I'm a geek (in disguise)

Hello my faithful readers:

It's Monday morning and I'm in a great mood today. The weather is warmer, my weekend was great and quite simply I'm sick and tired of feeling like I have a storm cloud hanging over my head. This week is going to be fantastic and it all started with my weekend at Comic Con NYC.

Comic Con NYC is a 3 day festival at Jacob Javitts Center here in NYC. I bought the weekend pass for $50; overall I felt like the pass was well worth the money although I only attended the Saturday and Sunday sessions. The fest is massive and there is a main floor where you walk in and you're assaulted by the crowds, noise and lots and lots of costumed people walking around. Even on my walk over from the subway I saw people in full costume and boy do they take it seriously. There are all sorts of people at this convention every combination of man, woman, child you'd ever want to see was in attendance. For me that was quite exciting because my plan was to meet lots of new people here.

My first tip for those hoping to meet new people at Comic Con is to be open-minded. There's a lot to see and loads of new and exciting activities to try out if you're open-minded. The great thing about Comic Con that was appealing to me is that it's not just about the comic books. Comic books are a huge part of the fest, but if you're a fan of TV, film or video games then there's something there for you as well. I attended a few of the TV show panels (Chuck and Joss Whedon's panel on his new show Dollhouse) and had a great time in them. The main floor was a lot of fun too and I even ran into some of my favorite tv/movie characters from childhood by walking around and exploring.

The second thing I'd recommend is to try wearing a costume or as I did a colorful wig. Getting noticed at Comic Con is nearly impossible without flying your freak flag at least a little bit. I noticed that more folks were willing to talk to me when I had the wig on than without it. What's ironic about this advice is that although there are lots of people in costumes at Comic Con, there were a lot more people not wearing them.

My last bit of advice is to talk to people. Sounds simplistic, but it's something that I didn't do quite as much of just because I was simply in awe of all the visual stimulation. It was also intimidating because I'm not such a super fan that I knew every single comic book character or type of anime. I heard lots of in depth conversations about the development of character and story by many of the fans and to be honest I was intimidated because what they were talking about sounded like Greek to me as a casual observer. I think if I had asked a few questions most people would have been glad to explain the intricacies of their favorite comic books and characters.

Now going into this experience a lot of my friends (some of you my dear readers!) warned me that I would absolutely hate going to Comic Con. Guess what? I'm a HUGE pop culture geek and being at Comic Con was amazing for me. It felt like I was hanging out with some of my favorite childhood friends once again. Comic Con is the place where you're free to let your imagination run wild and your inner child have some fun. This is something I think a lot of people could use right now, given how grim our future seems with wars and economic meltdowns hanging over our heads.

Did I make a love connection at Comic Con? No, but there were an awful lot of cuties walking around throughout the weekend. It's definitely not as bad as most of us imagined and I had a great time hanging out there. I think I found a new way to spend my time this weekend and next year I want to go back! I also have to say a special thank you to my friend A and G for hanging out with me on Sunday! I had a lot of fun when they both joined and geeked out a little with me!


Mwuah,

Georgia Peach