Four hours. That’s all the sleep that I had. Was it enough? Actually yes it was. I’m just really bad at waking up by myself. Since Nightmaren had to go to work early in the morning, I had to make sure I woke up early enough to get myself prepared. As I was going through the normal morning routine, I had thought to myself, “Perhaps now I can wake up at a fairly reasonable time!” Nope.
Since the train station was on the way to the hospital where Nightmaren would be working, it was only fitting to have me dropped off there so that I can head to Dallas and go on a LOVE QUEST (aka exploring the area and possibly getting an authentic heat stroke).
I was dropped off at the Fort Worth Intermodal Center Trinity Railway Express Station fairly early in the morning so nothing was open (including the help center). It took me a little bit but I was able to figure out how to get where I wanted to go. There was an app in the Google Play Store that allowed me to purchase a ticket for the train. I thought it was pretty neat and found it to be really useful. Even after you purchase the ticket, you can activate the pass whenever (meaning you could even plan ahead by purchasing a 2 hour ticket way before hand).
After I had figured out how to work the app and where I needed to be, I went outside to wait for the train with my luggage. Prior to my arrival to Texas, Nightmaren and I had agreed after the first night there in Nightmaren’s apartment, we would head over to Praxling’s place. Therefore in order to save time, we decided it would be a good idea for me to bring my belongings with me whereas Nightmaren could bring my other belongings in the trunk of the car. I figured since I would be taking pictures (obviously), I would also bring my Rin Tohsaka nendoroid with me.
Upon boarding the Trinity train, I was a little shocked at how similar its interior looked compared to the Sounder train. I later figured it was just a normal default look most public transportation vehicles would be equipped with. It was a little difficult to find a good spot since I still had my rolling luggage with me but I managed to squeeze it in between a seat and I so that other passengers might have room to sit beside me if needed.
I thought I would fall asleep on the train, however to my surprise I did not. As I was looking through the window, I managed to catch a glimpse of what the flooding had done to some parts of Texas. It was such a weird sight to see in person only to have it zip pass me in only a few seconds. I also saw my first sunrise. Since Washington state is a fairly hilly area, I hardly ever see a proper “sunrise” (and I’m sleeping most of the time anyway ahaha). Obviously because of Texas’ flat terrain, I was able to see how the sun looks as it peers over the horizon. I found it fascinating to see that it was literally red and was saddened that I could not take a nice picture to do it justice. The ride was nice, but there were a few things that didn’t necessarily bother me but did raise a few curious questions. Why in the world would you change the automated voice for a specific destination while keeping the same one for the rest of the other ones? Specifically the Heritage Crossing stop?
Immediately after getting off the downtown Dallas station, I checked my phone to see what was available for breakfast. It was still about half an hour before 7 o’clock… meaning practically nothing was open. I didn’t mind too much considering I would still have to walk around. I found a good amount of places to take pictures along with posing Rin for some shots here and there. It was fun and I didn’t mind as much posing a figure in public. I usually try to keep the fact that I like these things to myself. It’s not that I’m ashamed of anime. I just rather keep a few things in my life separate. Since I was in Texas, I didn’t feel the need to be as discreet as I usually am. The experience was enjoyable but it wasn’t anything extraordinary as I’m fairly used to taking pictures of my nendoroids by now.
Around a little after 7 o’clock, I started to approach a small cafe looking place called Ellen’s Southern Kitchen. After looking through its menu online, I decided to eat breakfast there. It was empty when I entered (no surprise… early in the morning after all) so all the spots were available to me. I decided to sit next to the window as it would give me a nice view of the entire restaurant along with the bar that was located in the far north side of the restaurant. It was also an elevated table so it was even better.
I decided to order a Grits Benedict with coffee. Since they didn’t really have a creamer I would enjoy, I decided to drink the coffee black. Felt like such a poser/hipster but the coffee had good flavor. As I was waiting for my food, I got to meet the owner of the establishment, Mr. Joe Groves. He was a friendly gentleman that I enjoyed conversing with. Mr. Groves had also informed me that he had planned to move his restaurant into the vacant spot across the street as he was gaining more business and needed more space. When I finally began to eat the food, I could find out why. The food was rich in flavor. The only problem was that I personally can only take so much of the rich flavor. I think the dish I had would definitely be satisfactory to many other people, however it was too cheesy for me. It was still a very delicious breakfast and it would prove to keep me filled throughout the morning.
