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flewellynSo, I was away for about 6 days, plus today's recuperation, at Otakon 2008. If any of you posted anything I should read in the interim, please link me.
Now, a brief recounting of the trip, and then pictures (and a video!).
I went to the convention with Jeannette, (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
achanchinou), my favorite wheelfairy, who picked me up from the Atlanta airport on Thursday afternoon. My journey began Wednesday night/Thursday morning, when I took the train down from Fargo to Minneapolis, and then got a ride with my friend Erika to the airport. I had already, at this point, been awake for 24 hours. Maybe working a full day before the trip was not such a good idea...
J and I drove through Atlanta during a rainstorm, which made traffic just so much fun. But, it was okay, we were hanging out and talking. I found, in person, that talking to J is much like talking to her on the phone or using IM. She's just right there, and doesn't have reception issues. We yakked for about six hours, before I began to realize that I was waaaay too tired to continue. J was also tired, so we stopped at a motel in Charlotte, NC to rest.
This worked better for me than for J. The hotel was not a very good one, and the mattress hurt her back. Also, apparently I snore "like a chainsaw factory", so J slept like a pogo stick that night. Nonetheless, the next morning she was well enough to drive (she preferred to drive, since the drivers' seat in her Suburban Assault Vehicle is more comfy), and we got breakfast at a restaurant called Shoneys. I did not know of this place; we don't have them in the North. They have a breakfast buffet! ALL YOU CAN EAT EGGS! Pancakes, french toast, biscuits, sausage, bacon...and for some reason, fried chicken. Hey, I won't argue. Thus fortified, we continued on.
Now, a word about driving with J. J can, when necessary, enter a zen state in which she aggressively weaves through traffic at high speed, moving other cars out of the way with the power of her telepathy (or her massive red SUV), in a manner reminiscent of the Death Star trench scene from Star Wars. At first, this "Aggressive J is Aggressive" mode was a bit scary, but I got used to it. And hey, we didn't crash!
We had to sit through godawful traffic jams in DC, of course; there were two auto wrecks, and DC traffic is like a supersaturated solution, such that any single shock or disruption will cause everything to crystallize to a motionless state. This added an hour to our transit time, and about 10 thousand pounds of pressure to J's mood. I myself was quite unhappy as well, as we had to turn off the AC in order to avoid straining the engine. I am a Northern lad, and don't do well with heat; it was in the mid 80s in DC, which was sweltering to me. J, of course, found it to be cool and bracing, but she is an Alabama hot house flower, and thrives in temperatures in which your average Flew would melt.
Once we reached Baltimore, we discovered something else unpleasant: Baltimore's roads do not bear any resemblance to the maps of said roads. I believe that Baltimore was laid out by the Maryland Department of Non-Euclidean Urban Planning, because a route we took that was supposed to land us on the south side of the city near our hotel, instead deposited us on the north side. Lacking the will to brave Baltimore's harbor tunnel again, we instead made our way to the Convention Center, where we discovered another unpleasant aspect of Baltimore: the sidewalks are absolutely the worst thing ever for someone in a wheelchair. Not a single piece of concrete is level with the next, and J sometimes found herself having to push uphill on one, only to fall several inches on the next. Somehow, she didn't fall over, something for which I was carefully watching and remaining close enough to catch her if it occurred.
Once at the Convention Center, things became rapidly less stressful, although J did scare a group of otaku hanging out on the wheelchair ramp in the front entrance when she came barrelling down at high speed, yelling "Don't stand there, you might die!" Somehow, she managed to avoid them and make the turns and twists in the ramp quite rapidly; I begin to understand why she calls her chair a "sports wheelchair". Given the nature of the sidewalks, though, she found herself wishing for TANK CHAIR.
We then wandered the halls, locating the registration desk, where J displayed her Magical Disabled Person Powers by allowing us to bypass the line and use the Special Needs desk. She and I were both issued "disabled person" stickers on our badges, which allowed us to use the elevators (I got one because I was with her, and thus considered an attendant). And then, it was off to the Artist Alley room to find Jessi.
Well, we eventually found Jessi, also known aslimpingpigeon, or J. Yes, Jessi and Jeannette both call themselves J; plus, they refer to each other as J. Under no circumstances confuse the two, unless under confusing circumstances! (Dubbug solves this problem by calling Jessi and Jeannette "the other J" and "the other J", respectively.)
