Another year of Nekocon madness gone by
Shameless plug first, to check out my cosplay photos from this past weekend's Nekocon, go here:
http://jpop52.deviantart.com/gallery
This past weekend went by so fast!! Not only there was Nekocon, but also Zenkaikon this past weekend as well! But being part of the Neko staff, I trekked down to Hampton, VA, via Route 13, over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, down to the Hampton Roads Convention Center for another Neko, with this year's theme being a Wild West one. As in The Good, The Bad, & The Neko. Even the Cosplay-AMS dressed up to the 9's in Western gear!
I stayed at the Red Roof Inn on Thursday night after I got my Staff badge since I had the room at the Embassy for Friday & Saturday nights, and stayed at the Roof again on Sunday night after the post-con staff dinner (more about this later).
Friday rolled around and after breakfast at IHOP, I headed down to the Embassy to check if I could check in. They did have a room for me by around 1:30 that afternoon, and my AMS shift started at 2. During that waiting time, I decided to do a bit of shopping in the Dealers Room before it even opened. I bought a few anime figures, a couple of Hello Kitty plushies for my neighbor, and over $50 worth of J-Snacks from Wizzywig's booth (and was given a 4-pack of Petit Melon Breads as a bonus), which included Pocky, Ramune, and even Melon Bread (I bought one and Sunday gave it to Mia, the lady at the Front Desk of the Embassy for getting me to my room sooner).
After my shift, I decided to check out the Suicide Ali concert. The band put on a very awesome show! I brought my Peavey Rockmaster elctric guitar hoping the band would autograph. I asked one of the managers from Tainted Reality that if I bought a CD from their booth, they will also autograph the guitar, and she said there should be no problem. I ran to my room to get the 6-stringer just in time to catch the opening bars of the first song.
After the concert, I got in line for Suicide Ali's autograph session. While waiting, I met a female attendee who brought all of the band's CD's with her and asked one of her roommates to run and get the CD's. By the time we reached the merchandise booth, the roomie brought the CD's and all is well in the world! I purchased the band's 3-song CD and got my guitar ready to autograph. When I got to the band and placed both the CD and guitar on the table, I was told they will only sign their own licensed merchandise. I'm like, "What the fuck????? Shades of last year's GPK/ISM concert. Deja vu all over again!! And I thought I cleared it and got the go-ahead". I was PRETTY LIVID, to say the least, but I didn't want to make a spectacle in front of the band or the attendees so I calmly asked why the change of heart, and I was told the one higher-up from Tainted Reality made the decision to sign only band merchandise. Even the long-flame-colored-hair rep even said if it was up to him, he would let me have the guitar autographed. So no hate to the rep, or the band (they even shook my hand when I got the CD autographed), or to the members of Tainted Reality who were there. Just a big and loud "YOU SUCK!!!!" to the higher-up who 86'ed my autographing of the guitar.
I met up with my roommates who stayed with me at the Embassy; Joshua from Pre-Registration, Nick and Ashley from AMS, and 2 friends of a staffer. After each paid their share of the room, the brought the cash over to the Front Desk as payment toward the room. I had a total of 6 people in the room. I would have had 8 people, but Brandon and his girlfriend, Maya, decided to back out because she didn't have the money to pony up for the room, and they figured they didn't want to be looked at as freeloaders. I appreciated their honesty (the told me the next day since I was asleep the night before and they didn't want to wake me) and they are cool with me.
Saturday rolled around the I walked around the Dealers Room and took some cosplay photos before my shift. Of course, I took advantage of the free breakfast buffet at the hotel (yes, were talking omelettes, belgium waffles, special made pancakes...a real breakfast!). I was the only one who could go for the breakfast since my name was the only one on the room. Later that afternoon, I attended the Nekocon cosplay, which was very well made. There was some very good skits, and some well made costumes! Saturday night, Suicide Ali performed another concert, followed by the Saturday Night Rave, "Cat Scratch Fever", DJ'ed by veteran cosplayer Rob Lantz (famous for cosplaying as Capt. Jack Sparrow and Lupin III).
