The second day started off by experiencing a live podcast. “Live” in the sense that I was there when they recorded it. The podcast was Dear Hank and John which gives dubious advice on all things usually from Hank Green and John Green. Unfortuntely, Hank was not there so instead, Karen Hallion (aka Nerd Jedi and fantastic illustrator) was there to help. Hilarious jokes ensued and while not a lot of good advice was given, it at least made you think of what I would do in those situations.

Next I went to three panels. The first talked about how storytelling in music. The second, was about storytelling in Tabletop games. This one was very exciting not only because I love games, but I wanted to get an idea of how games get started. The audience was asked to write questions on Jenga pieces and they would pull one out at a time and answer the question. Unfortuntely, my question was not answered but there were a lot of good ones asked. Next up was the Wild Card panel which we got to choose as the audience what they talked about. The decision was made that each person would tell a story and the audience had to decide whether it was true, sort of true, or a bold face lie. Not many told a lie but the stories included finding an abandoned kitty, an Irish wolfhound discovering an open door and trying to tell her owners, a little boy’s kind hearted imagination, and a bat flying around a living room. All true in one way or another.

The afternoon Variety Show arrived and was well needed in a long day. People lip singed to songs (and to each other), a moving article read by John Green about mental illness, and how Ms. Pacman had to fight against the patriarchy. There was so much more but not enough time to tell it. We took a break and I went back to the main auditorium to watch four people play the game Dread. This is a role playing game based on horror but instead of rolling dice, the players have to pull a Jenga piece out. What is normally a four hour game was condensed to an hour and a half. A lot of laughter followed and a good time all around.

The last thing to happen was another type of Variety show but more personal. By this time, many people had left for the day and we were late coming in. Unfortuntely, the place we decided to eat at did not have good service. Either way, this was an experience I will never forget and I hope that it will come back next year.