A Weekend Marked By LOTS of Driving.
Although in the end, this weekend was a lot of fun, it was riddled with setbacks caused by my unforunately familiar and constant companions, procrastination, poor planning and self-doubt. Oh, and the ongoing running gag between God and I. :P
On Thursday or Friday, I got an email stating that Artist Alley Tables for SakuraCon '10 were going to be up for grabs on Saturday. I noticed that coordinators had not changed, and I had such a bad experience last year that I decided not to even bother. I heard from Jen C and Ellen that there were issues with the online form, but also that there were almost twice as many tables available for next year. Luckily for the two of them, they both scored tables. But at the same time for me, BAH!!! Score one for self-doubt.
Saturday began with a bit of a late start, as I was up until 4 in the morning getting caught up with season 4 of Brothers & Sisters. It didn't help that I decided to finish the two most recent eps (at the time) at 2 in the morning. Point one for procrastination. Also, hearing that Patrick wasn't able to get Saturday Night/Sunday morning off meant I may have had to risk driving my faulty starting Civic (which ended up working out alright with only one delayed start). So the news kinda made me less motivated to get things in motion the following morning because we were down one participant, and I wasn't sure if I could do the trip in my current junker. Another point for self-doubt, one more for procrastination and one poor planning point on both my count and my brother's.
Anyhow, after picking up Jen G, we decided to go for affordable conveyor belt sushi at Sushi Land before heading over to Cafe Metropolitan for Gaymer Night. But when we got to Sushi Land in Tukwila, there was a massive wait on tables. We then drove around South Center looking for a place to eat, but it was more of the same. We ended up eating at the South Center Food Court. Second point for Poor Planning.
We got to Cap Hill around 7:30pm and ended up spending a good amount of time hunting down a parking space. Afterwards, it was a fun evening of Rockband. I joked with Jen that even at a Gay bar (though it wasn't really a typical bar I suppose) that I could find myself drawn to the one straight guy there. After a song that I don't recall finished, this cute guy who was awesome on the drums paid me a compliment saying that I should try playing on expert because I did so well on hard. I thanked him, but told him that I was just playing on medium, but that it was just a pretty difficult medium. To which he said, "expert may be easier though because you play all the notes instead of just the ones they want you to. But anyhow, you did awesome." *dorky smile* Turns out, he's the boyfriend of one of the female bartenders at Cafe Metro. Way to pull another fast one one me, God. *shakes fist* Jen and I end up staying until we're forced to wrap up Rock Band. Afterwards, we head to the Snoqualme Casino for eats before heading to Pat's place to crash.
Sunday morning, I awoke to a text from Patrick stating that he was pretty much stuck at work utnil noon, so we braved the road trip down to Portland in my car. Jen G and I swung by the edge of Burien to pick up Jen R. The trip started with a trip to the ATM, and food to get us started off. There was a 15 minute rest stop so I could get a quick nap and sleep off my vertigo, and then a caffiene pitstop. When we get to the convention center, we make the rounds and I see a few friends from KumoriCon AA. I also see another familiar face from KumoriCon. No, not the Big E. At Bastet's table, we encounter Ballistash!t. At first, I wasn't exactly sure it was him, but he begain speaking and it confirmed his identity. "VOICE RECOGNITION ENGAGED!!! IDENTITY CONFIRMED!!! I AM HAVING CHORTLES!!! HAHAHAHA!!!" Also, I missed out on getting a Super King (Bender's alter ego from the New Justice Team) figure for cheap because I wanted to scope prices all around first. And someone had JUST purchased him and was putting the prize into his back pack as we got back to that table. Score another for procrastination, and a sympathy point for self-doubt. I did end up getting other stuff, but my current Holy Grail, the Zetsubou Sensei Nendoroid, was nowhere to be found. Though there were lots of retro toys which we all got some laughs and nostalgic moments over.
Afterwards, we decide it is time for food. I offer to swing us by Voodoo Doughnut to get us some dessert for after dinner. But of course, I didn't look up the address, I was just going off of memory from when Patrick and I went. I found a street that sounded familiar, but decided to give up after about 10 minutes of driving in squares and triangles since we were in serious need of real food. If I had stopped to get my phone out of my jacket in the back seat and call 411, I would have found that at two points, were were merely blocks away from either location. Another big point for self-doubt. But since lack of common sense isn't play this round, it gets no points. I confirmed the info online as soon as I got home. BAH!!!
Anyhow, we find a Popeyes and get our food. This goes according to plan, then head to Best Buy where Jen R had two items to get for certain, and I was hoping to get vol 1 of Honey and Clover tax free and with my $5 coupon in play. The set was not in stock. BOO!!! But Jen got her items. We then headed to IKEA which was open til 9pm. We got there at 5:30, so plenty of time. No points distributed, but just dumb luck for my item not being at that particular Best Buy.
At 7:30, we beging the drive back, and we get to Jen R's place at around 10:15. We stay to chat and caffinate for a bit, then head on back to Bremerton around 10:45. I'm pretty blitzed from driving at this point, and we get to Jen G's place just at midnight. Overall, it was a fun weekend, but at this time, my biggest regret was Voodoo Doughnut because if I had just kept going down the street I though was familiar for two more blocks, the three of us could have split a Cock N'Balls. But now I know for next time. Whenver that happens to be. Hopefully with Patrick coming along so I'm not the sole driver. Oh, and Trivia point. We saw a total of 9 lit cop cars stopping people during this road trip, with the first four being within a mile of each other on the way down to Portland. But here are the total scores for our players:
Procrastination: 3
Self-Doubt: 4
Poor Planning: 2
And of course, one big point for that running gag.
