Commence insanity in 5, 4, 3, 2… and this was just Preview Night!
 
Picking up our Press badges went a lot smoother than I expected, leaving us three hours to “rest” before the dealer floor opened up.  Actually, it seemed to me that badge pickup of any type seemed to be going smoother than I’ve seen it go in years.  I didn’t see any lines wrapped around the block, some were barely out the door, so either everyone is waiting until tomorrow to pick up their badges, or the Con has streamlined the badge process considerably.
 
The masses were finally let into the main hall at 6:00, and by masses I mean the smallest crowd we’re likely to see on the dealer floor from here on out.  If I had to guess I’d say 40-50 thousand or so people.  Believe me, that’s still a lot, but nothing compared to what the floor will be like by noon Friday!
 
The swag was good, even though no one could make it to everything before the giveaways were gone, I still managed to get some great stuff, and the dealers seemed more prepared this year than last with faster moving lines and a better estimate of how to control the lines.  Almost all the large booths had designated “Line Starts Here” and “Line Ends Here” sign-bearers. 
 
The new-this-year Laurell K. Hamilton booth was giving away everything from stickers and buttons to cloth shoulder bags, and had some adorable merchandise that I definitely have to go back and check out, like “Plush Nathaniel” a small stuffed black leopard wearing a t-shirt.  I also scored a super Legendary Pictures/Bryan Singer CC2010 t-shirt and a great “sampler” of comic offerings from Radical Publishing.  Those are just a few of the great things that were available.
 
In three full circuits of the hall tonight I think I may have managed to take in about 2% of the available offerings for sale, free, or being advertised, so I’m really hoping to get some more time to peruse the floor between panels and interviews this week!