Post-Gen Con Post
And so another year has passed, and so has Gen Con Indy for me.
Sunday ran through like most others... getting up, going to work and working until about 4:30.
My friends all left early, the artists were worn out and just wanted to go home, and I didn't blame them--I wanted to go home too.
As things were all packed up, I logged off and went to my room to pack up my things. I could have stayed another night, I could have gone to the staff party too... but I don't really know many folks, and free drinks don't really appeal to me, so I decided I would just leave. After saying my good-byes to the staff at the convention center, I got my car, packed up and headed North...
The Trip Home
This... is where I started to feel I was getting mixed signals on whether or not I should have left when I did. You see, on my way down, I'd taken 65 and gotten there in 4:15. Mapquest said it'd take more than that, so I felt good about it, but I'd driven at night and saw a lot of construction areas that could cause me trouble. My car has been showing me a "check oil" light (even though I get my oil changed regularly and such), and had a heating issue at a BK on the way down, so I called Matt, who had taken 65 home, and he said that they were stuck in the mother of all traffic jams. Erf. So since Mapquest had said it would only take me 30 or so minutes extra to drive down US31, I decided to take that home... it might be longer, but not THAT long, and a steady flow of traffic would be good.
• The guy at the hotel told me that Meridian was US31, but since traffic only goes in one direction, I had to take Delaware, which was US31 North and it would "become" Meridian and US31. Well... I did not see any signs and soon I was in the middle of strange residential areas way off course. I trekked Eastward until I found Meridian and traveled North. There were no signs for US31, but earlier in Indy I knew it was part of the highway, so I hoped it still was this far North. This put me about 15 minutes behind, but not that bad, right?
• No more than 5 minutes on Meridian, I started to hear (and feel?) this *thubba-thubba-thubba* that kinda felt like my tire had gone flat, and then there was the smell of rubber. So I pulled off onto a side street and into someone's driveway... got out and could not find anything wrong in the engine or with the wheels, or under the car. No smoke or anything. Grrrrr. I got pack in the car and headed back onto Meridian and drove on... for another 20 minutes without a sign of US31 still. So I went to a gas station and got directions. The guy told me "Yep, it's US31, but they don't use signs until you're WAY out of the city." Great. I kept on driving.
• After 2 hours and only 65 miles into my drive, I realized I'd made a terrible mistake, but I was already in the middle of Indiana heading North, so this was going to be a longer trip than I'd expected.
• 4 hours into my drive, I had just passed South Bend (or so I suspected, having passed some signs for it.) I'd gotten onto 94 and felt like I was doing alright... but I saw (out of the corner of my eye) a sign for "US31" on an off-ramp. I pulled quickly onto the off-ramp and realized... "I don't know which way to turn." Of course, there's no good reason in an Indiana (other than logic) to put a sign at the top of the ramp to tell you where to turn, so of course I turned Left.... and looked back only to see signs going in the OTHER direction for US31. *GROWL!*
• Turning around, I headed down 152 as the rain started to pour. Being 150% humdity and 90 degrees at 10pm, I was traveling down 2-lane roads that snaked around through hills and residential areas. I was going for about 20 minutes when I finally got fed up. Where were the US31 signs?! DAMNIT! I got on the phone with a friend and had her try to help me with directions. I wound up in Sister Lakes with no store open. It took some time to get her to find out where I was, but trying to figure out which way was "West" was difficult when you don't know what direction you were really going on the road in the first place, and the skies are raining down on you. Fortunately, I found a woman waiting for a ride at a closed gas station and after giving me the direction I needed to go (and telling me what to look for at the turn, such as "the first light, turn at the Marathon") I was on my way.... hydroplaning with fogged windows at 55MPH to keep from being run off the road by crazy hillbilly drivers. (Now, normally I don't mind driving fast in rain, but I was literally hydroplaning over the water for periods of time and could not go any faster.) The rain was coming in so hard that even if I opened my back windows, I was getting hit in the face with water. I eventually hit I94 again and went... East instead of West (Why wouldn't I want to go to Detroit instead of Chicago? Duhr.) So after another 20 minutes on that road, I found an off-ramp, turned around and started WEST until I met up with 96... at which point the rains finally stopped and I was on my way home. My 4.25 hour drive down was paired with a 6.5 hour drive home. UGH! Once home, I crashed soon thereafter.
MONDAY
Monday was my vaction from my vaction while I was still on vacation.
Still off from work, I slept in. ^.^ I met up with Taki later in the afternoon and we decided to do a movie. After convincing him that he should get his tire fixed sooner than later, we dropped the tire off at Sears and had Matt meet us for dinner at Golden Corral. We then hit the Carousel for District 9 and departed after that.
District 9: A great movie. Social commentary, Sci-Fi, great CG and people exploding into liquid. Of course, I think a lot of us are left wondering about the rest of the "world" too... where did they come from, where were they going to, what were the other nations' reactions, did any of the aliens live outside of J-berg, like in other countries, etc.?
Also.... Zombieland: Looks fun. 9: OMG! Omgomgomg! WANT! (the extended trailer was even cooler.)
TUESDAY
... not so great for me, but not terrible. Brain is still not running on all cylinders, so production is slow...