Yes, I realize I'm not supposed to look for the tunnel at the end of all the lights or the grey lining of my silver cloud, but I just felt the need to blog it out.
On Thursday or Friday, I got an email stating that Artist Alley Tables for SakuraCon '10 were going to be up for grabs on Saturday. I noticed that coordinators had not changed, and I had such a bad experience last year that I decided not to even bother. I heard from Jen C and Ellen that there were issues with the online form, but also that there were almost twice as many tables available for next year. Luckily for the two of them, they both scored tables. But at the same time for me, BAH!!! Score one for self-doubt.
Saturday began with a bit of a late start, as I was up until 4 in the morning getting caught up with season 4 of Brothers & Sisters. It didn't help that I decided to finish the two most recent eps (at the time) at 2 in the morning. Point one for procrastination. Also, hearing that Patrick wasn't able to get Saturday Night/Sunday morning off meant I may have had to risk driving my faulty starting Civic (which ended up working out alright with only one delayed start). So the news kinda made me less motivated to get things in motion the following morning because we were down one participant, and I wasn't sure if I could do the trip in my current junker. Another point for self-doubt, one more for procrastination and one poor planning point on both my count and my brother's.
Anyhow, after picking up Jen G, we decided to go for affordable conveyor belt sushi at Sushi Land before heading over to Cafe Metropolitan for Gaymer Night. But when we got to Sushi Land in Tukwila, there was a massive wait on tables. We then drove around South Center looking for a place to eat, but it was more of the same. We ended up eating at the South Center Food Court. Second point for Poor Planning.
We got to Cap Hill around 7:30pm and ended up spending a good amount of time hunting down a parking space. Afterwards, it was a fun evening of Rockband. I joked with Jen that even at a Gay bar (though it wasn't really a typical bar I suppose) that I could find myself drawn to the one straight guy there. After a song that I don't recall finished, this cute guy who was awesome on the drums paid me a compliment saying that I should try playing on expert because I did so well on hard. I thanked him, but told him that I was just playing on medium, but that it was just a pretty difficult medium. To which he said, "expert may be easier though because you play all the notes instead of just the ones they want you to. But anyhow, you did awesome." *dorky smile* Turns out, he's the boyfriend of one of the female bartenders at Cafe Metro. Way to pull another fast one one me, God. *shakes fist* Jen and I end up staying until we're forced to wrap up Rock Band. Afterwards, we head to the Snoqualme Casino for eats before heading to Pat's place to crash.
Sunday morning, I awoke to a text from Patrick stating that he was pretty much stuck at work utnil noon, so we braved the road trip down to Portland in my car. Jen G and I swung by the edge of Burien to pick up Jen R. The trip started with a trip to the ATM, and food to get us started off. There was a 15 minute rest stop so I could get a quick nap and sleep off my vertigo, and then a caffiene pitstop. When we get to the convention center, we make the rounds and I see a few friends from KumoriCon AA. I also see another familiar face from KumoriCon. No, not the Big E. At Bastet's table, we encounter Ballistash!t. At first, I wasn't exactly sure it was him, but he begain speaking and it confirmed his identity. "VOICE RECOGNITION ENGAGED!!! IDENTITY CONFIRMED!!! I AM HAVING CHORTLES!!! HAHAHAHA!!!" Also, I missed out on getting a Super King (Bender's alter ego from the New Justice Team) figure for cheap because I wanted to scope prices all around first. And someone had JUST purchased him and was putting the prize into his back pack as we got back to that table. Score another for procrastination, and a sympathy point for self-doubt. I did end up getting other stuff, but my current Holy Grail, the Zetsubou Sensei Nendoroid, was nowhere to be found. Though there were lots of retro toys which we all got some laughs and nostalgic moments over.
Afterwards, we decide it is time for food. I offer to swing us by Voodoo Doughnut to get us some dessert for after dinner. But of course, I didn't look up the address, I was just going off of memory from when Patrick and I went. I found a street that sounded familiar, but decided to give up after about 10 minutes of driving in squares and triangles since we were in serious need of real food. If I had stopped to get my phone out of my jacket in the back seat and call 411, I would have found that at two points, were were merely blocks away from either location. Another big point for self-doubt. But since lack of common sense isn't play this round, it gets no points. I confirmed the info online as soon as I got home. BAH!!!
Anyhow, we find a Popeyes and get our food. This goes according to plan, then head to Best Buy where Jen R had two items to get for certain, and I was hoping to get vol 1 of Honey and Clover tax free and with my $5 coupon in play. The set was not in stock. BOO!!! But Jen got her items. We then headed to IKEA which was open til 9pm. We got there at 5:30, so plenty of time. No points distributed, but just dumb luck for my item not being at that particular Best Buy.
At 7:30, we beging the drive back, and we get to Jen R's place at around 10:15. We stay to chat and caffinate for a bit, then head on back to Bremerton around 10:45. I'm pretty blitzed from driving at this point, and we get to Jen G's place just at midnight. Overall, it was a fun weekend, but at this time, my biggest regret was Voodoo Doughnut because if I had just kept going down the street I though was familiar for two more blocks, the three of us could have split a Cock N'Balls. But now I know for next time. Whenver that happens to be. Hopefully with Patrick coming along so I'm not the sole driver. Oh, and Trivia point. We saw a total of 9 lit cop cars stopping people during this road trip, with the first four being within a mile of each other on the way down to Portland. But here are the total scores for our players:
Procrastination: 3
Self-Doubt: 4
Poor Planning: 2
And of course, one big point for that running gag.
Yes, I realize I'm not supposed to look for the tunnel at the end of all the lights or the grey lining of my silver cloud, but I just felt the need to blog it out.