Ok so if you haven’t caught on yet, Meat Pete (my omni man) is a huge nerd. I love him but it’s the truth. There are stacks of comics all over our house, Dungeons and Dragons rule books, multiple sets of dice, super-hero movies, collectible figures and oh did I mention the comics!

Last August I was trying to figure out what to get Pete for his birthday. I’m not a big gift giver. I like giving the gift of experience vs an actual physical gift that will get lost in my hoarder’s collection of junk. I overheard one of the attorneys at the law firm I work at talking about something called Comicon and how he was going to be going to Rosemont on the weekend of Pete’s birthday for this convention. The first thought that went through my mind was, “Holy crap, I can send Pete to a Comicon for a day! That’s perfect!” In my mind, I had my lady night all planned out with movies, popcorn and cuddling up with my dogs. When I came home and told Pete about his gift he dropped the bomb: He refused to go to this unless I went too. He wanted to go and was really excited about it, but he didn’t want to go alone. What woman would disappoint her man on his birthday? That would just be down-right mean. So I purchased two tickets and tried to mentally prepare myself for challenge before me: not being bored at a comic book convention with other nerdlings like Pete around.

I’m a nerd too. I’m a huge nerd! My nerdiness may not consist of Star Trek watching, comic-book reading, role-play gaming but I’m still a nerd. I’m a fitness and diet nerd. What Comicon is to Pete is what a health and fitness expo before a big race is to me! Either way you roll the dice, we’re both nerds in our own way at the end of the day. The difference is, Pete will go to my events and expos and never really complain. Me, on the other hand, well, let’s just say our 11 age difference shows up sometimes. I’ll admit I’m not always the most supportive person at an event I don’t want to be at.

At Comicon, I was 100% supportive. I drove us up there, paid for our lunch and attempted to wander the crowds with Pete. This was the first year that Pete and I went to a large comic book convention like this so we didn’t really know what to expect and hadn’t planned out our day very well. Pete got to sit in on an interview with Patrick Stewart which I believe to be his most memorable experience. I will admit I did enjoy one part of the day: the interview I sat in on with Pete with Christopher Lloyd. That was pretty cool.

This past Saturday, I dragged Mr. Supportive Omnivore Pete to a vegan/vegetarian group meetup at a restaurant called Asparagus. Pete sat across from someone he’d never met before named Jim Heely (all identities are kept secret). Pete and Jim seemed to bond instantly–they both had a witty and dry sarcastic sense of humor about them and both discovered that they’d been to Comicon and enjoyed themselves. Oddly enough both were omnivores too just along for a ride. There were also both sitting next to two female vegan runners with the same names (just different spelling)! Jim and Pete hit it off and decided to make a trip to Comicon together in August 2012 at Rosemont. I was so excited that Pete had someone to go with so I wouldn’t have to go this year! For a brief moment, I saw my lady night of movies and popcorn and dog cuddling flash before my eyes until Jim Heely said, “Well, you’re going too.”

I looked at Jim, eyes sullen, and said, “Huh?” He basically told me that I wasn’t looking at it the right way. The message I got from Jim was to drop my attitude about the nerds at Comicon and to look at it for all of the cool things it offered instead of all the things I deem uncool about it: like the thousands of comics everywhere and the people dressed up in super-hero costumes.

I took Jim Heely’s challenge and decided to open my eyes to Comicon a little wider this year. While you probably won’t catch me in storm trooper costume or standing in line to buy the latest action figures, you will catch me at more of the interviews with the plethora of actors they have there and I was told there is some pretty cool art at this event as well. You will catch me better planning my trip this year so that I can have just as enjoyable experience as Pete and Jim will have. And since it’s a Vegan Comicon Field Trip, we are eating someplace vegan for dinner!

Sara