the comic-con experience in words

every year 100,000+ people converge on san diego in a celebration of comic books, tv and movies based on comic-books, tv and movies that have turned into comic books, tv and movies that maybe could have been somehow related to comic-books, tv and movies that have nothing to do with comic books (glee, for instance?) and basically all things followed, interested in, or obsessed about by the citizens of nerdlandia.

since moving to california, attendance at said celebration has been high on my bucket list.  not only have i considered myself a nerd, for, well, as long as i've had a concept of what a nerd is, but i also genuinely wondered what it would feel like to be among so many like-minded people.  kind of like the olympics for nerds. 

it was a miracle that i even managed to secure tickets.  as i've previously mentioned, the tickets sold out almost immediately, and i consider it a testament to my nerdiness that i prevailed, since doing so required having multiple browser windows running with click through and copy/paste address bars simultaneously working hard to get me through to the 'purchase portal.'  in fact, that alone earned me my right to be there.  

my participation this year was intended to be a one time deal, but, what can i say? i drank the kool-aid, and the kool-aid was goooood.  

i won't play-by-play the experience,  but i will mention that i had done A LOT of research before making the southward journey.  when you by your tickets, you have no idea who will be there or when, and in fact, the schedule is only released a couple of weeks before the event.  it's a bit of a crap shoot, but i, being the planner i am, didn't want to leave anything to chance.  i can't even begin to count the number of forums and websites i've visited or the people i talked to, and fortunately, the research paid off.  

my #1 priority (after meeting nathan fillion and having him propose to me) was attending the firefly 10 year anniversary panel, and i was successful (on the panel, not the other thing)!  there has been a lot of wonderful coverage about that panel (i've also got some video on my smugmug) and it was a really unexpectedly moving experience.  my favorite encapsulation would be geek god joss' whedon's answer to an mtv reporters question: was there something extra special in the air for you this time around?

whedon: yeah there really was. i would describe it as 5,000 people all tearing up about the same thing at the same time. that's a little weird. one has fantasies of success but that isn't what it is, it's so intimate, that's a one-on-one, we had an entire hall full of people having a one-on-one experience, including us with each other. i looked over at nathan and i didn't know if i could look at nathan because i was getting too emotional

it was a genuine privilege to be in the same room as joss whedon and nathan fillion and to have that experience.  it required a 4am wake-up call, waiting in line for 4 hours, sitting through two earlier panels (though one of them included joel mchale - so that was fine), and it was worth all of it.

now to the rest of the highlights!

favorite moments of the weekend, in quotes:

random guy on bus leaving a message on his own voice mail:  “hello future self. this is a message to see if there is a cell connection. ps you're having a great time”.

me: words i never thought i'd say: i'll be on the lookout for tall skinny ghostbusters.

random guy in line to other random guy: you know how star wars is like a space samurai movie?  that's kind of like how firefly is a space western.

random girl in line (in reference to 'community'):  i love how we can refer to that as the first paintball episode.

joss whedon (answer to audience question: many of us in this room camped out last night to get into this panel.  i wondered if you've ever camped out for anything?): yeah. camping.

astrophysicist neil degrasse tyson: pluto had it coming.

me: i feel like i'm in line with my high school drama department.

sam huntington (on sam witwer's character in being human): maybe aidan can flash back to pirate days and he can be a vampirate.

my friend jamie (during a discussion in a hot tub with two random guys about stan lee's recent penchant for hiring young pretty girls): so what you're saying is, stan lee is hugh hefner now?

and that is just a tiny sampling of the many overheard quotes and conversations that made me so happy.  up next: the comic-con experience in photos! 

memorial day

today a former co-worker and current facebook friend posted the following on his wall:

I've been gracious about this. But it doesn't feel right. Memorial day honors our fallen brothers and sisters who paid the ultimate price for our country. I am a veteran. I have a day in November. While I am proud of my service, it does not belong in the same book, page, paragraph or sentence with those whom we remember on memorial day. Today please honor those who's check was cashed.

earlier in the day i had read and 'liked' many posts honoring and thanking those who serve our country -- both past and present -- and hadn't given it much thought.  his comment shook me from my complacent sense of general agreement to a more profound place of gratitude.  memorial day, after all,  is a day specifically dedicated to those who have sacrificed their lives in the service of our nation.

privileged to have grown up near the nation's capital, and to have spent a lifetime visiting us historic sites like gettysburg, little big horn, the uss arizona, etc., as well as having spent some time in the middle east during the first gulf war, i have a deep sense of humility and gratitude for those who were willing to risk, and indeed lost their lives, in the hopes of making and keeping this great nation great.

