Dragon Con

I went with Dan and Steve.... they drove down on Wednesday, stopped over at Kate and Jason's, and then drove the rest of the way to Atlanta on Thursday. I flew down on Thursday. It was absolutely pouring buckets when I got to the hotel. I relaxed in my room before the guys arrived. We went to the main hotel for the Con and picked up our name badges. No badge, no entry into a lot of the events, or even the hotel where they were held.
That night we went to Hooters for dinner, which was enjoyable for me... I had never been. The wings were excellent, and I enjoyed watching the girls there with their boyfriends, clinging to them extra tightly.
Dan and Steve and I split two pitchers of beer, so I got to drunk dial Jason that night.
There are really three main types of people who go to Cons, 1) Geeks like me who want to play roleplaying games with some of the best players in the country. 2) People who are fanatical about one show or genre (for example, Star Wars) and attend pannels and group activities for that genre the entire time.
3) People who want to see and be seen in some crazy costumes. Also goes well with number two.
I saw many people running around with not a lot of clothing. If I had a kid, I wouldn't bring them around after 8.
Dan, Steve and I registered for the roleplaying games we were playing in weeks before the convention started. We all played in the same game Friday morning at nine.
They gathered us all in one room, and and they had us meet the guys running our games, and then we split off by the games we were playing.
Here's a picture of the gathering of nerds:

The first game we played in was a superheroes game called "You Awaken in Darkness" We were new superheroes trapped in this lab. It was a lot of fun. After each game, the person running the game got to choose the best player. Steve was voted the best player, and it turns out the guy who ran our game wrote a book. So Steve got a copy of it. I am going to borrow it after Dan is done. He was an excellent storyteller.

The guys had games right after the one we played in, so I went back to the hotel, ate my leftover wings, took a swim, had a nap, and got a shower. At six, I went back to the hotel where the roleplaying games were, and played in an Amber game. Amber is a game based on a series of books. The basic idea is you have these godlike people who created little universes (including Earth) for their own amusement. We played people who were children of the people from Amber, and had no idea. I played a little pixie. It was a blast. We played from six to midnight. The guy running the game decided I was the best player. I ended up with a voucher, which you turned in for a coin. It was worth $5 at the stores at the convention, or the art show. I decided to keep mine, because they said it could be spent at next year's convention.

to be continued...

9/11

As a side note before I start, I didn't get that job. I am trying not to panic with the idea that it will be hard to get another when I have been cast aside from this one.

September 11, 2001 was a gorgeous day in the DC area. I went to work, and someone called out in the hallway that a plane struck the World Trade Center. I immediately thought it was a mechanical problem. We turned on CNN, and many people had gathered. We saw the second plane hit the towers. We were all in shock. People cried, covered their mouths, hugged each other. We were all glued to the tv. At 9:20 or so, they made an announcement that a plane was headed for the White House (two blocks from where I worked) and we needed to evacuate the building. We hudled in the garage, listening to a tiny battery powered radio. That's when we heard about the attack on the Pentagon. Two of my friends and I had taken the metro train that day, which stops at the Pentagon. We knew it would be closed, but we didn't know when the plane heading for the White House would strike and we didn't want to be around when it did. So we walked from downtown DC, out into Georgetown, where traffic was at a standstill. We heard the 14th street bridge was closed, so we walked over the Key Bridge, which took us into Rosslyn Virginia.
The Key Bridge passes right by the Pentagon. I will never forget the site of the Pentagon burning. I thought to myself that if we can't protect the building where the military runs its day to day operations, then none of us is safe. When we got to Rosslyn, I took the train out into Fairfax Virginia, and called my dad to pick me up. He hugged me extra tight that day. My grandmother had a granddaughter at the World Trade Center and a granddaughter two blocks from the White House, so she couldn't rest until we called and told her we were okay. Erica had an appointment that morning, and never made it to work.
I think often of those people in flight 93 and what might have happened to me had they not crashed the plane. It's a lot to wrap my head around.

Homecoming

I arrived home yesterday and I am still completely exhausted. I had the most fun ever. I have lots of pictures. I will get them developed soon. They have TONS of guests Seanna. :) I will recap in the next few days. Two great things about coming home: seeing my kitty, and seeing my Jason. :)