PMX2010
My badge art is pixel-y.
I get a hotel room, bring the volunteers up to have Costco pizza, then realize it's a single, with these new low flush toilets (bleh), and huge flat screen TVs (ooh!). I go down to ConOps to figure out whether it's the vol crash space or my staff space and find out that the hotel has been canceling our reservations (prepaid, i might add) because we didn't check in on Thursday. The old hotel never pulled this shit. The hotel is booked out during the convention, so some staffers get spillover rooms at the nearby Sheraton. Ray the hotel liason calls me aside to give up my room to karaoke, and gives me a room where as many as 8 staff might have to stay. Naturally, I'm a little reluctant to give up a guaranteed single for possibly no room at all, in which case I'd have to stay with the volunteer guys - who already have extra people staying with them.
My staff shirt smells like fish sauce and airing it out does no good. I still wore it Saturday.
Volunteers: It's always great to see familiar faces, particularly volunteers who already know what they're doing. Layfitte, Jacqueline/Kira, Bender. One of Eileen's friends stopped by to volunteer and she was shocked by how low-key we're run.
Volunteer at PMX!
-you are NOT a fire hazard
-no stinky, highlighter yellow, see-through nylon vests
-minors don't wear caution tape armbands
It's year 2 of sharing a space with Security and I must say - I need to learn how to peace bond. It's a good thing I brought office supplies (real office supplies, not codeword for 'food') because we needed scissors and tape and stickey notes and Sharpies all weekend. And extra pens that work!
Layout of the hotel is awkward. I was walking around in circles and circles before I finally got my bearings. A sad lack of signage is due to hotel policy of no taped up signs. Hallways are woefully tight with costumes.
Walkie talkies seemed more garbled this year.
Going out to dinner Friday night - SCIENTOLOGISTS! Hearing Jerry and Chow speaking Thai was great.
Thanks for the free salad, Green Room. It beats cinder blocks any day.
Security: the hotel put security guards at the elevators to check that people with keys only went up (which is odd because hotel patrons are allowed to have guests). I heard later that they were also confiscating alcohol (which is illegal search and seizure - on private property) so people were running booze up the stairwells. I'm told there was a sign at the check-in desk saying "no parties". Indeed, a rather loud neighbor on the 5th floor was keeping me up, but I just used my earbuds and turned up my music. On the other hand, I felt pretty bad about the painting in the hallway with a hole in the canvas and smears of fake blood in the elevators.
With only two pitchers of water per room on average, we ran out of water constantly. Requests for more water usually went unanswered (probably because we were asking the wrong person), but even when I tried to swap out my water from a bigger function room I got caught. Even requests for getting a door locked and unlocked was a hassle. I don't know if this is simply the difference in a unionized hotel versus non-union, but LAX Hiton was typically very responsive. Certainly, the hotel staff got nicer during the Pacquiao fight Saturday night, but the next day they went back to ignoring us.
Having a different food truck or two every day is pretty great. What did it cost? Me, standing in a parking spot across the street from the hotel, waiting for Dumpling Truck with Paula, and whatever change Chow happened to have in his pocket.
Fashion needed our room for a photo shoot. That was interesting to preview the fashion show and nice to watch the flash blind me from behind my eyelids. *still dazed*
Jang Dong-Gun: seems like a really nice guy, and a new father.
Jang Dong-Gun's manager: seems like an ass, wouldn't let people in costume line up for the signing.
I was really excited when I recognized Barrie Osborne (producer of Matrix/LotR) standing next to us watching footage from his project, The Warrior's Way (working title: Laundry Warrior).
A lot of last minute pannels. At least there was a con gripe. Followed by one last Bohemian Rhapsody in Karaoke.
Oh! Woot! I won the staff raffle! And shockingly it was for something I really wanted:
a laminated poster signed by Innocent World designer and founder Yumi Fujiwara
I get a hotel room, bring the volunteers up to have Costco pizza, then realize it's a single, with these new low flush toilets (bleh), and huge flat screen TVs (ooh!). I go down to ConOps to figure out whether it's the vol crash space or my staff space and find out that the hotel has been canceling our reservations (prepaid, i might add) because we didn't check in on Thursday. The old hotel never pulled this shit. The hotel is booked out during the convention, so some staffers get spillover rooms at the nearby Sheraton. Ray the hotel liason calls me aside to give up my room to karaoke, and gives me a room where as many as 8 staff might have to stay. Naturally, I'm a little reluctant to give up a guaranteed single for possibly no room at all, in which case I'd have to stay with the volunteer guys - who already have extra people staying with them.
My staff shirt smells like fish sauce and airing it out does no good. I still wore it Saturday.
Volunteers: It's always great to see familiar faces, particularly volunteers who already know what they're doing. Layfitte, Jacqueline/Kira, Bender. One of Eileen's friends stopped by to volunteer and she was shocked by how low-key we're run.
Volunteer at PMX!
-you are NOT a fire hazard
-no stinky, highlighter yellow, see-through nylon vests
-minors don't wear caution tape armbands
It's year 2 of sharing a space with Security and I must say - I need to learn how to peace bond. It's a good thing I brought office supplies (real office supplies, not codeword for 'food') because we needed scissors and tape and stickey notes and Sharpies all weekend. And extra pens that work!
Layout of the hotel is awkward. I was walking around in circles and circles before I finally got my bearings. A sad lack of signage is due to hotel policy of no taped up signs. Hallways are woefully tight with costumes.
Walkie talkies seemed more garbled this year.
Going out to dinner Friday night - SCIENTOLOGISTS! Hearing Jerry and Chow speaking Thai was great.
Thanks for the free salad, Green Room. It beats cinder blocks any day.
Security: the hotel put security guards at the elevators to check that people with keys only went up (which is odd because hotel patrons are allowed to have guests). I heard later that they were also confiscating alcohol (which is illegal search and seizure - on private property) so people were running booze up the stairwells. I'm told there was a sign at the check-in desk saying "no parties". Indeed, a rather loud neighbor on the 5th floor was keeping me up, but I just used my earbuds and turned up my music. On the other hand, I felt pretty bad about the painting in the hallway with a hole in the canvas and smears of fake blood in the elevators.
With only two pitchers of water per room on average, we ran out of water constantly. Requests for more water usually went unanswered (probably because we were asking the wrong person), but even when I tried to swap out my water from a bigger function room I got caught. Even requests for getting a door locked and unlocked was a hassle. I don't know if this is simply the difference in a unionized hotel versus non-union, but LAX Hiton was typically very responsive. Certainly, the hotel staff got nicer during the Pacquiao fight Saturday night, but the next day they went back to ignoring us.
Having a different food truck or two every day is pretty great. What did it cost? Me, standing in a parking spot across the street from the hotel, waiting for Dumpling Truck with Paula, and whatever change Chow happened to have in his pocket.
Fashion needed our room for a photo shoot. That was interesting to preview the fashion show and nice to watch the flash blind me from behind my eyelids. *still dazed*
Jang Dong-Gun: seems like a really nice guy, and a new father.
Jang Dong-Gun's manager: seems like an ass, wouldn't let people in costume line up for the signing.
I was really excited when I recognized Barrie Osborne (producer of Matrix/LotR) standing next to us watching footage from his project, The Warrior's Way (working title: Laundry Warrior).
A lot of last minute pannels. At least there was a con gripe. Followed by one last Bohemian Rhapsody in Karaoke.
Oh! Woot! I won the staff raffle! And shockingly it was for something I really wanted:
a laminated poster signed by Innocent World designer and founder Yumi Fujiwara