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Conblargh >_o;
Aug. 25th, 2003 07:11 pmRighto, said I'd do a con report of sorts, so here 'tis, before I get too busy and distracted this week. Going to try to be brief (Edit: Experiment...failed.), since it was a short con, and since I really shouldn't babble as I often tend to. ^^;
Anyhoo. Trip out was decent (I drove), and back was faster than expected. The hotel got us the right room for the right rate, so that was cool. And though we never got any sort of registration confirmation (and the staff never answered my emails asking about that), we got our weekend registrations no problem. James got to do Amptguard with a Cedar Rapids group, so at least he found something there that interested him.
People: As I mentioned, the best thing about a con is the people. It was awesome to see Hawke and Lemming again, and I just am bummed that it was for such a short, short time. Dammit, I never arrange that right. *sighs* Was also fun to see the Hawke-nieces and their friends--they amuse me very much. ^_^ Even got to see our old buds Cath and Brian, though this being their home con, they were too busy to hang out much. And our group barely had to see, much less deal with, the Omaha-Katherine, which is just the way I wanted it. : ) Nice to not have last year's drama. And ran into Nessie again (the one that reminds me of Nix), though we didn't get to dance with her again. And ran into a lot of neat people..and some...different ones. *coughs* You know how it is at cons. ^^; There were even a few bishouneny types--and the pair that was taking bribes to do shounen ai type things with each other amused the hell out of me, and seemed very popular. Heh. Anyway, *extrahugs* to Hawke and Lemming, and so sorry to hear about how horrid your trip back went. * flails* And thank you again, Lemm, for the present (and to Hawke, for those tapes)! ^___^ *loves*
Panels: I only attended two, but they were good ones--one called "Culture Shock" (a discussion of the differences between Japanese and US anime/manga fandoms), and one about Japanese TV. Both were run by a guy named Evan, I believe, who is currently living and working in Japan. He was a really amusing and fun person to listen to. We missed the Azumanga Daioh panel ( T_T ) because they scheduled it at 3:30pm on Sunday, and we needed to leave. Eh.
Food Poisoning: *coughs* Well, seems this blasted my Friday evening. *wince* I was having a ton of fun hanging out with Hawke, Lemming, nieces&company, when I started feeling rather wretched. Ended up crashing in bed for hours, sleeping and alternating between sweating and shivering with chills. >p The rest of my group was rather concerned, to say the least. Damn you, roadside Taco Bell. Luckily, though I felt shaky the next am, I felt better, and had my strength/energy come back as time went on.
Dealers Room: I was tempted to call this disappointing, but we all did spend our money quite nicely, so I guess it worked. ^^;; The cel selection was *pathetic*, though--Anime Asylum didn't even bring their books, just a milk crate of crappy discount cels (and I *like* discount cels); and the other place with cels had no sketches, and no cels I wanted, not even in the CCS book. I did, however, find a PoT PSOne game (I just happen to have the gadget that lets me play import games ^^ ), four nice djs (including one ZukaFuji one that received *cough* rave reviews from Hawke's nieces&co *grins*), a handful of PoT manga, two PoT puzzles, a soft-sided PoT pencil case that I think I'll use to carry my iPod stuff in, a PoT shitajiki (are we noticing a theme here...? >_<;; ), and the first PoT OST. *ahem* #-_-# On the *not* PoT front, I found a couple Digicharat keychains (one of which is the Puchiko I need to hang from my rearview mirror), some snacks, a Gluhen Ken can badge pin, a mini comic put out by a small local webcomic-artist, and an Ichiro Japanese toy for my mother (Ichiro is a player for the Seattle Mariners, and Mom's a fan...). So, got Mom's birthday money more than spent. Kelly and Anj spent a bunch, too. James...bought one fifteen-buck Nakururu figure. He does *not* understand the concept of a dealers' room, IMO. *rolls eyes*
Con Suite: AI, for their problems, does one of the best con suites I've seen. Tons and tons of snacks, soda, bagels and donuts for breakfast (and even pancakes on Saturday am, I heard). And Saturday lunch they did okonomiyaki, which I adored. : ) They always do this well.
