Where Your Treasure Is…

Dearest Rachel –

So, as we landed in the States a little more than a week ago (and thus were able to receive text messages, being back in-network), one notice I got was from one of our old buddies in the anime fandom community. Doc is the type to keep his eyes open and ear to the ground regarding things anime, and especially Anime Central. He sent me a notice about how the room blocks for the convention were to be opened up for people to reserve as of this past Friday at noon.

Now, you remember those days when we would wait for the digital equivalent of the green flag to call this or that hotel and make a booking for one convention or another. Indeed, since it usually happened during the middle of the day (while I was at work), you took personal responsibility for making the calls (and, moreover, calling hotels back every so often subsequently, if we didn’t manage to get a reservation at our preferred place – there was always the possibility that there would be a cancellation that you could snap up). I honestly think you considered yourself quite adept at managing this, and took a fair amount of pride in being able to wangle the best bookings you possibly could. In a way, it was all part of the experience.

The thing is, I’m not the otaku that Doc is; I’m not one to be perched on Discord, waiting for the post to come up with links to the various hotels that are participating in the so-called ‘room blocks.’ Oh, if I’m at the ‘office,’ sure, I’ll do what I can – and I’ve gleefully snagged a plum spot now and again, last year being a prime example. But if the moment happens to coincide with something else that takes me away from the office, I’m not going to blow off, say, Lars and our first walk since coming back from traveling, just for the possibility of getting a decent room near the convention center.

In fact, it occurred to me that, since the boys are more into anime than I am these days (although I still have my moments; Daniel and I did a bit of binge-watching various series both on Middle Bass and the cruise, and this past weekend saw me going through a series that you and I would likely have enjoyed together, but the rest of the gang – including Daniel – would have had a hard time with, and I still haven’t gotten them more than four episodes into Yorimoi), they ought to take responsibility for manning the Discord server for the cue to book a room. And that’s basically what I told them as I headed out for the day;  if they wanted a room for the convention at one of the hotels that were part of the contracted block, they would have to make the arrangements themselves.

Daniel seemed agreeable with the situation, until such time as I was already out in the woods, walking with Lars, at which point I found myself receiving one message after another, asking for advice on how to go through the process. Not being in front of a computer at the moment – because, you know, I’m in the middle of the woods – I told him I really couldn’t help him, whereupon he replied that he didn’t seem to be able to get through to book any rooms; he kept getting various error messages. At that point, I checked the time on the phone – 12:15 – and realized that he’d probably already missed the window. Those rooms, as you know, get snapped up fast – and the situation has only gotten worse as the years have gone by, and the fandoms get bigger. You literally have to get in within a minute or two of the announcement on Discord these days, and any slip-up will cost you the chance of a place. I told him not to worry, that it wasn’t his fault, and continued on my way with Lars.

As for Daniel, he and Logan went out to see a movie, as they’d apparently already planned. So while they weren’t exactly going out to “touch grass,” as is common parlance these days, he was putting it behind him and getting on with his own life, too, rather than obsessing over it.

Besides, there are hotels nearby that aren’t participating in the whole ‘room block’ rigmarole; and that’s what I went online to look into yesterday. If we couldn’t get a place in a hotel just across the street, I could at least book a place just down the street, and we would be okay. I will say that I blinked a couple of times at the price – I still remember one year when you and I stayed at the Aloft hotel behind the Rosemont entertainment district (you know, where the iFLY place we went to for our twenty-fifth anniversary is) and rather balked at their weekend prices that were north of four hundred dollars, but these days a weekend stay over the convention will easily run twice that. Moreover, the Hilton directly across from the convention center has rooms available as well (apparently, they decided they didn’t have to play along with the ‘room block’ schtick, either), but for twice that, even; so something more than sixteen hundred dollars. Look, I get that it’s what they think the market will bear, but it strikes me as ridiculously high.

Then again, who am I to talk? Daniel and I just spent considerably more than that on a trip, so this should be a trifling sum. Although, speaking of trifling sums, it occurs to me that the three of us combined won’t spend even a fraction of what our hotel bill comes to on actual anime, manga or other merch. It leaves me wondering what we keep doing this for, and why. If you were still here, it would be a weekend date, one of those things that couples are supposed to be doing on the regular, just to keep ourselves going. But here, I’m not sure as to the purpose of it all.

In some ways, it hearkens back to things I’ve heard about certain generations. Daniel used to take umbrage with news articles complaining about how Millennials weren’t buying things anymore (and thus driving certain manufacturers out of business due to lack of business), but rather spending money on experiences. I pointed out that the very novel that gave our generation a name – Generation X, by Douglas Coupland – attempted to coin the phrase “poverty jet-set” to describe members of the protagonists generation who, rather than saving money, spent it as best they could on cheap travel to make memories while they were still young and could enjoy it. So it wasn’t an accusation uniquely applied to his generation; it’s always been a complain on the order of “kids these days” made by people who’ve forgotten about what they were like when they were kids. Besides, if experiences are what you value over possessions, why not pursue them?

But it leaves me wondering; is this an effort on my part to hold onto a piece of youth – even though there’s no fooling anyone as to whether I am one or not? Should I keep trying to do so, if only to allow ‘the boys’ to remain boys that much longer? Is this where my treasure is, or is this just a small diversion, relatively speaking? I’ve really no idea, honey. But I’ve made the commitments, just like I’ve put down money for Israel in November and Japan in March (and soon enough, Honduras in late January or early February – yes, I’m doing that again, too). Maybe, in comparison, this is small enough that I shouldn’t dwell so much on it.

But for the moment, it still gives me something to think about.

Anyway, I should get going, honey. I’ll talk to you later, but until then, keep an eye on me, and wish me luck. I’m sure I’m going to need it.