GenCon is my annual summer geek out these days, and one of the events in which I participated this year was the Queen of Geeks Pageant.

Entering was simple. You bought an event ticket.

The one hang-up was that you were required to have two costumes to wear during the contest. With airlines charging for checked luggage these days, bringing costumes is more problematic than it once was.

Being the geek that I am, I took this as a challenge and I figured out how to take enough costume wear to make two costumes and still have regular clothing as well -- all in a rolling backpack and a messenger bag—my carryon and my personal item allowed by the airlines. Of course, I could have coughed up the $15 for checking a bag but I am morally opposed to paying to check luggage.

You can read how you too can get two costumes (or more) worth of garb in carryon luggage on my Facebook page.

After dealing with costuming needs, I focused on my talent. I decided to sing a filk song I wrote myself, "The Disenchanted Dinner Host."

There was irony in the air the day of the contest. The person in charge was very unorganized and kept changing things as we went along. One change she made nullified the need for two costumes!

In my introduction and comments on why I should be Queen of Geeks, I mentioned the usual stuff such as my more than 30 years as part of the Stone Hill Science Fiction Association and Necronomicon and my writing for Airlock Alpha. I also stated that I should be given the crown because at age 61, I was still doing things like entering a Queen of Geeks Pageant.

I fared badly in the geeky deaths and music portion of the trivia but I did well in the book to movie portion. My question was what book was "The Last Man on Earth" based. That's "I Am Legend."

When another contestant could not give the answer to what book "Blade Runner" was based on, I was kind of freaking out because I do know the answer is "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sleep." My freak out amused the audience and, for me, that’s what the whole thing is about. If I make them laugh, I’m happy.

My talent was not the best because I had allergy problems and my voice cracked but I made it through and got a few more chuckles.

Some of the talent was better than mine and some was less good but I think all the contestants were great and it was fun getting to know some of them.

While I didn’t get the crown or even come second, I know that any woman who will get on a stage and admit to being a geek is by definition a queen of geeks. Besides, I’ve got a tiara. My BFF Ruth got it for me at the Disney Store.

GenCon allows me to participate in some wonderful geeky stuff that I don’t get to do any other time of year and it really is the Best Four Days in Gaming.

This year, I went to a casino night called Carnival of the Damned where you bet with plastic zombies. I played Blackjack all night while my partner in crime for the con, new Airlock Alpha columnist Richard Lee Byers, played poker. No money was involved. You got 50 plastic zombies with which to bet and the people who had amassed the most zombies at the end of the night got prizes.

It was a lot of fun and a good game to start with after walking many miles in the dealers’ room during the day.

The Walking Blues, a LARP (live action role playing), was on the schedule for Friday night. This was my fourth year playing in one of Elder Entertainment's LARPS and the new game lived up to the excellence I expect from this group. I died but not till the end and an angel took me to a better place, so it was cool.

On Saturday, I attended the Aidan 5 film panel. The creators of series talked about how the series came about. They created a short film for the 48 Hour Film Festival in Cleveland. They took the prize and ended up taking the film to several other renowned film festivals, including Cannes.

As part of their presentation, they let a couple of us from the audience try out acting in front of a green screen and put us in a scene from the series. It’s as hard as you think it would be to act when you have no clue what is going on. I was supposed to be shooting a gun but there was no gun and I had no idea at what I was shooting. That was a fun thing to get to do though.

The LARP of the day was The Consular Ball, a Brass & Steel steampunk LARP. This one was interesting for the game system it used. This adventure can be run as a tabletop RPG or a LARP. It turned out to be a nice game and I’d play in one of Pameangames’s events again.

GenCon wouldn’t be GenCon without seeing one of the The Damsels of Dorkington’s shows, so Saturday night was finished up with the Dork Pride Pandemonium concert. The highlight of the concert is This is Every Renfaire Song You’ve Ever Heard. If you’ve been to a Renfaire, you can relate to this song.

Sunday began with The Amorphous Blobcast. They wanted people who would talk and, well, those who know me know that I fit that job description perfectly. The interview was a lot of fun and I made them laugh, so once again, I was happy — and geeky.

There was time for more dealers’ room perusing and purchasing and a little time to chat with friends and then it was off to the airport to catch the plane home. I’d say I was sorry the convention was over but I think my body might disagree. It’s four days after and I’m still sleeping later than usual to try to catch up on rest.

Yep, it was a great GenCon for this Queen of Geeks.