| Otakon 1999: How Far Indeed
by Ryan Gavigan
All things being considered, I'd rather not be in Cleveland. A nice, normal city it may be, but hunching at midnight in the fourth hour of a delay on a connecting flight in a remote corner of Terminal C on the barely carpeted floors of Cleveland International Airport was not ingratiating me with the city fathers this night. Hard as it was, it was a welcome, soft break from the post-WWII Dr. Mengele surplus special chairs which littered the gate area. Any normal person would have accepted the offer of a free night stay and a spot on the first available flight the next day. Any normal person might have decided to hunt for a dinner which would never come from the already closed airport restaurants. Any normal person would have throttled the fifty people waiting in line with their cell phones buzzing and beeping all night while harassing the obviously helpless clerk. However, I am not a normal person. I'm going to Otakon.
Baltimore gains its name from the ancient greek words baltos, meaning "land of many" and more, meaning "interstates that end in '95'". It feels somewhat disconcerting while on a vacation that I get into my hotel room at 3:30 a.m. and feel the need to order a wake-up call for 7:00 a.m. Once again, though, I am not normal. I'll be able to catch up on sleep later, right?...Right?...
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