Once met up with Jessi, her sister Alycia (stuntviolist), and Alycia's boyfriend Chaskiel, we determined that the best way to proceed was to follow Chaskiel back to the hotel, since he knew where it was, and we did not. For food, we decided on the Wendy's near our hotel, since it was A) close, B) had gluten-free food in the form of salads and chicken nuggets for J (I mean Jeannette), and C) would not require us to brave Baltimore's traffic again. So, we headed back to the parking garage, at which point I discovered something that still gives me much chagrin: despite being supposedly able-bodied, I cannot keep up with J in her wheelchair. Neither could Alycia, Jessi, Chaskiel, or for that matter, anybody else on foot, because she barrelled down that street like she was rocket-propelled. I might mention, at this point, that her arm mucles are prodigiously strong.
Anyway, we made our way back to the hotel, with Jessi sitting in our car with Jeannette, and during our conversation, I accidentally called Jeannette "Pigeon", which proves that I don't need the dual-J phenomenon to get confused about which is which. Once at the hotel, we checked in, got food, and then brought Jessi up to our room for eating and yakking about stuff.
The next day, we arose to make our way to the convention, and wandered the Dealer's Room and then Artists' Alley. This is best described in pictures, rather than words. So, here we go!
First, here is an awesome video of this girl Rachel, who made herself some awesome wings.
Fully-articulated, flapping wings that weigh less than ten pounds. I am truly in awe! I think she should sell these!
This girl made her Pyramid Head costume in such a way that she could actually see through the helmet. No mean feat!
She was not in costume, but I thought she looked very pretty, so I asked to take her picture. She was bemused and flattered at the same time, she told me. Her name is Morgan.
These young men dressed as characters from Final Fantasy 7. The guy with the large black gun said that he made it out of PVC pipe, cardboard, and parts from Nerf guns. The fellow next to him with the impractically large sword made his out of wood. Impressive costumes! Also, the guy with the gun is buff as hell.
She made a cute Sailor Saturn, and her glaive was quite impressive. She found my joke about the "lesser Sailor Scouts" such as "Sailor Quaoar" and "Sailor Gliese 581c" amusing, which was unexpected.
GIR! I love Gir! She looked so cute in this costume! Also, when I recognized her, she gave me a big hug, which I did not mind in the slightest.
I have no idea what she was dressed as, but I admired her lack of costume.
This woman's name was Jessica, and we talked to her in the sports bar where we ate lunch. She was dressed as a character from Final Fantasy 10, which I have not played. But it's very well done, don't you think?
This sports bar, by the way, is called "Downtown Sports Xchange", and is right across the street from the Convention Center. They are really awesome; not only did they offer a 10% discount for anyone with a convention badge, they had a sign up saying "Some people call Otaku nerds, but not us! We love cosplayers! Extra 5% off if you're in costume!" They also made great effort to accomodate J's wheelchair, trying to rig a ramp with a sign before realizing, oh yeah, that other door doesn't have a step. The manager guy in question said "Yeah, sometimes I think I've been hit over the head too much. I don't know why I didn't think of that in the first place." J had a "Juicy Lucy", which is two quarter-pound hamburger patties with bacon and cheese between them, wrapped in lettuce instead of a bun (the manager guy told the cooks what was up with J's gluten allergy), I had a regular burger, and Jessi had a tuna steak sandwich. Very good "standard Americana" food, and the location was perfect.
Also, the staff are fine with Otaku, obviously; at one point, I heard this conversation between two waitresses. "Hey, I just saw seven people run by dressed as ninjas!" "Yeah, you get used to that."
Anyhoo, more pictures!
I don't know what she was dressed as, but this girl crocheted her entire costume by hand. I was impressed!
This young woman's name is Rachel, and she was dressed as Misty from Pokemon. She was adorable, so I had to take her photo.
This is Gin, from the comic Gai-Gin. I was really excited to meet her, since I love her comic. I'm not sure what she was dressed as, but it involved Pokemon somehow. I fear Pokemon.
She had come from Japan with her Japanese boyfriend, Pyon, to sell Gai-Gin art and Pyon's music. I bought a CD from him, the "Starving Artist Collection". He was very nice, but did not speak much English. Still, his English was better than my Japanese.
