![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
AWA part two
Oct. 6th, 2014 11:25 amso Saturday night we were in Elizabeth's room at her birthday party/gathering when we heard the alarms. It's a con, we're used to somebody pulling fire alarms at cons, so it took us a few minutes to poke our head outside. The alarms kept going, which is not typical for a false alarm. People started appearing from rooms wondering what was going on. Down on the lobby floor a steady stream of folks were making their way out the doors. This looks like it's for real. We heard a voice from below. "We're evacuating the hotel!"
That did it; alarms and pre-recorded voices are one thing, but when a live human tells you something, that's all I need. We started herding people down the stairs. Those among us with facility management or hotel industry experience started making professional comments. Downstairs we joined the crowds outside - luckily it was a pleasant night, and many simply turned it into another AWA social gathering.
I joined the staffers controlling foot traffic and keeping everybody away from the driveways so the fire trucks could get in and out. After about ten minutes, the FD went through the alarmed floor with heat detectors and established the alarm was caused by someone smoking near a smoke detector. We don't have the smartest attendees sometimes. So the all clear was sounded, everyone trooped back into the hotel and made their way back up to their rooms, and the alarm sounded again.
I was told someone pulled it on 9, but apparently when the alarm system is reset it will go off again as a test or an "all clear" signal or something, so the subsequent alarms may have been a pull, or a reset, or a test, or a hiccup. All I know is there was some confusion and we spent more time in the lobby. Very soon they got the elevators working again and the elderly, the ill, and parents with children were riding back up to their rooms and the lobby slowly cleared. The FD said it was one of the best evacuations they'd seen, which is nice to hear but kind of shocking considering how lackadaisically we all left the place to begin with. There was some immediate Facebook complaining, so myself and some others got onto social media to let people know what was going on. The biggest butt-hurt seemed to be coming from people who had never experienced a fire drill and thought fire drills were stupid and AWA was stupid for thinking about the stupid lives of its stupid attendees.
This was actually the first time a fire alarm had gone off at an AWA, to my memory. Most other shows had them as a regular occurrence, but AWA's crowd was too busy having fun, or too mature, or too scared to yank that box. Oh well, there's always a first time.
So, having avoided a hangover by missing an hour or so of Sat. nite drinking, I got up early (for me) Sunday to do the Candy Candy panel with Neil. We needed a laptop for that, there wasn't one in the room, Neil didn't have the one we'd put the Candy Candy materials onto on Friday because he'd forgotten his laptop at home and we'd borrowed one on Friday and he didn't have it with him for the thing we'd prepared it for, for some reason. So I had to go find a laptop. That took me across to Events, to Tech, to asking random people in the hallways. While doing that I got involved in trying to nail down rides for MIQ to do some sightseeing in Atlanta before her flight left. So I was doing three things at once. Someone showed up with a laptop and I left Neil to bring that Candy panel in on his own while I arranged for Bryan Powell to drive MIQ, and started laying the groundwork for finding out how many folks would need transport tomorrow for touristing, and finding out how many people were going to the airport on Sunday night. I think I made the last ten minutes of that Candy panel. There are Candy Candy fans at www.candyterry.com who were amazed we'd do a Candy Candy panel at a North American show, and if anybody videotaped the panel they'd love to see it.
After that panel was over I grabbed some quick lunch and then I went to the "Atlanta Anime Cons Roundtable" panel with AWA's Marlon and Momocon's Jess and Seishuncon's Drew and we talked about our challenges of the year. Then I ditched because it was time to go see Shonen Knife.
They did a great set of old and new songs. The bassist likes Attack On Titan. They pretty much rock harder, faster, tighter than they did the last time I saw them, which was in 1993 (?). I have, in the past, always been kind of skeptical of the idea of rock bands performing at anime cons, but the fact is that this was happening at 3pm (not midnight), in a big event hall (not a tiny club), where I was already at (not in a neighborhood crosstown), meant it was not only super convenient, but for an old person such as myself it was kind of awesome, because, let's face it, I'm not likely to spend a lot of time in clubs seeing bands any more. It helped that the sound and light was really, really good. Anyway I was fangirling pretty bad about the whole thing, so I got the set list and afterwards I got 'em to sign it.
Soon enough it was time to put this con to bed, and that meant closing ceremonies, and THAT meant, in the past, a long dragged-out chore of guests saying goodbye and then several of us on stage listening to attendees complain while we jotted down notes. This year the guests said goodbye, we ran a video, I got up and said a few words, Faisal said a few words, I said a few more words, and then bam, it was over, you don't have to stay here but you can't go home. I highly recommend getting rid of the 'bitch session' and hope to never sit through one again. While clearing out I noticed Shonen Knife and their crew just sort of hanging out by the merch table at the back of the room, and I got to thank them all for coming out to the show. Also, photo op.
Even though we just had closing ceremonies, the con wasn't over yet - the Georgia Philharmonic was putting on a concert for us over in the Waverly of anime and video game music. I would have gladly gone, but I had to (a) continue to nail down cars for tomorrow's tourist expedition, which meant (b) I had to go back home to my parents' house and borrow the van again. Elizabeth drove me over and I threw a football around with the nephew for a bit and then we drove back to the con, where the concert was just letting out. Everybody split up for dinner and Shaun and I went over to the Embassy Suites for the con staff 'dead dog' party, which was being catered by Maggianos. That's kinda nice. We waited over there for a while as the place filled up, and then Megan says, hey, we still need people to help with takedown at the Waverly, I need volunteers. So I went back over to the Waverly, and they didn't need any help, so I went back over to the Embassy Suites, where my brother dragooned me into helping move the last of the maid cafe stuff into storage, and when I got back to Embassy Suites, the food was gone and they were waiting on a delivery of wings from Hooters. At which point Shaun and I went to Steak & Shake.
