August 10, 2004 - How I Spent My Summer Vacation

Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

August 10, 2004 - How I Spent My Summer Vacation

Recently, I spent 10 days traveling with my family and The Gryphon. The first leg of this was a beach vacation at the Jersey shore. During the second portion of my vacation, I served as a staff member for the 2004 Otakon in Baltimore.

The registration line at Otakon

Day Six: Overture to Otakon (Thursday, July 29)

The Gryphon and I didn't expect anyone else to see us off when we got up early to take off for Baltimore, but as we got ready one after the other made their way into the kitchen. We got to give hugs to everyone in my family, excepting Mom, who was staying elsewhere.

After breakfast and after packing up the car -- making sure to put what we wanted for Otakon in the back seat and the rest in the trunk -- we were on our way.

The drive seemed long, especially since we had to drive north and then south again because of the way the highways work in New Jersey. The roads were fairly busy, but at least it wasn't bumper to bumper traffic like it was once in Baltimore when a firefighters' convention was going on. At that time, it took us 20 minutes just to get through the toll booth.

We stopped at one of the rest areas on I-95 to get a little lunch, because we didn't know when we'd get a chance once we got into Baltimore. I got a chicken salad at one of the fast food places and did a little people watching. I saw all these young, healthy looking children and wondered what a fast food diet would do to them.

By the time we got to Baltimore, I just wanted to do two things: get settled in our room, and pick up two new staff T-shirts to replace the ones from previous years that were too big. But despite a very crowded hotel lobby, crammed full of staffers including staff at a card table, I learned I could neither get my T-shirts nor check into the hotel.

Apparently, the staffers were not prepared to distribute T-shirts yet and the hotel wasn't checking anyone in until 3 p.m.

In a somewhat cranky mood, I said, "Fine. Let's take our stuff back to the car." The Gryphon and I returned our armloads of luggage.

Then I walked over to the Baltimore Convention Center to help set up the registration tables while The Gryphon stayed at the hotel to help sign in staff members and get them their badges. This was one of his jobs as head of the information desk.

Not long after arriving at the BCC, my bad mood dissipated. In fact, when I saw a fellow staffer I'll call the Hotel Goddess, who arranges the hotel rooms for Otakon staff members as well as arranges contracts with downtown hotels for blocks of rooms for the convention members, I apologized to her for being cranky earlier. She gave me a hug and said it was OK. I gave her a rundown of the highlights from our vacation so far, when the supposedly relaxing beach vacation went haywire.

I helped the Reg Queen set up registration, which meant doing things like setting up the materials we'd need when the processing of pre-registered members began that night.

At 3 p.m., I excused myself to check us into our hotel room. Since I knew The Gryphon was busy, I figured I'd do it all myself. I don't know why I was surprised by the huge group of people at the hotel desk at 3. But fortunately, they were mostly staff members and put me in a good mood.

One staffer brought by his stuffed version of the Cheat from the Homestar Runner site. When you hit him, he made noises, so we took turns taking out our frustrations. That felt good.

When the staffer took away the Cheat, me and another staffer, who works for Special Ops at Otakon, joked, "Oh, no! We've got nothing to punch now!"

I joked that we should punch a staffer we'll call the Badge King, because at the convention he wears all of his past badges from Otakon and other conventions. "I bet he'll make noise."

We decided not to, in case he hits back.

Before long, much of the line was diverted because those who were getting staff rooms were taken to one side and those getting private rooms, like me and The Gryphon, could continue to the counter. So it didn't take too much longer before I was checked in.

I made several forays out to the car to bring our stuff in.

The first thing I noticed was that our room looked a little less nice than other rooms I'd had there before. The second thing I noticed was there were ashtrays in the room. That's when I realized the dank smell that hit me as I entered was not the result of sweltering Baltimore heat but was, instead, the remnants of cigarette smoke. This was a smoking room.

I honestly didn't think, at that point, it would be much of a problem. I hoped that running the air conditioning would help freshen the room.

Just as I was about to head back over, The Gryphon called me on my cell phone and told me that if I stayed put he'd help with my T-shirts. He came over from the BCC, where he was now stationed, and helped me look through the T-shirt boxes for the right size.

After finding nothing but L, XL and XXL, we finally found a box with S and M. I took two M's. I'd find out later they were a little loose, although I've since discovered they shrunk appropriately in the wash. They'll last until at least next year.

