Matthew's Kumoricon 2022 Report: Part 6 - Day Four & Epilogue

 

Thank goodness we were able to see Nate off over at PDX since we were able to re-park the car in valet ahead of our 11am checkout. We said our final good-byes and dropped him off as we headed back towards the hotel to do our final sweep of the room.

The room cleaned out except for my luggage and trash

For a moment I thought check out was at noon and not 11am but when I realized it was at 11am we didn't need to do much and were out in time with everything packed and extra food stowed away for the train ride home. The latest I need to be at Portland Union Station check in my luggage was 1pm, so Levi, Dalton, and I hit up a couple of places and grab some lunch before ultimately deciding that it would be better if they would drop me off around noon and I could go chill in the Metropolitan Lounge over at the train station and give them ample time to drive back home before it got dark.

Habaneros Mexican Food Portland

Gated entry onto the platform

The really nice thing about this lounge for Business Class and Sleeper Cars was that there was a separate room to store your carry-on baggage, which gave me a chance to walk around Portland on a cozy Monday afternoon. I found myself crossing over the tracks and towards McCormick Pier on the banks of the Willamette River with views of the Steel Bridge and the Oregon Convention Center in the background.

It was here on these banks I thought "maybe I could live here in Portland if it was in the area that we were at for this convention and not the area near Quarterworld."

Boarding the Coast Starlight going south

When I was going up north to Portland I had a passenger next to me, but this time around I had two seats all to myself which I took full advantage of to relax as I started to draft up my notes for this report. Then out of my AirPods I hear that they're taking reservations for dinner service with Business Class passengers and did double take when the person taking the reservations passed me again, which then I said "5:30pm."

Flank steak

The last open air stop in Klamath Falls

Daybreak in Northern California

By 6:40am, I was back home in Sacramento and soon after I was back home in my own bed passed out from attending this convention.

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There was point when I was walking back towards the hotel from the convention center for the final time but before I went inside I sat on the curb on Holladay and started listening to Flume's "Jasper's Song" then pulled out RADWIMP's "Nandemonaiya" from Your Name as I let all of my emotions flow out of me.

No matter who you were - someone who worked the Gunpla Lounge, Main Events, or a Discord mod - I thanked every single staffer that I saw as a sign of gratitude for their efforts for this convention as they had to weather various up and downs much like we did. I even took the tab on a staffer's order at the hotel on Day Three to show my appreciation.

As I mentioned in Part 4, there is an itch to staff next year's Kumoricon but there is a lot between now and November 17-19 of 2023 which could be a key factor seeing that this convention keeps moving closer and closer to Thanksgiving weekend due to the Oregon Convention Center and their calendar for 2023 - something for the most part that is out of their control. But it would be nice to have the opportunity to do so if everything works out in the next year. If I do staff, what would be of the team for the CCB for next year's Kumoricon? Could I play some manager role while at the convention? There's a lot of scenarios that could occur and I feel like the staff here would completely understand in potential flexibility. 

But for now, we close the book on another fantastic convention.

私のレポートを 読むためにありがとう。
Thank you for reading my report.

- Kumoricon 2022 Report End -