Today was something of an ordeal.

On Saturday, I got an email from a South African Alera fan, asking if I’d sell him a 36″x48″ print of the map. My rational brain got hopped up on giddy juice at the idea of seeing the map that large, and I called my printer (Influence Graphics–excellent customer service and top-notch work, conveniently located on the same block as my job) and left a message inquiring about pricing. They’re closed weekends, so I knew I wouldn’t have an answer until Monday morning. On one level, I was aware that it would be a lot of redrawing work to QUADRUPLE the size of the map, but I was too swept up in the “How Do I Make This Happen?” in time to bring the extra-large posters to MarsCon.

If I were to have them for MarsCon, I’d need to have the art ready Monday morning. It takes a day for them to print a proof, then two days after approval for the full job. I was going to have to pick up the posters Thursday afternoon and tote them to a friend’s place on Staten Island that night, so the friend’s ride could pick them up in his car.

And then, like an idiot, I only started working on the art yesterday evening. Sure, my weekend was pretty packed with events with friends, including seeing Mummenschantz and nomming at Fred’s, but that’s no excuse for such an oversight. As the gravity of the endeavor sunk in, I resigned myself to an all-nighter. Finally, just past 5am, I realized that there was no way I’d finish in time to leave for work at 8:20. I didn’t want to half-ass something at the last minute–this needed to be a work of time and love, something worthy of taking up a wall.

So I went to sleep. Or at least, I went to bed. My brain was so thoroughly lodged in Must Stay Awake At All Costs mode that I tossed and turned for twenty minutes before the Sandman whacked me over the head with his sandbag. All in all, I got about 2 1/2 hours of sleep.

Needless to say, my brain was in a straaaaaaange place at work this morning. My Twitter provides plenty of condemning evidence.

Around midday, my eyes were so fried from staring at a computer screen that I had to go outside for a 15-minute walk, which was surprisingly refreshing. The day had warmed up somewhat from the morning’s Arctic blast, and nestled inside my big, puffy coat and fuzzy hat, I was quite comfortable. I want to go for 15-minute walk breaks more often. Other folks use more time for smoke breaks.

Finally, when the workday was over, I headed for Chris McGrath‘s apartment. In addition to being a super sweet guy, he’s also exceptionally talented. Chris is the cover illustrator of some of my favourite series: The Dresden Files, the Toby Daye books, and the Mistborn trilogy, to name a few. One of my friends ordered a print of one of his covers, and rather than worrying about shipping it in time for MarsCon, I volunteered to pick it up. We live five blocks away from each other, so it was no hardship!

I love New York.

We chatted briefly, which mostly consisted of him showing me awesome stuff and me making complimentary noises and trying to string together sentences in the proper order, thanks to the sleep debt collectors hammering at my mental doors. I was particularly entertained by the reference photographs he took for the Ghost Story cover. It was so surreal to see Harry Dresden looking down at an invisible grave from a variety of different vantage points and poses, surrounded by lamps and cords and other ungraveyardy things.

And yes, “ungraveyardy” will be a word until I have slept at least eight hours.

He also gave me a print of the Side Jobs cover art that had gotten a little smudge on the white border. It would have been covered by a matte anyway, but he couldn’t sell it. I win!

So for the tl;dr, I am tired, Chris is great, and megasharktopus-sized Alera maps will not be available at MarsCon. I will, of course, be selling the fabulous 18″x24″ posters, which Jim will be happy to sign for you. If you’re not going to MarsCon, you can preorder a signed and personalized map at my site store. Preorders end this Saturday at 3, so if you want a Jim-signed map, you have only five days to act!

And now I owe Jim and Seanan McGuire beta crits and Thematic Consultant comments on the latest pages from the Fool Moon graphic novel, but this blog post has taken all my words. I’m going to see if my eyes can stand the idea of watching Lie to Me and Castle in scintillating HD and hit the sack early. Hopefully, by tomorrow morning, “ungraveyardly” will have ceased being a part of my vocabulary.

Okay, this is getting ridiculous. I haven’t blogged in such a long time that my brain has decided my return needs to be grandiose and epic and cerebral, coupled with a vow to continue blogging every such and such per unit time increment blah blah blah. As a result, I’m thwarting myself before I even begin. Blogging should be fun, not an added stress. Let’s go from there.

So! Recap! For those who have been ignoring my blog in the absence of actual human communication, here’s what’s going on.

WORK

Let’s start with the day job! I’m still at Launch in NYC. We have some new faces in Asset Land (we fused Character and Prop Lands), and I remain second in command. Over time, I’ve slowly become to go-to girl for celebrities, and I’ve gotten to create representations of Robert Pattinson, Heidi Klum, Reese Witherspoon, Tiger Woods (pre-scandal, natch), Roger Federer, Jaime Lee Curtis, J.K. Simmons, Bette Midler, and a bunch of Nascar racers whose names I can’t remember, to name a few.

Just before the holidays, I was moved to a new seat, which is a source of frustration. My previous seat was in front of a window–a window ten feet from another building, but a window nonetheless. I could see the sky reflected in another window! I could kind of see the weather, if precipitation was heavy enough! It was great! My new seat is in the corner of a cramped, windowless pit. I have a whole laundry list of complaints, but it even makes me roll my eyes, so I’m not about to post it on the internet, for fear of being subjected to the world’s tiniest string orchestra.

So instead, I’ll focus your attention on the light amidst this darkness: coworker Erica brings her one-year-old Maltese to work, and every day around 5 I’ll declare “Puppy O’Clock” and indulge in some quality snuggling and petting time. While I’d jump at the chance to move to the shiny new 15th floor, with its ergonomic chairs, spacious setup, high-res monitors, brand-spanking-new Wacom tablets, and soaring picture window view of midtown Manhattan, I’ll make do with puppy love for now. Also, my coworkers are hilarious and have fantastic banter, and I hear it’s a lot quieter on 15. I guess it all balances out.

FANDOM

As for Fandom-Land, last year, I created a map for the Codex Alera, which was published in First Lord’s Fury, the sixth and final novel in the series. It will also be included in upcoming reprints of the first four books! I still haven’t gotten over how awesome this is. Every time I visit a bookstore, I have to find Jim’s books, and if they have a copy, I have to open it to the map and be struck all over again with the fact that MY ART IS IN A #7 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING NOVEL and squee like a maniac. Yes, I am lame, but I have awesome-cred to back it up.

I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback and my fair share of criticism, but my favourite bit of praise came from the blog of a soon-to-be-published author, who was in the process of creating her own map for her fantasy novel. She was studying aspects of other fantasy maps to get her brain-juices flowing, and the three maps she gave particular attention were from the Chronicles of Narnia, Lord of the Rings, and FIRST LORD’S FURY. One of these things is not like the other! I tell myself it’s because FLF was published more recently and was therefore readier in folks’ memory, but that’s some pretty flattering company. It’s one thing for folks to admire an illustration I created–it’s a whole different kettle of fish for it to inspire someone else!

I also made an artistic contribution to the upcoming Dresden Files RPG, masterminded by my friend Fred Hicks. It’s the Gruffs from Small Favor. I need to get back in the swing of doing art outside of work. Sure, the fifty-plus-hour work week makes me not want to go near Photoshop when I get home, but it’s the only way I’ll grow.

And another development since I last blogged: I actually wrote something! My disappointing entry to Yuletide 2008 must’ve rattled my confidence, because I didn’t post anything for ten months following it. Sure, I dabbled, but I never brought anything to completion. 5/6 of the way through the year, I did! I organized a Codex Alera ficathon in an effort to generate some fanfiction before the series concluded, and I wrote an Araris-centric fic called “Fading Away.” For Yuletide, I redeemed myself with “Looking Out,” a Spook story that appears to be the first non-crossover fanfic in the Mistborn fandom. Oh, pioneers! Then Kait did a Writing Chat Thingy and I wrote “Letters,” a highly amusing ficlet in which Tavi and Kitai confront the frustrations of grammar.

DECREASING WORLDSUCK

I started pitching in with my friend Lisa Spodak’s fundraising for the Avon Walk back in July, and over the following months, Lisa finally cajoled me into taking a much more active role in the charity. I’m going to walk in the D.C. event May 1-2, which I’m now training for. I’m so proud of myself; not only am I going to be raising money for a very important cause, but I’m also on an actual exercise regimen, something I haven’t been able to stick to in the past. It’s great to have a goal.

