As I write this, it is now 5PM (PST) and my flight leaves in six hours, so as opposed to collecting my fragments of memory from the past few days in southern California when I get home I might as well do so now.
First off, my hotel review…based on various (bad) coverages I’d read online of the Ramada St. James Hotel set in San Diego’s Gaslamp District, you’d think this place was the flophouse from hell. It’s not. Yet the St. Jim was built a year after the Titanic sank in 1912, and is showing its age. Yes, the hotel offers its own—shall we say, unique—charms including the elevators, once clocked as the world’s fastest but now are turtle-like in speed.
But that’s all academic; my chief complaint about the hotel is that my card key kept dying on me, requiring me to go downstairs from the 9th Floor three times to get the problem fixed.
Not fun at the end of a long, hot, exhausting day.
Otherwise, my room was comfortable and clean, the staff nice, and the hotel’s location almost ideal. This said, however, I doubt I’ll come back to the St. James next year. I’m not sure what turned me off about the hotel, but I think it just feels claustrophobic. The halls are narrow, and the elevator cars small and difficult to manage; next time I’d prefer a location in the same area that’s a helluva lot more modern and hopefully as affordable.
Between, Wayne, Brad and I sharing a two-bedroom suite, the final costs per person came down to about $375 per person. Not bad compared to the bill two other pals paid at the U.S. Grant Hotel just two blocks north -- a lovely, posh, and very expensive dig. I had been looking forward to playing the disc golf course at San Diego’s Morley Field for a while, especially for the chance to play in am environment so different from the Midwestern one I’m used to (e.g. maples and oaks).
Jesus, what a difference…
For one thing, the tree coverage is obviously much different in southern California, strewn with notty pines and other mid-sized trees with extremely dense branches.
Translation: they act like spider webs for wayward discs, and are almost impossible to dislodge if caught way up.
I was also unhappy with Morley Field’s terrible design.
For one thing, each tee box features a sign with designates which basket the player should be aiming for among six total – which makes for a confusing course to those who’ve never played it before. Even worse, as mentioned in the previous post, Morley’s final four fairways actually cross each another, making for crowded skies and frequent cries of “Fore!” from all around you.
I have only been disc golfing for a short while, but I’ve never had to deal with any layout like the one at Morley. It was a fucking mess.
Afterwards, Mark and I had some time to kill and did so over at San Diego Zoo, my first visit since 1984. Although I recalled a few things about the zoo’s layout since then, the place is pretty confusing to walk without a map. Unlike Chicago’s Brookfield Zoo (which I have been to countless times and is laid out in a big circle), San Diego’s pathways double-back and loop about as if designed by a drunk on a three-day bender. Still, the day was pleasant, and I envied many of the critters as the sacked out in the cool shade.
The highlight of the zoo visit, though, was the sudden birth of a concept for a brand-new comic strip/book which Mark and I created while poking fun at a guy we knew who was once a very respected indie comic book creator until becoming “born again” – a decision which has since prompted this guy to eviscerate his previous edgy works into happier, more God-friendly versions.
In other words, he took his own, once-beloved children into the backyard, and gave them homemade lobotomies with a hammer and chisel.
Where have you gone, Joe Chiapetta? Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you…
Finally, regarding the Con itself, I frankly did not spend a lot of time there. Yes, gorgeous girls abounded, but many of the site’s vendors were the same as in 2007. I did not attend any forums. I did, however, secure many cool books (mostly about Lovecraft) and a t-shirt or six, all of which are now safely packed away in my bags, and awaiting shipment home.
So to sum up, a good time in San Diego was had by all this year.
I will be returning in 2008 for the next big Comic Con; as for the year after that, well, I’ll have to wait and see.
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