Nerdfest 2009

I got my Con cherry popped this weekend. I never saw the appeal until now. Man it was FUN!

We went to Gallifrey. It's this huge Doctor Who convention. Someone said it's like summer camp for adults, it really is. You gather several thousand insane Doctor Who fans together in one hotel, throw in A LOT of alcohol and you've got a great couple of days.

It was eventful. Both good and bad things happened. This is rather typical when you get a large group of adults together. Life is always an adventure for me when I do bother to crawl out of my shy shell. I was still painfully shy there and am worried I came off as a bit of a bitch to the awesome people I met. I know I was a stark contrast compared to my very outgoing boyfriend and my very flirty and bouncy friend. I guess I felt a bit out of my element. Hopefully next year I'll be a bit more me.

Thursday was rather calm. We met up with some over seas friends. Drank a bit, got to meet a ton of people. Went home that night since the boyfriend needed to go to work. Friday we headed down there at around 7, hoping to skip most of the crazy traffic on the 405. Rain + rush hour traffic will make a 20 minute commute closer to 3 hours. That night was pretty nuts. LOTS of free flowing alcohol. A life sized Dalek sang "It's a Wonderful Life". I just about pissed myself squeeling when that thing came in. Hopefully I'll get the video from a friend so I can post it up. I had no idea I was that much of a Doctor Who fan. There were several room parties that we hit up. We got to meet some of the cast of Doctor Who and Torchwood. =D My flirty friend went around vibrating everyone with her sonic vibrator.

Friday was a bit more calm, at least for me. I got very little sleep the night prior and wasn't feeling the whole, drink until your liver commits suicide thing. When I encounter a new group of people, I tend to watch myself and won't let myself go beyond slightly buzzed no matter how drunk people are around me. Well, I ended up taking a few hits and passing out in the bedroom while everyone went off and partied until their liver screamed for mercy. Then told it to tough it out and took several more shots. I was told that was the best night. I'm a bit bummed I missed out on things but there will always be next year. The boyfriend came in around 5, so drunk he was in his blacked out status. Needless to say he woke up the next day hating himself. I think he's still a bit hung over.

The Good:

• The people! Some of the nicest, warmest individuals I have met. It's a very touchy feely crowd but it's in such a manner that it isn't threatening. We got to socialize with a ton of Brits. I ADORE their sense of humor. Very unique gathering of people. Most were long time members of this con so there was already groups formed. Me being the way I am, I won't barge into a new group so I spent most of the nights along the edges of crowds, observing. I did find you can't really be alone for long until someone approaches you. So I wasn't lonely for long. Normally I tend to follow someone around but that got very old as my friend and boyfriend are both social butterflies not staying in group for longer than a few minutes. I quickly gave up and simply stood along the sidelines. Sometimes I really, REALLY hate how shy I am.
• The people that run this con. This was a mixture of good and bad but they're amazing. Very quick to respond, very understanding and protective. I'm considering volunteering next year due to my experience alone.

The Bad:

• As with any very large gathering, you'll end up with a few assholes. Sadly, I tend to attract them like bees to honey. I don't even consider myself that attractive, I'm painfully quiet (it's just my nature, I honestly am not a big talker), I don't flirt unless I'm comfy/drunk, etc. But, no matter what, I attract them. My friend and I somehow aquired a stalker over the course of the Convention. He talked her into letting him buy her a drink and began outright requesting sexual favors in return. At one point she tried getting away from him claiming she needed to go to her boyfriend when he physically restrained her, refusing to let her leave his side. He eventually saw us together and began demanding that we go up to his hotel room so he can film her and I having sex. Throughout the rest of the Convention, he followed us around, made really gross, out of line comments, kept trying to catch our eye. Not cool at all. At Fridays party I met this really sweet girl so I naturally warned her about him. My friend and I can handle ourselves. We aren't idiots and if pushed far enough we will get violent. Knowing what an ass this man is, we tried letting the younger girls know about him. This girl volunteered with OPS which is the security
  
  Eventually, we were tracked down by this group and asked to report him. So we informed them of what he did. Once we showed them a photo of this man and told them about him stalking us, him restraining my friend and him trying to get us up to his room, they sent out a hunt for him. Found him literally within minutes. Had us point him out in such a manner that he won't know who turned him in and hauled his ass out of the hotel, banning him from Gally for good. We also had to file a security report.
  
  I am so impressed with how well they handled this. I can't stand knowing that these types of assholes are at these conventions, likely targeting young girls with low self confidence in hopes to take advantage of them. It sickens me. Over 60% of the people attending Gally are young, underaged kids flying in from small towns. We didn't even think of reporting him as, in the past when you report an asshole like this, you're told to shut the hell up, deal with it and the finger is pointed at you. As though it's your fault for owning a pair of tits and "teasing" the men by simply walking past them. So it never occured to us to report him.
  
  I have never been so impressed by a group of volunteers. I love how they really look out for the people. It's really refreshing.
• The boy ended up making one of those young, sheltered girls uncomfy in ways neither of us fully understand. She got a bit drunk and let my boyfriend give her a head massage. Somehow, that was enough to make her seriously regret things the next day. We tried asking her, tried appologizing but she kept giving us the cold shoulder. I know everyone has different bounderies but we both wish she would have told us. He was perfectly in line, I was right there with him. It makes me wonder how she handled the rest of the convention since, what the boy was doing was actually tame. Like I said, very touchy feely crowd. Poor girl.

Fun times regardless of the few problems. We're going next year. If anything to see the all the awesome people we met.