Originally, I was wanting to go to Atlanta, job or no job. Then
I thought about it, and decided not to go, on the grounds of feasibility,
or lack thereof. Then it was decided to go anyway to help promote
AnimeUSA. Besides, I needed an excuse to hop in Ai-chan and hit the
road for a couple dozen hours. Not like I need a reason for that,
anyway. So...
Who needs to think when your feet just go?
Early Friday morning, I set course for DC to pick up a few things at Anime Pavilion to deliver to the con. With that done, I plot my second course to... Atlanta! I’ve been there before, but I’ve never driven by myself. Come to think of it, I’ve never driven any of my own cars to Atlanta.
Got a full tank of gas, a half case of Dew, and a trunkload of Bebop.
After driving for what felt like several days, I slide into the Sheraton’s parking garage effortlessly. Already knowing which room Steve is in, I head up with basic luggage. The store items will wait for tomorrow to be unloaded. Road fatigue is getting the better of me, but after Steve hands me a badge and a room key, it’s time to check things out.
A reunion, of sorts.
After a quick tour of the area by Steve, I wander on my own until I notice EK. Not difficult to find her; I just had to look for the classiest dressed woman. We exchanged hugs; I hadn’t seen her since Anime Central 2000. For awhile, we chatted with several others about anime and anime stuff. Finally around 1 in the morning, it was decided that sleeping was imminent. Good thing, because standing straight was beginning to require more mental effort than normal. Dang, I just got here and Friday’s already over. I missed Anime Hell!
It’s too soon to say if it’s worth the trip or not. Saturday and
Sunday will say.
Got a mission to run.
Sometime around 9-ish, I wake up in my makeshift bed composed of chairs. Taking care of a shower, I then head out to get some more stuff out of my car, including the Bebop wall scrolls. They don’t seem heavy one at a time, but a whole box of them requires some decent arm strength. For the second round of emptying the car, there at least was some help. But my real objective for the day, was to spread the word about AnimeUSA. Ooh, saw someone dressed as Excel!
Mixed bag
Wandered around the artist’s alley, passing out flyers, with reactions ranging from “There’s no way I can make it to that.” to “Yeah, I’ll go!” Suffice to say, I liked hearing the second response more. Got a program book with zero hassle. Kinda getting hungry.
Fast, yet elusive food.
After the AP crew decided on McDonald’s, it was up to me to go and get it. Yeah, and I’ve never been in this area before. So, I drove around before finding a McDonald’s. Eh, I guess I can digest their stuff once in awhile. Finally juggling all the food from my car to the tables, it was time to chow down. Not to doubt the competency of the average fast food worker, but it surprised me that the entire order was correct.
It’s only flesh; it’ll grow back
So, as I was working the table, helping customers sort through the posters, a sharp pain developed suddenly in my fingers. Hm, I got bitten by the posters. Eh, it looks ok. A minute later, I notice the backs of my fingers were rather bloody. Granted, they were just paper cuts, and my general attitude on them is “it’s only flesh, it’ll grow back”. Well, I at least had to wash it off. So I did that, wrapped a paper towel around both fingers, held it on with a rubber band, and went back to work for a bit.
Makin’ the rounds
After that, I set out to pass around more flyers. EK was at her table, so I stopped by and we talked about music videos and stuff. She had to go to the music video showing, so I continued on my merry way.
First aid, courtesy of Planet Anime
Strolling throught the dealers room (inevitably), I happen across the Planet Anime tables. One of the ladies there kinda knows me, and I kinda know her. We don’t know each others’ names, only by sight. Anyway, I show off my handiwork, and she hands me some Band-aids, ointment and an antiseptic wipe. Apparently that happens to them a lot. I thank her, and go back to work for a couple hours until the room closes for the day.
Instead of our regularly scheduled Cosplay...
Somehow I didn’t feel like going to the costume show, despite that the dealers badge would’ve gotten me a nice seat with no wait. Instead, I stayed in the room with Lorinda, a fellow Anime Pavilion worker, cooling our heels and talking for a couple hours, during which I watch her draw a picture.
Rub a dub dub, time for some grub
When the costume contest was done, Steve came up and took us out to eat at a local restaurant. It was suggested we take Ai-chan, but I protested on the grounds of passenger readiness. So we went in the van, which had no back seats at all. But there was at least room. During the course of the dinner, we talked about adventures in conventioneering. We filled up, and brought back leftovers for Jeff. That dude needs some meat on his bones, says Steve. Riding back reminded me of the benefits of seats and seatbelts, when the van stopped quickly, causing Lorinda’s teeth to collide with my already slightly damaged fingers. No harm done, though.
Another moment to mellow.
The bunch of us returned to the room to hang out, as Steve and a friend were preparing to head out to a party with some Hard Lemonade and Smirnoff Ice. I lightened his load by a few bottles. Would’ve gone with them, but I was wearing down fast and my left knee was questioning it’s role as a load-bearing device. (Why now!?) Shortly after they leave, Jeff and Meg show up and I show them my amazing feet. The toe thing. His laptop is there and he proceeds to show some music videos he found online. Steve stumbles in partly drunk, and promptly goes to bed. Some girl I’ve never met walks in with a pillow, and picks a spot on the floor to sleep on. Well, Steve knows her. At least somebody does, that’s what counts.
