Comic Con: The Dawn of a New Day

 Salt Lake Comic Con comes once every year. Soon after the start of the new BYU semester, a 3 days tidal wave of all things fandom that carrys me in it's wake till the later months of fall semester when I can go home and recharge :) Course SLCC doesn't really carry me physically because I was SO TIRED after this weekend, but it was a good emotional high :)

The whirlwind weekend started late Wednesday night when I went to pick up Mark and Hannah up. Having just finished my first Kennedy Cousin soccer game, I was still in my soccer clothes when I arrived at good ol' SLC International Airport. Once we got to the Mecham's we of course chatted with Sister Mecham who had prepared a sheet cake in honor of Hannah's birthday, though we could only tussle up two candles for the occasion, it was a good cake :) Having my first conducting trial the next day, I also randomly practiced, at 11pm at night at the Mecham's kitchen table, the Allegro de Fuoco from Dvorjak and Ravel's Pavane with a pencil baton and some recordings on my phone. I have to admit, I got some good tidbits from Hannah and Mark as I tweaked my conducting style. It was well past midnight when I finally went to bed. 

My classes the morn of comic con weren't hard, turns out only 5 of the 15 students in my conducting class were conducting that morning, so instead of getting my turn over with, I just played the same 25 measures of music over... and over... and over.. and over again. And in Book of Mormon I dreamt of the sweet scent of sugared nuts and clamor of nerdom as my teacher droned on and on. In celebration of Hannah's birthday and before we embarked on our fool proof travel plan to get to comic con (free parking at the public train station before riding the tram into the city), Mark and Hannah picked up Lucky 5's famous Chinese food and we snarfed that crap down before jumping in the car and hiking it up to the city (Mark wasn't completely convinced by the cream cheese won-tons much to Hannah's horror :)

Thankfully, we are Gold Pass members and didn't need to mingle with the riffraff for most of the con, but unfortunately Mark had not ordered his ticket before the shipping deadline and we had to wait WITH the riffraff in the line to get to ticket registration. There was a Gold ;) lining to the whole situation when we got to registration entered the expedited line for ticket members of our standing ;) So, after a brief moment with the masses outside, we entered the Con and began roaming row after row of artists alley.

Artists alley is BY FAR my favorite part of comic con. Although, I have to admit, after a few hours perusing artists alley, a good panel is easy on the legs and a nice change of pace for the purse strings ;) Thursday is always a hard day for purchases because you don't know what other treasures the convention floor has waiting for you. Mark went hard of the stickers the first day, I went for my more expensive prints that day, and Hannah went for a little bit of both, especially focusing on Ahsoka art as she had a signing the next day! I always feel so bad judging people so harshly for their art. I know how hard it is to make art, and how especially with art like this, you're only drawing the stuff you LOVE. So when I give the entirety of their booth 3 seconds of my attention before deciding I don't like it, I always feel kind of bad. I console myself in knowing (especially observing this a the con goes on) that people at comic con have EVERY TASTE IMAGINABLE. Seriously, I know those artist have at least 1, more likely 15+ people, that fall in love with their art as soon as they see it and buy it with enthusiasm. But, undoubtedly there are those select booths that have that perfect style that appeals to all different people from different backgrounds, and those people make BANK.

Sadly there weren't too many great panels on Thursday. There were a few later that night that looked interesting, but by the time they started, we had already left, so while I napped and Hannah read webtoons, Mark learned about 3D printers at a informative but ultimately dry panel.

As you all may know, I am having my violin recital this semester. I've decided to include in my final program the Brahms Trio, which includes horn, violin and piano. Last semester, my teacher asked when it would be possible to rehearse with my accompanist AND Mark. As I was struggling to find an answer, I realized that Mark WOULD be in Utah, guaranteed, for a weekend. So, I schedule a rehearsal for Thursday night at 7 with my accompanist. After only a few hours at the con, we had to leave but honestly, it was probably for the best since our feet were all killing us and we had spent enough money for the first day :)

So as the sun set on the beginning of comic con, we drove to Orem and rehearsed with my accompanist. I have to admit, I
had sort of been dreading the rehearsal just because we had had to cut comic con short for it, BUT, to my happy surprise, the rehearsal was SUPER fun. Because it is a trio, it is all about collaboration and communication, and as we rehearsed and worked out different sections, the hour slipped right past us! It made me even more excited for my recital and the good time that it will be. After that, Mark and I had a pleasant evening walk to the friend's house that Hannah was visiting. We talked about music and skill, it was a great ending to the first day.

Finally, at the early time of 9:30PM, we ate dinner as we returned to the Mecham's, pulling out the Chinese food for a second serving, some Chicken Devan Mommy had sent with Hannah, and some left over cake from the night before :)