Follow-ups
Perhaps it was foolish of me to try and jump right back into my old quiz schedule right before Otakon, but regardless, here are some late quiz answers. Right then, I'll try to be more timely going forward, but no promises.
As I might have mentioned once or twice or a dozen times, this year was billed as our 10th Anniversary Cruise. Some of us have been going longer than that, some people went for the first time this year, but it was ten years ago that the core group really decided to transform the trip from simply renting a shoebox hotel room and attending Otakon, into the completely awesome extravaganza that it has become.
Let me be quite clear about two things. First, putting together this trip each year is a royal pain in the ass. It costs me time, money, and stress (not necessarily in that order). I don't say this to brag, but simply as a statement of fact: if I stepped down from my position in putting this event together, I think it wouldn't happen anymore, certainly not the way it does. Which brings me to my second point.
I would, and will, gladly continue to do all the work I do for this trip year after year after year. It is worth it to me. It is the best vacation I get to go on every year, and it's utterly unlike anything else I ever get to do. As long as my friends continue to gather in Baltimore to join me, I will continue to make it happen, with the biggest of smiles on my face.
If I needed a reminder as to why I feel this way, I got that and so much more this year. I wanted a celebration, and I damn well got it.
For the first time ever, I got on the road (with girasola, elhaym_solaris, and Evan) early Thursday morning, and arrived in Baltimore by 1pm. The suite was ready by the time we got there, so fortunately we didn't have to wait to check in. Then we had a whole day to just...relax. I picked up 6ix7even from the airport, and made a stop by Lexington Market to order our cake for Friday night. Then we went to pick up our badges from pre-reg.
I need to point out 1) how amazingly awesome the extended 3-11pm pickup hours were, and 2) how AMAZINGLY AWESOME the new bar code registration is. Also, pro-tip for bar codes: if you can pull up your email or the Otakon website on your phone and zoom in to the bar code, the scanners WILL work on that, as 6ix7even proved to the pre-reg folks :)
Friday began just as I'd hoped, with an early morning "staff meeting", during which I distributed our new shirts with Evan's spiffy new logo and crazy Photoshop skills. I costumed up for awhile, since 6ix7even was already there and Jen was arriving shortly (they being the two people who I was primarily wearing the costume for). I had a great time wandering around the con with them, bumping into galahad_rpi and potassiumman, too. At one point I ducked away from the festivities with my friend Jason to pick up the cake. Oh, I also managed to score two more Slime toys from the dealer room, always a good omen =D
At 7pm, we had a group reservation at Frank & Nic's West End Grille (nice place, a bit pricy, but good food and good mojitos), and then we returned to the hotel. After a bit of fuss, setup, and internet videos, we revealed and served the cake. Then we served the alcohol, because it was time for BLACK SHEEP! All I'm going to say about that movie is that it was 87 minutes and several cups of Casey's new punch well spent. Also, 6ix7even has some mad punning skills I never knew about.
Saturday saw more time in costume, more time in the hall ways, more time in the dealer's room and artist alley, and the AMV contest. Honestly, I was disappointed. The first half of the competition, including the Parody/Trailer category(!?), was quite lackluster. The second half had a couple videos that were worth downloading, but it really wasn't anything to write home about. There was, of course, an AMG video in the romantic category (which won), although I was surprised by the lack of a Weird Al song in the comedy category. Not complaining, mind you, just surprised.
Saturday night, of course, was the room party. I don't know what to say about it except that we had two projectors this year, and an even better lighting setup than in the previous years. There was an excellent birthday surprise orchestrated for Jen (well done, 6/7) that culminated in her receipt of all of Neil Gaiman's Sandman, each volume presented to her by a different person. There was much laughter, and snackage, and Death Punch. There was even much sleep, to my surprised delight.
Sunday was, by necessity, the "cooldown" day as always, but even as far as that goes, it was great fun. I returned to the dealer's room and made a couple purchases, including a giant Squishables sheep (how appropriate, right?) for girasola, and a t-shirt for myself. A little more relaxing in the hotel suite, and then we worked out the car logistics to get everyone over to Nanami Cafe for our big sushi dinner.
Sushi dinner was sushi dinner. Nanami is quite possibly the best sushi place I've ever been to. Also, I had my annual bottle of Snow Beauty, so I was high as a kite (emotionally, not intoxicatedly). Bittersweet as it is, heralding the end of the weekend, I absolutely love our trips to Nanami. Oh, and eccoglyph stopped by for awhile, which was a lovely bonus for the evening!
Sunday night was more gaming (I got some great feedback on my card game prototype this weekend!) and chattering and the like, and then Monday morning was cleanup and rolling out. I felt...content, by the time we left. I didn't take my badge off until I was home and getting into bed, of course, but them's the rules, right? It always goes by too fast, even for a five-day trip, but this year I got everything I could have asked for, really. Big thanks to everyone else who does some serious heavy lifting to make everything happen. Kenn and Casey especially, I couldn't do it without you. Or your toys ;)
We had only one "incident" this year, and I definitely intend to do something about it, but right now I'm happy with the way things went. If I had to pick one thing about this year that stood out more than anything else, it was seeing people I haven't seen for a very long time, and getting to actually hang out with them. The responses I got from people after the trip have made me excited about next year's prospects as well. I so wish I could just...plan conventions all year long. Why can't I get a job as a professional convention attendee consultant? =P
Hope everyone else had at least half as good a weekend as I did.
