Upon pulling myself out of bed prior to rise of sun on Saturday, July 24th, in order to attend my umpteenth San Diego Comic-Con, I suddenly felt old. Why was I doing this? What was so fabulous about Comic-Con that I had to be up at this hour, drive for two and a half hours down to San Diego, spend another twelve or so hours there, then drive back home and not see my bed again until probably one in the morning? And then I remembered what awaited me and quickly moved to get dressed.

Comic-Con has been growing by about 5,000 attendees per year for the past few years. And last year with 75,000+ attendees, I thought the convention had finally hit critical mass. It was impossible to get into any panels or signings and there were no freebies to be found as they were long gone by the time I got there on Saturday last year. The con was just too big. Last year's Comic-Con would have been a near-total disaster had it not been for one major highlight: talking to Witchblade actor Anthony Cistaro. Witchblade has been one of my absolute fave shows in recent years (still waiting for a DVD release!) and I had the pleasure a few years back of meeting two of its handsome stars, Anthony Cistaro and Eric Etebari, at Comic-Con when the show was still on the air. Last year, out of sheer coincidence, I decided to wear one of my Witchblade t-shirts and happened to unexpectedly run into Anthony Cistaro who was doing a signing at a booth in the dealers' room. He was even more charming than I remembered and I had such a positive experience that after the con I made an effort to become more informed about his other work and upcoming projects. In doing so, I learned that not only was he working on a new indie film (The Dreamless) with his former Witchblade co-star Eric Etebari, but they and the film's writer/director would be making a signing appearance at this year's Comic-Con!

After last year's nearly-fruitless attempt to attend multiple panels and signings (something always possible in Comic-Con's lesser-attended past), I decided to scale back my 'must-see' list for the con - simplify and focus. My morning, I decided, would simply involve the Anthony Cistaro/Eric Etebari signing. For the late afternoon, I'd heard a rumor that another fave actor, Oded Fehr, might be appearing at the Resident Evil 2 panel and so that, too, I would try to attend. In between these two events, I would skip wasting my time trying to get into overcrowded panels (although there was a midday Farscape panel I VERY much wanted to see). Instead, I decided I would split my time between the dealers' room and autograph area in case anyone else of interest showed up there, as well as checking the freebie table regularly. I'd also exchanged cell phone numbers with several other attending friends (how did we ever get through Comic-Con without cell phones?) and hoped to run into several other friends I knew to be down there. Out of more than 75,000 people (and supposedly 80,000+ showed up this year), you'd think it would be impossible to run into the few people you know, but happily, I ran into all but one of the people that I knew were down there! But more on that later...

I made good time on the drive down to San Diego, stopping briefly to pick up a friend who lived nearby. As we entered the convention center area at about 8:30 a.m., there was the usual panic of 'will there be any parking left within city limits?' As Comic-Con gets bigger, frustratingly, the public parking lots are getting fewer as construction continues in the downtown area. But after a few minutes of driving around, we found decently priced parking not terribly far (read: not more than a mile) from the convention center.

Fresh from the drive (though I was already tired from being up and on the road so early), we hiked over to the convention center and were pleasantly surprised to be immediately allowed in to go get our badges. Last year I waited in a very long line though I was pre-registered as always. Finding no line this year at our assigned registration desk, we were processed quickly and had our badges within two minutes of entering the building. Hmm, I thought. That was different. I wondered, could this be a sign that perhaps the con-runners had gotten this con back in hand? Of course then my friend looked at her badge which should have said 'Guest of [WriterGroupie's name]' but instead read 'Guest Guest'. So we had a good laugh and realized that no, some things are still the same.

We asked at the registration desk when the dealers' room would be opening and were told 'definitely by 10 a.m., but possibly earlier'. It was just after 9 a.m. by this point and we made a quick run up to the autograph area to check the schedule and do a sweep of the freebie table (and found only flyers). Then we decided to go down and wait by the doors of the dealers' room until they opened. But when we got there, we found they were already letting people in! So we gladly entered the near-empty dealers' room to check it out.

Now, compulsive person that I am, I knew which booth Anthony Cistaro and Eric Etebari were supposed to be signing at starting at 10 a.m., but I wanted to doublecheck with the booth itself. So, first things first, we headed for the Top Cow booth.

