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.

Everyone Makes It, Elevator Hi-jinks; Day 2 of DragonCon

Friday morning was an early wake up when my best friend arrived after driving all night. Took one look at me and said go back to bed. Well I went back to my room at least. Caffeinated and caught up on the social networks and emails I started to plan out the weekend. Casey had a few celebrities she wanted to meet and I wanted to attend a writers forum.

Soon, she woke up so it was off to breakfast and getting Bobby and Connor their badges. From there it was scoping out the hotels that the Con was being held at and then meeting up with the rest of the crew sans Alex. Wade, Andrew and Wooly had arrived. And they were huge. Except Wade. First time I met them in person.

By then it’s lunch time, so we took off to try Hooters until it was time to get Alex. A few of us wandered the booths in the Marriott, if I remember right. I knew Casey would like that. Fairly crowded for a Friday. Glad I stayed away after that.

Casey found a corset she liked but it was a bit steep, but I did grab a brochure. Sexy. After picking up a few things, and hitting the Walk of Fame, picking up some autographs; we headed to the Westin to go chill in our friends’ room.

And somehow ended up in a service elevator rocketing up to the 75th floor. Our first clue probably should’ve been that 12 people fit in it. The door opened to us greeting a pair of surprised Latinos in the kitchen and me shrugging and grinning. Weirdness in elevators seems to be a Fest tradition now. Well they crowded in and we finally made it to the room to hatch a battle plan.

Recharge. The night calls to us.

Back to the room for a bit of rest and preparation. We met back at the Westin Lobby bar and met Natas. Viking had thought the Natas persona out well, complete with business cards. Loved it. Casey was adorable in the cat ears with ribbons she had picked up and her Free Hug sign.

Connor had some competition.

Just not that night. After leaving Max Lagers where we went to see about reserving a spot for the next night we hit the Con again. It was pretty dead compared to normal. Enough so we left for the hotel fairly early.

Saturday was a whole other ball game.

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.