She's a buxom woman in a barely-there leopard print catgirl costume. Why wouldn't I take her photo?
This girl, Mandy, was waiting in line behind Jeannette to get a corset. I thought she was gorgeous, so I asked to take her picture. She was puzzled because her costume was not, in fact, a costume, but still flattered.
Jeannette's corset, by the way, was impressive. I helped her pick out the color (it's purple, with gold flower embroidery), and when she put it on, I gave the only comment I could: "HUGE tracts of land!" I hope she posts a picture; she didn't want me to take one of her then, since she just had a t-shirt on underneath it.
This woman's name is Cyn, short for Cynthia, but I called her "Deadly Cyn", which she loved. Her tattoo is amazing!
I had to get a closeup of Cyn's tattoo. The shading is nothing short of astounding.
Mandy trying on her corset. I think it looks very nice.
These young scientists came all the way from Aperture Science, carrying a Weighted Companion Cube, and looking for one of their test subjects, who escaped with a prototype portal gun. They do what they must, because they can.
After all of this excitement, J and I went back to the hotel, because we were both tired. She fell asleep, while I went to dinner with my friend Irene Jericho (irenejericho), whom I had not before met in person. She and her husband Jay are awesome people. He doesn't talk much, but that's okay, because Irene and I talked very much. We ate at a nearby Ruby Tuesday's, which was tasty, and included one of their "strawberries and icecream pastry puff" desserts. Irene initially wanted to get one of her own when I ordered mine, but I advised her against it; the thing is massive. I shared it with her and Jay, and all of us felt we had more than enough strawberry, whipped cream, ice cream, and pastry puff to satisfy.
That evening, J and I hung out with Jessi in her hotel room, talking and being random in general. It was fun seeing J and J talking together without the hassle of setting up a chat room. We must do it again sometime!
The next day, Sunday, J and I got up early...well, earlyish. 9 am. Early enough to get on the road and head down toward Richmond, to meet my sister. We made very good time, and were in Richmond by 3 or so. We got to have Mexican food with Ilana and her fiance, Dana, which was good fun. J's reaction to Ilana was typical: "Dude, your sister is GORGEOUS!" Ilana always gets all the girls, dammit.
So, we continued on, driving down through Virginia, then North Carolina, and then South Carolina, marvelling at how fast the trip was, and how we were making much better time than it seemed last time. We stopped to eat at a Cracker Barrel, which I had never been to before, and I had real Southern-style chicken and dumplings for the first time...yum! It was like a thicker version of knefla soup, without the veggies. Then we continued on, and it was close to 8 pm before J realized something...we were on the wrong interstate! We were supposed to change from I-95 to I-85 at Petersburg, Virginia! We had come down the wrong side of North and South Carolina!
However, after checking the map, calling J's sister in law for some info, and calculating our travel time, it turned out that this "mistake" had actually saved us almost three hours of travel time. Instead of going down 85, we took 95 down through Florence, SC, and then changed onto I-20 to head across to Atlanta. Well, we did that after stopping to sleep in Florence.
So, the next day, we made our way to Atlanta, and met up with J's friend Jeff for late lunch/early dinner. After picking Jeff up from his workplace, which turned out to be the broadcast headquarters for the Weather Channel (he's one of their programmers), we ate at a Chinese place in a heavily Latino part of town, which meant that the labels were all in English and Spanish, and they played Mexican music on the radio. Just fine with me, the food was still tasty. Except for the sushi that J made me try; I just do not like sushi, it seems.
We were going to meet with the Lisae (sibylla) for some evening conversation, but she was very sick. It turned out that, besides having caught a bad stomach bug, she also had a kidney infection. Sick Lisae should get better! I was very disappointed that we could not meet her, but we'll have another chance.
So, this was the end of my time with J. After talking for awhile in the car at the airport, I said goodbye and then headed off to get my tickets, get through security (where the security guys told me I looked like Hagrid, which amused me greatly), and then go find something to eat. This proved more difficult than one might think, because the Burger King in my concourse was swarmed with idiots. But, once fed, I flew back up to Minneapolis to meet my friend Erika again.