Once there, they confirmed that indeed Anthony Cistaro and Eric Etebari were signing there at 10. That settled, my friend and I decided to stroll a bit through the still-quiet dealers' room until I had to get to the signing. I noticed many fabulous props and displays already out on the floor, such as a life-sized Alien and Predator grappling with each other to promote Alien Vs. Predator, but as I didn't yet know the memory capacity or battery life of my new camera-cellphone, I held off on taking any pictures until I saw the guys at the Top Cow booth. Although later I did try to take a picture of the full-sized X-Wing fighter at the Star Wars booth and it was so big (at least 30 feet long, I'd guess), I couldn't back up far enough to get it all on camera!

At 10 my friend went to check out some more of the comic book area, but promised to return in a bit, while I headed for the signing. It was 10 on the dot, but Anthony and Eric weren't there yet, nor was there a line for them, so I hit the floor of the dealers' room again for a few minutes. By the time I returned to the Top Cow booth, Anthony had arrived and was greeting the booth-runners. So I stopped to take in the view. I had remembered how tall Anthony Cistaro is, but I'd forgotten how handsome he is, too. Dressed upscale in a black suit and stylish white button-down shirt, he was quite breathtaking.

As I reminded myself that he was married LOL, I turned slightly to the side and noticed Eric Etebari and another gentleman also approaching the booth. Eric had a funkier, more casual style with his cool green shirt and hat, and pants that were cut off below the knees.

He walked up right next to me to ask the booth-runners where he could set up. As they showed he and Anthony where they'd be sitting, I smiled at Eric (who was standing closer to me than Anthony was) and said 'Well, I'm here just to see you guys!' At that, Eric turned and flashed me his killer, million-dollar grin and delightedly said, 'Really?' I told him I'd planned my whole day/Comic-Con trip around seeing the two of them. He seemed pleased to hear it and I smiled and backed off so he could go set up his flyers and movie poster and so forth.

In the meantime, I turned to Anthony who as soon as he saw me, remembered me and said 'Hello again!' and commented how nice it was that I came by. I told Anthony as I'd told Eric that I'd planned my trip to the con around seeing them. Anthony was also appreciative of this and asked how far Comic-Con was for me to travel. I explained that I'd gotten up before dawn to drive down to make it in time for their signing and again, Anthony couldn't have been nicer (the man simply has the most impeccable manners and is just unbelievably polite to his fans).

We chatted briefly as I explained to him that he'd made such a positive impression on me at last year's Comic-Con that I became more aware of his work including watching the Friends series finale just for his brief guest appearance. He was again very warm and responsive and did I mention polite? To the point of asking me how I was and what I'd been up to [since he'd seen me the previous year]? I reminded him that I was a writer and told him briefly about the latest project I was working on. When he realized my project had a connection to two people he knew, we had an animated chat about them and their work.

By this time, Eric had set up the poster for their new film and set out some flyers which he'd gotten pre-signed by one of the film's co-stars: former Witchblade actor David Chokachi.

And I'd learned that the gentleman accompanying the two actors was the film's writer/director Brian Metcalf.

As two official con-photographers took pictures of Anthony and Eric, I used my camera-cellphone to take some shots of them as well. While the quality of the pictures wasn't all I'd hoped, it was still incredibly convenient to have camera, photo album and cellphone all in one.

As some other folks drifted up to get autographs, I continued to snap shots and talk to Eric and Brian. When I asked about Dreamless, Eric energetically noted that David Chokachi had been added to the cast and trailer. I told him I'd read that news online. They'd set up the trailer to run on a TV behind them, but I'll confess I couldn't tell the difference between what they showed and what I'd already seen online. But I told Brian how much I'd enjoyed both the regular trailer and the 'making of' trailer which showed shots on greenscreen fading into the FX-laden final product. Brian noted that most of the movie was being shot against bluescreen and then a great deal of time was being taken to create backdrop and FX. I asked when fans could expect to see a finished film and Brian said 2006. Eric seemed to think that was too pessimistic a thought for a release date and indicated that he was strongly hoping for a 2005 release. My general impression of Brian was that he seemed a little quiet/shy as opposed to the more gregarious Anthony and Eric.

I also spoke briefly with both Anthony and Eric about the discrepancy I'd noted in the con's autograph schedule - the online schedule and dealers' room schedule listed them as signing upstairs in the autograph area from 11 a.m to 3 p.m. But the autograph area schedule had them signing from 3 p.m to 7 p.m.! Both men indicated they planned to head up to the autograph area at the end of the Top Cow signing at noon. Having gotten a signed flyer for myself, as well as one of Eric's cards that promoted his website and recent film appearances, I told Anthony and Eric that I'd pop by later to the upstairs signing. They both smiled, and as a happy, satisfied fan, I moved on...

