The Marian Call concert was wonderful! You also know when it is srs bzns – the Jayne hat comes out!

She has such an awesome, passionate voice. If you haven’t listened to her, I have no idea what you are waiting for!

 

I was able to give her the w00tstock fan art that I’d done, and as a bonus, I also got to give a w00tstock fan art print to @stepto . YAY!

Buffy, Fringe, The Guild and Jonathan Frakes & Brent Spiner panels from the Emerald City Comiccon.

The guests and artists at the convention were awesome! I was able to give fan art to Wil Wheaton, Nicholas Brendon, Felicia Day, Amy Okuda, John Noble, and Jasika Nicole. They were all so nice! I almost died when John Noble called me a clever girl, and I almost died again a minute later when Jasika Nicole squeaked at her fan art. I gotta say though, I’m still pretty noobly and head-in-the-clouds about Felicia Day, too. The webcomic artists were also really great about doing cheap or free sketches depending on what people were getting, and I was so, so happy to see lines at so many independent artist booths. Great big YAY for that!

There was… an unfortunate experience for me on Saturday.

You know, for a long time there’s been a movement to get people at cons to keep after personal hygiene. I’ve noticed over the years that the situation is vastly, vastly improved. Sure, a couple people – likely for medical reasons – are a bit out of it, but I think the message is getting through. What I’d like to see next is some kind of encouragement for how to move around at a con. Tips like: Look down, there may be wheelchairs, people with canes, and little people around. Be aware of your space, and what you’re doing – backpacks will stick out at least a person length behind you, carry it in your hand if you can or be cautious with your movement (maybe consider an over-the-shoulder messenger bag you can wear in front). I’m not fond of taking bags to the face or chest even when I am far behind you – I am unable to move as quickly as you can. In the restrooms, tidy up after yourself, if you can’t or if you find a mess, tell the staff RIGHT AWAY. I’d like never again to see someone in a wheelchair unable to access at least half the stalls because people left messes behind, and puddled the handicapped stall so much it was entirely unusable.

For me, the worst was being assaulted between panels. When I stood up to let people out of my row between panels, people going in every direction were pushing and shoving trying to get seats up front. A guy about a foot taller than me and at least 100lbs. more thrust his belly into my back, knocking me into people ahead – repeatedly, I thrust back and showed my cane, and he shrugged and did it again. When I managed to dislodge myself from the crowd, I looked around and saw people handling other folks with canes and moving them out of the way so they could get ahead. I cannot even begin to tell you how NOT OK it is to handle, push and shove disabled people. This particular situation seemed very poorly planned for and handled. They didn’t even try to get crowds under control until about 2 hours into the panels. For this reason, I will not be going to any more “celebrity” guest panels at large cons. It is not worth being assaulted. Really. I’ll stick with YouTube from now on.

Or I guess I could shrug it off as my first ever mosh pit experience. *cough*

You can find a few more photos from recent events here .

Now to catch up on some sleep!