Greg Ayres made a tremendous comeback after suffering a heart attack this year. This voice actor/nightclub DJ/con favorite/all around nice guy didn't miss a beat (no pun intended) when he provided the jams for the Friday Night rave.
Sunday provided a fantastic surprise for the Neko attendees. Originally, 2 members of the band echostream, keyboardist/programmer Tony and guitarist Tomo, would only run a panel about echostream's new tunes, but the entire band put on a live performance Sunday, much to the delight of their fans and the Neko attendees!! They played the 2 new tunes plus a couple of past favorites. It's great to see echostream again (they performed at last year's Neko) and I hope they return again.
Nekocon was a big weekend for Full Metal Alchemist and Bleach fans, because the voice actors who provided the voices for the characters of both animes were present; Colleen Clickenbeard (FMA's Rose), Caitlin Glass (FMA's Winry), Kyle Hebert (Bleach's Aizen), Richard Epcar (Bleach's Zangetsu), and Ellyn Stern (Bleach's Kurosaki Masaki).
By 3:30, Nekocon officially came to a close. After packing up in preparation for next year, the staff held their post-con staff dinner at Olive Garden. As always, it was a very good affair. After dinner, I headed to the Red Roof to get needed sleep for the trip home.
Come Monday, after breakfast at IHOP, I headed down to Newport News to the record store called American Oldies Records to see if they would buy some of my CD's I had lying around in my closet and sat in the trunk of my car. The owner took a look, and took $16 CD's @ $1 each, but gave me $20. Better than nothing, right?
Oh, one more thing, I did get some $$ back from the Embassy since I paid cash for the room. I was given a total of $260, and the bill came to $248 (since I got the staff rate), so I got $12 and change back. This never happened before, so it was a pleasant surprise, and a little extra $$ back. I even had some traveler's checks left over. So, I'll just put them in the bank until the next con.
Today, I reserved my room for Tekkoshocon. I'm still debating whether to get a room at the Gaylord or maybe better off getting a room closer to the Gaylord (the Hampton Inn is a posisbility, since you get a free breakfast).
http://jpop52.deviantart.com/gallery
This past weekend went by so fast!! Not only there was Nekocon, but also Zenkaikon this past weekend as well! But being part of the Neko staff, I trekked down to Hampton, VA, via Route 13, over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, down to the Hampton Roads Convention Center for another Neko, with this year's theme being a Wild West one. As in The Good, The Bad, & The Neko. Even the Cosplay-AMS dressed up to the 9's in Western gear!
I stayed at the Red Roof Inn on Thursday night after I got my Staff badge since I had the room at the Embassy for Friday & Saturday nights, and stayed at the Roof again on Sunday night after the post-con staff dinner (more about this later).
Friday rolled around and after breakfast at IHOP, I headed down to the Embassy to check if I could check in. They did have a room for me by around 1:30 that afternoon, and my AMS shift started at 2. During that waiting time, I decided to do a bit of shopping in the Dealers Room before it even opened. I bought a few anime figures, a couple of Hello Kitty plushies for my neighbor, and over $50 worth of J-Snacks from Wizzywig's booth (and was given a 4-pack of Petit Melon Breads as a bonus), which included Pocky, Ramune, and even Melon Bread (I bought one and Sunday gave it to Mia, the lady at the Front Desk of the Embassy for getting me to my room sooner).
After my shift, I decided to check out the Suicide Ali concert. The band put on a very awesome show! I brought my Peavey Rockmaster elctric guitar hoping the band would autograph. I asked one of the managers from Tainted Reality that if I bought a CD from their booth, they will also autograph the guitar, and she said there should be no problem. I ran to my room to get the 6-stringer just in time to catch the opening bars of the first song.
