Puffy Chicken, More Hugs, Kettlebells, Cosplay and Memories; The Last Day of DragonCon

Ahh Sunday, the last day of DragonCon. Woke up late, obviously. Falling asleep at 4:30am does that. After drinking all the coffee in the room and trying to empty the pot in the concierge area we slowly made our way to Jazz Hands. The others took awhile but the day felt good and we didn’t mind the wait. 

When they arrived we took off for the Food Court so Thorin could get his Puffy Chicken fix. While we ate we planned the day, finally settling on returning to the Art Show and trying to stick together this time. Wandering through the show I was picking up a lot of the cards of the artists I liked. And caved, buying two prints of warrior women I had seen the day before along with picking up some little pictures for those at home. Mitch Foust was the artist of the prints I got. His website is here.

Wandering back to the hotel to off-load our booty, I asked Wooly if he wanted to try his hand at Mjolnir, my 53lb kettlebell. Hell yeah! And he realized, it’s not as easy as you think. Only got half-way up with coaching. Not judging, because not long ago I was the same way.

We went to the Westin bar and shot the breeze, and all of the conversations could be fodder for another book in and of themselves. Dinner time brought us to the Hard Rock Cafe where the infamous Table Incident and Sneak Attack had occurred the previous year.

The year before we got a bad table that broke and while we waited when we arrived, I had snuck up on Wade and grabbed him, he recoiled only to catch Bobby’s tongue…in his ear.

But Wade had learned to pay attention this year. Bobby tried it, and instead got a tongue in his ear. Still didn’t save Wade from me, the mighty Waldo slayer (inside joke). I walked up behind him a grabbed him again!

So his awareness IS improved. A little. *applauds*

Binx and Andrew

Anyway, we headed back to the Con with our signs in hand and the Hug Competition still on. But first we had to molest Jazz Hands with screwed up poses. Like the one on yesterday’s post.

We wandered around looking for an empty spot for us to set up, and waited for the hugs! I had Thorin’s Free Bear Hug sign, standing beside the bear of a man Andrew with his Bear Hug sign. Thorin had my iPhone, taking pictures. Thanks to my kettlebell swings and snatches I jerked many a person that outweighed me that night. And had a woman snatch ME up in a bear hug.

Steve and Casey

Hell yeah! Best hug ever!

Now before you give me the stink eye, my wife got the best hug ever from Steve, who is on the show Ghost Hunters, who walked by us for the second day in a row. This continued on until we got distracted by the best costume I’ve ever seen.

The wings opening.

That woman and her friend, I think, hooked up a mechanism that opened up a set of retractable wings. After this we wandered to the Hilton to set up, though I was bored with it and decided to people watch while the others lined up against the wall. At one point this guy walked up to talk to us and noticing my wife said he’d have to get a free hug.

He had my attention. His tone told me he wanted more. He got his hug, and proceeded to flirt with her, a lot. I stepped in. He went away. Thorin was about to put the cock block on him if I hadn’t of noticed. It was getting late so we started to say our goodbyes, not wanting to go, and head back to our rooms. All the while wondering where Binx went. Last we saw he was talking to a really pretty girl. I had my ideas.

Oh, and the winner of the hug contest…Connor with 237. A record. Casey had 206.

Back at the hotel I stuck around downstairs for a time before bed with Bobby, Connor, Alex and Turk in the bar area. I brought down his copy of Growls, personalized and gave it to him outside. Which he subsequently gave to the lawyer he was talking to after I left.

Spreading the word. He’ll be confused at the autograph though.

Through the course of the weekend you learn things about yourself if you take even a bit of time for introspection. I learned that:

• For a guy who isn’t comfortable hugging people, I hugged a lot of people.
• Casey and Bobby were right, if I relax, I open up. Woosaa. I was very comfortable that weekend.
• Questions are good icebreakers. Got that from watching Thorin.
• Apparently I’m more intimidating than I thought. Who knew? I blame kettlebells and attitude.

Already preparing for next year. See you there?

