Comic Con: Day 2!/Missions Accomplished!

Ladies and Gentlemen, my missions are accomplished for this Con!

I attended the Who/Torchwood panel!

I saw Lynda Barry (and have a ticket to get her autograph tomorrow!!)

I got the Comic Con exclusive My Little Pony! XD (And an extra one for you, canis_m! Drop me an email or LJ message about where/how you'd like it shipped and I'll let you know the total.)

I met psychoe and jtaylor2! ashearstone, we must connect!

Now, the good news I can sit pretty for the rest of the Con and just enjoy myself! (And buy people presents, too!) XD

The day started somewhat inauspiciously with the purchasing of the ponies. I had found out the hard way yesterday that to even get in the line at the Hasbro booth, you had to have a ticket for a certain time of day, which you had to procure earlier in the day. My plan was clear: head to the ticket booth, get the ticket, and then get in line for the Hasbro booth. And it was pretty much that simple, except for the fact that I was not the only one with that idea. When I made it down to the Hasbro booth, the line was snaking out of the booth, around the back, and then into a disorganized and somewhat annoyed crowd next to another booth. After about 15 minutes, the group was organized into a line in one of the alcoves at the back of the room, and finally we were allowed to get in line at the Hasbro booth. It occurred to me that I had never stood in any kind of major line to buy something before, except for books, and I suddenly felt rather greedy, particularly as the people around me started talking about how they were planning to sell most of the stuff on EBay and make a profit. But by this time, I was bound and determined to get the silly thing, and it was too late to back out on moral grounds. I did have a nice chat with the girl in front of me, who was a Con newbie and very friendly. One hour and fifteen minutes later, and $44 poorer, I had the Ponies and I was out of there! I'm glad I got one because she is *awfully* cute (photos are in the gallery here), but I'm thinking I will never do that again--that is time I cannot get back, and all in service to consumership. It was a weird experience.

After that, I cruised around the Exhibit Hall and went to Artist's Alley, where I commissioned a top secret Star Wars art piece for yebisu9's anniversary present. I saw some great artwork, most notably Sherilyn Tanala, who has an excellent manga style that doesn't rely on saucer-plate eyes and whose elderly characters actually look like older human beings, and not like younger characters with extra wrinkles. She autographed her sketchbook for me, and was great to talk to besides.

About then, I was able to connect with jtaylor2 and we met up and hugged and chatted and it was so nice to sit down with someone I knew! I love the Con, but the crowds are very daunting and I was starting to feel a little like the odd one out who no one knew except as the woman with the green t-shirt and large tote bags. We talked until I needed to leave to see Lynda Barry's panel.

Lynda Barry's panel... was the best thing I have seen here so far, and I'm not going to pull any punches here: she made me cry (not sob crying, but happy tear crying, the good kind). That woman gives me hope that writing is a good and valid thing to do with yourself, and that it doesn't matter what other people think as long as it makes you happy. To hear someone affirm that, especially someone I've admired and respected for so long, was so rewarding. Not to sound too cheesy, but I felt like my soul healed a little bit, from a wound I didn't even know I had. (OK, that was cheesy. But it's true.) She read from her new book and talked about her life and told funny, funny jokes, and then she talked about why all that stuff is important in the creative process and it made complete and total sense. And I was entirely psyched to learn that she was giving autographs at the Drawn & Quarterly booth!

But before that, I went to meet psychoe, who snuck up on me when I wasn't looking. ;) She gave me this awesome Yuuko bookmark and I was able to buy her neat manga work! It was a short meeting but a sweet one.

And then I went to wait in line for Lynda Barry's autograph and ... the line was very slow. After about 45 minutes, the sales people asked me if I would come back tomorrow morning if I were guaranteed a #3 place in line at 10AM. That was fine with me because my feet were killing me. jtaylor2, her guy, and I managed to find yebisu9 again and caught the trolley to Fashion Valley, where we grabbed some quick dinner.

And now we're home and my feet hurt and I don't care and my cold is gone and I feel so great!!!

More tomorrow!