Tomorrow I’ll be heading to Gally (for those who aren’t in the loop, that’s the Gallifrey One 2012 Doctor Who convention in LA), and I’m getting a bit giddy. Partly I’m excited to meet some of these actors (and the photo ops! ~squee!~), partly I’m nervous about being on a panel. Yes, I know – I signed up for it! But as the reality draws nearer, I’m starting to wonder if I can actually pull it off. Will I freeze in front of an audience?

Logically, I’d have to say “no.” After all, if I can get up in front of a class of college students and blather on about astronomy for an hour or two once or twice a week for a whole term, then surely I can sit in front of a few hundred(?) folks with five other people to back me up and blather about my avocational obsession for an hour just once. Surely.

I think I’m more nervous about making a fool of myself in front of various celebrities. Yes, these people are used to being swarmed by rabid fans, so nothing I say or do will be all that remarkable. Then again, that’s a separate problem – who wants to be one of the crowd? Obviously, there’s not a lot I can do about that; it’s not like I have the best cosplay costume ever (read: none) to make me memorable. But deep down, I think every fan wishes he or she was the one that stood out, the one that so-and-so fondly remembers from this-or-that con. I can’t help it.

To take my mind off of the unpleasant realities of anonymity, I plan to post updates from the con here at the blog. (Eventually, there will be a new section under which I’ll post those and other such “unclassifiable” entries such as this one. It’ll be cool. Really. Also, your suggestions on what to call this new section are welcome. So far, I’m considering News, Reports, or Out and About, but none of those really grab me…) I doubt I’ll be able to post very often, but there should be something up before next week’s usual posts (reviews of The Sensorites and The Caves of Androzani:SE). At the very least, I’ll be posting pictures of me with Paul McGann and with William Russell in the IAN shirt.

So. Will the Neowhovian be able to navigate Gally without undue trauma? Stay tuned…