Comic-Con Brain

It's the first night of Comic-Con International, San Diego!  

Yes, that is the real entire name of this mega event, I sometimes forget that just saying "Comic-Con" might confuse some folks. For me, the words comic and con combined will always be THIS one. The big kahuna, the 400,000 pound gorilla, THE Con.

I've been going to this con for 24 years-yeah, I know, longer than some of you have been alive ;). To say it has changed in that time is an understatement.

My first year a coworker gave me a ticket, so I wandered down there. It had just moved to the convention center, but our center was a lot smaller then. I had no idea what I was doing, so just roamed around the floor for a few hours, bought stuff, then left thinking, "well, that was okay".

I didn't even realize there had been panels going on upstairs!

But I went back the next year, and so on. You used to be able to buy your tickets for the next year at the current con- in fact for many years, those poor folks at the "next year's badges" booth would get super excited when anyone came up!

However, the point of this post was "Con Brain" (and clearly it's already hitting me!). There is SOOOOOOOOOOO much stuff to see at this monster event that pretty much you just need to aim for your favorite 10% and hope for the best. (If you're a newbie- heed my words!)

Even with knowing I will only see a tiny amount of what I'd love to see (and all the planning in the world never helps me), my brain is already bouncing around like an escaped pokemon on speed. I hardly slept last night--in part because it's hot as hell and I don't have a/c--but also because I am so excited about Comic-Con! Like an 8 year old the night before their first trip to Disneyland.

Not only is this my annual mingling with my people, this is also my first year as a professional and my first year SIGNING my books at Comic-Con. My books will be mingling with all that insane energy!

Soooo, my brain is pretty much shutting down for the next few days. Hopefully it will stay aware long enough to get me home and back, attend panels I want, eat, to the bookstore booth for the signing, etc. But pretty much, I'm already fried :).

And so dang happy to be so!  If you're going- have a great time! If you see me, say hi, then wait a few minutes for my brain to come back ;). If you're not going to Comic-Con, what are some of your favorite geek events to go to?