A day late for April Fool's Day, MDCon is hitting the wall. Gunner5, the organizer and founder of MDCon upon their return from the SoCal event on the 19th of February has had 3 days off of work. Barely getting the reivews up every Monday that the community submits. Hanging on by mere threads.
So, today I get in the car and drive 1,600 miles one way to MDCon East. I plan on hitting the Wall tomorrow about 6pm. This Wall is in New Jersey however, and as Jim Morrison put it, I intend to "Break On Through To The Other Side...."
Hosted by VCF East which MDCon is a proud sponsor of!
Three tables of gear, some items of interest to MiniDisc Enthusiasts for sale, and free MDCon Swag if you bring in some MD Gear for show and tell to HexaPunK and I (While Supplies Last)
Hope to see you there!
Comments1
Well, The Wall Hit Back!
I would like to inform the community that Wall, NJ almost broke me!
I intended to drive from DFW, TX straight through to Wall, NJ leaving Wednesday at Noon, prior to the event and arriving Thursday to the Hotel. I was delayed a few hours as I discovered a low tire and took it in for repair. The tire couldn't be repaired, and since the Subaru is AWD, 4 new tires were needed. As I waited, I walked down the street in search of food. I found a non-chain sub sandwich shop and gave it a go. Selecting their most popular menu items.
Somewhere around Texarkana, I picked up the thunderstorms running NE from Texarkana to Memphis. I went in and out of them until my arrival at about 10:30 pm in Memphis. Then my path took me from Memphis to Nashville. From 10:30 pm Wednesday until 4:00 am I drove through some of the worst weather I have ever encountered. Watching the weather map on my pedestal mounted iPad as I went. Auto-Pilot lane assistance in the Subaru gave up just outside of Memphis and didn't come back until I broke through on the other side of Nashville.
The journey from Memphis to Nashville was harrowing. I was under severe weather alerts and tornado watches most of the way riding the front line of the storms, threading the red bits on radar as I went. Only a few trucks joined me on the highway that night. Everyone else finding a safe place to ride it out.
About 1 hour outside of Nashville, the worst of it began. I have a personal cell phone and a work one. The Tornado Warning were going off frequently and not simultaneously between the phones elevating my anxiety. "Get into the ditch if you are driving" they said. Thinking of laying in a ditch watching my MD Collection go into the sky was not something I wanted to see so I pushed on. Life is about choices, you make yours, I'll make mine. 10 people died that night from the storms along my journey from Memphis to Nashville I learned the next morning from the radio reports.
After I broke through to dry roads and in the clear outside Nashville on my way to Knoxville, something felt odd. I wasn't sure at first, but then the overwhelming urge to get off the highway, and fast, came over me. At the gas station just off the interstate, I had violent nausea. Food Poisoning from the sandwich the day before. This trip was indeed going to be a tough one.
The journey from wherever that was 30 minutes outside of Nashville to Aberdeen, MD I don't remember. I remember using Hotel Tonight to get the closest hotel to my location around 8pm, booking arriving 1.2 miles away and checking in at just after 8pm. The next thing I remember was being asleep in bed, someone banging on the door asking if I meant to stay another night. Half-conscious, I asked what time is check-out. "Eleven" they responded. "What time is now" in a barely constructed sentence. "10:30" they responded. I told them I would be out by 11am.
The drive from Aberdeen to Wall, NJ was a struggle. But I made it. I arrived before my associates and started unpacking the vehicle bringing boxes in. What took 10 minutes to load up took over 30 to unload, taking long breaks in between each load.
My associates arrived and I explained my situation and they asked how they could help. They then began the unboxing and setup of the display. They took over the show from here to the end. I sat at the end of the table with my head in my hands for two days. Rising only a few times, I was asked for an interview by some online media organization. If you should find it, I felt 10% above death, that was an Oscar level performance for me.
I was assisted by my associates for the boxing and load out to my vehicle. And then set upon my journey home. I took 3 days to reach home. I worked Thursday. On Friday I went to the emergency room as I was not improving. All my hopes for finding a reason for feeling like I had aged 30 years went out the window when they said they couldn't find any cause after a full blood workup, EKG and Full CT Scan.
I went home and pondered my situation. If this was to be the new normal, things would have to change. I had always expected the physical limitations to come on gradually with age, not all at once! The UK show was likely not going to happen as I could not handle the 'Turn and Burn' that it required, and the 2025 Dallas, TX show would be the last show.
Three weeks later, I was reset and spun back up! UK went off without a hitch! The final planning for Dallas, TX was attacked with gusto. It was a near miss! I almost walked away.