This one is two fold. There's what you drink whilst you're perusing the aisles of the convention, and also how much you choose to drink at the after-hours parties (only if you're at the legal age, of course, but what kids read comics these days?). During the daytime it's tempting to mainline various carbonated sodas to keep up the requisite energy levels needed for being on your feet all day. At the same time, in the sweltering heat of a thousand bodies crammed into a poorly-ventilated space, you need all the hydration you can get, so is a several litres of water preferable? As for the night drinking...well, do you wanna have be able to walk a metre without throwing up into your swag bag the next day, or do you want to enjoy your evening? Decisions decisions.
18. What Not To Wear
Another important part of con preparation is what you're going to clad yourself in. There's several points to consider, too. There's style, street cred, and practicalities, and balancing all of those are tricky. Obviously you need to select items of clothing that will demonstrate your geek credentials (or geekdentials) to your fellow con-goers, but you don't want it to be too on the nose. Rather than the classic Fantastic Four logo on a blue tee you have one featuring Galactus or, even better, one of Galactus's more minor heralds? As for practicalities, you want something that's not going to show up the inevitable sweat patches the claustrophobic crowds are going to create, and on your bottoms something that has enough pockets to hold all the crap you're going to accumulate over the weekend, but not cargo shorts, because you're not a stereotype. These are the things that everyday people don't have to worry about, but we really do. Then there's cosplay...
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
