Not a complete writeup, just a mentioning of highlights. Because I am a lazy beast. ^_^

I missed all four concerts. (Okay, I missed three and chose not to go to the fourth) Somehow, I survived. Besides, I had already seen Duel Jewel.

The Megatokyo panel was great. Fred did a "Top Ten Reasons Megatokyo Sucks." It was a lot funnier than Seraphim's "Top Ten Reasons Megatokyo Doesn't Suck." Jordan got to ask a question. He still vowed death upon the person choosing who got to ask a question, just because he didn't pick Jordan soon enough.

We weren't able to sign up for the Masquerade since they ran out of spots. It was still fun going about in costume, and even though most people didn't recognize who we were (sub elitists! all of you!) it's always nice to get dressed up. We got to scare the normals at breakfast. Both nights a Prom was being held at the same hotel as the convention. I had great fun walking past all the little teenagers in gaudy clothing and makeup. I remarked (loudly) to Jordan as we passed them, "And I thought I looked ridiculous." Because I am an evil, evil person.

The Cosplay was really funny. I think the strangest/most inspired skit was the one involving Ein and Hello Kitty facing off in Dance Dance Revolution. Two of the skits involved a crossdressing Zelgadis. Two different groups, totally unrelated. It was even funnier the second time.

There was a guy dressed up as the Violinist of Hamelin (sp?) who would, on request, play any anime opening/closing theme you requested. He played them by holding the bow in his mouth and sawing the violin across it. It was one of the most bizarre things I've ever seen, topped only by....

While waiting for the Saturday evening dance to begin, the guy dressed up as the Violinist of Hamelin (sp?) led us in a train. I swear, by the time they stopped us, it was about 100 people long and moving fast. It was one of the most bizarre things I've ever done, topped only by...

While waiting for the Saturday evening dance to begin, a bunch of people lined up holding signs asking for hugs. Because we were bored, Jordan and I joined them. He held a sign that said "Blackjack: $1 a game" and below it something asking for hugs. I wrote my own sign saying, "Hugs or Cash" A guy cosplaying as Sasuke from Naruto hugged me, and I said, "Thank you, Sasuke~!" in my best yamanaka_ino voice. He was so thrilled that I knew his name that he gave me a dollar. A few minutes later, a cop came by and said that I couldn't hold a sign like that because they had rules against pan-handling, even as a joke. So I Xed out the "Cash" so it could still be read, and wrote beneath it "They won't let me panhandle!" and a sad-face below that. I got more pictures of me holding the sign than I did in just my costume alone.

The dance was fun, but everyone kept forming circles so they could watch someone dancing in the center, rather than dance themselves. It was good techno, people! Don't waste it by not dancing! I had a lot of fun. I took a water break every half hour or so, and danced with a different group of people whenever I came back. There was a really good ninja dancer who I danced next to (not "with," next to) for a good amount of time. I like that he understood the concept of dancing near someone, but not with them. I had to directly turn down 4 guys that night. A smaller number than usual, sure, but most anime-loving-guys are kind of shy in the talking-to-girls area, anyway. On a happy note, my hair stayed in perfectly all day long. That's really good, because it took me forever to do in the morning. Of course, when I got back to the hotel room, it took me a good 45 minutes to undo it and shower.

I took a brief course in inking, which was somewhat interesting. The fanfiction panel was fun. I asked the best/most thought-provoking question of it all. It actually made the panelists go "Hm" in a good way, like it had never occurred to them before. Very proud of myself. It had a lot of audience participation, which was both good and bad. Good because people were sharing their thoughts, bad because this Irish guy (thick accent) who spoke really slowly and for great lengths of time but never really had any point....argh. I hate people who dominate discussions, but don't even discuss the same topic everyone else is thinking about. He just liked hearing the sound of his own barely distinguishable, incredibly slow voice. The para-para exhibition was a little disappointing, but that might just be because I had seen some incredible freestylers the day before.

Didn't buy much stuff. Some Hikago keychains, a bunch of untranslated manga, two books of translated manga, and two anime cells. I thought I was only buying one cell, but there was also a mirror image of the same cell. It came with two mouths, but unfortunately they both match the same background cell. I think that with a little paint, I can use the closed mouth on the mirror image. They're of Katsuhiko Jinnai from El Hazard. He's so cooooool. The translated manga is books 2 and 3 of El Hazard. The untranslated stuff nearly completes my DNAngel collection (I have all but 5 and 9, if 9 has even been released) and I also got a favorite volume of Hikago.

That's the main highlights, I think. I got to talk to some cool people (which, really, is the main reason to go to conventions) and although I didn't buy much, I browsed the heck out of the exhibition hall. I stood in lines a lot, but that helped with the whole talking-to-people. I taught Jordan Janken, which is tricker than it looks. ^_^ All-in-all, I had a great time.

-Val