California dreaming

So to quote the immortal Dante Hick, "I'm not even supposed to be here today!"

So where am I supposed to be? San Diego.

Allow me to explain.

When Cathy and I first moved to Nunavut we had our Glorious Five Year Plan. One of the sections in the plan was travelling. We both like to travel and have had serious envy over the adventures that some of our friends have had over the years. However, that wasn't possible while living in Newfoundland. It is expensive to get in and out of there, but an equally large problem was the lack of money in our chosen professions. All we could have afforded was an all-inclusive resort every few years, assuming we didn't make an RRSP payment that year.

That changed when we came to Nunavut. We had more...resources at our disposal. When we saw just how much, we mapped out the next five years worth of adventures. Despite some hiccups, we've done pretty well sticking to the schedule. We said San Francisco in 2006, Costa Rica in 2007, Italy in 2008, Australia in 2009 and probably Ireland/Scotland in 2010.

Like all plans, you have to make adjustments on the fly when the unexpected happens. In 2007 some of our friends got married, so we decided to bump back Costa Rica until 2010. I then had the bright idea of linking that trip with a stop in San Diego. I've always wanted to go to the San Diego Comic Con and that idea only grew stronger after I went to the con in New York City in 2008. Even Cathy went along with it. So, done deal, right?

Yeah, well, funny the twists and turns. After my time on EI went on longer than anticipated and then we bought a house, well, big expensive trips went on the backburner. So I'm not in San Diego for the con this year. Oh well. Hell, we were talking about maybe doing it next year, but I don't know about that either. U2 have gotten around to rescheduling their Toronto concert - July 11, 2011. Next year's SDCC starts July 20. It's a little hard to see U2, go to Costa Rica and hit the SDCC in that window. We'll see, but I'm not optimistic.

There's going to be no shortage of coverage on the SDCC this year. Comic Book wise I'd recommend Newsarama, Comic Book Resources and Comics Beat. But big entertainment players like Entertainment Weekly will be doing coverage as well. Hell, a reporter with the Toronto Star has managed to convince an editor of the necessity that he be there.

But some of the most fun of the weekend will come on Twitter, where people will be posting update and pictures. I imagine it will be a trending topic all weekend. Also for pictures, I'd poke around a bit on Flickr. Honestly, if I were there I wouldn't be spending much time at the announcement panels or trying to grab sneak peaks of the movies coming out in the next year or the celebrities (Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are expected to grace the geeks with their presence). I would be spending a lot of my time at artists alley meeting some of my favourite creators and just watching the costumes. The people who go to SDCC are often hardcore cosplayers. For people watching and sheer spectacle, it's kind of hard to beat what you'll find at SDCC.

I'll get there one day. Just not this year. Oh well...

Last Five
1. Come together - The Beatles
2. Jesse James - The Pogues
3. In my time of dying - The Be Good Tanyas
4. Misery - Soul Asylum*
5. If you were there, beware - Arctic Monkeys