General Post About GenCon

Goodness gracious, what a weekend! It was a big enough weekend to make me dust off the phrase “Goodness gracious,” for crying out loud! You see, it was GenCon weekend.

I will be writing a LOT through the week at Geeking in Indiana about specifics on the con, but I at least want to give my “fans” some tidbits here.

First, this is the first time in years that I’ve hit a con for more than one day. When I was in High School, I used to hit Starbase Indy for two of the three days, but that was also a small con when compared to GenCon, in a hotel instead of a convention center, and I had a hotel room to rest in when needed. Attending San Diego Comic Con back in 2001 was comparable, but that was only a single day, not three days.

GenCon ran Thursday through Sunday, and I attended Friday through Sunday. I pulled into the con at about 8:30 Friday morning, got my 4 Day Badge, and then headed around the con, checking out games and exhibits, enjoying costumes, and meeting up with friends. I had Scotty’s Brewhouse for lunch and dinner, had a chance to try the Dragon’s Milk Stout from New Holland, and was able to catch up with friends that I haven’t seen in years. I believe I finally wrapped up that day around 11:00.

Saturday morning, I kind of overslept, but still pulled in about 9:30 in the morning. Saturday was full of costumers, checking out more than the edges of the Exhibition Hall, meeting some friends from Social Media, mainly The Twitter, and totally ignoring some things I wanted to do so I could meet and hang out with new friends and old, something that I don’t consider a failure. Saturday evening was dinner with friends at The Ram, and then a show by the great Luke Ski over at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, attached to the old Union Station. I love that guy, in a purely platonic fashion, and his new setup with video is excellent. After the show, I escaped around 11:30PM.

Sunday was family day, so I headed over to my brother’s house and rode in with him and my nephew. After picking up their badges, we were able to start walking around and looking at about 10:30. We mainly did the circuit of the Exhibition Hall, looking for Pokemon and Yu Gi Oh cards for my nephew, and Batman stuff for my brother. The mission was accomplished, going so far as getting a custom Yu Gi Oh card with my nephew’s picture on it for him, and my brother picked up some art of Batman and Spider-Man from a local artist in Artist’s Alley. However, after looking at much of the same things over and over, my nephew started getting bored, so we jetted at around 1:30. Hey, you can’t blame the kid. He’s six, and one can only look at the same booths selling Steampunk, cards, and minis for only so long.

However, after a couple of 14 hour days on my feet, since I didn’t sit down much, my trick ankle is being, well, tricky, and my knees are screaming at me for abuse. Yet, I regret nothing. It just means that I need to get in better shape for the next year. Plus, I need to plan ahead. I really like hitting the con for the full term, but I need to actually look at events so I can participate in some of the gaming that is available, and some of the programs by buying the advance event tickets. In addition, I felt almost naked not walking around in some manner of costume, so that is going on the agenda for next year.

Once again, for more details, keep an eye on the Geeking in Indiana blog this week and next, as I try to get some of my thoughts and impressions into postings that make sense!

I’ll see everybody later!
Tony