Ohayocon '04.

Well, it started out with the normal rushed craziness that is me trying to go somewhere. I think I got there about 1 or 2pm. Jackie didn't come. In fact, No one came with me. (I did stop for her though). I went to the fanfiction panel and Q-Sama and Ryoko and the others on it did very nicely there. I just wish I would've stayed for all of the 2nd part of it on Saturday... but unfortunately, I was feeling a little sick and thought it best if I went to the room to rest.

Later on Friday evening after the weirdness, (hey... there was a guy dressed in a Pepsi suit... that's the best way to describe it), and at times boring-ness of Opening Ceremonies (sorry folks, I did have a slight short attention span that day due to lack of sleep) was the first time I ever attended Open Mic Night. I did it with a migrane. Was at times not a good idea do that. However, it was amusing. I did at one point (okay two) have to leave the room because other wise I would've ended up on the floor laughing my ass off in a very unpolite way due to some very drunk and very awful "artists" (and I use the term loosely) who apparently thought groaning into the mic was um.... making music.. 0_o Q-Sama and Ryoko did a quick bit of Ranma 1/2 though and I think they did good. Poor Ryoko DID have to deal with us making her do the Time Warp when she volunteered to help out in a "let's make you do stupid stuff"routine that the staff decided to do. Problem was I was running on pure adrenaline at that point, cause I was only going on 2 hours sleep to begin with, thanks to the annoyances of preparing and stuff that came up at the last minute the day before which had me so frustrated that it kept me up until 7am. So, as I was only running on adrenaline this constitutes me acting one, very silly and two, kinda drunk like. So yes, much giggling (and cause I thought I was smart taking the stairs to go back to the hotel room for 5 flights when I had little to no energy, let alone strength left), I ended up literally collapsing a couple of times. I decided to take the elevator to floor 17 once I got to floor 5. Of course I had to manage to get up off the floor first to get on the elevator (thank you Q-Sama). Then I took the first elevator that stopped. I made it to the room and promptly collapsed on to the bed and had an awful time getting back up. The fact that I had to go across the entire convention center to get to my car didn't help matters as far as motivation goes. And when all is said and done I should've just decided to stay that night.

Anyway, I ended up braving the first bit of an evil snow storm that was coming through that weekend at about midnight. The only good thing is about this is that the cops think you are weaving cause of the snow and therefore do not pull you over. And it was true, I was for the most part weaving cause of that. Did manage to get home safely. Mom's reaction was "Why on earth did you come home? Why didn't you stay where you were?" (only in stronger language). She just didn't want me to kill myself getting back. So, it was promptly decided that I WILL be spending the night at the hotel. So, I became Dalton, Ashe, Jori and Jo's squatter on Saturday. Overall, it was a very fun day. I managed to get the gifts I wanted to for Sion and Caesar.  And I bought Sting!!! It's got Elvish on it and everything! *bounces*

Saturday, I didn't feel so great. Stomach was very woozy on and off all day, and I couldn't really stomach food til about 6 or 7p. Met up with LB and Zeb and Duffey that day and saw my first cosplay as well. There were lots of shinys there!!! aka trophies. One guy dressed in FF regalia won a special award for "oh my, what tight pants and a great butt". I got a picture of said person (cause, hey, who am I to pass up a pretty face), and I guess he liked posing for me or something, cause I got a couple different shots of him thanks to him saying, "Wait, how about this?!" LOL. Oh special note for cosplay. If you yell out " Everybody do the wave!!!!" they will because they are bored. LOL And if you start screaming about Shinys and Best Fish Actor awards you can start a riot! LB came as Cloud from Final Fantasy and was "killed" by Seph earlier that day. So that was amusing. There was also an Arbor convention thing going on at the time... hence, I had a special urge to go in and bond with the plant life, but decided not to. Yeah, I know... damn my infernal horticulture background. >_< Though it might've been amusing to go in there dressed like we were. I mean nothing like seeing  one person dressed in a very scary wig with spiky hair and a large meat clever (ok...ok blaster sword), and a gypsy with no shoes on. I should also point out something else a little amusing... there was a Mormon convention going on at the same time as well. LOL LB also spent a few moments corrupting some little Mormon kids too with her um... persona as Cloud. *giggles*

Anyway, after the cosplay LB and Zeb were tired so they decided to go. So, I retired to the rooms as I seen Duffey was being amused elsewhere and hung out with Ryoko, Q-Sama, Dalton, Noa, Em and Jori and Tsuki. And Tsukiori you're an adorable drunk.... Then as me, Dalton and Tsukiori were rather curious about the band that was holding the concert we decided to go down making vows that if any of us thought they sucked we'd leave. The band was j-rock group called Blood. As it turns out they rocked! ^_^ I really liked them. So, we stayed. I do admit this was my first concert. We actually managed to get a good up close view of them cause we hung out on the flanks of the stage. There was one guy I think his name is Kiwamu or something like that, who did stage diving. A lot. Which was cool. ^_^ He was also the one who seemed to enjoy working the crowd the most. We did get a little concerned about him though cause 1. the crowd was VERY rowdy and we were scared he might get hurt if he kept it up, but he apparently knew what he was doing and didn't (^_^), and 2. near the end when they did the encores, since we were on his side of the stage, we were able to actually see how exhausted he was starting to look. So, we were a little worried about that. (Especially after our experience with my own collapse the night before). But he pulled through wonderfully and didn't lose any of his pep at all.

