Dragon Con 2018 - Sunday!

This is the 3rd and final post of my Dragon Con 2018 recaps, to start at the beginning click here!

The Sunday of Dragon Con last year was a special one, because it was Emily's first full day at Dragon Con. She had been begging for several years to go, but because we tend to wait in line a lot at Dragon Con, Todd was hesitant to bring her. Since she was almost 10, we both felt it was time.

We started by getting me into the disability chairs for the Evangeline Lily autograph line. Then Todd and Emily made the trek to the Sheraton to get her badge. We had to wait a while for her to show up - thankfully we had the foresight to have Emily bring her tablet with her.

I was cosplaying as Anna from Frozen while Emily had her Pikachu costume on. She also had her Uma from Descendants shirt on because she wanted to wear it when she met the actress who played Uma.

Once Evangeline Lily arrived we were ushered back to meet her. We got to see Peter Capaldi (the 12th Doctor) since he was in the same area. Evangeline Lily was super sweet, especially to Emily. She had written a children's book and was giving the first one away with every autograph. We bought the 2nd one for Emily.

From there, we went up to the regular Walk of Fame so Emily and I could get our picture with Mandy to me. It was honestly the best celebrity interaction I've ever had!

Catherine Tate, who was awesome. She was super nice to Emily, gave her a free autograph and sang the song

After that, we went to the one place Emily had been dying to go to - the Dealer's Room! We stopped by the BPAL booth and Emily finally got to meet Beth and Ted's daughter, Lilith. Lilith is only a few months older than Emily is and they hit it off right away!

We wandered the dealer's room a while - I honestly don't remember what Emily bought but she got some things. Though the thing she still talks about is how another congoer actually gave her a Pokeball with a tiny stuffed Pikachu in it. She was amazed and very  happy about that!

We got in line for China Anne McClain, who plays Uma, and waited, and waited. After about 15 minutes, I was starting to fade so I asked a volunteer for a chair. They quickly got me one which helped a lot. In the end I think we waited over an hour for her because the time on her table was not correct.

We were about to leave when she finally showed up and we were so glad we stayed. Sadly she wasn't doing table pictures but we got her autograph. She loved Emily's Uma shirt and gave Em a hug and a fist bump. Emily was more than a little starstruck!

Emily and I went to wait in the disability corral for the Catherine Tate panel. She was again, hilarious! We were going to stay for Mikey Mason's concert but after the panel I was completely out of spoons so we headed back to my aunt and uncle's house.

I had a good time at Dragon Con 2018, and I was so grateful for disability services. I would not have made it without all the chairs. I wouldn't recommend having surgery right before con, but I'm glad it worked out in the end.

This year will be better. I'll be back in the parade and Emily will be coming with us on Sunday again!

ConCarolinas 2018

I love ConCarolinas, it's one of my favorites cons to go to. Todd doesn't like it because there aren't enough people he wants to get autographs from, though he did consider having me go on Sunday to get Adam Copland's (aka Edge from WWE) autograph. In the end, Emily and I just went for Saturday.

Like at SC Comicon, Emily and I were cosplaying as Pikachu (her) and Anna from Frozen (me). My choice of costume was pretty much because it's the most comfortable to make the two hour drive to Charlotte.

We got there around 9:30 so we had time to get our badges and head to the dealer's room. Since the dealer's room didn't open until 10 we hung around in the hallway talking to the SCA folks. They told me that there was a chapter of the SCA in Asheville and how to go about contacting them. I've been interested in the SCA for years, but it always all seemed overwhelming. But I did send an email and joined the local chapter's Facebook page. I've been to a couple of fighting practices, and hope to actually suit up and fight next time. But I digress.

Once the dealer's room opened, Emily hemmed and hawed about what she wanted to spend her money on. And then she saw that one of the booths had a tiny kitty that you could hold for a dollar - it was for an animal shelter. So I paid a dollar and she went into cat heaven.

After her cat time was done, she ended up buying some Pokemon cards. One was a big set that the

guy had discounted because the packaging was torn. It was a really good deal.