Erika took me back to her apartment to sleep (no, not like that, on her futon couch). And the next day, after she found out that she didn't have to work after all, we hung out and went to a coffee shop, then found some food. This is where I discovered the existence of a place called "Noodles and Company", a short-order noodle bar. They serve noodle dishes of all sorts, from standard Americana to fancy Italian to Asian goodness like lo mein and pot stickers. This place would be the site of daily pilgrimages for me, if it were in Fargo or Moorhead! They had a delicious stroganoff, and lovely basil pesto pasta as well. I had a bowl of each, because I was very hungry, and then Erika and I went back to her place, where I played her music from my thumb drive, and she baked cookies. She likes baking cookies for her friends, and they are awesome cookies, as well. I got a big bag of them to take on the train.
I should share this picture of Erika I took, before we went out for food:
I tried to get ahold of some of my other Minneapolis friends,ginmar and moronqueen in particular, for hangoutage, but I got no response. Maybe next time, though. I will certainly be going back to Minneapolis more often, for doing of stuff.
So, I got home early this morning, at which point I petted the kitties, who missed me terribly (Miette in particular was acting aggressively cuddly), and then fell asleep for a good 18 hours. That was some quality zonkage.
So, that's the story of Flew at Otakon 2008. It was quite a blast. I am thinking, next time, of making sure I get more sleep before my travel, though.
Now, a brief recounting of the trip, and then pictures (and a video!).
I went to the convention with Jeannette, (
achanchinou), my favorite wheelfairy, who picked me up from the Atlanta airport on Thursday afternoon. My journey began Wednesday night/Thursday morning, when I took the train down from Fargo to Minneapolis, and then got a ride with my friend Erika to the airport. I had already, at this point, been awake for 24 hours. Maybe working a full day before the trip was not such a good idea...J and I drove through Atlanta during a rainstorm, which made traffic just so much fun. But, it was okay, we were hanging out and talking. I found, in person, that talking to J is much like talking to her on the phone or using IM. She's just right there, and doesn't have reception issues. We yakked for about six hours, before I began to realize that I was waaaay too tired to continue. J was also tired, so we stopped at a motel in Charlotte, NC to rest.
This worked better for me than for J. The hotel was not a very good one, and the mattress hurt her back. Also, apparently I snore "like a chainsaw factory", so J slept like a pogo stick that night. Nonetheless, the next morning she was well enough to drive (she preferred to drive, since the drivers' seat in her Suburban Assault Vehicle is more comfy), and we got breakfast at a restaurant called Shoneys. I did not know of this place; we don't have them in the North. They have a breakfast buffet! ALL YOU CAN EAT EGGS! Pancakes, french toast, biscuits, sausage, bacon...and for some reason, fried chicken. Hey, I won't argue. Thus fortified, we continued on.
Now, a word about driving with J. J can, when necessary, enter a zen state in which she aggressively weaves through traffic at high speed, moving other cars out of the way with the power of her telepathy (or her massive red SUV), in a manner reminiscent of the Death Star trench scene from Star Wars. At first, this "Aggressive J is Aggressive" mode was a bit scary, but I got used to it. And hey, we didn't crash!
We had to sit through godawful traffic jams in DC, of course; there were two auto wrecks, and DC traffic is like a supersaturated solution, such that any single shock or disruption will cause everything to crystallize to a motionless state. This added an hour to our transit time, and about 10 thousand pounds of pressure to J's mood. I myself was quite unhappy as well, as we had to turn off the AC in order to avoid straining the engine. I am a Northern lad, and don't do well with heat; it was in the mid 80s in DC, which was sweltering to me. J, of course, found it to be cool and bracing, but she is an Alabama hot house flower, and thrives in temperatures in which your average Flew would melt.
Once we reached Baltimore, we discovered something else unpleasant: Baltimore's roads do not bear any resemblance to the maps of said roads. I believe that Baltimore was laid out by the Maryland Department of Non-Euclidean Urban Planning, because a route we took that was supposed to land us on the south side of the city near our hotel, instead deposited us on the north side. Lacking the will to brave Baltimore's harbor tunnel again, we instead made our way to the Convention Center, where we discovered another unpleasant aspect of Baltimore: the sidewalks are absolutely the worst thing ever for someone in a wheelchair. Not a single piece of concrete is level with the next, and J sometimes found herself having to push uphill on one, only to fall several inches on the next. Somehow, she didn't fall over, something for which I was carefully watching and remaining close enough to catch her if it occurred.
