I mean, sure, I’d been to WonderCon before. Regular readers will remember that it was at WonderCon that I got a picture taken with Adam Baldwin and ended up in a commercial for Kick Ass.
But this year was different–this year I was invited, invited to give two presentations at the Comics Arts Conference running concurrently at the festival. This was thus the year that I dubbed myself the geek queen and ended up interviewed for two publications: http://www.comicsbulletin.com/main/interviews/karma-waltonen-geek-queens-tale & http://blogs.ocweekly.com/heardmentality/2012/03/wondercon_pick_the_simpsons_in.php
This was the year I dressed up.
What exactly happened at my three full days of geek joy? Well, I packed up the boy, made a couple of powerpoints, brought my zuul costume, and let my geek mojo out. The highlights:
Alexander getting mistaken for my lover (which was not a highlight for him, but was damn funny).
Hanging with Aussies not associated with the conference at the bar. Note how I’m the only one supposed to be in costume, but how Steve, a reporter, still manages to pull one off on the fly:
Alexander closing down the bar with the Aussies & I.
Hanging out with our friend Lonnie Millsap (http://www.lonniemillsap.com/) & having him introduce us to some of his comic friends.
Seeing the other costumes: 
Meeting so many of the Bongo Comics (Simpsons & Futurama) people: Terry Delegeane, Max Davison, Art, Jason Ho, Bill Morrison, Carol Lay, and Scott Shaw. Having a nice long conversation with Scott about comics–one that we plan to continue. Finding out how many relatives of Terry’s have gone to UCD.
Walking up to Terry on the day I was dressed up and complaining that no one knew who I was.
Terry: I know who you are.
Me: No–not who I am. No one is supposed to know who I am. My costume.
Terry: Well, I don’t know what your costume is supposed to be, but I know who you are.
Running into some ghostbusters:
Following a former Simpsons background artist back to his unmarked van because he wanted to give me his card. He threw in a Homer drawing to make it worth my while, but I did tell Alexander that under normal circumstances, one should never be lured to a van to see someone’s etchings.
Seeing a preview of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Slayer and trying to convince the boy that the film would work better with period music.
Ordering in a Papa Johns pizza and watching The Simpsons on the last night.
Finding the flirtiest, sexiest bartender ever & getting him to bring in a very large cucumber just to make me my favorite drink (one that no bartender in Davis even knows, btw).
Having a guy at the bar buy me my favorite drink, although I wasn’t sure at first what was happening–I’m not usually as attractive as I seem to be at WonderCon.
Meeting another hardcore and apparently psychic Futurama fan.
Giving two presentations that went relatively well, if I do say so myself.
Meeting Anthony Del Col, the awesome co-creator of the Kill Shakespeare series. Having him say it was cool to meet me & actually meaning it:
The least cool thing about WonderCon? I didn’t take enough pictures.
I’m glad that your report is SO much different than mine. My experiecne was a combination of bad luck and bad timing.
I wish I had the opportunity to meet you face-to-face – maybe next time.
Congratulations on your success of your lectures.