Back in 2004, Lisa created Project Teddybear, in which she collects autographs and photos of celebrities with an Avon Walks bear, which she auctions off on eBay, with all funds going to the charity. I’ve contributed to her efforts by collecting the cast and creator of The Middleman, Billy Boyd of Lord of the Rings, Jorge Garcia of Lost, Robin Thorsen of The Guild, Rick Holmes, and Jim Piddock.

Of course, because of my connections to geeky literature fandom, I’m branching out with Project Teddybear: Geek Lit Edition. (I’m still looking for a good name.) In addition to the photo with a bear, I bring a book for the author to sign–usually the first in a series or their most recent release. I’ve nabbed Jim and Shannon Butcher (The Dresden Files, The Codex Alera, a host of increasingly enjoyable, genre-crossing romance novels), Jane Espenson (Buffy, Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, and more), Pat Rothfuss (The Name of the Wind), Jasper Fforde (the Thursday Next series, Shades of Grey), Lev Grossman (The Magicians, David Anthony Durham (Acacia), Brandon Sanderson (the Mistborn series, The Gathering Storm–also signed for PTB by collaborators Harriet McDougal and Maria Simmons), John Hodgman (Areas of My Expertise), Eoin Colfer (the Artemis Fowl series, And Another Thing), and probably a few others who have slipped my mind. At the most recent KGB Fantastic Fiction event, Ellen Kushner was eager to participate, but I didn’t have any of her books on hand, so it’ll have to wait until next month. I also hope to get Ellen Datlow, Terri Windling, and guest authors N.K. Jemisin and Michael Shea.

ETC

In addition to my increased attendance at book signings, I’m also going to a lot of music events. Leading up to the release of her new album, Katy Pfaffl aka “Mighty Kate” held an abundance of gigs, many of which I’ve uploaded to YouTube, with her permission. I also saw Vienna Teng, Lenka, Billy Boyd’s band Beecake, Regina Spektor, Kristin Chenoweth, Jonathan Coulton with Paul and Storm, and… does a sing-along of Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog with Joss Whedon count? How about a performance of Lemony Snicket’s The Composer is Dead? Though I saw that a looooong time ago, so maybe not. I also saw a taping of Inside the Actor’s Studio with James Cameron, which is not even remotely close to a music event, but I didn’t know where else to mention it.

Hmm, what else has happened? I got my first-ever cavities! And I had a torrid affair with an ocelot, because NO ONE, NOT EVEN MY PARENTS, could possibly be still reading at this point. It’s more a historical document for myself. I also failed to blog about San Diego Comic Con, ConDFW (in which I moderated two panels, go me!), and my trip to D.C. for the Inauguration. I’ll see if I can dig up the half-written entries and finish them at some point in the near future. Or not. Whatever.

Don’t forget to floss!

Another linkless mass Twitter-spam, to round out July. The developer fixed the bug preventing me from using Twittinesis, so hopefully we shall return to sanity before too long!

