DAY 2:

FOR EVERY SILVER LINING...
Today was my first full day in Indianapolis, and I was set and determined to be up and moving very early to secure myself a good spot in the line to get in.  Unfortunately, I had stayed out until midnight and was awake even later writing my previous journal entry.

Very smart, Eric.

I'd set my alarm (on my cell phone) to wake me up at 4:00 so I could get dressed and be in line by 5:00.  I slept right through it.  The only reason I woke up at all was because my friend called me at 5:30 to find out when I was going to get in line.  Needless to say, I scrambled.  I finally got into the line at about 6:00, which by that time was several city blocks long.  I found myself in a rat maze of a queue behind the building (the line wrapped around).  I opened out my folding chair (see? I've got brains after all) and settled in for a long wait in line with one very grim outlook looming on the horizon.  Literally.  And me without an umbrella or poncho.

It wasn't a downpour.  I could have dealt with a brief soaking followed by chilly respite.  But on this morning, Mother Nature had something more persistently cruel in mind for the huddled masses of geekdom.  It started very slowly, when I noticed a few drops hit my newspaper (another fortuitous carry-along on this particular morning).  Before long, that built to a light but mind-numbingly constant drizzle, accompanied by vicious wind chill.  I bundled myself down into my flimsy little chair to the best of my ability, but couldn't avoid the inevitable (as my neighbor in the line put it) violent shivers.  Luckily, I did have my newspaper to use as a somewhat effective (yet not really) shelter from the precipitous onslaught.  My only comfort was knowing that soon I would be in a different line inside the building... a warm line...


LINES, LINES, EVERYWHERE THERE'S LINES
For those who attended Celebration I or Celebration II (and, I suspect, other conventions of this size), I don't need to explain the significance of the word LINES.  Those of us who have seen this beast rear its butt-ugly head know that this is a very serious beast, and can be a very painful beast.  It likes to chew on feet and leg muscles, in particular.

This morning, I went directly from the entrance line to the Celebration Store line.  Why?  Because I wanted to get in and get my exclusives before they closed the doors again, and I was willing to bypass all of the other beasties for the moment to get this one massive beast out of the way.  I was in the line by 9:15.  I finally left the large room containing the makeshift storefront at roughly 2:00 pm.  That is a total of 5 hours spent in this specific line, and a grand total of 8 hours spent almost continuously in line this morning!

Adding insult to injury (foot injury), every half hour or so they would announce over the P.A. system that some item or another was out of stock (to overwhelming booing every single time).  They had just restocked, and their inventory wasn't even surviving the morning.  For those of us in line, it was like an upside-down lottery...

"Please don't announce the item I want...  Please don't announce the item I want..."

Luckily, I got everything I'd gone in to get (the jacket is very nice).  A couple friends behind me weren't so lucky in that cruel lottery.  After that experience I had to go the Fan Club Lounge to sit down, because my dogs were barking up a storm.

What I got in the store:
A Celebration 3 jacket
A Celebration 3 ball cap
2 C3 t-shirts (one black, the other maroon)
4 of the exclusive Darth Vader figures (of which I plan to sell 3)


THE ONE THING THAT 'FRIENDS' GOT RIGHT
I mentioned yesterday the sheer plentitude of homemade costumes at this event.  Well, I saw a few today that almost balanced out the attrocities I'd seen yesterday (almost).

First was one young lady who'd made a costume to resemble the black outfit worn by Padme during the awkwardly deep fireside scene between her and Anakin in Episode 2.  You know, the one that looked like Natalie's itty-bitties could pop out at any moment.  Well this woman was rather more endowed than the lovely Ms Portman, and the outfit was just as tight.  I watched for a long time, hoping beyond hope for a wardrobe malfunction that unfortunately never came.  But I did enjoy watching.

A bit later in the day, as I was resting my kennel in the Lounge (damn dogs just kept on barking), in walked a couple that I remember seeing at Celebration II.  The guy (whose name I found out is Jimmy) was dressed as Han Solo (and a very well done costume), while his lovely companion was dressed as Princess Leia.  You know... THAT costume.  Tiny, metal, revealing...  A picture is worth a thousand words and they were both very gracious about posing for cameras, so I'll let you have a couple thousand words right now (most of those words being "wow")...

As I said, both extemely well done costumes, and hers is unquestionably an eye-catcher.  Hers was not the only Slave Leia costume here today, either.  There were several others, although the others weren't quite up to par in quality or (to be completely blunt) drop-dead beauty with this specific one.  Nevertheless, they were all quite... nice.  Oh how I do love this event.

I'm such a pig.

I've decided to call it an early day today, hopefully get some sleep tonight, and actually get in line earlier in the morning.  George Lucas is giving the extremely rare live interview tomorrow, and I'm sure the line will fill to capacity in no time flat, so I have to be there faster than that.  Anybody have a Tardis or DeLorean I can borrow?