HELLO ONCE AGAIN EVERYONE!!!

WE'RE BACK FROM WILDWOOD, SAFE AND SOUND!

This post is dedicated to everyone who showed up to the event! I'm happy you all made it, despite heavy traffic and parking being a fucking bitch! We were thankfully blessed with some nice (if a bit hot) sunny weather. This of course made walking on the boardwalk a breeze. My goal with this post is to give a recap of our visit and show off some photos.

But first, a confession.

While it was great being able to revive this event, it came with some trials and tribulations. From heavy traffic, a shady hotel, not so great parking, and a few coordination hiccups (some people sadly couldn't make it). Yeah, this was a lot harder than I'd thought it would be. So while the event was ultimately a success, it left me feeling quite drained at the end of it all. If I ever try to do something like this again, I'm gonna take extra precautions to avoid any unnecessary road bumps.

All this to say, I don't have a lot of pictures to share. I was so busy juggling this event, I forgot to take photos. Don't worry I have one group photo to show for it. And hey, the guys that showed up did have a few photos I can use (along with a few Google Image searches).

Alright, enough of that bummer news!

Lets get into it!

We started a bit late due to the heavy traffic on the way to Wildwood. But once I got checked into my hotel, it was smooth sailing. In total we got 5 participants, plus myself. So we were a 6 man party. We spent a good portion of that time just walking and shooting the shit. I of course made sure to give everyone in the group a Sue sticker. Its my calling card.

Had a lot of fun just getting to know everyone while we walked down the boardwalk in nice sunny weather. The clear blue sky and costal breeze was a nice touch. I knew going into this I would probably have to initiate the conversations to keep a good flow. Hey, it worked wonders.

At some point during our walk, we managed to find a restaurant called "The Original Hotspot #1". I hadn't eaten a damn thing for the entire day, so needless to say, I needed this spot to fill up and recharge. They had indoor seating which was nice and helped keep us out of the scorching heat.

Once we got our seats we talked about everything and nothing at all. Just the boys talking while we wait for our orders. I regaled the table with my wild ass stories of working night shifts at Dave n' Busters, and all the crazy characters I encountered along the way. This was the highlight of the event for me personally, as it was the moment I could just let go and enjoy the moment.

@EugeneDoesArt @RudeBoyEEEE @Agressively @aedis-syopeen @viviashes

@Chickumbleh is unfortunately missing from this photo. Rest in Peace. He had to leave early.

You like my aviators? Yeah, this is sadly the only group photo I managed to nab while in the moment. If I had just nabbed a few more photos. Oh well. I promise if you see me in person, I'm able to crack a smile. I was having issues keeping the phone still while the sun was glaring on the screen.

After our restaurant stop, we traveled further along the Boardwalk and came across this super tacky anime store. Its pictured below.

Once again, I sadly don't have many photos of the place, as I was busy trying to coordinate with people over the server. The boys told me what was in that store. A lot of bootleg merch. Honestly, I haven't been into anime since my mid college years. So authentic or not, it all looks like a bunch of Aura Farming crap (yeah, I went there).

After that pitstop, we walked further along the path and eventually found a Retro Arcade that had shit like House of the Dead, and a bunch of Pinball Machines. Real neat place.

Again, real sparse on images. The boys hung out here for about an hour, while I went on a wild goose chase, to see if I could get one more person in our group. That was a saga onto itself. If you ever wanna know how that went down, just DM me, and I'll tell you. needless to say it fucked with my schedule and I was unfortunately not able to do much at this arcade. But from what I gather, the group had a good time while I was gone.

We eventually ended the evening, by getting some Ice-cream at Kohr Bros. Pretty good stuff. The group was winding down, and they could tell I was beginning to lose my mojo from all the weight I'd been carrying that night. After our ice-cream chat, we made our way back to the parking lot and said our goodbyes.

Fun little story about that. The hotel room I booked had a shit ass door that needed to be fixed. The staff told me they would watch over my stuff while a mechanic was on his way. I wasn't too sure about their judgement. So before I left to meet the others, I took my Steam Deck with me, as it was the most valuable item I had on my person. @RudeBoyEEEE then offered to place my Steam Deck in his car, away from prying eyes. Thank you for that! My bags were thankfully safe when I got back to my room, and the door was fixed. What a shithole that place was! Never book Oceanic Hotels

In Conclusion:

Wildwood was a bit of a...wild ride. Since this was the first meetup I ever hosted (revived), I ended up learning a lot of valuable lessons. Personally, I feel like I'd really enjoy doing this again. Just not at Wildwood, and under different rules and circumstances. That probably won't happen for a while. But hey, I'm down to try again at something like this in the future.

As for the others, I hope if nothing else, they enjoyed their time at the boardwalk and got to have some new fond memories. Cuz in the end, that's what its all about.

Now, if you'll excuse me. I need to crash before doing more work on Sue n' Clark.