<\/td><\/tr><\/table><\/p>\nWe began the day with the panel “When I Grow Up: It’s Never Too Late to Try Something Crazy”. <\/p>\n
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| I really don’t feel right about laughing at a man who has brain damage, but that was his goal.<\/td><\/tr><\/table><\/p>\n Sean Baptiste underwent a dozen surgeries for a brain tumor that was eventually called inoperable. The surgeries (or the tumor) left him with damage that impaired his ability to remember things. So he decided to go into stand-up comedy. No, really. Sean spoke a bit about his condition, then screened an episode of a video series detailing his journey. It was painful, illuminating, and humorous. <\/p>\n What I found crazy? The guy can remember his material, but then forgets PERFORMING it. The brain is a funny thing.<\/p>\n We had many more panels we wanted to attend, but after three days of sleep deprivation, exhaustion, and junk food, I was just too footsore, glassy-eyed, and mentally inept to put the hours into proper use. What I really wanted was a place to rest. There are benches scattered around the convention hall, about one bench for every two thousand people. To keep people from knifing each other over places to sit, the benches are slabs of depleted uranium that afforded no hope of comfort or rest. Sitting on them is so painful that your leg pain seems tame by comparison, which is sort of<\/em> like resting them. <\/p>\n We wound up walking the show floor again. <\/p>\n Wizards of the Coast had a really cool booth that looked like a castle. A castle make of plastic and filled with expensive merchandise. Above is my princess, although she didn’t need rescuing. <\/p>\n Finally I gave up and wobbled to the food court, where the Loading Ready Run folks were playing Magic: The Gathering. Also, there were chairs. Sweet, sweet unoccupied chairs. I had to kill very few people to acquire one, which was a nice change of pace.<\/p>\n My spectating enjoyment was slightly diminished by the fact that I had no flaming idea what in the name of Gary Gygax was going on. Graham did his best to explain the rules while he played. It was like learning how to set the clock on your VCR from a guy who is in the middle of defusing a bomb.<\/p>\n The crew actually made this handy instructional video after Pax Prime last year:<\/p>\n |
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