Time to Geek Out

Life Lesson Learned: It’s a small world after all

Well, we made it through the 14-month-long period known as winter, which means we are back to blog-worthy activities once again. So my unintentional blogging hiatus has come to an end thanks to my first comic con in nearly four years.

Anyone who follows me on social media would know that I’ve been to my fair share of comic cons over the years. I started off going to “smaller” conventions in college, then hit up five years of New York Comic Con (and one Walker Stalker Convention) before the pandemic arrived. I’m definitely not the typical comic con attendee, however, as I’m by no means up-to-date with the latest fandoms and am especially clueless when it comes to actual comics. Television is my thing!

So back in January when I saw an ad for a convention in Cleveland where three actors from The Office would be guests, I was obviously excited. The Office is one of my all-time favorite shows; In fact, my home office is decorated with a theme that pays homage to the series. The closest I’ve ever come to meeting anyone from the show was breathing the same air as John Krasinski when he did a NYCC panel for Jack Ryan. Dreamy, sure, but not quite the same.

With Cleveland being an hour away and me still being an inexperienced (and non-city) driver, the only way I was going to go is if my parents were okay accompanying with me. Conventions are completely unchartered territory for them, but I was hopeful they’d still have a good time. 

The weekend before my birthday (and the event), one of our elderly outdoor cats at my parents’ house had a sudden health setback. We still aren’t sure what happened (stroke possibly), but he has managed to hang in there and since then has made remarkable improvement. That being said, with him struggling at the time and the predicted rainy weather the day of the convention, my mom decided to stay home to make sure he was okay and safe during any foul weather. Obviously I was disappointed that the sad circumstances meant she wouldn’t be joining my dad and I, but I was also grateful that she was there to look after him during an unfortunate situation. 

When convention day finally rolled around last Saturday, I was re-thinking my initial suggestion of what time we should head out to Cleveland. My original idea was to spend only a few hours there–not because I didn’t want to be there longer, but because I remember 2-3 hours was more than enough time to enjoy the Wizard World conventions in Columbus. So instead my dad and I opted for eating an early lunch and heading out sooner than planned. And boy am I glad we did!

Despite having printed directions to the convention and this incredibly useful thing on my phone called Google maps, we ended up missing our exit and having to double back to the downtown area. Thankfully we were quickly en route to our designation again but we hit another snag when it came to parking. Rather than track down the parking garage I had read about online, we made a last-minute decision to park at the closer (and cheaper) special events parking garage right near the convention center. Mistake number two! The city of Cleveland may as well have been operating a scam, because after we paid our $15 fee upfront, we quickly found that there were no available spots. And they kept letting cars into the garage! Things were so bad that we would see people at their cars and get hopeful they were leaving only to see they were eating lunch (and with the convention selling three soda pops for $17, I can see why!). We even witnessed one guy, call out “I’m staying!” when he saw us hovering like vultures. The whole thing would have been funny on a sitcom. Living it? Not so much. With a stroke of luck (you know, after driving around the garage for 20 minutes and my dad about to have a meltdown), we finally found an empty, albeit tight, spot. Great! We finally got up to the convention center only for my dad to realize he left his phone in the van. Sigh. At this point I should have been expecting the rest of the day to be a disaster, but thankfully once he got his phone (after yet another stressful ordeal), everything else went smoothly. 

As soon as we got inside the convention, received our badges (I was expecting just tickets!) and finally had a moment to breathe, I suggested we head over to the autograph area first. I was hoping to get an autograph from Oscar Nunez, but because no schedules were posted online I wanted to go to his table to see when he was available. Luckily–though shockingly–there wasn’t any sign of a line at the autograph tables for The Office actors and he was sitting at his table. Finally, something going our way! 

Though I had a photo op scheduled with the Office trio later in the day, I know how little time and interaction you actually get with the celebs in the photo booth. There was something in particular I had always wanted to mention to Oscar if I had a chance to meet him, so an autograph was the obvious solution! Once we made our introductions (I learned that I was the only Shay he had met that day!), I told him that I had lived in Union City, New Jersey for six years and, as a fan of The Office, was thrilled to find out he had lived there before, as well. He did act surprised, though admitted he hadn’t lived there (and many other nearby cities of NJ) since the 70’s. I asked where in Union City he had lived, and he said Palisade Ave. How neat, I said, as I too had lived on Palisade. Then he said 14th and Palisade. My jaw hit the cold, hard concrete as I replied, “No way! Me too!” There were only two apartment buildings at that spot, including the one I lived in for those six years in NJ. Considering my building had been built in the 1920’s and was around when Oscar was living in Union City…was it possible we had lived in the same building decades apart? What a small, small world! (And you can bet I was immediately giddy to tell this bit of breaking news to my mom and later blog about it!) 

My dad and I thanked him, and I walked away with a cool story that’s probably even more entertaining than the photo I had chosen for the autograph. 

With that first comic con bucket list item checked off, I suggested we spend the next hour before the Office Q&A panel checking out all of the vendors. I was surprised by how many booths there actually were and it was almost overwhelming.

My dad and I were on the hunt for potential Harry Potter items for my mom, while I was keeping an eye out for Office or The X Files goodies, and anything worthy of a photo. We did find my mom a couple of great collectibles: a “Moody’s Polyjuice Potion” flask and a Ravenclaw keychain. So cool!

When panel time rolled around, I was surprised to find that the main theater was basically a section of the show floor that had been sectioned off. Oddly, they wouldn’t let anyone sit down or claim a seat until just a few minutes before it started, but Dad and I were able to still get some decent seats. That’s the nice thing about smaller conventions; you don’t have to wait in line at 5 am to try and get close to the stage. 

