On the DEWLine 2.0: Dwight Williams

I slept close to eight hours overnight. I had three instances of waking up at unwanted moments, and as expected, it was a struggle to resume the sleep. When I'm working days, I manage maybe six or seven hours at best. It's not a good thing, but it's what I have to work with.

I just bought a one-day ticket for the Comiccon at the Ernst and Young Centre. Saturday. No idea if I'll be able to say "hi" to anyone I know while I'm there. It's my expectation that I'll likely blow through my budget for the day in the dealers' room within 20 minutes, see whoever I can within the hour and then retreat to the nearest bus stop to head for either home or downtown. Whichever makes sense at the time, one supposes.

Also, I can completely forget about budgeting for any actors' autographs. It's one of those "nice to have but not really worth the time spent in line or money" things. I'd once had hopes of getting Jewel Staite's autograph on my Da Vinci's Inquest first season DVD set packaging, but that's fallen by the wayside. Not going to happen, not with any actor whose work I respect enough to consider trying for.

Worrying a little more about my computer lately. The random noises from MacBook Pro's optical drive (AKA the CD/DVD-player/burner) are quieting down of late, but the worry's still there. Also, wondering about the heat sinks or fans. Maybe both.

More on other stuff as the day wears on, hopefully...

So...I went, saw one or two familiar faces - mostly tom_leroux promoting his new web-series Scream All You Want - and wandered around.

The crowd...was crowded. The line was so long by the time I got there - getting off the bus was simple enough, thankfully - that it took 30-45 minutes to get from the back of the line as of my arrival to the doors of the CE Centre. (It's a ballpark estimate, and I can't nail it down much better than that.)

The wait in the procession line wasn't boring, though. Lots of costumes put together with a wide range of skill levels. Some of the results suggest that perhaps CAN-CON ought to be tracking these people down to teach at masquerade "how to" panels if they haven't already come forward on their own. Hopefully, I'll be able to post pictures later over the next week.

I missed being able to say "hello" to fajrdrako and deakat (among many others!), and I'm sorry about that. Having familiar faces to talk with would've been a good thing.

Did not take in any of the panels. See "the crowd was...crowded" for why. Between that and the weather-induced exhaustion, the idea of just buying one or two key things and getting out and away got locked into the brain.

One of those Key Things was the Art of the Avengers production/concept art book devoted to that movie we've all been chattering about across the Net. Hardcover in slipcover case, and yes, worth every penny spent on it. I got a lot of stuff on their version of the Helicarrier that I was hoping for. Thinking that there's enough stuff that I saw on screen that could fit into a second volume if Marvel's so inclined.

The food court...was not well organized to my eyes. Plus I was tired and that will have aggravated my food paranoia.

Getting back downtown - or anywhere else - from the CE Centre by public transit needs work. And lots of it. I ended up climbing a grassy hill and was more than a little scared about stumbling and falling back down onto the traffic of the cross street running under the northbound # 97 bus route. And if you wanted to get to that bus shelter safely, you needed a far more roundabout route on foot. City Hall could stand to get an earful, even though it's probable that they already know about these issues.

Next year, I am considering renting a half-table for my own stuff. If the rates set for this year - $ 100 - still hold for next year. Should I dare hope for, much less count on that? At all?

Found at the site of the Paradise Comicon. Apparently one of the few survivors of one of Mel Lastman's promotional tactics during his tenure as mayor of Toronto.

Any others still lurking around?