Chamblee54

PG should have listened to his inner guiding voice. Those were some great dreams, and you can have some more if you just stay in bed. Call Uzi, tell him you don’t feel like going to that silly parade, he will understand. Of course, PG does lots of sleeping in these days, and feels the need to go out and be part of humanity. The first indication that this might not be a very good day was the dreaded smell of burning food. PG forgot to turn down the flame on his breakfast veggies, the water in the steamer boiled up, and the result was not pleasant for any of the senses. He made some ramen noodles, opened the windows and doors to the kitchen, and got a call from Uzi. Just meet me in front of the GP building. Uzi and PG live off different branches of the Marta north line. The logical thing to do was ride the trains downtown, and meet up there. Two years ago they did this, and while there were a lot of people, the crowds were manageable. You could make plans to meet someone, and actually do it. At the Chamblee station, there was a line of people at the Breeze card machine. This is bad omen number two. Those machines are temperamental at the best of times, and waiting behind families, unfamiliar with breezecardmachine use and loaded with children in costume, is trouble waiting to happen. PG got the trips loaded onto his card, and made his way up to the platform. Chamblee is the next to last stop on this line, and when the train arrived, it was standing room only. It got progressively more crowded, until the mob scene at Peachtree Center. Doing anything… going through turnstiles, going up an escalator, even walking up the 169 step stairs… involved waiting in line. PG had some vague idea about going to the food court and getting coffee. He left the station through the unfamiliar north end, and saw that one of the exits was boarded over. This seems to happen every time he goes downtown. Thinking he was doing the right thing, he climbed the 169 unit stairs. When he left the station, he was horrified. It was a mob scene. Not only was it a struggle to take two steps in any direction, PG was on the side of Peachtree across from Georgia Pacific. He got his phone out to call Uzi, but tracphone was only doing emergency calls. PG looked at the entrance to Marta, and almost went home. The crowd was a bit less intense going north, towards the Regency. The Marching Abominables  played, and PG decided to try to find a better place. He walked around the Sun Trust building, where the bronze Barbie dolls outside looking bored. If you went around the block, you could find a spot on Baker Street, where the nurses home for St. Joseph hospital used to sit. A building could block the direct sun, and the crowd was thin enough to see the marching weirdos. One of the issues PG faced … in addition to hunger, heat, crowds and lack of coffee … was a general lack of enthusiasm for the whole fantasy trip. Not that he wasn’t tolerant, it just didn’t amuse him. The nonstop barrage of marching chemicals, medieval wenches, starship troopers, and red eyed mutants just plain got boring after a while. (There was a subtext of violence. Many of the costumes were based on critters offing other critters. Many of these killers wouldn’t last five minutes in a real firefight. This make believe murder was another reason to be over this scene.) Is PG an old fogey? An elderly dullard with no life? Maybe. YOU GOTTA PROBLEM WITH THAT? Finally, enough was enough. PG made his way to a train station, and was on the way home. There were six messages on his machine. Uzi had gotten his message, and had sent calls to PG’s home phone. Other comments are borrowed from twitter. Some people enjoy DragonCon. They are welcome to it. Spend your money here, and go home when it is over… Dear guy at #DragonCon wearing the shirt that says “Dead girls can’t say no”: what is wrong with you? No, seriously. What. … Attn. MARTA ride customers: If you are barking like a dog all the way to the dome, you probably shouldn’t be rude to our #DragonCon riders ,,, If anyone has a photo of me being chased through the Marriott lobby by a xenomorph, please email it to me … Just saw Darth Vader with a Mickey Mouse head walk by. #DragonCon (nightmares) … Finally in the Walking Dead panel.. After the staff let in the side of the line that had NOT been waiting an hour like us. Dbags … A 20-sided die in UGA colors! My worlds are colliding today. … To the ultimately annoying person behind me in the Grand Ballroom, turn off the bloody beeping!! … $70 for William Shatner’s autograph … Apparently everyone going to the big football game is staying in our hotel. It’s like high school again … Thought for the day: “I love the sound of zip ties in the morning.” … There are too many Waldos at #Dragoncon. Takes the challenge out of it, you know? … Well, it’s only Saturday and already I’m sick of #DragonCon. … and to the #dragoncon staffer who was so gentle and polite when my temper frayed after the panic attack: thank you. You were awesome. … This conversation I can’t help overhearing is making me depressed. KackassCon? #DragonCon … #dragoncon is just no fun. No fun at all. If you aren’t here you aren’t missing anything! #hardtotypewithastraightface … I wish that people attending a Q&A, would ask a Q to get an A. … All of the costumes w/ random hipster glasses tacked on: NO. Automatic failure. … nerds at #dragoncon love to show off their #FatNerdBoobs … Shatner, after 10 minutes of storytelling, “So… what was the question again?” … Just saw Al and Peg Bundy cosplayers. That makes me very happy!! #dragoncon … holy #FatNerdBoobs Batman! #dragoncon … everyone knows he died in 1973, right after “Poseidon Adventure.” “@MarkArum: I just met Ernest Borgnine. #dragoncon rocks.” …. Pokemon drinks beer. who knew? #dragoncon … OMG. So many UGA fans on #MARTA. @itsjentastic and I might die. Where are the #dragoncon nerds or the crackheads. … When you are at #dragoncon, please take the time to check out “Rigamortis: A Zombie Love Story.” A 30m zombie musical 11:30PM on 9/3 … DragonCon. I believe I have all of my Steampunk outfits packed. The bike gets packed tomorrow for shipping on Monday. We live our art. …