The early preparations for Otakon went smoothly. Con membership was bought during the cheapo early-registration period. Plane tickets were purchased through the mighty Travelocity. Assorted planning stuff was done. Then everything was sat on until the week before. Mainly due to work, as the testing cycle ran up to the Friday of the Con. This is a bad thing, as customers always try to cram changes in at the last minute. Still, I took off work early (since the system wasn't detonating and, hey, that's all we can really ask for) and allowed extra time to get to the airport. Well, more time than I thought it would take, actually. See, I booked a flight out of Jacksonville instead of Tallahassee. Why? $450, that's why. Tallahassee has a rinky airport, while Jacksonville has a mighty one. Plus, from Jacksonville, I could take a non-stop flight, whereas everything that leaves Tallahassee has to go through Atlanta. Plus avoiding the 'Pleasure of Flying Out Of Tallahassee' sur-charge is a good thing.
On the other hand, it's not a good thing when you miss your plane, which I did, by literally about five minutes. (D'oh!) After a bit of thoughtful surl, I went to book a room in a motel, as the next flight I could take left the next morning. (For some reason, everyone and their grandparents were pouring into the airport seeking to flee Florida. I can't really blame them.)
Thus began the epic of the Admiral Shithole Motel (which was really the Admiral Benbow Motel, which isn't necessarily much better). $41 dollars a night for this place? Only right next to the airport could they get away with that. On the other hand, it was a bed, and a fair degree of security. I'm used to places that make you pay when you check out, and after being handed off between various counter-people, I was left with this impression (I then went out to dinner at Denny's, came back, and discovered I was mistaken, and much surl was exchanged until I got it into their tiny little brains that they should have SAID something if I was to pay in advance). Checking out (at 5AM or so) was also amusing, as all the counter people were asleep, and I and the other people fleeing this place had to wake them up. Well, actually, we let an especially surly woman do that. Then we threw our little key-cards at the window and fled.
Then, Waffle House (motto: It's Real Fuckin' Early... Have Some Waffles!). Mmm. Scrambled Eggs. Southern Waffle Houses are a happy sort of place, and tend to get the early-morning "damn, the bars are closed" hanging-out types of the neo-rednecks who lurk around the outskirts of cities. These people get extremely bored, and the most fun thing they seem to have is making the jukebox play the special 'Waffle House' songs. Apparently they actually paid someone (Waffle House, that is) to write and produce songs like 'The Raisin Toast Song' and 'Waiting at the Waffle House' (with such classic lyrics as 'Special lady... waiting for me at the Waffle House... she's crazy... shouting all those orders out...'). Some people will do anything for a buck.
Then, airportage. Airportage where I had to fast-talk my way onto a nearly full flight (as people were STILL trying to flee Florida, even at 6 in the morning). At least I got a parking space close to the airport. On the other hand, while digging around in my car for something or other, I ended up leaving the interior lights switched on. More on this later.
Then, flight. Sitting next to a couple of people three times my age who were thumbing through an Adobe Illustrator 8 manual and discussing stock options, IPOs, and pay rates in the computer industry. Aiie! You guys are old! Stop taking jobs from all us young punks! Old people aren't supposed to 'get' the New Media thing. It's... it's just not DONE!
Then, the wonders of the Baltimore MTA Light Rail system. I bought a ticket. Nobody asked to see it, so I'm not entirely sure why, but hey. The Light Rail wended its way squeakily through Baltimore (wow... a city with non-trivial mass transit... amaaaazing) eventually depositing me at the Baltimore Convention Center. This was a beeg sort of place, and it took me a bit of time wandering around the outside of it to eventually reach the Hyatt Regency, where I'd reserved a room (starting the previous night, but oh well). This was not because I got lost, but simply because it took a little while to traverse the borders of this mighty structure. The Hyatt people gave no surl about the fact that I'd missed a night, and even had a room still free. A rather swanky room, too, I might add. Why is it I always end up staying in hotel rooms nicer than my apartment? It even had a mini-bar (which I didn't partake in, on the general feeling that, if you're wondering how much they'll charge you to partake of the munchies stored within, you probably don't want to know).
