"And this is the day BEFORE the con opens??"

Thursday

So we finally get to the hotel and park. We decide to leave the stuff in the car for now and go in and get the room. That's when we find that the major convention just wrapping up in the hotel is a SQL Convention. Not usually a problem, but Milamber is a rabid linux user. We're actually in line behind a SQL guy - turns out his job is similar to Milamber's, just in the Microsoft world. Let's say there was a "little friction", some catty comments about performance and such...

Luckily he was leaving - all the SQL peoples were - or I don't think Milamber would have enjoyed the con this year. Or let US enjoy it, come to think...

But anyway, we got our room and made sure that it had a fold away for me (they had run out of two-bed rooms WAY earlier than usual) and a fridge, then got our stuff together for the walk to registration.

Now, I must say that it was only about 4 or so at this point. The day BEFORE the con started. When we got to the registration site, the line was already halfway down the wall of the CONVENTION HALL. We got in line and waitied... we had already paid months ago so we knew there would be no problems, but it was way boring. Plus we'd been driving or riding the train for so long that the idea of sitting was unpleasant at first. After the first hour, Sarabi gave in. Me? I had to go to the bathroom and it *felt* like maybe I should have packed those "ultra-absorbants" after all... (luckily that wasn't the case - it just FELT like it, but you know how it is...)

Sarabi and I ended up kibbitzing on a couple ahead of us in line that had brought a portable DVD player and were watching Chobits, but then the ACEN staff came out and started setting up corral lines and we lost them in the shuffle. We finally broke out the playing cards and settled to a couple of games of Gin Rummy. One of our neighboring otaku asked to be dealt in, so we reshuffled and compared house-rules, but by the time the cards were dealt, the ACEN staff had once again emerged from their caves for an announcement.

So they split us up into those who were fully paid up and those who were not. We got to move into the second room, with more cattle corrals.

So then on the inside we had one of those Con moments. You know where a conversation you have with yourself ends up spreading to those surrounding you? We ended up talking with people in line about Star Wars (the new set- I, II, Clone Wars, and III), Shaman King and sterotyping (or, rather, trying to bring asian cultural references across to stupid Euro kids), Bleach, Naruto, and then down to the horror that is the FoxBox in general. Then about how Cowboy Bebop and Trigun were the only dubs we'd seen that were any good, although Inuyasha was passable. Some of us may have mentioned bootlegs and online auctions. We will not speak of this.

Then we finally moved up in line and we are each sent to a different kiosk to receive our badges. Dunno why, but there you go. Every year they try to get that process better. Try = operative word. As we pass by the last table, our speculations about the piled-high goodies being snatched at by passing otaku are thrown out the window... the table is stacked with mini freezepacks of flavoured COFFEE!! We grab a few packs and then head off to eat. It's been a LONG morning, so we head to the hotel restaurant and have the nachos for lunch. De-lish-us!

After lunch, we decide to go ahead and unpack the car. Unfortunately there had been a slight drop in temperature - making it even COLDER than a few hours ago. Milamber heads out the door ahead of us and rushes into car and starts to fiddle with the heater. When Sarabi and I catch up to him, we gently remind him that the car is not on and that we needed to get the things onto the room so we could go grocery stocking shopping. His response was simply a plaintive, "Can I thaw first?"

So we empty the car and fill up the room, then head back out. We ask for directions from the Bellhop, pissing off some couple who were trying to get him to take up their luggage, then drive to the Dominicks grocery store.

Dominicks!! I have never ever seen a grocery store with an escalator. Not a PURE grocery store! There was underground parking, man! I felt like such a RUBE standing there staring down and going "Heyuck. Gee, Ahs wunderr whut's daawn thar, I reckon'?" anywho. It was cool. Couldn't really tell if it was REALLY pricey or just... different city, different State, but we did wonder if we could get away with signing up for their discount card...

The checkout guy kept asking us if we were in town for "the show" and we finally figured out that he meant Doctor Who, and told him no. Then he had to know what we were there for and what "anni-may" was and why we liked it and all. It took him long enough that we had two teenaged con-goers pop up behind us asking if we knew where there was an internet cafe... seems that the guy had an ex-girlfriend that was bothering them and "that whore" was in need of being harrassed... *sweatdrop* We said we had no idea and scooted out. Not that they were scary, but it was waaaaay weird.

We headed back home and called it a day. We also called family to reassure them that they did not have to worry about where to cash those insurance checks and that contrary to the odds laid up, we had indeed survived Chicagoland traffic. I had the extra onus of calling my brother-in-law who was apparently also in chi-town. He'd left me a voice mail asking if we could get together for breakfast or something so I tried to call him back but he never answered his phone. I left him a message asking for particulars, then crashed for the night.

Maeyan's ACEN 2k5 Trip ::: page updated 2005 June ::: maeyan[at]Lycos[dot]com