It officially started months ago when I was playing World of Warcraft with my brother Jeremy and his wife Leah. I don't really remember exactly what we were doing. Just having fun. At one point Leah whispered me, "wouldn't it be cool if you came out here as a surprise for Jeremy's birthday?" Well, yeah, that would be! I don't see how it could happen that I'd just bop on over to Utah for a weekend, but yeah, it would be cool if I could. "I think I'm going to fly you out here for Jeremy's next birthday. Can you get the time to do that?"
!!!
I didn't expect her to be serious, but she was. Turns out my other brother Joel had a bunch of frequent flyer miles he was willing to donate to get me out there. So I got a few days off work, Joel got the airplane tickets, and I got us tickets to the SLC Comic Con.
Jeremy really didn't know I was coming down. Leah picked me up at the airport and asked, "So do you have any Magic cards in your suitcase?" I did. "Good, 'cause Jeremy has the day off and went to a local game store to play with some friends of his. I'm going to take you right over."
... and we just geeked out more as the weekend went on. Jeremy, Joel & I went to Comic Con. Mostly we wandered & gawked. Lots and lots of folks in costume. We saw Nathan Filion, Adam Baldwin, Kathy Gillian, Billy Dee Williams, Brandon Sanderson and Brandon Mull panels. Nathan and Adam were a lot of fun. Hillarious. Entertaining. Lots of stories. Kathy was a giggly girl. Good stories, fun to listen to, but man she giggled a lot. Billy was tired old man. Very nice, very interesting, but obviously tired. Brandon & Brandon did their panel together. They were also very interesting. I could totally see the two of them geeking out in a game of D&D.
Interesting side note: This past Summer some friends of mine here in Green Bay went to Gen Con. Scott & Beth Harris got VIP tickets for their whole family and had a great time. When they got back they told me they had actually played Magic with a guy named Brandon Sanderson who apparently has written some books. Just by coincidence at that very time I was reading the final book in his Mistborn series. Excellent books. Some of the best I've read in a very long time. Characters that seem like real people, easy to relate too. A fascinating setting that unfolds organically with the story. An engaging, thought provoking story. Just very good.
Anyway, back to Salt Lake City. We found the game room at the con. Epic Games, a store in the area, had a collection of games it let us check out. We played Dominion and Tsuro. Friday night Epic ran some Magic events. We played in a draft. Fun times.
Of course, one of the big deals there is cosplay!
Daenerys was a popular costume.
Leah's friend's husband dressed up as an AT ST. He accumulated a following
The Tardis was there for pictures the whole weekend. I saw this Peach at one point posing with a little boy Mario that was the cutest thing. She leaned down to give him a peck on the cheek and he, totally without breaking his arms akimbo Mario pose, leaned away.
Saturday night we debated going to see either Captain America or Transcendence. Joel had already seen Captain America and assured us it was good, but we all thought Transcendence looked good, too, and the time was more convenient so we settled on that. We should have seen Captain America. I mean, Transendece was fine ... just not what we expected. More of a sci-fi romance than the thriller the trailers made it appear to be.
At Jeremy & Leah's house we played more Magic. Guitar Hero. I goofed around with her kids. Especially Zach & Katie who were, ... well ... not as calm as Emily.
On Sunday I spent some time with Joel & Kirsten's family chatting a bit. Went to eat with Joanna. The weekend was really Leah getting me there to see Jeremy and for us three brothers to hang out at comic con ... but I couldn't not see Joanna and the rest of Joel's family while I was there. I'm glad I did. It was good to see them.
It was a wonderful time all around.
The next Saturday, back in Green Bay, was both the prerelease date for the new Magic set (Journey into Nyx) and also Chaoticon at UWGB. Fortunately, our local game store, Gnome Games, runs an early morning prerelease tournament while Chaoticon is run by college students, so doesn't really get underway until late morning.
At Gnome Games I saw Scott & Beth, their friend Tim came up from, like Port Washington I think? And he brought a friend named Chad (I think?). There was also a guy named Joshua I see at these things frequently who comes down from Marinette. He's a cool guy and I pretty much only see him when Gnome Games throws a shindig. The early morning prerelease comes with breakfast, is a really laid back, relatively non-competitive affair. Tons of fun.
At Chaoticon I met up with Chris & Adam Baukchtnecht who make it up from Madison every year for the game convention the club they founded runs. It's always fun to get together with them. Brandy, Adams girlfriend who also plays WoW with us, also come up. It was cool to meet her in person.
Then this last Saturday, yesterday, was a long busy day. I got up early with Ben and went over the NEW community shelter to serve a meal. United Health Group takes a day every year to organize it. This year I volunteered to do the potatoes. When I got home I finished up pruning our apple tree. Man I was sore afterwards. Still am.
Whew.
Of course, Becky has more pictures. I mean, it's been over a month since I last posted any, of course there are a bunch! I'll get around to posting them later though.
