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ROVERS!!! AS ONE!!!

From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother

~King Henry IV (act IV, sc 3)

Hay- it's been a long little while hasn't it?

Meeting on the 15th of march, ya?  I will be there.  BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!!!!   

GYAAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!!!

THE BARBARIAN RETURNS!!!

yeah... thats totally my Graduation day...

oh well.  Someone else can bring the party then...

jeezus monkeyloving christ!!!

95 hours?  Know anyone who tops that -anywhere-?

[FRIDAY]

Alright, Zog here with your post con post-report report- the day to day life of an SoS staffer with too much energy to be put down, to much sexy to stop, and too much party to quit.

...

God I sound full of myself. 

Realistically- I'm Zog, the SoS staffer who went around trying to rile up the lines for Musicfest, Masquerade, B&W, and AN Cafe- if you were there for any of those you might know who I am, if not, well- you missed out on a good time, because I had a blast.  I'm a second year rover (7-time attendee), I've worked security before for a club and a couple of events down here in Santa Cruz (so you know I'm not a complete asshat) and will very shortly be a member of the United States Marine Corps (so you know I am actually kinda an asshat).

Anways, here we go:

FRIDAY

So I show up at the con at like 3- and I walk in through the big glass doors in the middle of the place and I look around and boom, there's like fifty Taiko drums beating- and there's no one to my left, no one to my right, so my first thought is "Them drums is beatin' for me... HO YEAH!!!"

So I tell my lil' sister to run along and away I go, off to the SoS staff room where I check out my radio and earpiece and get down to "bidness."  Now, I'm still singed around the edges from an excursion the night before but I'm up for a barney so the bossman says "Get your ass down to the musicfest line!"

So I get my ass down to the musicfest line- which to be fair isn't all that big (to be fair, the Masquerade line was 2x as big, and the AN Cafe line easy 3x).  I regulate with the SoS bouncer team (thats the guys in the black suits for you lot), have a party with whoever and whatever is in line there (if you were there- you know me).  So, what, 5 o clock?  6 o clock?  The time rolls around and boom, the doors are open.  I set up shop on the right side of the auditorium (thats stage left for you drama kids) and am immediatley wowed by A: how awesome the first band is and B: how dead the crowd is.

I mean seriously.  The first guys up on the stage were, I felt, the best musicians of the night- yeah thats right, the best -musicians-, and they opened for a quiet crowd on a friday -afternoon-.  Tough break... But hey, somebody's gotta start the night- and right after them came a couple of stage-presence heavy bands (which were great at shows, but damnit all- the first band's guitarist played guitar with his TEETH for craps sake, thats just AWESOME), and then the last band of the night came on and brought us to a rocking end.

A rocking end that was seriously killed by the sound guys.  Serious- there was like a minute of dead complete silence in that hall when they were done with their set- no encore, no denoument, nuthin- just a minute of quiet and a cut back to the same three Bob Marley tracks they'd been playing all night.

Schwat.

So it's about 11, I look left, look right, punch out, and hunt down a certain special lady I know for a pleasant little evening...

SATURDAY

So it's 10 o clock, I text my boss asking whether he wants me in a black suit today- boss says no, get your ass down here now.

So I toss on a fedora, my Elvis Shades, and a grin and run down all 18 FLOORS OF FREAKIN STAIRS to get to work in the marriot (what was up with the elevators... whatever).  I'm there- look left, look right, take a radio and poof- off to the Maid Cafe to twiddle my thumbs for two hours surrounded by 9 beautiful glorious women (one of whom I saw the night prior) with nothing better to do than ask me how my day is going.

Oh woe.  Woe is me.

So Noon rolls around, I get off for lunch and then (after a personal errand involving signups for a certain event [starts with y, rhymes with 'owie'] and a few moments with a special someone) I get called on for the Masquerade line.

