Saturday –

I finally ventured out of Ballroom 20. Today I camped out in the Indigo Room (which is located inside the Hilton Bayfront next door to the Convention Center) to see Joss Whedon and The Guild. Because I wanted to ensure a good place in line (and, as stated before, I’m slightly neurotic), I checked out the route last night to find my way so that I could walk off of the shuttle and straight into line in the morning. Which is precisely what I did.

Even though at 8am I still ended up in line outside, the room was half empty when I walked in. Since everyone had assumed the worst (you never know how many people are in line ahead of you), there was a pause and audible oh’s of surprise by myself and those around me at the amount of seating still available. Everyone recovered very quickly and rushed into the closest available seats. You will very quickly get in tune with your primal instincts as finding seating is a survival of the fittest style competition. Either that, or you’ll shuffle quietly to your place at the back of the room.

Up to this point I don’t think I’ve accurately described what I mean by “camping out” in a room. Everybody has a back-pack or some kind of bag slung over their shoulder. Inside are provisions such as a sandwich, cold water, and snacks such as crackers, cookies and pretzels. Don’t over-pack food though. You’ll likely be amped up on so much adrenaline you won’t have much of an appetite. Also a laptop and necessary chargers, but I figure that’s a given.* Although the option of going to the bathroom is readily available, most people don’t. (Apparently I’m not the only one who rations their water.)

After the Community panel, half the room cleared out and me and my new found room friend (A term of my own invention, “room friends” are people who are your friends for the duration of your stay in a room. You share snacks and scout better seats together.) were able to move up to the middle of the front section. This means we could actually see the person on stage without the screen. This means I was able to gaze upon Joss Whedon in all his glory with my own eyes. He is every bit as delightful as you could ever imagine. Not delightful in a sweet puppies and kittens way, mind you. But delightful in a witty, I’ll kill your favorite characters and you’ll like it kind of way.

Next up was The Guild. Need I really say more? It was so obviously awesome!

Next I grabbed dinner to go from Subway and grabbed the shuttle back to my hotel to eat and rest for a bit.

The Nerdist Podcast, with guests Will Weaton, Matt Smith and Karen Gillan, was just a short walk away from the hotel. I passed the red carpet premiere of Cowboys and Aliens and joined the line wrapping around the building for the podcast. I made friends in line and we all sat together in the 5th row. Obviously it was amazing, but it was boosted right into surreal at the end when Matt and Karen passed out burritos.**(Yes, I have touched Matt Smith’s hand. No big deal.)   I practically floated back to my hotel, burrito in hand.

Sunday –

Last day of Comic-Con. And it seems like just yesterday I was drooling over Joss Whedon and being handed burritos by The Doctor. …Oh yeah! That WAS yesterday!

Despite knowing that I really should be getting out as early as possible to make it into Hall H, since the main goal was the Doctor Who panel and I’ve already made, albeit brief, physical contact with The Doctor, I wasn’t gonna cry if I missed it. As it would happen, my luck still hadn’t run out. After 2 hours in line (the last half hour of which I made line friends), I stood (as there was standing room only) during the second half of the Supernatural panel, then found a seat and enjoyed t
he Doctor Who panel.

Most of Hall H cleared out after Doctor Who, myself included. I left to get something to eat and came back to roam the Exhibition Room one last time. I managed to score a free copy of A Game of Thrones (I only had the audio book) and buy a signed copy of A Dance with Dragons.

Now it was time to attend the thing that had perked my interest in Comic-Con years before: the “Once More With Feeling” sing-a-long. I not only got to hand out “grrr-arrgh” monsters to everyone, but I also GOT TO SEE NICHOLAS BRENDAN! All that I could think to say was, “I grew up watching you!” Luckily, the logical side of my brain kept my mouth shut. My second favorite part (since Nicholas Brendan was obviously my first) was turning and seeing everyone making their finger puppets say “grr. arrgh.”

Afterward, I got to have dinner with the Whedonopolis crew before it was time to go home.

My feet are sore from walking, my shoulders are sore from my backpack, but I’m happy because I got to do/see everything I wanted and more. Next year I’m hitting up the parties! 🙂

* The smartest thing I did in preparation for the con was buy extra batteries for my phone and a battery charger. I didn’t have to worry about how much of an energy hog running the camera and Skype were, or have to search for an outlet to plug in my charger. When one battery was spent, I just popped in a fresh one. I found batteries for my Droid on Amazon for $5 each.

** The burritos are an inside joke on the podcast.