We've
all felt it. That sensation the day
after DragonCon where we are technically back in the real world yet we still
feel like we are”back there.” It still isn't over in our minds; it's just
way too fresh. Tis the day after the
2016 DragonCon as I'm writing this and I can tell you that I'm feeling that
right now. I look at the pics people
took late Monday night or before check out Tuesday morning of a freshly cleaned
and empty Peachtree Center or Hyatt/Sheraton/Westin/Hilton/Marriott, and it
just leaves you feeling hollow. So how
does one fix this problem? How do you
fill the void? With pictures, panel
videos, DragonCon's Youtube goodies, DCTV stuff, and of course the fabulous
Needless Things post-DC coverage.
It's
time for me to once again deny the real world access to my being and dive back
in to the 2016 DragonCon.
The
fam and I arrived bright and early (well, just around 11:30AM, but so what) on
Wednesday for our volunteer work. The
husband and I work for the Dragcon Store store where you lovely people by all
your DC logo shot glasses and flasks, shirts and backpacks, hats and little
baby dragons. We work for the set-up
crew so for two days straight we go back and forth setting up all those pretty
displays that lure you all in to spend your money! MUWAHAHAH...ahem. Sorry.
Anyhoo, after picking up a couple of friends so we could all carpool in
to work together we reported for duty and started setting up shop. I highly encourage volunteer work at the Con,
guys. Yes, the free badge thing is a
perk. But in all honesty it isn't just
that. I have met seriously awesome
people doing this, some of which I have forged good strong friendships with as
a result. You get the
"behind-the-scenes" look at stuff as a result. And in some of the areas of volunteering you
meet the guests and performers in ways you never expected. Working the DC Store is an awesome way to
have celebrity guests and performers just saddle up to the store to buy merchandise
or ask questions while they have free time when they show up early, since they
can't during Con due to a book schedule.
Not even kidding. You wanna miss
out on the chance to have Stephen Amell or Voltaire by a lanyard off of you or
have John Barrowman come ask you where Guest Hospitality is? Pft.
Silly person.
Two
days later the stores looked "purdy."
Crashing in bed with the hubby to a couple of episodes of Agents of
S.H.I.E.L.D wound us down (we couldn't wind down the PROPER way, people. Teenage daughter was with us. Get your mind out of the gutter....that's
what the DIRTY DIRTY DRAGON DRAGON CON CON SHOW SHOW was for. Pervs.)
Friday hit bright and early as we didn't want to miss anything, so we
hopped up around 6:30am and hit the MARTA after showers and food.
We
got up early because I had to be sure to catch the earliest train possible; I
had a panel to speak at in the early AM hours so being there on time was a big
deal. I was a panelist on the Shannara
Chronicles panel, and I must say it was a blast. The book this MTV show was based on, Elfstones of Shannara, is my all-time
favorite book ever written. I have
burned through three copies of the book due to wear and tear after reading it
roughly two dozen times. It's just that
good. As a result I was hyper-critical
of the show when watching, but overall was happy with the result. The panelist I spoke with were all
well-educated and so enthused by the show, the author, and the book series; it
was wonderful to speak with people so articulate and knowledgeable of the
universe we were discussing. It was a
perfect start to the Con. Want to
listen? The DC site will have the audio
up soon. Be on the lookout.
Anyone
that knows me knows that when the words "Ammo," "Guns,"
"Fighting," or "Self-Defense" are in a panel title my
spider-senses start tingling. So when I
spotted the Medieval Self-Defense panel I perked up quickly. Oh...it was full of pretties. Weapons demos, disarming techniques, history
lessons on how town's during these time periods armed themselves and the
legalities of the periods in regard to self-defense, etc. Oh...and the truly awesome part? This panel was cut off due to capacity, but
they felt so awful about having to do so that they ran a bit late to give time
to move to an even bigger room to fit all the people, and ran over a few
minutes to make up time. THAT is
hospitality, people. Some panels you
just wish lasted more than one hour.
Being
the economical people that we are (more like shoe-string budgeteers) we had
packed out lunch for most days. So we
ate said lunch on the way to the next panel.
My teen is a bit of a learning nerd.
Think Rory Gilmore, but she goes to Church and is also Goth and a
Geek. Love the mix and love the
kid. Robotics is of interest to her so
the Creating Robots panel was a big draw.
When she realized that the co-creators of Battlebots were sitting in on the panel, however, her jaw hit the
floor. She was texing my husband and
calling my father (who watch the show as well) after the panel to regale them
with her happy-happy-joy-joy. She picked
up a crapload of information for a school paper she's doing, including pics for
a presentation. A happy teen...scary
concept, but people I saw one. I really
did. She was there, man....I'm not
lying!
Most
of my teen's focus went toward Asian history for a school educational
project. As a result the Silk Road track
was the sensible place to spend time.
