Packing list? This got far beyond a packing list at least a year ago.

Year one of dragon*con: toss your toothbrush, toothpaste, and a spare pair of underwear into your backpack, while keeping your camera in your hand. Six days later, acknowledge the clothes that you're wearing are disgusting, and cannot be saved. Burn them. Vow to do better next year.

Year two: one suitcase. More spare underwear. Steal your spouse's toothpaste after forgetting your own. Make valiant attempts to get two uses out of each set of clothing. Six days later, vow to boil your clothes upon returning home; they're disgusting, but not too disgusting to salvage.Year three: stare at the one pair of jeans and the two pair of shorts you own. Realize that you just can't do this again. Make promises to self to purchase wicked-cool skirts or two more pair of shorts in order to cut down the Funk Factor™ at this year's con. Realize that this may be difficult, since, for the first time, you will be a freewheeler.

free·wheel·er (n.) a tech staff member who has tallied how much time he/she spent in a hotel room during last year's dragon*con, and come to the annoying realization that $300 is too much to spend for so little time actually spent in the room, leading to a decision to stash his/her suitcase(s) in the downstairs equipment room and sleep wherever the sleeping bag falls.

Last year's Forgetting Of The Toothpaste was quite annoying. Spouse and I have noticeably different opinions on what makes a palatable toothpaste, and when I, Amy-the-Minty, managed to forget my tube at home, I got to experience the joy of using a non-preferred taste of toothpaste for six days.

Therefore, I present Packlist 0.1beta. You know your packlist is large when it contains sections. The world should fear.

1. Nerd Toys
2. Ugh, You Stink!
3. Ravers R Us
4. Maps, Plans, and Schemes
5. Playing Dress-Up
6. The Random Category
7. We Have To Work?
8. Consumerism At Its Best
9. Naked Just Isn't An Option

Nerd Toys

• cell phone (+ charger)
• camera (+ charger)
• card reader
• blank CDs
• Jeff's laptop
• monopod?
• spare camera battery?
• spare memory card?

Ugh, You Stink!

• spare washcloth / soap (? - does techops normally run short?)
• towel (previously omitted from list)
• razor + blades
• shampoo + conditioner + styling goop
• hair restraints: elastic bands, bandannas, etc.
• rasta hat
• pick + brush (brush is a maybe)
• contacts supplies: mirror, case, yummy saline solution, glasses (because carrying contact lenses inside one's mouth is a lousy idea)
• sunglasses
• nail clippers
• toothbrush and toothpaste (previously omitted from list)

Ravers R Us

If I'm going to attend one of the raves this year, I should have some glowsticks or some little lasers to play with. That's assuming I have time to attend a rave, like the DJ, and don't find the crowd scary. On second thought, perhaps I should just invest the money in a spare memory card and monopod for the camera. Yeah, that's starting to sound pretty good...

Maps, Plans, and Schemes

• Map of downtown Atlanta. That getting-lost thing bites.
• Plans for confood. Terrify them into submission with your over-preparedness.
• Directions to the Sam's on 85 and the downtown Publix. Repeat comment about getting lost in downtown Atlanta.

Playing Dress-Up

• loose blue hair
• braided falls for me
• microring supplies
• spangly dress
• tights
• shoes with ass-kicking quotient of at least 3.5 (note: all current shoes are of quotient 1.4 or less; must find better ones)
• Tech Staff Blue nail polish + remover

The Random Category

• $ so Jeff can repay The Last Dance for the CD they gave him last year
• While I'm at it, money for me. Maybe I'll find some CDs or art I want to buy this year.
• pillow
• sleeping bag
• earplugs
• sleeping mask?
• caffeine stuff (all hail and fear Caffeinated Amy!)
• backpack for toting stuff around
• 1 warm sweater for when the equipment room imports air from Siberia

We Have To Work?

• Saran Wrap
• brown bags
• permanent markers to ID sandwiches
• one of those cheap rollable cutting mats
• knife (label as mine - steal my good knife and I'll personally lobotomize you with it)
• bleach solution in spray bottle, for disinfecting stuff
• 1.6×10^5 plastic baggies
• premade gorp
• premade Rice Krispie Treats
• large boxes for transport
• 1 hand truck (steal from Centennial or Regency when no one's looking)
• head massager
• wooden back-massager thing (do these things have names? if so, why don't I know them?)

Consumerism At Its Best

• monopod?
• extra memory card?
• rave toys?
• back massager
• sleeping mask
• earplugs
• more clothing! (see below)

Naked Just Isn't An Option

• every pair of shorts I own (current total: 2; optimal total: 4)
• every pair of jeans I own (current total: 1; optimal total: 2)
• 6 t-shirts. Preferably a) geeky and b) not paint-stained. (current total: less than five.)
• Clothing Nobody Sees But Me™ 6 pair
• comfortable sneakers
• Outrageous Wear » see Dress-Up

I think I'm going to need a second bag this year.

Current music: all kinds of various Tragically Hip.