Next: antiques and the Varsity
That did it; alarms and pre-recorded voices are one thing, but when a live human tells you something, that's all I need. We started herding people down the stairs. Those among us with facility management or hotel industry experience started making professional comments. Downstairs we joined the crowds outside - luckily it was a pleasant night, and many simply turned it into another AWA social gathering.
I joined the staffers controlling foot traffic and keeping everybody away from the driveways so the fire trucks could get in and out. After about ten minutes, the FD went through the alarmed floor with heat detectors and established the alarm was caused by someone smoking near a smoke detector. We don't have the smartest attendees sometimes. So the all clear was sounded, everyone trooped back into the hotel and made their way back up to their rooms, and the alarm sounded again.
I was told someone pulled it on 9, but apparently when the alarm system is reset it will go off again as a test or an "all clear" signal or something, so the subsequent alarms may have been a pull, or a reset, or a test, or a hiccup. All I know is there was some confusion and we spent more time in the lobby. Very soon they got the elevators working again and the elderly, the ill, and parents with children were riding back up to their rooms and the lobby slowly cleared. The FD said it was one of the best evacuations they'd seen, which is nice to hear but kind of shocking considering how lackadaisically we all left the place to begin with. There was some immediate Facebook complaining, so myself and some others got onto social media to let people know what was going on. The biggest butt-hurt seemed to be coming from people who had never experienced a fire drill and thought fire drills were stupid and AWA was stupid for thinking about the stupid lives of its stupid attendees.
This was actually the first time a fire alarm had gone off at an AWA, to my memory. Most other shows had them as a regular occurrence, but AWA's crowd was too busy having fun, or too mature, or too scared to yank that box. Oh well, there's always a first time.
So, having avoided a hangover by missing an hour or so of Sat. nite drinking, I got up early (for me) Sunday to do the Candy Candy panel with Neil. We needed a laptop for that, there wasn't one in the room, Neil didn't have the one we'd put the Candy Candy materials onto on Friday because he'd forgotten his laptop at home and we'd borrowed one on Friday and he didn't have it with him for the thing we'd prepared it for, for some reason. So I had to go find a laptop. That took me across to Events, to Tech, to asking random people in the hallways. While doing that I got involved in trying to nail down rides for MIQ to do some sightseeing in Atlanta before her flight left. So I was doing three things at once. Someone showed up with a laptop and I left Neil to bring that Candy panel in on his own while I arranged for Bryan Powell to drive MIQ, and started laying the groundwork for finding out how many folks would need transport tomorrow for touristing, and finding out how many people were going to the airport on Sunday night. I think I made the last ten minutes of that Candy panel. There are Candy Candy fans at www.candyterry.com who were amazed we'd do a Candy Candy panel at a North American show, and if anybody videotaped the panel they'd love to see it.
After that panel was over I grabbed some quick lunch and then I went to the "Atlanta Anime Cons Roundtable" panel with AWA's Marlon and Momocon's Jess and Seishuncon's Drew and we talked about our challenges of the year. Then I ditched because it was time to go see Shonen Knife.
They did a great set of old and new songs. The bassist likes Attack On Titan. They pretty much rock harder, faster, tighter than they did the last time I saw them, which was in 1993 (?). I have, in the past, always been kind of skeptical of the idea of rock bands performing at anime cons, but the fact is that this was happening at 3pm (not midnight), in a big event hall (not a tiny club), where I was already at (not in a neighborhood crosstown), meant it was not only super convenient, but for an old person such as myself it was kind of awesome, because, let's face it, I'm not likely to spend a lot of time in clubs seeing bands any more. It helped that the sound and light was really, really good. Anyway I was fangirling pretty bad about the whole thing, so I got the set list and afterwards I got 'em to sign it.
Soon enough it was time to put this con to bed, and that meant closing ceremonies, and THAT meant, in the past, a long dragged-out chore of guests saying goodbye and then several of us on stage listening to attendees complain while we jotted down notes. This year the guests said goodbye, we ran a video, I got up and said a few words, Faisal said a few words, I said a few more words, and then bam, it was over, you don't have to stay here but you can't go home. I highly recommend getting rid of the 'bitch session' and hope to never sit through one again. While clearing out I noticed Shonen Knife and their crew just sort of hanging out by the merch table at the back of the room, and I got to thank them all for coming out to the show. Also, photo op.
Even though we just had closing ceremonies, the con wasn't over yet - the Georgia Philharmonic was putting on a concert for us over in the Waverly of anime and video game music. I would have gladly gone, but I had to (a) continue to nail down cars for tomorrow's tourist expedition, which meant (b) I had to go back home to my parents' house and borrow the van again. Elizabeth drove me over and I threw a football around with the nephew for a bit and then we drove back to the con, where the concert was just letting out. Everybody split up for dinner and Shaun and I went over to the Embassy Suites for the con staff 'dead dog' party, which was being catered by Maggianos. That's kinda nice. We waited over there for a while as the place filled up, and then Megan says, hey, we still need people to help with takedown at the Waverly, I need volunteers. So I went back over to the Waverly, and they didn't need any help, so I went back over to the Embassy Suites, where my brother dragooned me into helping move the last of the maid cafe stuff into storage, and when I got back to Embassy Suites, the food was gone and they were waiting on a delivery of wings from Hooters. At which point Shaun and I went to Steak & Shake.
Next: antiques and the Varsity
