I've started a sleeping patter; because I've been getting tired at around 11:00pm local time, Katie's bros are usually up and still playing games, so I retreat to the den upstairs and pass out on the couch. Then, sometime in the early morning, I get up involuntarily and go back downstairs to sleep on the super-comfy couch. The fun of this is that I usually hear Katie and her mom talking around 9:00am or so. My consciousness kinda drifts into the conversation, I listen for a little bit while enjoying a little extra sleep, and then I strategically jump in at some point. Today I confirmed Katie's guess that I grabbed a towel as a blanket simply "because it was there," and no other reason... really. After getting up, we all discussed the order of the day. Her brother Charlie was going out with a couple friends to register for Anime Expo, the biggest Japanese animation convention in the country. Dustin, Katie, and I decided we were going for just one day, and Charlie pre-registered, so we were in no real hurry to go stand in line for hours on end in the heat for registration. Upon further deliberation, we realized it'd be way better to stand in line all day today, as opposed to stand in line all day the one day we were actually going--there wouldn't be any time for fun. Well, off to Long Beach we go!
California weather rarely disappoints; the sky was perfectly clear and blue, and a constant sea breeze kept us nice and cool while waiting in line. We almost didn't, however--while looking for registration, we were told that only those who preregistered could complete registration today, and anyone else would just have to come either Friday or the day they are going. Inspired, Katie figured we could just find a wireless connection somewhere and preregister while waiting in line. We went ahead and worked on getting the three of us registered, while her brother Charlie, along with Robert, Matt and Dustin, played a rousing game of Risk 2210 on the asphalt. After ten minutes of fighting with the registration server, I returned to the group and met some other friends, David, Jackie, and Amanda. At this point it was well past noon, so I went with the girls to grab lunch while everyone continued playing Risk. Jackie and I silly-walked a bit through the crowd and, having broken the ice a bit, we discussed the brilliance of Adult Swim.
Upon returning with food, the registration line had increased significantly. While it only doubled back on itself three or four times on our arrival, it now stretched all the way down the street. Fortunately, the line started moving not long after the global war raging on the cardboard map ended, so we had been sufficiently entertained. It moved rather slowly, but we conintued to amuse ourselves by shouting "Play
Freebird!" to a fanboy walking around with a guitar. He recoiled in mock terror, and we continued shouting requests for
Stairway and
Carry On Wayward Son, which were also refused. Dustin remarked, "Stairway--denied!" in allusion to
Wayne's World--best. movie. ever. As we continued our slow and convoluted track around the registration line, David jokingly asked Jackie to give him a piggy-back ride so he could sleep. I offered to carry him instead, so he hopped on--Dustin immediately thanked me for cleaning his phone memory and took a nice shot of David taking a nap on my back. I offered Jackie the same service, but she politely declined.
We finally got to the end of the line about an half-hour later. The actual registration went very quickly, and we had our badges within five minutes. Katie and I were afraid that Dustin's registration would cause problems, since we could not find his confirmation number and a few other errors that cropped up while at the website earlier. Surprisingly, the only problem was that we used his college address and not the home address on his license. When it came my turn, I remarked at how easy I was going to be, to which Katie replied, "Dean, you're always easy." The girl at the counter laughed and asked, "Oh, yeah?" I retorted, in a mock-seductive tone, "Wanna find out?" All I got was a "Don't push your luck."
After spending several hours in line, I wanted to hit the beach, but we were all ready to go home at this point. We said our good-byes and see-ya-tomorrows, then hopped into the
Urban Tank (Katie's van officially recognized as "rust-colored" by the DMV!) and took the freeway back. I tried using my TomTom ONE to help Charlie navigate the road, but we didn't get any GPS signal until much later. To help relieve the stress of driving through Long Beach highway traffic, Robert plugged in his iPod and started playing
Mad World played by Gary Jules--Dustin immediately started head-banging, and I felt compelled to join in. The only thing that topped this on the ride home was the van erupting in chorus to
Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. Party on.
I've started a sleeping patter; because I've been getting tired at around 11:00pm local time, Katie's bros are usually up and still playing games, so I retreat to the den upstairs and pass out on the couch. Then, sometime in the early morning, I get up involuntarily and go back downstairs to sleep on the super-comfy couch. The fun of this is that I usually hear Katie and her mom talking around 9:00am or so. My consciousness kinda drifts into the conversation, I listen for a little bit while enjoying a little extra sleep, and then I strategically jump in at some point. Today I confirmed Katie's guess that I grabbed a towel as a blanket simply "because it was there," and no other reason... really. After getting up, we all discussed the order of the day. Her brother Charlie was going out with a couple friends to register for Anime Expo, the biggest Japanese animation convention in the country. Dustin, Katie, and I decided we were going for just one day, and Charlie pre-registered, so we were in no real hurry to go stand in line for hours on end in the heat for registration. Upon further deliberation, we realized it'd be way better to stand in line all day today, as opposed to stand in line all day the one day we were actually going--there wouldn't be any time for fun. Well, off to Long Beach we go!
California weather rarely disappoints; the sky was perfectly clear and blue, and a constant sea breeze kept us nice and cool while waiting in line. We almost didn't, however--while looking for registration, we were told that only those who preregistered could complete registration today, and anyone else would just have to come either Friday or the day they are going. Inspired, Katie figured we could just find a wireless connection somewhere and preregister while waiting in line. We went ahead and worked on getting the three of us registered, while her brother Charlie, along with Robert, Matt and Dustin, played a rousing game of Risk 2210 on the asphalt. After ten minutes of fighting with the registration server, I returned to the group and met some other friends, David, Jackie, and Amanda. At this point it was well past noon, so I went with the girls to grab lunch while everyone continued playing Risk. Jackie and I silly-walked a bit through the crowd and, having broken the ice a bit, we discussed the brilliance of Adult Swim.
Upon returning with food, the registration line had increased significantly. While it only doubled back on itself three or four times on our arrival, it now stretched all the way down the street. Fortunately, the line started moving not long after the global war raging on the cardboard map ended, so we had been sufficiently entertained. It moved rather slowly, but we conintued to amuse ourselves by shouting "Play Freebird!" to a fanboy walking around with a guitar. He recoiled in mock terror, and we continued shouting requests for Stairway and Carry On Wayward Son, which were also refused. Dustin remarked, "Stairway--denied!" in allusion to Wayne's World--best. movie. ever. As we continued our slow and convoluted track around the registration line, David jokingly asked Jackie to give him a piggy-back ride so he could sleep. I offered to carry him instead, so he hopped on--Dustin immediately thanked me for cleaning his phone memory and took a nice shot of David taking a nap on my back. I offered Jackie the same service, but she politely declined.
We finally got to the end of the line about an half-hour later. The actual registration went very quickly, and we had our badges within five minutes. Katie and I were afraid that Dustin's registration would cause problems, since we could not find his confirmation number and a few other errors that cropped up while at the website earlier. Surprisingly, the only problem was that we used his college address and not the home address on his license. When it came my turn, I remarked at how easy I was going to be, to which Katie replied, "Dean, you're always easy." The girl at the counter laughed and asked, "Oh, yeah?" I retorted, in a mock-seductive tone, "Wanna find out?" All I got was a "Don't push your luck."
After spending several hours in line, I wanted to hit the beach, but we were all ready to go home at this point. We said our good-byes and see-ya-tomorrows, then hopped into the Urban Tank (Katie's van officially recognized as "rust-colored" by the DMV!) and took the freeway back. I tried using my TomTom ONE to help Charlie navigate the road, but we didn't get any GPS signal until much later. To help relieve the stress of driving through Long Beach highway traffic, Robert plugged in his iPod and started playing Mad World played by Gary Jules--Dustin immediately started head-banging, and I felt compelled to join in. The only thing that topped this on the ride home was the van erupting in chorus to Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. Party on.
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