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#DragonCon Wrap-Up

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Hello! I swear I am still recovering from DragonCon. I came home and had a pretty nasty cold, so I’m still catching up on life and sleep and laundry, all while working a bajillion hours. It’s been great! I know I covered some of this stuff in the daily recaps we did, but I’m just gonna detail some of it again, probably. It’s my blog and I can do what I want. And bullet points are my friend. Notes in red (literal color commentary) are from Michelle.

  • I landed in the airport on Thursday, and my friends were already there. Apparently they were waiting for me with this sign, but we both missed each other. Too bad, because that shit is hilarious. (I also carried that sign around the entire time I was with Heidi, and I think she wanted me to go away.)
  • We arrived at our Airbnb, and it was a total fail in that they wouldn’t let us in. You can read more about that here, but let me just suggest to you that if this ever happens to you, call their customer service. I did not do that, and I should have. Luckily, my college bestie hooked us up. If she hadn’t, though, so many Earpers reached out and offered solutions and good vibes. In the midst of fuckery, this was welcome positivity.
  • The impromptu Fangirls Shirts meetup was super fun, and I don’t think I gave it its due in the original post. It was great to hang out with old friends and meet new ones, though there were a lot of people and it was a bit overwhelming. As you see, I had kind of a shit day, and a large group of people isn’t always my go-to happy place. But lovely people outweigh the anxiety eventually, and it was great. Beer helped. And so did this picture.
  • You can read about Friday here and the amazing adventure that was Almost Getting Run Over By Stan Lee. We thought we were special, and then as the weekend progressed, we saw more and more people tweeting that it happened to them. I think we need t-shirts. And a support group. Can someone make us a logo?
  • Friday was the day when part of our group passed another part in the skywalk and realized that it was maybe one of the circles of Hell. Seriously, all those people crammed into a tiny space? I wish I had thought to seek medication prior to the con. I had to stick to beer.
  • The most important thing that happened on Friday was probably meeting Docstache. I thought from her EarperView that she would be my jam, and meeting her in person only confirmed that. I was a little hesitant because she seemed to like VP, but I guess to each their own.
  • You can read more in-depth about Saturday here, but I’ll just say it was the day of our Yiska cult rejects cosplay and the day we stereotypically got caught in a parade.
  • One of my favorite things was naming the space between two platonic friends in a small bed The Ghost River Triangle. Don’t cross the line!
  • That con Marriott is basically the Hellmouth. Ugh.
  • Michelle and I drank some lukewarm Corona out of a can while we wrote up the blog because we are classy bitches. (How is there no picture of that?) Because neither of us like to have our picture taken?
  • Remember that time Emily Andras blocked me on Twitter? Me too. And now I’ll never forget because I printed out the notification and asked her to sign it.
  • We had a lovely breakfast on Sunday at The Corner Bakery, and I had a great blueberry hand pie. That’s your most important takeaway for Sunday.
  • Oh, and the evisceration of the patriarchy in two panels.
  • We also hit the Buffy panel, which was a lot less rage inducing. A highlight was when a fellow con-goer asked Charisma Carpenter if she had ever heard the Cordelia jingle from the Buffering the Vampire Slayer podcast, so Michelle provided the audio since it’s one of her alarms.
  • We had a bunch of photo ops that day, which you can read about here. They were all amazing, and I am so happy that we did them.
  • We did some pretty great Bauman poses. Next time, Jill!
  • At the Wynonna Earp panel, Heidi and I asked questions! I was so nervous, but luckily Docstache was behind me to calm me down and provide support. I asked the cast what their favorite Earp sisters moment was, a Known Question of Attack, and it was pretty great. My face got super red, though. Good thing I look amazing at all times, no matter what color my face is.
  • And Marcie asked the question that has divided the Earper community for months, thanks to the negativity of VP — mushrooms on pizza? Emily said yes, so I feel like the discussion is over, guys.
  • That night, we ate at the food court for approximately the 367th time, and Michelle got so angry that she threw her sandwich on the ground outside. Or, the ghost of Stan Lee’s scooter safety mechanism threw it on the ground because she wronged him. (I did a legit spittake in the general direction of my work laptop reading this.)
  • BUT I am a wonderful person and gave her half of my sandwich, but when the story gets told, she never remembers that; only that BP gave her some chicken tenders. And the saddest piece of “Texas toast” ever, because everything is bigger in Texas except for that toast.
