Un-CONventional
This article was written by staff writer, Michael Worthan.
The time to be a nerd is now! Well actually the time to be a nerd has been pretty much now for the last 10 years and it doesn’t seem like we will be hitting a slow down at any time in the near future. The true question for the nerd about town is what Convention, or Con for the savvy among you, should you go to?
It all depends on what you are looking for, if you are just in search of the biggest and brightest stars and entertainment, well then maybe one of the larger ones Comic Con San Diego, Dragon Con, New York City Comic Con, even Emerald City Con may be for you. There pop culture meets comics, and you get to see stars from some of your favorite shows and movies. If you are looking for comic books and merch buys there are hundreds of smaller conventions that have exactly what you need! And if you are just looking to start out and maybe work your way to the bigger Cons maybe go to Long Beach Comic Con or Wonder Con to get a taste of what it is all about. Also note I am in Southern California so you should look up smaller Conventions in your region, i.e. Wizard World, Heroes and Villains etc.
There are, in fact, those of us who are professionals at Con going. From packing to planning who you want to see, where you want to go, and how long you can be there, we can pack it all down to a science. Beware though mighty traveler things to occur and plans get broke, and after about 15 years of going to Cons you too can become jaded and burned out. Try to not go to every nerd Con out there, go to a few different ones, mix it up, try to enjoy the floor at larger Cons rather than spending every one of them waiting in a line to hear some folks talk about something you will get to see next year. Also meet people, being a nerdy person can be hard at times, maybe easier now as time goes on, I just know when I was younger it was difficult being an extrovert nerd. So talk to folks, make friends, enjoy other people perspective because meeting folks that are into some of the same stuff you are is awesome!
Water, snacks, and pace yourself. Pack the first two and remember the last one.
Last but not least keep an open mind, you won’t like every fandom, most people can’t as there are just far too many expansive ones to like them all, but that doesn’t mean you can’t merely sit back and enjoy them.
Most of all have fun! This is a vacation not a job, enjoy.
