30 Minute ECCC Blog
Oh snap, it’s con time, and I totally miscounted my blogs. You know what that means, time for a stream of consciousness entry! Since these are built on expediency, let’s jump right in.
1. First things first, the con essentials. As of this reading, there’s still some time before Joe and I do our Emerald City Comic Con meetup on Saturday, March 16th, from 2 – 4 pm PST. You can find details here, and we hope you’ll be able to make it out!
2. I wish dog-friendly cons were a thing, simply because I hate leaving Dr. Winston as often as I have too. Plus, let’s be honest, he’d be a far larger draw to a con booth than I could ever manage. Then again, given that he gets along terribly with most other dogs, maybe he wouldn’t enjoy it as much as I’d like having him here.
3. Seattle is fun, pretty, and all around an awesome town. That said, y’all mother fuckers really need all these hills? I come from Lubbock, the land of the flat, and some of this shit is downright ridiculous. The 85 degree inclines just to walk out to a coffee shop are a tad bit excessive, is what I’m getting at.
4. With A&D Con now officially announced and tickets up for sale, I’ve started planning my trip to Las Vegas, because at this point I’m going either way. Some tips for new visitors: You can stay pretty much anywhere on the strip and walk to shit, so book to your comfort level; buy booze at the ABC/grocery stores and bring it into casinos to keep from paying out the nose, and anyone who steers you toward the Rio seafood buffet hates you on a deep, spiritual level. Wicked Spoon is the best, with Bacchanal in a very close second place.
5. By pure coincidence, we realized that during A&D Con we’ll also be recording our 100th episode as the live show. Aside from that being amazing serendipity, its crazy to think we’re coming up on a 100 episodes of A&D in the first place. Hard to believe this all started as a drunken impulse between some friends. Then again, the further into this industry I get, the more I realize that often tends to be how things work. Point is, I’m really excited about that, and appreciate all you awesome folks who helped make it happen.
6. Real talk, how do some of these con people fly with such elaborate, complex costumes? I admire the work and cost that goes into those things every time I’m out at a con, but the logistics of it is really what bowls me over. A few weeks back I barely managed to transport a suit without it turning into a cacophony of wrinkles; these crazy folks are somehow teleporting entire complex ensembles that still look amazing.
7. For the past few months, I’ve been unable to sleep past ~5 am in whatever time zone I’m resting in. At first, I hated it, but recently it’s kind of been growing on me. I don’t wake up tired, I’m up and ready to go, so it’s kind of cool getting to knock out the majority of my day’s tasks while the rest of the world is just getting up and awake. The exception to that was Vegas, where it really didn’t matter at all since the city never closes. That town at 4 am is a trip, but too much for a 30 minute blog.
8. Getting to see New York for the Audies was amazing. The city is a fascinating place, obviously with shitloads of history and fun stuff to see. That said, if you too are a person of considerable height, be aware that it is definitely not a town built with the bigger folks in mind. Wonderful, fun, kickass spot, but damn it was nice to be home and have some elbow room.
9. Since this has been, for evident reasons, con-themed, may as well lean into that as we reach the end. Things you need at a con that people forget to mention: portable battery bank, easy snacks, refillable water bottle, and cash. Not every booth can handle cards, and the ATMs are never as convenient as you want them to be. Treat it like your going to a farmer’s market, basically.
10. ECCC is a bit of a special one, because it marks the one-year mark of when I started doing meetups at cons. They’ve all been tons of fun, and I’m excited about putting on another at the place where it started. If you’re in the Seattle area, I hope you can make it out to say hi, grab a drink, and just generally shoo the shit. See you folks there!