Conveniently, my friend sat down to wait for me nearby, so I quickly found her and we went off to see more of the dealers' room. After an hour or so, we decided to head back up to the autograph area and check the freebie table again and then stop and have a snack. We got lucky on the freebie table, hitting it at the right time and we each walked away with a Xena duffel bag (though sadly we missed the Highlander laptop bags we both would have preferred).

A stop at the autograph information booth determined that despite what the dealers' room autograph schedule had said, the Anthony/Eric signing was not at 11 a.m., but at 3 p.m., and indeed, Anthony and Eric weren't in sight. The autograph schedule in the dealers' room had also excited me when it said Jonathan Woodward, one of my FAVORITE Buffyverse guest stars, was going to be signing from 11-3. But I was disappointed to learn that that, too, was incorrect and he was not in fact signing at all on Saturday.

Moments later this was made doubly frustrating when I walked right into one of my friends I'd known was at the con all weekend who told me that Jonathan had actually been there signing on Thursday and Friday! Later on Saturday, another friend of mine who knew how much I adored Jonathan asked if I'd gotten to see him when he was signing. When I wailed 'No! I missed him!' I was much teased about needing to come to Comic-Con for more than just one day! And he wasn't wrong!

As I was standing in the autograph area catching up with my friend on how his weekend was going, however, one of my other fave Buffy guest stars, Robin Sachs, walked right by us. I gasped 'Oh, my god, I love you!' To which he grinned and said, 'I love you, too.' He moved off toward, I guessed, his assigned autograph area and I soon said goodbye to my friend and headed off to find Robin again. I quickly found where he was signing and got to chat with him for several minutes. I found him to be very charming and receptive and he looked especially attractive with the rugged beard he'd grown.

I told him how much I'd enjoyed his work on Buffy and Babylon 5 and that I didn't randomly shout at guys that I loved them, but that I had actually recognized him when he passed by. That made him grin. I asked what he was currently working on and he told me that he and his wife were developing a film (a drama) that he would soon be starring in. When I told him I'd keep my eye out for it, he made sure he gave me a flyer for his website so I could learn more about what he's up to. I love how savvy these actors are getting about what the 'Net and fans can do for them!

I returned to my 'Guest Guest' friend's side, as she'd been waiting for me and we decided to make another pass around the freebie table. This time we each scored a Xena episode on VHS. But upon circling the table, I ran into a con volunteer who was giving people the chance to win a raffle ticket for something. Not even even knowing what I was trying for, I actually pulled a winning ticket for what I was then told was 'an autographed item from Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow' and that I was to go pick up my item in a certain room and time that afternoon. I was given a purple wristband to i.d. me as a winner. Now, knowing that actor Jude Law was scheduled to do a panel on that upcoming movie later in the day, I suspected the 'autographed item' would probably be a picture or poster from him and if we were lucky, he might even do the signing in person! Things were definitely looking up this Comic-Con!

Finally my friend and I took the time to stop and sit and snack. Then we decided to hit the dealers' room again. My friend was particularly happy as she'd picked up some artwork in the dealers' room earlier that she'd gotten signed by the artist himself. We returned to the dealers' toom and wandered for another hour or so, picking up more fun freebies from tables along the way including one of my favorite items from a Lord of the Rings table - a 'Gandalf for President' button. After another hour or so we were ready for a break again. My friend decided to find a restaurant for a real lunch, while I opted for more snacks I'd brought. I told her my plan was still to pick up my winning autographed item at 4:15 p.m. then try to get into the Resident Evil 2 panel at 4:30 in case Oded Fehr was there. If I didn't see my friend beforehand, we agreed to meet up back at the registration desk at 6:15 p.m. - by which time I would hopefully have heard from a group of other friends I'd tentatively scheduled dinner with. In theory. If they remembered to call or I happened to run into them amidst the tens of thousands. So my friend left and I trooped upstairs to go sit and eat and peoplewatch.

