Bucket List Item #375:
Comic-Con
Well I can now say... Mission Accomplished! I have successfully checked off another item on my Bucket List... Item #375 Comic-Com. Woo Hoo!
Okay so here's how it all went down. I had a plane ticket, a hotel and spending money. The only thing I did not have was a pass to Comic-Con. Ahhhh, I was sad, but decided to make the trip to San Diego anyway because let's not kid ourselves about all the other Fun one can have in San Diego.
So the first day was nothing short of a disaster LOL. When I arrived at the airport all the flights were shut down, and they were not allowing anyone to enter or leave the terminals. I guess there was some sort of security breach, OMG. Finally that was all cleared up, and I finally boarded my plane. The flight was lovely, and after we touched down I immediately went to the restroom before claiming my luggage. As I am in the bathroom, some lady has this big ass suitcase blocking everyone. She starts to wheel it out of there when she ran over my foot taking off all the toe nail polish with it. "Are you fucking kidding me!?!", was screaming through my head. If you are not a girl then you have no idea what kind of monstrosity this is to have to experience knowing you are on vacation, and you now look like shit. YES, men and especially women will notice this. I was totally embarrassed, but kept pressing on to the baggage claim area anyway to retrieve my things.
After a very long ride in the shuttle to my hotel (traffic was freaking nuts due to Comic-Con), I am standing at the front desk to check in. What do you know? My room is not ready, and the room has not been paid for (or so they thought). I can now feel tears welling up in my eyes as I am about to have a serious meltdown. The girl at the counter noticed my angst, and was actually super accommodating helping to get everything sorted out. The room was paid for, but they weren't accustomed to the way it had been booked. Also they offered me another room that was not the villa that was reserved for me, but instead was a smaller room with a bay front view. Okay so now we have all that settled I could not wait to get my crap in my room, and take the water taxi over to Gaslamp District to go get something to eat for dinner.
Now there is more to this story, but I really don't care to share it with the rest of you. All you need to know is it was crazy terrible, and finally left me in tears thinking to myself that this whole trip was one hell of a Big Mistake! I got on my computer to look for a flight that left back to Kansas City the next morning. Something inside me said, "Put the phone down dear, go take a hot bubble bath and then see how you feel tomorrow. If you still feel the same... change your flight and go back home." So I did exactly that. I laid in that scolding hot tub for over an hour until I looked more like a raisin than I did a human lol.
The next morning I decided I would give it one more day in San Diego. I got myself fixed up. I put on my bikini with a sundress over that (my usual daily attire while there LOL). I put on a fake smile, and I headed out the door to the front desk where I got directions to Coronado Beach. I walked there, and I am glad I did because it gave me so much time to think, to process, to sort out all of the swirling thoughts that had bombarded my mind. After asking 7 people for directions, LOL, I finally found a restaurant where I had 2 Mojitos before I went to the beach. They were strong, too strong LOL. I staggered to the beach, lol not really but almost, where I found a great spot that was begging for my towel to be laid upon it.
Ahhhh now this is the life! I would just lay out until I was melting then I would make my way out as far as I could in the ocean. See I am super afraid of ocean life... well only when I am IN the ocean lol. I told myself that no matter how cold this water was, or how scared I was of being stung by a jelly fish, I was going to overcome this fear by doing the unthinkable. I swam out pretty damn far. As far as the guys/gals that were teaching surfing lessons. Now overcoming my fears did not mean being ignorant to the power of the sea. I was fully aware of undertows, and I knew that I was there by myself that if something happened like that I would never be found because no one would be looking for me.
When the sun started setting I tracked back to my hotel where I changed into something a little nicer... another sundress HaHaHa. Went to dinner. Came back ordered some Mojitos from the hotel bar, and soaked my sore lil muscles in the hot tub. There was a couple already in there. The wife reminded me of Lisbeth Salander from The Girl With The Dragon Tattoos books. Except she was much more attractive, and had the coolest hair I have ever laid eyes on. She had kind of a black mo-hawkish do on top, but the sides were very short. They had been dyed to look just like a leopard. I told her that I found her hair a marvelous work of art. She said her gal was an amazingly creative hairdresser who also does star's hair like Katy Perry. Okay it dawned on me that this girl probably had a little bit of money. Yes, in fact, they did LOL. The husband was a programmer who makes all of the Call Of Duty video games, and she is also a programmer that makes the Barbie and LaDeeDa video games. They had my attention!