  • That night was the Earper meetup, which was super cool. I got to meet some awesome people, but not as many as I should have because I am not great at talking to or approaching people. I wish I were better, and I’m sorry that I didn’t meet all of you because I’m bad at people-ing. I hope to be better by the next con. Probably ClexaCon?
  • But the people that I did meet were awesome, and I had an amazing time talking to them. It was so cool to meet all of you. I particularly loved the discussions about the different fandoms with Carol and Coral. So glad I got to meet you two awesome ladies. Can’t wait to hang out again!
  • Emily, Michael, Tim, and Shamier came to the meetup, too! I got a selfie with Michael, and he was so incredibly lovely. He kept turning to find the most flattering lighting so everyone got the best picture possible. Thank you, Michael. I was horribly sweaty, so, you know, it can only be so good. 
  • And everyone I talked to was OBSESSED with Shamier’s hat.
  • Bridget had been drinking a little and then was interacting with a service dog, so I assumed she was drunkenly not following the rules you should be with service animals, so I was like, “Bridget, you can’t pet service dogs!” But it was okay and I didn’t need to intervene. She insisted that she was sober, and though I’m not sure that was an accurate statement, it appeared that it was cool she was interacting with the dog. Moral of the story? Shut your damn mouth, Monica. B-train knows what’s up.
  • Even when she’s definitely drunk because IT WAS HER BIRTHDAY.
  • Monday morning, we had a kickass breakfast with BP at Waffle House. That may not be interesting to you, but we had a great time and it was amazing. I got mushrooms in my potatoes. Michelle had pickles with her waffle.
  • Monday was the last of the four cast panels. Everyone was so gracious and accommodating and so thoughtful in their answers, and they were all so generous with their time. This fan was very appreciative. Here are some high points:
    • Melanie Scrofano’s spirit animal is “a motherfucking sloth with a machine gun.”
    • Michael Ecklund thinks that Bobo just needs a friend. Gonna be mighty lonely in that well, sir.
    • Tim Rozon ships Doc and Wyatt.
    • Emily says Rosita has more in common with Wynonna than she realizes.
    • It was SO COOL that Shamier stopped in to say goodbye to everyone, and that he’s basically the biggest WayHaught shipper ever.
    • Someone used the phrase “Waverly cheated on Nicole” during a question, and my heart was warmed by how many people groaned.
    • “You can choose who you want to be versus who people tell you you are.” — Emily Andras
    • Kat’s dream guest star is Amy Acker. THAT’S MICHELLE’S DREAM GUEST STAR, TOO, KAT.
    • We have to wait until season 6 for a flashback to the chili cookoff.
    • And the most important lesson — per Emily, shave your legs with conditioner, not with shaving cream/gel/lotion/anything else.
  • Monday, I had dinner (tacos that were super tasty!) with BP, VP, Office, Lynn, Michelle, Heidi, and Docstache. I can’t speak for everyone, but for me, it was probably one of the highlights of the trip. Coincidentally, I also had a giant beer, but I’m sure those are unrelated facts. Here are some highlights:
    • I made a Traveling Deb, which I totally forgot to bust out until then. Sorry, Deb! But you were in my backpack the whole time!
    • At one point, sitting in between VP and BP, I shouted, “I AM SURROUNDED BY INITIALS!?
    • Someone Earpsplained to Office, Docstache, and me that “Emtothea” is “Em to the A,” and not “Em Tothea,” which SOME PEOPLE ARE STILL LAUGHING ABOUT. Hey, I thought maybe Tothea was her maiden name!
    • I also picked up the nickname of Cathy, and it’s because someone told VP that they were disappointed they didn’t talk to Cathy and VP had no idea who they meant. When they said “lesbiyinzer,” she was like, “You mean…Monica?”
    • So now my name is Cathy. Cathy Tothea.
  • After dinner, at our hotel, we did the same thing that many of the Earpers did and hard-core voted for Melanie in the #GirlOnTop contest. And holy shit, if I never see another Captcha again, I’ll be happy. Most of them were roads and bridges and cars, but for some reason I had a special hell that included woodpeckers, cake stands, and storefronts. And I of course live-tweeted it because I am who I am, and someone told me to “stop complaining” about the ones I was getting. O…kay? Like…this is kind of my thing, the “making fun of stuff” part? I wouldn’t call it complaining. But…sure.
  • The worst part about Dragon Con? Leaving. I was happy to come home to my wife and my cat and my house and my larger bed and not walking between 439 hotels each day, but there’s a certain level of comfort that goes along with a con for me. in regular life, when I walk into a room, if I’m lucky, no one notices me. Usually, I get stared at, whether it be for how I’m dressed, what my hair looks like, that I’m holding hands with my wife, that I’m wearing some random nerd t-shirt, or that I just look different (AKA queer) in general. I never feel that way at a convention, and feeling like I belong isn’t something I feel very often. As soon as I hit the airport, I got stared at, and not because someone loved my shirt. Sigh. But only a few more months till ClexaCon, right?

There you have it, friends. Several days of insanity condensed into some words that is probably still Unnecessarily Long. As always, I thank you so much for reading.