Narrowing it down between history of the first shadow puppet, Chinese
dancing, and history of the Tang Dynasty, she finally found the Friday panel
about the Chinese Tang Dynasty to be exactly what she was looking for...and boy
was it. I was in love with this
panel. They played videos on Chinese
dancing that were just outstanding. They
passed out charms in red envelopes as gifts, which is a traditional
"welcome to my home" type of symbolism in Chinese tradition. I walked away with four pages of notes from
that panel in case it came in handy for any future writing projects and the
teen plans to use em' for her paper. How
they crammed so much amazing information into one panel is beyond me, but I
tell you, every year that we have gone to any of the Silk Road panels they have
never disappointed. It's a track I hope
to spend a great deal more time at next year.
After
dinner in the food court we went on to the Awesomely Bad Japanese Music Videos
panel were we were gonna meet a friend and laugh at the hilarity. We get there and it is a full house. Crap on a stick, man. So I tell the fam to go on and save us places
in line at the Dr. Horrible Sing-Along Blog- another tradition we do every year
from the wonderful Whedonverse Track- and I would wait for our friend to arrive
and deliver the crappy "panel is full" news. I passed on the sadness when she arrived and
we crashed in the hall for a minute or two to grab some water and rest our
feet. Now, if any of you are new to
DragonCon, crashing and resting the feet is the perfect opportunity to people
watch. Do you know how many people pass
you by at the Con when you are just chillin'?
It was this relaxing that caused the fam and said friend to see a kid
dressed as the Westin hotel, complete with a blinking light at the top of the
building and the Westin logo on the outside.
It can get no cooler than that.
Just crash at random places for a few minutes and have your camera
ready. You see some crazy-awesome crap.
After
the rest we made our way to the Sheraton and found my fam parked at the front
of the line. Love early line-ups. I have never had a problem with lining up
hours early for big events or celebrity panels.
We don't get bored. We bring card
games like Magic, We Didn't Playtest
This, Firefly Tall Card, Sushi Go!, etc.
These keep us company. We bring
books, if the teen is not reading she brings the tablet, etc. And my husband and I aren't like normal
couples. All the things people say they
do in a marriage we just don't do. The
ones that complain about each other, run out of stuff to talk about...yeah, we
don't do that. So we do this wild and
crazy thing while waiting in line called talking to each other. Playing rock, paper, scissors. Lying on each other’s lap and giggling, much
to the chagrin of the teen. Apparently
if you have been married beyond a certain point you are not supposed to act
like newlyweds. Yet another stereotype
we screwed up. Anyhoo...the
sing-along. We get inside, second row
center. Awesomesauce. There is nothing more rewarding to me at Con
than the Sing-Along or Buffy Musical because it shows just how the fandoms can
be more than fandoms. They can be
family. We sing along, we quote favorite
lines at the same time, we laugh when the actors on stage due something
different on purpose than what the screen shows from the actual episodes, and
in Dr. Horrible when the crowd does the wave during "Everyone's a
Hero" you see hundreds of DragonCon attendees all doing this at the same
time. The positive energy just seeps
into your soul and makes you happy even if you never wanted to be again. During the show the remote sensor that the “Stage”
Doctor throws on top of the “van” was a
plastic yellow cone. When Neil threw it on the video, it was thrown
into the audience...and pelted me right in the ta-tas. My daughter cracked up, picked it up, and
laughed even harder as she looked at it.
Written on it with black permanent marker was
"Congratulations! You now have an
official prop from Dr. Horrible Live!"
The highlight for my fam, however, was during the final scenes. As Penny lay dying (Spoiler! Oops, too late,) my husband shouts during the
quietest moment of the scene, "How much does it cost to get into the Evil
League of Evil?" My teen responds
by shouting just as loud, "A Penny!"
The audience busted a gut laughing at the joke. The track director was sitting in the chair
directly in front of us. She doubled
over in her chair and when she finally sat up she turned around and asked for a
high five. She then invited them back to
the Whedonverse Track room after the show for prizes for that cleverly timed
riot-booster of a laugh. The walked away
with yellow and black bags depicting dozens of Whendonverse characters on it
filled with Dark-Horse Comics lanyards and a Firefly action figure of
Wash. Sometimes it pays to be really
inappropriate at the wrong time.
Saturday
was our designated shopping day. The
teen had money to burn so we got off the MARTA and tried to fight the DC Parade
crowd to get to the Americas Mart. Now
here is where I'm gonna bring it down a bit.
For those that don't know me well, I have PTSD and as a result of that,
Acute Stress Disorder. The
"how" of it isn't important and is kind of a downer, so not today,
folks. But a personal issue that morning
had already spiraled me a bit, and going into the most tightly packed DC Parade
crowd I have seen in twelve years just exacerbated the stress. By the time I got to the
"Amerimart" as I call it, I was angry, stressed, and in tears. I asked the fam to give me a minute and go
ahead of me just to let me crash on those cushy blue couches that they have on
the bottom floor. By this time I was actually
tearing up and I'm not even a private crier (except around the hubby, as I can
vent around him,) let alone a public one.