But before I sat down, I decided to confirm where I was supposed to go to pick up my winnings later in the day. Back I went to the autograph area info booth, where one of the volunteers told me where she thought room 30 was. However she warned me that other people had gone in that direction and found rooms 30A through 30E, but no room '30' itself. Glad I was doing my homework ahead of time, I went down to where rooms 28-31 supposedly were. They almost didn't let me through as that area was blocked off for Masquerade rehearsals for the afternoon. But my 'pro' badge seemed to work for me and I was allowed through. Walking and walking I passed rooms 29A through 29D or E. Then I found, as mentioned, rooms 30A through 30E - all blocked off for the Masquerade. None of the volunteers who passed by seemed to know of a 'room 30', just 30A-E. So, compulsive person that I am, I went back to the info booth, told the volunteer of my dilemma and she asked the volunteer next to her. He didn't seem to believe me when I said there was no room 30, just 30A-E, set aside for Masquerade. So he and I walked back across the con center until he too, saw A-E, but no plain 30. This time however, we got lucky in running across just the right security people who told us that those of us with wristbands just needed to line up in front of 30A-E at 4:15 and we would be escorted from there. By this time I was pretty sure we were going to be getting an in person signed item from Jude Law - otherwise, why the 'escort'? But now that I knew where I was going later, I could finally stop and relax for a while.

No sooner did I sit down however, than not twenty feet away I saw one of my friends who I was supposed to have dinner with! So I shouted his name and he came over to greet me. He told me he was on his way to the Farscape panel and asked if I wanted to come with him. I did some quick calculating and realized if I went to the Farscape panel, I could still make it in plenty of time to pick up my winnings, then try for the Resident Evil 2 panel. 'Let's go!' I said.

And off we went to the panel. The panel consisted of Farscape creator Rockne O'Bannon, his head writer David Kemper, production company owner Brian Henson, stars Ben Browder and Claudia Black and a rep from the SciFi Channel. Nominally the panel was meant to promote the forthcoming Farscape miniseries to air this fall on SciFi. But for the fans it was a lovefest and celebration of a lot of hard work getting the show back on the air in some form. The applause for the panel members was deafening, though the SciFi Channel rep's greeting by the audience was more subdued. Fans knew that Farscape was back on the air, even as just a miniseries, because of the SciFi Channel and they were grateful. But they also knew the show itself had been painfully cancelled by the same channel all too recently! So there was a 'once bitten, twice shy' response from the crowd at times. The power-packed trailer for the miniseries was so exciting however, the fans asked to see it twice, and TPTB permitted it. I can't say there was much 'news' from the panel other than the implication that if the miniseries went well, Rockne and David had bigger, movie-sized plans in mind for the future of Farscape. Beyond that it was mostly reminiscing about the show and the illustration of the clear, powerful love for the show by those involved with its making. My favorite answer was from Ben Browder in response to the question for him and Claudia 'what about your character do you think is the defining characteristic or the most important thing about them?' Ben responded immediately, 'Hope'. That brought tears to my eyes. Hope is what great science fiction has always been about. And it's what the fans lived off of and fed off of as they worked to bring their show back.

At the end of the panel, my friend and I made sure we had correct cellphone info and agreed to check in later regarding dinner. But by this point, it was 3:30 and I wanted to go get in line to pick up my winnings quickly so I could equally quickly move on to the Resident Evil 2 panel.

I headed for room 30, showed my purple wristband and was escorted back to the line by security. At that point, there were maybe twenty or so people in line ahead of me. Great, I thought, this should go quickly and maybe the Resident Evil panel will be as painless to get into as the Farscape panel was (as opposed to the horrible endless lines of last year when you still never got into the panel rooms after long waits). I noticed while I was waiting that several people not only had the purple wristbands, but some had pink ones as well. Keeping my ears open I learned that the pink wristbands were for the later signing with Sarah Michelle Gellar from Buffy. I was sorry I hadn't won one of those, but between the two, as big a Buffy fan as I was, I still thought meeting Jude Law would be cooler. And people seemed pretty confident that that was going to happen. I heard talk that Keanu Reeves had done a brief in-person signing after his panel the day before. Seeing Keanu would have been cool, but I've done that before and given the choice of signings, still probably would have wanted to see Jude Law more. I'm an Anglophile and just love those British actors!