I’m hoping to start back up on the recaps I missed this season and then maybe do some for season one. We’ll see what happens. But I definitely have some stuff planned for later this year and next year that I am so excited about, I can hardly contain myself.

Many thanks to Michelle for the literal color commentary and to Heidi for the notes. My life is better with the two of you in it. You keep me sane, organized, colorful, and grateful.

 What’s better than dynamite? Boobs. These boobs in particular.

An Ode to Wynonna Earp

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Hello, friends. Some of you may identify as Earpers, AKA fans of Wynonna Earp, the best demon-hunting show on TV right now. If you’ve clicked on this link, it’s likely that you do.

Recently, I read an article about my beloved show from a very respected magazine. How do I know it’s respected? Well, they hate 45 and also my mom has a subscription. And if Maggie Lesbiyinzer thinks you’re worthy of a yearly subscription, well, then I guess you have your shit together.

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Wynonna Earp on Netflix

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So, I’m sitting on my couch, trying to write about ClexaCon, and part of the problem is that I watched S1E1 of Wynonna Earp on Netflix this morning, and I’m pretty jazzed.

Yes, that’s right. The show I’ve been screaming about for months is on Netflix.

If you haven’t watched it, go do it. Now. Go watch it. It’s amazing and awesome.

Now, I realize not everyone will get the same feelings I did after watching. Maybe you can turn on the TV and see yourself represented no matter what show you choose. Maybe you don’t care about great writing, strong female characters, and queer representation. Maybe you think Val Kilmer is the best Doc Holliday and won’t allow your mind to be changed. Maybe you hate happiness. I don’t know your life!

But if none of those things apply, check it out. I allowed myself to watch the pilot this morning (I have stuff to do so I couldn’t sit down and watch the entire series EVEN THOUGH I WANTED TO), and here are some reasons you should watch, based solely on the pilot.

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Queer Fangirl AF

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Today is National Coming Out Day. I officially came out years ago, and (let’s be honest) unofficially way before that with all of that flannel I wore. Anyone who has ever read this blog knows that it was a rough process for me. Growing up, I felt alone. I thought that no one could possibly feel the way I felt, and I couldn’t bring myself to talk about it. It led to some dark times for me, but I eventually accepted and embraced who I am. I wish I could go back in time and tell this girl that it does, in fact, get better.

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One of the roughest things was that I felt like I had no one to talk to about it. I almost kind of did once, that time my “friends” started a rumor about me that I was gay. I introduced myself to a friend of a friend with “I’m Monica, and my friends think I’m gay.” Her response? “I’m Beth, and I don’t care.” (Still friends, by the way.) But after that rumor was shut down, I shut down about it. No sense drawing attention to the thing that almost ruined (and ended) my life.

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One of the great things about the internet — and, yes, there are many awful things, but so, so many great ones — is that, no matter what community you want to be a part of, you’ll find it. And with lesbian spaces disappearing, that’s more important than ever.

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Toronto, part 2

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I wrote about our first full day in Toronto at Fan Expo here, if you’re interested. If not, let me bottom line it for you. We went to the Wynonna Earp panel and hung out all day in line. It was awesome and amazing and we met cool people, both stars and fans.

Some of those people invited Chris and me to dinner, and we joined them, because I was still riding high on my fangirl buzz. Sadly, Angie had to go home and take care of her and Belinda’s dog, so five of us walked the streets of Toronto a bit, following local Belinda blindly because the Americans didn’t know our way around. Seriously, she could have been taking us to kill us. We didn’t know.

(Let me interrupt this to say that when I talked about dinner on Twitter, I tagged the wrong person. So I “made up for it” my tagging her in a dozen or so pictures that she had nothing to do with. So hopefully I didn’t lose a friend there.


Remember that time I high-fived you a year before we met?!)

On the walk over, I talked a lot with Michelle, who I didn’t chat with much at the Expo. She was saying she connects to TV shows like Wynonna Earp because she lives in Iowa and…there’s no one like her in Iowa. I explained my growing up — West Virginia, Catholic, connecting to gay characters, etc. — and she sympathized. I didn’t actually think we’d have that much in common because I’m so much older than her, but by the end of the 10-minute walk, I wished she lived in Pittsburgh so I could set her up with a friend. They’d be cute together. Damn you, non-existent teleportation!

We got to dinner and sat outside, and that’s when all of the exhaustion and excitement of the day really hit us. Our poor waitress. We inadvertently made her job much, much harder than it should have been, not knowing what to order and oversharing about our big day. She didn’t care, and we didn’t care that she didn’t care. So she learned quite a bit about us.