Once at the Convention Center, things became rapidly less stressful, although J did scare a group of otaku hanging out on the wheelchair ramp in the front entrance when she came barrelling down at high speed, yelling "Don't stand there, you might die!" Somehow, she managed to avoid them and make the turns and twists in the ramp quite rapidly; I begin to understand why she calls her chair a "sports wheelchair". Given the nature of the sidewalks, though, she found herself wishing for TANK CHAIR.
We then wandered the halls, locating the registration desk, where J displayed her Magical Disabled Person Powers by allowing us to bypass the line and use the Special Needs desk. She and I were both issued "disabled person" stickers on our badges, which allowed us to use the elevators (I got one because I was with her, and thus considered an attendant). And then, it was off to the Artist Alley room to find Jessi.
Well, we eventually found Jessi, also known as
limpingpigeon, or J. Yes, Jessi and Jeannette both call themselves J; plus, they refer to each other as J. Under no circumstances confuse the two, unless under confusing circumstances! (Dubbug solves this problem by calling Jessi and Jeannette "the other J" and "the other J", respectively.)Once met up with Jessi, her sister Alycia (
stuntviolist), and Alycia's boyfriend Chaskiel, we determined that the best way to proceed was to follow Chaskiel back to the hotel, since he knew where it was, and we did not. For food, we decided on the Wendy's near our hotel, since it was A) close, B) had gluten-free food in the form of salads and chicken nuggets for J (I mean Jeannette), and C) would not require us to brave Baltimore's traffic again. So, we headed back to the parking garage, at which point I discovered something that still gives me much chagrin: despite being supposedly able-bodied, I cannot keep up with J in her wheelchair. Neither could Alycia, Jessi, Chaskiel, or for that matter, anybody else on foot, because she barrelled down that street like she was rocket-propelled. I might mention, at this point, that her arm mucles are prodigiously strong.Anyway, we made our way back to the hotel, with Jessi sitting in our car with Jeannette, and during our conversation, I accidentally called Jeannette "Pigeon", which proves that I don't need the dual-J phenomenon to get confused about which is which. Once at the hotel, we checked in, got food, and then brought Jessi up to our room for eating and yakking about stuff.
The next day, we arose to make our way to the convention, and wandered the Dealer's Room and then Artists' Alley. This is best described in pictures, rather than words. So, here we go!
First, here is an awesome video of this girl Rachel, who made herself some awesome wings.
Fully-articulated, flapping wings that weigh less than ten pounds. I am truly in awe! I think she should sell these!
This girl made her Pyramid Head costume in such a way that she could actually see through the helmet. No mean feat!
She was not in costume, but I thought she looked very pretty, so I asked to take her picture. She was bemused and flattered at the same time, she told me. Her name is Morgan.
These young men dressed as characters from Final Fantasy 7. The guy with the large black gun said that he made it out of PVC pipe, cardboard, and parts from Nerf guns. The fellow next to him with the impractically large sword made his out of wood. Impressive costumes! Also, the guy with the gun is buff as hell.
She made a cute Sailor Saturn, and her glaive was quite impressive. She found my joke about the "lesser Sailor Scouts" such as "Sailor Quaoar" and "Sailor Gliese 581c" amusing, which was unexpected.
GIR! I love Gir! She looked so cute in this costume! Also, when I recognized her, she gave me a big hug, which I did not mind in the slightest.
I have no idea what she was dressed as, but I admired her lack of costume.
This woman's name was Jessica, and we talked to her in the sports bar where we ate lunch. She was dressed as a character from Final Fantasy 10, which I have not played. But it's very well done, don't you think?
This sports bar, by the way, is called "Downtown Sports Xchange", and is right across the street from the Convention Center. They are really awesome; not only did they offer a 10% discount for anyone with a convention badge, they had a sign up saying "Some people call Otaku nerds, but not us! We love cosplayers! Extra 5% off if you're in costume!" They also made great effort to accomodate J's wheelchair, trying to rig a ramp with a sign before realizing, oh yeah, that other door doesn't have a step. The manager guy in question said "Yeah, sometimes I think I've been hit over the head too much. I don't know why I didn't think of that in the first place." J had a "Juicy Lucy", which is two quarter-pound hamburger patties with bacon and cheese between them, wrapped in lettuce instead of a bun (the manager guy told the cooks what was up with J's gluten allergy), I had a regular burger, and Jessi had a tuna steak sandwich. Very good "standard Americana" food, and the location was perfect.
