Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts
By Alyce Wilson
August 24, 2005 - Going Up
The
Prince from the very cute
Katamari Damacy video game
Friday morning at Otakon, The Gryphon and I got going early. Neither one of us had had enough sleep, but a little breakfast and some coffee gave us the energy to get moving.
I, of course,
was in registration again, and The Gryphon did a lot of walking, checking
in on the departments under him. I told him to stop by occasionally just
to check in on me and to spot me for restroom breaks, since after all,
he outranked me. He also had more mobility than, say, The Big Kahuna,
who was usually being pulled in several directions at once every time
I went looking for him.
This time, my area was handling at door registration only, as well as handicapped registration. Due to this year's attendance cap, we would only be accepting about 2,100 at the door. We kept track of this by having a staffer at the door hand out blue tickets to everyone who needed at-door registration.
My previous runner, Ina, had been replaced by another gopher, equally
dependable and hardworking but much quieter. He and I had a running in-joke
where we were counting Vache the Stampede cosplayers, but that was actually
not the most popular costume this year.
We only had five registers going out of six possible, with one of them staffed not by a registration staffer but by one of the Four Fathers of Otakon. Although he was supposed to be stationed in Con Ops, he had agreed to help us at The Big Kahuna's request (who happens to be another one of the Four Fathers).
The morning rush wasn't too bad. I figured there probably weren't such a crush of people because they couldn't count on being able to get in at the door this year. Although I expected to process all available at-doors by the end of the day, by the time my shift ended there were still about 300 to go and the new people had slowed to a trickle.
Although I had been prepared to stay until 3, we ended up condensing registers and closing down my side. By this point, we had only two stations still going anyway, including one staffer who'd been there as long as I had, the dedicated staffer at the handicapped booth. He worked straight through without breaks, although I gave him plenty of opportunities to do so. Finally, a friend of his, who'd been relieved from his station elsewhere at registration, took over the register so that his buddy would eat. But our side was only open about another half hour, and then he was free to go.
I checked in with the Big Kahuna, and he told me I could leave, as well. This was good, because I had some friends meeting up with The Gryphon and I at about 5:30 or 6. I checked in with The Gryphon and then returned to the hotel to take a much needed nap. Before I did so, I bought a "Con Staph" T-shirt from a former Otakon con chair. They were joke shirts that listed all the expected side effects of being a staffer, including dizziness and lack of sleep. Since the small T-shirts were an actual small, I was happy to buy one. I was tired of wearing oversized shirts.
The nap really helped; when I woke, I felt refreshed. The Gryphon called to say he was heading over about 5 or 5:30. I changed out of my staff shirt into something nicer: a black sleeveless knee-length fitted dress with white stitching and silver zippers. It's very flattering and comfortable, too. Also, I discovered that the zippered pockets in the front are great for things like a cell phone or a wallet.
We were meeting up with two couples: first, The Artist and her husband, whose wedding we attended during last year's Otakon. They gave us a call to say they were heading in, and we met them in the hotel lobby. She was looking great, as always. They were both dressed dressy-casual. She had a colorful silk scarf around her neck, which looked nice. He had a button-down shirt and slacks.
I gave them each the badges I'd picked up for them, and we made plans for what to check out. Since my other friend, The Poet, wasn't getting downtown until later, we thought we'd check out Otakon and then meet up for dinner. We roamed around, checking out costumes and looking for interesting things to show them.
We took them through the Dealers' Room, which they found interesting, and the art show, which The Artist liked. I ended up chatting with her and catching up, finding out, for example, she'll be starting grad school soon in the field of computers. The Gryphon chatted with her husband as they walked along.
Eventually, we got another call through to The Poet and arranged a time to meet him outside of Uncle Lee's. Of course, it took us longer to get there than anticipated, and we were about 15 minutes late. His girlfriend didn't join us for dinner but would be connecting with us later.
As always, Uncle Lee's offered a great atmosphere and good food with no waiting for a table. I don't know why more people haven't discovered it, but I'm glad they haven't. Throughout dinner, I got my friends talking to each other and soon they found they had a lot in common, such as a love of music. This, of course, did not surprise me. The Artist kept coming up with things to flip me out, such as telling me scary environmental problems in the Baltimore area.
The plan was originally to see a movie back in the convention center, but the one we planned to be seeing had been canceled. We settled on another, but The Artist was getting tired and she and her husband bowed out, after walking with us back to the hotel.
