Elevators Down

Dearest Rachel –

I really could’ve sworn that I would have needed to set the alarm last night. Granted, I don’t have a panel to attend at nine in the morning (although there is one on the schedule that looks like it might be interesting), but I do prefer to grab breakfast before things get too busy and crowded.

Besides, I need to pack up what I can, and get it out to the car while things aren’t so chaotic. And things will be chaotic, as literally all the elevators in the hotel have broken down.

Well… that may be overstating things, but only slightly. There is still the service elevator on the opposite side of the hotel as the main customer-facing units, which we’re collectively encouraged to use, but as the three elevators serving as the main bank would be pushed to their limits even on a ‘last day of convention’ that went normally, this single unit is going to be orders of magnitude more busy than that. We’re better off using it sparingly, as that’s likely to be all the opportunity we’ll get to use it.

Now, given how I started this letter, you can probably guess that the alarm wasn’t, in fact, necessary this morning. Despite having been up until two o’clock (it could have been later, but I left the last panel of the night, as the dubbing and dialogue was too awful for even me to handle, even though making fun of those two things often used to be the raison d’etre of watching certain anime series back in the day), I found myself awake only a little after six. The fact that the meeting room of our suite has a door with frosted glass windows (and thus, does little to keep out the light of the hotel atrium from pouring in) might have something to do with it. I won’t go so far as to say ‘lesson learned,’ as we’ll probably still try to get a room here for future conventions – it’s still an ideal location with ideal amenities, after all – but I’ll have to bear this in mind going forward.

Heh; listen to that: ‘going forward.’ I’m not even questioning the fact that I’ll be back again next year, despite everything you’ve been hearing from me in previous letters.

***

Every so often, it appears that one elevator in the customer facing bank is still working, but it’s a dicey proposition as to whether it is, and how long it will take to get to us, as well as to where we want to go. Since we’re ‘only’ on the fourth floor – and the atrium is on the second – it’s just more expedient to take the stairs instead. Of course, that has its own issues, as the metal steps in the concrete stairwell echo to the point of rendering one practically deaf. Some of the steps actually sound like they’re coming loose off of their base, before slamming loudly back into place.

And the hotel stairwell isn’t the only one with issues. By the time I was making my third trip out to the car (to be sure, it was after that panel I mentioned considering, as well as yet another trip through the entire exhibit hall with Daddy-cat), the vestibule leading to the various levels of the parking garage was so full that people were standing outside the entrance, waiting to get in so as to have a turn on the elevator – most likely four or five trips from now. At least I could take the stairs, as I no longer had anything on wheels to bring back and load up the car with.

***

From there, it was back to the convention center, as I tried to figure out if there was anything else I might want to see or purchase. I didn’t find anything to speak of (and considering all that I had gotten, I suppose that’s just as well; still, I had asked the girls if they’d been interested in anything).

What I did find… was Daniel, sitting in the middle of a fairly empty section of the exhibit hall. As alone as he appeared, he didn’t appear lonely… just separate from anyone else, in the middle of an otherwise crowded (and noisy) scene, an oasis of quiet tranquility.

I did convince him, after a bit of sitting around to rest my own feet, to head over to the video game area; I thought he might be amused by a few of the multiplayer games. It took a little bit of persuasion, but he proved to be a match for me on one that was essentially a collection of competitive mini games. As for the four-way Pac-Man game, we didn’t even bother paying attention to the score as much as just trying to stay alive amid the ever-changing landscape. Neither of us are particularly good gamers, honey, but since there’s nothing to worry about in terms of game credits, we could just play to play, and not concern ourselves with playing to win.

I honestly don’t know how long we spent there, but it was well after one when we decided we’d had enough. We took one last walk through the wider avenues of the exhibit hall, at which point I asked him if there was anything else he (or Logan) wanted to or planned to see or do. On receiving a negative response, we made our way to the exit to wait for Logan, and I was surprised that we didn’t have to wait long. We were gone just a little after two. It wouldn’t have sat well with you, as you would have insisted on staying for the closing ceremonies, but I’ll be honest, honey; I don’t come for the guests, and that’s really what the opening and closing are about, so I could dispense with it without any particular qualms. Besides, maybe we could actually get to the annual meeting at church (which always seemed to coincide with AnimeCentral weekend going back for years) with this kind of time to space.

However, it was not to be. Between going out for a late lunch at a Korean place that I wonder if you would’ve enjoyed, and getting the car filled up en route home, we barely made it to the house by four, when things would have been starting in Des Plaines. Had it been just Daniel and myself, we probably could’ve done that instead, but it wouldn’t have been fair to Logan to bring him along. Besides, I’d put in four miles of walking on five hours of sleep; I think I need to get a bit of rest at this point.

And with that being said, honey, I think I’m going to let you go for now. Keep an eye on us, and wish us luck. We’re going to need it.