flawed though it may be, my travels have reinforced my belief in it's beauty, it's freedom, it's opportunity, and it's humanity. and today, i honor those who put on uniforms, never returning to the embraces of their loved ones, and i honor those, such as martin luther king, jr., who lost their lives in a different type of service to this nation.  thank you for your courage and your sacrifice.

orlando

melissa and i

i think i can count the number of nights i've spent in my own bed in the last three months on one hand.  needless to say, i wasn't that excited about having to end my fun conference weekend early to get on a plane for another work event in orlando (one of my least favorite cities)

but lo and behold - i had a blast!  it was my first show of the year traveling with my group sales co-workers, and i realized how much i had missed them!  the group consisted of one of my closest office friends, three sales guys and a sales girl, and i had forgotten just how much i enjoy being on the road with them.  always laid back, drama free, and up for a good time - and that is exactly what we had.

even the exhibit hall hours flew fast with the catching up, the visiting canine companions for independence dogs, and the general camaraderie of the team.

after the hall closed, the girls and i donned swimsuits and took advantage of the lazy river boasted by our hotel (hilton bonnet creek - one of my favorite new properties) while the guys grabbed some snacks poolside.  it was a moment of complete and utter relaxation -- something extremely difficult to find on a business trip.

after getting dry, we joined the guys by the firepit and enjoyed dinner in our outdoor chaises before calling it a night.

the following day was more of the same, with a short reptile break (oh, the things you find on a trade show floor!) but i had talked the group into trying one of my favorite travel traditions, a movie at a 'dine-in' theater.  amc has several around the country (though none in california).  there are two types of theater, one, the fork & screen, the other, cinema suites.

melissa & i, eli &
kevin, eric & jeff

the fork & screen theaters offer super cushy chairs and each row has a bar in front of it, which comes in handy when you order your dinner or snacks from the full menu.  there is a button on the bar and you simply push it when you need something...a diet coke refill, more popcorn, a caesar salad...the cinema suites take it one step further and while there is no bar, you are in a full recliner, in pairs of two, with a table between you for your delectables.

the movie choice for the evening was 'avengers' (my second time) and was in one of the fork & screen theaters.  my co-workers were blown away by the experience (the movie was pretty awesome, too!).  they have come to trust my penchant for creating/finding unique experiences, but they were still impressed. and the best part for me is that these 'special' theaters cost about the same as a 'regular' theater in california. score!

looking forward to exploring atlanta with these guys next month!

(last) weekend update

every year my ward hosts what has become the largest mid-singles conference...anywhere.  when i first joined the ward a few years ago, i was asked to co-chair the event, and have not attended since.  my excuse is that i have been out of town for work or other prior commitments, but for the sake of full disclosure, it's been a relief to have an 'out'.

ben h & i -reunited

it may be an age thing or a tolerance thing, but my dislike of large social events has increased exponentially in the last several years. give me a dinner or activity with 3-10 people and i am happy to socialize.  any more than that and my comfort level plummets.  i think people behave differently in larger groups, and i just don't like it!  conversations are superficial, eyes wander, engagement suffers.  and here's where the lack of tolerance comes in. 

ben b & i - also reunited!

in my mind, it serves no purpose to invest in someone with whom the conversation will be superficial, the eyes will be wandering, and the engagement will be questionable. rather, if i am going to spend valuable time getting to know someone new, i want to believe there is a possibility that we will give each other a chance to be real...maybe not immediately disclosing our lifetimes of hopes and dreams, but at least getting past the 'where are you from?" question, and assessing whether there is any sort of foundation for building a friendship.

my new friend rod & my old friend jamie

so, when i started feeling like i should attend this year's conference, i also started fighting that feeling.  and i had an excuse. i had a work event.  i couldn't do it.  then i was asked to be on one of the planning committees, and i was happy to be of service--particularly since my travel often prohibits it.  and then, i realized, while working with some fabulous people that i hadn't known very well before, just how disconnected my travel schedule had made me.  and all of the sudden i stopped fighting the feeling that i should attend, and embraced it.

jamie, pete, and i

of course, it meant jumping through a lot of hoops to get my work event handled, and a very early flight out this morning to be in orlando by the time the event actually begins, but, i felt good about that.  ...then i started developing expectations.  i mean, if i was having to do some massive maneuvering to attend this thing, it better be worth it. right?

it took me a full two weeks beforehand to get my attitude adjusted. and, ultimately i decided that i wasn't going to let the possibility of meeting a guy or not meeting a guy determine the success or failure of the experience.  i would consider it a success if i had a good time.  