Yes, I’m currently working on a massive Con post. I’m a slow writer. :D

  • @twittinesis The URL is http://www.theninemuses.net… — Thanks for such a quick response! 7 minutes ago
  • @twittinesis Publishing via FTP to site w/ Blogger, getting”Could not determine type of blog/blog is unsupported” @ sign up. Please advise? 13 minutes ago
  • @nataliemorales Fingers are crossed! about 18 hours ago
  • RT @wendywoowho Follow Friday: @lisawalkscom Help find a cure for breast cancer while bidding on cute teddy bears signed by hot celebrities! about 20 hours ago
  • RT @sarah_haskins 1. I got my driver’s license! 2. New Target Women! http://bit.ly/yHXcT about 20 hours ago
  • @jennyowenyoungs Wow! And here, I thought it was about divvying up a Kit Kat bar. about 23 hours ago
  • @SheckyX Something hilarious in authors talking about their testicles to near-strangers? I can’t imagine what could be funny about that. :D 8:33 PM Jul 31st
  • @Dietcoke219 The bleeping in #Middleman is a joke. It’s a joke that wouldn’t work on HBO. :D 7:37 PM Jul 31st
  • “Stray Italian Greyhound” just came up on random. Good lord, I adore that song! Thank you, @viennateng! 7:26 PM Jul 31st
  • @SheckyX Yup. Within like five minutes of meeting me. 6:28 PM Jul 31st
  • @NewMexiKo WOE! *clings to Chichi and Millie* 6:27 PM Jul 31st
  • Yippee skippy! It’s Bunny-Killing Day! http://www.killerbunnies.com/ @spodalicious 6:22 PM Jul 31st
  • Finished Brandon Sanderson’s “The Hero of Ages.” Awesome! Hmm, what to read next? 6:20 PM Jul 31st
  • *dies laughing* You know why they call it “Real Life Comics”? Because it happened to me IRL, too! http://bit.ly/Qz7tO 4:33 PM Jul 31st
  • @scifantasy The DVDs came out on Tues. Not sure of the street date for the Ep13 comic, but I thought it was the same. It’s not on Amazon. 9:10 AM Jul 31st
  • RT @Jamie1km RT @macworld: Top 10 iPhone annoyances and how to fix them: http://is.gd/1V1kl 5:56 AM Jul 31st
  • @Dietcoke219 @mkcho73 I still need to watch the last three episodes, but I’m really enjoying “Kings.” I recommend it! 5:06 AM Jul 31st
  • @jonrog1 The weekend before last, I hooked EIGHT new fans! The show is addictive. 4:52 AM Jul 31st
  • Potential roommate #1 is ADORABLE. Cross your fingers for me! 4:45 AM Jul 31st
  • @ironicsegue WOOHOO, congrats! 3:00 AM Jul 31st
  • @jonrog1 The writers are concerned about a woman who was introduced gleefully bombing her own home at age 6 coming off as “terrifying”? 2:30 AM Jul 31st
  • Oh Lord, you were so good to me at SDCC, and I know I must serve my dues, but is making me google “shirtless old man” for work justified? 10:53 PM Jul 30th
  • Cleaned room in preparation for visits from 2 potential roommates tonight. Need to dedicate a night to sorting through looming paper heaps. 5:11 PM Jul 30th
  • Decided to turn down the cat-owning potential roommate. Would rather not drown in kitty litter and fur. 8:19 AM Jul 30th
  • Cleaned kitchen and washed garbage can. Should clean out fridge, too, but I am le tired. 8:17 AM Jul 30th
  • @SheckyX ArgJimflail! *clings to certain imperiled characters who shall go unnamed* 7:57 AM Jul 30th
  • Security flaw could allow evildoers to hijack all world’s iPhones. Hackers getting ideas from Ep 13 of Middleman? http://is.gd/1TmPr @OKBJGM 6:55 AM Jul 30th
  • @NewMexiKo Glee! Welcome, Astrid! What is she? 6:51 AM Jul 30th
  • @xiehicks *squeaks* Too cute for words! 3:08 AM Jul 30th
  • Hmm. A potential roommate has two cats. Is this okay with me? Good question. 3:07 AM Jul 30th
  • @boymonster Alas, it is not! My workplace is anti-nap. 12:27 AM Jul 30th
  • Neglected to mention I posted photos from Dollhouse, Doctor Who, and True Blood panels to my Flickr last night: http://bit.ly/3k5JkE 10:03 PM Jul 29th
  • Mmm, roast vegetable curry soup. Makes me want to curl up in my chair and take a lovely nap. 10:01 PM Jul 29th
  • @SheckyX *sporfle* I’m in if you are. 8:12 PM Jul 29th
  • @AnneSowards Your country thanks you! 8:01 PM Jul 29th
  • RT @lisawalkscom Let’s see what twitter can do! http://bit.ly/MPa17 // Project Teddybear auctions going live soon! 7:52 PM Jul 29th
  • Today’s XKCD is magnificently apt: http://xkcd.com/616/ 6:05 PM Jul 29th
  • @DerekRuiz Enjoy it! “Turn Coat” is one heck of a read. 6:02 PM Jul 29th
  • @spodalicious Christmas in July! 5:58 PM Jul 29th
  • Hee! There’s a street carnival at the end of my block, currently engaged in a pie-eating contest to the tune of @alyankovic’s “Eat It.” 4:28 AM Jul 29th
  • Video of David Tennant, John Barrowman, and Russell T Davies exchanging smooches at Comic-Con http://tinyurl.com/mhyxzb (h/t @bbcamerica) 3:30 AM Jul 29th
  • Yay, ten minutes until I can tear out of this office and grab me some Middleman DVDs! Still need convincing? Read this: http://bit.ly/7Pofe 3:28 AM Jul 29th
  • Ha! Richard Castle is now on Twitter. And it’s “official”! This is going to be amusing. @WriteRCastle 3:08 AM Jul 29th
  • @SheckyX *glee* Thank you! 1:34 AM Jul 29th
  • @boymonster Yup, Valerie plays a vamp. Meanwhile, Joanne Kelly is off playing a skeptical government agent trafficking in the paranormal. :D 12:51 AM Jul 29th
  • Middleman, aka the best show you’ve never heard of, comes out on DVD today! Joyously geeky and absolutely hilarious! http://bit.ly/q6gHk 11:15 PM Jul 28th
  • Posted photos of Project Teddybear participants to Flickr! http://bit.ly/rKoWl @lisawalkscom 10:19 AM Jul 28th
  • Posted first batch of SDCC photos to Flickr, including Middleman panel and cosplay! http://bit.ly/P0160 @OKBJGM @davidHopkins 10:18 AM Jul 28th
  • Catching up on “True Blood” while selecting photos for posting. Holy cow, it’s Valerie Cruz! I forgot she was going to be on the show. 5:34 AM Jul 28th
  • Rarg, Con-Brain continues to plague my every action. Can you help me, “Focus”-branded Vitamin Water? 1:30 AM Jul 28th
  • @davidhopkins @OKBJGM That’s me! Thanks for the Middlelove. I’ll post pics of myself with the two other Wendys and @NatalieMorales tonight. 1:11 AM Jul 28th
  • @mkcho73 Mop-wye fop-ae-vop-oh-rop-eye-top-ee kop-eye-dop lop-ae-nop-gop-yew-ae-gop-ee eye-sop oh-pop nop-oh-pop. 1:03 AM Jul 28th
  • *sporfle* I love you, Psych. RT @psych_usa The “Mentalist” spot everyone was talking about! http://bit.ly/4PvoB 12:45 AM Jul 28th
  • After several days of con food and heavy dinners, a lunch of quinoa and apricots, hummus, and roast cauliflower really hit the spot! 10:14 PM Jul 27th
  • Trailer for Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland.” http://bit.ly/qLwkZ Looks fun, but I’m ready for him to get back to doing original stuff. 10:12 PM Jul 27th
  • Glee! Some heroic soul filmed clips of the Middleman table read and posted them to YouTube! The first is here: http://bit.ly/13OfaR 9:17 PM Jul 27th
  • Wearing Middleman shirt on day I’m instructed to create Terra Cotta Warrior for spot. Somebody up there is laughing their tail off. @OKBJGM 9:09 PM Jul 27th
  • My dad asks, “If SDCC is over and you are on your way back to NYC does that make you an Ex-Con?” My dad = adorable. 8:57 PM Jul 27th
  • @boymonster I am astounded by what I hope is a Molesworth reference! 8:27 PM Jul 27th
  • Things not to do the morning after Comic Con: Explain the principles of distortion in dollying vs. zooming a camera. I have a math hangover. 7:50 PM Jul 27th
  • @fredhicks In Harry Potter, Florean Fortescue is a wizardly ice cream vendor. “Carmella” sounds like the perfect name for a wife or sister. 7:36 PM Jul 27th
  • Someone with a very tiny head has been using my headphones at work. I may have to nickname her “Goldilocks,” despite her hair being brown. 6:49 PM Jul 27th
  • RT @whedonesque Joss Whedon’s Amazon intro for the Dollhouse DVD. http://bit.ly/oQEu2 // Yay for silly accents! 6:38 PM Jul 27th
  • @DerekRuiz I had a fantastic time, and I was happy to pitch in at the booth! Count me in for next year! 6:20 PM Jul 27th
  • The Merriam-Webster Word of the Day is “quaff.” Wouldn’t that have been more appropriate for Comic Con weekend? @definethis 6:17 PM Jul 27th
  • Sleep draws nigh! Will have to watch videos of @Esperacchius’ concert tomorrow. I’ve been looking forward to it since it was announced! 10:39 AM Jul 27th
  • Woah! Will not share the photo of DT looking like he’s heiling Hitler. Instead, shall post shots of DT and RTD losing it with laughter. 10:34 AM Jul 27th
  • Importing photos from Doctor Who panel before ZZZs. Pics displayed as they transfer–DT is so gloriously expressive! Can’t wait to share. 10:27 AM Jul 27th
  • @JekkaW It was great getting to hang out with you. May your trip back to NYC go smoothly from now on! Hope to see you at KGB sometime. 10:17 AM Jul 27th
  • @Uilos Oh, man. I missed that series of tweets. Rough. You guys will be in my thoughts tomorrow (today?). 10:08 AM Jul 27th
  • Home! And for my next trick, ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. 10:03 AM Jul 27th
  • Now have been waiting at Baggage Claim for nearly half an hour. Struggling to remember the last time I had a positive experience at JFK. 9:18 AM Jul 27th
  • Woman next to me lustfully eyeing my sandwich. Mine! You cannot has! 8:45 AM Jul 27th
  • In-flight entertainment was showing Psych when I woke up, but interrupted it for some weird cruise infomercial. Not on, AA. 8:40 AM Jul 27th
  • Landed in NYC safely, but weather grounded all outgoing flights. Taxiing foreverrrrrrr. (30 min plus so far) 8:36 AM Jul 27th
  • On the shuttle to the airport. That con was FANTASTIC! Count me in for next year! I may sleep until then. :D 11:29 PM Jul 26th
  • Have squeed like no fangirl has squeed before! 10:43 PM Jul 26th
  • Second row, just off center! Oh, sleep, your noble sacrifice was not in vain! Perfect view of David Tennant! 8:56 PM Jul 26th
  • XD! While posing for photos, girl dressed as Jack just felt up girl dressed as Ianto. I love this fandom! 8:22 PM Jul 26th
  • Who fans have good taste! One fan is wearing a Middleman shirt, and several more joined my cry of ART CRAWL! #artcrawlsdcc 8:18 PM Jul 26th
  • Frak! The John Barrowman autograph ticket Heidi gave me fell out of my pocket in said lunatic sprint. Retracing steps proved fruitless. 7:54 PM Jul 26th
  • Gods. These jokers could write a book on how NOT to manage a mob. Have fulfilled my quota in lunatic sprinting for this millenium. 7:09 PM Jul 26th
  • Handful of Who fans already in line, but I’m only the 2nd with an Exhibitor’s Pass, and we get in an hour and a half before the serfs! Woo! 5:41 PM Jul 26th
  • Oh god, I’m awake. How am I awake? And I’ve been awake for 20 minutes, to boot! Hardcore, thy name is me. 4:48 PM Jul 26th
  • Dinner was grand, full of great gossip and lesbian unicorns. A fantastic last night for Comic Con! #patfreakingrothfuss 11:43 AM Jul 26th
  • Am going to dinner with @AnneSowards, fellow Penguinite Jessica, and Pat Freaking Rothfuss. Pinch me? #patfreakingrothfuss 9:25 AM Jul 26th
  • Badass! Managed to sneak up to the 7th row center for True Blood! Triumph! 4:31 AM Jul 26th
  • Arrived in B20 in time to see John Noble being awesome at Fringe panel. True Blood is next, but I’m enjoying being here now! 3:56 AM Jul 26th
  • http://twitpic.com/bmps5 – You speak for us all, Exhausted Ballroom 20 Line Guy. You speak for us all. 3:40 AM Jul 26th
  • @travelingheidi Sounds good! I shall be hardcore! Know of any place I can stash a suitcase at that hour? I’ll need to bring it with me. 2:36 AM Jul 26th
  • Thank you, @robinthorsen, for participating in Project Teddybear! @lisawalkscom 2:05 AM Jul 26th
  • @travelingheidi Is there an outside line, then? Must be, as folks shouldn’t be allowed in the Convention Center until 9:30. 1:42 AM Jul 26th
  • Meeting and chatting with impressive number of Dresden fans at DBPro and SoCal Browncoat booths. Good taste here at Comic Con! 1:40 AM Jul 26th
  • And Javi recognized me, even dressed as I was as Kaylee! He took a bunch of photos with the bear to ensure a good one. Javi = awesome! 11:01 PM Jul 25th
  • LUCKIEST FAN EVER! Stopped by Viper Comics booth to see if Javi would be by that day, so I could retake PTB photo, and he was there signing! 10:59 PM Jul 25th
  • Are you going to try to attend the Doctor Who panel tomorrow, @jbkuma and @travelingheidi? What time are you planning to get in line? 10:19 PM Jul 25th
  • Eating leisurely breakfast at hotel. Jon Favreau, director of Iron Man, is at the next table. 9:06 PM Jul 25th
  • To @camsmith25: I shared Awesome Jim-Thing #3 a few weeks ago! I’m helping make a map of Alera for “First Lord’s Fury.” 8:48 PM Jul 25th

Friday, June 5th:

  1. Chris returned, healed! Character-Land is whole once more!
  2. There was a lot of good-natured ribbing about my swift exit from the theatre the previous night. Rob looked upon me in horrified disgust and accused, “You SHAME me!” I waved a stapler threateningly in his direction. It was kind of glorious.
  3. We found out that a really, really, really awesome spot was awarded. I DANCE! It’s going to be an absurd amount of work, but it’s going to be so much fun that it’ll be worth it.
  4. I got to model Audrey Tautou as Amelie!
  5. It didn’t feel like a Friday at all, but it WAS! Rapture!

