December 6 - 8 was GalaxyCon this year in Columbus, Ohio. Thanks to my uncle's generosity I was able to book a hotel and take my time at the convention. There were so many famous people I wanted to meet, but I stuck to my mission of meeting voice actors only.
The thing is, the trip ended up being a "relax in the hotel" versus "standing in line at the con" adventure. So this is probably going to be my shortest con in review ever.
Friday Night
My hotel had a late check-in time so I didn't make it there until 4:30pm. There were a lot of accidents on I-71 inside of Columbus so I took a spontaneous detour to get to the hotel faster, but I was so exhausted from the drive I laid down in bed. I kept telling myself I would get up at 6pm to go get my badge and get some autographs, as Friday lines for actors are pretty reasonable, but I just couldn't get up. So I just spent time on my phone in bed and pajamas until I fell asleep really early (like 7pm).
Saturday
I woke up at 7am and decided to try the hotel restaurant for a good breakfast. The pancakes were amazing! And then I went to the hotel marketplace to get some snacks and beverages for my room. I started charging stuff to my room without thinking about the overall cost (this will start to bother me later).
Anyway, the event hall didn't open until 10am but I got there at 9am. They had metal detectors which slowed people down, then the registration/badge pickup line, then the entryway to the event hall was a long line, and then it took 45 minutes for my first autograph actor to show up, plus additional standing in line to get his signature.
The first actor I got an autograph from was David Matranga (Bertolt in Attack on Titan and Todoroki in My Hero Academia). When I lived in Japan and was writing Son of the Siren, I requested a Cameo from him to get some writing encouragement as I worked on the book. It was the nicest, kindest video ever (I will always treasure it!). So when it was my turn to meet with David, I told him the story about the Cameo and brought him omamori (one for him and one for Emily Neves) from Japan. Then I informed him that with the book I was writing, I got a literary agent and a book deal, which impressed him-- "that's no small thing!" It was a lovely meeting and I was so happy it happened. He really is one of the nicest people I've met.
The next person I visited was Kari Wahlgren, who has done about a billion things, but I know her as Saber from the Fate Stay Night series. When I stopped by her line, she got really excited because the shirt I was wearing (a pretty book tee from piper + ivy) was the same one she had, and we talked about loving books and reading. She is also another super nice voice actress and I'm so glad I met her.
After that I took a good long look at some of the lines for actors I really wanted to meet: Zach Aguilar and Zeno Robinson. But their lines were really long and my legs had started going numb, which kinda freaked me out, so I decided to leave and come back later in the day to try autographs again.
Reader, this did not happen. I slept and slept and slept. I have been under a lot of stress lately and have had some health issues, and I guess when I was in the hotel, I just went kaput. It felt great to stay in bed, but I felt guilty because I paid for a 3-day badge and wasn't using it to its full extent.
Plus, I kept charging food to my room. I got paranoid about the cash I had on hand, which was meant to be used for autographs, but I decided to let Zach and Zeno go and put the money back in my account as a buffer until payday.
Sunday
I woke up at 7am again and decided to have one last go at the restaurant, and debated whether or not to go back to the convention. Part of me still wanted autographs, but the fear of screwing up my money just kept overpowering me. On top of that, we've had crazy stuff happen at home, like a big health crisis, and I felt guilty for staying away so long. So after breakfast, I turned around and headed home.
Final thoughts
This convention had an amazing lineup of voice actors I desperately wanted to meet, but I think in my older age, waiting in line is harder for me to do. I really regret not going in on Friday to get autographs, because I think I would've been able to get everyone's (that's happened about every Friday I've attended).
There were also celebrities worth meeting, like the cast of Our Flag Means Death and then people like Weird Al Yankovic and George Takei. I thought about meeting them but I was thinking their autographs would be more expensive than the VAs. But I saw them in passing and was happy to see them smiling with fans.
I really enjoy this convention--it's my second one so far--and I hope to keep attending, but I think I need to employ a strategy for the future...I probably don't need three days anymore.
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