We left the dealer's room to go play D&D. The game we were scheduled to play in was for higher level players, but there weren't enough people signed up who had high enough characters. So one of the DM's ran a different game. It was two adults (including me) and then three kids. The other two kids were Emily's age and it made for a really fun game.

Emily played a wizard and at one point in the game, she put a rock to sleep. She was very proud of that. We ended up killing the rock as well.

From there, we took another swing around the dealer's room, and I paid so I could cuddle the kitty. Emily petted the kitty as I held him, and was in kitty heaven again. We also took a picture with the Ghostmobile that they had outside. Just as we went out there, the sky opened up and we got a little wet. Someone was nice enough to take our picture despite the rain.

We had some time before my friend Mikey's show was going to start so we went to see Valentine Wolfe play. I hadn't heard them before, but they were really good. Lots of dark, gothy rock that was really awesome.

Once they were done playing, we moved up to the front row since that's where Emily wanted to sit and listened to Mikey's concert. He always puts on such a great show!

After that, we were tired so we headed home. It was a lot of fun but I definitely want to stay the whole weekend next year. It makes for a very long day with four hours on the road.

SC Comicon 2018

I was really excited to see that Cary Elwes was coming to a nearby con in Greenville, SC but since it was right after Lexington Comic Con I didn't think we'd be able to go. But my wonderful husband surprised me by buying a photo op with Cary Elwes at SC Comicon for my birthday.

Cary Elwes is an awesome actor. My favorite role he's done is Westley from The Princess Bride mostly because that is one of my all time favorite movies. He doesn't do a lot of conventions either so I really wanted to meet him.

Since I work on Saturdays, it was easy for me and Emily to go on Sunday (sadly Todd had to work). But my Sunday School teaching partner was out of town that weekend, so I had to teach Sunday

School first. Since I wanted to get down to the con as quickly as possible because Emily also had youth group that night, Em and I wore our costumes to church.

I was Anna from Frozen so it was just a fancier dress than I usually wear to church and Emily was clad in her Pikachu costume. The kids in Sunday School thought it was a little funny. But once Sunday School was done, we got in the car and headed to Greenville.

Once we got there, we went straight to Cary Elwes' booth. We had to get a ticket showing we had bought a photo op to get in line and his booth was completely closed off so no passerby's could see him.

We didn't have to wait too long, and finally we got inside for our picture. He talked to us for several minutes and was very sweet, especially to Emily, as we talked about The Princess Bride. 

After we got our picture, I ran into several people I knew and chatted with them. Emily spent the money she had brought on Pokemon cards, and then we got some pictures with cosplayers. Batman, Boba Fett and some Ghostbusters!

We took off after that, since Emily needed to change before youth group. But it was a fun afternoon!

Pokemon Go!

If you've been on social media at all in the last few days, you've probably seen pictures and articles all about Pokemon Go. I was too old when Pokemon because a big thing to get into the cartoon but I did play several of the DS games. Pokemon Sapphire for the Gameboy Advance was my favorite and I still have that game.

Not long ago, Emily discovered the Pokemon cartoons on Netflix and got hooked. The Easter bunny brought her a Pikachu stuffed animal and she has a small collection of Pokemon cards. When this app came out, she was really excited to play.

With me armed with my phone and Emily with her tablet, we walked around our neighborhood a-hunting Pokemon. It took some getting used to but we started to catch them all. On Sunday, we went to three different parks because I was out of pokeballs and needed a pokestop.

Fletcher Park had a ton of pokestops and we caught quite a lot of pokemon. Kate's Park and Jake Rusher Park had a few pokestops and some pokemon too.

We didn't see anyone else playing the game but Emily and I had a lot of fun. I hate to admit it but Emily is much better at the game than I am. She's actually passed me by as she's on level 6 and I'm still on level 5.

I know some people are sick of hearing about Pokemon Go but I think it's refreshing to see my friends having fun with this game. This year has been terrible in a lot of ways, so it's nice to see something happy get some attention.

For now, both Emily and I will continue to try to catch them all!