On the First Day of GenCon ...
I finally caught up with everyone's postings and comments (does a happy dance)!
OK, I will now start the GenCon updates. Since so much happened, I'm breaking things up into days. Here we go to Thursday.
We picked up aceofbirds and theturtlemoves at the train station at 3 AM. We drove them back to our place so we could get a few hours sleep before hitting the con. On the way, aceofbirds (whom I shall now refer to as J~), kept asking about the distance and location of the courthouse from the convention center. I didn't really think much of it but we explained that it's at least a seven or so block walk and since she is heavy with child (but very beautiful especially in her current condition), I wasn't sure if that sort of distance would be adviseable. After getting a few hours sleep we took them out for breakfast at Le Peep (they're not local but they are pretty darn good). While we were there J~ & theturtlemoves (whom I shall now refer to as A~) asked to be dropped off at the courthouse. When we asked them why they told us that they were going to get married. It appears that it is just as easy to get married in Indiana as it is in Nevada. We went with them but since A~ tried to bring his chainmail kit in, they freaked out over his pliers so I took them out to beldar so that we could go on with the ceremony. Suffice it to say that they got married (in Small Claims Court) and I was the witness and photographer (although I didn't get a pic of the proposal as A~ didn't give me his camera until later).
We made it to the con around noonish and then got J~ a wheelchair so she could get around as all of the walking and the small amount of rest had really taken it's toll on her. We then split up into our respective couples and hit the dealers room.
beldar & I worked the dealers room checking for games we could review and scoping out purchases to be made in the next few days. We also started on the quest game which has you visit a bunch of different booths (mostly smaller companies) in order to sample their wares. It's really great for us as it makes our game scouting more fun. We actually made it about 2/3rds of the way through the room Thursday and had made a lot of good contacts.
After we regrouped, we checked out the plans for the "Party on the Patio" but it was full of much suckage so we decided to skip it. A~ mentioned taking us out for dinner at some little place nearby. Since we had pointed out Hard Times Cafe to J~ as we came back from the courthouse (they have really great chili, you know) that's where I thought he meant. He then said no, I mean St. Elmo's and beldar and I almost died from shock. Since most of you don't know, St. Elmo's is a very expensive steakhouse much like Ruth's Chriss but not a chain. They are renound for their shrimp cocktail which has freshly grated horseradish in it and is known to make big, burly football players cry. We were amazed at their generousity and had one of the best meals we've ever had. Everything was delicious and we all took home a bunch of leftovers (they're not really known for small portions either).
When we got home, we gave them some sparkling apple juice to toast their nuptuals with and all pretty much dropped off to sleep immediately.
It was a really amazing day and night.
Note: apparently our marriage application has some amusing questions on it asking if you're incompetent, drunk or more closely related than second cousin. I've since found out that if you're over 50 years old, it's OK to marry your 1st cousin in the state of Illinois.