Then, the Con, and sign-in, after traversing the breadth of the mighty Baltimore Convention Center. I wonder if it's a bad thing when you start noticing 'regulars' at anime conventions. Probably not. No, more likely, it's a bad thing if they ever start noticing you. Anyway, the Con badges this time were mighty, reinforced, laminated contraptions on a sturdy chain for hanging around your neck and throttling yourself with. None of this wimpy stuff here, nope. You could kill someone with one of these Con badges.
Then, I encountered Phil (of course Phil was at the convention, it's right next door (comparatively speaking); I mean, I make every Con within easy driving range of Tally... But then, Tallahassee is terrificly boring). See, Phil and Amy (who you, loyal reader, will remember from previous mentions of northerly Cons) were also here, as was Gina (likewise). Gina was supposed to mooch roomage with me, which was not, perhaps, the best planned of ideas, since even in the best case scenario, she'd arrive a full twelve hours before I would, and we had no pre-set way of contacting each other in the event of Murphy. So apparently she ended up loitering around the Con and then the hotel lobby until about 5 AM or so, whereupon she begged a place for znooz with Amy and Phil. I ran into Phil about 10AM on Saturday or so, and he directed me to the proper room (which was on the same level, and just down the hall, from my own), whereupon I managed to wake up Amy (but not Gina) by knocking on the door, and handed over a spare room key and a room number, on the off chance Gina woke up any time soon.
On a side note, I missed the Friday night festivities, which included a MSTing of the Lensman anime (since the Lensman anime is painfully, painfully bad, this would have probably been cool) and the Music Video Contest. Since Otakon had the whole Main Hall of the BCC set aside, there would actually have been enough space for everyone to come and watch 'em. But of course, at this time, I was still asleep in the Admiral Hellhole Motel.
Then, the Dealer's Room, where I discovered to my distinct embarassment that I already own pretty much all the anime crap I want, and the stuff I don't own yet, I've staked out much cheaper places to get it from. I did pick up a J-Pop (listens to screams of horror) CD from one of my favorite perky Japanese voice actresses, Megumi "Lina Inverse" Hayashibara, but that was about it. Then, back to the hotel room to await Gina's waking up, which happened, predictably, a few minutes after I got to the room (sometimes, my timing is on).
Then, back to the Con, to spend time snickering at people's costumes. There were cross-dressing Sailor Moon characters a-plenty, as always, although not as many as I've seen, and a fairly low percentage considering the size of the crowd. Probably due to the fact that no new Sailor Moon animation has been made in a while, so that great tsunami of suckage has spent most of its awesome power. There was, however, the same old guy who dressed as Sailor Moon back at the first Katsucon I was at. Eeeyugh.
Other notable costumes included a man-sized, giant plush Totoro (aiieeee!), Kei and Yuri (from Dirty Pair Flash), and a scarily accurate-looking Gendo Ikari (from Neon Genesis Evangelion). There were also people dressed as Pokemon characters, which I imagine will become every bit the scourge of animation Cons that Sailor Moon once was. Pop culture is a dangerous, dangerous thing. There was a girl in a Pikachu sort of costume. There were two people dressed as Team Rocket (the recurring 'villains' from Pokemon) with a kid dressed as their particular Pokemon, Meowth, kicking around a Pikachu plushie. (An explanatory side note: The characters you most often see from Pokemon are Ash's team, whose sidekick Pokemon is Pikachu. Team Rocket are their rivals, who dress in white suits with their emblem on the front, and field a surly little sidekick Pokemon called Meowth.)
Then, animation. Several newer Japanese anime shows are done in a mix of computer generated animation and older, cel-drawn stuff. Although you can still tell, sometimes, when they switch back and forth, they've gotten a lot better at it over time. One of these was SeaQue... um! I mean Blue Submarine #6, which seems to consist of humanity fighting against bio-engineered ocean creatures created by a mad scientist, who're aiming to alter the Earth to their tastes... which means, in this case, crushing human civilization and raising the ocean level massively. The character designs are pretty keen, and one of the villains' mecha pilots (the obligatory alien babe who is obviously going to fall for the hero at some point) is an interestingly done amphibious sort of creature. Which will no doubt make for an interesting relationship... Another keen new show is Cowboy Bebop (which has nothing to do with Cowboys, only a little to do with Bebop, but everything to do with coolness), which is another near-future Sci-Fi show. It's apparently both episodic and stand-alone, in that each episode is done in a distinctive, but still similar, style. The first one was the surly, dark, melodrama... the second was a wacky slap-stick chase involving lots of animals and a surly guy in a big afro-style hairdo. (That Hakim is one bad mutha-- "Shut yo' mouth!" Jus' talkin' 'bout Hakim!)
