By Wilson
C2E2 is in the air. Time to rent my electric scooter and make a game plan that will mainly get tossed away during our time at the convention. There is so much going on that it is easy to get off of the best-planned schedule to get sucked into something you don’t know would happen, or you didn’t think would interest you.
If you didn’t read my past C2E2 based article, you should be warned. I have to rent a scooter because while I can walk, a physical condition (actually 2) won’t allow me to do the amount of walking that is done at a convention like C2E2. I could go cheaper and rent a wheelchair, but then you would have an angry Wilson at the convention. An angry Wilson is a little like the Hulk, “Hulk smash!” I still get angry in the scooter at the number of people who cut me off, stand in front of me knowing they are blocking me from seeing, moving, getting, or enjoying the convention but not as badly as in a wheelchair. You are helpless to move by yourself in a wheelchair. Plus there is always some well-meaning person that thinks being in a handicap scooter means I’m mentally disabled too. And don’t forget everyone is literary looking down on me.
I do have my revenge on some people, not purposely and sometimes purposely. It’s o.k. that I do it purposely, I was blessed by an anime cosplayer to do so. She explained her mother can’t walk and to have to stop suddenly because someone walked in front of her and stopped can jar the woman and cause her pain. It would also be hard if somehow her chair got damaged if she ran into them. I can get up, and walk away if need be.
I really don’t hit people on purpose; I let others think I do. I’m not kidding about the cosplayer blessing though; that true.
When you get down to the geeky science of scooters, they don’t have brakes. According to Newton’s First Law of Motion, “In an inertial frame of reference, an object either remains at rest or continues to move at a constant velocity, unless acted upon by a force.” (Wikipedia) ((yes, I source Wikipedia. Deal with it.)) So when I have stopped giving the scooter juice, gravity takes a little while to stop the scooter since it is in motion at the time and there are no brakes to help with deceleration. You should know this, they teach it in 5th grade.
In other words, if you are stupid enough to walk in front of a moving vehicle and stop, you are asking to get hit. Like I said, no brakes. Would you walk and stop in front of a bicycle, moving car, motorcycle, truck, train, or plane? You may cosplay Superman, but you are not him and your heels are going to hurt when you make me run into you.
Please remember that people in scooters and wheelchair are there to enjoy the convention too. With the scooter rental, I’m even paying more to be there than you. Over $50.00 more. Wheelchair rental is $15, but unless you can’t steer a scooter, that is the last choice for a physical handicap person. If it is hard for you to move around a packed convention, it’s extremely harder in a scooter or chair. If you don’t believe me, I dare you to try it for a day. Just remember to can’t leave your chair in the middle of an aisle and go to check out the deals for sale at a booth.
Don’t step in front of us as you see us going to a booth, don’t break us away from the people we are with, don’t run in front of us and stop, and don’t curse us out when you are stupid enough to have me hit your heels. I would rather be walking around the convention, like you. I’m not asking for anything special. I’m just asking for the same courtesy you give people on two legs instead of 4 wheels.
Don’t forget you don’t have heels of steel.
Wikipedia. 7 February 2018, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton%27s_laws_of_motion. 3 March 2018