Great Day
We had a great day Sunday.
It started with me getting up and not remembering that the time had changed. When I was getting ready to get folks ready to do things, Mary asked why the rush and, Hey! free hour! Which was really good because no one was ready to go and it meant a pleasant time getting ready instead of a mad rush.
Our first adventure was to a comic book convention. Our main reason for going was to see Georges Jeanty. He is the artist who draws most of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer comic books. We happen to have all of them because we used HeavyInk to subscribe so we never missed one. The convention is a somewhat small affair and only cost five bucks so is a great way to spend a couple of hours. None of us is really a comic book collector and that is what you really need to be to get any benefit from the room full of comic books on sale at this convention. Nelson and I attended one of these put on by the same crew back in April. That time the point was to just spend a couple of hours doing something different. We did that and came away with a few trinkets and a cheap box of comics guaranteed to be worth a bit more than what we paid. This time we had the specific goal of seeing Georges Jeanty and getting some of our Buffy comics signed. Not that we are becoming collectors or anything, just because he was going to be there and it seemed like something fun and different to do. It got Caitlin out of the house, which is a major feat.
Georges Jeanty was a nice, chatty, and charming guy. There were a couple of people at his table when when we got there, but not a line so we made a circuit of the six or so other tables outside the main room before coming to rest in front of his. I expected there would either be some fee for getting the autographs or some limit on the number he would be willing to sign, time being valuable and based on Caitlin’s experience at DragonCon. With this in mind on the drive over, Caitlin selected a couple of her favorite issues in addition to the issues that had covers Georges had drawn. We had these out when we got to the table and asked if he could sign them. He was really nice and welcoming. He talked about some of his prints while he signed those comics. I asked if there was a fee for that and he waved it off with a smile not seeming either surprised at the question or offended. We thanked him and then made out way to the main comic room.
We went couple of trips around the room, gawked at folks with clipboards digging through the boxes of comics, but did not see anything that really interested us and headed back out. Georges was still there and did not have a long line. I suggested that he might be willing to sign the rest of our comics if asked. And then we spent some time negotiating who would do the asking. All of us are pretty much chicken when it comes to talking to people. Nelson finally took the lead and asked. Georges was more than happy to sign them all and did, skipping the ones that he did not draw (except for one that he did not notice was not his until it was too late). Then we talked with him for a while about working on the comics. He had some sketches of work from past issues and some from upcoming issues and talked about some of the fun things that would be happening in the stories. We bought a couple of prints that he signed. Caitlin got one of his sketch books and watched as he drew a picture of Dawn Summers on the cover. If we weren’t collectors of Buffy stuff before , we might be now. Caitlin and Nelson are going to combine these new items with a James Marsters photo Caitlin got at DragonCon 2007 and a few of the Georges comics into a Buffy Shrine in the library.
After the Comic Convention we zipped back to the house so Mary and Nelson could join his cheer team to watch a cheer competition at the Gwinett Arena. About half of his team is new to the sport. That was the first live cheer competition they had seen. They have been working hard over the summer getting their routine together. This was a chance for them to see how a meet flows and what it might be like to be on stage. Mary and Nelson had a good time. They got to watch a few of the teams including the team Nelson used to be on. His old coaches were there, were happy to see him, and interested in how he was doing at the new gym. Mary spent some time catching up with the Cheer Moms from the old gym who she doesn’t see now.
When they left there we made plans to meet for a bite to eat. Caitlin and I were at home recovering from the crowd a the Comic Convention. Mary, Nelson, and Nelson’s girlfriend, Mycala, who had been along on the Cheer trip, were on the way back to town. Caitlin wanted to ride the motorcycle even though it was getting a bit chilly out. Not one to deny my daughter much, I agreed: Motorcycle ride to town for dinner. Dinner was good enough. Mary was not at the Comic event having elected quiet time instead. So she was filled in on everything that happened there. Caitlin and I were not at the Cheer event so we got the scoop from their outing. Then we had some fun at Nelon’s expense, which is always good for a few minutes laughs. I can’t recall exactly what it was now, but I know we laughed about it then.
The motorcycle ride home was quite a bit colder than the ride in, but was still nice. I was done in. I read for a while and then zonked out.
A Great Day.