Despite having done Dragon*Con pretty much every year for the last 12 years or so, I’ve never done Thursday night. From what I understand, it’s become somewhat of a thing over the last year or two, and what the cool kids all aspire to do, to arrive early and begin socializing and drinking a night (or two, now) before the convention even starts.
Anyway, this was the first time that I’ve done a Thursday night, since I’m fairly local, and dropping another $220 for an extra night wasn’t always the best idea in previous years, but I liked the idea of getting my socializing and drinking on a night early too.
And what an experience it was. I found it hard to believe that the massive crowds, people already getting into costumes, and the hotel staff already scrambling to maintain order, was all on a Thursday, before the convention had even officially started. Although I had a good time on Thursday, enjoying that “reunion” feeling of catching up and meeting people you haven’t seen in whiles, it’s worth mentioning that the biggest issue of the entire weekend was already in full effect that night – the building’s temperature. With several thousands of nerds rammed into the Marriott hallways, the overall temperature of the building seemed to rise to uncomfortably humid and sometimes downright miserable conditions. It would not get any better throughout the weekend.
No matter though, nobody’s here to really read the things I have to write. Everyone’s here to look at pictures, and see if they’ve been photographed, or people they know have been shot. As awkward as it feels for someone of my caliber to be doing it, I’ve begun putting a watermark on my pictures, because frankly, I like web traffic to my brog, and to those who are too lazy to crop/deliberately remove my watermark, it’s essentially free advertisement when my pictures are shared.