Also, the staff are fine with Otaku, obviously; at one point, I heard this conversation between two waitresses. "Hey, I just saw seven people run by dressed as ninjas!" "Yeah, you get used to that."
Anyhoo, more pictures!
I don't know what she was dressed as, but this girl crocheted her entire costume by hand. I was impressed!
This young woman's name is Rachel, and she was dressed as Misty from Pokemon. She was adorable, so I had to take her photo.
This is Gin, from the comic Gai-Gin. I was really excited to meet her, since I love her comic. I'm not sure what she was dressed as, but it involved Pokemon somehow. I fear Pokemon.
She had come from Japan with her Japanese boyfriend, Pyon, to sell Gai-Gin art and Pyon's music. I bought a CD from him, the "Starving Artist Collection". He was very nice, but did not speak much English. Still, his English was better than my Japanese.
She's a buxom woman in a barely-there leopard print catgirl costume. Why wouldn't I take her photo?
This girl, Mandy, was waiting in line behind Jeannette to get a corset. I thought she was gorgeous, so I asked to take her picture. She was puzzled because her costume was not, in fact, a costume, but still flattered.
Jeannette's corset, by the way, was impressive. I helped her pick out the color (it's purple, with gold flower embroidery), and when she put it on, I gave the only comment I could: "HUGE tracts of land!" I hope she posts a picture; she didn't want me to take one of her then, since she just had a t-shirt on underneath it.
This woman's name is Cyn, short for Cynthia, but I called her "Deadly Cyn", which she loved. Her tattoo is amazing!
I had to get a closeup of Cyn's tattoo. The shading is nothing short of astounding.
Mandy trying on her corset. I think it looks very nice.
These young scientists came all the way from Aperture Science, carrying a Weighted Companion Cube, and looking for one of their test subjects, who escaped with a prototype portal gun. They do what they must, because they can.
After all of this excitement, J and I went back to the hotel, because we were both tired. She fell asleep, while I went to dinner with my friend Irene Jericho (
irenejericho), whom I had not before met in person. She and her husband Jay are awesome people. He doesn't talk much, but that's okay, because Irene and I talked very much. We ate at a nearby Ruby Tuesday's, which was tasty, and included one of their "strawberries and icecream pastry puff" desserts. Irene initially wanted to get one of her own when I ordered mine, but I advised her against it; the thing is massive. I shared it with her and Jay, and all of us felt we had more than enough strawberry, whipped cream, ice cream, and pastry puff to satisfy.That evening, J and I hung out with Jessi in her hotel room, talking and being random in general. It was fun seeing J and J talking together without the hassle of setting up a chat room. We must do it again sometime!
The next day, Sunday, J and I got up early...well, earlyish. 9 am. Early enough to get on the road and head down toward Richmond, to meet my sister. We made very good time, and were in Richmond by 3 or so. We got to have Mexican food with Ilana and her fiance, Dana, which was good fun. J's reaction to Ilana was typical: "Dude, your sister is GORGEOUS!" Ilana always gets all the girls, dammit.
So, we continued on, driving down through Virginia, then North Carolina, and then South Carolina, marvelling at how fast the trip was, and how we were making much better time than it seemed last time. We stopped to eat at a Cracker Barrel, which I had never been to before, and I had real Southern-style chicken and dumplings for the first time...yum! It was like a thicker version of knefla soup, without the veggies. Then we continued on, and it was close to 8 pm before J realized something...we were on the wrong interstate! We were supposed to change from I-95 to I-85 at Petersburg, Virginia! We had come down the wrong side of North and South Carolina!
However, after checking the map, calling J's sister in law for some info, and calculating our travel time, it turned out that this "mistake" had actually saved us almost three hours of travel time. Instead of going down 85, we took 95 down through Florence, SC, and then changed onto I-20 to head across to Atlanta. Well, we did that after stopping to sleep in Florence.
So, the next day, we made our way to Atlanta, and met up with J's friend Jeff for late lunch/early dinner. After picking Jeff up from his workplace, which turned out to be the broadcast headquarters for the Weather Channel (he's one of their programmers), we ate at a Chinese place in a heavily Latino part of town, which meant that the labels were all in English and Spanish, and they played Mexican music on the radio. Just fine with me, the food was still tasty. Except for the sushi that J made me try; I just do not like sushi, it seems.