By the time I returned to the BCC, pizza had been delivered for those helping with preregistration. I went in the Gopher Ops room and had several slices while chatting with some staffers.

The Reg Queen led a brief training session before we got started. I'd actually practiced on the system at the previous Otakon meeting, so I wasn't worried. I was paired with a long-haired staffer who turned out to be a good teammate. He knew the computer system better, so he did that part of it while I put together all the supplementary materials, such as badges, program books, and a flyer that explained the procedures for our big concert the next night with the Japanese pop sensations, L'arc~en~Ciel.

I really don't know how many people came through the door that night. Thousands, I understand. We just tried to keep them moving.

The nice thing was that everyone who came up to the table had a smile on their face. Despite having waited for however long they'd been waiting, when they got to us, they were simply glad their wait was over.

Of some of them had to be sent to our trouble desk, where they dealt with issues like names which were not in our system. Fortunately, the guy who handled that desk was good at resolving questions fairly quickly.

By the time we closed the doors and stopped taking preregistration that night, we had not only helped thousands of people get a jump on the con, which would start the next day, but we'd also spread out our own work so as not to have as many to process on Friday.

Preregistration is, of course, those people who paid in advance rather than at the door.

I was pretty much done for the evening, so I went to the Info Desk to hang out with The Gryphon. Of course, at this time of night, he was primarily gathering info from different departments and helping staffers, dealers and associates with badges.

As the evening wore on, and people were leaving, we heard some newbie staffers talking about how they had a long walk back to their car. "How long?" I asked.

"Four miles."

Seems they were parked in what Baltimore natives agree is a pretty seedy part of town, where most Baltimorians wouldn't park in the daytime, let alone at night. They intended to walk back there, wearing their staff shirts, cat ears and cat tails. Even though they were guys, I figured they'd be pretty much dead meat.

We tried to convince them to take a cab, and they said they didn't have money for one. I sat back quietly while they tried to find someone to drive them their. Finally, my conscience made me speak up. The Gryphon and I offered them a ride to their car.

With The Gryphon riding shotgun and the two young staffers in the back, they gave us directions to their car. As we turned onto smaller and smaller streets, amongst buildings with boarded up windows and people roaming aimlessly in the streets, I hoped we'd find the car soon. The Gryphon told me later he was comforted by the fact he could still hear staffers on his portable radio, just in case he needed to call for help.

We found their car and let them out. They knocked on a door and were let in at an apartment which was where, I'm guessing, the one staffer's girlfriend lived. He'd mentioned her as we were waiting in the BCC before driving over.

Still, even though they knew at least one person in that neighborhood, I never would have forgiven myself if I'd let two young staffers in cat ears and fox tails walk through the "seedy" section of Baltimore by themselves.

When I told other Baltimore residents about it later, they would say, "They parked where?"

When we got back to the room, as a capper to the day, I realized the air conditioning had done nothing to dissipate the smell of stale smoke. At first I thought I could put up with it, and then I started to think about whether I wanted to deal with it for four days.

Not to mention the fact that my sister and her fiancé were coming into town the next day to stay there to go to a wedding where my sister was a bridesmaid. I thought of her having to deal with that smoky smell getting on her bridesmaid's dress, and concluded it was a bad idea.

The Gryphon very kindly agreed to go down to the lobby and talk to the Hotel Goddess, who bless her soul, through the help of the hotel concierge, was able to find an empty nonsmoking room with two double beds. Immediately, I changed out of my pajamas and The Gryphon and I transferred our stuff to the new room.

When we got to the new room, I smelled the damp towels I'd had hung in the bathroom all day. They smelled like smoke. I was really glad we'd moved.

In the fresh air of the new room, I was able to get plenty of sleep to deal with the thousands of otaku (Japanese anime fans) who would come through reg the next day.

More from my Summer Vacation:

August 3, 2004 - Rainy Arrival

August 4, 2004 - The Poopdeck

August 5, 2004 - The Beach at Last

August 6, 2004 - Wetlands Hippie

August 9, 2003 - Intermittent Fun

August 11, 2004 - Delicious and Good Day

August 12, 2004 - Costumes and Tuxedos

August 13, 2004 - Grand Finale

August 16, 2004 - Denouement

August 20, 2004 - More Vacation Pics

Musings on Otakon 2006: