Wednesday was a lesson in pharmacology and how to layer one's drugs for least amount of side effects. crossing the border and unwilling to submit to a strip search this time, all my drugs were labelled and ziploc'd and cautiously packed near the top of my bag. ofcourse we were waved through with two questions and a glance at the passports.
i had allergy drugs, a newly acquired puffer, sugar essence pills from the voodoo lady and two types of painkiller, not to mention my usual sleeping pills. I feel like my mother, the drug mule of the family. the drug order was the extra duty allergy pill, followed by the puffer and the sugar pills which worked better than the puffer. during the ride down, there was a minor discussion why midol works better than tylenol: it is tylenol, but with an espresso shot worth of caffeine and a magical pms drug to keep us womenfolk from killing the token males in the vehicle.
hurray for confined spaces in resetting the matriarchy.
Thursday, after an hour or two in the pre-register line up, the shauna and I had a lovely tour of the convention center while someone tried to find the first aid room. thankfully, since I was having trouble breathing, they were quick about it and I had an oxygen sat meter attached to my thumb within ten minutes.
That sucking vortex of a drowning sensation in my chest was not lack of oxygen, but the mucus pushing its way out of my chest. One minor panic attack while the paramedics weren't telling me that (hundred percent oxygen saturation plus drowning sensation plus an ash that only did half a biology degree equals panicking), an awesome shauna that brought me the good shit the pharmacists hide behind the counter and I was out for the evening.
I have no more recollection of thursday night beyond that. This might be a good thing.
Did I mention the box of wires and electronics that Steve brought? Between the two of us, we could hook up our laptops to the tvs and the external drives and gloriously watch youtube videos until our eyes popped out. I did this thursday when I stayed at the hotel coughing civilizations out of my lungs. I also finished watching Princess Tutu in all its second season, fifteen minute episodic glory. What is it with the shoujo magical girl series when I'm sick? maybe a hope that the repetitive transformation sequences will medicate me in a way no drug ever could. yes. that's it.
shoujo magical girl series and Super Mario World. These things got me through the weekend.
The first, because I couldn't walk anywhere without my lungs escaping, and the second, also because I couldn't walk all over the con without my lungs escaping all over everyone's pretty costumes.
This year, possibly last year too, there were console gaming rooms set up.
A basic one with wii's and xboxs and ps2s, where I don't play any of those games, another for microsoft research and a bunch of xboxs hooked up to projection screens: amusing to watch, but again, no idea of how to play, and the third, the classic console gaming room.
I rejoiced.
I abused my time limits on the original mario games.
I beat the entire Super Mario World game within six hours Saturday, stopping only when they kicked me off the terminal and every four hours for my dose of sudafed and anti-histamines.
Mildly drugged Super Mario World, I rejoiced. The game was muscle memory in my hands, translated to the curved controller. The secret areas, the extra keys to unlock new paths, the patterns of attack for each koopa boss, I knew it all.
The shauna was appalled that I would sacrifice Yoshi to continue the battle and reach secret levels. Something about killing one's best friend to succeed in life. I muttered something about smothering one's best friend in the middle of the night. The shauna is a bed hog and we'll make no mention of saturday night/sunday morning. censorship, yeah let's call it that.
The classic console volunteers were likely sick of me by sunday, so I laid off beating the red world portion of Super Mario World and watched the finales of Rock Band 2. Best part of that was the winning band, Less than Pi, and their encore piece of "Won't Get Fooled Again".
I admit, I squealed at the title scroll and their setup of expert levels on all instruments. I also imagined them beating the living snot out of that smug redhead with their guitar controllers.
There were multiple tourneys of various gaming systems. Unfortunate for me, I play no games that involve other people, unless it's a time trial thing. Anyone for myst time trials? Provided the game does not crash?
Still, for a convention I attend for anime, I spent most of my time gaming or watching the gaming. This is my plan for next year, if only to keep me from maiming the eighteen year old fangirls buying yaoi for the first time.
note the first: I am utterly addicted to my one major purchase of the con: The Dissidia soundtrack, in which they remixed final fantasy I through X opening and battle themes and did two versions of the victory fanfare. I don't quite care for the main themes of Dissidia, but the epic ending theme is glorious. I apologize to my girls for babbling your ears off about the deliciousness that is final fantasy remixing. Music geek, me? maybe a little.
drunk
good
busy
stressed
okay
bouncy