Back From A-Kon

Thursday I left at close to 1 am to go to a friend's house and spend the night so we could all leave for A-Kon. When Marcus picked me up, I found out the guy we had relied on and told us we had a room and had Marcus and Sean's tickets lied. So Marcus and Sean were ticketless and we were all roomless.

We got to A-Kon at about noon and went to sign in. Luckily I pre-registered on my own, so I got the pre-registered tag and a bag of goodies. Not to mention I only had to spend $32 for my three day pass. Marcus and Sean had to spend $50 a piece. Poor guys.

We were still roomless though. Sadly, we had to ask my brother if we can stay in his room. I hated that, but we were desperate. 7 people in this little room... Beds were taken, floor on either side and in front of the bed were taken. Marcus slept in the closet and I had to sleep in the floor between all the luggage and near the room door. I had no pillow or blanket and everyone else did. So now I have a cold and keep blowing my nose.

So it started out rocky, but it was so freakin great. I went straight into taking pictures. I used two roles of film on Friday alone.

Friday I dressed like Ginji while Marcus dressed like Ban. In the manga, those two carry around a large sign trying to get business. So we made that sign, and walked around with it. "Get Backers" isn't famous in America yet, so only the hardcore fans knew us. Everyone was looking at our sign though, and we actually got to Get Backer jobs. One girl lost a friend that we found and the other wanted a refund that they wouldn't give her. At least we did the first job.

Sadly, there is something called Yaoi. Yaoi is when to male characters from a series are turned into a gay couple by girl fans. Though they are not gay in the series, a lot of girls get off imagining two cute males from a series being lovers... So Ban and Ginji get that a lot, and this one girl freaked out when she saw us and asked for a picture. As we posed she asked us to hug. Marcus put his arm around my shoulder like a "guy-hug" thinking it is a pose from the manga. She asked us to get closer and lean... I knew what was going on, but Marcus didn't so he did what she asked... So now I am in a Yaoi photo... ::cries:: Good thing the Yaoi meeting of 25 girls didn't recognize us later that night when we were playing DDR right next to them...

Later that night, were three concerts. Psycho le cemu, Camino, and Do As Infinity. The first two I didn't care to see, so went of doing what ever. But DAI is a HUGE name in Japan and this would be their FIRST performance in America. I had to see it. I love their music. Sean and Marcus didn't really want to, but they had nothing else to do.

We went into the concert and they ROCK-SA-ROCKSED the hizz-ouse!!! Man they were great. One guy even screamed at the female lead singer he wanted to have her babies. I loved it all. Such greatness. Now Sean and Marcus want to get all their CDs cause they loved them that much.

I didn't get back to the room until 6 am, cause we had to wait till 5am to buy another ticket to stay parked in that parking lot we were at. Such crap... My brain was so dead, I kept falling asleep with my eyes open. IO was trying to watch a special screening of a new anime, but I would see one see, and then suddenly another seen and no idea what just went on. Looking at my watch I'd see 10 minutes past and I never closed my eyes... I didn't like that feeling.

So, when I woke up at 2 pm, I missed getting DAI and Nami Tamaki to sign an autograph. ::cries:: But the moment I woke up I took a shower and dressed as Vincent Valentine. I rock-sa-rocksed the house man. People loved my costume and my gun.

I saw 5 other Vincents, but two looked really trashy, one was a bad color and undetailed, and the others where just sloppy. Only one of them had a gun and it was a crappy little toy pistol. Mine was the truest to Vincent out of all of them, and I added a personal touch by putting tears of blood on my face. So many people gave me thumbs up and wanted pictures, and when I did poses with other Final Fantasy characters. This guy that worked at the GameStop booth was freaking out so bad he scared me. He loved how I looked and the detail and couldn't get over it.

This one girl came up and was like "Can I please have your picture?" Took it, gave me her card telling me to see her picture at this website then said, "Your costume is just the greatest." I felt so good. The one time I sat down, this girl came over and sat down then suddenly I saw a flash and she left. Apparently she was too nervous to ask me for a picture, so she sat next to me and her friend snuck a quick picture. Hehe.

Then there was the CosPlay Contest. 15 Skits that had some good ones then 58 cat-walk contestants. That was fun, but I wanted to see Half-Time. Nami Tamaki was to perform. She is a 16 year old JPop prinsess. I love her songs and she has two big ones that were theme songs to "Gundam Seed". And she was amazing. Not only cute, but she did dances with her back up dancers. Unlike Britany or Christina who makes it feel like they are all that matters and the back up dancers are only to make them look good, Nami's performance had a different feel. It was like they worked as a team and shared the spot light. Plus the dances were so great to watch and well done. I was so into it I didn't hear Marcus screaming my name.

By the way, Marcus was dressed as 1up Mushroom. Very original, and we couldn't go three steps all day with out 4 peopl asking for a picture. Hehe.

Then Psycho le cemu came back on for a second concert. I decided to see what they were like. They played some of their music videos while they got ready and those were some of the coolest music videos ever. I liked it so I watched the concert. They were cool and funny, and they sounded great. I wanted their CD now. Such wonderful concerts.

Also, I think I had a few magazine photographers take my picture. Some older guys with heavy camera equipment got my picture at different times. One looked like he was determined to get my picture cause we was power walking and cutting his way through the crowd quickly.

I hope I will be in a magazine and some WebSites. I think I will be on the biggest cosplay website too. If I am, I will post it here.

I also found a friend of mine from high school who moved a while back and I haven't heard from in a long time. So that was greatness right there.

Sunday, not important. Woke up, walked around a little, came home. No biggy. But I hadn't eaten from 9pm Thursday until 7:30 pm Sunday... And since I was walking nearly 72 hours straight I discovered I lost 10 POUNDS!!!! Woo! I look it too! I am so happy. I need to keep it off and loose more!!!

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