perfect day for some sunshine - with nicole

even that was slightly questionable however, and with some trepidation, i joined my friend jamie, and her friend kirsten for the opening friday night activities at a local bowling alley.

though i was highly doubtful that i would actually have any fun at this event, i was quickly proven wrong, when, from my anti-social-suck-on-a-soda perch, i saw an old virginia friend walk through the door.

in the hot air balloon at great park, irvine

one of many things i've learned over the last five years, is that as much as i appreciate california's perks and pleasures, i'm still really 'east coast'.  i don't know exactly what it means or how to explain it, but i know it makes me different from the west coast people.  i've struggled to find meaningful friendships here as a result (and forget dating a local!), and on the few occasions i have met someone with whom i instantly 'click', they have been from the east. so you can imagine how excited i was to see an east coast friend! and he wasn't the only one.  ben b. was also in town for the conference, and between the two of them, i felt like i had a little of my old home in my new home for a full 48 hours, and it was WONDERFUL!

after that, i had the weekend in the bag.  i enjoyed making new friends, getting back on my beach cruiser for the first time since my knee surgery, spending my first afternoon at the beach in almost as long, and just generally enjoying the positive energy of a weekend at home!

so glaad to be me - la

i'm watching jay leno right now, and jesse tyler ferguson, from modern family is on, talking about saturday night's event. WHICH I WAS AT.

the los angeles event, for me, was all about the jjjs (try and prounounce that in your head).  jesse is darn funny, but there were a few other jjjs i was weak-in-the-knees for: gilles marini (pronouced like 'jill'), josh hutcherson, joshua jackson, and jason mraz.  see what i mean about the 'jjjs'?

gilles, may be best known for his role as the naked neighbor in the first sex & the city movie (which, by the way, i did not even realize until someone told me) but i fell for him more recently. january, in fact -- when i netflixed the entire season of 'brothers & sisters', in which he had a fairly prominent role for a couple of the later seasons. and i came to adore the role, and the man in it, and could not believe it when he appeared on the guest list.

josh brought to life an amazing character in an amazing book, which, incidentally, i read long before there was even a rumor of a movie.  though he is not the peeta mellark i imagined when i read hunger games (nor most people i suspect),  i just don't think there is anyone on the hg bandwagon who WOULDN'T be excited to meet him.

joshua. oh joshua.  i love joshua.  but i love fringe joshua.  i never watched dawson's creek,  on principle, really.  i'm pretty sure the 13 year old girl that still lives inside of me would really really enjoy it, but i just have to make a stand about something and this is where i have drawn my line in the sand. but fringe. i love fringe, and i love him in fringe.  based on his character, i made assumptions that he was smart and sardonic - traits i appreciate in an actor, and well, really, just in people.  i was hoping to have the opportunity to test those assumptions.

jason, is a singer/songwriter i have followed for years, and who, if i'm being honest, may well be my favorite singer (with jason aldean making a close race of it).  since he is from virginia and used to play lots of small local shows (many of which i had the privilege of attending) i had seen him before.  but not in awhile.  something about when you knew someone 'way back when' and i just haven't being able to bring myself to go see him now, in a giant arena, in nosebleed seats, when i used to be able to touch him from my regular spot on the (old) 9:30 club floor.  i was excited to see him perform again.

in los angeles, unlike new york,  the red carpet area takes place inside what they refer to as the 'private celebrity reception'.  basically, it's one half of a ballroom, separated by pipe and drape, in which, only the really super special people can go.  except that it always seems that there are A LOT of super special people.  but i digress.

our sponsorship of the event grants us these super special golden passes, so i took up my position behind the stanchions, to see who i could see coming through the press line before i began my hard core stalking. my co-workers slowly joined me, and i was relieved when mike and his wife celeste arrived.  mike and celeste had proven themselves worthy companions at the 2011 event.  i knew i could say 'come now' to mike, and he'd be behind me, no matter how fast i was elbowing people out of my way, with camera in hand to capture whatever moment i was sure i was about to have!

mike, celeste & i with max adler (glee)

we saw grant gustin and mas adler from glee come through the line, and stepped out of our position briefly to grab a pic with max.  then came chaz bono and tabatha coffey and madison hildebrand from million-dollar listing.  then came sarah gilbert and ali larter, and oh! my! goodness! gilles flippin' marini.

i'm only slightly embarrassed to admit that a i emitted a squeal.  an actual squeal.  my knees actually went weak, and i am actually retarded.  i know. and for the sake of gilles, i do not care (see reference to 13 year old girl in previous post).