Saturday, June 6th:

Okay, this is going to be a challenge. Saturday was miserable. Some good stuff happened: I reposted my ad on Craigslist and got a small handful of responses, for example, filling me with a sense of productivity and cautiously enthusiastic anticipation. But at 12:30 or so, when I got up from my computer to take a shower and get ready for MoCCA, I started feeling lightheaded, overheated, and gastrointestinally distressed. I spent an hour switching between the toilet and a cold bath and desperately trying to throw up. Eventually, I managed to tumble into bed and find some position where my lower abdomen didn’t hurt so much and retreated into unconsciousness.

I woke up around 5, feeling entirely cured, and fixed myself some cereal, as I hadn’t eaten yet that day. However, in the short time it took to assemble the materials, the weakness and discomfort started to return, so I sat down on the couch in hopes being off my feet would help. It didn’t. I brought my computer into my bedroom, thinking I could be fine if I lay down instead, but no joy. I retreated into sleep once more, returning to consciousness around 7. I felt fine once more, but this time, I didn’t even get up from my bed, knowing that discomfort lurked in wait for as soon as I attained verticality. My bed-ridden evening was quite pleasant, actually! Hurrah! My horizontal exploits are detailed below.

Happy things for today:

  1. The aforementioned Craigslist re-porting.
  2. Feeling better. There’s nothing that can make us appreciate our health more than a momentary hiccup. I’m grateful that the overwhelming majority of the time, I have energy and the full range of human ability. I have access to clean water and fresh food to keep my body nourished. And if or when my health takes a tumble, I have insurance and access to treatment–heck, I live in a world where Stem Cell Contact Lenses Cure Blindness in Less Than a Month–, and I have family and friends to help nurse me back to health, both local and long-distance. That’s something that certainly qualifies as a Thing to Be Happy About for today.
  3. And related: There’s a great deal of satisfaction in “out-thinking” an ailment, to be able to figure out “hmm, if I lower my body temperature like this, and lean forward like this, or lie down like this, I don’t feel nearly as awful.” At least this way I don’t feel awful and helpless.
  4. In the evening, on Ko and Fred’s recommendation, I watched the first two episodes of Leverage. This show is so much fun! I’m delighted to see that it was renewed.
  5. One of my friends was in a very cruddy place emotionally, so I called her and we shared a much-needed girly gabfest. We also watched the Glee pilot simultaneously, keeping a running commenting over IM. It was adorable! Feel better, friend! I love you!

Sunday, June 7th:

  1. I took the morning slowly, as I still felt a bit fragile from the previous day. However, I soon discovered that standing up was no longer an impediment. Woo, mobility!
  2. I checked out MoCCA, my first time attending the festival. I didn’t stay for long, as the combination of being on my feet and the building’s lack of air conditioning threatened to drain my precious stores of energy, but I had a lovely time while I was there. I was finally able to give back to the creators of webcomics I’ve loved so long! I bought trades from Dylan Meconis (“Bite Me”), the inimitably brilliant Kate Beaton (“Never Learn Anything From History”), and David Malki (“Wondermark”). I got a t-shirt from Ryan North of “Dinosaur Comics,” but upon getting it home, I saw it was too big for me. I’ll have to find a medium-sized friend to give it to. :D I also bought a sketch from Randall Munroe of XKCD for pi dollars–I accused him of swindling the public by rounding up to $3.15. I mentioned his strip’s popularity at my workplace, so he redrew the “We’re Rendering” swordfight comic for me. Highly entertaining! All of the artists were a delight to chat with. Time and money well spent!
  3. Next, I returned home to recover my strength. It was going to be a late night, and I didn’t want to run out of steam early. I watched a few more episodes of Leverage while working on an illustration for a friend.
  4. Strength restored, I hopped on the subway to Union Hall, the awesome little venue where I first saw Vienna Teng, Christina Courtin, and Jonathan Coulton perform live. My first month in New York, actually! Tonight’s occasion? John Hodgman and Jonathan Coulton were performing the list of 700 Mole-Man Names from More Information Than You Require. I ended up being the first person in line, as I thought the event started at 9:15 when it actually arrived at 9:30, and I arrived around 9. Ah well! I met some cool people in line, and we had delightful conversation.

    Hodgman and Coulton were their usual quirky selves, Hodgman warning the audience of the upcoming unpleasantness with Snicket-like foreboding. He suggested the audience use the bathroom and purchase large quantities of alcohol before the ordeal. He explained a bit about Mole-Men for the uneducated, though I’m not precisely sure why anyone would choose to be there if they hadn’t at least flipped through his book. Perhaps for the benefit of those being dragged there by friends or dates? Ah well. It was still hilarious!

    Finally, the recitation began! Coulton played endless repetitions of the colonial ballad “The World Turned Upside-Down as Hodgman plunged headfirst into what he anticipated would be a 90-minute endeavor. The audience was very receptive, laughing out loud and cheering wildly every 50 names. Every so often, I took minute-long clips with my little Flip Video camera, which I imagine I will eventually combine in an amusing way if I can find the time. I was particularly delighted to be reminded of mole-manic woman #538, “Miss Priscilla Thirtyfingers, a wall feeler.” When your name is as rare as mine, any uses of it by people you admire become a source for much joy.

    As the list wore on, I exchanged occasional looks with Jonathan Coulton, mine saying, “I am in awe that your hands have not cramped and/or fallen off at this point,” and his saying, “Me too.” After Mole-Man #600, I shouted out “GO COULTON!”, and all gave him a resounding cheer. Hodgman took this opportunity for another sip of Jack Daniels.

    Afterward, Hodgman declared that the event was being recorded for the audio book of More Information Than You Require, and that he was taking our applause at the revelation as consent to our voices being used on the recording. I feigned concern and asked, “Can my applause be digitally removed?” “No, it cannot, Miss Flip Video,” he quipped.

    He graciously offered free drinks to all of us that endured the full list, though he winced at the admission that he thought more of us would leave midway. I was sitting near the front, so I didn’t see what the crowd looked like at the beginning, but the room was still mostly packed. Good thing he has those Mac ads to keep his pockets well-lined! :D

    Coulton closed the “formal” portion of the event with a song–“Ikea,” by fan request–then we all dispersed. I lingered afterward and mingled with other folks from the audience. One of the folks I chatted with was Sam Potts, designer of Hodgman’s book jackets and mastermind of the Superhero Supply Company and Twitter On Paper. A very creative and motivated guy!

    Eventually, the staff ushered us upstairs, so they could close the downstairs stage. Hodgman invited those of us remaining to join him in the comfortable leather seating overlooking the Bocce courts, and he gestured me to sit in the chair next to his, which exploded my little fangirl mind.

    Our little group must have talked over an hour! It was a delight. Toward the end, we got on the subject of the Battlestar Galactica series finale, which was particularly awesome. It’s always cool to discuss something you’re a fan of with someone you’re a fan of, who is also a fan of said thing. It’s a sort of conversational equalizer. :D Our group seemed united in its criticism that the notion of an entire society being willing to regress to a primitive culture was difficult to swallow. Hodgman stepped into his exaggerated “John Hodgman” character a moment to comment, “For instance: my character, the brain surgeon, would be unlikely to want to return to trepanning.”

    Finally, as 1am came and went, we all started migrating doorwards. We said our goodbyes, then went our separate ways. All in all, it was a joyous evening!

