Winkie Convention Countdown: 15 Days to Go

If 1993 was one of the best experiences I'd ever had at a Winkie Convention, 1994 was by far the worst! I'd already gotten very sick earlier in the year and still wasn't feeling one hundred percent, but I gamely went on with my plans. I should have known something was up when I basically got roped into renting a car, because the timetable wasn't going to work out for getting a ride with Liz, as they wanted her to get in earlier to rehearse a skit. I also had three teenagers in tow as well. We'd agreed to split the costs, but as I was the only one old enough to rent a car, I ended up dealing with the driving, and any problems would go on my credit card. Oh, well. The drive down was uneventful, but when you have three teenagers all chatting away, it can get loud. (Nowadays, it might be better, as they'd all be texting each other instead!) Once the convention got underway, however, things really went south. My roommate locked me out of my room Friday night, and woke me up late Saturday night when he left his key in the room. I spilled an entire glass of iced tea on my lap at dinner. And I felt sick during the Saturday evening program, so I was scared that my previous illness was coming back, and I totally missed one of the presentations. The worst part was on Sunday, however, when my car rental mates decided that they wanted to change plans, and wouldn't allow me to explain why it was a bad idea, why I didn't want to drive all the way into San Francisco, or to work out any sort of compromise. They just kept insisting that I had to do it their way. After some of the other garbage they put me through earlier, I decided that I'd had enough, and told them that as the car was rented in my name, I would be leaving at such-and-such a time and taking it straight back to the airport. They could come along if they wanted to. They found another ride instead, and stuck me with the entire rental bill. (They didn't even pay their share of the trip down.) Needless to say, I was in a funk for the rest of the trip, and after I got home I made sure to let everyone involved in the whole debacle to know what happened, and how upset I was. This included some of the convention organizers who made the decisions that resulted in my having to rent the car in the first place. The whole thing left a bad taste in my mouth, and I very seriously considered not going at all in 1995. However, I also had a big event to look forward to right after the convention, and that really changed my perspective...but I'll have to tell you about that tomorrow...unless someone else does!