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Two weekends ago was Rose City Comic Con. It’s one of my favorite events of the year. I was glad that this year it wasn’t the weekend following PAX, so I got a weekend off in between.

I went all three days again, though I didn’t stay long on Friday. I was tired.

I went to panels featuring Wallace Shawn, Cary Elwes, Chris Sarandon, Matthew Lewis, Jason Isaacs, Dan Fogler, Billie Piper, Christopher Eccelston (lots of people are saying this is the panel ever at this convention), Zachary Levi, and Wil Wheaton.

I did photo ops with Jason Isaacs and Wil Wheaton.

I was lucky enough to catch Kelly Sue DeConnick at her table this year. I got a selfie and tried to do the mandatory duck face, but it was hard for me to not smile while I was doing it.

I bought a piece of artwork like I always do and I took pictures of a lot of cosplayers.

There were some differences this year that I wasn’t a fan of. Construction outside meant that entry was different and one day we ended up walking around the entire building before we could get in. It was raining on the third day so thankfully they changed things up a bit. They cleared out the room after every panel, which meant you had to get in line each time if you wanted to see consecutive panels. The queuing procedure for photo ops was weird and sometimes it was hard to hear what was going on.

Overall, I had a great time as always. Next year I hope I remember to pay the little bit extra to get fast pass tickets.

This past weekend I attended the 2nd annual Rose City Comic Con here in Portland. Year 2 was much, much bigger and better than Year 1. They partnered up with Emerald City Comic Con out of Seattle to make the event better. They moved from the Doubletree Hotel to the Oregon Convention Center. They had a lot more panels and a lot more celebrities. Even the cosplay was greatly improved.

On Saturday I got there about half an hour before it opened up at 10 AM. They had a special line for people who had picked up their badges early (I did at a kick-off party the night before). The con workers told a lot of us to get into the wrong line. When the exhibition hall opened, I could see people walking around, but we weren’t being allowed in even though they realized their mistake. I was annoyed already. Once I got in I saw the place where you could pay for photo ops. I paid to get photos with Jewel Staite, Avery Brooks, and David Giuntoli. I saw the area where celebrities were signing autographs. Even though I said I wouldn’t get autographs, I decided to get Jewel Staite’s autograph for my friend John. He’s a big Firefly fan and one of the main reasons why I became a fan. Jewel was fashionably late to her table. I checked her Twitter account and she had tweeted earlier that she was in Portland, but she had a sore throat. Everyone cheered when she got there. She was very nice and gorgeous. After that I caught the end of the Christopher Judge panel while I waited for the Avery Brooks panel. Christopher Judge was funny and entertaining, but Avery Brooks was just weird. I had heard that he was crazy, but it was still a site to see. The moderator was afraid to ask questions after the first couple. I think most of the audience was uncomfortable at times. Jewel Staite had her panel next. She was adorable. She’s very good at taking bad audience questions and giving good answers. She’s obviously been doing this for a while. After that I went to Kelly Sue DeConnick’s panel, which was great. My last panel of the day was David Giuntoli’s. It was fun, but I had to leave early to get in line to get my photo made with Jewel Staite. I got there 15 minutes early like they told me to and the line was already huge. This line moved quickly though once they started taking photos. I might have been a little curt with her. I was tired, I hadn’t eaten in almost 12 hours, and I was trying not to take up a lot of time especially since I had already spoken to her earlier in the day. She’s probably seen it all, so it probably didn’t register with her.

I didn’t have to be there as early on Sunday as I did on Saturday. I think I got there around noon. The first thing I did was go to the exhibition hall to get Kelly Sue DeConnick’s autograph. She’s so cool! Then I went to Matt Fraction’s panel. Also, very cool! He’s a really funny guy. At some point during the day I got his autograph for the 2nd year in a row, but I can’t remember when. I also saw a bunch of people from work. After Fraction, I went to the Stargate panel. Seeing Stargate people all weekend made me decide that it’s finally time to watch this show. I ordered it from Amazon last night. I left this panel a little early to go to my photo op with Avery Brooks. His line was much shorter. While I was in line, I could see him sitting at his table. I felt bad because no one was coming to get his autograph. Did he scare people off the day before or are people just not interested in Deep Space Nine anymore? I bet there would have been a long line for him 15 years ago. I was in and out of the picture area quickly. I was a little afraid to say much. He was cool though. Then I went to the Greg Rucka panel. He went off on an angry tangent on politics and blah blah blah. I was a little bored. I had to leave early for my photo op with David Giuntoli. Once again I could see Avery Brooks looking sitting at his table and I felt bad again. They made an announcement that he was leaving early. Maybe one or two people came to his table after that and then he left. David was a little late, but the line moved quickly as expected. He was really nice. I thought it was funny that he asked for my name and introduced himself like I didn’t know who he was, like I didn’t pay to have a photo made with him. After that, I was done with the con for the year. On my way out of the exhibition hall, I almost ran right into Jewel Staite, who I think was on her way to her last autograph session.

One again, I’m exhausted, but I’ll definitely be back next year unless something major comes up. I hope this and the competing Wizard’s World Portand Comic Con can both continue for a long time to come. Portland’s a nerdy city and there’s room for both.

September just flew by, didn’t it? It started out with P.A.X., which I’ve already written about. The next weekend was the first ever Rose-City Comic-Con. I went in not expecting much, but my expectations were somewhat exceeded. There were a lot more people than I expected. There were people in costumes, but the quality wasn’t as good as they were at P.A.X. and San Diego Comic-Con. I shouldn’t say it, but most of the people wearing tight costumes shouldn’t have been in tight costumes. Richard Hatch and Noah Hathaway were there signing autographs and they had their own panels. There were booths set up with some interesting stuff. I bought some comics and some artwork that I need to hang and take pictures of. The only panels I went to was a Star Trek anniversary panel and a Doubleclicks panel. I had never seen The Doubleclicks perform, but I had heard much about them. I really enjoyed it. I did everything on day one. When I left I figured I had done everything I needed to and decided not to go back for day two. My personal highlight of the con was that Matt Fraction and his wife Kelly Sue DeConnick were there signing autographs. When it was finally my turn to speak to them, someone else started talking to her, so I really only got to speak to him. I can live with that. I’ve gotten used to being around celebrities over the past year and half or so, so I don’t usually get nervous anymore. I got nervous around Matt Fraction. He was really cool though.

The next weekend I got to see Oregon play Tennessee Tech down in Eugene. I got a call the week before from my dentist’s office saying that they had a drawing for the tickets and my name was pulled. Awesome! I didn’t even know I was in a drawing. I figured someone couldn’t go and they decided to give the tickets away, which was pretty much confirmed at the game. The drive down there was about 2 hours. There were a lot of other Oregon fans making the trip down. Driving through the middle of nowhere Oregon is a lot like driving through the middle of nowhere Mississippi except that there were hills. At one point I saw a vehicle coming down on a parachute. I loved the University of Oregon campus and the game day atmosphere was great. I tailgated with my dentist and his friends and father before the game. I had a great time at the game itself. The Ducks won 63-14. The trip back took over 3 hours because of traffic.

I got a lot of cool stuff done and work and a made some new friends, whom I’m sure I’ll be hanging out with on a regular basis. Even Reese has gotten to social a lot more lately.

Life is good.