By Sunday I’m blearly eyed from getting up at 5 am to get copy ready for East coast deadlines. But we get it all done, somehow. And yes, I got to some of the parties too. Many, many thanks to my PWCW coeditor Heidi Mac, PWCW contributing editor Douglas Wolk, PWCW manga correspondent Kai-Ming Cha and all the PWCW writers and PW support staff back in NYC that made it all possible. Can’t wait to do it all over again next year!!!

In most respects I consider myself to be an old guard participant. I have my every move down pat. I plan almost everything and go with the flow for the rest. Not this year.

I just Graduated college with a degree in Graphic Design, but my heart truly lies with illustration, in my case digital illustration, though I am progressing to a more mixed media approach. So one of my objectives was to show my portfolio at the portfolio review. My targets were picked out, my portfolio setup, I had biz cards, and resumes compleat with sample sheets. Then a cold realization dawned on me, I had nothing to show that these people would want to see. I need to redo everything. So that sucked, and with the sting of that disappointment fresh I ventured onto the madness that the main floor has become. It was a shock.

Now I can handle some pretty large crowds and had done so in years past at the Con, but this was overwhelming even for me. My dispare increased when I tried to go to a few panels and couldn’t get into any of them. Forget about Ballroom 20, Hall H and 6CDEF. It was game over.

I did find some of the art books I was looking for and some of the self published sketch books I was after, but I landed at those tables at the wrong times and was unable to talk with any of the artists themselves.

I tried to drive out of town at around 7pm, in most years a fairly safe bet, this year that was a big mistake. I won’t bore you with specifics. It was a nightmare. I was supposed to leave on Sat. but instead I elected to go to my hotel. I showered, shaved, had some fast food, and slept for a few hours and left San Diego at midnight. I might never return. For the forseeable future I’ll probably only go to Wondercon and call it a year.

Very true. By Sunday evening, one couldn’t even weasel one’s way into dinner with Heidi. : -)

And to those of you curious what it’s like to walk the Con floor with Heidi, it’s pretty much what you would expect. She knows EVERYBODY. That’s the real reason it takes so long to get from one end of the hall to the other, she can’t go more than a few steps without running into someone who wants to chat.

It’s actually very, very cool and I hope that those of you who watched the videos caught that aspect a little bit.

I agree with Heidi. Bob Zemeckis is out there to pioneer… something, I’m not quite sure what it is, maybe he hopes to get enough MCP to have Anthony Hopkins and Sean Connery and Clint Eastwood play as CGI characters into the 22nd century, but the only person that translated into that weird world was Angelina Jolie, and I am quite certain that’s because she is a caricature in real life.

In fact, somebody at EIDOS should go: Hey, let’s just MCP here and have her BE LARA CRAFT in the PS3 Tomb Raider game (Number 9181 or something – the Quest for Plastic Surgery)

I really wish they’d made it either as a PIXAR cartoon… or as a LIVE ACTION film, as Roger Avary intended it to be, according to a Gaiman interview.

But if STARDUST becomes a success (and I hope so), then Neil may not have to deal with this kind of crap anymore and just be able to do goo stories…

Did I see Neil Gaiman, as I vainly hoped? Nope, forgot the time to line up to try for a ticket to line up to try for an autograph. But I did discover that Noel Clarke is writing for Torchwood, and that he likes the AZ Sun Devils. Did I get Lucy Lawless to sign my box, a quest of five years? No, didn’t even try. Ballroom 20 is the new Hall H, and I don’t even go there anymore. But I was filmed by NBC.com because I was pimping my “Heroes” LEGO at the booth and they passed me along. SDCC closes a door - usually after a 2 hour wait in line - but then opens a window.

I will admit to feeling left out when everyone else seemed to be carrying 300 shields. And in awe of the sheer size of the Smallville bags. But my Preview Night began as always in the DC booth, and there was no reason to head towards the Hollywood sprawl only to be greeted on the other side by an Artist’s Alley that wouldn’t be full until Friday. And Friday morning, when I finally did get to the WB booth, they had already given away all the passes for the Petco Park showing.

Instead I went to the Dr Strange preview. A fine enough film, since I didn’t pay to see it. And it got out early enough I still had time to buzz Petco on the way to my car, discover they were still letting people in, and that Bruce Boxlitner (Damn, wanted to see him) and JMS (maybe) had talked so long I hadn’t missed but a few minutes of the movie. And they still had freebie bags, and shields. Many, many shields, mostly given to the same people who had stormed the barricades on Preview Night to get them first. And so the left them where they lay at movies end. As I was leaving - and surreptitiously aquirring two more for my three sons - I saw bands of young boys carrying them off, stacked six to a dozen upon their heads, the glorious spoils of a four color war. It was an empowering sight.

And then Sunday morning DC rolled up a hand cart of Smallville bags and demanded that I take one, so they wouldn’t have to carry them hom. What could I do? I’m not made of stone.

But I did learn to bring a change of batteries. My camera died before I could get a shot of Stuart Moore’s companion at the Ligotti signing. Oh well, next year.

On another note, I’m really enjoying your narrative (especially about all the parties on swank rooftops there is no way I’d make it into should I ever venture to a SDCC again).