FWA 2026: The Week Before
After both weeks of waiting and me starting to wait, it was finally a week before the con, although we had started counting down starting from a month, and like two weeks before we had sent each other songs to count down the days, like eleven days prior, we sent both 11:11 and Eleven (by Primus), a week before we sent Seven (by Sunny Day Real Estate) and One Week (by Barenaked Ladies), etc. etc. But also we had gotten some extra things to prepare, and both of us also went to the mall so we could pick up some more things, mainly in regards to getting some extra clothes we could dress in for the event, while I also bought some things like some food and drinks for us to have while we were in our rooms or something. That day actually ended up being basically a whole shopping trip (which I hadn't done since I moved back home, last time I did that was back in November), went to the mall, Sam's Club (even if I didn't buy anything besides getting a pizza :P), BJs (yes, that's a real store, look it up), Walmart, etc. etc., and got some food too at a Japanese place before I went home, it was actually Cinco De Mayo that day and I didn't even realize it until I had noticed a big line forming outside a Mexican place in the mall. But to get back on topic, I was actually teased later that day when I got an email from FWA itself talking about how the con was only a few days away, telling us info ahead of time, which only got me and Oscar MORE excited to go.
Though both of us ran into an issue neither of us were expecting only a few days before, that being our parents getting worried/antsy about us meeting, as neither of our parents had seen us or really knew we existed, so they wanted to both call each other and tell us some info about them so that they knew we weren't gonna kill each other or do anything crazy or whatnot, so I had my dad and Oscar on the line so he could trust him (which worked, thankfully, he got his number too), while Oscar's mom had called me to make sure I was trustworthy too (which she called while I was on the way up to Atlanta on the day of the con, funnily). We're both adults with freewill and ability to make our own decisions so it's not like they would've prevented us from going in the first place, but it's still something kinda funny that happened. The day before the con I had to work which was lame, but I just did it anyways and went to work and did my job. Though I took the chance to do some literal last minute shopping since I left a bit early for work, stopping by Spencer's again since it was close to my job to pick up one last thing for my suit, along with stopping by somewhere else to pick up a gift for Oscar. Once I got home I packed up everything I was bringing (my suit and stuff for it, clothes, my laptop, grooming and dental stuff, etc. etc.), but could barely sleep because I was so excited, but eventually slept at a reasonable-ish time, and finally awoke...