With breakfast finished, I went out to see which museum was open. To my dismay, all the museums were still closed. I would have to wait until 9am before any of them would open. It was only 8:15ish by the time I finished breakfast. I really didn’t like the idea of wandering around aimlessly for almost an hour (especially since I learned that Texas gets warm very quickly), so I whipped my phone out to find out where the Hilton at Anatole was located. The True and Honest LOVE QUEST would begin here.
The trek to the hotel was an interesting one but pretty harsh for someone who isn’t used to the high temperatures Texas had to offer. I kept getting a bit lost here and there since Google Maps had a habit of constantly misguiding me. I didn’t mind though as I got to visit some places that were interesting to view. It was after I started to leave the center of downtown Dallas that I had to start walking on things like narrow sidewalks, grass, etc. It was then I realized and thought “… why did I bring the rolling luggage? I should have brought my shoulder bag instead.”
The answer was simple. I’m dumb.
Since the sun was beating down on me pretty hard, I was sweating profusely. I knew it would be dangerous if I didn’t keep myself hydrated so I started to look around for a convenience store. Luckily by the time I had gotten to that point, there was a 7/11 store nearby. I probably looked pretty gross with sweat glistening on my forehead as I approached the counter with a bottle of water. At least the water wasn’t expensive but I was surprised to see there was some “TEXAS” water brand as I was browsing. It wouldn’t take long before I finally started to see the hotel where A-Kon would take place right around 9:30. The hotel was huge. I knew most Hilton hotels were big to begin with; however the size of this particular hotel was at a level I was not anticipating.
Upon entering the hotel, a gust of air conditioning swept and caressed my face. I was finally free from the reins of the oppressing heat. It was certainly a long walk and I had felt quite accomplished when I had finally arrived. I’ve always enjoyed feeling that sense of accomplishment after a long walk. Amazement also accompanied that sense of accomplishment as I gazed upon the interior of the hotel. It astounded me just how large the bottom floor was. It felt more appropriate to call it a mini mall as there were a few stores in the main lobby area (aka Atrium II). It was just really impressive and I took some time letting it settle in with just how big it was.
Since my phone had been getting close to dying, I had to quickly find a place to charge my phone so that I would be able to keep in touch with one of my friends who was going to meet up with me at the hotel. I used that time to cool down a little bit and play a few games on the 3DS. As I was playing, I noticed something passing by my peripheral vision. It caught my attention because it went by really fast and it was pretty small. What had passed by me was a small bird. While I was unable to take a picture of it, the bird looked pretty cute just walking around the cafe area as though it owned the place.
My friend had told me that it would take her a while before she would arrive. So I just sat around for a while in that cafe, walked around taking pictures of the Day 0 cosplays, and then sat at a chair near up front since I figured it would be getting close to the time when she would arrive. Time would pass for quite some time until I realized that she wasn’t going to arrive any time soon. I waited taking this into account (though I’ll admit I wasn’t too thrilled at having to wait longer than I was told to).
It was right around 12:45 when my friend had told me that she had gotten off at the Dart station nearby. I figured that I might as well meet her outside and then find our way back into the hotel so we could look around. After I gave Praxling a small present, we spent a little bit of that time looking around the hotel. I never really took a look at the prices of some of the items that were on the shelves of the cafe on the far end of the Atrium II. I had suspected that they would raise the prices of all their drinks to an unreasonable amount (they usually do) and it disappointed me when my expectations were slightly exceeded. A small 20oz Gatorade costed something around 2.50 (it’s $1.59 at my store and 2 for 2). A water bottle was priced around 2 dollars. I usually get angry at the prices they put on water bottles the most since it’s the most unnecessary. Especially with the brand that they had overpriced, each bottle probably costed them around 30~40 cents ish each. A measly 89 cent price would have already gotten them a 100% profit but nope. Let’s put it to $2 and just reap in the money from these suckers! Makes me even more mad that people buy them anyway. In any case, I digress.
After a little while, we figured it was time to go back to the Dart Station so we could find something to eat in Downtown Dallas (since all the food in the hotel were at stupid prices and the food trucks had not arrived). We decided that Chipotle would be a good place to eat lunch at. It was right around 2 o’clock ish when Nightmaren had texted us. We caught up with each other and agreed to meet up at Praxling’s apartment.
