I’m typing this (or Swyping it, rather) on my flight from Vegas to San Diego, so I only have about half an hour.

After counting down for the better part of a year (355 days, so a year minus ten is more accurate) Comic Con 2015 is finally just mere hours away.

Last year, I hoped to network, but since it was my first convention (ever!) it was very difficult to try and absorb all the sights, sounds, and even, yes unfortunately, the smells, as well as try to be productive. Talk about sensory overload.

For those of you who simply do not understand the draw of such a gathering, allow me to attempt to explain. Comic Con is the best of everything you’ve ever loved, and then some. Those cartoons you watched every Saturday morning? That movie or book that embedded itself in your psyche, until you can’t think of your childhood without remembering it? Take all those feelings of nostalgia and innocent happiness, and then multiply it by thousands of people. I guarantee you, there is someone out there who loves that favorite comic of yours, that unforgettable underdog character, that movie or book series, every bit as much as you do.

We’re not freaks. Or weirdos. (No, your argument is invalid.) We’re just a bunch of exposed nerves who feel deeply about a wide variety of things. We might dress up as wizards and warlocks and superheroes, in costumes stitched together from whatever we could find around the house that wasn’t spoken for (like the bathroom curtains) but don’t write us off, or say we’re out of touch with reality. On the contrary…we love reality so much, we choose to live in several. So from where we stand (#NerdsUnite!) you ‘re the one who’s missing out.

So go ahead, talk to that fella wearing the seemingly cryptic “All About That Base (No Rebels)” shirt, or that girl whose eyes light up whenever someone mentions Iron Man. The worst that could happen is you become absorbed by a fandom, and are moved enough by the experience to blog about it. Maybe you’ll even go to Comic Con.

But by then, I imagine you’ll understand what all the fuss is about.

– andi