So that was the weekend. I’m now completely behind on everything that’s happened since! I hate to interrupt my run in what’s become a quite faithful daily practice, but I may have to grant myself a week’s amnesty, as the days are running together and I’m having difficulty pinpointing noteworthy events and ruminations for my lists. But let’s give it one shot…

Monday, June 8th: Monday was a struggle. The job I was so excited we’d landed on Friday turned out to be a lot more difficult than I’d bargained for, and we were given four days to accomplish what I’d imagined would be a challenge in two weeks. I spent much of the day trying to wrangle our traditional rig into something very exaggerated and cartoony, without success. Finally, around 6, Eric and I made the executive decision to start from scratch and build a new rig to accommodate the demands of the project. From then on, everything went smoothly!

Tuesday, June 9th: However, despite said smoothness, we still had an insane amount of work that needed to get done! We shanghaied a number of folks who aren’t traditionally character designers for the task, which helped things move quicker, but the prospect of finishing everything by Friday was still dicey. Compounding the time crunch was the sudden revelation that we were running out of space on the server, and Chris and I needed to be diverted to backing up old characters to the library. Yikes! Together, we managed to rock everything out just in time, though we had to stay until 1 am to accomplish everything we wanted that night. We only stayed until 11:30 on Monday.

Wednesday, June 10th: Another challenging day! We could tell that everything was coming together, at least. We were in awe of the amount of work we’d accomplished in a few short days! And to further brighten our spirits, the Gods on High moved our deadline from Friday to Monday. What a relief! To our greater joy, Eric discovered a book online that gave detailed instructions on how to draw the characters we were modeling. I zipped across the street to Barnes and Noble, where they were selling the $30 book in the bargain bin for $9. WIN! The book henceforth became known as “The Bible” in Character-Land. I stayed until 12:15, feeling good.

Thursday, June 11th: We continued work, the Bible showing us just how off-model many of the existing characters were. Our first passes definitely needed a second! Fortunately, I didn’t have to stay late, as my good friend Tex had a show in the city tonight, and I was able to attend! Tex is a ridiculously talenter composer, and he performed a number of his original pieces, accompanied by a woodwind quartet and a cellist. Afterward, we walked back to my apartment and spent an hour or so catching up on each other’s lives. He was staying with his brother, Davio, and his very pregnant wife, Jessica, who live about a ten minute walk from my place. T’was quite nifty!

Friday, June 12th: Work remained workful. I spent most of the day squeeing over Fred and Christie’s Twitter posts, updating us on the status of the birth of their first child. Welcome to the world, Evelyn Violet Hicks! The universe has a new contender for Cutest Baby in the World.

When I wasn’t in baby-squee mode, I was counting down the hours until the Battlestar Galactica panel at the 92nd Street Y. I sprang from my workplace at 6:55 and joined Shecky and Sue in line. We were close enough to the front of the line that we managed to find seats in the second row!

The panel was fantastic. BSG was represented by Mary McDonnell (the iron-ovaried President Roslin) and Michael Hogan (the grizzled Colonel Tigh). I was initially thrilled to see Mary McDonnell and only lukewarm about Michael Hogan, as Tigh wasn’t among my favourite characters, but hearing him speak about his role gave me new appreciation for the role. It made me want to rewatch bits of the show! Mary was even more gorgeous and eloquent in real life, which is terribly unfair to the rest of us mortals. I want her shoes.

The scientists were absolutely intriguing. Roboticist Hod Lipson works in evolutionary robotics and has created several ‘self aware’ robots. The video clips he played for us were mind-boggling–he made me wish the panel devoted less time to BSG, so he would have more time to explain how his robots were able to discover how to walk. The man is the architect of his own Intelligently Designed universe.

Cyberneticist Kevin Warwick works in robotics and artificial intelligence, and has created implants that allow humans to sense the world around us beyond what we experience with the traditional five. In another implant experiment, he was able to control objects remotely with his mind and receive sensory feedback. It was staggering.

Philosopher Nick Bostrom was also in attendance, providing a counterpoint to some of the scientists’ more radical ideas, and drawing a distinction between pop culture urges and scientific realities. Moderating the event was Faith Salie, whose palpable enthusiasm for both sides of the panel kept the conversation going smoothly. All in all, I had a fantastic time!

However, afterwards, when Shecky, Sue, and I headed back to a Starbucks to hang out, we passed an apartment whose anteroom floor was covered in fresh blood. The glass inner-door had been stoved in. We stood gawking for a solid minute, trying to parse what had happened and trying to decide if we should call the police. Just as Sue was taking out her cell phone, we were met by the building’s superintendent, who was even more floored than we were. Meeting him on the other side of the door was a twentysomething girl, standing gingerly on a leg smeared with blood, irately explaining how she had been coming home with her dogs when she slipped on the tiles and her leg went through the door. Assured that we weren’t looking at a crime scene and that the situation was under control, we left.

The scene was still fresh in our minds as we walked away, however. Sue is trained as an EMT, and she watches enough CSI and Dexter to understand blood splatter analysis. We couldn’t help thinking that the girl’s story didn’t match up to the scene we found. Very curious.

Saturday, June 13th: I had to work again. Bleh. 10-7. The day was chill, though, and I had a vegetarian moussaka for lunch that convinced me of the existence of a loving God. Afterwards, I met up with Craig, and we hung out and people-watched for a couple hours to make up for me not being able to support him and the rest of the NY Jedi at Big Apple Con. T’was nice.

And now, it’s Sunday, June 14th! I’m simultaneously relaxing and getting stuff done! Life is good, and now I’m up-to-date on it, even though I can’t imagine anyone but perhaps my father is still reading at this point. Ah, well! At least I feel better about my newfound fidelity to my blog.

I need to get back in the swing of blogging. The sheer length of time I’ve gone on Twitter alone is unspeakably lame, and friends and family alike are becoming increasingly frustrated with the prolonged string of half-indecipherable, 140-character hints of what’s going on in my life. So here’s what’s been going on lately!

Work: A couple weeks ago, I was moved to the back room. While it’s tragic that I am no longer sitting near Tommy, an endless fountain of amusing non-sequiturs, I am now blessed with WINDOWS. My stir-craziness factor has diminished significantly. The windows look out onto the uninterrupted brick siding of another building some twelve feet away, but I nevertheless revel in the occasional birds, diffused sunlight, and glimpses at the actual weather conditions my beloved window offers.

The reason for the move is to reflect a change in the structure of the company. We now have a separate Asset Department responsible for characters and props. Previously, animators were responsible for making their own props. Character folks (like me) have always been separate. Once the few hiccups are ironed out, it looks like this system is going to be a lot more efficient. Yay efficiency!

I have also been named Texture Tsar (okay, that’s the name I made up, but it’s more fun that Textures Lead or whatever the official title was), so I’m getting tasked with occasional opportunities to step out of Character Land and do some serious Making Stuff Pretty. Yay variety! And as far as the characters go, we’re in the process of bringing their quality up another notch, as well. I’m very pleased with the direction we’re going!

Litra-chur: My beloved Kat, who has exquisite taste, has finally pushed me over the tipping point with regard to Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan saga. She lent me the first omnibus at the end of last summer, which I read at a snail’s pace despite my enjoyment of the stories, but only recently did I delve headfirst into the series. I got the rest of the books in audio format and plowed through nine books and three novellas in the past 2 1/2 weeks. I’m almost nervous to start the final book, because I’ll once again be faced with the dilemma of what to read next.

I can feel myself getting sucked into the Reread Rut, as I’d like to reread Princeps’ Fury to refresh my beta-memory as Jim pens First Lord’s Fury, and I’m thinking a reread of Watchmen is in order before the movie comes out, and I definitely want to reread The Name of the Wind before its sequel hits stores on April 7th, and gah. I can’t let myself get boxed in with rereads! Gotta discover something new!

Fandom: This past weekend, I went to New York Comic Con. I had a fantastic time! Friday night, I assembled a crowd of folks from the Jim-Butcher.com forum for dinner at Brother Jimmy’s BBQ, which was quite a hit! In attendance were my forum/IRL hybrid friends Craig, Shecky, and Sue, plus forum members Mark and Allison, a fantastic Harry cosplayer I met at San Diego Comic Con named Matt, and Matt’s friend Jerry. The Dabel Brothers crew was going to join us, but they had some last-minute business that ran long, so they were only able to stop by a few minutes. Afterwards, we huddled in Penn Station, dodging zambonis and homeless people, for a reading of the first chapter of Turn Coat. It was a great start for a delightfully geeky weekend!

