Second year at Comic-Con with The Big Bang Theory.
Here’s the report.
Getting There: We camp with two families we adore every summer. This summer we chose lovely Cuyamoca Rancho State Park, an hour from Comic-Con. This meant two nights sleeping in a tent on the ground, eating veggie dogs and vegan s’mores, leading sing-a-longs, and seeing a rattlesnake two feet from me on a hike.
Getting Pretty: I never shower when camping, even if it’s a three or four day trip. However, the morning I had to be at Comic-Con, I used the camp’s shower and did my makeup using a car’s sideview mirror in the middle of our campsite at 7 a.m. What made it even more fun than my 25 cents-worth of a weak stream of tepid water was that there was a three-inch scorpion showering with me which I only spotted after lathering up. Not knowing how fast moving they are (it was a foot away from my foot), I VERY quickly rinsed off while keeping a constant neurotic eye on the scorpion. It was a stressful two minutes to say the least. (FYI: scorpions are very fast moving and it could have stung me incredibly quickly and easily, I later found out.)
Getting in the Mood: Once my husband and kids dropped me blocks from the Convention Center, I kept my head down and made a beeline for the hotel where Warner Brothers had us all getting ready. If anyone had recognized me at that point, I might not have made it out alive since the Big Bang love is fierce at Comic-Con. I met up with my bosses Chuck Lorre, Bill Prady, and Steve Molaro, and my castmates who had just flown in from Los Angeles (except for Jim Parsons who is in New York appearing in “Harvey” on Broadway, which is excellent and he’s amazing, and Johnny Galecki who arrived a few hours later from a film shoot he’s on in Georgia). We had some snacks, got prepped for the day, and started out.
Getting Love: We did two autograph signings on the floor of the Convention Center, a panel for 6500 people (that’s not hyperbole; it was literally Hall H which is for 6500 people), we gave a fan named Mercedes a free tourist ticket to space (also not hyperbole; she won an hour trip into space and back), and we did some press and photos and on-camera interviews.
Getting Real: I missed having Jim Parsons with me at Comic-Con. I adore Jim, and we work very well together. We also play well together, since he’s shy and not “Hollywood” and he’s a really interesting intelligent deep-thinking kind of fun person. I like my castmates, and Melissa Rauch especially makes me so thrilled to be on this cast because we have a blast together, but I never felt this way about a co-worker before. Sure, Joey Lawrence and Jenna von Oy were fun on “Blossom,” but Jim is like a real person who I could see hanging out with after Big Bang is over. I had a real tender moment when I saw his face on the screen during the panel (we Skyped him in for that hour). I kissed the screen and really can’t wait to see him when we go back to work in a few weeks.
Getting the Heck Out of There: I didn’t want to stay late like I did last year, when a certain official party had naked body-painted dancing women in cages as the entertainment (also not hyperbole). I went home with the help of someone who needs explanation: Last month, I did something I never thought I would do. I hired someone to help me manage speaking engagements, flights, cars, hotels, and the like. He’s like an assistant but he doesn’t work out of my house, and he has another job he works almost 40 hours at, and I hate the idea of needing help, blah blah blah… but I now have help and his name is Brandon and he’s very sweet and quiet and smart and organized. Anyway, Brandon came with me to Comic-Con with his sweet girlfriend and the second I was done with interviews, we hightailed it out of San Diego.
Getting Grounded: It’s humbling to meet people for whom our show means so much. I love comic books and science fiction and people all along the nerd/geek spectrum. I don’t think Comic-Con is weird or creepy or anything but people who love the stuff I love (except the TV shows because I don’t watch anything on TV now). I like that our show means something to people. I love that people whose kids are on the Autism spectrum love our show’s representation of quirky people with obsessions and compulsions who function, love, enjoy things, have careers, and just ARE. I’m grateful to be a female scientist on a show about scientists.
I love my job. I love Comic-Con. I love showering with scorpions. All of it is beautiful and Divine and I am grateful to be alive.
How did a post about Comic-Con lead to my love for God and for all of existence? I don’t know. Guess that’s just how we nerds do things.