As I might have mentioned once or twice or a dozen times, this year was billed as our 10th Anniversary Cruise. Some of us have been going longer than that, some people went for the first time this year, but it was ten years ago that the core group really decided to transform the trip from simply renting a shoebox hotel room and attending Otakon, into the completely awesome extravaganza that it has become.
Let me be quite clear about two things. First, putting together this trip each year is a royal pain in the ass. It costs me time, money, and stress (not necessarily in that order). I don't say this to brag, but simply as a statement of fact: if I stepped down from my position in putting this event together, I think it wouldn't happen anymore, certainly not the way it does. Which brings me to my second point.
I would, and will, gladly continue to do all the work I do for this trip year after year after year. It is worth it to me. It is the best vacation I get to go on every year, and it's utterly unlike anything else I ever get to do. As long as my friends continue to gather in Baltimore to join me, I will continue to make it happen, with the biggest of smiles on my face.
If I needed a reminder as to why I feel this way, I got that and so much more this year. I wanted a celebration, and I damn well got it.
For the first time ever, I got on the road (with girasola, elhaym_solaris, and Evan) early Thursday morning, and arrived in Baltimore by 1pm. The suite was ready by the time we got there, so fortunately we didn't have to wait to check in. Then we had a whole day to just...relax. I picked up 6ix7even from the airport, and made a stop by Lexington Market to order our cake for Friday night. Then we went to pick up our badges from pre-reg.
I need to point out 1) how amazingly awesome the extended 3-11pm pickup hours were, and 2) how AMAZINGLY AWESOME the new bar code registration is. Also, pro-tip for bar codes: if you can pull up your email or the Otakon website on your phone and zoom in to the bar code, the scanners WILL work on that, as 6ix7even proved to the pre-reg folks :)
Friday began just as I'd hoped, with an early morning "staff meeting", during which I distributed our new shirts with Evan's spiffy new logo and crazy Photoshop skills. I costumed up for awhile, since 6ix7even was already there and Jen was arriving shortly (they being the two people who I was primarily wearing the costume for). I had a great time wandering around the con with them, bumping into galahad_rpi and potassiumman, too. At one point I ducked away from the festivities with my friend Jason to pick up the cake. Oh, I also managed to score two more Slime toys from the dealer room, always a good omen =D
At 7pm, we had a group reservation at Frank & Nic's West End Grille (nice place, a bit pricy, but good food and good mojitos), and then we returned to the hotel. After a bit of fuss, setup, and internet videos, we revealed and served the cake. Then we served the alcohol, because it was time for BLACK SHEEP! All I'm going to say about that movie is that it was 87 minutes and several cups of Casey's new punch well spent. Also, 6ix7even has some mad punning skills I never knew about.
Saturday saw more time in costume, more time in the hall ways, more time in the dealer's room and artist alley, and the AMV contest. Honestly, I was disappointed. The first half of the competition, including the Parody/Trailer category(!?), was quite lackluster. The second half had a couple videos that were worth downloading, but it really wasn't anything to write home about. There was, of course, an AMG video in the romantic category (which won), although I was surprised by the lack of a Weird Al song in the comedy category. Not complaining, mind you, just surprised.
Saturday night, of course, was the room party. I don't know what to say about it except that we had two projectors this year, and an even better lighting setup than in the previous years. There was an excellent birthday surprise orchestrated for Jen (well done, 6/7) that culminated in her receipt of all of Neil Gaiman's Sandman, each volume presented to her by a different person. There was much laughter, and snackage, and Death Punch. There was even much sleep, to my surprised delight.
Sunday was, by necessity, the "cooldown" day as always, but even as far as that goes, it was great fun. I returned to the dealer's room and made a couple purchases, including a giant Squishables sheep (how appropriate, right?) for girasola, and a t-shirt for myself. A little more relaxing in the hotel suite, and then we worked out the car logistics to get everyone over to Nanami Cafe for our big sushi dinner.
Sushi dinner was sushi dinner. Nanami is quite possibly the best sushi place I've ever been to. Also, I had my annual bottle of Snow Beauty, so I was high as a kite (emotionally, not intoxicatedly). Bittersweet as it is, heralding the end of the weekend, I absolutely love our trips to Nanami. Oh, and eccoglyph stopped by for awhile, which was a lovely bonus for the evening!
Sunday night was more gaming (I got some great feedback on my card game prototype this weekend!) and chattering and the like, and then Monday morning was cleanup and rolling out. I felt...content, by the time we left. I didn't take my badge off until I was home and getting into bed, of course, but them's the rules, right? It always goes by too fast, even for a five-day trip, but this year I got everything I could have asked for, really. Big thanks to everyone else who does some serious heavy lifting to make everything happen. Kenn and Casey especially, I couldn't do it without you. Or your toys ;)
We had only one "incident" this year, and I definitely intend to do something about it, but right now I'm happy with the way things went. If I had to pick one thing about this year that stood out more than anything else, it was seeing people I haven't seen for a very long time, and getting to actually hang out with them. The responses I got from people after the trip have made me excited about next year's prospects as well. I so wish I could just...plan conventions all year long. Why can't I get a job as a professional convention attendee consultant? =P
Hope everyone else had at least half as good a weekend as I did.