FEELING GOOD

God, I love being in San Diego.

Sure, Nerd Prom can be insane, but what can’t you know? All I know is that I’m sitting in my hotel room right now with the window wide open, enjoying the weather. It will be four months before I can open a window back home.

Four long fucking months.

I got up this morning, worked out, cleaned up, and then headed out for breakfast and a nice walk. One thing I see in SD guides is recommending that people shop at the downtown Ralph’s grocery store, but as coda, I’d go further and recommend getting a Ralph’s shopper’s card. I acquired one about five years ago, and I’ve done well with saving money since then. If you come to the show every year, it just makes good sense. It was certainly helpful today as I bought Gatorade, Propel water and Power Bars. It knocked $7 off of my bill.

The show kicks off at 5:30pm this evening, and I’m thinking I’ll head down there sometime around 4:45. By the time I finish the walk, and get through the press badge line, I figure I’ll get inside around 6pm, hopefully missing some of the madness of the initial geek rush. The nice thing about going as press is that I’ll avoid being in the attendee line, period; what a scary place that can be. Last year it was particularly bad, as the con was slow to get the hall open on Preview Night, and there was a near riot.

My goal for this year is to come home with less stuff. Last year I returned to Arizona with 85 items in my bag for review. My suitcase could have held a dead body and been lighter. It took me until November to get through the pile. Part of it was my intent on getting the MPS column a little bit more out in front of people (which was very successful), and part of it was my sorority girl-like inability to say no. But this year, I’m gonna be a rock. A rock, dammit!

Anyway… audioblogging will probably start tomorrow. I’ll drop in with impressions of Preview Night, etc. Until then, adieu!

/Mason