Dawn's Dragon Con Weekend
I went to Dragon Con on September 2-6, 1998 and had a blast.  I packed way too many costumes and not enough Krank20.  I got there on Wednesday night to help set up for Con-Tour’s booth and to generally hang out and waste time.  To my surprise, they had made a poster of me to be given out for free as well as free sample Con-Tour Magazines (with me on the cover and as the pictorial interview in the centerfold).  I squealed in delight over this (as I am a huge media whore and need everything to feed my con ego).
Thursday was mostly just getting ready.  I registered (as guest status of course) and then went off to look around the dealers room and the exhibition hall.  I found a really cute comic book artist who seemed to be overly shy.  He did consent to me taking his picture, though and I gave him a poster of myself and a con-tour magazine for the free comics he gave me.
That night we had the toughest time trying to find parties (and alcohol for that matter).  I managed to change outfits only once from the school girl to the white fur.  We did make it to several of the bands, including our friends from ExotiCon – Six Demon Bag.  They had an interesting rendition of "50 ways to leave your lover" which led into "Jesus Christ, Superstar."  I know it sounds weird, but it worked well for them.  After not finding any cute men to harass or any alcohol (and turning down the everclear from ExotiCon), we turned in for the night.
Robyn (my convention roommate) finally arrived on Friday, only to be dead tired and needing sleep so I let her be.  I got to see Danger Woman (formally Miss Marvel), me and Wes’ most favorite show on the planet (at least for that weekend).  Afterwards, Robyn and I got ready for Con-Tour’s party – which included her getting laced up in a corset and me in my white queen outfit.  After having a few drinks at the party, Robyn and I wandered up to the seventeenth floor where the green room was (the secret party for guests).  We had more drinks and ran into Phabulous Phil – everyone’s favorite drag queen extraordinaire and his entourage.  We exchanged the usual hellos and then (to our dismay) found out that the drag show that we were appearing in had been cancelled.  Robyn and I were saddened by this news (as I am an exhibitionist at heart), but then realized we didn’t have anything to stress about this weekend and had a drink to celebrate.

By this time, the hip boots were killing me and I had to change.  I got into my chinchilla fur outfit and felt infinitely better. Robyn and I then went to Roger and Fong’s room for more drinks and pics to be taken (Roger and Fong are the official Dragon Con photographers as well as good pals of ours).   After I found Wes and Ron, we went down to the dance (80’s night) and made fun of people with the DJs - Kurt Kessler and his brother.  They were way messed up - so we got to take control of the music (and boy did we make the set suck). At this point, I had enough alcohol to last me to the next night.  After wandering around the hotel aimlessly and trying to get into shut down parties, we gave up and went to bed.

Saturday I put on my man-suit and went down to the Con-Tour booth to hang out with my pals.  I flirted with the comic book artists some more that afternoon and forgave them for not going with me to the Danger Woman Show (another story altogether).  Wes and I wandered around the dealers tables and harassed Wayne Alexander (from B5) who was signing autographs.  We invited him to the ExotiCon Party scheduled for that night.

That night me and Robyn got ready for the evening – I in my mermaid outfit and she in her renaisance dress and went downstairs to see the costume contest.  We saw a lot of cool outfits there.  We saw a lot of cool outfits there including The Susan's collection of B5 outfits.  We also got our picture taken by numerous people.  I lost Robyn on the third floor as the elevators show no mercy and wouldn’t let me out.  I ended up on the ninth floor instead and went to the ExotiCon party in search of more alcohol (can you sense a theme here?) and someone to flirt with.  After drinking two glasses of ReAnimator – ExotiCon’s signature drink, I had had enough for the time being.  Who knew Everclear was so strong? With my guest badge and Ron and Bonnie’s press passes, we figured our little group could get into the Green Room.  Little did we know that the press pass meant zilch and Wes and I were the only ones allowed in.  We didn’t even notice they weren’t there until we got our drinks from the bar.

After another costume change (this time it’s the Angel Costume).  Wes and I (after trying to get others to go with us and failing miserably) tried to go to the White Wolf Party at the Masquerade.  We were waiting for at least 30 minutes for the shuttle to arrive.  When it finally did get there, the people on the bus said that the party had shut down and that it was senseless to go at this point.  Maybe next year.

Sunday I usually go home early as I have to work the next day, but since it was Labor Day Weekend, Wes and I decided to stay a bit longer.  We went to the Netherworld's Haunted House (lots of fun for your dollar) and then to the bitchfest scheduled by Dragon Con.  Wes and Ron spoke their mids to the panel of staff, though I am sure their words fell on deaf ears.

The robot wars kicked ass.  We enjoyed the "Bloodletter" robot which malfunctioned, but was still a good time to watch it claw at the other robot and spew C02.  The famous "Panty Bot" was there as well, with its owners throwing various articles of lingerie at the audience.  Good times were had by all.

At this point, I was tired and wanted to go home and sleep for the rest of my vacation.  I had a good time at this con, but was a little disappointed in the lack of parties and alcohol. I had spent way too much money as well.  Also, Dave Prescott   a.k.a. Vera, Ziggy and the Plutonium Nyborg group, and the Bendovaho Tribe couldn’t make it.  They the people I have the most fun with at a con.  I was also disappointed that Trey Parker and Matt Stone (South Park) had canceled. Ron, Wes, and I were supposed to interview them.  Kevin Smith was also a no show.

There were more people at the con this year than last, but they didn’t seem as interested in partying as the few that were there last year did.  I can remember last year when there was nothing to do at 1am on a Friday night and all Wes and I did was grab a boom box and a couple bottles of alcohol and transformed one of the lower lobby areas at the Hyatt into an instant party.  It started out as just the few of us that were staying together in the rooms and then turned into a lot of people looking for fun, just as we were.  That same attitude wasn’t there this year.  Don’t get me wrong, I know I will be back next year, I am just hoping that next year people will actually try to entertain themselves when nothing is going on, rather than wait for someone else to do it for them.

I know this is basically a ramble more than anything, rather than a well written essay, but this was put up in kinda a hurry.

I am trying to get wes' pictures of the con scanned in, but he hasn't gotten around to it yet.


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