By about 4 p.m., the line had grown to at least 80-100 people with wristbands, plus some of their friends who'd managed to slip into the line with them. One of my other friends who was at the convention called me on my cellphone early on in the line and asked if he could come hang out with me while I waited in line, but I'd told him then they were only letting people through with wristbands - I was annoyed when that proved not to be the case as I would've liked to have been able to wile away the time in line talking to my friend. Oh well. Unfortunately at this point, things began to take a turn for the worse. Or rather a turn for the Comic-Con-usual-bad-management. Apparently someone from the Masquerade saw us lined up and came over to the line and insisted that we all move to the opposite wall. After an initial hesitation there was a mad rush as nobody stayed in their original place in line! With the line moved, instead of only being twenty people back in line, I was suddenly more than two dozen people back. A few minutes later security came by and asked us all why we had moved and told us all to go back to the original place we were lined up. This time there was no hesitation - just a lot of loud complaints as we all ran for the other wall and now I was even further back in line as more people had run ahead of me! Then the Masquerade person who'd told us to move came back and got into a shouting match with security over why we'd moved the line back! If it hadn't been so annoying, it would have been comical! But no. It was just REALLY annoying. But then it got even worse...

4:15 came and went with no sign of the line moving or any autographed items coming our way. My friend who couldn't join me continued to check in with me by cellphone every half hour as I told him 'no, the line still hasn't moved'. I watched my hopes of seeing Oded fade as time passed. But I wasn't going to leave this stupid line until I got my 'winning item'! 4:30 p.m. No movement. 4:45 p.m. No movement. At 5 p.m. they started to move the line forward however. And then it stopped again. 5:15 p.m. No movement. Finally at almost 5:30 p.m. security started urging us forward in a mad rush towards a nearby door. Yes, Jude Law was in that room and we were getting something signed by him. But, they told us as they shoved us towards the door, no personal items were allowed in the room. Huh? We quickly found out what they meant as we were divested of purses, wallets, shopping bags and all personal belongings, forced to leave everything we owned in one big pile outside the door as we were forced inside the signing room. In complete shock and feeling like I'd just been mugged, I shouted back at one of the security people 'you're assuming complete personal responsibility for all of our belongings?!' 'Yes, yes.' he said as this large group of people dropped everything they owned and massed through the doors of the signing room. Somehow I found I'd still had my camera/cellphone in hand from the last time my friend had checked in with me and I quickly shoved it in my pocket lest they try to confiscate that, too. If I was going to have my purse stolen with everything I owned inside, there was no way I was losing my one lifeline to help, my cellphone. Once inside the room, we found that the media had been pushed in in front of us and probably twenty photographers or so blocked our view until we got to the very front of the line - at which point I snuck my camera-cellphone out of my pocket and snapped a shot until the security guy told me to put it away. But there behind a table, amongst other members of the cast of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow was Jude Law.

He was taller than I'd pictured, slender and handsome in a white shirt. Along with his castmates he was frantically signing poster after poster being shoved in front of him. None were personalized. All were passed at the end of the line to the next waiting 'winner'. Hmmph. I was still fuming from having my purse taken from me and had no idea if even then someone was taking my car keys and using my cash and credit cards, i.d. and who knew what else. But I was darned if I was going to pass within one foot of Jude Law after all this and not even get to say hi. So I stopped in front of him as he was scrawling his signature and said, 'I loved you in Wilde.' And he stopped and looked up at me in surprise and thanked me. I knew that would get his attention as I knew that was his early breakout role in a film not seen by many on this side of the 'pond'. I grinned and told him I also loved him in A.I. and 'that movie with Ethan Hawke' (which I couldn't for the life of me remember the title of!). The smarta$$ sitting next to him said 'Is that all?' To which I responded, 'That's all off the top of my head. I'm sure I loved him in other stuff, too.' But by then I was pushed out of the line, handed my signed poster, pushed out of the room and ran for where my purse and bag of stuff had been left. And thank goodness it was still there! I checked quickly to see that keys, wallet, etc. seemed undisturbed, but it was the most unpleasant experience I had ever had at a Comic-Con. And I WOULD STRONGLY CAUTION ANYONE GOING TO COMIC-CON TO NEVER LET YOURSELF GET CAUGHT IN THIS SITUATION! If you find yourself with a winning wristband, be sure to give everything with you to a trustworthy friend to hold or it could turn out VERY VERY BADLY. As it was, that whole bungled mess left a very bad impression and made it a very unpleasant memory, but thankfully, seemingly nothing worse than that.

By now it was 5:30 and I'd clearly missed the Resident Evil panel. Although I've since learned that although originally planned to appear, Oded actually couldn't make it to the panel; so I hadn't missed him, which is a relief. But since I still had a little while left before meeting my 'Guest Guest' friend at registration, I decided to call the friend who'd been checking in with me in line every half hour while I'd waited to see Jude. My friend and I agreed to meet downstairs in front of the dealers' room to at least take a little time to say hi and catch up. But on my way I remembered that Anthony and Eric should in theory still be doing their upstairs signing at that hour, so I detoured around the autograph area looking for them.