Belinda told us all how one of the few things that Canada doesn’t do well is Mexican food, despite the waitress’s suggestion of tacos and enchiladas for our dinner. We all listened to her advice…meaning that three of the five people ordered tacos and enchiladas. I found out Heidi is my sauce spirit animal, disliking mayo and sour cream as condiments but liking ranch dressing and sour cream as a dip. She admitted she gets her Primanti’s sandwiches without cole slaw, which I was willing to overlook since she’s a Columbus dweller who has actually been to Pittsburgh and Primanti’s. Plus, next time we go to World Market, we have a new friend to visit.


We took no pictures, so please enjoy this one of Chris and me holding a lantern in front of a covered bridge. 

Belinda, who was wearing a Buffy t-shirt, asked me who the first couple I ever shipped was. I have never been asked this question, but as the words came out of her mouth, I realized I had found my people. I hesitated, not knowing how to answer. “What was the first fanfic you read?” Again, no judgment for reading fancfic — honest curiosity about what the first I read was. “Willow and Tara was the first fanfic, but I think my first ship was probably Dr. Kerry Weaver and Kim Legaspi.” After some exclaiming about Elizabeth Mitchelle and Lost, like you do, I (somewhat embarassedly) admitted that my first (hetero) ship was probably Jack and Jennifer from Days. Instead of scorn, I was met with, “I loved them, too! Their Wild West wedding!” “And his hysterical laryngitis!” Not since Big Gay Tony up and stopped talking to me for no reason had I been able to fangirl like this about Days. Reunited and it feels so good!

 One of my favorite stories of the night was from Heidi about her encounter with the border guard. She explained she was staying with friends she knew only from Twitter. “So you’ve never met in person?” she asked, the look on her face clearly saying she thought Heidi would end up dead. It didn’t seem ridiculous to any of us to stay with someone we hadn’t actually met. It made perfect sense. And perhaps in my episode of “Dateline,” that’s the blog excerpt they’ll read. 

Border guard, if you’re reading this, I’m happy to report Heidi is both alive and well and the proud new owner of a “The 100” sticker from Fangirl shirts, courtesy of me. She said that was the best of my sticker pack, so how could I not give it to her?

Amongst the fangirling, food. Despite Belinda’s warnings, our tacos were delicious. Well, “tacos.” I do not think they were authentic. Also, heated discussion about what goes on a hot dog. If you said “whatever you want,” “ketchup,” or anything but “mustard,” really, a shouting match commenced. 

Also common amongst all of us — a strong love of Harry Potter. “What house are you in?!” I was asked. Later, I did the official sorting on Pottermore, and I disagree with the results. But I digress. 

They also suggested Carmilla, a Canadian lesbian vampire web series sponsored by a feminine-hygiene company. Good recommendation, guys. I may not be as deep as you, but I’m definitely a Creampuff. I think if I had seen it before WE, I would have connected more. 

It was a fun evening with queer ladies who all liked similar things. It was the most comfortable I think I’ve ever felt in a group situation with a bunch of strangers. Say what you want about Wynonna Earp — it brought us all together and made me feel like I had found my people. It’s a feeling I won’t forget soon, and one more thing I’ll always be grateful to that show for. 

That…and this signed comic from Tim Rozon. 


Because queer or not, that is a handsome — and extremely nice — man. 

I’m already looking forward to next year and their (clearly inevitable) trip to Pittsburgh. Angie is a Dodgers fan and I insisted she needed to see PNC Park. They have so many things you can put on hot dogs — pulled pork, pierogies, ketchup. They’ll all love it, I’m sure. 

Fan Expo 2016

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Guys. I have all of the feelings about all of the things.

I had casually mentioned to Chris that it might be fun to go to Fan Expo on Labor Day weekend. Mark Hamill would be there, Gillian Anderson, and, you know, an entire convention of cool nerdy stuff that we liked. A few weeks ago, though, it was announced that the Wynonna Earp cast would be doing a panel and autograph signing/photo op. My attitude quickly changed from “we probably shouldn’t spend the money” to “CAN WE PLEASE GO, HONEY?!” As anyone who has read this blog before knows, I have the greatest wife, and she agreed. Hotels were ridiculous, so she found us a cute Airbnb that ended up being about a $10 Canadian Uber ride from downtown.

I made some new friends on Twitter and was looking forward to meeting them in person, because if it’s one thing I excel at, it’s being friends with people I’ve never actually met.

That probably tells you something about my personality.

We left work early on Friday, and spent what felt like 17 hours driving there, but it was only 8. It should have been about five, but, you know, whatever. Holiday traffic. Also, Ruby Tuesday salad bar!

We settled in, had a glass of wine — well, like 1/4 glass because I’m a lightweight — and went to sleep. In true Monica form, I woke up 15 minutes before my alarm went off — 6:45am — because I was excited! We got ready, I realized I had the location wrong in my head — so many thanks to Chris for saving us at the last minute on that one — Uber’d downtown, grabbed breakfast, and headed to the convention center.

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Yeah!

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