Dragon*Con - the final chapter!

The day I hadn't wanted to come was here, and to make it more distressing, I had effectively stood up 'Naughtyman' (Frank) at the Atlanta Bakery across the road... I slept much later than I'd expected, despite sharing my bed with several others! Frank phoned me to say he had arrived late too and would I still meet him? I caught up briefly with him, collecting some weapons for Jimi and Tom, but I also convinced him that Jimi would be happy to drive him to Alabama for the shindig at Tom's that night...

The final day of Dragon Con was here, and so was the final day to do any of the many things I had expected to achieve during the 4 days of the convention. For one thing I was determined to visit the dealers rooms and find some shiny swag, I had saved some money for just this purpose. Rose and I went over to the Hilton Hotel and we had a ball wandering around feeling totally overwhelmed by the range and quantity of goods on offer, there were comics and T-shirts, books, games, costumes, novelty items, jewellery and DVDs... there were cloth patches and magnets, CDs and badges, flags and posters, swords, knives and guns (replica I assume - though there may have been some real ones, it was a whole new world to me).

There were genres from anime to Armageddon, from Firefly to Star Wars and Star Trek and Battlstar Galactica. There were goth faeries, modern faeries, whimsical faeries and impish faeries. There were Heavy Metal, Gothic and Alternative/Underground bands represented in the CDs and T-shirts as well as the DVDs and posters, and there were copies of episodes of just about any show you could name available for a reasonable price - I managed to purchase a copy of the pilot of the yet-to-be -aired "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" starring our own Summer Glau. (It's supposed to be coming to TV in the USA in January!)

I managed to find the Browncoat booth (and caught up with Alicia/Boomergoodheart & her husband Ben) and convinced myself to buy a T-shirt (which says 'BROWNCOAT - might not have been with winning side, still not convinced it was the wrong one') a couple of lanyards for gifts, pins, stickers and a deckle for my car! Then at another booth I found a Kaylee ID tag (which I added to the costume I was wearing) and some cloth patches including a few Harry Potter's and a Blue Sun one for my back pack!

I was really inspired by the jewellery - much of it was of a renaisance/Gothic/medieval style and since I have learned that the whole Renaisance Fair scene is huge in the USA I would imagine some of the vendors go from Fair to Fair and Convention to Convention. I took a lot of photos of the stuff that most inspired me, and generally Rose and I had a lot of fun! We were really tired, though, and there was some misunderstanding about the arrangements for that night, which I contributed to, and which ended up with us deciding to travel to the shindig planned for that evening at Tom's house in Alabama (about an hour and a half's drive) and then return to Atlanta to sleep in our hotel room and get Lila to the airport early the next morning, with Jimi, it meant another night with little sleep - but for my Rose it was worth it.

So we finished packing, I discovered that every auto-teller in a three block radius was out of money, and then we headed to Alabama, and the 76th shindig, but not after saying some sad farewells to folk who were unable to attend the additional festivities.

I have a feeling I slept a little on the way - but we were there before I knew it and we were in the thick of the fun as soon as we stepped off the minivan which Jimi brought 9 of us in! There, in the driveway was my precious friend, Amy! She and I had 'met' through Tom in happier times and we'd kept a close bond ever since. She is one of the most amazing and strong, yet sweet and true-to-herself young women I have ever known! My regret in the next hour is that I hadn't realised Amy's time was limited and I spent more time running around and playing with the airsoft guns and catching up with random folk than I would have if I had realised she would need to leave so soon after we'd arrived. She had to work very early the next morning. I do have one gorgeous photo of the two of us together though, and yet another memory of a friend I have now hugged!

The food was wonderful! I got to meet Tom's parents too, and his mother had made the most amazing 'jumbalayah' (sic?) and I enjoyed the fresh bao so very much as well! The best fun was getting to play with the airsoft rifles and hand guns - shooting just about anyone and everyone who was armed! Shot of the night was taken through the gap between the door frame and the door and I got Tom good and proper! I was as amazed as he was! I think my photographic skills have a lot to do with my steady hand with the weapons! I learned to hold a camera very still and gently pull on the trigger... as it were... I also enjoyed playing with his sharp kantana, there was a set of 3 hanging in the Maidenhead Bar downstairs! Rose took this picture - she is very into sharp, pointy things! I think the look on my face says it all! The Bedlam Bards were wonderful! Having them there was just pure joy! They sang and played and chatted and Michael (Navy) surprised us all by playing the guitar and being simply amazing at it! He has such a gift and was completely transformed when he picked up the instrument... I so enjoyed the time we were there, and it seemed too soon that we were heading back to Atlanta - though I have no idea what time it was really... Rose, Lila, Jimi, the Michaels, Zeph and I headed back to the Hyatt Hotel, though I might have suddenly kissed 'someone' as I was out the front of the house... I was really wanting to do that all night but when 'someone' was surprised (and honestly, who can blame him, I did pretty much 'ambush' him so I guess that was to be expected) I thought I'd made a mistake and kind of... fled... sorry... So I was fairly quiet on the way home and I was fairly quiet for the rest of the night, but I slept well...