we watched as gilles s-l-o-w-l-y made his way through the press line.  far far too slowly. dinner time was coming much to quickly, and every second was counted by my pounding heart and my nervous breaths.  i was desperately afraid that we would be forced to leave the room for dinner before he had finished the press line and exited into an area where i hoped i could tackle him.  while mike, celeste, and i waited, we ran into our old groupie friends, whom we had met last year.  one of them, who we will call 'd', is a brash, in-your-face, get what she wants, when she wants it, FORCE of a woman.  this was good news for me, because i wasn't actually sure i would be able to speak to gilles if an appropriate moment to do so arrived.  which, eventually, after what seemed like 100 years, finally did.

as he exited the line, d simply said 'gilles!  this is my friend tara and she has been D-Y-ing to meet you.'  he  turned to me, took my hand, kissed my cheek, and with his french accent said:

'ello tara.  it is a pleasure to meet you.  how ARE you tonight?

i think i said something to the effect of having a great night, really excited to meet him, did he know there's a 13 year old girl that lives inside of me?

okay, i have NO IDEA what i said.  but we stood there chatting for a good two minutes before we posed for a photo together. and when we were done.  he put one hand on my arm, holding my hand with his other one, while i told him that i was kind of shaking right now and could he feel me shaking? he laughed that beautiful french laugh (yes, even his laugh sounds french) and said:

i'm sooo glad you came tonight.  i am so glad I am here tonight, so that i could get to meet you.

the fact that i managed to stay upright is nothing short of a miracle.  i thanked him, he gave me a hug and another kiss on the cheek, and i bid him adieu, only then realizing that there was a crowd of about 20 people who had followed the whole exchange.  while some were clearly excited about my obviously unique exchange, others were clearly annoyed that he had spent so much time with me.  i did not care one bit.

i will admit that i was curious, in that 13 year old girl way, whether he would interact with others in the same fashion, so i hung back for a minute to watch. suffice it to say, he did not, he was warm and gracious, but had none of the effusiveness i had experienced.

i was a moron.  but a blissfully happy moron. so happy that i have even posted a couple of truly terrible photos of me here to better convey the experience. and, while that would remain the absolute most thrilling moment of the evening, there were other great ones.

after the gilles experience--that's what it's called now, by the way, 'the gilles experience', tge for short --we hustled to the ballroom as the rest of our group had already started on dinner. we sat down but could see that there were still a lot of seats to be filled.  we, again, had an amazing table, and while i was chatting with my event contact, celeste pointed out that joshua jackson was standing behind me.

anybody who has seen me hop out of a chair with lightning speed for a photo with a 'desirable' celebrity would think i was lying about ever having had a knee injury or the fact that i still can't walk up stairs in high heels.  if only i could find myself in a constant state of 'adrenaline rush' maybe this knee would finally heal right!

my event contact instantly sensed my desire to meet aught on quickly that i wanted to meet him.  in a split second, mid-conversation, she had turned around and introduced herself,  then me.  it was flawless, and i later thanked her for the assist.  unlike tge i was soooo cool with joshua.  we took a photo first and (warning: fringe spoilers ahead!!)  i casually mentioned that i had just seen the latest episode.  he asked me what i thought and i told him i thought it was great (which it was), that i was happy to see him out of the amber, and congratulated him on being a new father (on the show).  he joked that he too was happy to be out of the amber, and that it tended to have a negative effect on the skin, as he rubbed his scruffy chin.

i later learned that he had recently attended coachella, a ginormous music festival here in california, which explained the scruffiness. and what i learned during our interchange, is that he is smart, and he is sardonic, and my greatest hopes and assumptions about him had been confirmed.

but my evening was not over yet, oh no.  here comes josh hutcherson, walking by our table. and yes, the leaping was in full effect again!

i realize and appreciate that in some ways i live a charmed life.  here i was, 'doing my job', eating a delicious meal, with milla jovovich, joshua jackson, benecio del toro, and molly shannon eating the same meal at the table next to me.

the only disappointment of the evening was that jason mraz had a cold.  so, while he did come out and chat with the audience a bit, he did not perform. that WAS a disappointment, but the rest of the evening had so far exceeded my crazy warped non-expectation expectations, i didn't begrudge him his cold.  and there was ellen, and betty white, and more gilles, and a surprise appearance by CHER, and i really didn't have any right to do so anyway.

it was a delightfully perfect evening, and i am so grateful for it.

check out the full album of pics here.