My Turn

I guess its my turn to write about Ota. I liked it, I really needed it to be honest, stress overload was approaching and I could wait to forget about workage for a few days and chill around fellow anime geeks. My ota adventure started on Thursday.

Thursday:
Had the day due to sous chef giving me extra day off,cleaning up and getting some money from the ATM, triple-checking reservations and directions. Sherri came and we chilled out and watched DNAngel, cute show may look into it.

Friday:
Raining cats and dogs. Ick. After prodding Sherri awake we prepared for our journey. Managed to get out not too off schedule but due to the massive rain and the numerous slowdowns we encountered in Springfield,near the Wilson Bridge, as well as getting lost briefly in Tyson's Corner we arrived at 1ish. Picked up Katy and her sister. Hit more major slowdowns near Baltimore. Gargh. Since we made it into the city around three, we checked in, met Ron and got our badges. It was pretty quick. Picked out the Applegeeks badge. Sherri and I headed off to the Artist's Alley. So many cool people were there. Met Mookie of Dominic Deegan fame and got a "Death from above" shirt for Sherri and a book for me. He even signed it. Dwee! Headed over to Applegeeks and got a signed poster, Mac Hall for a signed book. Headed over to Ghostfire and got a lot of cute chibi Naruto stickers and some chibi art. Checked out the cool Dolfies and art show. Some nice pieces this year. After that, we headed over to the Dealer's room. It was massive. So many booths. I felt overwhelmed for a moment. Snagged a Shutterbox #3, Shaman King #7, A collectible Juvenile Orion Box with v.5 in it, a 1/100 Sandrock Custom Model kit, A Gaia online t-shirt and signed poster. After that we called it a day for the room of hugeness, the money sucking pit and dropped our stuff off at the room while we made our next move. Ordered pizza and headed over to the AMV's I liked most of them, didn't really get a couple of them. Dug the "Roses are Red" video and the tributes to Osaka from Azumanga Daioh. Oh yeah, and the "Real Ninjas" *giggle* It was also fun teaching Sherri about Naruto and Chrono Crusade. And yes Sherri you are watching FMA. Then you will understand why I sniffled at one of the FMA vids. Met Zack, he's kinda cute. We shall see what develops. Sleep soon followed.

Saturday:
Woke up and hung around for a while before deciding to get some chow. Ate and went to the convention center. Hit the dealer's room where I bought Last Exile Dvd vol.2, some Fruits Basket folders,a cool grab bag full of goodies,Naruto #7, and a reversible Hatsuharu cap. Its so cheesy and silly, but so cute. We got compliments on it. Took a few picks and headed off to the cosplay line. They were pre-seating this year and thought that was a little rotten, people are insane when it comes to holding seats. Girl next to us was saying. "We need like 14 seats okay?" Come on. Sat through the Megatokyo panel, wasn't too horrible but really wanted to get to the good stuff. At least they made an effort to entertain us with an episode of Midori Days and a mini concert from Kumiko Kato, she's cute and pretty talented. Cosplay I think was a B- at best. The best by far was the first skit with the Teen Titans and the giant Eva hand. Was very impressive. Not many were as memorable. Sniffled again at the FMA skit. It was so not funny. Darn my sensitive feelings. Second Neji-Lee fight was better than the first, and the little girl dressed as Akumaru, I almost died of cuteness overload. She was so wibble. Metal Gear Solid one caused a chuckle or two. Oh and Stripper Vash. Oh damn he was hot. Reminded me why my screen name is vashlvr05. Afterwards we took a few pics and I saw the girls who are doing my commission. Oh man, they looked awesome. Was so cool. Headed back and slept.

Sunday:
Woke up and packed. After checking out we tried to get to our car but after waiting for a busted elevator and stairs leading to nowhere we managed to get in there, then we had to find the car. After finding it we loaded up and headed back for one more con experience. Went back to the Artist's Alley and got my copy of Offbeat signed by the artist and got more chibi stickers, bookmarks and pictures of Mookie. I even shook his hand. Swept the dealer's room for more goodies, snagged GITS:SAC and Lain Soundtracks, a cool FFX-2 book and some Naruto cellphone dangles. The Itachi one lives on my phone. Headed out and thought of next year, my commission will be done and so will my Fangirl Commando outfit. Would do a skit with it but with my earth shattering stage fright. Drove back and dropped off Katy and her sister. Headed back to Richmond and unloaded. Man, what a weekend. Met some cool people, saw some cool costumes, decent videos and a sense that I belonged here. These are my people. We are the anime geek, we are otaku, we are the fangirls and the fanboy. Together we are a mighty force of geekitude. Damn I miss it.

Next year,there is always next year.