Dealing with the post-Dragon Con blues

Did you have to go to work today? Are you currently staring at your computer screen, bereft of happiness and longing for a stroll through the Marriott?

Push the button, Frank. Frank! Push the button! Can't you hear me? I'm two people!

You're likely experiencing what's known as the post-Dragon Con blues. Sadly, there's no cure. Yes, you'll be like this forever, or until Dragon Con 2015, whichever comes first.

Thankfully, there are some quack remedies that I've come up with to help ease the pain you'll feel sinking back into mundane life. They follow:

- Look at amazing pictures taken at Dragon Con. Here's a gallery. Here's another. How about this gallery? And, of course, this one over here.

- Plan for your next con now. If you need a list, then check this out. Then attend all these cons, report back and let me know how things went. Thanks.

- Get your friends to nominate and then choose the most valuable person at the con. In this sense, "valuable" means most odd, interesting, horrifying, goofy, memorable or actually valuable.

Here's a selection of what my besties came up with:

That random guy we ran into in the Underdark of the Hyatt late one night. He had difficulty making eye contact and spoke incoherently about his job. What did he want? I don't know.

Rogue, the singer for "The Cruxshadows." While on stage he lamented that his massive tour bus broke down and needed a new transmission. He also sang a gothy version of "Happy Birthday." So, yeah, valuable.

The Batgirl bikini woman from the Mechanical Masquerade. Ma'am, I salute you. Thank you for saving Gotham.

Kissing booth guy. This guy was great. His costume was a walking kissing booth. He accepted dollar bills for kisses, and apparently was making bank. We ran into him Sunday night in the Marriott, and I will totally steal his idea for next year.

Until then, party on Bane. Party on Darth.

Dragon Con -- the final night

You knew it would come, despite your protestations of the never ending con suite: the last night of Dragon Con.

Why didn't they just fly to Mordor? Maybe she knows.

How to spend your final evening in a makeshift city of some 62,000 people? There's really only one answer -- dress up and walk around.

The costumes this year were, as expected, insane. Check out a few of them here. You can see parade pictures here.

Sunday night wasn't nearly as crowded as Saturday. You could actually walk at a steady pace from the Hyatt to the Marriott via the overground walkways and not have a sense of overwhelming claustrophobia sink in.

Some of the best costumes that I stumbled upon include a robot built out of a Segway. You can find it in the first photo gallery linked above.

Then there were Frodo Baggins and Gollum -- two kids walking around the Marriott during the day. I couldn't tell if they'd be the coolest kids at school or scarred by Dragon Con memories in their teens. Maybe both.

Be sure to check this blog for a final wrap-up of the con, a succinct list of my hopes and dreams for next year and quite possibly a few more pics.