I'm not entirely sure how to approach this post, but what else is new? At the moment, I'm sitting in a hotel room in The Battery Atlanta, only 3-4 blocks away from Truist Park where the Atlanta Braves are playing the Houston Astros in Game 5 of the World Series; a win and Atlanta will have won their first Major League Baseball championship since 1995. I'm here because I'm wrapping up my eighth year as a volunteer at Anime Weekend Atlanta--my fourteenth year as an attendee. And to be honest, it was really, really difficult for me. The work wasn't hard--it rarely ever is--but the toll that the countless hours spent walking throughout the unforgiving Dealers Room floor hit like a heavy object to my feet. Thursday was simple, we laid out some tape and waited to see if we could actually do anything; we couldn't. On the other hand, Friday made me feel like I wanted to never come to this convention again. By the end of my shift on Friday, I was just overwhelmed by the pain coming from my feet--so overwhelmed that I literally laid down at around 9 PM and did not get up until 10 AM the next day. I needed 12+ hours of doing nothing that required me to put any weight on my feet just for it to become bearable enough for me to walk on. This is probably the first con where I had to bow out before 8 PM each night because I just could not bear the pain. By the end of the con, and as I sit here watching the World Series in the comfort of my hotel room, I'm still questioning where I stand in regards to next year.