OH YEAH.  Masquerade line!  I never had as much fun as I do when I work a line- "why is that Zog," you might ask.  "Why is it that you love working the line more than any other staffer I've ever seen?"  Well, one, I'm crazy.  I really am thoroughly in love with the idea of walking up and down a 3 mile line shouting crazy things at crazy people who have nothing better to do with their crazy lives than wait for 6 hours for a show that lasts maybe half that.  What can I say?  I have a captive audience- can't fight that draw.

If you were at the front of the line- you may recall such memorable events as the Chicken Vs Bacon screaming match, the endless renditions of Elvis songs, a few verses of "Don't Stop Believing," et cetera, et cetera.  If you were in the middle of the line, you may recall a couple runs of the Wave, more screaming matches, and me saying I really ought to quit smoking.

If you were at the end of the line, you saw a sweaty tired guy in a funny hat with shiny stunner-shades on stumbling around on blisters the size of your grandmother.

The doors opened on time at 6, I said my goodbyes.  Seriously- love working lines.  You make friends fast if you do it the way I do it- it takes energy and it takes an outgoing person, but damn, it's fun. 

And around there, call it 6, 7 oclock, I punched out for the day- remember how I said earlier something about an event starting with a Y...

SUNDAY

So I wake up at 9, and bob's your uncle bang bang I'm on the floor at 10 working Maid Cafe again, today in a black suit.

Oof.  Sunday.  Long Day.  I got a ticket in the Almaden parking lot (bloody vipers got me at 7 in the morning.  Who on God's green earth is awake at 7 on Sunday besides the Pope, the Bishop, and their bloody mistresses...), got to the Maid Cafe early for more frills and fluff, got off at 2 for lunch- got it, couldn't find parking anywhere this side of the Sierras, and after bolting down my burger from Jack in the Crack like a starving wolf tearing into a side of veal in the midst of Yellowstone park- bang, An Cafe line.

I gotta say this honestly- favorite line of the Con.  I think maybe Ever.  I have pics up on my facebook of memorable happenings here, I helped a family get together after they had been separated in the confusion, I got the Wave going again, I met up with a few pretty people with a vested interest in seeing the band, and I met up with the COOLEST BUNCH OF LINE STANDING FOO'S EVER.  I have pics.  They oughta be in there.  I stayed as long as I could, and then I had to be away for the Black and White- so I said my goodbyes (and sang a little more Elvis) and headed back to base for a shower and a shave.

Black and White.  So, the whole Con, I'd been looking forward to this more than anything- that special lady from earlier?  This was going to be a special event for the two of us- probably more than anything else- I'm going away soon so I figured what the hell, and bought her a beautiful beautiful dress (now that I think on it, it kinda looks like Faye's ballgown from Bebop, but more, you know, modern).  I've been practicing my Tango for 2 months trying to get ready for this thing.  Important to me, you know?

So I get there, and instead of the relatively quiet, medium size party of last year (which I also worked, and had a BLAST at- hell I met my girlfriend of 9 months there [and yeah, that is the girl I keep talking about] met a bunch of really cool people, put together a hallway dance party for people out getting water n such... it was awesome) I run into, what is essentially, Prom Night- 400 people at the door, 400 people inside.

Now, I really do not have a problem with that at all.  That sounds awesome to me- that sounds like f***ing magic, and props to the crew that pulled this thing together- Demand is UP.  The only problems being that there isn't enough turnover in the line so that everyone can get in the dance- the 'entrance' to the dance area is too far back from the dance itself to promote appropriate flow, the dance is all the way down at the end of a hallway in the back end of the con, and the room itself is (for lack of a better phrase) cut in twain by one o them slidy wall things- making half of this gigantic space totally unusable.

I mean, come on- we did last years musicfest there- and had NO problem getting everyone in or out for everything.  The room is SO big enough, we just gotta do it right.