Saturday, I donned my Molly costume and hooked up with RPG pal John to meander about the con. We first checked out a fight choreography demo by the Vampire Cowboys, a theatre troupe that performs original, cross-genre plays with a strong stage combat element. I saw their previous show, Fight Girl Battle World, twice last year, and I can’t wait for the opening of their newest creation, Soul Samurai! I’ll have to get a big group together.

Afterward, John and I did some browsing/people watching as we waited for the others from the previous night’s group to arrive. I stopped by the Penguin table to chat with Anne Sowards, Jim’s editor, who gave me a bunch of Dresden buttons to give away on the website. I’ll have to figure out a fun way to determine who gets them! Meanwhile, John geeked out at the neighboring booth, belonging to Phil Foglio, when a group of fans arrived in glorious Girl Genius cosplay.

We then swung by the Comic News Insider booth, in hopes of seeing Kristin and Jimmy. Jimmy is one of the co-hosts of the show, and Kristin had volunteered to booth babe for a time, but Kristin had something far more nefarious up her sleeve! At cons, Jimmy makes a point of dressing in pinstriped vests, going so far as to accuse those similarly attired of “stealing his look.” Because we are pure evil, Kristin and I conspired to dress Kristin in Jimmy’s con uniform. Unfortunately, Jimmy wasn’t there at the time, but I got to greet Kristin and admire her uncanny resemblance to the absent friend.

Next, John and I stopped by the DoctorWhoStore.com booth, where 6th Doctor Colin Baker was wrapping up his signing. I snagged one of the Big Finish audios for my Who-obsessed friend Kat, autographed by the good Doctor himself, and got a picture with him, in which he looks like my cute grandpa. After Colin finished, Doctor Who comics scribe Tony Lee took the autographing table, and I got a few issues of the serial signed as we chatted. I’d gotten to meet him and hang out briefly at the CNI recording a few days prior, and we’d hit it off rather well. It was fun to see him again.

John and I also spent some time dawdling around the Pendragon booth, where Matt, Jerry, and Matt’s girlfriend Nicole were working. Nicole’s creations were flat-out gorgeous, and over the course of the day, I tried on two of the Renaissance dresses and a woman’s leather duster. You bet your sweet bippy I took pictures! I feel in love with one of them, but I didn’t know if I wanted to spend so much on a dress I’d only wear a couple times a year, so I elected to hold off and think about it overnight. Soon, Craig, Shecky, and Sue appeared, and we all trooped off to grab a late lunch.

The afternoon was filled with a performance by the New York Jedi, lots and lots of aimless ambling about the exhibit hall, and some chillage with the Dabel folks. Matt joined us for much of it. I finally got to meet Dresden GN editor David Lawrence in person, and he loaded me up with a bunch of Dabel comics and goodies. We swung back by the Penguin booth and chanced to run into Amber Benson, who played Tara on Buffy. We had a brief conversation, and I snagged a photo with her. What an unexpected surprise!

Toward the end of the evening, we walked by the DC booth and saw Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons signing posters. There was no way we could get through the line by closing time, so we resolved to bring our copies of Watchmen the next day to be signed then. Finally, we bade farewell to Sue, Shecky, and John, who were only at the con for the day.

Sunday morning was a source of great amusement. I awoke to find a pair of text messages on my phone, one drunken missive timestamped around 3am, waxing lyrical on my finer attributes, and another around 8, apologizing profusely. I will not disclose the identity of said individual, because I am not a cruel person, but suffice it to say, it was hilarious.

Dressed as Delirium, I high-tailed it to the IGN Theatre, where a line was already forming for Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse panel two hours before showtime. Because it was painfully obvious what we were all there to see, they con staff either canceled or moved the MegaMan panel that was to be held before it. In line, I met up with Craig, Kristin, Adam (host of the weekly Pushing Daisies viewing parties, back when that was applicable), and fellow NYC Browncoats Kathleen, Simon, and Gypsy.

The panel was a delight. Though I’d met Nathan Fillion at SDCC and Amber Benson the day before, I’d never before seen a panel with any Whedon alumni, and here was Joss himself! Also present was Tahmoh Penikett, aka Helo on BSG, and Matt Rousch of TV Guide. The program reported that Eliza Dushku and Dichen Lachman were also supposed to be in attendance, but any disappointment was more than compensated for when Joss revealed the first act of the Dollhouse pilot, which looked fabulous. I can’t wait for Friday’s premiere!

By that point, the con was nearly over, but I still managed to squeeze in some last-minute awesomeness. An hour before it was slated to start, we staked on spots in line for the Dave Gibbons signing. We befriended another line-waiter, who volunteered to save out spots in line so we could enjoy ourselves for said hour, and went off in search of last-minute fun. We returned to Pendragon to poke Matt, and I saw that the dress I’d fallen in love with the previous day had been sold. Guess that made my decision for me! I’m glad such a lovely dress is getting a good home.

We returned to the Gibbons table with ten minutes to spare and found an utter mob scene. The line snaked around itself four deep! They were processing fans ASAP, so there was no time for conversation with the man, but it was still cool to see him in person and get his signature in my copy of Watchmen.

And that was it! I was rather stunned toward the end to realize that I only attended a single panel, as I’d meticulously planned out a schedule for myself ahead of time, but when it came down to it, spending time with my friends felt like a much higher priority. I feel like a Lifetime movie. And now I can’t wait for ConDFW the 20th-22nd!

And that’s all I have to say about that for the moment. Hopefully, now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, I’ll be able to go back to blogging about silly things?

Woo! Now that my bio is up, I am delighted (and somewhat intimidated) to announce that I will be a panelist at ConDFW this February! They haven’t yet informed me what I’ll be talking about, but I imagine my work as a Thematic Consultant on the Dresden Files comics may factor in, as that’s the reason I was recruited. Bring it! *high-fives fellow consultant Mickey Finn, another panelist*

Check out my sweet bio here.

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Presentinge The Most Woefulle and Arduous Tale of Travells to the Comicke Conventionne
~

I arrived at the airport with plenty of time, as befits a seasoned traveler such as I. However, In the security line, as soon as I reached the front, the employees insisted my line double back on itself with another line, with the end result that about forty people got in front of me. The motivation for this has not been explained. I described the incongruity to a fellow line-waiter as “Kafkaesque.” How little I knew of what pandemonium awaited me, dear reader!

The boarding went without a hiccough. I was seated in an aisle seat, across from the aforementioned fellow line-waiter, a publicity representative from Wizard. As the plane taxied away from the gate, I mused over which panels I would elect to attend Thursday morning. Minutes to take-off, however, the plane stilled. We all waited expectantly.

Many minutes later, we continued to wait expectantly. The pilot informed us of the dire weather situation, which blocked off the airport from all sides, but which would hopefully clear up soon. The pilot continues to string us along on this lie for two hours. I fiddled with my iPhone and finished reading Havemercy. Brilliant.

At 5, the sleeping woman across the aisle from me (hey, it’s the woman that works for Wizard I met in the security line!) wakes up with a start, wondering why we were on the ground, as she thought this was supposed to be a nonstop flight. The woman behind her informed her that we never left. Angst all around!

At a loss, they started airing the in-flight entertainment. I enjoyed a couple episodes of How I Met Your Mother, enriched by my new appreciation of Neil Patrick Harris, but all the while bemoaning the fact that even if the plane left right then, I wouldn’t be able to stop by the convention center that night to pick up my badge and avoid the ridiculous Saturday lines.

The flight attendants then began airing the in-flight movie, 21. The plane taxied around uselessly on the runway in some demented tarmac ballet. I picked up the newest Artemis Fowl. About thirty minutes in, we suffered a second-long power failure, which resulted in 21 being restarted from the beginning. The passengers groaned and laughed, because otherwise we would have started screaming.

I struck up a conversation with Wizard woman, Maria, and the woman sitting behind her, Kristi. Good people.

About four hours in, a line began to form at the galley as the passengers sought out sustenance. They ran out of food within twenty minutes. It was not unlike Lord of the Flies.

The sixty planes on the tarmac continued their taxi dance, and somehow we ended up at the back of the takeoff line. Ultimately, this did not matter. We also used so much fuel that we wouldn’t have been able to make it all the way to San Diego anyway.

Five hours in, the pilot received word of a possible route out! Win! However, it would steer us majorly off-course and take more than the five hours the trip was supposed to take, and San Diego’s airport has a curfew due to its proximity to residential areas. It took the pilot a further thirty minutes to recognize that the longer route plus the time it took to refuel would result in us missing said curfew. Apparently a 777 full of angry passengers frantic to get to Comic Con wasn’t worth the fee for breaking the rules.

