350 Days until Dragon*Con 2012…

Ok, ok….

I realize that yesterday I said that today would be about the wide, tangled world of fitness. But! That was before I found out, via the D*C website, that memberships (tickets) for 2012 were going from the current price of $60, up to $70. I know it’s still early, and I know a lot of people like to wait and see what sort of guests and panels are going to be there before they commit, but if you know, or even think, that you may be attending, now is the winter of our cost-effectivicity! And if those dirty Mayans have their way, this could be the last Dragon*Con ever!!! Last chance to shmooze with Adama, last chance to get drunk at the Georgia Aquarium, last chance to ogle half neckid chicks dressed up like some vaguely cat-type vixen, and your last chance to get FIT and wear that Conan costume you’ve had your boner about for the last few years. And you just know that half-neckid cat-type vixens just love a half-neckid Cimmerian!

I’ll be honest, friend. I’ve only been to Dragon*Con once and it wasn’t even this year! It was 2010! I didn’t go this year because the wife and I were off visiting friends in Ireland, but clearly 2010 made an impression on me, which is why my grease-gun of a heart is aching to go back…. or that could be all the pizza I ate once I got back from Eire.

What is there to say about Dragon*Con? I could just refer you, once again, to the official Dragon*Con website, but that would be boring, so I thought I’d give you some of my invaluable insight to what I thought about Dragon*Con 2010. This may include pics…. if I can find them. If not, use your geeky little brain to conjure up images of Mos Eisley and you may be there.

Not that Dragon*Con is any sort of hive of scum and villainy! Far from it! In fact, I felt that myself and my party were probably the most dastardly conventioneers in attendance. Dragon*Con is, in fact, mostly filled with good people who love what they do and love being around others who also love it. Of course, it also has its share of socially-inept nerds, pompous dudes in pretentious costumes (I remember you, Phantom of the Opera! dickhead.), chicks dressed scantily who are only there because daddy didn’t get them the Malibu Stacy deluxe playset, and various other unsavory types that I generally do not want to be around. My advice on this is just to do it the easy way: bring the party with you. It’s easy to have a good time if you bring all your like-minded pals who love BSG but hate Firefly, or who love Tolkien but hate Robert Jordan… or mainly, who party in the same ways that you do (for me: not too hard, but not too soft either). Because even if your best friend can’t stand shit about ghosts, but you insist on attending the Ghost Hunter panel, everything is water under the bridge after a few Boddington’s.

My companion and I didn’t make a lot of friends at Dragon*Con, but we didn’t make any enemies either (except for Phantom guy, whom if I ever see again I will promptly kill to death). I always hear stories about how people go to Dragon*Con and make lifelong pals, but I just assume these are the people who attend all on their lonesome. I also think that wearing a costume is crucial to meeting people. We did not wear any costumes, except for our normal ones of Beaver & Butthole. If you’re wearing a Goblin King costume, and across the room you see someone wearing a Hoggle costume (which would be really awesome, btw. If you have pictures of yourself in a Hoggle costume, please send them to me at your earliest convenience), you MUST go talk to them. It was kismet and shit.

I guess my favorite part of Dragon*Con was, of course, the panels. My D*C buddy and I attended three panels which were absolutely phenomenal, two of them were, basically, the same panel.

I am Master Shake, give me all your money.

This is an Aqua Teen Hunger Force panel. That guy who does Master Shake, Dana Snyder, is truly a comedic genius. I would give Master Shake all my money. More on this panel at a later date. Perhaps a Dragon*Con 2010 trip report??? Perhaps. Eventually.

The other two panels featured these people:

I am Adama, you will bow to my humanist will.

The first Battlestar Galactica panel was so good, that we attended the one the next day also. I’ll relate to you the full story some other time also.

The point of these pitchers, and of me not going into too much detail about them, is that, no matter if you don’t make any new friends or if you run into douchebag homeschool nerds, the panels are well worth the price of admission ($60 till midnight tomorrow night!).

Now, on to business…

Today I didn’t wake up until 11am, because on Wednesday nights I work from 10pm until 6am the next day. Then I had a brunch of a banana and some of my favorite diet snack: cocoa roasted almonds. I had cup of tea (Twinings Lady Grey), some water, and then I went to the gym.

There I did 35 minutes (5 more than yesterday!) on the elliptical. Baby steps to the trim bod.

The I went to the local Winn*Dixie and got some food. I ate a fuji apple on the way home and it was lahk melted gold…

For dinner I’m fixin’ a traditional Irish Stew, without all the flour. Basically, this is a pot roast with lamb instead of beef.

So that is about it for today. Tomorrow we’ll get to the fitness. Jumping jacks. Do em today!

Also, I’m thinking of starting up a facebook account for this website. Any input or help would be appreciated. Not that setting up a facebook is hard, but I would like your opinions on whether you think it is a good idea or not. The main goal of doing this is to get more readers, and thus more people exercising and encouraging each other to get into shape.