We are trying to rebuild, and have no support except for each other here in the city. It is difficult, but it is worth it. At least to us.