Time to deplane! Everyone pulled our their cell phones to try to reschedule their flights. To my dismay, I saw that I only had 10% battery life remaining. Awesome. Also, in my haste, I left my carry-on in the overhead bin and had to go back to get it, swimming upstream in the crowd like a stupidly forgetful salmon.

I stood in the long ticket line with Maria and Kristi, internally flailing at the news that the earliest flight the next day was at 3pm, which would put us in NY around 8. I felt my Comic Con slipping through my fingers, and I wanted to cry. Fifteen minutes later, as I am still paralyzed waiting in line, the 3pm flight sells out. AUGH.

Whatwhat? Kristi manages to snag a ticket agent over the phone and tells him a sob story about a nephew’s christening the next day. This is made up, but the ticket agent coughs up a flight on a different airline that would get her into San Diego around noon. She snags it. HOPE! She remains with Maria and me to offer moral support and the prospect of a shared hotel room.

Another fifteen minutes later or so, Maria and I reach the front of the ticket line. Kristi’s flight has sold out. NO! But something in my distressed countenance warms the ticket agent’s frozen heart and she finds a single ticket opening on a flight that gets me in Thursday at 4pm. I want to kiss her. I tell her I’ll take it, but then she pauses, investigating a different trail. She finds another seat on a flight leaving from Newark that gets me into San Diego Thursday at 1pm! I nearly leap over the kiosk and hug her. Maria immediately asks if a second seat is available, and there IS! Maria hazards to ask if there is a third seat, as Kristi doesn’t mind getting in an hour later if it means traveling with friends (which we are at this point), and huzzah, YES! WE’RE GOING TO SAN DIEGO, BABY!

Flush with victory, we grab our bags and decide to head to the Newark Airport to try to find a hotel room nearby. HahahahahaahahaNO. Assorted cab drivers, legal and otherwise, tempt us with fares of anywhere from forty to sixty-five dollars EACH to get us to Newark. Um, what?

We locate a Super Shuttle, which offers to take us there for forty, which Maria haggles down to thirty-five. Maria is awesome like that. There are four other passengers with destinations in Manhattan, including a woman we would learn is the mother of Joey Lawrence, actor on Blossom and regular feature of Dancing with the Stars.

I use my dying iPhone to find phone numbers for Newark hotels, and Kristi calls three or four before the clerks finally convince her that no, just about every hotel in the entire New York metroplex is booked solid.

I propose a new solution: Maria and Kristi come sleep at my apartment, and we put the cash we save from the hotel room towards a car service to whisk us off to Newark in the early AM. Good plan, me! This solution is pretty much the best plan ever. Oh my god, we are so tired. We inform Super Shuttle driver of the new plan, and as the driver no longer has to factor in exorbitant New Jersey tolls, Maria renegotiates our fare to $25 each.

Ten minutes later, Joey Lawrence’s Mom decides she is furious at this price inequity. She’s getting off before us, but her fare is $35. She tries to renegotiate her deal, too, but as she has no grounds to do so, the driver is having none of it. She doesn’t seem to get that the three of us represent $75 worth of passenger going to one location, whereas she is only one woman, and her situation has not changed since she and the driver agreed on a price. She’s still paying way less than she would from any other driver anyway! They fight loudly over this stupid ten dollar discrepancy for a stupidly significant portion of the ride, culminating in the driver pulling over and telling her to get out. She stays put and ratchets down her obnoxious whining from eleven to four and a half or so. We side with the driver, because we want to get home at some point that night.

Home, finally! We bring our bags up to my apartment and plan to get take-out from an Italian restaurant two blocks away, but as it immediately starts pouring buckets the second we step outside, we instead order in pizza and open a bottle of wine and bask in the knowledge that we just might come out on top, despite the horrors before.

In my infinite grace, I accidentally knock over a glass of wine, which shatters on the hardwood floor. Despite our thorough search, we were still finding little micro-sized bits of glass an hour later. I vacuum.

I re-pack my bags, stuffing my entire Molly costume (big boots and all) into my carry-on, so that if they lose my bag (which feels inevitable at this point), I’ll still be able to dress up.

We head to sleep around 12:30, after ordering a car for 5 and setting three alarms for 4am. I volunteer to sleep on the futon, allowing Maria and Kristi the bed. I am like a saint or something.

I am awakened by an impossibly loud buzzer at 1:30. I immediately assume it is an alarm clock, until I see the clock on the TV. Finally, my sleep-addled brain recognizes that it is the door buzzer. I muzzily ask over the intercom who it is, and it is revealed to be roommate’s boyfriend. Roommate is wonderful and understanding and miraculously cool with the idea of me inviting near-strangers into our home, but I kind of want to stab roommate in the head for not answering the freaking buzzer herself. (In the morning, she apologizes, which is very cool of her. I love you, roommate!) I buzz him in and open the door a crack, and I am asleep again by the time he walks up the stairs to the room.

I am awakened again around 2 by someone’s impossibly loud cellphone going off on the dining room table, also sounding much like an alarm clock. This time, there will be no mercy. I stumble into roommate’s room and tell her and her boyfriend that one of their cellphones is going off, but it isn’t theirs. My urge to kill wanes slightly. Turns out, it’s Maria’s. Mrsfgl. Okay, no death tonight. Too sleepy anyway.

4 am! I wake up for real! We take showers and munch down toast and are ready for the car at 5. The car is punctual and clean and the driver is courteous and we arrive in Newark in like forty minutes, rather than the hour-plus I was expecting. It feels like even less time! Could things finally be looking up?

We check in and head down to security, where the line is unfathomably long. When we get to the front, the security guy and I exchange witty banter about my Battlestar Galactica t-shirt, then he informs me I’ve been selected for random search. Lovely. So have Maria and Kristi. Good grief! Fortunately, said search is quick and painless.

I am so jaded about our trip woes at this point that I take random strangers not coming up to me and shooting me with a tazer as a kindness. We nickname ourselves “The Murphies,” after Murphy’s Law: Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong. We subsequently refer to each other as “Murphy” and “Murph” for the rest of the trip.

We get to the gate, only to find that they have oversold the trip by THIRTEEN SEATS. How the heck does that happen? Fortunately, we have seat assignments already, so we win! I pity the poor folks that thought they were safe and arrived a little too late. Off to Minneapolis!

We land without incident, grab lunch, then head off to San Diego! Then OMG, WE’RE HERE! We get our bags easily, though Maria and I have to hold our suitcases in our laps for the short trip to her hotel, as Kristi’s friend’s tiny Ford Focus wasn’t built to tow such cargo. I dress in my Delirium costume in Maria’s hotel room, and I get to the con just before 3. I’ve missed the panels for Doctor Who, Torchwood, and Middleman, but I’M HERE AND I KISS THE GROUND AND YAY YAY YAY COMIC CON!

Things that made the hellacious ordeal worth it:

  • Seeing my wonderful sister on her birthday weekend! LOVE YOU, MELISSY!
  • Hanging with buddies Jimmy, Kevin, Amber, and Gail/Daoine. Amber and Gail are friends from the Jim-Butcher.com forum, and it was a treat to get to finally meet them in person. Gail and her crew had the most amazing costumes I’ve ever seen. My pictures are awful, so hopefully someone else will produce images that actually do them justice.
  • Spending all day Saturday hanging with Jim Butcher and his friend Cam. RIDICULOUS FUN! We prowled the con floor at length, snagged a delicious lunch, and relaxed a bit in his hotel room before his signing and panel.
  • Meeting Nathan Fillion! As soon as he saw my Maeve costume, he whipped out his camera and asked for a picture. I’M ON NATHAN FILLION’S CAMERA, YOU GUYS! Afterwards, Jim joked, “Wow, your geek points just skyrocketed. Nathan Fillion took your picture while Jim Butcher held your stuff.”
  • Taking an elevator ride with Allison Mack of Smallville and sitting at the table next to Patton Oswalt’s at lunch. Cam’s wife refused to believe it was Patton, so we considered giving him a sign that said “Yes, Jess, I am Patton Oswalt” and taking a picture with Cam’s phone. Unfortunately, Patton finished his lunch before we could convince ourselves it was a good idea. Also caught glimpses of Kristin Chenoweth and Ellen Greene of Pushing Daisies and the Mythbusters boys, and got to hang briefly with Jim’s awesome editor, Anne Sowards, and Ernst, Les, Derek, and Neil of the Dabel Brothers.
  • Went to panels featuring Shauna Trpcic (costume designer for Firefly, the later seasons of Angel, Doctor Horrible, and more); Bryan Fuller (creator of Pushing Daisies, Wonderfalls, and Dead Like Me); the show-runners of Lost, Terminator, and Chuck;
  • Making a Dresden cosplayer’s day when he didn’t make the line cutoff for Jim’s last signing by bringing him to Jim’s attention afterwards, so Jim could sign his staff.
  • Seeing so man amazing costumes! MAN, the world is filled with creative fans!
  • Having my own costume praised by so many people! Man, the number of photographs taken of my outfits was staggering. On Saturday, Jim and I died laughing at the number of people that asked him to take pictures of themselves with me, without realizing who he was.