I carried on a fascinating conversation with them until the pool closed, and hotel security kicked us out. Turns out they live on the same street as Kathy Griffin and some others that are more into the production side of things rather than an actor/actress. The best parts were: They were not stuck up. They were very humble, and did not show off their money. They were an absolute pleasure to get to spend some time with just picking their brains. They were there for Comic-Con. I explained my situation to them about not being able to get a ticket unless I wanted to pay $1,000 for a 1 day pass. Obviously they got their passes through their company were they worked, but they told me I need to buy these passes in March if I am going to have any chance of getting a decent price as well as their availability. Okay so I was set to start my Comic-Con Bucket List objective in March. I surrendered myself to this year... sadly... I was NOT going to Comic-Con. Such Is Life...
The next morning I was going to just go back to the beach where I had already had a Fantastic time since all hopes were gone for going to Comic-Con. Something inside me said, "No. Go shopping for your family". So I did just that. I purchased some things for them that I knew they would love, and that made me feel Happy. When I had "shopped til I dropped", LOL, I headed back to the place where I waited for the water taxis to transport me back over to my hotel on Coronado island. There I met a man that had been at Comic-Con all day, and was heading back to our hotel. We chit-chatted about this and that where I had explained in a most humorous way my plight of being in San Diego, but not being able to attend Comic-Con. He laughed, looked up at me, and began to use words that became music to my ears. He told me that he had won an award, and because of that he had lifetime passes to Comic-Con. (Go On) He then told me that his wife hates going to these kinds of things, and had not accompanied him on this trip. (Go On) He then tells me that he has her pass, and would be more than happy to just give it to me so I could attend this event since it was one of my Bucket List items. For what ever reason, this man just gave me a pass. A free pass! A FREE Professional pass! Holy Shit... I AM GOING TO COMIC-CON!!!
We got back to the hotel, and indeed he was serious. As the clouds opened up bright lights shot out of the sky illuminating this glorious pass to Comic-Con. (Que Heavenly Voices Singing)
I ran up to my room to put my purchases away. Then I flew out of there like a bat out of hell, and headed back down to the water taxi stand. Again (I am one LUCKY gal) there is a man and a woman dressed in a super sexy Spiderman costume. They can see the joy surrounding my entire being. I reveal what had just happened, and they shared in my happiness. This girl was so hot! She looks at me with a devilish grin where she asks, "Do you want to wear a costume?" Immediately without a moment to pause I reply, "YES". She tells me she has an extra costume in her bag that I can wear, and when I'm done just leave it at the front desk for them later. Now she pulls out this shiny green costume telling me it is a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle costume. Okay I am (blankity-blank) years old, and well most women my age would NOT wear a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle costume. You know what though? There are times in my life where I have to set things aside, and just ENJOY the EXPERIENCE. No matter what self-conscious thoughts may flood my mind about what others will think. So I did just that. My daily attire being a bikini and sundress made it easy to do the outfit change on the dock. I flung off my sundress, stuffed it in my bag and slinked into the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle costume. Oh, btw, I was Donatello LOL. (Insert Laughs)
Arriving at the convention center I walked faster than the old ladies who power walk at 5am lol. I got in with my super special "Professional Pass", and began my mission of finding my favorite area... Star Wars! I was not shy about stopping people to ask them to take a picture for me. I was ecstatic when I had my picture taken with a Storm Trooper!! Hell YES!!! This.... Is..... Legen (wait for it) Dary!!! Woo Hoo... Comic-Con!! I continued my adventure wading through more people than I have ever seen in my entire life combined. This was serious! I took tons of pictures with different characters, and one of them may be on a website somewhere (geez I hope not LOL). It made me Happy that so many people were so seriously committed to whatever their "gig" was. It was just so great to see so many people that had a love for what I like to call the
"Fantasy World"
.
Now that I have been able to check off my Comic-Con Bucket List Item, I am now free to begin a new search. I do have that Furry Party I would still like to attend LOL. Geez I wonder how that whole event will transpire? With me, I never know where, when or what is going to cross my path to help me achieve my goal. You know what? I wouldn't have it any other way.
I just ENJOY the ride...