That, coupled with line problems with bags, dress code, et cetera, ad nauseum, and the B&W turns into what I think is a 'might have been.'  It might have been great.  It was just that close, just THAT close to being the be all end all of Con Prom- but it suffered from a critical hit at the last second- Location Location Location.  It might have been the greatest thing since sliced bread.  It might have been the most special, amazing evening any attendee had ever gone too.  Hell, it was that close.

But I digress.  People who were at the B&W know what happened at the B&W, and they know what to do for next year- lets not dwell.

So it's 12, and I get off work.  Hooray 14 hour day!  I'm at what... 30 hours of running around screaming?  I'm actually nowhere near the leader's board of SoS- a few of the guys put in 50+ hours, and I hear tell our longest laster was something like 72 hours of nonstop rock n roll...

Crazy.

MONDAY

It's 8.  I'm tired.  I get woken up by a 230 lb man stepping on my leg.

Guess it's time to ROCK AND ROLL.

It's 10.  I'm in the SoS room, laughin' and singin' and movin' to the groovin', and just when it hit me, somebody turned around and shouted-

AN Cafe- get your ass to the fairmont and get them over here!

So I get my ass to the Fairmont with my buddy Steve, and we begin pooling these lil' Japanese popstars to get them in their van to get them on the road to get them around to the loading docks of the convention center (No, not the Kitchen loading docks, Zog you MORON, the Convention loading docks), herd them off their van and get them out in front of a couple hundred rabid fans to give autographs for like an hour.

Ho boy.

We get them through their gauntlet, and 1 rolls around.  I'm out for lunch, and then a quick tour of the dealers room ending in a sweet deal on a cutlass from those Bowen Dragon guys on the west side of the room (Protip: Buy from those dudes, and the tallish guy with the white hair who was next to the exit- if you want weapons dealers, they're the only ones I trust at all).  Then, at around a little after 3, I punched out my card and called it a day.

Moment of Zen:
I took my sister home from the convention, and a strange thing occurred; I realized that my world had become incredibly small in my time in San Jose.  For four days, the only thing I cared about at all was the con- and so my world became that convention center and the surrounding environs.  Riding in my busted old 94 corolla on the way home was like an awakening- a reminder that there was more world out there, that there were trees, and bushes, and there was water, and open sky without planes and buildings...  Fanime is my nirvana, or as I like to call it, my Nerd-vana... but even a pilgrim must one day leave the gates of Mecca behind him.



And that, ladies and gents, was that.  That was the sum total of my Convention- yeah, I know I whine a little bit here and there about how this wasn't like -that-, and how that wasnt like -this-, but truth be told, I had a blast.

JOIN SoS.  We work Long Hours with little breaks, but damnit all if we don't have a good time.

My only problem with the SoS staff is that one of our bosses can't spell.   ;)

Seriously- I don't care how the SoS was at "Fanine," I went to the convention in San Jose, 's called "Fanime..."

Selling tickets for the Ball?

You know what would be cool?  If they did that, and used some of the proceeds for catering for the event too.  That would be cool.  And have tables and a lounge and such, with water and stuff inside to keep out the ::ahem:: riffraff.

And a disco ball.

Just throwing that in there. 

Holy crap justkitteh... that freakin sucks.

I've said it before, I'll say it again, the behavior you experienced from the staff is absolutely unacceptable and intolerable. 

Now, I'm a member of SoS (you mighta seen me around working one of the lines in a black suit with Elvis shades on and a big goofy grin), but I'm also a cigar aficionado, and OH MY GOD I AM SO SORRY FOR YOUR LOSS.  What label d'ja have in there?  None of that should have ever happened- to anyone anywhere on con grounds.

I like to think of myself as a responsible staffer- I attended all the training sessions (minus one because I was sick as a dog) for SoS even though I live in Santa Cruz, At the con I made a special effort to not only be polite to everyone in line but to have a party with them (if you were in line for the Masquerade- I'm the Wave guy, if you were in line for An Cafe, I'm the Can-Can guy), and I take it -personally- when I hear about screw-ups like this.

