We interrupt this DragonCon update...

...for another ManRay dance report.

Goddamn, the club nights have taken a turn for the better! Nate and Punketta spun in the front tonight, although I only heard Nate spinning. And he did a splendid job, pulling out lots of favorites and a few new surprises. It was all I could do trying to keep up with him; I think the gauntlet has been thrown! There were many familiar faces in attendance, and good conversations had in between songs. I danced hard all night long, finding a surprising amount of energy for the last few sets. Highpoints of the night were tag teaming the dance floor with Cris, getting compliments on my eye makeup, and pleasant conversation on the ride home. People seem rather excited about the DragonCon trip, I might see a large posse heading down next year. Which will just make things even more fun than they already were!

In other good news, my Palm Pilot has come back from the brink of death, and I'm about ready to kick an old addiction. To say that I'm excited about the future would be putting it mildly.

Friday: Triumph and Tedium

We're up early, and packing up our belongings again so we can be at the registration desk to move our belonging to our new room, like good guests. Unfortunately, our new rooms aren't clean yet. We should come back in two hours and all will be ready. There's a lot of grumbling, but we take out stuff back upstairs. Already there are storm troopers and anime characters milling through the lobby, and the photographers are hard at work.
I pass through the first sub level, where all of the bands have their tables set up: Sins of Lust, Cruxshadows, the Last Dance, the Changelings, Bella Morte, Ghoultown, Voltaire, Nothing Inside... the Goth contingent is noticeably larger this year, or at least more obvious. The next level down is where the open gaming room is, and where the LARPs are station. The tenor of people changes noticeably down here; those of you who are familiar with gaming subculture know exactly what I mean.
( some quick gamespeak, then the evening )

Saturday: To the Con, all engines full!

It's a Saturday evening, in Atlanta Georgia. I'm wearing most of my Ritual Designs outfit, the vinyl creaks softly as I raise the bottle to my lips. The vodka and fruit punch goes down smoothly, a little strong but the edge is already dulled by the buzzing I feel. Next to me on a table there's a stack of Scissorkiss Cd's that slowly disappear as conventions guests move to and from the Bella Morte concert. The overwhelming presence of the convention is everywhere: a multitude of voices clamoring around me, costumed mutants of every stripe slumped against walls, walking arm in arm, taking pictures. Another woman asks if she can have her picture taken with me. I grin, stand up, and oblige.
( More Prizes! More Insanity! )

Sunday: Critical Mass...

There's always a desperate feeling when I walk into the dealer rooms at Dragon Con. All sorts of tables crammed with merchandise for the sci fi/gamer/horror crowd. Lots of sometimes bored, sometimes anxious venders hoping that this will be their big weekend of sales: swords, quilts, posters, dice, T-shirts, pirated movies, you name it. I walk by the White Wolf booth, glancing at the new releases but picking up nothing. My purchases are small: a stack of cool dice, some glossy glass counters for VTES, and a DVD copy of Ring. After remembering Mike Coleman's review of it, and seeing the trailer for the American remake, I decided to take a chance on it. Rumor has it it's a damn scary movie; perhaps I'd better invite some people over to watch it in case I get too scared.

I walk by the booths where Robin Sachs (Ethan Raine) and Armin Schimmerman (Principal Snyder) are sitting, say hellos, and head back out. I see Lou Ferigno too, and he has aged far better than Arnold did. Lou is simply massive!

If you want to point and laugh at the LARPer's follow this link:
( Okay, who has Celerity six? )

If you want to skip ahead to the rest of the day, go ( here )