The Gryphon wanted to get back to work, so I gave The Poet his badge and showed him around Otakon. We would have checked out the Dealers' Room, but it was closed, so we checked out the Art Room instead. As we walked, we kept running into staffers and I would introduce them.
We tried to stop in at LARP where The Cheshire Cat and The Dormouse were running the show, but they were too busy for more than a quick wave.
The Poet seemed interested in the dance, so we decided to stop by there later with his girlfriend, after I checked my bag at Con Ops for safety. As we dropped by Video Ops to see if The White Rabbit was around, The Poet got a call from his girlfriend, and we arranged to meet her outside at her car.
Of course, this took a little while because she was in front of the convention center, not behind it as planned. But then we all hopped in her car and found her a parking space before walking back together.
This was my first time meeting her. She and The Poet had met through an online dating service and had gotten really serious in their brief time together. In fact, she was moving into his place on Monday. She seemed like a really nice person, pretty laid back like him, and I could see why there was an attraction.
We gave her the badge I'd picked up for her, and we headed to the BCC. Not much was going on except for showings in video rooms, so we made for the dance after checking out the video room. The Poet's girlfriend wanted to find out if they had virtual reality games, and the staffer we spoke to explained there wasn't much interest in them any more. But the games we did see were interesting, including some really skilled DDR competitors.
The Gryphon met up with us in Video Gaming and showed us the staff entrance to the dance. He came in with us, because it never hurts to have more of a staff presence at the dance, one of the most popular, and chaotic events. On the way, we confiscated a "Kiss Me" sign. I tried to explain to The Poet and his girlfriend why that was necessary.
"What's the term for these signs?" I asked The Gryphon.
"Solicitation."
"No, there's another term."
"Prostitution."
"No, a slang term!"
"Glomping."
"That's it."
The Poet really dug the dance, and his girlfriend enjoyed watching the breakdancers on the main floor. The Poet and I drifted into a side room where the DJ was playing some very danceable beats. Once you got over the Otafunk in the room, it was a nice scene. Despite being packed, it was a good vibe. Nobody was shoving or being unruly.
I did notice at one point a bunch of staff shirts gathered to one side. While I couldn't tell what they were handling, they seemed to have it under control. I figured if they needed extra help, The Gryphon would grab me.
The Poet and his girlfriend are both smokers, so we went out on the terrace so they could have a smoke. It was fun watching the dancers from the other side of the glass, especially since we couldn't hear anything more than the bass beat, which was rattling the metal in the doors. We pointed to different people and made up stories about their histories.
When we all tired of the dance scene, we stopped at Con Ops so I could get my bag. We wandered the halls some more for people watching. By this time, the crowds were getting smaller, as it was getting close to midnight. Because we hadn't had a lot of time to talk, we sat at a rooftop seating area which I believe is new this year. While they smoked, we chatted.
The girlfriend was telling me about how competitive he is at Scrabble and how it's easy to feel intimidated by his linguistic abilities. I told her that I'd learned after meeting him in grad school that you don't have to impress him to be his friend; it's already there. I don't know if that was a helpful thing to say, but I could tell from the way that he looked at her and talked about her that she had already impressed him.
I found out what had attracted them to each other's profiles. It seemed mutual interests in music and the arts, which was again no surprise. We amused ourselves some more with people watching. When a tall guy wearing a skull mask came outside to smoke, we waited eagerly to see his face. Without the mask he wasn't nearly as intimidating, being a goateed guy with glasses. We joked that it would have been funny if he'd pulled up the skull mask to reveal another skull mask underneath.
When they started to fade and we started to yawn, they decided to head out. We exchanged hugs and I helped them find the entrance. As I was walking back to Con Ops, I checked the time: almost 2 a.m.!
This was another late night for The Gryphon. Every time we tried to leave, it seemed, he got called to do something else. I had promised him a backrub, but it was so late by the time we turned in, I told him I'd make good on it the next day, instead.
More from Otakon 2005:
August 26, 2005 - Riding It Out
August 30, 2005 - End of the Ride
Musings on Otakon 2006:
August 8, 2006 - Bunny Ears of Command
Musings on Otakon 2004:
August
10 , 2004 - Overture to Otakon
Musings on Otakon 2003:
Moral:
People watching is fun, with or without music.
Copyright
2005 by Alyce Wilson
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