Jackson invited me to attend Oddmall in Akron, which he described as a "Some kinda goblin mode lookin ass fair+zoo+cosplay+concert".
It's basically a state fair for nerds.
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We drove over together after meeting up at Jackson's house, and got some tarot bubble tea from the first stall we saw, then spent some time wandering the various outdoor stalls.
Some light rain started while we were waiting for our hotdog baskets, and so we ate while huddling under the eaves of the exhibition hall. There was a group handing out a petition to introduce a ballot initiative to protect reproductive rights, which both of us signed after we were done eating. We then proceeded through the main exhibition hall.
One of the booths was for a board game store in Akron, that had a lot of cool facilities for DnD / Warhammer 40k / etc. Apparently they even have a table with a built in TV for displaying dynamic game grids / tokens. It sounds really cool, and Jackson and I will hopefully get a chance to go at some point.
We met a guy dressed as a ghostbuster with a casual snake on his shoulders, who told us there was a mini zoo where you could hold snakes, so Jackson and I set out to find the snake location.
We wandered for a bit trying to find it, but then it turned out the booth was right outside the exhibition hall we had passed initially.
It turned out there was multiple booths with snakes, and we also encountered another random person that also had a snake, and was letting people hold it.
I bought some Zucchini bread and we headed home.