the "we're *really* not dead" post
Ice Carnage, Van Wreckage & Subsequent Days of Boredom
the dramatic misadventure in exotic Joplin, Missouri
Featuring : the Heroism of HRYSIER, the Wrath of Vexen & 4 Bowls of Curry
Also starring : Saeru, Yui & one dead cricket
The story begins with a promise and a sliver of hope.
It seemed after Youmacon, perhaps I was on the right track, after a year's worth of expensive errors in judgment. No con* this year had yielded anything short of bizarre disasters - from Heartless encounters in forest preserves to the hijacked Greyhound to derailed trains to stolen credit cards to cockroach-infested hotel rooms to the series of unfortunate events now known as the 'Sasuke Incident' to simply getting lost in unusual ways, many many times.
*(save for Youmacon which I assisted/paneled/judged at and Metrocon which I barely was at.)
It had been an exceptionally unsuccessful track record - but we were going to change all that. Youmacon's outcome was definitely the right direction, and I had promised long ago that I would come out to help out the new anime con in Phoenix. And so, to the remaining slight indecision, HRYSIER and its crew still set off, departing to the sound of rain and more rain, constantly, from exiting the Chicago area all down Illinois and through Missouri - when suddenly, a few miles from the border of Oklahoma, the rain sounded different. We had but noticed the salt trucks on the road when we became the very first of scores of accidents the ice storm would soon claim.
The van fishtailed thrice, spun full-circle several times, bounced against the median cables, and was dragged and scraped along its right side until coming to a complete stop facing the wrong direction.
We avoided all foliage and all other vehicles, but we were stuck hopelessly in a steep muddy ditch. Personally, my brain had shut down sometime between processing the headlights of an on-coming semi and the crash of windows blowing out. Saeru meanwhile was busy collecting blankets, cellphone, flares, and being generally useful.
We waited an hour for the police to come, and a hour after that for the tow-truck.
Eventually, we were deposited at the "cheapest motel around" - & actually, the whole staff/family that ran this establishment were ridiculously accommodating and deserving of a basket of fruit for all the thoughtfulness they offered. Despite that, this was still undoubtedly the "cheapest motel around" and most especially not Arizona in any form.
The following details a better understanding of our setting:
The boys actually took the brunt of the blow, and were showered in shattered glass, as the seat they had been strapped to was the one now devoid of a window. Apart from snowed-on wigs and a slight scrape to Quartz's face-up, there occured no irreversible damage. Most likely, though, they probably will never forgive us. :/
The almost amusing part of that first night, not an hour after we had lugged all our gear into the room, was that some unintelligent thief had thought to try the door handle to do whatever nefarious deed he had in mind, instead of...you know...jumping through a gaping window-hole. The car's alarm sounded, followed by an "oh sh!t", *slipslipscreech* and a thud into a wall, and then retreating footfall. We weren't going to lose that perfect stereo on top of all of this, so we spent the sleepless twilight at the window, poised in seriousness with the remote key's panic panel and in slightly less seriousness with shuriken.
This is the first photo I had a chance to take of some of the damage, when I thought we might need some visual evidence if the van (or what remained of it) was jacked.
And later details...
Total damage, besides two missing windows, included the tearing up of the entire right side, front to back, the groove of the safety cable fusing the hatch and side-door shut. Strangely, all the important features like the engine, steering, braking, HEAT, and so on ended up checking out fine, and HRYSIER was still technically drivable. However, it was so dented and deformed now within the lighting cavities that there was no way to replace the damaged bulbs - and without headlight/tailight/turn signals, we were advised by the bodyshop crew that we would be pulled over for that illegality. We even considered abandoning HRYSIER, totalling out for scrap and escaping elsewhere - whether be it continuing the trip as planned, heading home or limping at least as far as Tulsa - but those options soon faded without rentable cars available and newfound apprehension in regards to Greyhound security.
We had actually only made the first third of the journey, and with the storm already covering all directions help could arrive from, it was eventually agreed upon that we wouldn't endanger anyone else with requests to come to our aid.
And so the three of us waited for days, over the course of which two of us watched all of .hack//, doodled KH nonsense, and observed the tragic death of one little cricket...and also, since we were already financially uber-screwed, we enjoyed really fabulous Thai food. HRYSIER, for his part, sat now in the front of the parking lot, under the eyes of security cameras and volunteers of the motel's desk crew.
The rescue finally came on Saturday afternoon, and we didn't have to abandon HRYSIER after all.
The ending is quite anti-climatic. While suffering no injury, save for shards of glass later found wedged in...odd...places, there was not a vision to be had, nor a lesson to be learned, nor a excitingly timely snowbound rescue initiated. Also, we did not meet Loz. The only worthwhile benefit to weathering this weekend is that it ended with a stop by Springfield to legally officialize our Scheme to Bring Huge Zippers to America - which is now perhaps our only means of recovering our massive losses from a year's worth of convention disasters...? :/
The end assessment is that all plans for 2007 are off, as of the current state of things - with the exception of Ohayocon, which is now is pending transportation. Our temporary vehicle is not trustworthy over long distances in winter, but if we can figure out a way to get there otherwise within the next few days, we'd still like to go.
the dramatic misadventure in exotic Joplin, Missouri
Featuring : the Heroism of HRYSIER, the Wrath of Vexen & 4 Bowls of Curry
Also starring : Saeru, Yui & one dead cricket
The story begins with a promise and a sliver of hope.
