It hasn’t been 25 hours yet since I got back from Maryland’s Shore-Leave sci-fi convention, but I already miss the fun shared between my friends and I this weekend.
After slight delays due to my phone taking about an hour to repair at the Sprint Store, I headed into NYC to pick up Carmine, Vince and Laura. We left NYC about 4:00 so aside from some traffic getting in to the Lincoln Tunnel, we sailed down to Maryland. The trip was a lot more pleasurable with the companionship of my friends, their crazy antics, social engineering better hotel accommodations, and stories of a male-stripper neighbor. It was great to catch up with everyone.
We checked into our hotel and decided to spend the first evening as wandering undead minions. Vince had his fangs in as well as a set of blood-red contacts while I merely painted my face and arms in complete “Zombie” motif.. After rising back from the dead, we headed to the con-hotel across the street and hung out at the bar, drinking and meeting up with old friends from con’s past.
On Saturday morning we headed downstairs to the breakfast buffet. Embassy suites offer a great buffet and it’s free to guests. Complete with Omelete stations, cereal, bagels, eggs, juice, coffee, etc.. It really was a good start to the day!
This year I only bought a 1-day pass. 2 years ago I bought a 3-day pass, and went to only 1 panel and a few of the parties Saturday night. I attended a few panels on Costuming, Karaoke, The Masquerade/costume & performance contest, which was won by the most elaborate setups. A Beauty and the Beast act, and a complete “FAME” ripoff performed by the Super-friends (and other super-heroes).. They were really good. There were lots of other great costumes and acts also, but those two deserved the prize.
Browsing the dealer’s room is getting to be pretty typical. If there’s nothing you want, there’s not much that you haven’t seen (or can’t get cheaper on the Internet). I picked up a Darma Initiative patch for my messenger bag and an airsoft BB gun, which me and Vince were constantly sniping and threatening and shooting each other with for most of the weekend.
I skipped Ten-Foward (the dance club/party) in lieu of hanging in the bar. Carmine and Vince brought instruments and amps and we met up with musician Julie Moffitt and played covers and some originals from around 9PM until the bar closed (2ish I guess). Having beginner skills at the Doumbek (Middle-eastern drum), I was able to play a bit myself. Perhaps one day, I’ll get this guitar thing down and be able to play along in a much higher capacity.
Saturday night, we stayed in a room at the hotel convention. The room is not as big or fancy as the Embassy Suites, then again, it was also $50 less for the night. Splitting the room 4-ways a bit rough and I assured my bedmate that if I started cuddling I wasn’t getting fresh but trying not to fall off the bed. lol. Considering the night before, we were upgraded to the wedding suite so we had a king sized bed and 2 pull out couches, the dual full-size beds (bigger than twins, but smaller than queens) were a bit small for 4 people, but the price was right and it was located in the same hotel as the convention.
Breakfast at the Marriot is very similar to that at the Embassy, but despite the same number of people, there was a longer wait for omeletes, and it wasn’t free, but it was still just as good. Sunday was spent browsing dealer’s room one last time then we headed out about 2PM. We stopped for lunch and headed back to NYC. With dropping my friends off in the city and helping bring up all the instruments/equipment/bags I got home around 7:30 PM or so.
Unpacked and hit the IMAX to see Harry Potter with Matt and Casey! The movie was great, though sitting front row in the IMAX is a bit rough 🙂 Will definitely try to get there more than 30 minutes early, especially so close to opening day. The movie was great though!
I had a blast! It was an awesome weekend.