I had at one point, started to get really comfortable in the concert atmosphere and got really into the music and started dancing to it. This was a short lived event though... Some guy who was taping the concert who was near us, decided to start training his camera on ME for a time. This managed to freak us all out a little bit and so while I continued to sway to the beat, it did cause me to stop dancing, and to shy away from the ropes until the end, when the band played the encores. But overall except for camera dude... that was fun. ^_^

After that we went to hang out some more with the group (and do our interpretations of the band's dance moves). Then Dalton, Tsukiori and I decided to go downstairs. Them to get some drinks, and me to have my water. It must've been the night of the weird old men, because some old biker guy tried to pick up Tsukiori. So we went back up after we finished our drinks and were finished talking to Duo-chan and John and hung out some more. Then we went our respective ways and I ended up staying up until 5am talking to Jori. And to this moment I can't remember what all it was we had talked about. I know it started out as some thing about chickens and then progressed to Tolkien elves.

Oh, and the hotel pillows are evil.

Sunday, I decided to go to the band's Q&A panel. One problem though. Because of the weird dude with the camera who had began to tape me during the concert, I was having some MAJOR problems with social anxiety. As in I was freaked out and didn't want to go cause I was afraid he was going to be there, (and he was >_<), but I made myself go cause I really, really wanted to. I just decided to do my best not to attract attention to myself... and that didn't happen *cringes at the memory* (trust me this will be explained eventually).... >_<lt; I should've had someone go with me, cause I REALLY needed someone to because of how bad I was freaking out, but didn't think anyone would want to... so I forced myself to go alone with out asking anyone so as not to be a bother. (Yeah, I'm weird like that.) I would like to point out that I was wrong with this assumption... but unfortunately, I can't turn back time and fix it.>_<

Well, they seemed to had lost their interpretor, so some fans that knew a little Japanese tried to interpret for them. Well, because of this and because a slightly drunk Tsukiori said she could do it the night before, well, I guess they went on a hunt to find her. This caused her to be a little freaked out (but trust me, she could've done it!!^_~) and in the end it turned out they didn't need her. They decided to do make-up on a fan instead... I volunteered but didn't get picked, but it was fun to watch. And to compensate for Tsukiori's nerves she came down to get their autographs. (If you would have had to do it, I promise I would've stuck with you to the end Tsukiori. I'd just hide in a corner nearby so no one could see me).

Since I was already there thanks to the panel (which was amusing... thanks to the make-up session...*giggle*) I basically ended up getting their autographs as well. I was also able to jump line cause I knew the asst. to the vice con chair and well, the vice con chair as well. At least I think that was the reason. All I know is that they just basically looked at me and told me to just go ahead after Duo-Chan showed up. This kinda put me and Tsukiori in an odd frame of mind. Basically, we had their autographs but not their cds. So we made way to the dealer's room and went to the guy at J Pop House, and got it. It wasn't exactly a forced purchase for me, cause I did like their music and style. Also I've never seen a line that never physically moved no matter how many people had already gone in front of you. O_o

I also don't think that Japanese people are used to a person hopping up and down or being very animated about what they are saying, cause when I saw Tsukiori and Dalton finally come to the autograph session I was happy. And I mean ecstatically happy... It was so lonely until then, (not to mention I was in middle of going into a panic attack by that time). Basically, I admit when I get intense or excited about what I am saying, or am trying to make a point I have a habit of stomping or hopping up and down. So when I did this unconsciously when I saw Dalton and Tsukiori and Duo-chan and started talking, I had suddenly got this weird feeling that people were watching me intently, and looked up to see that a couple band members were looking at me rather curiously. Um, yeah, that was embarrassing. >_< So, I basically, tried to go through the line rather serenely in hopes to make them less, er, scared of me. Um, I don't think it worked. But anyway, after that and the cd was now mine, I figured it was best if I headed home to beat the snow storm. Hence ended my Ohayocon experience. While the video rooms and dealer's room were lacking I did have great time! ^_^

So that ends this report. Sorry for run on sentences and bad grammar, but I wrote things in this report as they popped into my head.

* cough* ahem, the above picture is my infamous gypsy dollar dance... it's not what you think... ok it's partly what you think but it's complicated. If you want to hear the story IM me or... something... ^^;;;;

Except for the FF dude and Sting all pics on THIS page are by Dalton... and most taken during or before the BLOOD concert...

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