Costumes: There were a lot there, as usual, some really well done. I got almost one roll of pictures, which I should develop when I develop the AX ones. *coughs, winces*
Anime: For once, I spent time in the video rooms. : ) This was a happy thing. Detective Academy Q is a really fun show (with just a hint of Scooby Doo cheese ^^ ). Kokoro Library is sweet-cute-adorable. And that's not just because I work in a library. Tokyo Mew Mew is...odd. Like Sailor Moon meets Sakura meets Rayearth meets...eh, you get the picture. Get Backers...IS TEH LOVE. I have 1-28 here, and need to make sure that's all of it, or get the rest. BAN-GINJI LOVE! >D Yeyessssss. GTO is as much fun as Nix said it was (and I'm told I really need to see the GTO live action that Sue sent me ages ago). And as always, I love Kodomo no Omocha. I'm also remembering I need to talk to Hawke about getting RahXEphon. Looks danged cool.
Pinata Smash: Was amusing to watch. Some idiot had used duct tape on the kid's one, with predictable results. >_< But there's something special about kids smacking at something with a tire iron (when the wooden stick wasn't enough). The tiny toddler dressed as Sumomo *stole* the show. Yes, I have pics of her. ^^; The adults demolished a Luna-P thing. It was satisfying.
AMVs/Cosplay: The worst disappointment of the whole con, and what pisses me off at AI the most. First, they blew the original scheduling of the AMVs for 10:30am on Saturday, changing it to after the pinata smash--which should have gone until 6:15pm but lasted until...past 7:15pm, I think? Then, the AMVs they showed were just utter, utter *crap*. There eventually were a couple good ones...but then Dude! Time for the Cosplay, so clear out so we can use this for the simulcast overflow room! *blinks* Ho-e? To clarify--they had not shown all the AMVs entered in the alleged contest. They just...stopped. And shoved us out of the room. So that meant the AMVs were screwed, and since it ran late, we had no way to get into the huge lines for the Cosplay or simulcast rooms, and they didn't let those of us who'd been in the room for a couple hours already stay there...so, they screwed us on the AMVs, then doubly screwed us on seeing any Cosplay whatsoever. Fuck. You. AI. Turns out, they finished showing the AMVs on Sunday morning, during the art auction--with *no* announcement, posting of flyers, or warning what-so-ever. Fuck. You. Again. AI.
Dance: Well...after the AMV/Cosplay mess, we were upset. So I said, "Let's go to Bennigans!" And let me tell you, Bennigans is heaven-on-a-plate. But we overate, even with splitting portions, to the point of pain. So we thought we'd rest when we got back. After hours, Anj was still in overeating-pain and I...I was asleep. Out totally. I vaguely woke up in the early hours of the am to toss off my shoes and get under the covers. So...we blew the dance. Dammit. ><
Art Show/Auction: AI has a surprisingly good art show for a small con. Kitsune's and Brian Stump's pieces were the real stars, though, and were most heavily fought over in the auction. James and I successfully bid on one of Brian's poster-sized cel reproductions, of the girls from Azumanga Daioh. I cried at the other of Brian's pieces that I just couldn't get--like the Parn/Deedlit (from RoLW) in winter scene. But he really scored big, price-wise--he had a poster-sized piece of Chii from Chobits go for over two-hundred, and this huge thing he did of the three winged Ah!Megami-sama goddesses (on plexiglass, since it can go bigger than acetate)...went for four-hundred. Oh. My. God. *cries* I wanted it so badly, but there was so no way. There were huge delays in picking up the pieces after the art auction, which meant we had no chance to hit the rest of the AMVs, even when we did hear about them. *rolls eyes*
General: I've recommended AI highly in the past, but it really is growing too fast for the current facilities and staff to handle it, and the growing pains really show. This was the most disorganized and sloppy I've seen them--and the most snarky I've seen their staff. They had more scheduling problems, more equiptment problems, more fire code problems *coughs* than I've ever seen. They did do *one* good thing, when they started strictly regulating how many people were in the Dealer's Room (which alleviated the horrid crush experienced on Friday). But, to be honest, if they do not get bigger facilities, and work out their growing pains by next year, I will wait before going back--maybe in a couple-three years, if they get their acts together.
So, there it is. Yeesh, I took too long on that--gotta go grab dinner stuffs. But at least we're settling back in ok, which I guess is no surprise since it's just a weekend trip. It does feel weird, very weird to be in a class again, though we don't dig into anything real until tomorrow. *frets* So attending class feels weird, shifting my work schedule around feels weird, working later than usual feels wierd, the new Documents desk and my new schedule on that feels weird...eh, what can I say? It's going to take a bit before I feel things are 'normal', such as that is. If someone would just stop annoying the heck out of me in the meantime... *rolls eyes*
One last thought: I got the InuKai doujinshi that were my share from Kea's Box Of Boink. TEH LOVE!!!! *hugs her doujinshi in glee* I just can't get enough InuKai stuff. Seriously, I can't. I mean, seriously seriously. *sparkles and drools at the same time* Tehhhhh Loooooooooveeee. Ye-yessss.
