AWA Part 1
Wow...today should have been a sick day for me. Not that I'm feeling particularly ill...but the Monday after Anime Weekend Atlanta is always a rough one.
If I could do it all again though I would in a heartbeat. The trip had it's ups and down...but overall it was a good experience.
AWA XIII marks a complete decade for me attending the convention (starting with AWA 4 when I was but a lad of 13 years old).
That's just crazy. I really can't believe that I've been going to that thing once a year for almost half of my life. It also makes me feel old. >_>; I walk around and see these teenagers wishing I could go back in time and do it all again. I remember watching Eva that year and the characters were a YEAR OLDER THAN I WAS. Needless to say I had an unhealthy attraction to Rei Ayanami. Mmmm...I still have a thing for blue hair. =P
I'll probably keep going for another decade (if I'm still in the south). If I ever have children...heaven help them. They'll be cosplaying at the age of 2. *lol*
Planning for this year's trip was both easy and difficult at the same time. I swear that no matter who gets asked to come or how early/late they get asked...the final list of people coming is never finalized until the day before the con. Thankfully Brett had the foresight to reserve our rooms in Oct of last year. *lol* Like...2 weeks after the convention had ended for that year.
The official group for 07' was Brett, Lauren, Amanda, Albert, and myself. Albert was our newb but I'm pretty sure he enjoyed himself thoroughly.
Even before the convention started we were having a pretty good time. Lauren and Amanda came up Thursday night (decided to skip classes on Friday). We went out for sushi and fun times were had by all. Well...except maybe for Jordan. He had decided to put his foot down that he wasn't going to come and was utterly pestered until he went to sleep. We did of course make a stop to pick up alcohol for "DHN". More on that when I get to Saturday though.
I took a half-day at work on Friday so I was home before noon. Albert decided to skip his classes too so we left Macon earlier than I ever have before. In the past I was never able to get to the con much before 5-6. Some times I got there so late the ticket counter was already closed. Brett was driving so we made good time. There was even a stop at Wendy's for a nutritious lunch. *l*
Things didn't get off to a great start when we arrived at the hotel. We had requested adjoining rooms...but instead of someone giving us 433 and 434 we got 433 and 424. Genius! At least they hadn't given away the rooms... >_< That actually happened to Lauren and I one time at a different hotel.
Lauren, Amanda, and myself took 424. Albert and Brett headed to 433. Both of the rooms were nice. We had a gigantic handicapped bathroom...but no view. Brett's room had a view...but half the room was taken up by a giant conference table. That table did come in handy for meals though. Their bed was also a hide-away version which helped make space for partying Saturday night as well.
After unloading our shit we got in the relatively short line for our badges and spent some time looking at the artwork in "Artist Alley". Our first official "con-stop" was the dealers room. It was back and more packed with booths than ever before. I was glad to see that there were less people actually selling DVDs this year. I don't really buy a lot of anime anymore (Dling from the internet is wrong kids *wags finger* =P). That being said...it's nice to see a large selection of other types of fandom items.
We spent a good deal of time in there but I did more window shopping than anything else (just taking note of things I planned to buy later). I felt bad for the handful of people attending the "Log and Timber Show" that was sharing some of the con space. I suppose that's not as bad as the "New Mothers" thing they had last year. All those pregnant ladies and infant children got exposed to some crazy shit. O_o
We split up upon entering the dealers room which led to some confusion. Brett went off with Albert, Lauren went off with Amanda, and I wandered around by myself. There was a lot of poor communication (i.e. everyone was being bad about their cell phones...especially myself). Lauren and Amanda left at one point to go get pictures of people.
Btw: I'll probably be putting all the pictures from the con up on Facebook later if people are interested.
I met up with Albert and Brett and we stayed in the dealers area for like another 45min. Eventually we all met back up and made a game plan. The girls were gona go get more pictures while the guys went to play video games. Sadly that plan didn't last long. The people in charge of the game rooms this year sucked ass. Half of the rooms weren't even open most of Friday night. Seeing as we couldn't game...we intercepted the girls and went to an early dinner.
The area around the convention center had been developed somewhat over the last year. There was a new mall within walking distance that had a bunch of new restaurants. Including...a P.F. Chang's! Wooo! That was the one meal we had all weekend that I considered to be a "real" meal. It was delicious too. We got back to the con sometime after 7:30 and ran into Becca.
She suggested we attend AMV Hell 4 at 8:30 so the six of us headed over there fairly early to get seats. Evidently this is quite the popular event (I had never been before) and they had stuck it in a smaller room this year. Sure enough...even though we were 40min early...the room was packed. Right when we walked in though someone announced they would let people sit on the floor in front of the screen and we all ran up there.
The view was perfect but Albert and I were parked right in front of one of the giant speakers. It's been a while since I had experienced something that loud. It didn't help that they screened some techno-heavy AMVs before the event started. AMV Hell 4 made the ringing ear drums worth it though. I'm kind of sad I missed the first three but I might try to get them from Becca (or DL them).