It seemed after Youmacon, perhaps I was on the right track, after a year's worth of expensive errors in judgment. No con* this year had yielded anything short of bizarre disasters - from Heartless encounters in forest preserves to the hijacked Greyhound to derailed trains to stolen credit cards to cockroach-infested hotel rooms to the series of unfortunate events now known as the 'Sasuke Incident' to simply getting lost in unusual ways, many many times.
*(save for Youmacon which I assisted/paneled/judged at and Metrocon which I barely was at.)
It had been an exceptionally unsuccessful track record - but we were going to change all that. Youmacon's outcome was definitely the right direction, and I had promised long ago that I would come out to help out the new anime con in Phoenix. And so, to the remaining slight indecision, HRYSIER and its crew still set off, departing to the sound of rain and more rain, constantly, from exiting the Chicago area all down Illinois and through Missouri - when suddenly, a few miles from the border of Oklahoma, the rain sounded different. We had but noticed the salt trucks on the road when we became the very first of scores of accidents the ice storm would soon claim.
The van fishtailed thrice, spun full-circle several times, bounced against the median cables, and was dragged and scraped along its right side until coming to a complete stop facing the wrong direction.
We avoided all foliage and all other vehicles, but we were stuck hopelessly in a steep muddy ditch. Personally, my brain had shut down sometime between processing the headlights of an on-coming semi and the crash of windows blowing out. Saeru meanwhile was busy collecting blankets, cellphone, flares, and being generally useful.
We waited an hour for the police to come, and a hour after that for the tow-truck.
Eventually, we were deposited at the "cheapest motel around" - & actually, the whole staff/family that ran this establishment were ridiculously accommodating and deserving of a basket of fruit for all the thoughtfulness they offered. Despite that, this was still undoubtedly the "cheapest motel around" and most especially not Arizona in any form.
The following details a better understanding of our setting:
The boys actually took the brunt of the blow, and were showered in shattered glass, as the seat they had been strapped to was the one now devoid of a window. Apart from snowed-on wigs and a slight scrape to Quartz's face-up, there occured no irreversible damage. Most likely, though, they probably will never forgive us. :/
The almost amusing part of that first night, not an hour after we had lugged all our gear into the room, was that some unintelligent thief had thought to try the door handle to do whatever nefarious deed he had in mind, instead of...you know...jumping through a gaping window-hole. The car's alarm sounded, followed by an "oh sh!t", *slipslipscreech* and a thud into a wall, and then retreating footfall. We weren't going to lose that perfect stereo on top of all of this, so we spent the sleepless twilight at the window, poised in seriousness with the remote key's panic panel and in slightly less seriousness with shuriken.
This is the first photo I had a chance to take of some of the damage, when I thought we might need some visual evidence if the van (or what remained of it) was jacked.
And later details...
Total damage, besides two missing windows, included the tearing up of the entire right side, front to back, the groove of the safety cable fusing the hatch and side-door shut. Strangely, all the important features like the engine, steering, braking, HEAT, and so on ended up checking out fine, and HRYSIER was still technically drivable. However, it was so dented and deformed now within the lighting cavities that there was no way to replace the damaged bulbs - and without headlight/tailight/turn signals, we were advised by the bodyshop crew that we would be pulled over for that illegality. We even considered abandoning HRYSIER, totalling out for scrap and escaping elsewhere - whether be it continuing the trip as planned, heading home or limping at least as far as Tulsa - but those options soon faded without rentable cars available and newfound apprehension in regards to Greyhound security.
We had actually only made the first third of the journey, and with the storm already covering all directions help could arrive from, it was eventually agreed upon that we wouldn't endanger anyone else with requests to come to our aid.
And so the three of us waited for days, over the course of which two of us watched all of .hack//, doodled KH nonsense, and observed the tragic death of one little cricket...and also, since we were already financially uber-screwed, we enjoyed really fabulous Thai food. HRYSIER, for his part, sat now in the front of the parking lot, under the eyes of security cameras and volunteers of the motel's desk crew.
The rescue finally came on Saturday afternoon, and we didn't have to abandon HRYSIER after all.
The ending is quite anti-climatic. While suffering no injury, save for shards of glass later found wedged in...odd...places, there was not a vision to be had, nor a lesson to be learned, nor a excitingly timely snowbound rescue initiated. Also, we did not meet Loz. The only worthwhile benefit to weathering this weekend is that it ended with a stop by Springfield to legally officialize our Scheme to Bring Huge Zippers to America - which is now perhaps our only means of recovering our massive losses from a year's worth of convention disasters...? :/
The end assessment is that all plans for 2007 are off, as of the current state of things - with the exception of Ohayocon, which is now is pending transportation. Our temporary vehicle is not trustworthy over long distances in winter, but if we can figure out a way to get there otherwise within the next few days, we'd still like to go.