Anaheim Comic Con - Day 01: 19 Names, All In a Row

The first day of four days of volunteering at the Anaheim Comic Con! Boo-Ya!

I drove to the Anaheim Convention Center only to find that there was no volunteer parking, or discounted, or anything that would save me from breaking my projected Comic Con budget of $0.00. I grimaced and paid the ten bucks that I hadn’t wanted to fork over. I guess its just life in the big city. Or at least in AnaCrime.

I slowly made my way to Con, trying to figure out where the Coffee Convention ended and the Comic Con began. Apparently Hall D was the place to be. Which was a longer walk than I had anticipated, but walking long distances was something that I knew that I would need to get accustomed to ASAP. I idly wondered how many miles I would clock in at by Day 04.
I made it to the Con to find it still being in the process of being assembled. My contact was a fellow named Spat, and I was told that I would know who he was by the crowd of people following in his wake. This description came to be true, as I found Spat on his entourage of volunteers near the back of the Hall.

The crew was nearly up to a little over a dozen by the time I arrived, and Spat started off by walking us around the Convention Center. I greeted a few of the volunteers and we chatted a little as we walked. We even picked up a few more volunteers as we ambled along. I forgot all their names very quickly, because I am awful at names, and feel just as guilty about that as I am bad at remembering.

As luck would have it, I stumbled upon an exercise that would alleviate that problem.
One of the duties of the Pre-Show Thursday was the stuffing of the coveted free SWAG Bag. (S.W.A.G. = Stuff We All Get) This consisted of a plastic bag with one copy each of the magazines Wizard, ToyFare, and FunFare. We would follow this up with a little card advertisement of Geek’d, and a starter card pack of Magic: Planeswalker. To do this, we got into an Assembly Line of one person passing out each of the ingredients of the SWAG Bag. So that would be 5 or 6 people on the line, with the rest grabbing bags and filling them up. At first we did this in silence, just getting through it all.

Then I started introducing myself.

This was to each person that I gave a magazine. But the key was that I kept introducing myself to each person over and over. And asking for their name in return. At first it was dumb, but it soon became apparent that it was helping me out. A LOT. I must have said each person’s name 50 times. And I found myself just goofing around with them as we worked.
And now I remember each and every person by their name:

Andre
Katie
Carissa
Darryl
Jon
Michael
Joel
Christine
Roy
Alex
Romiro
Shawn
Rob
Alan
Jimmy
Trini
Wilsa
Joey
Connie

As for spelling of said names, I’m not sure. I didn’t ask them all to spell, because that’s just insane. I’m just happy I could remember their names. It was a personal achievement.

Topics of Conversation @ The Con: TheYellow Ranger, comics to start on, name combinations, hand hugs, being so tired I have to sing, saying someone’s name a ridiculous amount of times, the all-time high of 11 bags, Juliet Landeau being sick, etc.

-Nate

I Wish I Was Better With Names

March 20, 2010:

A surprise call from Patrick kick-started the day.

“Hey, Nate,” he said, “Are you up to anything today?”
“Well, I got a movie and a friend’s Housewarming party tonight,” I replied, “Why? What’s up?”
“I’m heading to Van Nuys,” said Patrick, “I’m picking up some monster making supplies. I’d love it if you could come along.”
“Sounds sexy. As long as we’re back before 7:00, I’m game,” I answered.

We agreed that he would drive and he picked me up from my place. We headed to Lee’s Sandwiches for lunch, and I filled him in on the plans for the movie, which was The Runaways at around 7:50 pm, to meet up with Jamal and Justin. This would be followed by a Housewarming party. I invited Patrick to the movie, but didn’t feel I could invite him to someone else’s party. He was down to see the movie.

Topics of Conversation @ Lee’s: Free Fritos, Dan Akroyd vodka, large quantities of texting, dark endings, fake Japanese, the girlfriend’s parents and the terror they induce, etc.

The road to Van Nuys was busy and I became sleepy as the ride continued. A Food Coma was imminent. So Patrick passed me a figurines and model book he had procured from Japan. The creatures and designs reminded me of a cross between Akira, Hellraiser, and Heavy Metal. The book was very impressive.

We arrived at a place called “Frends,” which was packed full of makeup, fake blood, and all the necessary supplies to make movie magic. As we walked into the back, we turned the corner and facing us as a gentleman in his 80’s. Patrick’s face immediately lit up and I knew I was going to feel dumb. Because Patrick knew who the old man was, but I didn’t have much of an idea. They chit-chatted for a bit, and I shook the old man’s hand. And finally caught his name:

Dick Smith.

Great. At least his name didn’t ring any bells at all.

It wasn’t until after that Patrick was able to fill me in on Dick Smith’s background. And, as it turned out, he was the makeup artist for The Exorcist, and loads of other movies. Holy cow! That was amazing. And it was my inability to remember names very well that really messed me up.

Argh.

After that, we went to BevMo so that I could pick up some Virgil’s Root Beer for my friend Charlee’s birthday the next day. With the Root Beer in hand, we headed back to the OC. I suggested going to Brewbakers, just so that Patrick could get a taste of the good food and beverages to be had there, and to kill time till I was able to get a hold of Jamal for the Housewarming party. We also headed to Comics Unlimited to kill some time. Lainey was there, and she looked like she was ready for the shift to be over. The call came, and Patrick and I were soon on our way to see The Runaways with Jamal over at the Krikorian Theater in Buena Park.

Unfortunately, another call from Patrick’s dad came in. As it turned out, his dad had been having some construction workers over to work on the driveway. And the driveway had a lot of rubble still sitting around, blocking people from being able to park in the driveway. But instead of having the workers move the rubble as part of their day, he figured it would be better that he get his son to come home and move the rocks.

And yes, there is plenty of parking on the street.

So Patrick, had to leave me in Jamal’s questionable hands at the theater. We watched The Runaways, and Justin joined us about 10 minutes into the flick.

The Runaways isn’t a bad flick. In fact, I have some personal connection to the movie because some of the scenes from the movie were shot at my work, at Norwalk City Hall. I was actually there for some of the shooting. I even said hello to Kristin Stewart (who is a tiny person). And Joan Jett was there too, (who is also a tiny person).

As for the film… for a movie titled “The Runaways,” there was very little about the Runaways. Its mostly a bio piece about Cherie Currie, the front woman. Joan Jett is there, but you get very, very little about her in this film. We meet Cherie’s entire family, get her entire backstory, and all the pain she felt throughout the movie. Joan Jett… is a lesbian(?) with a need to be in a rock band. That’s about it. There’s hints about an unhappy home life, but we get nothing else. Makes me wonder if Joan wanted to have very much about herself known in this movie.

As for the other members, like the drummer, the bassist, and the other guitarist, um… really, you’re guess is as good as mine. And that’s even taking into account that you most likely haven’t seen the movie. Yeah. But still a well done flick, if a bit too fast paced.

After the movie, Justin, Jamal, and myself headed over to our friend Bobby’s Housewarming. He and his girlfriend Gina had just moved into their own apartment, and the place was pretty snazzy. I brought some Blue Moon beer, and we all sat down for a night of new and old memories and good laughs.

Topics of Conversation @ the Housewarming: Bill the Mighty, poor decisions made with sketchy information, two bathrooms, how to be the Queen of Hosts, Thankstakings of yesteryear, Ikea picture frames and their limitless quantity, Peppermint Schnapps, the last word on a questionable friend, Ghandi Ball, the misleading music setup, autistic Batman, etc.

-Nate