Well, everyone’s asleep. I’m gonna be too, soon. Saturday’s
over already, and it still feels like the weekend barely got started for
me. It’s a bit hard to imagine that I’ll be hitting the road again
so soon tomorrow. Am I enjoying myself? Maybe, I’ll actually
have to think about that.
Sailor Moon Says:
Around 11:30, there’s a knock at the door to wake me up. Meg’s dressed up as Sailor Moon, and starts spouting orders from Steve about clearing out the room before noon. Ok. Moved his stuff to his van, and my stuff to my car with some help from Tara, the mystery guest from last night. With my stuff in place, it’s knee brace time. Then as soon as I got to the table, more food fun. Burger King and Taco Bell. Burger King wasn’t hard to find, but the Taco Bell was tricky. Gr, I’m missing a panel on anime websites.
Anime stuffs to go, by phone!
During the last couple hours of the con, I spent that time working. Took a break, during which I called up Sarah to see if she wanted anything. She had in mind a Kero-chan backpack, but I didn’t see any there. There was a somewhat defective Ryo-ohki backpack that needed new zippers, but that was about it. Ah, found some AWA7 t-shirts. Sometime later, it was time to tear down and pack up. While I was busy dismantling a crate system, she called me. Somehow I was doing better while talking on the phone, but eventually I had to stop the call to continue working. Battery was about dead, too.
This is why I don’t do this often.
Up next: Loading the van. Coupled with the funky vibes my knee was giving me earlier, this is why I put a brace on. Packing up was one thing. Loading was another. It was like Tetris on crack, so it was no surprise to me that Steve thought that the van was loaded rather crappily. So while I’m at the loading dock getting rained on, I can hear the cheering from the audience at closing ceremonies.
“Moist and tasty.”
After that was done, Christina and I hang out in the lobby while Steve tends to some business. I’m starting to feel the effects of today’s work. I notice EK, and we exchange goodbyes. She hugs me, despite my warning that my shirt was rather sweaty.
A festival of meat!
Instead of bolting home right after that, I stick around and go to dinner
with Steve, Christina, and Hugo from Paradigm at a fabulously fancy restaurant
that I could never hope to afford on my own. This restaurant’s claim
to fame was meat. Meat brought to the table, in quantity. Upon
entering, we noticed big chunks of meat spinning and cooking at a fire
near the front of the restaurant. At the table, there were little
discs, red on one side, green on the other. As soon as the customer
put the green side up, meat happened.
“It’s like the Bat-signal!”
“Yeah, but Batman wasn’t as fast as this.”
A very classy restaurant, a radical departure from the typical bottom-feeder
cuisine I normally subsist on when I’m away from home. Burger King
in the afternoon, and then this.
Something I hadn’t mentioned earlier: Christina’s a vegetarian.
The difference between youth and maturity
Finally, sometime around 11 in the evening, we all left. I followed Steve to I-85, and from there I took off on my own. Drove until about 1, when I decided there was no way I could do the trip in one sitting. If I had left around 5 or 6 earlier that day, then I would’ve gone for it. But no, it was way too late in the day now. In my younger days, maybe I would have tried it. Youth is when you push yourself to your limits, and maturity is knowing to stop before you reach them. So in my brief moment of maturity, I stopped at a motel for the night and continued the bulk of the trip the next day. Driving in the rain isn’t a picnic, but it’s a lot better than driving in the rain at night while trying to stay awake with some seriously sore muscles.
All in all... I guess it was a decent convention. I had fun, but there was more work involved. I only wish I would have gotten there earlier on Friday and actually watched some anime at all during the weekend. So I look back, and I wonder: Was it all worth it? Yes and no.
While I’m happy to have seen EK again after a long time, did something for AnimeUSA, and I got to meet a bunch of neat people by working for Anime Pavilion, I feel a bit... empty. This con required much more effort from me than normal, and if it weren’t for EK and AnimeUSA, then I would have seen almost no other reason to go. Yeah, AWA is fun, but I only wish I could have partaken of some of that fun. Perhaps I would have fared better on a regular badge. That way, while I would have been responsible for more of my own expenses, I would have also been more free to go about as I please and be able to push more on AnimeUSA. However... If it weren’t for working for Anime Pavilion, I wouldn’t have been able to go at all.
Various items of curiosity:
Attendance: Official figures put it roughly at 3150.
High points:
Road trip!
got to see EK after a long time
got some stuff done for AnimeUSA
Low points:
worked and worn out
missed Anime Hell and a bunch of things I wanted to see
didn’t see any anime or music videos whatsoever
Food: Burger King, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, the tasty-yet-mysterious delicacy that are truck stop burgers, ranging all the way up to the fine dining of Fogo de Chau’s.
On AWA itself: It’s noticed that where AWA goes, destruction follows. The hotel where the second AWA is gone, and the hotel for the first is either gone or ready to be torn down. Hoo, I’ve heard stories about that place. The convention center for this year and next is going to eventually be torn down to make room for another runway. What’s keeping the other three locations standing, I don’t know. Hm, the hotel for the third and fourth years would make an excellent paintball arena, and the fifth year hotel would be good for a Doom/Quake setting. Anyway, I find it odd that AWA has a penchant for choosing hotels destined for destruction. Through no fault of AWA, mind you.
And so ends my convention report on AWA 7. Up next: AnimeUSA 3!