Going to let the others clean up real fast, and while they do that... I'll post here and say "HI"
Ok Friday...
The morning started off with a doctor appointment than packing the car, we got a much later start than I was hoping though there was no real rush to get there so it didn't matter too much. The drive felt like it took forever, as a few things I didn't realize. Like I thought TN was shorter than it was... everyone kept calling it the short state to go through. True it's shorter than Ohio and KY, at only 140 miles instead of 200... but only by 60 miles... guess it's an hour shorter to drive... though it still felt long, esp when we reached an area where I-75 rides along with a few other free ways. I didn't like that at all, didn't know which lanes to be in or anything.
My traveling partners were Nadine Blackstone and her 3 year old niece, I'm going to call Bug for now since that is one of the MILLION nick names she has. Bug is a real cute girl, she's so smart too. She can tell you all about the different animes we watch from Fullmetal Alchemist to Fruits Basket and for those anime fans out there yes she even knows Gravatation. So she is a anime fan and shows it. Though good on road trips? Um... only if you can find a mute button. Though isn't that true with any 3 year old?
I talked on and off with Fugitoid on the phone and he decided to get a hotel room. So we'd have somewhere to sleep on Saturday night.
THANKS FUGITOID!!!! We let him get to bed early so he could do the drive the next day to meet up with us. And we stayed on the road, I talked to a few other friends on this drive as it's one of the longest drives I've done in awhile coming to 12 1/2 hours to 13 hours. (With Potty breaks for Bug included)
Once we got there it was 12:30am, and I was ready to just turn the car into a camper, though NB (Nadine Blackstone) wanted to walk around a bit and check out the area. So we woke Bug up and went in checking out this mall like place which is part of the convention center. Though most everything was already closed down (including the public rest rooms). So we headed back to the car and tried to sleep, though Bug was wide awake...
We laid there for awhile, all three of us in the back of my mom's staturn wagon... with a futon mattress, pillows, and a blanket to cover us. Though while NB and I were ready to sleep, Bug was not going to let us. It got very hot in the car, even with the windows down... we were sweating and the windows fogged up. It wasn't the most confrontable sleeping spot. So since we were not getting any sleep any how, we decided to try and wear Bug out. And maybe get a bite to eat.
This came learning just how insane it is to leave the convention center. We walked around the outside of the building this time, and we see a parking garage before the main street... though only way around it would be to walk the direction away from the food we were thinking about going after. So we walked into the parking garage and glanced at a sign saying "Tunnel on bottom level" So we went down stairs hoping the tunnel would get us across this big street... though instead the tunnel was to get back into the convention center. We went back up stairs (taking the elevator to ground level) and walked outside, and it had a gate we had to walk around to even turn back towards the main street. This was annoying, than as we walked towards the road the grass right there was wet and all of us were wearing flip flops so the mud was getting at our feet. Talk about wanting this to just be over....
We got across the street, finding that there is no cross walk on street level, so we had to jay walk... the only cross walk is up stairs and it would of taken us even farther out of our way. Once we got across we had to pass under the express way, as we came closer to the "Waffle House". We went in and got a seat. Bug was still wide awake. The three of us ordered a meal and split it, I got a waffle and orange juice. I also did some FMA drawings that matched how I felt. NB got cups of coffee, as Bug got a chocolate milk when she finished her food.
The waiter we had was really funny, and everyone else there was also there for the convention. So we did talk with the people at the tables around us. Though I just wanted to get some sleep. We were hoping when we left to be able to get back and get some sleep... we left there around 5am I think... and started to walk back. On the walk back we got waved down by some other con goers... a guy and a girl, the girl seemed to be really out of it, we think she was drunk... though she was highly entertained by Bug... we stuck around and talked with them for a bit... to wear Bug out some more. Cause she was still running around having fun. After those two said bye, I realized how late it was, and that by time I get some sleep in me I'd have to wake up and be dragging the rest of the day. So decided to stick it out now.
To go back across the street, we decided to try the sky walk, and by mistake did tresspass a little bit on some propety that was being worked on. Heh we didn't even know we were in a bad area, until we came to a fence and realized we were on the wrong side, so we got over to where we needed to be and explored... realizing this cross walk that's suppose to go lead to our hotel that we'd have for Saturday night, lead away from the hotel! Way too much walking! *sigh* We crossed over to the convention center, and hung out outside for a bit. I was doing some left handed punches and block moves, just working out a bit. GP and Bug took some interest in that, so we did a little Karate training
After hanging out there, we went and got to be first in line for our badges at the convention.
Next: The beginning of Day 1 of the convention. (Day of No sleep)
