What Now

...and we're back.

Sorry about that. Oh, and just FYI, I made a great graphic for my Dragon*Con weekend, but blogger will not, can not, and simply refuses to let me add it. So you'll just have to pretend it's up there. : ) Also, none of the pictures I took are showing up on my entries, so those will just have to come later. Sorry!

STILL SATURDAY: As I was saying, I got a few pictures of the people I saw just wondering around the convention. That is my favorite part of going to things like this. Seeing the costumes, I mean. A lot of them are really amazing. Some of them...not so much. Here are some of the rules of dressing up for Dragon*Con, if you plan to attend in costume:

1) The first rule of Dragon*Con is that we don't wear pants to Dragon*Con!

2) The second rule of Dragon*Con is that we don't wear pants to Dragon*Con!

3) If it can be made slutty, make it slutty. This particularly references the Hogwarts school uniform. It's like the epitome of all geek-nerd fantasies. Cross the skanky catholic school girl look with the actual uniform of the Hogwarts school, and you will be photographed by many. Spank-Bank fodder, girls.

4) Dressing like a Spartan gives you permission to wear nothing but leather bikini briefs and a cape. Now, whether or not you have the body for it is incidental. I'm sure all Spartan warriors were not buff, after all.

5) No matter how little you wear, knowing full well that someone is going to want to take your picture, you can roll your eyes and act all put out because of it. I suppose you never realized that possibly wearing a t-shirt and jeans would keep that from happening. I'm just sayin'...

6) If they make it in your size, wear it.

7) If they make it two sizes too small for you, wear it anyways.

8) No, it doesn't matter at all that you weigh 450 lbs. A thong and chain-mail mini skirt look Faaaaaaaaaaaaabulous on you!

Oy, vey. Seriously, folks. I am not sure what some people are thinking. I'm a big girl myself and I know that I shouldn't show up for any type of public gathering dressed like Sailor Moon or Electra, you know what I mean? Eeeeeeesh.

Anyways! So, one of the first things Steve and I did was to go to the "Walk of Fame" where the celebrities and pseudo-celebrities sit around and wait to overcharge you for their autograph. Steve didn't see anyone he wanted to meet, but I'd already made a list. Our first stop was for the "Ghost Hunters" guys. There was a line a mile long for them, which I thought was funny. People like Peter Mahew (Body of Darth Vadar), guy who played Chewbacca, Ray Park (Darth Maul), Erin Gray and the guy who played Buck Rogers, Lou Farriggno (?) and others who were established stars in the sci-fi galaxy were being passed up so people could meet these people from New England. It took forever, but I finally got up there. Steve had no desire to meet them, but I got to meet the two lead guys, Grant and Jason, and to have my picture made with them. They were both super nice and friendly. The picture is hideous because I had to lean backwards across a table as they leaned forwards and I almost fell, but hey...there you go. I wanted to meet the rest of the cast (meow, Steve Gonsalves - who is hot in a kind of tattoo-ey way), but I suddenly got a case of the shies and had to run away before I did or said anything embarrassing. I've realized something about myself and famous people. I always embarrass myself. It's not that I'm so in awe of these people, they are just people after all, but I tend to always say the wrong thing when trying to just be nice. They meet so many people in such a short amount of time that I know they are just as bewildered as they can be. I don't want to add to that and just want to be nice and I always end up sounding crazy. Always.

*SIGH*

So we went from there to the next section where the Star Trek TNG people were. These were the guys I'd been waiting to see. I'm such a Star Trek geek that I couldn't stand not meeting a couple of them, Jonathan Frakes and Brent Spiner in particular. Amy had also sent some money and a note asking me to get the autograph of John De Lancie, the guy who played "Q" from TNG. His line was pretty short, so we jumped into it and waited for a couple of minutes until he was free. I think I caught the poor guy at a bad moment. As I was walking forward, someone was bringing him a gigantic cup of coffee. I said "I'm sorry to disturb your coffee break" to which he replied "cooooooooooooofffeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee." Um, yeah, OK. So I pulled out the note from Amy, since I couldn't remember what it said off of the top of my head and read him her question. It was about whether or not he would ever be going back to Days of Our Lives. He gave me a long and rambling answer that didn't quite make sense and wrapped it up by saying he'd like to go back if they'd let him. So I handed him his $20 and asked for his autograph for Amy and also (since I was there) if I could have my picture made with him. "Sure!" says he. So he sweeps his money into a bag beside him and starts to sign him name. Suddenly, he stands up and walks over to Gates McFadden and he talks to her for a moment. I thought his pen may have been out of ink or something because it didn't look as though he was done signing, and he came back giggling and said "Sorry, an inside joke" as if I'd just asked him what was going on. I didn't, by the way. Before he sits back down, he starts staring at me as if he can't remember why I'm standing there. He's a tall dude, so it must have looked strange for us to be standing there staring at each other. I had started to get a little nervous, but I stood my ground. After about 30 seconds of staring he shouted into my face "PICTURE!" which caused me to jump about and cringe, but at the same time smile and nod at him as if he was a little kid who just said his first word. Then Mr. De Lancie went blank again and said "Did you pay me?" Friends and neighbors, I was utterly confused by this point. I rather think he was just really tired, or high, or something, but I certainly didn't expect this reaction to my request by anyone I was going to meet there, celebrity-wise or not. I nodded and he looked confused again. "Where is it?" he asked, meaning his money. At this point I was ready to check him for a fever or something, but at the same time I was also guessing that if he was going to act silly, so was I. So I said "You stuck it in your pants." A look of horror crossed his face and he said "Oh, my God, I put it in my pants?! You mean I didn't put it in my bag?" and I realized he believed me. Dear Lord, I made John De Lancie think he had a twenty dollar bill stuck in his pants and I made him think he put it there. Oy. So I told him that no, it was in his bag, and that made him look a little bit relieved. So he slung his arm around me and we smiled for the camera. Then I grabbed the autograph and ran away. Fast. Yikes.

After that I went for Jonathan Frakes and found out three things. You have to pay thirty dollars for him to sign a picture of himself, his handler was an impatient bitch, and you had to buy a special ticket to come back later to have your picture made with him. Screw this, says I, and took the autograph I had just paid for and walked away. At least he was nice, even if he did look past me into oblivion while I was telling me how to spell my name. I didn't even bother with Brent Spiner, because it was the same with him. I did get a picture of him, though, but I wasn't in it. I've realized that I will probably no longer pay anyone to sign stuff for me unless I can get proof that I actually met them. Shallow, maybe, but for $30 I should get more than a bleary stare and a nasty look from some lady who makes sure we don't ask for too much of someone's time. At least give me an inadvertant show like John De Lancie!! So there, crew of the Starship Enterprise!

Wow, I should probably get to work. More to come!