Day Twenty-Six: I Meet With A Terrible(?) Fate

7/11/15, 11:29 PM PDT

Today, I finally visit Comic Con! Or technically, the stuff outside of Comic Con, since I didn't have a badge. But hell, Lawn Con is cool too.

I took the trolley to get here. Unsurprisingly, it was packed.

I had about three inches of air between me and that glasses girl on the
bottom of the frame. Half an inch more, and Sam would've teleported
between us with a taser, so thank god she didn't.

Immediately, the first thing I saw was this huge skyscraper cling of Conan O' Brien.

Fun fact, I actually meet the guy that designed all the clings in San Diego
later today, but keep on reading to find out how.

And the second thing I see were the infamous Jesus protesters.

I think these guys are actually Satan protesters, but same thing, right?

The third thing? Cosplayers.

This guy was Peter Parker. He looked better in real life,
when you could see his super blue eyes and the fact that
he looks exactly like Tobey Maguire.

Deadpool and... Deadpoolette? Not sure but it was pimp.

Hey, that's my main in Melee!

A beggar asking for change A Master Assassin!

And after that I didn't really see anything because my eyes immediately honed into this thing:

Yes, the obstacle course from last year was BACK. And this time, I could actually run it! I waited in line...

My view, after the first 20 minute wait.

And waited...

My view, an hour into the line.

And waited some more...

My view, two and a half hours into the line.

Until I finally went inside. Here's how this year's course looked!

Bruce Lee not included.

They added a Ninja Warrior-esque warped wall and a cargo net! Was I excited to finally run, after a year of sadness and regret that manifested itself into physical injuries? 

HELL YEAH I WAS. So I ran it. No, I didn't run it. I sprinted it.

...And after the cargo net, I tripped on grass, fell, and hyperextended my elbow.

The first thing I saw when I fell, except much, much worse.

The crowd made a HUGE "OHHHH!" of disgust when they saw me fall. And medics IMMEDIATELY rushed over to me.

And you know what? I ignored them. And I ran across that rolling log thing, and I finished the course anyway.

And then I immediately got my arm wrapped because having your arm flop around was definitely not a good thing. They anticipated that this sort of stuff would happen, so they had an ambulance waiting outside. Which I got to sit in.

The nice paramedics actually took my picture while I was there.

Ignore the dark, bottomless chasm in my shorts. It's nothing.

Since it was just my arm that was mangled, as opposed to, you know, my head, I was pretty fine after that fall. I got to talk with CJ, one of the paramedics, on my way to the hospital and I told him I wanted to be a VFX artist. Surprisingly, he said he knew a guy that did that sort of stuff and gave me his number to contact him for an internship! Funny how that sort of thing works, huh?

I eventually arrived at the hospital, got a bunch of paperwork and stuff to fill out, and had my arm X-rayed. On the way to the X-ray room, while I was holding my limp, dead, shriveled-up left arm in my right hand, I heard a guy behind me call out to me.

I turned around, and I see some guy in a hospital gurney, his left shoulder wrapped up, but otherwise looking totally fine. I never met this guy in my life, so I actually thought he wasn't talking to me. But then he asked,

"Are you from Comic Con too?"

Holy shit. THIS GUY GOT HURT ON THE OBSTACLE COURSE TOO. We shared stories about how we both messed up on the course (the paramedics listening in thought it was hilarious that the guy dislocated his shoulder on the Leap of Faith), and we had a good laugh because we both said the same thing.

"Totally worth it."

So yes, there's my experience of Lawn Con. And even though I did get to miss out on going inside with my friends and seeing the Adam Savage panels and celebrities and exclusive merchandise and all, I still stand by the words I said to my friend with the dislocated shoulder in the hospital.

Today was totally worth it.

RFotD: While in the waiting room, I met the guy who designed the building/trolley clings for Comic Con. He was a pretty large but short guy with a slight Spanish accent and he called me crazy for going on the obstacle course. He's a pretty cool guy.