During our training we are told explicitly to be kind and courteous to congoers- SoS is (kinda) the face of the convention; we are one of if not the most direct link most attendees have to the Powers That Be, and if one of us (or lets face it, any staffer) messes with any of you guys it reflects poorly on the whole convention.

And then ya'll say you won't come back...  :(

I would like to stress that this kind of behavior is the exception, not the rule- yeah this is a freakin horror story, and whoever is responsible for this (and they're probably responsible for a lot of other crap too) will BURN FOREVER for this, but otherwise the convention was a good time ...right?



This year was better than last year was better than the year before.  All we need to do is get rid of these -morons- on staff, make it a bit more professional, and we're squared away.  And the best way to do it is, like Kaura117 says, leave a paper trail.  Get their badge number, get their name, get a picture, get whatever, and make a formal complaint with their division head or whoever you can get.  That way we can blacklist their name and make sure they never ever ever come anywhere near our con again.

Hey guys, I'm Zog, the SOS guy who was head of the line at the B&W- Not the tall blonde guy, the slightly shorter, much much better looking guy in the vest who went up and down the line telling everyone that he was trying his damndest to get everyone into that tiny little room to have a good time.

Remember me?  (...I hope I'm not one of the 'disgruntled' guys, I know I was having a blast)

So, first and foremost- Belle (Miss Nintendo) , I am personally totally and completely sorry for what happened to your magnificent dress, I saw you in line and thought you looked amazing, and when I saw you the next day in the elevator at the Marriott I said as much, and darling, as soon as I know who ruined your dress, horrible things are going to happen to them, come hell or high water.  That kind of behavior from any staffer, whether they be newbie volunteer or seasoned veteran is completely unacceptable, and I will personally see to it that whoever it was -burns- for that.


After working this Black and White, as well as Last year's Black and White (if you were there, remember that guy at the door having his own party in the hallway asking for badges?  That's me), I actually have a couple of things to say about the size of the room and the length of the line.  From being inside the room they used this year as well as the room they used last year (this year it was used as what, the Karaoke room?) I can say confidently that this room was easily twice as big, if not moreso.  Whoever put this thing together at Extravaganzas really -did- think ahead and plan a much bigger room.

The only problem was they didn't figure on like 300 THOUSAND people showing up for the party, especially during the An Cafe shindig across the street- not their fault, no not at all.  All we can ask of them is that they take this year's findings, log em in a report somewhere, and then book the entirety of the Civic auditorium with a full Orchestra and Chorale for next year, because it's gonna be CRAZY.

And I'm gonna be on the line for it, having a party and asking for badges.  Hope to see you guys there!

No sleeping.  Anywhere, ever.

Sleep is for the weak.

NoDoz is for the strong.

If you buy things in the dealers room, buy stuff the last day- and HAGGLE.  HAGGLE LIKE A 70-YEAR OLD SPANISH WOMAN FROM A MOUNTAINOUS REGION WHO BEARS A LOAD OF GOODS ON HER BACK FOR THE LOCAL MARKET!  HAGGLE LIKE MY 75 YEAR OLD ASIAN GRANDMOTHER TAUGHT ME TO!

Then you gets swords for like half off.  Is good, ya?

ahem

You get good deals that way- no one wants to haul their lewts back with them- vendors want to sell to you.

This is my uh... more than 7th fanime, (guh I'm old) and yeah, bathing is important- but that really falls under the general tip:

"Be kind and courteous to those around you."

We're all fans here, we all get along on something- Fanime is full of cool people who all know the same jokes and all laugh at lolcats, you'll be fine.

JOIN THE ARMIES OF DARKNESS!!!

::cough cough:: ahem

I mean, JOIN SAFETY ON SITE!!!

You ask for Sauce?  I give you SoS.

ROVERS ALL THE WAY!!!

HO YEAH!!!