As I mentioned earlier, I ran into a friend from elementary school at the San Diego Comic-Con. His name is Arsia Rozegar (he had a longer last name when I knew him, but it was really two names, and now he goes simply by Arsia Rozegar or RC Rex). Anyway, I was surprised to learn that he works at Haberlin Studios as an inker and colorist. He recently inked a piece by J. Scott Campbell (for the Girlz n’ Monsters toy line, I assume). He’s also done coloring for Hulk, Kiss, and X-Men comics (among others, I’m sure). You can take a look at some of his work at the Haberlin Studios website. Arsia is also a musician, and you can hear a sample of his music at his personal website.

I tried to sleep in, but my body was having none of it. When it comes to making airline flights, my internal clock is extremely sensitive. I got up around 9 AM, even though my flight wasn’t until 2:50 PM. I took a shower, packed up all my crap, and got online for a couple hours. I left the house keys on Kelly’s end table, locked the door behind me, and stepped away from the beach house for the last time.

As a bookend to my San Diego vacation, I ate lunch at the Wendy’s I nearly broke down in five days prior. Things were different this time around. I knew exactly where I was.

I filled up the gas tank in my rental car, then returned it downtown. I thought it humorous that I never once put the top down. Way to waste money, Michael.

My first flight was full, but I managed to get on the plane right away with all 4 pieces of carryon luggage safely stowed in the overhead compartments. The layover in Denver was short, and I quickly boarded the relatively empty jet to Dulles. I have to say, Frontier Airline has some great jets. I loved the Direct TV service. I gladly paid the $5 charge to watch some Classic VH1 videos (80’s pop & metal), as well as the Democratic National Convention on FOX News.

Aside: Bill Clinton is a good speaker. I may not like him or agree with him, but that dude can talk.

I arrived at Dulles at midnight. The parking bill was $90 (sheeeeeeeeeeesh!). I relished getting behind the wheel of my own car, though. The Seabring convertible was stone age compared to my BMW. I blasted Sahara Hotnights and zoom-a-zoom-zoomed my way home.

My San Diego trip is over, and now I’ll have a day to relax and get used to the 3-hour time change before returning to work. I’ll have to go through all of my pictures tomorrow, unpack, and catch up on my bills, mail, and correspondence. I also need to do laundry, so I can wear some of my awesome new shirts.

Before I go, here’s a list of things I learned this week…

• Don’t ever get a convertible rental car.
• Don’t park in the daily garage at the airport, if vacation is more than 3 days.
• Pack less than needed (wear clothes a second time—nobody cares).
• Don’t bring more than 2 carryon items.
• Buy a bigger suitcase, specifically made for carryon.
• Next year, book room at the Hilton Gaslight, and forget about the rental car.
• Rickshaws are better than blisters.
• Taxicabs are better than rickshaws.
• Leave the flip-flops at home. Bring sneakers.
• Next year, bring more business cards. You never know whom you’ll run into.
• Hanging out with a friend is better than seeing celebrities.
• Surfing is hard.
• Just because a girl has great boobs, doesn’t mean she deserves a great tip.
• Everything works out in the end—no matter how stressful the situation.
• There’s no place like home.

I slept in on Sunday morning. There wasn’t really anything I HAD to go to at the Con (although seeing Kennedy and Joss Whedon from Buffy would have been cool). Kelly was doing church stuff in the morning and afternoon. Colby offered to take me around town, but I figured she had other things she could be doing, so I drove to the surf shop at Pacific Beach to see if they had my photos. I went into the shop first, then they directed me to the booth over beside the beach, where the photographer was. There I was—dressed in jeans, clunky shoes, and a long-sleeve, black button up shirt—cruising down the beach sidewalk, while all the nearly naked yokels gave me ridiculous, mocking looks. I found the girl, who does the picture taking, and she apologized for not having the pictures. I said it was okay, as long as she mailed the prints to me & e-mailed me the digital images. I have her word she will.

I was starving, so I went to Hooters again. The service sucked, but the waitress was h-o-t-t. After that, I drove downtown & parked at the Convention Center for one final hour of Comic-Con fun. I wanted to say goodbye to Doug & Arsia, and maybe make some last-minute impulse purchases. I did see Arsia & told him we should organize a Little Run reunion. Hopefully, we’ll be able to keep in contact with each other. I ran into Steve Niles one last time & said goodbye. I purchased two art prints—one of a painting of Natalie Portman from The Professional, and one of J. Scott Campbell’s Buffy: Chaos Blood cover art. I wasn’t exactly sure how I was going to transport them to D.C., but I’m sure a thin shopping bag won’t be considered another carryon item. I wanted to purchase two Transformers prints done by Ben Templesmith from Splashpage Art, but they had already sold the Optimus Prime one, and I wanted that to go along with the Megatron one.

Doug & I met up, and I gave him a ride back to his hotel/car. We said goodbye, and I was off to Mission Beach once again.

Kelly & Colby were building a garden box on the patio, so I helped them with that for a little while. Kelly quickly got ready, and the two of us went off to church. Kelly goes to a Sunday night service called Flood, which is almost identical to MBC’s Frontline—except in its infant stages. It was actually quite refreshing to experience it. Things were rough and sloppy, but I thought it was cool how the emphasis wasn’t on making the production slick & smooth, but instead on the raw power & joy of the worship. Eventually—as Flood grows & grows—they’ll look more & more like Frontline, which isn’t a bad thing. I just hope they keep their same spirit.