What else? Ah, also "Eat-Man '98" the animation. The anime Eat-Man is much surlier than the manga Eat-Man (who was, while strange and extremely competant, also a bit wacky). But enough about Eat-Man. ("Eat!")
There was also the Food Court of Doom, where such wonders as 'Thrasher French Fries' could be found. (You know you're in a big city when there are enough people to support an entire stall devoted entirely to french fries.) Here, I was savaged by a vicious glass of iced tea. Hmm. So much for my Japanese Anime Club of Tallahassee shirt.
The 'Artists Alley' wasn't quite the same strange, wonderful thing it had been on previous convention trips, since, by and large, I've seen all these people, and it doesn't take that long to peruse their newer stuff. There were a few things to buy, though (such as a Robert "Pervert Boy" DeJesus art book). Mmm. Expenses.
Sunday consisted primarily of a last sweep through the Dealer's Room. Gina bought a Rei (from Neon Genesis Evangelion) plushie and surly bumper stickers. I bought some kipple, a Trade Paperback of 'A Distant Soil' from Colleen Duran, who was in the Dealer's Room, presumably because she's "mainstream" and can afford Real Space as opposed to having to hang out in the Artist's Alley. Which is probably a good thing for business. Also, a t-shirt from some random small-time studio which was represented there (they gave me a complimentary techno CD made by their pet artist, too). (This is sort of like a trade show for anime-related companies; even if you don't have anything particularly cool to show off, you just sort of have to have a table there to get your brand name out.)
And then, in a late addition to the trip itenerary, a trip to Gail's house. Gail is one of the people I know off the internet chat-serv circuit (then again, almost everyone I meet at these Cons I've known through the 'Net first). Of course, she didn't GO to the Con, but still. So, we detoured to Gail's place for a bit, which was in Dickeyville, a suburb of Baltimore that tries, with a fair degree of success, to give a small-town atmosphere, which is helped by the fact that it seems to be mostly surrounded by forest and a moderately-sized park. Gail's place is rather interesting, in an old and creaky sort of way. All wooden floors (well, mostly) and nice furniture and stuff. A far cry from my surly apartment and Tallahassee's general mildewey ness. Or even from the Con's techno-punkish cleanliness.
About an hour and a half was whittled away on a nature walk (a nature walk?!) since the trail starts right in front of Gail's house, and there was going to be one today. More time was whittled playing around with the various animals in the house (and conversing on various subjects while watching said animals fail to frolick due to the fact that we'd woken them up from a quite comfortable nap). The animals in question were the pferrets of doom, three little bundles of energy with the attention spans of hyperactive... well, pferrets. (There were also two cats, a surly one who likes to hide in grocery bags, and a non surly one who radiates kitty mellowness. But, really, every house requires a cat, so this is hardly surprising.) (There was also a fourth pferret, who is apparently surly enough that rousing him from the nap-ness would be a bad idea.) Then food (good, if mild, chili; o-kay, spinachy pasta salad; and smells-like-my-feet gorgonzola cheese (which is precisely how gorgonzola cheese is intended to smell)). And then, airportage. This time, I made my flight, and fled off into the distance, failing to detonate in the process.
The adventure, of course, was not quite yet over.
For my car's battery had given up the ghost while I was away. On the other hand, this is why we have this wonderful little thing called AAA, and why I, in specific, have a membership. This is also why I have a cel phone. So one quick call (and half-hour wait for a tow truck) later, the problem was fixed. There was nothing actually wrong, the battery had just drained itself. I must remember to pick up one of those car resuscitation devices the tow truck guy brought with him. It's just a portable battery with two cables and big alligator clips attached. No more jumper cables from car to car, just haul this puppy out and clip it on. I know what I'm going to get next time I spend more money on my 'road kit'...
Was the adventure over? No, not quite just yet...
I suppose I should have read the memo which said we didn't have to come to work on Monday. I guess not all announcements from HR are completely pointless and suitable to be ignored. But then, it gives me a good chance to catch up on my email, net-news and such over the company connection.
Not to mention write this journal, which is now, I fear, complete.
Tomorrow: Probably nothing!
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