We got out of that around 10:00. Lauren and Amanda went to a panel on Shibari (Japanese rope bondage for you newbs) that I kind of wish I had attended after seeing the pics. =P Becca and the three of our group that remained went to play some games. The Naruto games were all packed with teens so we opted for some other titles. They watched me kick a few people off Marvel vs Capcom 2 before I got dethroned. Afterward everyone took a try at a horrible fighting game called...you ready for this?...RUMBLE FISH.
We all had the pleasure of playing against some tard that obviously had a sense of Fandom for this awful title. I personally didn't stand a chance playing that clunky piece of shit after getting off of MvC2...it was like moving in slow motion. O_o Albert evidently made the mistake of saying "What the hell does Rumble Fish mean anyway?!" to which the asshat replied "It's based on an old American folktale. If you've ever had an English class before you should have read it." Most of us had a good laugh at the guy's expense.
I just took a sec to wiki Rumble Fish. Turns out it's a book by Susan Eloise Hinton that was adapted to film in 1984 by Francis Ford Coppola. So...there you go.
We switched rooms after that and entered the room with things like DDR, Guitar Hero, Soul Calibur, DoA, Tekken 5, etc... They had a Wii set up with the import Bleach game. Uh...yea. Trying to make a fighting game that uses the Wii-chuck is just silly. The people looked like they were having a seizure.
I couldn't help but get on Soul Calibur. The sad thing was that it was 2...and it was on the xbox. It was set to best 3 of 5. I sat down...picked my best character for good measure...and promptly got owned the first round. I thought maybe I was just rusty. When the second round started I asked him to wait while I checked the controls. >_> Someone had moved the block button. After fixing that I went on to beat several people (even a few using the dreaded "fatty" controller). Made me feel good. =P
Sometime after 11:00 we all met back up and went to the room for a break. Brett and Becca suggested we go to Midnight Madness. Despite being completely worn out...we all filed back downstairs. They showed "Nescaflowne" which is chuckle-worthy at best. The fact it went on for what felt like an hour and a half didn't help. Amanda left around the halfway mark to go pass out, the rest of our group bailed after it ended, and Becca stuck around for the rest of MM.
The bed was really comfy but I didn't sleep that great. I usually take a day or so to get used to new sleeping conditions and by then it doesn't matter. It didn't really help that the previous occupant had set the alarm to go off at 5:15 or that Brett called our cells around 8:30. >_< At least the shower was nice... When all was said and done though we were up at back to the con around 10.
Continued in Part 2 (I'll recount Saturday and Sunday a little later)
If I could do it all again though I would in a heartbeat. The trip had it's ups and down...but overall it was a good experience.
AWA XIII marks a complete decade for me attending the convention (starting with AWA 4 when I was but a lad of 13 years old).
That's just crazy. I really can't believe that I've been going to that thing once a year for almost half of my life. It also makes me feel old. >_>; I walk around and see these teenagers wishing I could go back in time and do it all again. I remember watching Eva that year and the characters were a YEAR OLDER THAN I WAS. Needless to say I had an unhealthy attraction to Rei Ayanami. Mmmm...I still have a thing for blue hair. =P
I'll probably keep going for another decade (if I'm still in the south). If I ever have children...heaven help them. They'll be cosplaying at the age of 2. *lol*
Planning for this year's trip was both easy and difficult at the same time. I swear that no matter who gets asked to come or how early/late they get asked...the final list of people coming is never finalized until the day before the con. Thankfully Brett had the foresight to reserve our rooms in Oct of last year. *lol* Like...2 weeks after the convention had ended for that year.
The official group for 07' was Brett, Lauren, Amanda, Albert, and myself. Albert was our newb but I'm pretty sure he enjoyed himself thoroughly.
Even before the convention started we were having a pretty good time. Lauren and Amanda came up Thursday night (decided to skip classes on Friday). We went out for sushi and fun times were had by all. Well...except maybe for Jordan. He had decided to put his foot down that he wasn't going to come and was utterly pestered until he went to sleep. We did of course make a stop to pick up alcohol for "DHN". More on that when I get to Saturday though.
I took a half-day at work on Friday so I was home before noon. Albert decided to skip his classes too so we left Macon earlier than I ever have before. In the past I was never able to get to the con much before 5-6. Some times I got there so late the ticket counter was already closed. Brett was driving so we made good time. There was even a stop at Wendy's for a nutritious lunch. *l*
Things didn't get off to a great start when we arrived at the hotel. We had requested adjoining rooms...but instead of someone giving us 433 and 434 we got 433 and 424. Genius! At least they hadn't given away the rooms... >_< That actually happened to Lauren and I one time at a different hotel.
Lauren, Amanda, and myself took 424. Albert and Brett headed to 433. Both of the rooms were nice. We had a gigantic handicapped bathroom...but no view. Brett's room had a view...but half the room was taken up by a giant conference table. That table did come in handy for meals though. Their bed was also a hide-away version which helped make space for partying Saturday night as well.
