Wallflower.

I'm sitting at my desk, back at home after a great breakfast of something that isn't mostly sugar.  Hot cup of Earl Grey warming my hands, reading blog posts and smacking myself for being the flower and not the butterfly.  I missed meeting a lot of people at Blizzcon (hard to type that without a hash tag!), mostly because I blend in, hide, and don't turn around enough and introduce myself.  I love to people watch, and there was plenty of that to do!

Denny's, because Captain Kidd's was awful and we were starving!

Thursday night Jenny and I met up with the Orange County WoW Meetup group at Captain Kidd's Buffet(don't go there! The food is really nothing to get excited about!) to get her tickets and to stand in line together.  A large group of around 20 were there, and I didn't follow my own advice, so walking the almost a mile to the Convention Center in my pretty shoes about killed me!  Of course, then there was the long queue outside, the longer one inside, and walking all the way back, ugh!!  Poor Jenny, they told her no no, stand in the regular line, they aren't doing name changes anymore, but at the ticket point turned her to another line.  So bad, she ended up waiting another half an hour for her ticket while I gimped out to the fountain to hang out with Jennifer and some of her guildies from the Church. While walking back to the car, we met another Jen (no way! That Jennifer meetup at the meeting stone should totally have happened!), this one from the Shattered Soulstone podcast.  I had not heard of it, but I'll be listening in at work from now on. Finally in the car, I got a look at our sad little goody bag. I miss the little things, like the tissues and the hand sanitizer and the Zerg Creep.  Little toys are just as important as big collector items!  What are we gonna fiddle with on the way back to normal, the advertising poster?

*Suggested by Eric of World of Warcast,"You should flash them in their face repeatedly, like in game!"*

Friday I sat in on the Main Stage for the first two events, then my girlfriend Laura met us for lunch at PF Changs.  I was really surprised at how low the prices were!  Must be the off season menu pricing.  After lunch we wandered for a bit before we headed for our appointed slot at the Meeting Stone.  I tried, mostly in vain, to spam invites to our Meetup groups. We did meet a lovely girl who is a historian and a paladin, and a warrior tank, who sounds like he tanks for a living, that flex raids with Jennifer (she runs flex raids for Cut Throat Gaming). We also met ex-Californian Horde Twitch streamer Vanish who was so nice!  Not as many as I would have liked to spam invites to, but it was not all in vain, as CM-Rygarius came around and gave all 6 of us license plate frames! So cool! Now I have something to go with my Horde sticker on my car, which is not as awesome as this car people spotted at Blizzcon with the Horde symbol on the hood.  How many speeding tickets does that guy get a month?

What a waste of time.  Gigabyte did it better - tattoo yourself and get a shirt.  Sold!

I ended up sitting at the same table at the TNB party with Starman and Eric from World of Warcast, and Starman's co-host for his Apple podcast Kacey.  Yes, I know his real name isn't Starman, but after so many years of listening, it's stuck!  If you ever run into Eric fumbling with his many smart phones, ask him which is his favorite.  I wish I had recorded it, it was funny and so spot on!  I'm glad I had my friend Jenny with me, she is so outgoing and I was just so busy watching the door waiting for Navimie to show! When she finally did, I have to agree with Matty when saying that I felt much like a tauren standing next to her, instead of the undead I do play.  Such a charismatic lady, with a smile that goes well past her mouth and into her eyes and her gestures and words.  What little time I had to meet her was well worth it! I briefly met Rho from Realm Maintenance(and everywhere else! Such a busy guy!), Medros from All Things Azeroth(who guarded my phone while it charged), Fimlys and Hydra from Twisted Nether, and so many others I have yet to put names to.  Such a fun group, but I felt like running away too fast.  Loud music gets to me after a bit, and I knew the next day was going to be a long day, too.

Is KISS missing a band member? Next time I'm getting a baby murloc.

Saturday morning I lined up for a tattoo with Jenny and Jennifer (WowAdoree on Twitter and Twitch), then on a dare I got in line to get my face painted while the other two went over to the Mega Blocks booth to get figures.  I chatted with a nice young girl from Washington who plays an alliance panda, which solidified my choice for face paint.  I wore it all day long and got a few compliments.  I'm only sorry I wasted my time running around doing the treasure hunt and waiting for raffles to draw. I did manage to get Christie Golden to sign my Thrall book (What a great lady! Definitely someone I'd love to sit with for more than a few seconds and get to know!). Still, I can catch up on panels and such with the virtual ticket.  I should have wasted my time in line for something else, like group pictures or the Loot Elemental.  Well, maybe not that, that line was horrible!  I did sit in on the live raid, and another panel later that was just too hard to hear. Again, thanks Blizzard for the virtual ticket.  Those Starcraft fans are loud!

I hear the word is that there will be another next year.  If at all possible, I'll be there, in brighter colors and flitting around like Jennifer did and not staying as rooted as I usually do. Oh, and I'll bring more charging options so I'll feel that I can more freely take pictures and tweet!  Who would have thought two iPhones would drain 3 extra batteries before 5 on the first day?  Did you go?  Why didn't I find you there? Well, at least you visited me here.  Glad you stopped by!

*Actual words said about that escape me, but yes, he told me I should totally whip them out in front of peoples faces, just like in game invites.  Maybe this is why I still have most of the thirty I printed off, because I would never do that! They still work for random real world meetings of fellow WoW players, and are preferable to smacking another bumper sticker on my car.