San Diego Comic Con Day 4

So on Saturday as I was in the car with Zack and Joanna going to their hotel in the marina area, we passed by the Midway aircraft carrier. I mentioned that I wanted to go on the ship. Zack pulled out his phone and made a call. His dad had been in the Navy and the Master Chief on the Midway used to work for his dad. So Zack left a message and the next morning we met when the ship opened and got a private tour of the aircraft carrier from the Master Chief. It was really cool to see the ship. Something like that boggles my mind a bit. The engineering it takes to create a floating city is simply astounding. We toured the ship fro a couple hours then went for lunch.

At the convention center in the afternoon we walked around. For me, this was unusual. I generally cut out in the early to mid afternoon and go back to Los Angeles. But I had made arrangements to stay with Bill and his family again. I wanted to take a little more time rather than rush back.

I said good-bye to Zack and Joanna and went to meet an old girlfriend for dinner. I hadn't seen her since the mid 90's at some convention. I don't remember which one.  I had only recently had contact with her thru her mom and Christmas cards. So the dinner idea was weird to me. Whatever happened between us hadn't ended well. But time made the whole thing pretty inconsequential.

She happened to live with her husband on the way to Bill's house so I wasn't going the completely opposite direction. When I pulled up to her house she was outside across the street chatting with the neighbors. My arrival time was kind of a guess, but dinner was going to be chicken on the barbeque so there would not be a lot of cooking time.

She is on her second marriage so they have a blended family. The kids were with the other parents for the weekend so I didn't meet any  of them. We hung out and chatted; catching up on more than 15 years. It was odd but nice. She still knew me, kinda, because she knew me then, but I'm different in some ways. And exactly the same in others.

I left their house and arrived at Bill's. His kids got me to promise I'd watch cartoons with them until they had to go to sleep. So I sat on the couch with tow little kids snuggled into me watching cartoons.

They all had to get up early to go to work, so bedtime was way before I normally go to sleep, but I didn't want to be wandering around while they are sleeping so I went to the guest room downstairs. In the morning the door opened up and the kids came in to get the cat's food so they could eat. A little face came very close to the bed and asked if I was asleep. I said, "kinda." They snuck out and let me sleep. When they left for the day they visited one last time. I thanked them for letting me stay the night.

I woke, showered and packed my stuff. I had to set the alarm when I left. That was kind of nerve wracking. I couldn't make any mistakes and leave something behind. Also it's a loud arming system. Kind of scared the shit out of me. There was a voice announcing I had 30 seconds to get out and then a loud beeping. Ahhhh!

I left and met up with the girl's mom. She was supposed to have come to dinner last night but didn't so I met them and one of the kids at a school garden. Previous years I would swing by and visit with her mom when I was in town for the con. I hadn't done it in a few years because of scheduling. We chatted for 30 minutes. Judy, the mom, would always shoot straight from the hip. One year I was visiting she told me I didn't look as gaunt as I used to. Thanks. This time she said I seemed comfortable with who I was.

That's not a bad thing, really.