It sucked.

We had a meeting scheduled with a couple of editors at DC.  Nothing earth-shaking, but we have an idea we think they'll like and we were also going to talk about where we can focus our pitching and our efforts to best be able to get more work and do more for DC.  It was a noon meeting.

So to make sure that we were able to have breakfast, then do the (usually) 2 hour drive to San Diego and get here with plenty of time, we woke up this morning at 6, were out the door at 7, and had filled the gas tank, gotten breakfast and made it onto the freeway ten minutes before 8.

We cruised along for an hour, having about 50 miles to go at 10 minutes to 9.  Absolutely perfect, so perfect we hoped we'd get there early enough to pick up our badges before the meeting and still have some time to spare.

Yeah, right.

Because that was when all traffic came to a halt.  We'd seen a couple of warnings earlier - traffic accident at Los Pulgas.  That was all it said.  So we figured it might delay us for a 1/2 hour and we'd still have plenty of time to spare.  But when we finally got to the traffic we realized just how massive an understatement the warning was.

Calling it a "traffic accident" was a bit like calling the Civil War a "domestic dispute."

It took us 4 1/2 hours to cover the next 10 miles.  No joke.

There were no exits between when the slowdown started and the site of the accident.  So we couldn't even exit, get on the freeway going back North, and find an alternate route.

We just had to sit and wait.

And not be able to use the bathroom.  Or get a drink of water.

Our new (well, new for us, we bought it used) car has an external temperature sensor that displays on the dashboard.  When moving along briskly, the temp was always between 70 and 78 degrees.  When crawling along at 1-3 miles per hour, it was between 105-115.  I'm sure a lot of that was heat being absorbed by and given off by the freeway.  But it was also about that time that the sun (previously hidden behind some clouds) started to blaze.  I now have one arm (my window arm) that is red like the St. Louis baseball uniform caps.

So we had to reschedule that meeting.  Luckily, we'll still get to meet the editors, but they're only available at a time we were going to sign at Seven Seas on Sunday morning.  Then, we were stuck in traffic so long after that, we had to cancel our 1:30 signing at Oni.

So our busy day, the day that was going to kick off a nice and busy con, started with a 6 hour drive, and two canceled appointments.

Then, when we finally get to the accident that basically shut down the Interstate - an accident we'd been cursing about, because it apparently happened at 5am and hadn't been cleared at 2pm - we see just how horrific it must have been.  A truck jack-knifed and absolutely crushed a minivan.  Both had clearly burst into flames, and the truck looked to have exploded.  The foliage on the side of the 5 had been scorched away.  There was no way anyone in the accident could have survived, at least not from what we saw (we haven't had the courage to look it up and see if anyone did).  We felt so petty that we'd been so cranky.

But guilt doesn't make the bad mood from crankiness go away.  It just makes it a different kind of bad mood.

Then we get to the hotel, and due to a screwup of my own making, wind up paying $25 more per night than we'd originally planned.  Not a big deal, but just a nice little screw-you from the vacation gods.

We went to the Seven Seas booth to give a very cool gift to Jason DeAngelis.  It was a gift we put together last night while packing, and we were pretty psyched to get it to him.  When first we stopped by he was in a meeting.  The next two times we stopped by, he wasn't there.  And the fourth time... another meeting.

Now, just like the $25 a day, us not getting him his gift is hardly a major crisis, but it was just another disappointment in a day full of them.

The other thing about today is that it was CROWDED.  The con usually is.  But Thursday tends to be the light day.  Today it felt like a Saturday in there.  Neither Christie nor I are particularly good with large crowds.  When we're enjoying the con, the large groups of people getting in our way, shoving us, and living in their own little bubbles vaguely annoy us and the annoyance builds until the end of the day when we are mercifully able to go back to the hotel.  But when we've had a bad day already, it's like we need to leave the minute we set foot in there.  "Oh, nice costume.  Now die, please."

And then, we finally do our only signing of the day - what would have been our second Oni signing.  A couple of friends stopped by, which was cool, but until 3 minutes before we left, no one came to get anything signed.  When you spend an hour and a half at a signing and get one person who wants you to sign, it's depressing.  When she doesn't even buy your book but just has you sign her autograph book (and I'm still not sure she knew who we were), it's all the moreso.

Sigh.

To top it all off, something I ate did not sit right, so we missed out on a big Oni dinner tonight.  Lots of writers and artists who we're friends with, who we only get to see once a year, all treated to dinner by Oni and Oni's film producer partner.  I'm not great with 25 people dinners, but it was something I would have wanted to do nonetheless, because if you get in the right seat, you can focus on a couple of people, have a good time, and get a little time in with everyone else.  But when your stomach hurts, that's a sure ticket to sitting in the corner, talking to no one and ruining the night for your wife.  So we (wisely, I think, but still unfortunately) opted out.

So now we're in our hotel room, hiding from the world.

I want a do-over.

I hope to get one tomorrow.