Monday, July 30, 2007

Hey guys!
So Otakon was awesome like woah I had the best weekend ever. The con itself was a downer though, there really wasn’t much going on. I only went to the Artist Alley and Dealers Room; all for a tiny bit. Since I was rooming with some friends over at LJ and C.com I had to pack my things, cosplay and all that Wednesday. Then came Thursday which is pre-registration, mostly picking up your badge before the con, it didn’t start until 5PM and ended around 10PM I think. My mom was driving me to the con and the hotel but she didn’t get home until eight fifty. Paranoid and scared I might miss pre-reg just like last year [Last year was horrible, the line on Friday morning was so long that it was almost endless, but then the speed was good and I got my badge in an hour]
We drove to Baltimore and didn’t get there until ten. I knew I missed pre-reg so I had to go in the morning. So then we set off to look for the hotel my friends where in, which was the Hampton Inn & Suites. But there are two actually in Baltimore. Sadly I had gotten the directions to the wrong hotel and we spent almost an hour looking for it, till we got there and called down Lauren and to my greatest displeasure. We had the wrong hotel. My mom was pretty frustrated at me for getting the wrong directions and she was also driving without her license [She had forgotten her purse at home for some reason]. We got the right directions for the hotel and then we set off to the right Hampton, we didn’t get there until one in the morning, almost two. Quickly I got all my crap up to the room and found almost everyone asleep. The room itself was pretty small but it was alright. I set my luggage and other stuff somewhere in the room and slept on a sofa bed with some person I didn’t know. Which I find very funny to find out that it was actually an amazing Dark Link I photographed at last years Otakon. HAHAH.

Friday

Anyway next morning, waking up to Sephiroth’s theme it was around seven in the morning and I had to get dressed and head out towards the convention center to get my badge. Mostly everyone had gotten theirs so I had to hurry down and get mine before the Eureka 7 gathering and shoot I was in that started around 11AM. Getting there was a short walk but it got tiring afterwards. As expected the line was REALLY REALLY REALLY long. I got there around 8:10AM and the pre-reg didn’t start till eight thirty. But then the line began to move and it got shorter and went faster and then we were inside. I got my badge, hurried off to the hotel and got changed into Woz for the E7 shoot. Lauren, Claire, Becca and Kate were up there already changing as well. [We all were in the shoot] and quiet boy AKA Dark Link was also up there changing into his Link. He was really quiet between us loud girls, I think we scared him. So already we headed to the convention center again, all colorful and we went into the fountains for the E7 gathering. It was off to the side of the room so not much people could see it, oh well. I think we did a fabulous job though; we had almost every person on the Gekkostate. We missed a Hilda, Hap, Gonzi and other dude but it was alright. Our Holland dropped too. I ran into a few more people on LJ and then around came 12PM and we all with our photographer, Ollie headed outside to the sky walk where the sun was blazing. It was hot and I in my large burgundy pants and purple shirt, I was getting fried. The photo shoot was very much fun, we had a lot of photos taken and funniness. The private shoot didn’t end around 1PM and I needed to change into Arashi to make it to the CLAMP gathering at 2PM I think. So me, Lauren and Becca went back to the hotel room to change. I got into Arashi, grabbed my sword and headed out once again to the con to make it to the gathering; I was running twenty minutes late. But I didn’t miss much; there really wasn’t much of a gathering. I also saw another Arashi cosplayer with her Sorata. I wanted to get pictures with him :O
Ha-ha, it took a long time for all of us to get into a big group for photos and whatnot. Then we got some photos and I headed off because I wanted to go to the dealer’s room. Before that though I meet another person from LJ we talked a bit but I had to go to find a friend from school. Afterwards I headed to some empty spot of the con and had myself a photo shoot, which is funny because it was all self-timer. LAWLZ. But I like how the pictures came out, they looked great to me. After a while I decided I had gotten decent phones and met my friend Khavy from school. We both went to the Dealers Room and there was SO much I wanted to get, but I was blind [My glasses broken and my eye sight worse, I could NOT see at all] I got two phone straps, Trinity Blood manga volumes 2-3 and that was all. There was a woman, mid 20’s in Slytherin robes, thought it was cute. Then after I think I …uh headed back to the hotel room to change. My feet were KILLING me and I needed to take a shower. I found Kate, Claire and Lauren getting into FMA cosplay and they headed out. I mostly had the room to myself and so I decided to take a shower and eat something. After a while, watching TV and hearing about the great Harry Potter news to the world, just everything about it. [Also finding out the Falls Church is the Harriest town, YAY for Virginia] In came Scott, another roommate staying with us who brought a friend whose name I forgot. We talked for a while and she seemed really nice, but I forgot her LJ and Cosplay.com name. After a few hours, with no more cosplay for that day, in came Lauren, Claire and Kate and they all got into Raver YRP costumes. I had nothing more for the day so I tagged along with them in normal clothes. It was around ten I think, when we went back to the convention center and chilled around. And there we found an empty table with lots of chairs in the fountains and Claire and I sat down. And thus our panel began. “Who Can & Cannot Stay For Otakon 2008”. Lauren took us a photo of that so I’m waiting on that, it turned out fabulous. And so I and Claire kept looking around for people to kick out of Otakon [Its all fun and jokes] Then Lauren and Kate went around the con looking for Vegeta 396. I tagged along and then they both molested the statues that were around the convention center, I took the photos and I’m waiting on those because, they turned out great. I really love one in which Kate gives a pelvic thrust. It’s glorious. The convention center was emptier than usual, it was Friday night, before the 21st and of course, everyone is fighting to get the last Harry Potter book. After a few hours, it was 1AM we decided to head out for the evening, but first we wanted to get something to eat. We got pizza in the scariest place ever full of African American folks; it was just weird because the gals were in YRP [Yuna, Riku & Paine] rave skimpy outfits that yeah, you get the point. Plus the place was right NEXT to a stripper club. I guess most of them are used to freaks in costumes every summer now that one guy asked “Otakon?” when we walked in. Then around 2 we headed back to the hotel room. Brad? AKA Dark Link was gone, Jackie’s[Another roommate, friend of Claire] boyfriend Charlie said that Brad was moving out because he found somewhere else to sleep/room with. Okay. Weird but okay. So I got the bed to myself, YAY.

