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Saturday (Sept. 5), Mary and Chris came to pick me up from UNCA to go to Dragon*Con at around 4:50ish. We got to Atlanta around 9:45ish. And we finished registration and checkout around 2:35ish. That equaled about 4 hours of lines just to get in.

PROBLEM:

The Venture Bros. panel started at 1:, with a signing immediately following at 2:30.This is the main reason I was so stoked to go to con. But as I said, it was around 2:35 when we were finally free from lines and had our badges. So we hurried back to our hotel (The Hilton), and I got dressed and did my makeup AQAP (As Quickly As Possible). In my full Dr. Quymn regalia (including putting "Dr. Tara Quymn" on my badge), I grabbed the top of my Venture Bros. table which I had wanted to get signed and got over to the Hyatt, also AQAP, where Doc and Jackson had held the panel, in the hopes that I could catch the tail end of the sigining. I get to the room, complete with a schedule next to it saying they should still be there, and find them both gone. I asked a guy working there who said he doesn't know where they would be, and then I searched the floor a little bit myself before giving up and leaving with my tabletop.

What made it even better (in a worse way) was this guy who was trying to get people to go on a haunted tour, who kept trying to talk to (hit on?) me. The fun part, though, was that, just to mess with him, I used my British Dr.Quymn-accent, and he actually thought I was European.

Anyways, I returned to our room and, dejected, put away the table., inquiring to the costume competition, which I'd wanted to enter. It turns out that while I was venturing (ha!), I missed the prejudging, which is required to go on to the actual competiton. Of course. So basically, I was pretty disappointed. Mary, trying to cheer me up, suggests that we go exploring, and I agree. We can't catch an elevator going down, so we ride one all the way up to the top (28th floor), and then all the way down to the bottom 1st floor. When we reach the bottom, of course there's a rush of people in and out of the elevator, and Mary gets off.

And just when I'm about to exit, who do you think gets on the elevator but Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer?! (The creators of the Venture Bros.) I freeze and just look at them and say "Hi". Doc responds "Hello," then looks at me and says "You're Dr. Quymn." (I realize I was wearing a badge that said it, but I'd like to think that he could recognize it from the costume.) Mary, swift girl that she is, gets back on the elevator. Filled with nerves (like, you have no idea...), I tell Doc and Jackson about how I had just gotten back from trying to find them with part of a table that I had wanted them to sign.

"A table?" they ask.

"Part of one, the top." I respond.

"And you want us to sign it?"

"Well, I dunno, I mean..."

"'Cause if you do, just say it, because it might happen," says Doc.

"Yes, please, if it's not too much trouble," I say.

They ask me where it is; I say the 13th floor (where our room is). They say, So you want us to go all the way up to the 13th floor to sign a table...sure we'll do it!

JUST THEN:

Like, that very next floor, right after they agree to come sign my table, the elevator stops and this guy gets on. He gets right in between Jackson/Doc and Me/Mary, with his back to Doc and Jackson. He takes one look at me and says "Dr. Quymn?" I nod, and he says, "Haha, I still can't believe they got away with that joke." I start picking up awkward vibes at this point, and the only intensify as the elevator ride goes on...This guy clearly has no idea who's on the elevator with him.

He goes on to ask me if I went to the VB panel; I tell him no, I was in line for 4 hours trying to get in, then says to me smugly, "Well, I heard they're going to be at so-and-so event tonight, if you want to try and catch up with them." I look over at Doc, who's smirking, and Jackson, who's smiling. Then I look at Mary, who lets loose a tiny giggle. I myself look down and mumble an "mmm-hmmm...". When I look back up, Doc has his face to the wall, in what I can only presume was an attempt to hide laughter and keep from being discovered. Finally, we reach the 13th floor. Some clever lady who must have figured out what's going on says "13th floor!" very loudly, and Mary and I say, "That's us!" We exit, and Doc and Jackson follow. I just hear someone saying "I think those were the guys!" or something before the elevator closes.

Doc and Jackson waited on some couchy thingies outside the elevator while Mary and I ran back to the room. I frantically barely get the door open, finally get inside, grab the table, and run out, all the while wheezing "They were on the elevator!" Oh, I also brought some markers for signing. They look at the table and sign it in purple, because they said it was the only color not on the table. (FYI, there were totally purple stars on the table.) While signing, Doc Hammer offers me a peach from a bag(presumably from a fan), which, of course, I accept. Then they ask me What, is it like, a coffee table? I tell them that now it's kind of a coffee/whatever table. They say, Well, now you have to laminate it and use it for a coffee/game table. They add that I have to play Boggle on it.

I thank them profusely (I was still in shock; in fact, I think I might still be), and then ask if I might bother them for just a few more seconds. They ask, "Do you want a picture?" and I say "Yeah". We take 2: The first one, there was no flash, so they looked at it to see if it was too dark. It wasn't bad, and as Doc pointed out, I could fix it in photoshop (which I did, if you look at the pictures now), however, they insisted in another, more zoomed in photo since "noone cares about the hotel in the background, what matters is the table". They also joked that I needed the photographs to prove the signatures were legit.

After the pictures, they showed me some t-shirts a guy had made for them, and a Rusty's Day Camp sign. Like I said, they had bags and bags of stuff.

Anyways, I said thanks again, and they left.

Best. Day. Ever.

THE END

So, after the events in the story up there, I frantically called all my best friends to tell them. Then we went to a few other things; I can't quite remember all of them, but I remember food, a Rock Band competition, and a Wheedon-verse costume contest. Sunday, there was more food, picture-taking, going to see Tom Felton, shopping at the vendors (I got a Sailor Moon bag and a Venture Bros. t-shirt), and the Mad Scientests' Ball, which we waaaaaaayy overprepared for. But in the line for it, we made friends with a young couple, Will and Carol. The music at the ball was a band ArcAttack, which played(correct verb?) Tesla coils. And outside the ball, I spoke to Doc Hammer again briefly. I offered him a chicken finger. He's a vegetarian. FAIL. We went back to the room, and stayed up late telling jokes. Monday we got up late, checked out, and got all our stuff to the car. Then we took some more pictures, Alex and Mary got some things signed, and then it was off to Home Sweet Hendo.

Pictures avaliable on the livejournal, Here.

Sorry this update is sooooooo long.

Love you all. ~M.

OH, and as I'm writing this...I'm waiting for my friends Mary and Chris to come pick me up...and then we're going to Dragon*Con. Where I hope to get my SUPERTOPSECRETAWESOME! project autographed by the infamous Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick (?!?!) So yeah. I'll be taking lots of pictures, look forward to updates. Also, now I'm on twitter! Links to it are on the LJ. Just sayin'. ~m