Back.

I don’t know how to explain the last week to you. And I never got the chance to take any pictures but I don’t know if that would help. I have been attending the San Diego Comic-Con for about ten years now and I still can’t describe what it’s like.

First of all, and this is the part that most people don’t seem to understand. I am not really there as a fan. Yeah, I read comics and I am a fan of sorts but if I didn’t work in the comic industry, I probably couldn’t really afford to go to comic-con. The hotel, the food, the passes and then all the stuff you end up spending money on that you really didn’t think about, it adds up. So I am there. And I enjoy it. But it’s not exactly fun. On the other hand, it’s not NOT fun either. I love it. And I hate it. And there are wonderful people, both fans and friends, there and there are horrible people there. And in so many ways it’s just incredibly overwhelming. The sensory overload is intense. The noise of 100,000 people, the heat of the lights and the bodies and the sight of the crowds is enough to make any sane person run in the other direction. But I am there to work. And I do. I worked two jobs again this year and it was…tiring.

Now, I have worked in retail before. And this is retail. But it’s taken to a whole new extreme. I have also worked in an amusement park and at that time, I thought there would never be anything worse than making and serving pizza to thousands of people on the fourth of July, in New Jersey, on a hot day, in a tiny, unventilated building that had 4 pizza ovens working at about 500 degrees each. But comic-con is…something else. I currently have only about 70 percent of my voice because I had to talk, all day, every day. I had to answer questions and pitch products and sell, sell, sell. And yes, sometimes yell, yell, yell. NO, THOSE ARE NOT FREE! But, I do love it. When I am not hating it.

It’s fun and it’s terrible and it’s everything you could ever think a group of 100,000 people with strong opinions and obsessions and no clue and too many clues could ever be. And although the news and the media would have you believe it’s a total freak show…well, there is an element of that but in general it’s people you know and like and sit next to at work and school and it’s your neighbor and your brother and your sister and you. You are all there. And I probably spoke to a lot of you.

I got back to L.A. yesterday afternoon and I was tired. Today I think I feel even more tired. I am hoping by tomorrow to be somewhat closer to coherent.