I'm a slayer, ask me how.

Typing this from Florence, South Carolina. The first day of travel went well. Tim and I are in our hotel room now, relaxing and watching 'Bob's Burgers' on the tv. I've got my laptop hooked up to the library WiFi and trying to catch up on the flist a bit.

We left a little later than I meant to, but it all worked out perfectly. We were on the road from my parents' around 10:30-11. It was smooth sailing all the way, once we got out of the traffic that is Virginia. We got to the hotel around 5:30, which was good because my Dad was fading fast.

My Dad starts to get a little weird once the sun goes down, it seems. I think part of it is just getting tired but it is possible this is "sundowning" and may be the early stages of dementia or alzhiemers. I also think it might be tied to alcohol, as when he is at home, he starts to take shots of whiskey when the sun starts going down. I think he actually did really well today because he couldn't drink anything but water. My Mom said he was sick last week too and is recovering so he is a little drained.

Tim is a real trooper considering he drove the whole time and my parents and I ended up talking the whole time. I'm not sure if we will be able to maintain that tomorrow. I should download some NPR podcasts or something to listen to in case we have nothing else to say LOL. My Mom and I are good at talking about nothing for long stretches of time though. It is a Grady skill.

Anyway, need to get to sleep, another day of driving and talking tomorrow. But in the end, we will be in Orlando so YAY!

YOU GUYSSSSSSSSSS THE TIME IS UPON US!

Well, almost. One more day. Gotta get through tomorrow and then THEN we will all pile into the car and drive up to Boston! And by all I mean myself, my husband, and our two friends Mathew and Zac.

I think this is Zac's first real con (he's 22, I don't think he has any idea what I got him into but kudos to him for coming along with us old people LOL). It's going to be fun watching him experience it all too. He was already rolling his eyes at me at work today saying "omg, usually I only have to deal with you for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week!!!"

I am so excited. I could not concentrate at work today, just thinking about how PAX is right around the corner, so close, I've been waiting since October (when I bought all 4 days of badges) and now it is finally here! The last time I went was 2013 and that was only for ONE day. THIS IS ALL 4 DAYS!

For those of you that don't know what the heck PAX East is, it is a gaming convention. A big one. There will be exhibitors, ranging from big names like Nintendo and Bethesda, to little indie developers just so happy to meet you and have you play there game.

There will be vendors with geeky things.

There will be panels with serious discussions about gaming and not-so-serious discussions (like the live D&D game I am going to see Thursday night).

There will be loads of games to try and play, from classics on the Atari to an entire room dedicated to VR systems. And tabletop games too!

And, of course, as you know because I can't shut up about it, the Outside Xbox and Outside Xtra crew will be there PLUS Johnny Chiodini - the only YouTube channel and my favorite British gamers. I just want to give them all big hugs. But I will settle from grinning like an idiot from a distance and then getting their autographs later.

BONUS: I am also looking forward to not being home and being so inundated with geekery that I can't even begin to think about work and what not. AND not having to make dinner! HAHA! It will be expensive but going out to eat for a few nights and not having to cook will make it all worth it, I don't care how many subs or pizzas I eat (I heard there is a grilled cheese food truck that parks outside the convention center...I hope it is there this year).



Probably won't be posting much here, but if you want to follow my adventures this weekend, feel free to add me on Twitter and/or Instagram.

I might post to <a href="http://www.orangerful.com>my Wordpress blog</a> (just because the editor on my phone is better than trying to post to DW/LJ) so feel free to add me there too, if you want, though those posts will also be tweeted.

YES - FINALLY - I know you have been on the edge of your frakkin SEAT waiting for this post! Now you can read about my super fabulous awesome weekend at Dragon*Con!!!

In bullet point format to keep it from being too TL;DR.

-- I found the billboards on 75 to be the perfect representation of the evolution of a relationship. There are signs for kinky "adult" stores and then two miles down, there is a whole "bring the kids to the peach farm" signs, and also a nice selection of antique store signs. That about covers it haha.

-- Made it to Atlanta safe and sound, gave the car to the valet. While unloading my axe, they accidentally snapped it in two. I almost cried, but faeriesfolly packed duct tape and saved the day...and the valet had an accident in the garage and busted maybedeadcat's taillight!!!!! ARGH!!!! Luckily, we didn't get the message until later that day so it didn't ruin our Thursday night. Just our Friday morning.

-- Went to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner on Thursday. When I went with faeriesfolly back in 2009, this is where we ate and we found out about the collectible pins. I bought a set and we split them so she has one dragon and I have the other. I wanted to do something similar, but this year I was not just attending with her, but also with maybedeadcat. But, as luck would have it, since it was the 25th Anniversary of D*C, they had a special 3-pin boxed set!!! Totally a sign. I bought it and gave two of the pins to my friends -- the set is only complete when we are together!

-- Texting jellibean as we wandered the floor in the Marriott and being told that she was "near the Dalek" -- I knew I was at Dragon*Con when that text was totally logical.

-- Also, it was SO FRAKKIN AWESOME TO STAY IN THE MARRIOTT!! THANK YOU jellibean!!!!!!

-- Friday, made a b-line for the Her Universe booth and snagged the Cylon necklace and Yoda t-shirt.

-- Went to the first Buffy panel which included Eliza Dushku, Nicholas Brendan, Mercedes McNab, Felicia Day, Julie Benz, and Clare Kramer. It was a little awkward, they really needed a moderator. Felicia did a good job of trying to keep it moving. Eliza is clearly a sweetheart. Julie Benz and Clare Kramer are adorable and I would be happy just to listen to the two of them babble all day about whatever. Mercedes seemed really shy, Nicholas seemed sort of disinterested. Still, it was fun.

-- Went back to the hotel room later that day and faeriesfolly began the process of turning me into FRAY. Phase one, spray painting my hair BLACK. We made quite a mess. maybedeadcat documented it for me.

-- Took FRAY to the streets for the Buffy sing-along. Actually had one person identify my character which made me happy. :)

-- Buffy Sing-a-Long was a lot of fun, but I always like singing those songs with a whole crowd of fans. Doctor Horrible was better though, the stage show was tighter and the actors seemed to be more confident. Hilarious thing was the lady sitting next to me. She started chatting with me as they set up the Doctor Horrible show. She was babbling about meeting someone in line and then was like "I'm commemorating this show with some Firefly tea! Do you know what that is?" And I was all innocent and was like "what is it?" and she revealed she was sipping some sort of alcoholic beverage while we were sitting there LOL! Just cracked me up! She did compliment my singing though...so she must have been pretty tipsy ;-)

-- Wandered back to the hotel, going up the escalator we reach the top and I see King Arthur come galloping by, and hearing the faint sound of coconuts being banged together I watched in pure geek joy as he rode by along with Sir Galahad, Patsy, some ladies from Castle Anthrax, and a monk carrying the holy hand grenade.

( okay so maybe it's a little tl:dr...still...you know you want to look! )