Creative Madness: AKA Comic-Con #SDCC

Happy Wednesday!  Today I have escaped from the day job and will be picking up my badge for the most massive, crazy, creative powerhouse in the world- the one, the ONLY Comic-Con International San Diego! *cues thousands of screaming fans here*

I've been going to this event for over 20 years- and yes, as folks like to point out, it has changed radically in that time.

When I first started, only part of the current location was up and being used- the rest was still being built.  You could walk up and buy tickets the day of the event.  When my friends and I would hunt down the "next year's badges" booth in the front lobby they would jump for joy because they were kinda bored.  I volunteered a few times and one of the times I was badge stuffing- yup, they used to mail out badges to people. Big actors usually didn't make it down here- there were always rumors then at the panel the "they're stuck in traffic" would be announced.

Now, there are over 130,000 attendees, and tickets sell out in record time.  People get in line for panels DAYS in advance. I no longer go to the "big" rooms. Major "A-List" actors are standard fare.

And I still love it.

Part of that love is simply nostalgia.  I have so many memories of previous years- going with groups of my friends where we'd meet up for giant breakfasts then dinners of over 30 folks.  Friends who are no longer with us, and those who have drifted away.

But there is also an energy, a creative vortex of sorts, that can't be ignored. There are novelists, comic writers, screen writers, artists, inkers, musicians, film makers, actors, collectors, and cosplayers- aka- pretty much every strata of the creative world is there in one form or another.

That energy just hits you like a wave. These people are doing what they love, whether they be creator/fans or just fans - they are following their bliss.  I LOVE seeing the vendor floor. I LOVE going to the panels, I do smaller ones now, but there have been some great ones in those smaller rooms.  But what I love the most, is that energy. As a creative person, being around that kind of force is extremely powerful.  It recharges my creative self, and shoves me forward.

So, for a few days, I get to live in an insane, creative place, where everyone around me is just as crazy as I am :).  Follow your bliss out there, folks, even if that bliss is a geek-fest with 129,999 of your closest friends ;).