Then on the flight home, as I worked off two hours of sleep, the flight was delayed nearly an hour on the tarmac, and when we got to New York, we couldn’t land because of the weather, so we apparently flew to Cincinnati and back. Then they lost one of my bags, and I had to wait nearly two hours before it finally surfaced. Then I went home and went to sleep.

GOOD CON!

Hey, kids! It’s the super-belated New York Comic Con post!

Verdict: Ridiculously awesome.

I already posted about Friday’s highlight at the Gaiman panel, but here’s the full account. We were let out of work early, so instead of getting dressed at the con itself, I changed in the bathroom at work, where I would have comparatively more space and privacy. Then came the fun of making my way across midtown Manhattan while dressed like the anthropomorphic personification of delirium! The number of horrified stares was far eclipsed by the number of “You go, girl”-esque responses. The most fun came when I walked past a huge gathering of people (maybe 200) in brightly-colored cultural dress from around the world. You could just see the “I wonder what she represents?” question in the kids’ eyes.

I first headed to the CNI booth to say hello to Joe and Jimmy and drop off the bag containing my work clothes, and to say goodbye to Jimmy’s hair. Jimmy has had long, gorgeous, Pantene-ad hair for 20 years, but he finally decided to cut it on Saturday and donate it to Locks of Love, raising over five hundred dollars for the charity in the process. More power to him! My timing happened to coincide with their first raffle, so I read out the ticket numbers for them. T’was fun!

Next, I headed downstairs to wait in line for the Gaiman event. I was nearly an hour early, yet there were already something like thirty people in line! I chatted with my neighbors and got my photo taken approximately eleventy billion times, which was all kinds of fun! Much to my dismay, I realized just how short my skirt was and how conspicuous I felt wearing it, so I decided to wear my capris underneath it on Saturday.

Neil was presaged by a hilarious short speech by Bill Hader of SNL, a huge Gaiman fan. Then Neil came out, read a pair of short stories, did the Q&A thing I recounted in the earlier entry, and read chapter 3 of The Graveyard Book, which is going to be phenomenal. I can’t wait!

Saturday morning, I hooked up with my friend and fellow RPer John, aka The Boy, and his father and uncle. We spent much of the morning cruising the floor, hooking up with Will and his buddy Dave (one of his Beauty and the Geek co-stars) along the way. Fairly early on, we stopped by the Dabel Brothers’ booth, and I got to meet the gang in person. The Dabel Brothers are the publishers of the Dresden Files comic book, on which I serve as a Thematic Consultant. Unfortunately, Ernst (eldest of the brothers and our main liason) had a scheduling conflict and couldn’t be in attendance, but it was great to get to meet Derek and the rest of the team. Derek is a really fun guy and amazingly generous–when I inquired about the price of the NYCC edition of Dresden #1, he immediately handed John and me a huge stack of comics with all three editions of Dresden #1 and the first issue of their other title, Wild Cards. Woo, royal treatment!

Eventually, 11 rolled around, and we headed over to the Midtown Comic booth, where Jim Butcher was doing his first signing of the day. Jim instantly recognized me despite my insane Delirium wig (or perhaps because of it?), and introduced me to Jennifer Jackson, his agent, and Anne Sowards, his editor. My conversation with Anne was cut short by a bunch of fanboys clammoring for a photo with me (rar! couldn’t they see I was occupied?), but I got to chat a bit longer with Jennifer, who is quite clearly one of the most awesome people on the planet, and who is also blessed with the ability to surround herself with similarly awesome people.

While John and I waited for Jim’s signing to end at 11:30 (when the three of us would grab lunch together), he scoped out nearby booths. Unfortunately, around 11:40, when Jim and I hooked back up, John was nowhere to be seen. I left him four voicemails over the space of 11:20 to 11:40, to no avail. In the last, I told him Jim and I were headed to the food court, and to call me when he got the message.

It was a wonderful, relaxing lunch. One of the things I enjoyed so much about PhauxCon was the casual, laid-back atmosphere, but even my beloved micro-con couldn’t entirely remove the faint “Jim and Shannon are the Guests of Honor” hierarchy. Also, I myself was so fanstruck at the time! The one-on-one (and later, two-on-one, when John finally checked his phone) nature of this conversation was an absolute delight. He even paid for my lunch! :D

We chatted about anything and everything: our favourite new-series Doctors (Jim: 9, me: 10), the lolcat phenomenon, comic book trailers, awful Sci-Fi Channel movies (and the Butcher family tradition of Shannon and J.J. tearing down the movie, and Jim attempting to defend it as the Best Movie Ever), the awesomeness of Ray Park and the great loss to our culture suffered at the absence of a Toad/Nightcrawler fight in X2, why on earth political figures go on the Daily Show and the Colbert Report, something that happens in a future Dresden book that will cause the entire fandom’s head to explode, oh my god… You know, the usual.

He also signed John’s orange box knife for use in my new Butcher ‘Spress podcast logo. As the daddy podcast, The Butcher Block, uses an actual signed butcher block, I felt the box knife surrounded by pizza was appropriate (both are associated with the fan-favourite Dresden character Toot-toot, a faerie who occasionally provides Harry with information–not a bad mascot for a news podcast). Then we gave the camera our best skeptical eyebrows and headed off to explore the con floor together! Eventually, around 1:30, John and I returned him safe and sound to the Dabel Table (this is more clever when you note that “Dabel” and “Table” rhyme) so he could prepare for the Dabel Bros’ panel at 2.

On my way down to the panel, I ran into my friend Kevin, who was dressed as his beloved character Unemployed Skeletor in preparation for the Masters of the Universe panel. We vowed to find some opportunity to hang out soon, as we never see each other and that is lame.

The Dabel panel was quite nifty. Afterwards, I went to a panel on making it as a voice actor, then John and I resumed our floor-meandering ways. I went by the CNI table to see Jimmy’s new hair, which looks great! I was terrified he’d do something short and unJimmylike, but his hair was so long that they were able to cut SIXTEEN INCHES, and his hair still brushed his shoulders. He seemed still somewhat traumatized, but I tried to assure him his Samsonlike powers had not been diminished. YOU ARE A HERO TO CANCERKIDS EVERYWHERE, JIMMY! THANK YOU!

Around 5, we looped back around to the Dabel Table for the signing with Jim and Dresden cover artist Chris McGrath. Chris and I got to chatting, and it turns out we live five blocks away from each other! Crazy!

We then dawdled around until it was time for the Great Podcasting Dinner! Unfortunately, my table was not a particularly energetic one, and John and I ended up leaving earlier than I’d predicted, both exhausted. Suckage.

Sunday, I dressed up as Maeve, which wasn’t a great idea. I’d forgotten how awkward that huge wig is and how easily tangled those sequin strings yet. It’s a great costume for a small event, but it’s not something to wear at a huge con. I got quickly overheated under the weight of the wig and the claustrophobic crowd, and I ended up keeping the wig off for most of the time. I finally met up with Kristin–we’d kept just missing each other all weekend–and she was jokingly cross at me for wearing a costume she’d already seen, as she’d been looking forward to seeing Delirium. We cruised the floor once more, on the lookout for any droolworthy Doctor Who and BSG merch, and I ended up with a Kittens With Cupcakes bag and a 12″ action figure of Jack from Nightmare Before Christmas (with mini PVC Mayor and Werewolf).

Kristin: I don’t get the Green Arrow. On a team where you already have Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman, what do you need an archer for?
John: Well, he was rich…
Kristin: You think he bought his way on to the Justice League?
Me: His daddy bought everyone on the team Nimbus 2001s.

We spent the rest of the afternoon chilling at the CNI booth. At closing time, we helped Jimmy pack up, then Kristin, John, and I went off in search of California Pizza Kitchen. Yum! The evening was spent watching episodes of “Wonderfalls” and “Pushing Daisies.” All in all, an AWESOME experience.

It’s great to be a geek. :D