Star Wars Celebration III: Wednesday!

For all who have been waiting, here is a Celebration III recap:

Day 1: Wed, Apr. 20

The trip started out, predictably enough, on a jet headed to Denver, then another to Indy. It wouldn't be worth mentioning, except for the fact that I was feeling a might lonely, but soon discovered that the guys next to me were also headed to Celebration III (somewhat of a coincidence, since on Frontier airlines one can connect from Denver to anywhere in the country). The two gentlemen were from the Seattle area, and pretty nice guys. They were meeting their friend Mike from LA, which was kind of odd because I was meeting my friend Mike from LA there too! It turned out I was to sit next to them for both legs of the flight. Unfortunately, one of them was a bit overweight, and needed a bit more deodorant (OK, a lot more). He was who I sat next to on the second flight. DOH! Keep smiling, nose toward the window...

I arrived in Indy about 6pm, got my EXTREMELY red Hundai Accent (with only 171 miles on it) and drove around the city looking for my hotel. By this I mean actually around the city, via a freeway that actually circumnavigates Indianapolis. Of course, where I was staying had to be on the exact opposite side from the airport. I soon discovered by looking at my Hertz map that there were about 10-12 different numbered highways in Indy, but where they had number designations on the map, the actual streets themselves weren't labeled with that number at all. For example, my map said that Hwy 31 went North/South through Indy, but the street itself is simply called Meridian, and had no such Hwy 31 markings. Wow, navigation was going to be real fun.

Reached my hotel about 7:15. Immediately noticed that:
1) The faucet, which is not in the bathroom but in the main room, continuously drips. All night. Nonstop. Goody.
2) My television is missing a remote control. This I tried to ignore, hoping that I could rough it and change the channels manually when I needed to. I quickly ran out of breath trying to flip multiple stations, however, and had to call the front desk to get a replacement. Realization strikes that I was much too lazy for my own good. I also decided that that wasn't about to change anytime soon.

I called my friend Mike, who was supposed to meet me for dinner when I arrived. He was reportedly going to take a "short nap" at about 6:30 to get some energy for evening partying. 7:30, no answer. I watch some TV. 8:00, no answer. At this point, I am famished, since all I had to eat besides breakfast was a bag of fritos and a bag of sunchips on the plane. 8:15, no answer. 8:20, no answer. 8:22, no answer....you get the gist. 8:50 rolls around: no answer. I leave a message "Hey punk! I'm frickin starvin over here. If you don't call me by 9pm, I'm going out to eat alone." 9pm, one more call, no answer. I am subconsiously knawing on my suitcase for nourishment. I drag my starving body out the door and to the car, where I drive approximately 1/2 block to a fast food-like Italian joint with cartoon tomato mascots. I eat a tasty chicken alfredo pasta with unlimited breadsticks, all alone at 9:30pm on Wed night.

I return to my hotel, watch some more TV, continue calling Mike to no avail, then finally take a shower in chlorine smelling blisteringly powerful water (the water pressure was fixed at 2.5 million gallons per minute, approx). Midnight, just about to crawl into bed, I receive a call from my friend Mike. "Hey there, I fell asleep longer than I anticipated. But I'm going out for beers now. You coming?" Well, perhaps if I was still in college, but being that I'm 31, midnight before Celebration III has become the time to sleep, not the time for alcoholic merrymaking at the pub. So, politely declining, I told Mike that I would catch up with him in the morning, and the faucet dripped me to sleep.