Friday 16 May 2003

ANIME NORTH 2003 - Day 1

The crappiest thing about the subway in Toronto is that it costs so damn much! My cousins advised me to buy the set of tokens so that I don't have to worry about having tickets that will eventually be outdated. The stuff costs $19/20 - almost 2 dollars each token! If that doesn't suck, then how about a hundred bucks a month for a monthly pass as a student? Ah well, Montreal will still be the better student town. ^^

The nicest thing is that the subway trains come by every three to five minutes, but three on weekdays, so that's more frequent than the metro in Montreal.

Another crappy thing is that the stations are older and uglier than Montreal's stations.

On the other hand, the trains have a nice antique feel to them. And they actually go above ground level due to the vally-ness of Toronto (et environs)'s landscape. But then you see a bunch of dirty cars and highways as scenery so that's not too nice.

Anyway, enough about the metros-I mean subways. The stinking hotel was in the middle of nowhere. I had to take a bus from a distant station, for about 40 minutes towards the airport. I even asked the busdriver at the moment I got on the bus, "'Scuse me sir? Could you tell me when we get to the Regal Constellation Hotel?" He nods, supposedly in affirmation.

If it weren't for people on the bus already going to the con at 3 pm, I would never have found the hotel. A bunch of people get off at one point, and my suspicions are further raised when he doesn't say anything or do anything for a while.

Me: Um, sir, is this it?
Bus driver: Is this what?
Me: The hotel?
Bus driver: Which hotel?
Me: The Regal...?
Bus driver: (annoyed) Of course!
Me: Thank you, sir. (grumble grumble)

Anyway, at about 3:15 p.m., I was in the hotel lobby, completely confused. Where the crap am I supposed to go? There are no signs to say where registration is... maybe it's at the hotel reception...

I waited in that extensively long line until someone in the front of the line was being yelled at by his or her friend saying that this line was only for registration to the hotel, and the actual registration was down the stairs. Then I followed them down, until I was confronted by a mob of congoers. Boy, I can't even begin to describe the awkward feelings I was experiencing seeing so many nerds and geeks dressed like it's Hallowe'en all in one place...

As soon as I registered, I went up to the volunteer/staff office where they would assign me a task for several hours. "They need people in registration to direct the lines," they said. And so I went back down.

Four hours later, redirecting and shouting through hundreds of people got the best and worst of me. I did meet another volunteer person who ended up getting a better seat than I did, standing around and waving my arms. So I left that duty and went to the dealer's room to look at wares I would possibly buy at a later time.

The "deals" at the dealers' room were so sucky I couldn't imagine myself buying anything there! I only brought enough money to last me the weekend at the stupid extended tables of costly crap, and I would only have considered spending if there had been anything better than a fifty dollar Totoro doll the size of a head of cabbage.

Anyway, after an hour of agonizing over the stupid wares, I decided to leave for the night. I can't believe how many people there were at the time I left. There was simply way too much for me to do, and besides, the phone ate my last quarter as I was trying to call my cousins for the nth time.

Once I got back (at 10 pm), I was too pooped to do anything but munch on a small amount of supper, and then I went to bed. It was still freezing in that basement that night, but I slept soundly. Zzzz.