Today has been… a day, we’ll put it at that. There were good parts, there were bad parts, and there were absolutely exhausting parts.
It’s no secret to those who know me well, but for those who don’t know me, I deal with some bad social anxiety and can get seriously awkward as a result. For the most part, it doesn’t bother me, unless I’m in situations where there are lots of people/lots of noises or I’m an unfamiliar place. And, well, GenCon hits all three. I don’t know my way around too well, there are way too many people everywhere, and more often than not I have to REALLY work up the nerve to ask a favorite author or webcomic artist to sign something for me because I feel bad bothering them. I know, I know, they wouldn’t be here if they didn’t want their fans to talk to them or flail about in their general presence, but still. Social anxiety is irrational. And it was incredibly irrational today, that is for sure. I ended up retreating back to the hotel room mid-day to hide and recharge my batteries, so to speak.
My day was fun, though, I won’t deny it. I ended up at another instance of the Enterplay My Little Pony trading card game, and ended up with more swag – I have only bought one pony related thing so far this trip, haha. I got a trading card folio and this card:
Yes, this is one of the more rare Rainbow Dash cards for the trading card series – rumor has it that one went for $700 on eBay recently. (It’s going for around $180 at the time of this writing, which isn’t $700, but still!) I’m ridiculously lucky to have gotten this – the guys at Enterplay are amazing. I’ve said it before, and I’ll likely say it again, hah.
After the pony panel, I wandered around the exhibition hall before having a slight meltdown/freakout because I couldn’t work up the nerve to ask Jeph Jacques (of Questionable Content fame) to draw me a picture of Marigold, so I ended up going back to the room and just sat there for a while, overwhelmed and overtired. (I didn’t sleep much last night, which probably contributed to it.) Bryan, wonderful husband that he is, ended up going back and getting me the sketch. I am very thankful that he is so patient with me. Thankfully, sleep and quiet did the trick, and I braved the exhibition hall for one last round of goodies before getting dinner and camping out in front of the room where An Evening with Patrick Rothfuss was scheduled to happen.
I am ridiculously glad I got there early. Apparently the event was sold out – and since I got in line early enough, I got to sit right up front. It was amazing. Patrick is just so… I don’t know how to explain it, except it feels like he’s just one of the gang, an awesome person the likes of which I’d love to just hang out with. And it felt like we were hanging out, him and around 200 other people, myself included. He talked candidly. He cussed a lot. He talked about feminism and sexism in fantasy novels, and he read stuff to us from when he wrote a humorous advice column back in college, he told us about his writing processes, he talked about tons of other stuff which I cannot remember, and then we all sang “You Are My Sunshine” together.
And then I had him sign my iPad. Which I will post pictures of tomorrow, when I am actually near my iPad and my phone. Apparently it was not the first electronic device he had signed. Awesome. He is now, officially, my most favorite author. Not only are his books amazing, but he is frigging awesome. Sorry, Anne Bishop, but Patrick has dethroned you.
And entirely unrelated to anything – there’s a guy sitting not too far away from where I’m parked in the lobby with my laptop who has been playing the Game of Thrones theme on his guitar for, well, about an hour. I am not kidding. I’m pretty sure I never want to hear that song again.
Until tomorrow, everyone! I’ll be dressed as the 4th Doctor, which I am incredibly excited about. I am also excited about the fact that I have enough stuff to post about to fill the site for a week straight. 😀 And we’re only halfway through the con!