Head... aching. Right elbow... sore. Leg... throbbing. Rain... pouring. Wind... blowing. With those conditions, I had only one treatment: Get the Dr. Gregory House costume out of the closet for the final day of WonderCon 2009. If I'm going to have a bum leg during a convention, I might as well use it as a costume prop.

Upon arriving at the Fremont BART station, I came upon some elderly ladies in red hats. Being a cosplayer and occasionally part of a group of cosplayers in public, I learned to recognize other organized groups of rabble rousers. It turned out they were members of the Red Hat Society. They reminded me of the Red Hat Mamas from The Simpsons, minus the plot to steal Faberge eggs. Despite such age, the ladies displayed a certain youth, energy, and enjoyment of life that most emo teens of today lack. If I do live long enough to join the Red Hat Society, something has gone completely loopy in my life that resulted in me becoming an elderly woman.

As the BART train made its stops, several more Red Hat ladies filled the train; their laughter and camaraderie drowning out the noise of the train's movements. At least one of the ladies had children or grandchildren en route to WonderCon today as well. I got to speak with Carl, a retiree also en route to WonderCon. With his involvement in ComicBase and original 1940s comics valued in the triple digits at least, it was great to see an older generation of comic book fans attending comic book conventions like WonderCon and putting up with young ones like myself. At least we all have a love for the illustrated art.

I departed the BART station at Powell and limped to the Moscone Center. Along the road, I ended up walking side-by-side with none other than Richard Kiel. When I first watched "Moonraker" as a child, Jaws scared the living daylights out of me. A bullying child with braces may have attributed to the fear of metal mouthed people, but I digress. Now I found myself walking alongside a huge frame that is an iconic image of James Bond and Hollywood cinema.

I arrived a few minutes before the opening of the WonderCon Dealers Hall. Today was the best day to shop because of reduced crowds and dealers more interested in unloading their goods than repacking and hauling their goods back home. Being the frugal fan with a budget, I only had two objectives. First was the free pin distributed at the Charles Schulz booth. Second was Gregg Berger's autograph. After hearing that he was present at this convention and he was the voice of G1 Grimlock, I simply had to get him to autograph my Transformers Classics Grimlock figure. The big dinosaur's voice still rings in my ears when thinking of "Transformers."

I limped to the Esplanade Ballroom to visit the television panels promoting the "Chuck," "Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles," and "Harper's Island" series. With my Press badge, I gained access to interviews with the creative forces of "Chuck" and "Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles." My enjoyment of the panels was limited due to not having a television to watch any of these shows. When the panels ended, I legged it to shoot costumes and find my high school friend Kim.

With Devi's keen eyes, she helped me locate Kim and her significant other Jeff of Stand Up Comics. It was a surreal experience seeing Kim after 10 years. Back in high school she wasn't into the cosplaying or the conventions. Now she's at WonderCon cosplaying a catgirl. Times change and people change. Who knows where how we'll see each other in 10 years. I'll probably be swatting annoying cosplayers with my cane while being a general smart ass. In other words, no change at all. Oddly enough, Jeff and I attended several of the same conventions and may have spoken to each other as customer and dealer. Now we can recognize each other at cons.

After bidding Kim and Jeff farewell, I darted back to the Dealers Hall to shoot any costumes I missed earlier. The combination of the final day of the convention combined with rain dampened most costume plans as there were very few of them present.

I ran into Kei and Jonas one last time to discuss the winding down of this convention followed by the impending arrival of yet another convention around the corner. So many cons, so little time. We gung ho convention attendees either love the hobby or are insane. DC was pretty much the only booth still living on the last day as attendees stood in a Disneyland-esque line hoping to snag free comics, pins, and Wonder Woman tiaras. The Viz Media booth gave out free manga for anyone interested. I look forward to reading and reviewing the "Dragonball Evolution" junior novelization and the first volumes of "Monster," The Drifting Classroom," Backwards Game," "Uzumaki," Golgo 13," and "20th Century Boys."

I grabbed a quick meal at Jollibee after a shooting a few rounds of the most patient Batman I've seen, I began my exodus to the BART station.

From across the street, I spotted a familiar Di Di shaped figure. Luckily, the Di Di shaped figure turned out to be Di Di as she turned and crossed over to my side of the road. We spent a few minutes grabbing Beard Papa cream puffs and keeping each other company before heading to our respective BART trains and heading home.

Pictures are copyright by Traveling Valentine. If we took your picture, feel free to use it on your site or cosplay gallery. While you're here, do sign the guestbook. This site was brought to you by a font of some sort. Many thanks to Chaz Boston Baden for the image resizing and watermarking program.