The Opening Salvo.....

It has begun.

The Salt Lake Comic Con began today and oh boy, what a way to start.

From the moment I got in line to the moment I left I was grinning from ear to ear. I know there are a few people who read this who will never understand how great this whole thing really is for someone like me, but I will do my best to explain.

I am a passionate man, but I'm also a reserved and logical one. So for me to be completely immersed in something that means so much to me and to be in the presence of such talent and enthusiasm is one of the purest forms of joy I will ever be able to experience and few things will ever measure up to it.

There is no way to describe how it feels to see so many people gathered together to celebrate nothing more or less than unbridled imagination. This is not about dressing up like your favorite character or meeting a celebrity from an old TV show or movie. This is about basking in one of the most fundamental building blocks of the human experience. Everyone dreams, everyone wants to escape and everyone wants to be something more than they are and this convention is about the unapologetic embrace of those desires. There were people there today from every walk of life and of every age and they all had the same gleam of wonder in their eyes.

A lot of people it seems think that we are walking around in a make believe fantasy world or that we can't cope with real life. But the truth of the matter is that most people who are truly passionate about these "geeky" things simply understand that real is whatever we want it to be.

Sure, it's fun to dress up and the sense of community is nice and it's pretty neat to see famous people and meet childhood icons. But for me, the real fun comes from knowing that I am in a place where reality is elastic, among people who look at the world like a blank canvas or an empty page and understand that all they have to do is dream it and it will be as real as the ground beneath their feet and the sun on their face.

There is a tangible kind of power in this way of life and though I've always known it in my head, today was the first time I have felt it in my soul.

So say what you will about my comic books and Magic cards. Poke fun at my Pokemon and my Star Wars obsession. Because while you sit and wonder what to do with your "real" life, I will be living a multitude of them.

Oh, and in most of my lives, I have a fucking lightsaber. So who's really coming out on top?