Well, we just got back from Sakura-con yesterday. If you've been reading this for a long while, you'll know that last year's experience at this con was...well...less than pleasant. After a TON of work getting costumes ready, I went into this with mixed feelings.

After three day of walking, waiting in long lines and recieving less than four hours of sleep each night, I don't think I've ever had so much fun in my life!

Friday morning, after getting lost trying to find our hotel (which was RIGHT ACROSS from the con), we arrived just in time for the opening ceremony. I was a bit annoyed that they didn't have a badge for me...there was another girl with my name registered for the con, and they only printed one badge! BAKA! I wouldn't have been so pissed about it, except they screwed up my badge last year too. In the end, I wound up with a hand-written one. =P

THe first thing we did was walk around and figure out where everything was...and we got stopped to take pictures. ^_^ It's fun to play recognizable characters. In fact, when we first got there a girl dressed as Ryuichi ran up and hugged my sis (dressed as Yaone.) People seemed to like my Yomiko Readman costume...I was glad. I got a few pics taken of me, one of which my sis has already found on the internet....*blush*

The AMV contest was cool, as usual. There was an incredible Spirited away video, and this awesome X/Ah My Goddess crossover. The best thing, though, was the Escaflowne video with Van singing 'I just can't wait to be king' from the Lion King. With Merle as Zazu! It was absolutely hilarious!

And we ran into Bobby, a guy I went to school with! I couldn't believe it! I had no idea he was an otaku...it was fun hanging out with him for the weekend. His friend was pretty cool too. I'm getting more used to talking to the random otaku around me...after all, that's what we're there for, ne? To be otaku together and enjoy the thing we love?

We actually slept at the hotel that night...kinda weird. I hadn't planned on going back there for the night, but Moises and my sis insisted on sleep...=P Come on, I didn't shell out 45 bucks just to sleep! Oh well. I watched The Mighty Ducks on TV and slept for a couple hours.

Morning was hectic trying to get into our costumes on time to get to the con for our concert and cosplay tickets! We ended up going only half in costume. ^_^;; Some girls tried to stop me when they noticed I was Juubei, but I ran away before they could stop me. I wanted to be FULLY dressed before getting pictures, damn it! Moises got stopped every five seconds by avid Akabane fans...this random Ginji came up and asked for his pic. ^_^; There's a really cool pic of all of us together, with the random Ginji! Yatta!

Unfortunately, the cosplay and concert tix were given out at the same time...in two different hotels! We got the concert tickets first, since it was a new event, then raced to get the cosplay ones, only to find they were gone! WAH! They told us to check back in an hour or so. Thank GOD we hung around for a few minutes, because they miraculously produced another stack a few minutes later. ^.~ I really think the con staff this year could have really used better communication skills...

The rest of the morning we spent at the dealers room...or rather rooms. Two huge rooms crammed full of anime stuff for me to buy, yay! I got lots of Getbackers stuff, some yaoi doujinshi, and a Sukisho poster! AND I GOT A SILVER SEPHIROTH!! I love you, my silver Sephie! If only I had a colored one...; ;

We then went to wait in line for the cosplay. And wait...and wait....apparently, there were technical difficulties, and the event started an hour and a half late because of it. I felt so sorry for the poor staffers! They're only volunteers, and everyone was yelling at them like it was THEIR fault! They don't make the decisions, they just enforce them! Despite the people who were bitching at them, they were handing out water to people and tryig to appease us. ; ; Poor staffers...

The cosplay turned out okay...there were some funny ones. and this one group of cosplayers danced! There was this uber-sexy Jing...I swear, he was the sexiest man I've ever seen in real life. ^_^;; More on that later....Sadly, the cosplay I was really excited about seeing, the Fullmetal Alchemist skit, didn't work! ; ; Nooooooo!

After that....someone got proposed to on stage! Suteki! @_@ I'm not into all that stuff, but for some reason I nearly cried...Then, for God knows what reason, they decided to have an American small rock group perform. =/ They didn't SAY they were going to ahead of time, by the time we knew there was nothing to do but sit there. I didn't like them too much, their music was too positive for me. Roalee snapped at me when I said I was bored. ; ; But I didn't WANT to listen to them! I went to the con for anime, not to listen to an indy rock group! Plus there was this annoying blue light in my face...

And for those who remember last year, Roalee has made her return in embarrassing me in front of a bishie. @_@ I was ranting about how hot the Jing cosplayer was while waiting for the elevator, when suddenly he walked through the door and was standing next to me! GAH! I got all sheepish...and then Roalee pipes up, "No glomping!" ROALEE!! I got all flustered, but apparently, according to Roalee, he got just as flustered himself. ^_^;; I kept running into him after that too...Oh, why couldn't I just talk to the sexy bishie?! Oh well, at least I have some pics, thanks to Roalee and Lisa...

When it was over (FINALLY) we looked into Artist's Alley for a little bit and went to line up for Sakura-con's very first JPOP concert. HIRO!! ^_^ She was incredible!!! It was her very first show in America, and I was so excited. We all sang 'Fly Me to the Moon' with her, and she sang a bunch of new stuff, but sang 'Treasure' as well. I adore that song! Plus she was so adorable when she tried to talk to us in English! ^_^ Kawaii!!

Dinner next (I got some very amusing pics of us Getbackers browsing Denny's menus) and then the rave...which was boring, because it was all American music. Really, what's up with that?? We're at an ANIME con!! Play ANIME music, or at least some JPOP! Anyway, we left and went to the 24-hour gaming room, and played Para Para for a long time. ^_^ This Asian guy we were talking to was impressed by my knowledge of the moves, and 'bowed to my leet skillz.' That has to be the first time I've ever been referred to as having 'leet skillz.' I was thoroughly amused.

Sunday...well, kind of a blur. I slept longer than I meant to, threw my stuff in my suitcase and left the hotel without the rest of the group...we won't go into it more than that. I registered for next year's con, watched a fan parody called Nescaflowne, and went back to the dealer's room. The only other thing worth noting....I bought the first two Megatokyo comics and had one signed by Fred Gallager!! He drew Piro in my volume two!! ^_^ I'm so happy, I adore Piro!

So that was my weekend. As for the pic above, I got a pic of myself taken like that. o.o I was sitting in a chair in my Yoru costume on Sunday, drinking a ramune, when this guy just came up and snapped my photo. Since I don't have a photo myself, I thought a drawing would be sufficient...^_^ After all, people would rather see my pretty bishie than my ugly self, ne? Well, time to go finish wasting my last day off. Ja