Anyway. There it be. Right. Vaguely hungry. *nods*
Anyhoo. Trip out was decent (I drove), and back was faster than expected. The hotel got us the right room for the right rate, so that was cool. And though we never got any sort of registration confirmation (and the staff never answered my emails asking about that), we got our weekend registrations no problem. James got to do Amptguard with a Cedar Rapids group, so at least he found something there that interested him.
People: As I mentioned, the best thing about a con is the people. It was awesome to see Hawke and Lemming again, and I just am bummed that it was for such a short, short time. Dammit, I never arrange that right. *sighs* Was also fun to see the Hawke-nieces and their friends--they amuse me very much. ^_^ Even got to see our old buds Cath and Brian, though this being their home con, they were too busy to hang out much. And our group barely had to see, much less deal with, the Omaha-Katherine, which is just the way I wanted it. : ) Nice to not have last year's drama. And ran into Nessie again (the one that reminds me of Nix), though we didn't get to dance with her again. And ran into a lot of neat people..and some...different ones. *coughs* You know how it is at cons. ^^; There were even a few bishouneny types--and the pair that was taking bribes to do shounen ai type things with each other amused the hell out of me, and seemed very popular. Heh. Anyway, *extrahugs* to Hawke and Lemming, and so sorry to hear about how horrid your trip back went. * flails* And thank you again, Lemm, for the present (and to Hawke, for those tapes)! ^___^ *loves*
Panels: I only attended two, but they were good ones--one called "Culture Shock" (a discussion of the differences between Japanese and US anime/manga fandoms), and one about Japanese TV. Both were run by a guy named Evan, I believe, who is currently living and working in Japan. He was a really amusing and fun person to listen to. We missed the Azumanga Daioh panel ( T_T ) because they scheduled it at 3:30pm on Sunday, and we needed to leave. Eh.
Food Poisoning: *coughs* Well, seems this blasted my Friday evening. *wince* I was having a ton of fun hanging out with Hawke, Lemming, nieces&company, when I started feeling rather wretched. Ended up crashing in bed for hours, sleeping and alternating between sweating and shivering with chills. >p The rest of my group was rather concerned, to say the least. Damn you, roadside Taco Bell. Luckily, though I felt shaky the next am, I felt better, and had my strength/energy come back as time went on.
Dealers Room: I was tempted to call this disappointing, but we all did spend our money quite nicely, so I guess it worked. ^^;; The cel selection was *pathetic*, though--Anime Asylum didn't even bring their books, just a milk crate of crappy discount cels (and I *like* discount cels); and the other place with cels had no sketches, and no cels I wanted, not even in the CCS book. I did, however, find a PoT PSOne game (I just happen to have the gadget that lets me play import games ^^ ), four nice djs (including one ZukaFuji one that received *cough* rave reviews from Hawke's nieces&co *grins*), a handful of PoT manga, two PoT puzzles, a soft-sided PoT pencil case that I think I'll use to carry my iPod stuff in, a PoT shitajiki (are we noticing a theme here...? >_<;; ), and the first PoT OST. *ahem* #-_-# On the *not* PoT front, I found a couple Digicharat keychains (one of which is the Puchiko I need to hang from my rearview mirror), some snacks, a Gluhen Ken can badge pin, a mini comic put out by a small local webcomic-artist, and an Ichiro Japanese toy for my mother (Ichiro is a player for the Seattle Mariners, and Mom's a fan...). So, got Mom's birthday money more than spent. Kelly and Anj spent a bunch, too. James...bought one fifteen-buck Nakururu figure. He does *not* understand the concept of a dealers' room, IMO. *rolls eyes*
Con Suite: AI, for their problems, does one of the best con suites I've seen. Tons and tons of snacks, soda, bagels and donuts for breakfast (and even pancakes on Saturday am, I heard). And Saturday lunch they did okonomiyaki, which I adored. : ) They always do this well.
Costumes: There were a lot there, as usual, some really well done. I got almost one roll of pictures, which I should develop when I develop the AX ones. *coughs, winces*
Anime: For once, I spent time in the video rooms. : ) This was a happy thing. Detective Academy Q is a really fun show (with just a hint of Scooby Doo cheese ^^ ). Kokoro Library is sweet-cute-adorable. And that's not just because I work in a library. Tokyo Mew Mew is...odd. Like Sailor Moon meets Sakura meets Rayearth meets...eh, you get the picture. Get Backers...IS TEH LOVE. I have 1-28 here, and need to make sure that's all of it, or get the rest. BAN-GINJI LOVE! >D Yeyessssss. GTO is as much fun as Nix said it was (and I'm told I really need to see the GTO live action that Sue sent me ages ago). And as always, I love Kodomo no Omocha. I'm also remembering I need to talk to Hawke about getting RahXEphon. Looks danged cool.