After unloading our shit we got in the relatively short line for our badges and spent some time looking at the artwork in "Artist Alley". Our first official "con-stop" was the dealers room. It was back and more packed with booths than ever before. I was glad to see that there were less people actually selling DVDs this year. I don't really buy a lot of anime anymore (Dling from the internet is wrong kids *wags finger* =P). That being said...it's nice to see a large selection of other types of fandom items.
We spent a good deal of time in there but I did more window shopping than anything else (just taking note of things I planned to buy later). I felt bad for the handful of people attending the "Log and Timber Show" that was sharing some of the con space. I suppose that's not as bad as the "New Mothers" thing they had last year. All those pregnant ladies and infant children got exposed to some crazy shit. O_o
We split up upon entering the dealers room which led to some confusion. Brett went off with Albert, Lauren went off with Amanda, and I wandered around by myself. There was a lot of poor communication (i.e. everyone was being bad about their cell phones...especially myself). Lauren and Amanda left at one point to go get pictures of people.
Btw: I'll probably be putting all the pictures from the con up on Facebook later if people are interested.
I met up with Albert and Brett and we stayed in the dealers area for like another 45min. Eventually we all met back up and made a game plan. The girls were gona go get more pictures while the guys went to play video games. Sadly that plan didn't last long. The people in charge of the game rooms this year sucked ass. Half of the rooms weren't even open most of Friday night. Seeing as we couldn't game...we intercepted the girls and went to an early dinner.
The area around the convention center had been developed somewhat over the last year. There was a new mall within walking distance that had a bunch of new restaurants. Including...a P.F. Chang's! Wooo! That was the one meal we had all weekend that I considered to be a "real" meal. It was delicious too. We got back to the con sometime after 7:30 and ran into Becca.
She suggested we attend AMV Hell 4 at 8:30 so the six of us headed over there fairly early to get seats. Evidently this is quite the popular event (I had never been before) and they had stuck it in a smaller room this year. Sure enough...even though we were 40min early...the room was packed. Right when we walked in though someone announced they would let people sit on the floor in front of the screen and we all ran up there.
The view was perfect but Albert and I were parked right in front of one of the giant speakers. It's been a while since I had experienced something that loud. It didn't help that they screened some techno-heavy AMVs before the event started. AMV Hell 4 made the ringing ear drums worth it though. I'm kind of sad I missed the first three but I might try to get them from Becca (or DL them).
We got out of that around 10:00. Lauren and Amanda went to a panel on Shibari (Japanese rope bondage for you newbs) that I kind of wish I had attended after seeing the pics. =P Becca and the three of our group that remained went to play some games. The Naruto games were all packed with teens so we opted for some other titles. They watched me kick a few people off Marvel vs Capcom 2 before I got dethroned. Afterward everyone took a try at a horrible fighting game called...you ready for this?...RUMBLE FISH.
We all had the pleasure of playing against some tard that obviously had a sense of Fandom for this awful title. I personally didn't stand a chance playing that clunky piece of shit after getting off of MvC2...it was like moving in slow motion. O_o Albert evidently made the mistake of saying "What the hell does Rumble Fish mean anyway?!" to which the asshat replied "It's based on an old American folktale. If you've ever had an English class before you should have read it." Most of us had a good laugh at the guy's expense.
I just took a sec to wiki Rumble Fish. Turns out it's a book by Susan Eloise Hinton that was adapted to film in 1984 by Francis Ford Coppola. So...there you go.
We switched rooms after that and entered the room with things like DDR, Guitar Hero, Soul Calibur, DoA, Tekken 5, etc... They had a Wii set up with the import Bleach game. Uh...yea. Trying to make a fighting game that uses the Wii-chuck is just silly. The people looked like they were having a seizure.
I couldn't help but get on Soul Calibur. The sad thing was that it was 2...and it was on the xbox. It was set to best 3 of 5. I sat down...picked my best character for good measure...and promptly got owned the first round. I thought maybe I was just rusty. When the second round started I asked him to wait while I checked the controls. >_> Someone had moved the block button. After fixing that I went on to beat several people (even a few using the dreaded "fatty" controller). Made me feel good. =P
Sometime after 11:00 we all met back up and went to the room for a break. Brett and Becca suggested we go to Midnight Madness. Despite being completely worn out...we all filed back downstairs. They showed "Nescaflowne" which is chuckle-worthy at best. The fact it went on for what felt like an hour and a half didn't help. Amanda left around the halfway mark to go pass out, the rest of our group bailed after it ended, and Becca stuck around for the rest of MM.
The bed was really comfy but I didn't sleep that great. I usually take a day or so to get used to new sleeping conditions and by then it doesn't matter. It didn't really help that the previous occupant had set the alarm to go off at 5:15 or that Brett called our cells around 8:30. >_< At least the shower was nice... When all was said and done though we were up at back to the con around 10.
Continued in Part 2 (I'll recount Saturday and Sunday a little later)