I bought a Flood shirt and CD. It’d be interesting to compare the Flood CD to the new Frontline CD. It’d be hard to beat Stephanie Cuomo’s fantastic voice, but their Asian male worship leader (think Pete Lim with bleached blond surfer hair) was pretty decent.

Aside: It’s great to visit other churches—just to see that worship is happening everywhere. Not just in my own church. Worship doesn’t end with my own personal experience with it. God isn’t on a Sunday morning schedule—based on what time I arrive at the sanctuary & what time I leave. He’s beyond what we try to structure & organize in a building as an attempt to grasp Him. He’s bigger than any church. He doesn’t need me or you—as individuals—to glorify Himself. If we won’t do it, He’ll find others who will. But I’m glad for the opportunity. And it encourages me to see people everywhere taking advantage of the opportunity, as well. Everywhere. People are doing what I do at church everywhere. It’s not just me. It’s bigger than me. And it’s bigger than my church.

We went out for yogurt afterwards with several of Kelly’s friends from church. They were mostly all young college girls. The age demographic of Flood is more like The Gathering, rather than Frontline. The yogurt was good, but I didn’t really have much to add to the conversation. Kelly & I left and went to bed upon arriving home.

I got up fairly early on Saturday, because Colby (one of Kelly’s roommates) wanted to go to Comic-Con with one of her friends. Kelly & I decided to ride with them, so we all went downtown. I didn’t see much of the three girls once we got there. I went immediately to the IDW booth to finally meet Steve Niles and say hello to Ben again. I got in line for the signing & had Ben sign two issues of Singularity 7 #1. I shook hands with Steve, said hello & had my picture taken with him.

After that, I went to the IDW panel upstairs, where Ben, Steve, Thomas Jane (Punisher), Will Eisner and others talked about their upcoming projects for IDW. Afterwards, we got a group shot of everyone from the Inner Sanctum that was there. Jen gave me two passes to the IDW party later that night.

I went to the autographs area & got another picture of Robia & myself (since the other one was out of focus). I also met Robin Sachs (Buffy), and got a pic of the Corey’s (Haim & Feldman).

After that, I went down to Exhibit Hall H, where I spent the rest of the day. Matt and Tre from South Park were finishing their promotion, then came the Sky Captain presentation with Jude Law and Giovani Robesi. Following that was a mini-feature of Resident Evil 2 with a taped introduction by Milla Jovovich. One of the other stars came out and introduced the footage from the film.

Finally, after all that, it was time for Sarah Michelle Gellar. She came out (along with that dude from Roswell) to promote their upcoming horror film The Grudge, which is being produced by Sam Raimi. I immediately got in line to ask her a question, but right as I was next in line, the time ran out & they dismissed us. Anyway, I was able to watch her during the presentation & hear her answers—she was quite funny! The question I was going to ask her was: “So, Sarah… How’s the marriage going? Any friction? Do you want some time apart?” I wish I could have asked it.

Doug & I got some free exclusive stuff upstairs, since we had these special tickets. For me, it amounted to a free Sky Captain shirt and a Grudge hat. I gave everything else to Doug.

We took a cab back to Doug’s hotel, where we dropped off all our crap. Then we headed to the IDW party at the Rock Bottom Brewery. Unfortunately, Doug & I weren’t able to get in. The place was jam-packed & they weren’t letting any more people in. We decided to go have dinner, and we ate, drank and talked about all sorts of stuff.

We then walked to the Hyatt near the Convention Center, where we met up with Kelly, Colby and Colby’s fella Lorenzo. They had lots of free movie screenings at the Hyatt, and the five of us went in & watched Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life. I was dead tired, so I wasn’t that into the movie. I just wanted to get home.

Afterwards, we walked back to Doug’s hotel & picked up my stuff. Then we went and picked up Colby’s car. Then we had to go back to the Hyatt, because Doug left his badge at the movie. Then we dropped Doug off at his hotel. Then we went home & dropped Kelly off at her house. Colby, Lorenzo and I went to the bar around the block and had a couple drinks there, until it was closing time.

I went home & straight to bed.

On Friday, I did the full-fledged Comic-Con thing. I got up as early as I could & got to the Convention Center around noon. Parking was insane and completely full everywhere. I ended up parking at the garage at Doug’s hotel and taking a cab to the Con.

I took lots of pictures. I wanted to capture some of the booth displays and shots of all the costumed freaks. I met lots of fun celebrities, including Dean Haglund (The Lone Gunmen), Robia Lamorte (Buffy), Amber Benson (Buffy), Tom Lenik (Buffy), Danny Strong (Buffy), Marc Singer (Beastmaster, V), Erin Grey (Buck Rogers), Flash Gordon, Michael Turner (Fathom, Witchblade), and Cillian Murphy (28 Days Later, Batman Begins).

I also went to several of the big Hollywood panels, including Batman Begins, Constantine, and Lord of the Rings. I got shots of Cillian Murphy, Keanu Reeves, and LotR’s David Wenham and Billy Boyd addressing the jam-packed Exhibit Hall H.

And that was about it for the Comic-Con that day. Doug gave me a ticket to the Shaun of the Dead screening that evening, so I met him at the theater around 8 PM. I actually took one of those bicycle cabs to the theater, because my feet were a mess, and all the taxicab automobiles were taken.

The director and star of Shaun of the Dead were at the screening to introduce the movie and answer questions afterwards. The movie itself was incredible. It was so very clever, hilarious and really scary at the same time. It was a terrific British zombie movie. I was so surprised at how good it was. The official release date in the U.S. is in September. If you get the chance to see it, GO!

I can’t remember what happened after the movie. I think I just went home.