Pinata Smash: Was amusing to watch. Some idiot had used duct tape on the kid's one, with predictable results. >_< But there's something special about kids smacking at something with a tire iron (when the wooden stick wasn't enough). The tiny toddler dressed as Sumomo *stole* the show. Yes, I have pics of her. ^^; The adults demolished a Luna-P thing. It was satisfying.
AMVs/Cosplay: The worst disappointment of the whole con, and what pisses me off at AI the most. First, they blew the original scheduling of the AMVs for 10:30am on Saturday, changing it to after the pinata smash--which should have gone until 6:15pm but lasted until...past 7:15pm, I think? Then, the AMVs they showed were just utter, utter *crap*. There eventually were a couple good ones...but then Dude! Time for the Cosplay, so clear out so we can use this for the simulcast overflow room! *blinks* Ho-e? To clarify--they had not shown all the AMVs entered in the alleged contest. They just...stopped. And shoved us out of the room. So that meant the AMVs were screwed, and since it ran late, we had no way to get into the huge lines for the Cosplay or simulcast rooms, and they didn't let those of us who'd been in the room for a couple hours already stay there...so, they screwed us on the AMVs, then doubly screwed us on seeing any Cosplay whatsoever. Fuck. You. AI. Turns out, they finished showing the AMVs on Sunday morning, during the art auction--with *no* announcement, posting of flyers, or warning what-so-ever. Fuck. You. Again. AI.
Dance: Well...after the AMV/Cosplay mess, we were upset. So I said, "Let's go to Bennigans!" And let me tell you, Bennigans is heaven-on-a-plate. But we overate, even with splitting portions, to the point of pain. So we thought we'd rest when we got back. After hours, Anj was still in overeating-pain and I...I was asleep. Out totally. I vaguely woke up in the early hours of the am to toss off my shoes and get under the covers. So...we blew the dance. Dammit. ><
Art Show/Auction: AI has a surprisingly good art show for a small con. Kitsune's and Brian Stump's pieces were the real stars, though, and were most heavily fought over in the auction. James and I successfully bid on one of Brian's poster-sized cel reproductions, of the girls from Azumanga Daioh. I cried at the other of Brian's pieces that I just couldn't get--like the Parn/Deedlit (from RoLW) in winter scene. But he really scored big, price-wise--he had a poster-sized piece of Chii from Chobits go for over two-hundred, and this huge thing he did of the three winged Ah!Megami-sama goddesses (on plexiglass, since it can go bigger than acetate)...went for four-hundred. Oh. My. God. *cries* I wanted it so badly, but there was so no way. There were huge delays in picking up the pieces after the art auction, which meant we had no chance to hit the rest of the AMVs, even when we did hear about them. *rolls eyes*
General: I've recommended AI highly in the past, but it really is growing too fast for the current facilities and staff to handle it, and the growing pains really show. This was the most disorganized and sloppy I've seen them--and the most snarky I've seen their staff. They had more scheduling problems, more equiptment problems, more fire code problems *coughs* than I've ever seen. They did do *one* good thing, when they started strictly regulating how many people were in the Dealer's Room (which alleviated the horrid crush experienced on Friday). But, to be honest, if they do not get bigger facilities, and work out their growing pains by next year, I will wait before going back--maybe in a couple-three years, if they get their acts together.
So, there it is. Yeesh, I took too long on that--gotta go grab dinner stuffs. But at least we're settling back in ok, which I guess is no surprise since it's just a weekend trip. It does feel weird, very weird to be in a class again, though we don't dig into anything real until tomorrow. *frets* So attending class feels weird, shifting my work schedule around feels weird, working later than usual feels wierd, the new Documents desk and my new schedule on that feels weird...eh, what can I say? It's going to take a bit before I feel things are 'normal', such as that is. If someone would just stop annoying the heck out of me in the meantime... *rolls eyes*
One last thought: I got the InuKai doujinshi that were my share from Kea's Box Of Boink. TEH LOVE!!!! *hugs her doujinshi in glee* I just can't get enough InuKai stuff. Seriously, I can't. I mean, seriously seriously. *sparkles and drools at the same time* Tehhhhh Loooooooooveeee. Ye-yessss.
Anyway. There it be. Right. Vaguely hungry. *nods*
