We showed up Friday not long after the doors had opened and spent the evening wandering around the vendor area, seeing what everyone had to offer so that we could come back later in the weekend and make a few well-informed purchases (we were both smart enough not to bring any cash on Friday, lest we spend it on an impulse and then regret it by the time we got to the next booth). There wasn't much going on that first evening, as most of the film screenings and interview panels were scheduled for Saturday, but we did spend some time talking to Brian O'Halloran from "Clerks" - so that was awesome.
Dave crashed on my couch that night, with plans for both of us to rendezvous with Nate, Neil, and Dave for the second day of the show. But as I was getting ready to take a shower, my nose started bleeding. It was the sixth time in four days (I had even been to the immediate care center on Wednesday evening to seek out a solution), and it was by far the worst of the series. No matter what I tried, I couldn't get the bleeding to stop - it was like someone had turned on a faucet somewhere inside my face. After about 45 minutes of this, I finally advised Dave to go on to the show without me, and I called my Dad to see about getting me in to see a doctor that would tell me a little more than "buy a humidifier."
Dad called back a little bit later to tell me than he couldn't find an ear/nose/throat specialist that was actually in their office on a Saturday, and suggested that we go to the emergency room. I told him to come get me, as for all intents and purposes I was confined to the bathroom, and he picked me up a little bit later, with me clutching a cold cloth to my face and dripping blood all over my shirt and pants. By the time we got to the hospital, my nose had been bleeding for more than two hours.
The doctor came in to take a look at me and discovered an area on my septum where the blood vessels were exposed and were spraying out blood with every heartbeat. He told me that there would have been no way for me to get the bleeding to stop on my own (hence the two hours) and that it would need to be cauterized. So they sprayed a numbing solution into my nose (which then dripped down into the back of my throat and caused my tongue to go numb), and then went to work. Twenty minutes later, with no blood in sight, they sent me home, telling me not to blow my nose for a few days until the cauterization had ample time to heal.
It was almost 4:00 by this time, and trying to make it out to Horror Hound wouldn't really have been worth the effort. Plus, I had swallowed so much blood over the course of the afternoon that I was feeling pretty nauseous, so I opted to lie down and nap. I slept til about 9:00, and when I woke up I wasn't feeling too much better, so I skipped out on going to Poker Night as well, spending most of the evening in front of the computer chatting with Brigette.
Bart joined Dave and myself for the last day of the show, and since Sunday was a lot more low-key than the rest of the weekend, we had plenty of time to talk to some of the guests and get some photo opportunities (see below). We also found ourselves caught in the line of fire of a massive rubber-band war, with Kane Hodder, Danny Trejo, Tom Savini, Brian O'Halloran, Ashley Laurence, and Bill Moseley all firing shots at each other between their respective booths (and much to the surprise of unsuspecting attendees). All of us spent money on merch that we didn't particularly need, but I suppose that's part of the experience, right?
After the show, we met up with Andy for our quartet's time-honored tradition of dining at Outback. The service was among the worst I had ever experienced at any restaurant, and we were there for nearly two hours on a Sunday afternoon when it wasn't even remotely busy. We tipped accordingly, then went back to my place to test our movie knowledge in a game of "Scene It," which Andy managed to win by 105 points. Dave, who had been staging a monstrous comeback during the final round, was none too pleased with the outcome.
The rest of the evening was spent watching "Wrestlemania" on pay-per-view. The show was definitely better than last year's debacle, with some surprise finishes and some good booking, not to mention the final match of Ric Flair's 36-year career in the industry, an old-school classic wrestling match with Shawn Michaels. The finish was an absolute masterpiece, and I don't think there was a single person in the arena that wasn't on their feet as Flair walked down the aisle for the last time. It wasn't an easy thing to watch, and he will be sorely missed.
All in all, it was a good weekend. I've got the rest of today to take it easy before I go back to work tomorrow, and since we're in a crunch to conserve labor right now, I'll be working a lot of extra hours this week, including an open-to-close on Wednesday. I've got plans with Brigette on Thursday night, and Friday after work Sleeve and I will be hitting Broad Ripple to see Margot and the Nuclear So and So's at The Vogue. No rest for the wicked, right?
That's all for now, kids.
thanks for the advice.