Art, Books, Free Hugs, Wolf Fest, and a Book Signing; Day 3 of DragonCon

It’s Saturday and I wake up somewhat early and hit the kettlebell. Yeah, it came with me. After finishing my Heavy Day and congratulating myself on moving up the volume every two weeks instead of one, I had to pay up on a bet.

My wife falls asleep on every road trip longer than a hour and a half. So expecting an easy victory I bet her she would fall asleep on the way to Atlanta. Winner gets whatever they want.

I lost.

Jazz Hands

And she got pampered with room service and breakfast in bed. From there we went downstairs to meet up at Jazz Hands and wait for the rest of the pack. My best friend and his boys were there and while we talked this guy just walks up and starts handing out books, cards and brochures. Introduces himself as Thomas Knowles. And starts talking about publishing. Well I know a thing or three about that So I hand him my card and we three, Bobby and I start talking. Interesting promotional idea. May try it. So if you’re at DragonCon next year and a couple of guys in black hand you a free book, it’s probably us.

Finally we head out to the underground mall in the Peachtree Center to meet a guy Thorin and a few others ran into the night before that was familiar with Wicked Jester and Wolf Fest. Well, someone showed up but it wasn’t that guy. Tripped all our alarms. Quickly separating from him we took off upstairs to wait on Thorin, who wasn’t long on coming…alone. Talk about the heebie-jeebies.

After hitting Gibney’s Pub for lunch we were once again roaming the Con we hit

Dragon Wolf & Dragon

the Art Show. Comic book creators on one side like Neil Adams who modernized Batman, Mark Bagley who does a great Spider-Man, Humberto Ramos who worked on Wolverine and did the art for the DragonCon badges. Had to watch my wallet. A lot of prints I wanted. Explored the Art Show/Auction side searching for an artist I bought a print from the previous year, didn’t find her but I found a dragonwolf and a dragon print from a guy named Stanley Morrison. And a few others I held off on buying.

We lost track of everyone so we took off for the Walk of Fame again and got the actor that plays Laffayette on True Blood’s autograph. Met up with Wade and took off to unload our art, and autographs. And let Wade try his hand at military pressing my 53lb kettlebell. You can see that here.

I was surprised and proud. By then it was time to meet up again at the Westin before heading to the Feast at Max Lagers. I grabbed my books for the signing and headed off with Casey. Properly caffeinated, we walked to Max’s where a few were holding our spot. As most of our dinners go, it was a lot of questions and going around the table answering. If you want the details then all I’m saying is, should’ve been there.

While Casey took pictures of the Feast and later the book signing, which you can see here, our waitress questioned us about the books. Bobby started telling her about them and even got both for her from me. Excellent timing since most of the Howls From The Wolfpack authors were there. And I do love signing books. From there it was back to the rooms to drop off the books, in my case, rest in the others’ case. And meet up again at Jazz Hands.

This time we all made signs.

And shenanigans prevailed. Casey racked up 160 to Connor’s 140 that night. Guys jumping out of cars, off of bikes, and we all got to discover my “crazy eyes” when one didn’t let go and kept spinning her. 

Around 2am myself, Bobby, Wooly, Connor and Alex headed back to the hotel. Casey went to sleep and the rest of us stayed awake until 4:30 talking about this, that, and combat. Even had an impromptu BJJ class in the hotel bar.

A busy day.

Ermagherd Werrfferst! Dergen Con! We Arrive in Atlanta.

Thursday had us up at 5am and gone by 6; driving like I was on a mission, fueled entirely by caffeine, 5 hour energy shots, Jerky and barely restrained anticipation. The entire trip I stopped twice, once in Olive Branch, MS and then just outside the Georgia border.

Ermagherd! Werfferst!

After uncharacteristically breaking the speed limit most of the way there we arrived around 3:30, checking into the Marriott Downtown. I should note that small amount of Atlanta traffic had me shaking a bit. Not a city driver.

After unpacking our bags and shocking the valet with the 53lb kettlebell, we headed off to Taco Mac where Burke and Viking were. After their slight culture shock at meeting a deaf person we headed out to get our badges for DragonCon. And let me tell you about the wait in line.

