Taking the Con Out Into the World

It was a bit sad today, seeing all the folks pack up, suitcases in tow, and bid farewell to the magic that is Dragon*Con.

All in all I had a blast this weekend. In part because I got to spend more time with M. I also got to show B and his friend around. They were con-newbies, and I didn't realize this till dinner Friday night with them. They asked us our opinions on what to see, where to go. By Sunday night, B's friend was relating how few people had pegged her costume correctly as Barbarella, but that she learned that for DC, if you go in costume, be accurate. Her "shiny" dress from the rental shop, hadn't been anywhere in the film. She was amazed and in awe of the costumes, and kept asking what this or that was from, or why some people wore yellow and red snow-hats (think of the show Firefly). My personal fav costume was the gal who "cross-dressed":


FINALLY! Someone with a sense of humor about the whole Leia slave-girl thing :P

I relearned the magic that is henna apart from disappointment, or high prices, and came out humbled and honored by a friendship created, as well as a new skill with glitter.


I ran into (almost literally) Walter Koenig outside the Marriott, and then proceeded to make a gibbering idiot of myself hours later in front of him at the Walk of Fame, apologizing.

I experienced the patience and calm one has to have when experiencing a dealers room with someone else. Usually I just mow through it, on a mission, looking left-right for whatever it is I'm searching for, then getting the heck out of dodge. This time I learned about waiting, pretending to look at as many things as he was, not saying a word about my feet, or the heavy backback we were taking turns toting. I learned about his graciousness at having us sit down to snack in one vendor area, and then letting me stay off my feet while he went to look at dice and games. I learned the quiet comfort of leaning against him during the Masquerade.

I learned that when I get up, at said Masquerade, in my sock feet, to help a blind girl and her dog navigate chairs in the dark ballroom,

it may lead me-

out of the room,
down the escalator,
out the door,
and across the street to some bushes for her dog's business -

while still in sock feet.

But it felt good to be of assistance to her.

And that leads me to my final thoughts about my con experience this year. Everyone I met, or ran into, or passed- was courteous with one another. We smiled at each other's costumes, or T-shirts, or purchases. You could tell what a person liked, by their outside. No one had to hide a facet of their geekdom, whether it was Star Trek, or Firefly, or costuming.

Why can't the world be like this year round? Why can't we smile, hold doors open, and save people their space in line just-so-they-can-go-take-a-picture-of-the-nearly-naked-Witchblade gal,

year round? Is it because that for many of us, this is a vacation, free from regular worries of life? No stress about gas- take Marta. No stress about Diet- eat free in the con suite, or get what you like from the food court. No thoughts about work, no worries about having to conform. Being valued for what you value... above all.

Why shouldn't we all, in the "real world" of Muggles, be able to value others for what they value, regardless of whether it fits in with our values or not? I think we can try.

And that is a start.