We were going to meet with the Lisae (
sibylla) for some evening conversation, but she was very sick. It turned out that, besides having caught a bad stomach bug, she also had a kidney infection. Sick Lisae should get better! I was very disappointed that we could not meet her, but we'll have another chance.So, this was the end of my time with J. After talking for awhile in the car at the airport, I said goodbye and then headed off to get my tickets, get through security (where the security guys told me I looked like Hagrid, which amused me greatly), and then go find something to eat. This proved more difficult than one might think, because the Burger King in my concourse was swarmed with idiots. But, once fed, I flew back up to Minneapolis to meet my friend Erika again.
Erika took me back to her apartment to sleep (no, not like that, on her futon couch). And the next day, after she found out that she didn't have to work after all, we hung out and went to a coffee shop, then found some food. This is where I discovered the existence of a place called "Noodles and Company", a short-order noodle bar. They serve noodle dishes of all sorts, from standard Americana to fancy Italian to Asian goodness like lo mein and pot stickers. This place would be the site of daily pilgrimages for me, if it were in Fargo or Moorhead! They had a delicious stroganoff, and lovely basil pesto pasta as well. I had a bowl of each, because I was very hungry, and then Erika and I went back to her place, where I played her music from my thumb drive, and she baked cookies. She likes baking cookies for her friends, and they are awesome cookies, as well. I got a big bag of them to take on the train.
I should share this picture of Erika I took, before we went out for food:
I tried to get ahold of some of my other Minneapolis friends,
ginmar and moronqueen in particular, for hangoutage, but I got no response. Maybe next time, though. I will certainly be going back to Minneapolis more often, for doing of stuff.So, I got home early this morning, at which point I petted the kitties, who missed me terribly (Miette in particular was acting aggressively cuddly), and then fell asleep for a good 18 hours. That was some quality zonkage.
So, that's the story of Flew at Otakon 2008. It was quite a blast. I am thinking, next time, of making sure I get more sleep before my travel, though.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
GIMME BANANAS!! *banana-zombie*
Date: 2008-08-14 06:45 am (UTC)innit great? now you don't gotta post pics of yourself for others to know what you look like! *whee*
-not-bug
no subject
Date: 2008-08-14 12:07 pm (UTC)I love this post, and the pics!
It looks like you had such a great time :-D
Also, chicken n dumplins at cracker barrel is one of the best foods on the planet. Really.
Hooray for fun Flew trips!!
no subject
Date: 2008-08-14 01:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-14 01:20 pm (UTC)That was your orientation/innoculation session for the DC traffic!
...so J slept like a pogo stick...
That's a good one. It's going into my Collection of Standard Phrases, for sure.
...we got breakfast at a restaurant called Shoneys.. I did not know of this place; we don't have them in the North. They have a breakfast buffet! ALL YOU CAN EAT EGGS! Pancakes, french toast, biscuits, sausage, bacon...
We take our breakfasts SERIOUSLY down here! I mean, you've gotta do something to take the edge off of having to start the day first thing in the morning!
...and for some reason, fried chicken. Hey, I won't argue.
My friends
We had to sit through godawful traffic jams in DC, of course; there were two auto wrecks, and DC traffic is like a supersaturated solution, such that any single shock or disruption will cause everything to crystallize to a motionless state.
That is one of the best descriptions I've ever heard of traffic in my former hometown. I'd refine that to "supersaturated solution of idiots, with occlusions of normal people slowly going stark raving mad".
I am a Northern lad, and don't do well with heat; it was in the mid 80s in DC, which was sweltering to me.
It's not the heat so much as the humidity; the air is pretty much as supersaturated as the traffic. Given a choice between Phoenix in August (110F and maybe 10,15% humidity) and DC (85F and about 95% hum) I'd take Phoenix in a New York minute.
Once we reached Baltimore, we discovered something else unpleasant: Baltimore's roads do not bear any resemblance to the maps of said roads. I believe that Baltimore was laid out by the Maryland Department of Non-Euclidean Urban Planning...
At least Bal'm'r's a cool city in which to get lost, at least so long as you don't have to be somewhere sometime for something in particular. Lots of cool architecture.
