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Mid summer and Life.
8 years ago
General
An Old Fox's life
We are now just in August and its a busy month for me. First of all its Animefest.. Ah yes Animefest the Anime Con I have attended and worked for many years. Some years are better than others. Since I run registration for USHI-Con I have also worked registration for AFest all these years. Well baring the first two. Still getting ready and making sure my volunteer status is done right and that I work for Crash space. Yes I work lots. I started doing crash space about 8 years back or so when my employment was not wanting to let me go to the con even with a letter pleading for my help. One year about half a dozen years back I had volunteered for the normal time and I had my own hotel room. I had done this for years. I also had lots of income back then. It was the first year at the downtown Dallas convention center and well Registration was hit by a rash of no shows for work. I remember starting in the morning and working till close every day. We just did not have enough people. I worked ate and went to my hotel room and crashed. It so reminded me of my former Dell days where we worked a month straight 12 hour days.
I had mentioned to David the Reg head that I did not do a thing at the con but work. He was very sorry about that but my help was more then greatly appreciated. A couple of months later I received a reimbursement for half of my hotel fees. That was nice. Its one of the reasons I still work the Con. Nice people easy to work for and most times you do get to enjoy the con.
This year I again had to make sure I had crash space. normally I stay with the same people every year so I do hope that will happen. Getting ready I checked over everything. Cooler, toiletry, Costumes, and of course my transportation there. December I had purchased a Chevy Avalanche and it was low miles and other then what I talked about with the dash issues a fantastic truck. Well I took it in last month for an inspection because of the long trip and the Mechanic informed me that my tires were nearly bald.
Now I had not payed much attention to them because the looked new and had decent tread on them. They were Goodrich Long trail TA;s a nice tire for road driving for a truck. They rode nice and I liked them. I was surprised they wore down so fast but I was also informed they were 7 years old. Inspection stations fail you for tires over 6 years old these days. I went Ugh! There went my money for the con. Tires cost 662.00 USD and that did not include the mounting balancing and tire disposal. sot It topped 800 dollars for them. I had him order them in and scheduled them to be installed on Wednesday the past week.
I was very lucky they arrived early. the Monday before I pulled into the grocery store and felt something. Getting out and looking at the tire I found a fairly large bolt stuck in the center of the tread. I drove to the shop and they pronounced tire as UN-repairable. So they put the new tire on my front right and then I went in on Wednesday for my other three and the Ugh.. Bill!
Having planned to go on a trip in early summer to visit a friend and camp out. I have collected a lot of things so if my truck breaks down or I get lost or crash down some embankment I can survive. From a Tarp to water I have blankets and more so I am survival equipped. Any smart person carries basic stuff in there car for emergency. There are a lot of sites for advice. For me its first aid kit, blanket (Military wool) tarp, Water basic tools. Rain poncho, flashlight. small emergency cell phone.) I have a small Nokia from years ago it works great and the battery lasts forever) Jumper cables and a bunch of things I like to carry.
Anime-fest used to be over Labor-day weekend. A few years back some large religious group decided that Labor-day was when they would hold this convention revival. They came in and tried to get us booted out of our host hotel. Smirks it did not work even if they promised full booking we had a contract. It still cost us a number of rooms that weekend. And I can never forget the looks from the Religious Right as I walked down the halls to the con in my cosplay outfit. Priceless!.
Still getting the hotel next year was already out so we had to move weekends. Mid August was where we ended up and Afest ran Friday to Monday. Now the past few years I celebrate my birthday during the con. This year is is right on the first full day. The con runs from the 17-20 this year. My birthday is Aug 18.
https://animefest.org/
just look for the grey haired old woman with fox ears. I will be normally working cash only in Reg.
I had mentioned to David the Reg head that I did not do a thing at the con but work. He was very sorry about that but my help was more then greatly appreciated. A couple of months later I received a reimbursement for half of my hotel fees. That was nice. Its one of the reasons I still work the Con. Nice people easy to work for and most times you do get to enjoy the con.
This year I again had to make sure I had crash space. normally I stay with the same people every year so I do hope that will happen. Getting ready I checked over everything. Cooler, toiletry, Costumes, and of course my transportation there. December I had purchased a Chevy Avalanche and it was low miles and other then what I talked about with the dash issues a fantastic truck. Well I took it in last month for an inspection because of the long trip and the Mechanic informed me that my tires were nearly bald.
Now I had not payed much attention to them because the looked new and had decent tread on them. They were Goodrich Long trail TA;s a nice tire for road driving for a truck. They rode nice and I liked them. I was surprised they wore down so fast but I was also informed they were 7 years old. Inspection stations fail you for tires over 6 years old these days. I went Ugh! There went my money for the con. Tires cost 662.00 USD and that did not include the mounting balancing and tire disposal. sot It topped 800 dollars for them. I had him order them in and scheduled them to be installed on Wednesday the past week.
I was very lucky they arrived early. the Monday before I pulled into the grocery store and felt something. Getting out and looking at the tire I found a fairly large bolt stuck in the center of the tread. I drove to the shop and they pronounced tire as UN-repairable. So they put the new tire on my front right and then I went in on Wednesday for my other three and the Ugh.. Bill!
Having planned to go on a trip in early summer to visit a friend and camp out. I have collected a lot of things so if my truck breaks down or I get lost or crash down some embankment I can survive. From a Tarp to water I have blankets and more so I am survival equipped. Any smart person carries basic stuff in there car for emergency. There are a lot of sites for advice. For me its first aid kit, blanket (Military wool) tarp, Water basic tools. Rain poncho, flashlight. small emergency cell phone.) I have a small Nokia from years ago it works great and the battery lasts forever) Jumper cables and a bunch of things I like to carry.
Anime-fest used to be over Labor-day weekend. A few years back some large religious group decided that Labor-day was when they would hold this convention revival. They came in and tried to get us booted out of our host hotel. Smirks it did not work even if they promised full booking we had a contract. It still cost us a number of rooms that weekend. And I can never forget the looks from the Religious Right as I walked down the halls to the con in my cosplay outfit. Priceless!.
Still getting the hotel next year was already out so we had to move weekends. Mid August was where we ended up and Afest ran Friday to Monday. Now the past few years I celebrate my birthday during the con. This year is is right on the first full day. The con runs from the 17-20 this year. My birthday is Aug 18.
https://animefest.org/
just look for the grey haired old woman with fox ears. I will be normally working cash only in Reg.