A few moments later a man approached us, asking if I was okay. He had a service dog with him. I explained that I was fine; I just had a
stress disorder that had worked me up after an already bad morning. He sat down beside me, saying "Well I
know just what'll perk ya up." He
offered me his dog for a moment. Turns
out his dog was a stress relief companion service dog offered him by the
VA. We sat and talked, I explaining to
him that unfortunately PTSD and ASD do not take a holiday for events like these
even when you try to enjoy them. He sat
there as I loved on his yellow lab, telling me the horror stories of his time
in the Service; turns out he was a Veteran with the exact same disorders I
possessed. He continued his story, telling me of the
horrors he’d experienced losing his entire unit due to one change in orders at
the last minute that wiped out all of his commanding officers, save him. The survivor’s guilt alone nearly killed him
until a buddy reminded him that living FOR them meant just as much as dying for
them. He went on to say that he's
learned the hard way that there is always someone that has it worse. "I'm alive" he said, laughing. "I get to go to children's hospital with
my furry buddy here and make kids smile.
I got a great and beautiful wife.
Silver lining, honey. Silver
lining."
He
fist bumped me as he stood up to leave, "one Vet to another." The thing that might irk some of you? I didn't correct him when he called me this,
but here is why. The only way anyone
with PTSD will EVER feel comfortable talking about what happened to them is
after either years of blue-ribbon therapy or with another sufferer. That comradery isn't the kind you want to
share at all, trust me; it comes with a cost too high to ask anyone to
pay. But it helps you on some
high-functioning level to know that there is someone else out there that has
seen death with you. Caused death with
you. Pulled that trigger with you. Detonated that bomb with you. As we sat there talking we actually began
discussing the fact that it was knew how weird it was for some to understand
why people like us reach out to attach you if you jump out and shout
"Boo!" at us, why we cock back a fist if we hear a loud boom, why
sitting with our backs to the wall in crowded places is necessary, or why you
rarely catch our hands in our pockets...only our thumbs if even that. But we
get it. So for this man to open up so
fully about the specific trauma he experienced meant only one of those things;
therapy, or I was someone he could talk to.
And what if I had been his first?
I wasn't going to chance that therapy was his fix; if he had sensed a
kindred spirit in me that he could confide in after all this time then he was
going to get it. I wasn’t going to take
it away from him by correcting a tiny detail that for the sake of healing a
soul didn’t matter. He had earned
that. Maybe we both had. You don't have to be a soldier to go to war
if you have PTSD. Trust me, you have
already been.
I
thanked him, telling him that he gave me more than I think he could ever know
in that moment, and said goodbye. You
know, I have had laughter at the Con as well as tears, fun as well as even
danger. Who would have thought a form of
healing could be found at DragonCon too?
After
my life-changing moment with the Vet and his service dog, the fam and I moved
on our way into the Exhibition Hall. The
extra space of this place does wonders for cramped aisles and making for a less
comfortable shopping experience. One
could also go broke very fast in this place.
Hours later we walked out with one broke teenager (she spent every dime
in one booth) and made our way to the Filk Track's InstaFilk panel. There are some panels we never miss. Most from the Filk track fit that list. InstaFilk is a must for any that are into the
joy of Filk. You pick a fandom (book/tv
show/movie) or an aspect of Dragoncon (standing in line, panels, the Con Suite,
etc.) and then you pick a song that is easy to sing, and smash them
together. The song is rewritten about
the subject you picked in a wacky act of Filkery. This year we took The Beatles song
"Yellow Submarine" and the subject of the DragonCon parade and made
Filk magic. See the results below and
prepare to laugh hysterically. Yes, that
is me in the green tube-looking hairpiece.
Don’t judge me:
I
think this is enough for a part one wrap-up.
Stay tuned for my part two, coming at ya soon. From Whedonverse to “Hello Sweetie,” from
Cosplay oopsies to getting hit in the boob with a show prop, I have more
stories to share.
Christina Sizemore is trained in only four
things: writing, fighting, paranormal
investigating, and being a mom. At this
point in her life she truly feels that she is not qualified to attempt to learn
any new field. A twenty year martial
artist, mother of three, and writer who is working on the publication of her
first book titled “Finding Your Way: A Guide To Your Path In The Martial Arts,”
she spends her days working out, writing, making fanvids, going to DragonCon,
and playing board games/video games/out in the yard with her kids and husband
who are just as geeky as she is. She is
convinced that one day her skills will be of assistance in the Zombie
Apocalypse and that while she is of no use in the kitchen, she can Buffy that
zombie for ya or teach you the best way to get the blood stains out of your
clothes (Psst…the secret is mixing Crown Cleaner and Shout. Just sayin’.)
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