Once my shift was done, I headed up to room 6A to cover a Battlestar Galactica, and was looking forward to it…until I saw the line. The line for this room snaked around the entire hallway and out of the building, and was FREAKING HUGE. The panel wanted to see began at 12:30, and I got there at 12. I looked at the line and realized there was no freaking way I was getting into that panel…at all. I felt kinda sad and dejected at this, as I was caught unawares as to not only the volume of these crowds, but the length of the lines just to get in one freaking room.

The next panel, Dexter, wasn’t until 5:00, so I went back to my hotel so move my items into my new Browncoat backpack and decompress a little. When I got back to the trolley stop, there were a couple of potheads working furiously on their apple bong. In striking up a conversation they asked me about Comic-Con, telling me that there’s a REALLY cheap hotel on the other side of town. Yeah, that’s what I wanna do, stay in a live-in motel with potheads and who knows what else. They also vividly described how much they hate San Diego, which was pleasant.  Thankfully, their train arrived and they left.

Upon arriving back at the con, I got in the line for Ballroom 20…which began outside and ran the entire length of the outside atrium, which was HUGE. I was kind of bothered by this because I figured, if I’m here in line for however long to get into one room, what else am I going to miss by being in one place? The line moved slowly, and I was frustrated until my friend Marsia called, offering me entry into the Dexter press panel. Tired of being outside, burning in the sun and moving like cattle (moo!), I jumped at the chance, ran inside and covered the panel (which you can read here: [story:200907232242240]).

Once the panel was over (which was excellent), I began to write up the audio I transcribed from the panel into an actual article. By the time I was to meet my friends for dinner, I’d written about a quarter of the article, but was happy to get out of the convention center.

I realized my frustration over lines and such was borne out of an attitude and expectation of being at Comic-Con 2007, where these insane lines didn’t exist and panels were much easier to get into. I then resolved to adopt a new attitude by which I’d just go, have fun, take lots of pictures, cover the press events I was scheduled to cover, and screw most of the panels and their associated lines. As of this point, the only panel I now really want to see is Doctor Who on Sunday. Everything else can go screw.

At dinner, I relaxed a bit and unwound, finally out of the cacophony of insanity that was the convention center. We discussed our press coverage for the next couple of days, had some great food, and even saw the zombie walk! Upon returning to the hotel, I finished transcribing my article, uploaded the few pics I took of the day, and wrote this blog. ^_~

So what did I learn today? Lines stink, Comic-Con is way tooooo crowded (I personally think the max attendance should be 90,000, if that), the line system they use is inefficient, and that there’s too much con to limit myself to one line and one room. I’m here for press, sure, but I’m also here to have fun, and no being stagnant in one place is gonna be as much fun as floating around and experiencing the best part of the con…the people themselves. ^_^

Tomorrow I plan to cover some Batman-related panels (since they do have Whedon connections) and maybe some other smaller panels if I can, but mostly it’ll be working the Browncoat booth and roaming the floors taking pictures of all the awesome people in their costumes. Until tomorrow, have a great night.

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