A day ago in a city 58 miles away...
STAR WARS CELEBRATION CHICAGO
Last June I learned that Star Wars Celebration was heading to Chicago and I figured YOLO, so I bought tickets and we went yesterday. I'm not going to lie, I wanted to back out. I'm not one of those people. I have standards, but again, YOLO. I'm glad I went, because it was quite an experience.
Instead of only one big thing for the day, we also had to have Breakfast with the Bunny at the local library. It's a tradition that my 9-year-old wasn't going to have interrupted by some Star Wars thing, so she listened to a story, ate doughnut holes in the presence of the Easter Bunny and collected six candy filled eggs and by 11 a.m. we hit the road.
The traffic was fine and I felt good, but once we arrived at McCormick Place my anxiety fired up, because I had to face my new fear of metal detectors. We parked the car and entered the building so I turned off my stimulator. (Apparently, metal detectors can have an adverse effect on the stimulator and it needs to be powered off before passing through one.) Earlier in the week I had contacted fan services to see if I could arrange a frisking instead of risking an electronic malfunction of the DRG stimulator device. I was told to let security know that I wanted to "opt out." After about a mile walk from the parking garage to the exhibit hall we neared the security checkpoint. I shouldn't have turned the stimulator off until I saw the detectors because my foot/leg was already aching after the long walk. As I approached The Gate I looked right into the security guard's eyes and assertively told him, "I have an electronic device in my back and I want to opt out of going through the metal detector." He took me out of the line, lifted a rope and let me in. I wasn't checked at all. I imagined they'd lift my shirt and see the bulge of the stimulator in my back and think that the Joker had implanted a mobile phone that was wired to explosives inside my body. I'd be tackled by FBI agents in those wind breaker jackets with the yellow "FBI" letters on the back. There'd be a lot of frantic yelling into walkie talkies while they attempted to clear and secure the area in a moment of pure chaos. However, nothing happened. All that worry for naught.
Da Mandalorians
Once inside the convention center, WOW. This post is picture heavy, because it was a spectacle. Need a tattoo of the Rebel Alliance symbol? Head over to the Tattoo Pavilion like Princes Leia (below).
Are you proud and want to let it show? Then get your pink Darth Vader armor polished up (below).
By 2 p.m. our kid needed food. She was STARVING! I was hoping all that Easter candy would've held off the hunger, but it was time to spend $35 on a hamburger, fries, fruit and nachos. After we collected our food we searched for a table. Surprisingly, we found three empty chairs next to a woman, who we had seen earlier upon our arrival. She was dressed as Princess Leia and holding a small dog. As we ate our food, I decided to engage in conversation and learned all about Julie and her emotional support animal, Toto.
Julie and Toto had made their pilgrimage from Los Angeles to Chicago to exclusively attend SWCC. Apparently, Toto wanted to attend the convention and Julie does what Toto wants. Son of Sam, anyone? According to Julie, George Lucas and Disney both really think she does a fantastic job looking like Princess Leia.
After lunch, my wife and daughter found a craft project that involved building a small section of a large modular diorama. While they painted and glued shrubs and stormtroopers to their square foot of Scarif beach, I explored the show on my own. I studied the new LEGO Star Wars sets up close as well as the new action figures revealed by Hasbro. I'm a sucker for Boba Fett figures. I located the official SWCC store with the mashup merchandise of Chicago stereotypes and Star Wars characters to purchase on our way out. I was hunting for photographs to make, too. It was like I was working for the paper again and it felt fun again... and eventually I saw this (below) and I knew I had gotten what I needed for the day. I was only recently introduced to the world of Deadpool and I must say, if you haven't exposed yourself to it, then I recommend you should.
I hit the wall by 5:30 and my foot/leg were toast. I checked the "Health" application on my phone and I had walked over four miles for the day. When I look back on how much I've struggled since my accident, it's pretty incredible to go that long and that far now. I really don't believe I would've been able to enjoy yesterday nearly as much if I didn't have the DRG stimulator. It has been eight weeks since the surgery and I must say that I'm satisfied with the pain relief that I've experienced so far.
Are you proud and want to let it show? Then get your pink Darth Vader armor polished up (below).
By 2 p.m. our kid needed food. She was STARVING! I was hoping all that Easter candy would've held off the hunger, but it was time to spend $35 on a hamburger, fries, fruit and nachos. After we collected our food we searched for a table. Surprisingly, we found three empty chairs next to a woman, who we had seen earlier upon our arrival. She was dressed as Princess Leia and holding a small dog. As we ate our food, I decided to engage in conversation and learned all about Julie and her emotional support animal, Toto.
Julie and Toto had made their pilgrimage from Los Angeles to Chicago to exclusively attend SWCC. Apparently, Toto wanted to attend the convention and Julie does what Toto wants. Son of Sam, anyone? According to Julie, George Lucas and Disney both really think she does a fantastic job looking like Princess Leia.
After lunch, my wife and daughter found a craft project that involved building a small section of a large modular diorama. While they painted and glued shrubs and stormtroopers to their square foot of Scarif beach, I explored the show on my own. I studied the new LEGO Star Wars sets up close as well as the new action figures revealed by Hasbro. I'm a sucker for Boba Fett figures. I located the official SWCC store with the mashup merchandise of Chicago stereotypes and Star Wars characters to purchase on our way out. I was hunting for photographs to make, too. It was like I was working for the paper again and it felt fun again... and eventually I saw this (below) and I knew I had gotten what I needed for the day. I was only recently introduced to the world of Deadpool and I must say, if you haven't exposed yourself to it, then I recommend you should.
I hit the wall by 5:30 and my foot/leg were toast. I checked the "Health" application on my phone and I had walked over four miles for the day. When I look back on how much I've struggled since my accident, it's pretty incredible to go that long and that far now. I really don't believe I would've been able to enjoy yesterday nearly as much if I didn't have the DRG stimulator. It has been eight weeks since the surgery and I must say that I'm satisfied with the pain relief that I've experienced so far.
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