Five minutes. Really.

They were on their game. And kept it up all weekend. About this time Thorin was on approach with an employee named “Binx”, so it was off to the hotel to meet them.

From there we went to the Vortex for dinner. And through the course of the

Binx

night we got to know Binx. You think we stand out in a crowd? Binx with his make up and green eyeliner, sorta spiky hair and style was like a strobe light.

And proving the point I always make, you can’t judge a book by its cover. The guy can hold his own and contribute in any of the varied conversations we had. And because he gravitated towards my wife I kept an eye on him.

Perfect gentleman.

Quick too. He was eager to learn sign language and frequently pointing at girls in the Con and signing “Hot”. Happy to count him as a friend after this weekend.

We picked up our Wolf Fest kits from Thorin and headed back to the hotel. I almost got lost and made a fairly tense way back to our room. We had an early night, because the next day, the rest of the crew arrive.

Wolf Fest Swag. Only available to those who were there.

And We Are Off to the Con!

I’m in Mississippi! Or I should be when this publishes to Ronin’s Journey.

Why am I in Ole’ Miss? Road trip to my second favorite event of the year. DragonCon and more importantly…Wolf Fest.

Where authors of the book Howls From The Wolfpack get together with other wolves, black sheep, etc. This year we’ll have the Feast, and I’ll have a small (very small) book signing there.

We should arrive in Atlanta at 3pm, I hope. And Viking, Thorin, and Burke should already be there. Get our badges, planner, and go eat. Catch up and hash out an agenda. Then off to sleep. Gotta wake up to meet the Swatcops. They’re driving all night to arrive at 5am. You bastards. Making me wake up.

The rest will arrive on Friday and we can explore the Con. My wife is going, looking forward to the celebrities, and will be the Abyss Press photographer, because she’s better at it than I am.

I’ll post pictures on my Facebook page s Ronin/AbyssPress and exclusive ones in the newsletter. Which you can subscribe to by emailing SUBSCRIBE to abysspress@gmail.com

When I get 25 subscribers I’ll send a discount code for 2$ off in the next newsletter for my books.

To keep up with the fun this weekend you can watch the Ronin page or for quicker updates, follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/RoninsJourney

See you later! Unless you’re at the Con, and maybe I’ll see you there.

DragonCon/WolfFest! Just Around the Corner!

To say I’m excited to go back to DragonCon and Wolf Fest is an understatement. Though I think SwatcopKid has me beat since he’s posted a countdown, daily, since last year’s. I’m looking forward to the changes, familiar faces, old friends and new people.

And this year knowing what to expect, we got our crap together. Last year was informal, fly by the seat of your pants preparation. If I remember right we had…3 months notice? This year, we’ve had a year to get ready.

One change, we’re closer in. Last year we were in hotels as far as 12 miles away, and lucky to get them. Fighting traffic sucks, even late night traffic. This year we’re all within a 10 minute walk from anywhere we went last year. Which is good considering the hours we kept. Like 10am to 3am. Not counting the marathon drive down there in the middle of the night last year. 42 hours awake anyone?

I don’t mind paying for a fancy hotel for that convenience, which is another thing I’m looking forward to. Never stayed in one like that. Casey, my wife, is especially looking forward to that. That’s another change, this year I’ll hopefully have her with me. I love my friends but a day apart from her really makes me miss her and sucks some fun out of it.

My friends…what can I say. This year will be better. Last year was the first time most of us had met face to face.

Were they the same people online as they are offline? They were.

This year they’ll be greeted as brothers. Plus the opportunity to meet even more at the Feast. Thorin is letting me bring the Abyss Press books to the Dinner, hopefully over the course of the weekend I will be able to sell all of them. Everyone can benefit from those books in my opinion. This will be my first official book signing.

Last year all we could do was tell people about them and that was mostly Bobby. This year I’ll have books and cards to get in touch with me if necessary. Having fun, spreading the message of self-mastery.

I can’t wait. Arriving earlier. Bringing my 53lb kettlebell for training and see who’s man enough to press it. Hell yeah! Two more weeks!

Pictures from last year here.

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