Where to begin? What an incredible weekend. I’m so not ready to re-enter reality right now. All weekend, I kept pinching myself, just in case. Wow. There I was, geek girl from farm country, having only really joined the movement a year and a half ago, hanging out with the biggest names in skepticism. What a journey. Masalaskeptic and Phlebas were great hosts, and we had tons of fun. See my Flickr stream for photos.
The Skeptrack was a huge success. Many of the sessions filled to standing room; I think we’ll be needing a bigger room for next year. I spent less time there than I wanted to, but I was in fangirl heaven, with too many fandoms to do it all. I managed to see Michael Shermer exactly zero times. Phil’s Death from the Skies talk was great, despite some technical difficulties. Loved watching live podcasts of Geologic (George Hrab took off his pants. Srsly.) and the new incarnation of The Tank, now called The Skeptic Zone, with Richard Saunders, Karen Stollznow, and Kylie Sturgess. They have great t-shirt designs whose mass production I eagerly await (hint, hint). Lori Lipman Brown was great, as was Ben Radford.
Evo Terra hosted killer parties for the podcast track Friday and Saturday night. His beer kicked my ass. Hard. For the record, Scott Sigler’s “cousin” Soupbone is a great DJ, providing music Friday night, complete with Hello Kitty pimp cup. Soupbone was nowhere to be found Saturday, but Scott did bartending duty (with Skepchick’s very own a.real.girl for backup).
Sunday I skipped the big Million Dollar Challenge. I was profoundly hung over, and not really up for anything big and loud and crowded, so T3P0 and I decided to check out Richard’s origami talk instead. It was a lot of fun. I learned (and forgot) how to make Pigasus! Richard should be commended for dealing so well with the bickering duo of teenaged origami geeks while overcoming various distractions. Fun stuff.
Ended Sunday (or began Monday) leaving T3P0 in line for the Mindless Self Indulgence show (one of his favorite bands just happened to be playing) and went off with a gang of skeptics, following Evo to some mythical party in a faraway hotel room with homebrew. Evo is the king of parties, in case you were wondering. The homebrew was amazing. Unfortunately, my stomach, still recovering from the previous night’s abuses, was not cooperating with my taste buds, and I only had a few sips. I’m pretty sure Richard drank my share. Phil held court in classic el presidente fashion, surrounded by corseted women. It could be argued that D.J. Grothe was the life of the party. He did magic tricks with rubber bands, and was great to talk with. Awesome. Apparently there was some sort of debauchery involving Soccergirl, Pamela Gay, and a spoon, which I unfortunately missed.
Attempts to move the party elsewhere fizzled, and the night (ok, morning) ended with the sane people heading to bed. Not being among the sane, A, Masalaskeptic, T3P0, Cleon, Richard and I went to find food, and ended up in a diner near the hotels. We had it all: paper napkin ring origami (and a challenge), A attempting to eat a gyro while wearing a corset, a mysteriously glittery Cleon, and lot of great conversation. Afterward, T3P0 and I said our goodbyes as the others headed to bed, and we went to walk around, since our morning flight was only hours away and it was pointless to sleep.
And now I am home, and should get some sleep before going back to work tomorrow, with a headful of great memories to carry me through. Dragon*Con rocked my entire world. I want you all to be there next year.
Don’t even ask me about being a security bot all weekend. Fun. But I made one party for one hour.
And your chuck taylor’s totally rocked.
yep…was that friday or saturday? all a blur. it was great meeting you.
stupid question: did you meet anyone cool?
Oh… and I did, in fact, get to remove a Klingon from an event… so my *Con was complete.
thanks!
i like them.
yeah, i heard about that. awe.some.
ok. srsly logging off now and going to sleep.
Well… you. Pamela Gay. Phil Plait. Alison Smith (yay!). Evo. Tim… other than that, a total blur of badges and weapons checks.
Saturday, definitely saturday.
I had a great time at Dragon*Con. Maria and a bunch of Skeptics from the pub went to a bar at the Marriot called High Velocity. Much silliness/geekdom ensued. I’m hoping that Maria will post the YouTube videos soon haha
Yay, thanks for the wrap-up! I’m sorry I missed it all, but I’m glad that Skepchick was very well represented.
Oh man – my next door neighbor went to Dragon*Con. And he proposed to his girlfriend there as well. Did you guys see a bunch of storm troopers kidnap a Princess Leia and then she was rescued by a Han Solo? Yeah.
Not gonna lie…but I think it was the cutest proposal -ever-
Guys, seriously, I had a full 10 hours of sleep last night and I am still completely zombie-fied. I did attempt to upload photos and videos (Overly Dramatic Skeptic ROCKS) last night but my brain was too befuddled and flikr wasn’t cooperating. I will do so and promise a recap soon as well. As soon as my brain comes back.
nighean_ruaidhe I wish I had seen that. It sounds fantastic. I think it’s probably second to the best proposal I ever heard of where he got Neil Gaiman to propose for him during a signing. I would have died.
Rumors of my ability to get the majority of the Skeptrack intoxicated for a solid three nights are greatly exaggerated.
I don’t think anyone got drunk that third night. ;)
E.
I’ve been sitting in bed all day. Soooo glad I don’t have work again until tomorrow.
I think it will take me a looong time to get my sleep schedule back to normal.
The Skeptrack was awesome!!! :D
Aside from a few pub adventures, Dragon*Con was my first skeptic event ever. What great, meaningful fun! Never mind that MetalOperaChick and I had to depend on the kindness of others to escape downtown Atlanta in the wee hours of Monday morning. (Many thanks and apologies!)
It was great to meet so many people. And Carr2d2, I know we were in the same place at the same time, but alas I missed the face/moniker connection.
Now back to my otherwise mundane work life, determined to post a few subtle symbols in my space. Maybe a pigasus… ;)
a pigasus is a great addition to any space.
Thank you for the picks but please. Lables. I am stuck here a long way away from all of you and I only know what your cartoon pictures look like. I don’t know who I am looking at.
I am so jealous… You people should have had DragonCon at my house so I wouldn’t have to miss it. :P
sorry…i took the time to label everything the first time around, and then the flickr uploader decided to lose it all. didn’t have time to relabel everything. will get to it eventually.
Ya know it is just my luck, while I was in a MSI concert overflowing with many hot sweaty women pressed against me, I missed a whole other awesome EVO party that involved spoon-magic and good drinks. Then again, things would’ve been awesome either way.
Ah. Actually I had strong suspicion of your secret identity, Carr2d2, now confirmed by Masala’s pix!