WEDNESDAY
Today is Werewolf, if all goes well. We shall see.
Sunday ran through like most others... getting up, going to work and working until about 4:30.
My friends all left early, the artists were worn out and just wanted to go home, and I didn't blame them--I wanted to go home too.
As things were all packed up, I logged off and went to my room to pack up my things. I could have stayed another night, I could have gone to the staff party too... but I don't really know many folks, and free drinks don't really appeal to me, so I decided I would just leave. After saying my good-byes to the staff at the convention center, I got my car, packed up and headed North...
The Trip Home
This... is where I started to feel I was getting mixed signals on whether or not I should have left when I did. You see, on my way down, I'd taken 65 and gotten there in 4:15. Mapquest said it'd take more than that, so I felt good about it, but I'd driven at night and saw a lot of construction areas that could cause me trouble. My car has been showing me a "check oil" light (even though I get my oil changed regularly and such), and had a heating issue at a BK on the way down, so I called Matt, who had taken 65 home, and he said that they were stuck in the mother of all traffic jams. Erf. So since Mapquest had said it would only take me 30 or so minutes extra to drive down US31, I decided to take that home... it might be longer, but not THAT long, and a steady flow of traffic would be good.
• The guy at the hotel told me that Meridian was US31, but since traffic only goes in one direction, I had to take Delaware, which was US31 North and it would "become" Meridian and US31. Well... I did not see any signs and soon I was in the middle of strange residential areas way off course. I trekked Eastward until I found Meridian and traveled North. There were no signs for US31, but earlier in Indy I knew it was part of the highway, so I hoped it still was this far North. This put me about 15 minutes behind, but not that bad, right?
• No more than 5 minutes on Meridian, I started to hear (and feel?) this *thubba-thubba-thubba* that kinda felt like my tire had gone flat, and then there was the smell of rubber. So I pulled off onto a side street and into someone's driveway... got out and could not find anything wrong in the engine or with the wheels, or under the car. No smoke or anything. Grrrrr. I got pack in the car and headed back onto Meridian and drove on... for another 20 minutes without a sign of US31 still. So I went to a gas station and got directions. The guy told me "Yep, it's US31, but they don't use signs until you're WAY out of the city." Great. I kept on driving.
• After 2 hours and only 65 miles into my drive, I realized I'd made a terrible mistake, but I was already in the middle of Indiana heading North, so this was going to be a longer trip than I'd expected.
• 4 hours into my drive, I had just passed South Bend (or so I suspected, having passed some signs for it.) I'd gotten onto 94 and felt like I was doing alright... but I saw (out of the corner of my eye) a sign for "US31" on an off-ramp. I pulled quickly onto the off-ramp and realized... "I don't know which way to turn." Of course, there's no good reason in an Indiana (other than logic) to put a sign at the top of the ramp to tell you where to turn, so of course I turned Left.... and looked back only to see signs going in the OTHER direction for US31. *GROWL!*
• Turning around, I headed down 152 as the rain started to pour. Being 150% humdity and 90 degrees at 10pm, I was traveling down 2-lane roads that snaked around through hills and residential areas. I was going for about 20 minutes when I finally got fed up. Where were the US31 signs?! DAMNIT! I got on the phone with a friend and had her try to help me with directions. I wound up in Sister Lakes with no store open. It took some time to get her to find out where I was, but trying to figure out which way was "West" was difficult when you don't know what direction you were really going on the road in the first place, and the skies are raining down on you. Fortunately, I found a woman waiting for a ride at a closed gas station and after giving me the direction I needed to go (and telling me what to look for at the turn, such as "the first light, turn at the Marathon") I was on my way.... hydroplaning with fogged windows at 55MPH to keep from being run off the road by crazy hillbilly drivers. (Now, normally I don't mind driving fast in rain, but I was literally hydroplaning over the water for periods of time and could not go any faster.) The rain was coming in so hard that even if I opened my back windows, I was getting hit in the face with water. I eventually hit I94 again and went... East instead of West (Why wouldn't I want to go to Detroit instead of Chicago? Duhr.) So after another 20 minutes on that road, I found an off-ramp, turned around and started WEST until I met up with 96... at which point the rains finally stopped and I was on my way home. My 4.25 hour drive down was paired with a 6.5 hour drive home. UGH! Once home, I crashed soon thereafter.
MONDAY
Monday was my vaction from my vaction while I was still on vacation.
Still off from work, I slept in. ^.^ I met up with Taki later in the afternoon and we decided to do a movie. After convincing him that he should get his tire fixed sooner than later, we dropped the tire off at Sears and had Matt meet us for dinner at Golden Corral. We then hit the Carousel for District 9 and departed after that.
District 9: A great movie. Social commentary, Sci-Fi, great CG and people exploding into liquid. Of course, I think a lot of us are left wondering about the rest of the "world" too... where did they come from, where were they going to, what were the other nations' reactions, did any of the aliens live outside of J-berg, like in other countries, etc.?
Also.... Zombieland: Looks fun. 9: OMG! Omgomgomg! WANT! (the extended trailer was even cooler.)
TUESDAY
... not so great for me, but not terrible. Brain is still not running on all cylinders, so production is slow...
WEDNESDAY
Today is Werewolf, if all goes well. We shall see.