The combination of Kate, Leslie and Oscar together on stage was nothing short of hilarious. Kate and Oscar both have improv comedy backgrounds and it definitely showed! The trio also had a lot of patience and a great sense of humor when it came to fan questions. I know I was pretty impressed with the questions that were asked, and was pleasantly surprised that there were only a couple of awkward questions asked. I don’t think I’ve ever been to a panel where there wasn’t at least one awkward person (more on that later!). Had it been a smaller crowd I probably would have stepped up to the “question mic,” but decided to stay in my seat. I still enjoyed myself, and my dad seemed too, as well!

At this point, I could tell I was already getting tired (because apparently I’m now 30 going on 75), but we spent the next 45 minutes or so checking out the rest of the booths on the show floor. My dad kept saying how “out of the loop” he was with a lot of the fandoms, comics and artists, and I kept reminding him that I’m equally clueless when it comes to most things at comic cons. (Go figure). It was still fun to look at everything though! We even encountered the same issue with costumes; I only got a few photos of those in cosplay because they were the only costumes I actually recognized! 

Our day more or less came to a close with my 5:00 photo op, which I knew I was going to purchase the second the comic con guests were announced. It was my second time doing a “Team up,” which was all three of the actors together for the photo, and I thought the price was a steal as far as celeb photo ops are concerned. 

It made me smile that the woman scanning tickets loved my t-shirt (which I purchased especially for the occasion), as did the two ladies in front of me. Of course, I was especially giddy when Kate said how much she liked the shirt when it was my turn to get my photo taken. The snapshot went well (no re-takes because of me blinking—a first!) and all three of them were incredibly kind and chill. It was a great experience and a worthwhile keepsake! 

Overall, I was pleased with the convention. It was definitely on the pricey side for just admission, but I do feel like you get a little more of a bang for your buck than at the couple of Wizard World conventions I attended in college. Like any smaller convention, I don’t think I would go if there weren’t a guest or guests I wanted to meet. But they’re a fantastic close-to-home opportunity when you do get lucky!

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After attending five New York Comic Cons, they do tend to blend together, so I decided to end this entry by focusing on five things I learned from my experiences there.

Life Lesson Learned: Be prepared to cringe at a panel

As I had mentioned earlier, I have a love-hate relationship with Q&A panels. They’re fun to watch in person, but you also know there’s going to be at least one person who makes things weird for everyone in the room. In a Jack Ryan panel with John Krasinski, someone used their “question” to ask for a photo with him. Being the nice guy he is, he agreed, but the moderator had to put their foot down after that to keep people from asking again. Sigh. At the 2017 panel for the upcoming Season 11 of The X Files, some guy started asking Mitch Pileggi about his role on Stargate Atlantis. Naturally, this prompted some serious “booing” from the crowd who was there for, you know, The X Files. Self awareness, people!

Life Lesson Learned: Food trucks are a blessing

NYCC was always an all-day experience for me, so it was necessary that I had snacks on hand to avoid some kind of hangry Shay episode. With that being said, I still usually had at least one full meal at the convention hall just for something special. I’m pretty sure I made the mistake one year of buying something from the mediocre, over-priced convention food hall. Why I thought that was a good idea, or worth it, I don’t know. Thankfully, there was always a collection of food trucks on the property. Unfortunately they usually had ridiculously long lines at peak hours (which meant you wouldn’t have time to wait if you had something to attend to), but they were a great “end of day” dinner option. And at least you felt like you were getting something more fun of your money! 

Life Lesson Learned: Early birds don’t always catch the worm

After ending up in the back of the room for the ‘15 X Files panel, I decided I was going to line up early for the show’s other panel two years later. My thought process was that I’d not only be guaranteed to get into the panel, but I’d be pretty close to the stage for the event. Well, everything became chaotic when the convention workers forced everyone to leave the line after getting their badge scanned for a panel seat. They told us we couldn’t just stick around and had to wait to get back into line until after enough badges were scanned to meet capacity. Everyone who had been waiting since early morning (myself included) was furious. I thanked my lucky stars that I was able to still get a decent spot after lining up the second time, but the whole thing was handled horribly. 

Life Lesson Learned: People really like Spongebob

At my last year at NYCC, I decided to meet Tom Kenny, who is probably best known as the voice of Spongebob Squarepants. It wasn’t my first time getting an autograph, but it was certainly my first time waiting for what felt like three hours for one. I remember sitting on the cold, hard floor charging my phone, wondering if i would even get to meet the guy before I had to run off to get a copy of Divergent signed by Veronica Roth. Hell,I probably could have written an entire novel in the time I had waited. Luckily, when it was finally my turn to approach the autograph table, he was an incredibly kind guy. I was also impressed that he still had energy to chat with fans (and I believe I said as much). I guess he has Spongebob’s optimistic outlook and cheeriness! 

Life Lesson Learned: If you get a memorable photo op, you’re lucky!

I quickly learned after my very first con that if you want more than two seconds to interact with a convention guest, you better spring for an autograph. It’s usually a “get in and get out” situation, where they shuttle you like cattle to ensure they stay on schedule. (But hey, if you blink, you get a few extra seconds in the photo booth!)  The only exception to this is if the guest(s) decide to have a little fun with the experience. When I got my photo taken with Sean Astin and Billy Boyd from Lord of the Rings in 2019, the duo was playing around with fans and even messing with the photographers a bit. Everyone kept laughing when one of them would hide out in the line among the rest of us and confuse the workers. Although my other photo ops have always gone well, that one was my most memorable by far!