Not My Cup of Tea

I haven't the slightest interest in comics, anime, tabletop games, or anything remotely related to nerd entertainment. I do however get a booth every year at COMICPALOOZA aka ComicCon which is Texas' largest comic and pop entertainment conference. It takes place at the world famous George R Brown Convention Center. I get a booth because I am an entrepreneur and that's a great place to make money. Parents that are in tuned with their kids can sense their child's innermost desires. I knew that this year I needed to put my monetary interest aside and nurture my son's interest. I purchased VIP passes to the 2017 COMICPALOOZA and willingly braced myself for whatever nerdisms lied ahead.

Springtime Halloween

May 2017 downtown Houston was flooded with grown ass men and women dressed as super heroes, comic book characters, video game villains, and random movie characters. At first, I turned my nose up to it, and then I saw how amazed my son was and that all of these people were just enjoying themselves. Who am I to judge someone for simply being themselves? Many of these attendees that dawned these elaborate costumes made them with their own hand. That alone deserves a nod.

I Let My Guard Down

As our evening progressed, we stopped by several booths and even participated in a few panels. This year the event filled the entire convention center's 3 floors. That's 1,900,000 sq ft of nerd stuff. We made our way up to the 3rd floor which hosed video game competitions and even an area for pro wrestling. Before making our way to the videogames, we saw a makeshift medieval battleground with heavy foam weapons and shields. All of the people staffing this area were dressed as knights, fairies, and other Anglo mystical creatures. I signed a waiver for my boys to sword fight in this arena. After watching them for about 20 minutes, I decided that I should join. I waived my right to sue in the event of an injury and grabbed a sword. I murdered at least 50 souls and gained 1,000,000,000 XP. I was on a roll. WTF is this called because this is fun. When I sat to catch my breath, I called a friend and told about what we were doing. He explained to me that we were doing Cosplay. Noooooooo, I was duped. I started genuinely enjoying nerd stuff. I won't go as far as saying that I am a Cosplayer, but I will admit that I derived much joy for myself while doing it. I also took great joy in seeing my boys experience dad participate in something that brings them pleasure. It was so fun that we bought several of the cosplay swords to play with at home.