I quickly found Eric, along with the two actresses from Dreamless, at one of the autograph tables. He was sorting the flyers and so forth that he'd brought along. He smiled and seemed to recognize me from earlier in the day as I approached the table and I asked 'Setting up or packing up?' 'Packing up,' he answered. The disappointment must have shown in my face because he immediately offered, 'What would you like? I'll give you anything I have.' At which point a wicked grin split my face and before I could restrain myself I said, 'Hmm, you'd better be careful or I might try to take you up on that offer!' The actresses and I laughed and I think Eric flushed a little at the teasing - but really, when one of the most beautiful men I've ever seen makes a statement like that, how else am I supposed to respond? But I gave him a break from the teasing as he indicated he was referring to what he had with him, namely the Dreamless flyer, his card, or a headshot. Since I'd picked up both the flyer and card earlier, I quickly opted for the headshot which he kindly signed for me. I told him I was sorry I hadn't stopped by sooner but I'd been waiting in a stupid two hour line to get a signed poster from Jude Law. Eric seemed surprised that Jude Law was at Comic-Con, so I told him that Jude had a panel scheduled for Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow and that I'd been one of the lucky hundred or so to win wristbands that got me a poster signed by him after he did his panel appearance. One of the girls asked if Jude was as petite as he looked onscreen and I told her he was taller than I'd thought, and slender, but not skinny. Eric wondered if Jude was as tall as he was and I told him, 'No, and you're better looking, too!' The girls and I again laughed at my blatant flirtatiousness and Eric accepted it in good humor, which also earned him points in my book. But he was ready to leave and I had to run downstairs to see my friend. So although I was sorry I had apparently missed Anthony at this second signing, it was a pleasure to talk to Eric again, he was such a nice guy. So I waved goodbye and headed for the stairs.

But before I got there, I made another pass around the freebie table, this time scoring three different Highlander VHS tapes. Oh, and at some point earlier at the table, I'd gotten another fun freebie: to promote the DVD release of The Lost Boys, they handed out plastic fangs! Very clever promo!

By this time I was REALLY tired and carrying not only my purse, but two bags of freebies plus my hard-won signed poster was really wearing me down. Once I met up with him, I think my friend (who I'd known since college, but oddly had only seen at Comic-Con in recent years) saw how worn out I was as he immediately offered to carry my bags for me - WONDERFUL GENTLEMAN THAT HE IS! Thus unencumbered, I suggested walking around the dealers' room a bit more as I hadn't seen much more than half of it earlier, until it was time for me to go meet my 'Guest Guest'. My friend was amenable to this and as we walked we caught up for the year on talk of movies and TV shows and DVDs bought and wanted, as well as how the con had been. My friend was there for the whole weekend and I envied him the chance to see several of the good Sunday panels he was going to go to - including Joss Whedon's panel (the first time I'd EVER missed seeing Joss at a Comic-Con - BOOHOO!) as well as the Wonderfalls panel. My friend and I both agreed that Wonderfalls was the most painful cancellation of the season as the show had really been marvelous. True, I'm not impartial about Wonderfalls as I was around during its development and am friends with its talented co-creator Bryan Fuller. But not five minutes after having this conversation, who do I look up and see passing not one foot away from me, but... Bryan Fuller! I knew he was at the con for the weekend, but what are the odds of running into him just then? I quickly grabbed him and introduced him to my friend and they had a delightful conversation about Wonderfalls. I was quite happy to have facilitated introducing my friend to the creator of a show we'd just been discussing and praising, and equally happy for having introduced Bryan to someone who knew and appreciated his work! Serendipity!

All too soon it was time to say goodbye to my friend (see you next year?!) and meet with my 'Guest Guest' to go to dinner. I called to check on the dinner plan and the group had decided to just eat at the hotel restaurant, so my friend and I hiked over to their hotel (not terribly far in Comic-Con terms, but I was definitely getting my exercise that day!) to join them. On the walk over, my friend and I discussed the other freebies we'd picked up that were different from each other - such as she'd gotten a poster for I, Robot, whereas I'd picked one up for the new J.J. Abrams series Lost. Upon learning that she'd gotten a promotional hand towel from the upcoming movie version of Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy and that I'd gotten the three Highlander tapes (which she was a fan of), I offered to swap my tapes for her towel and she agreed! We waited until we sat down for dinner to do the exchange, but I think we both wound up happy!