Note; the girl in the Pyramid Head costume looks for all the world like an F-102 pilot whose head got stuck in the canopy when ejecting. And the young lady with the crocheted costume? She looks like a Movellan robot from Doctor Who.
...but it involved Pokemon somehow. I fear Pokemon.
Pokemon is to be feared more than reruns of "I Love Lucy", but less than "Barney".
And the girl with the gonzo awesome tiger tatoo looks vaguely like a girl I went to high school with.
J's reaction to Ilana was typical: "Dude, your sister is GORGEOUS!" Ilana always gets all the girls...
And there is no picture of said sibling paragon of female pulchritude because...?
We stopped to eat at a Cracker Barrel, which I had never been to before...
Those things are EVERYWHERE now, which is one of the most bestest Good Things™ of Good Things™. Now most anyplace we travel, I am guaranteed at least one first rate stack of pecan pancakes and honest-to-tap-that-tree maple syrup. Cracker Barrel is Th' Real Deal for sure.
...it was close to 8 pm before J realized something...we were on the wrong interstate! We were supposed to change from I-95 to I-85 at Petersburg, Virginia! We had come down the wrong side of North and South Carolina!...
...this "mistake" had actually saved us almost three hours of travel time. Instead of going down 85, we took 95 down through Florence, SC, and then changed onto I-20 to head across to Atlanta.
WAITAMINNIT... 95 to 20 to Hotlanta was faster than 95 to 85?!?!?! That's remarkable. I never woulda figured that.
Good report and most entertaining!
no subject
Date: 2008-08-14 02:56 pm (UTC)85/95: See, I would've expected it to be the same time, but it wasn't quite. I suspect it had a lot to do with about 1-2 hours of slightly lower speeds on 85 where it was merged into a one-lane divided highway while they constructionized for about 120 miles or so. We were forced to slow to 60mph instead of our standard 80 the rest of the way. It's also the case that we may have made a slight error in calculation because as my brother pointed out, our initial travel time began at the atlanta airport, south of atlanta, and our return time calculated from i-20, which isn't that far from Hartsfield, but it's far enough that you can count at least 30 minutes. I tried to accomodate for this, but either way.
Or perhaps on the way back, I have just merely failed at keeping a sensible speed limit and did 90 more than 80. That could very well be. :)
no subject
Date: 2008-08-14 02:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-14 02:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-14 03:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-14 06:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-15 12:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-15 02:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-15 03:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-15 07:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-15 08:16 pm (UTC)ooo ooo!
Date: 2008-08-21 04:24 pm (UTC)Icon whore asks - Can I assimilate your icon into my collective if I give credit? ( http://www.livejournal.com/allpics.bml?user=trystanknight )
Sorry, I've had a wee bit too much caffeine.
Re: ooo ooo!
Date: 2008-08-21 06:11 pm (UTC)Re: ooo ooo!
Date: 2008-08-21 06:22 pm (UTC)I'm Batman.
How did I find you? I was trolling through friends list, followed a commented on a friends journal, then followed another comment later and then saw your comment. Its one of those wierd things. I'm called Soran and I live in southwest VA and I'm a geek. :)
Re: ooo ooo!
Date: 2008-08-21 06:36 pm (UTC)Re: ooo ooo!
Date: 2008-08-21 06:47 pm (UTC)Re: ooo ooo!
Date: 2008-08-21 06:53 pm (UTC)Re: ooo ooo!
Date: 2008-08-21 07:08 pm (UTC)I just found her journal recently, so I know nothing yet. She and I have a friend in common, Sir_Alf.
It's just branching out and meeting people, theoretically more a 'Facebook' application of power, but there's no reason LJ can't serve that purpose.
Re: ooo ooo!
Date: 2008-08-21 07:17 pm (UTC)But be warned, I am very opinionated.
Re: ooo ooo!
Date: 2008-08-21 07:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-26 12:27 pm (UTC)I haven't been to an Otakon yet..why no Pedobear? If I went I would have to rectify THAT situation. GRRR!
All along I thought you lived in Moorhead. and I thought you were female. dunno why really.
no subject
Date: 2008-08-26 04:02 pm (UTC)I just travelled to Atlanta from Minneapolis, because flights out of MSP are much cheaper.