Saturday

I had to change into David from D.Gray-Man for the gathering/photo shoot at 11AM. Becca came to our room as Rabi and after getting ready and the intense eye make up, we settled out to the con. We got a little late, in which I missed the Noah family shoot. But it was alright, a GREAT Tyki and Rhode spotted me and said hello, glomping me. I was the only David there, haha. The gathering was rather short, not much to do. So after half an hour we went down to the fountains. Becca’s feet were hurting and so were mine so we got to the fountains and sat down. In came in front of us a small Bible Black [?] group and people started taking pictures, with us in the background. Not doing anything pretty bored and hot, we decided to make random faces in the background of the photos. WHICH WAS SOO MUCH FUNN! It was so funny; we kept on making faces whenever possible, it was epic. After a good while we decided to head back to the hotel room, we were rather hot and just ugh—the heat was killing us and hungry too. So quickly I went with Becca to her hotel room, where I hung out with her while she changed. I had to go back to the room so I could change so after a good while I headed back. Reaching the lobby of her hotel, were a bunch of HP kids reading the book, in HP robes with dangling Otakon badges, Wow, way to spend the con eh? And then suddenly a girl said “OMG GUYS HARR---“ yeah that was all I heard. I ran for the door, covering my ears. Avoiding spoilers, man, it had to be done. Then I went back to the hotel room and chilled for a while, till Lauren and Claire came back. After a few hours it was around 7PM we decided to go back to the con, the girls in cosplay, but I had worn everything so I went in normal clothing. It’s weird, walking with a bunch of cosplays and I wear the normal clothes. Hehe. We were there for a while, Kate and I sitting in the fountains waiting for Lauren and Claire to finish up a photo shoot they were in. Later apparently Lauren fell sick with the heat and we ran back to the hotel room. I was hungry; I reckon we all were so me, Claire and Kate went out again to go somewhere to eat. We walked to the harbor and just looked around- most of the shops were closed. We came by a Spanish restaurant and ate, the food there was great! The rest of the night we spent looking for food to get Lauren, since she stayed back. We didn’t get back until 1AM I think. We went to bed


Sunday.
I don’t know what we did on Sunday... But we ran to the con before it closed. I REALLY REALLY wanted to go to the dealer’s room before it closed at 3PM. We got there 10 minutes before and they had already closed the doors, but apparently someone got in and we all sneaked in, it was so funny. 20 minutes after we got kicked out though, ahah. Con closed around 4PM and Kate by accident lost her drivers license at the con D: So we went back to look for it but they didn’t have it, Kate and I went into the harbor and waited for the rest of the folks to come around to get some ice cream and then head off to dinner at 7PM with everyone. We ate at the Hard Rock Café which was a very awesome place, all twelve of us. Very much fun was had. In the end our receipt combined ended up being about $300 XDD But we all paid separately. I wanted to be cheap since I only had about 24 dollars on me, my receipt ending up being $18.23 XD
Afterward we hung around the harbor, joking, taking pictures and we all took pictures blasting off a canon [not really though]. Then after a while I had to head back to the hotel room because my mom was on her way to Baltimore to pick me up. Rounded up my crap in the room and then my mom came. Left a sweet note to the girls, thanking them for letting me room with them on the mirror and left.

That’s pretty much all guys, hehe. I didn’t take much pictures though, most of them were taken by friends, so when I get those, I’ll show you all. Also a tour of our hotel room XP
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