After a long grueling beating from the sun yet again, we finally arrived at Praxling’s apartment and dunned as we waited for Nightmaren. I remember feeling a bit sad when I only saw the cat and not the dog (he was with Praxling’s boyfriend). After a little while, Nightmaren finally arrived and we continued to dun some more. We were actually waiting it for the temperature to get a bit cooler before we would head out to grab something small to eat and snack on before going back to the hotel to get our badges.
Nightmaren and Praxling were talking amongst each other trying to figure out what to get before we headed out. I wasn’t too sure what they were talking about but I only remember hearing more towards the end when they were beginning to reach the end of their decision. I heard the word “straws”, how they were fat, and how Nightmaren “remembered” the name because it had the name fat in it.
We began to head out to this place that they had decided to go to and it was only when we arrived there that I finally realized what they were talking about. It’s a boba place whose name was literally Fat Straws. I couldn’t help but just laugh upon the realization that this is what they were talking about and they were quite literal when they had said “YEAH FAT STRAWS”. Normally I’m not a boba person but it actually turned out alright. It was after I found out you were supposed to shake it to begin with (I honestly never knew that’s what you were supposed to do). I believe I ordered some strawberry banana one.
We decided to take the train to the hotel so we could save a bit of gas for the next few trips we’d be taking to the hotel. As we were walking on a pathway to the con(which had a lot of grass around), Nightmaren (out of nowhere) decided to GO FAS. Unfortunately Nightmaren tripped on something and ended up spin dashing. It was SOOO random and just out of nowhere that I broke for a few minutes laughing. It just seemed so uncharacteristic of Nightmaren yet fitting at the same time. It was that contradiction that killed me even more as I kept replaying the event over and over in my head. It was just simply far too funny and I will never forget the legendary Nightmaren Spin Dash of Horror.
Now that we were at the hotel to get our badges, I took the opportunity to actually take pictures of a few cosplayers that were around. The line to get our badges was really long but that was because it was a single line before anyone could approach a station to where you could get your badge. I was actually surprised how quickly you could get your badge and somewhat irked at how easy it was to pull up your information.
There were two ways you could pick up your badge. One was to scan a barcode or to search your name on a computer. Once you have verified that it is indeed your information, then it gets transmitted to the printer that’s behind the tables where there are staff members working. They usually are there to help do the final verification that you are who you are (ie, checking your driver’s license). I had a pretty hilarious exchange with the staff member who was checking my ID. When they had seen that I was from Washington, for some reason, they had the notion that I had driven all the way to Texas. I assured them that I flew over instead (and with the prices of gasoline these days and my habit of getting sleepy during long car rides, it wasn’t going to happen).
Since we were already there at the hotel, we looked around the area a little bit more. There were a lot of statues and small monuments that really added to the atmosphere of the hotel. It was at this point that I had almost felt that all of their presence would be overshadowed by the presence of all the stands, desks, booths and people in the following weekend. Nevertheless, they would prove to still be a treat for the eyes of their visitors.
Praxling had been interested in eating from the food trucks for a while so she wanted to go check out their prices. I had a feeling that the food would be a little bit expensive but when we had gotten there, they proved to exceed my expectations which was a bummer for all of us. At that point, we figured it was in our better interests (and better for our wallets) to just go get some food at Walmart. I also needed to grab a few things anyway as I had realized later that I didn’t bring some of the things I would normally need (like soap and a towel). We also figured it would be a good idea in general just to get some food for the days ahead of us (as there weren’t any restaurants nearby that we could comfortably walk and eat at).
After we had gotten ourselves settled in the apartment, we sat down just to watch a couple of episodes of whatever. Nightmaren had suggested that we watch the tribble episode from Star Trek: The Original Series. I was actually quite excited as it had been a long time since I had a nice Star Trek experience (at this point, I was still watching the dreaded Star Trek: TNG). Praxling had also made some pasta salad which made the experience that much more refreshing.
Taking a shower after spending a long time in the heat felt like entering heaven for a short while. It proved to help a little since it was still fairly warm inside the apartment and I usually have issues sleeping when it’s far too warm. As we set our alarms and laid down upon the blankets and sleeping bags, I made an effort to put my nose far away from the sleeping bag. I didn’t need a reminder that my dogs had been too comfortable with the sleeping bag.