By: Revanche

SDCC 2013: Best SDCC ever?

July 28, 2013

I think we all know I’m crap at anniversaries, right? Well, I’m pretty sure this was my tenth anniversary of attending Comic-Con. Or 11th. Whichever it was, it was AWESOME.

Welcome to San Diego, Comic-Con Style

We had to make a lot of compromises throughout the Con due to schedule conflicts and I was at least a bit amazed: they were none of them disappointing. I rarely experience that “Fear of Missing Out” except at SDCC when I hate giving up even a minute of hard-earned fun. Other than having to reconcile myself to not getting Preview Night, which wasn’t really a choice, we had barrels of fun. But that’s ok, we spent Wednesday with family friends and then goofing off at the close of the Petco Park exhibits.

Thursday was full of floor time to make up for missing out on the usual Wednesday Night scouting run. I bought seven TPBs, two to give away, commissioned a tiny pet portrait from the talented Katie Cook (@katiecandraw, now of My Little Pony fame), and got to chat with both her and another talented creator, David Peterson (of the gloriously cute MouseGuard).  The creator and artists of Elephantmen were again, super funny and super nice. I wished Pia Guerra were there hanging out with them when I stopped by.  I missed her if she did.

I blew through one-third of my $300 allowance in a day. !!

Scratching every possible itch I had:

Top left: A DUCK TALES GOLD VAULT TO DIVE INTO.
Top right: Game of Thrones trolley station stops.
Bottom left and right: Dog-Friendly on the floor and across the street. ConDogs were dressed up as Princess Service Dog, Scout Service Dog, BatDog, DogRobin, and casual we’re here to play Dogs.

Top left: Blood Drive at the Omni Hotel
Top right: Molly Lewis, singing about her offer to bear Stephen Fry’s baby
Bottom left: Marian Call, pre-Browncoat song
Bottom right: All the ladies together!

I’ve never been one to go to concerts but lately, indie artists who are both a delight in person and amazing on stage have been creeping their way into my schedule.

My attempt to give blood post-weight gain was denied, but we basked in the musics of Marian Call, The DoubleClicks, and Molly Lewis at a coffeeshop later and that salved my wounded pride of being rejected. I was so excited! And then so dejected. The guy who gave me my consolation t-shirt saw my face said, “Oh nooooo….” Oh well.

The Money Recap

… and “never again”…

After totaling the cash and credit card spending, it looks like I’ve only spent $220 of my $300 personal allowance.

Our hotel rate was bumped up a bit because it was evidently booked wrong, but since we usually share rooms, it keeps our accommodations cost to a reasonable rate. This time, the room-sharing was a bit of a disaster and has gotten one person bumped off my list of “I’d be fine never seeing you again” forever.

By common consent, shared rooms get divvied up into personal zones. You don’t put your stuff on another person’s bed if you’re not either married or related to them, you share the common desk areas and split the use of nightstands down the middle: you get the one you’re closest to and you don’t spill over into someone else’s. And you always respect the sleep! You don’t make noise when anyone is still sleeping, clattering and clanging, slamming doors and such. It doesn’t matter if they’re the last one to wake!  (This hasn’t always been me, either.) And snoring? You warn your roommates if you snore. These are all courtesies observed without discussion by all roommates we’ve had, male or female and we’ve generally had decent rooming experiences.

Shared rooms can be a somewhat tight fit and we go out of our way to be more polite: asking if people are night or morning shower-ers and what schedules look like so we don’t cause a bathroom traffic jam, checking to make sure that no one wants the bathroom or shared surfaces when you’re about to monopolize it, etc.

This time? Oh man. We checked into the room after dropping off our stuff, claiming one bed and the area around the bed, furthest in the room to give our next roomies a clear path to the bed by the bathroom and door. We came back later that night to find that Roomie 1 had strewn stuff all over his bed, gone to the far side of our bed and claimed the whole desk with his electronics and food and beer and trash was on our nightstand, the floor, and the desk. He’d basically pooped on every surface. He didn’t shut down the computer until nearly 1 am, took a phone call in the room at 445 am and conducted a full freakin’ conversation, then let his phone alarms go off multiple times until 6am. Then at 630, he decided work at the desk next to our bed instead of taking the laptop back to his bed, so as to put space between us and his clicks, clacks and beeps. Then he acted put out when I lost my temper and asked him to leave the room as he’d keep me up for the past two hours already and I was sick with exhaustion.

That was Day 1. If you wonder if I had strangled him by Day 3, that’d be a valid question. He was passive-aggressive when he wasn’t being downright rude, talking through me to PiC. What a jerk. Once we get his repayment for the room, I wash my hands of him. You can be certain that I set a deadline for that payment.

The rest of the Con was fantastic and worth every penny. But I will likely never allow someone to room with us again without a full background check. I’d simply say no roomies ever again but it’s such a good way to save money and hang out with good friend-roomies that I don’t hate it.

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