After the concert, I got in line for Suicide Ali's autograph session. While waiting, I met a female attendee who brought all of the band's CD's with her and asked one of her roommates to run and get the CD's. By the time we reached the merchandise booth, the roomie brought the CD's and all is well in the world! I purchased the band's 3-song CD and got my guitar ready to autograph. When I got to the band and placed both the CD and guitar on the table, I was told they will only sign their own licensed merchandise. I'm like, "What the fuck????? Shades of last year's GPK/ISM concert. Deja vu all over again!! And I thought I cleared it and got the go-ahead". I was PRETTY LIVID, to say the least, but I didn't want to make a spectacle in front of the band or the attendees so I calmly asked why the change of heart, and I was told the one higher-up from Tainted Reality made the decision to sign only band merchandise. Even the long-flame-colored-hair rep even said if it was up to him, he would let me have the guitar autographed. So no hate to the rep, or the band (they even shook my hand when I got the CD autographed), or to the members of Tainted Reality who were there. Just a big and loud "YOU SUCK!!!!" to the higher-up who 86'ed my autographing of the guitar.
I met up with my roommates who stayed with me at the Embassy; Joshua from Pre-Registration, Nick and Ashley from AMS, and 2 friends of a staffer. After each paid their share of the room, the brought the cash over to the Front Desk as payment toward the room. I had a total of 6 people in the room. I would have had 8 people, but Brandon and his girlfriend, Maya, decided to back out because she didn't have the money to pony up for the room, and they figured they didn't want to be looked at as freeloaders. I appreciated their honesty (the told me the next day since I was asleep the night before and they didn't want to wake me) and they are cool with me.
Saturday rolled around the I walked around the Dealers Room and took some cosplay photos before my shift. Of course, I took advantage of the free breakfast buffet at the hotel (yes, were talking omelettes, belgium waffles, special made pancakes...a real breakfast!). I was the only one who could go for the breakfast since my name was the only one on the room. Later that afternoon, I attended the Nekocon cosplay, which was very well made. There was some very good skits, and some well made costumes! Saturday night, Suicide Ali performed another concert, followed by the Saturday Night Rave, "Cat Scratch Fever", DJ'ed by veteran cosplayer Rob Lantz (famous for cosplaying as Capt. Jack Sparrow and Lupin III).
Greg Ayres made a tremendous comeback after suffering a heart attack this year. This voice actor/nightclub DJ/con favorite/all around nice guy didn't miss a beat (no pun intended) when he provided the jams for the Friday Night rave.
Sunday provided a fantastic surprise for the Neko attendees. Originally, 2 members of the band echostream, keyboardist/programmer Tony and guitarist Tomo, would only run a panel about echostream's new tunes, but the entire band put on a live performance Sunday, much to the delight of their fans and the Neko attendees!! They played the 2 new tunes plus a couple of past favorites. It's great to see echostream again (they performed at last year's Neko) and I hope they return again.
Nekocon was a big weekend for Full Metal Alchemist and Bleach fans, because the voice actors who provided the voices for the characters of both animes were present; Colleen Clickenbeard (FMA's Rose), Caitlin Glass (FMA's Winry), Kyle Hebert (Bleach's Aizen), Richard Epcar (Bleach's Zangetsu), and Ellyn Stern (Bleach's Kurosaki Masaki).
By 3:30, Nekocon officially came to a close. After packing up in preparation for next year, the staff held their post-con staff dinner at Olive Garden. As always, it was a very good affair. After dinner, I headed to the Red Roof to get needed sleep for the trip home.
Come Monday, after breakfast at IHOP, I headed down to Newport News to the record store called American Oldies Records to see if they would buy some of my CD's I had lying around in my closet and sat in the trunk of my car. The owner took a look, and took $16 CD's @ $1 each, but gave me $20. Better than nothing, right?
Oh, one more thing, I did get some $$ back from the Embassy since I paid cash for the room. I was given a total of $260, and the bill came to $248 (since I got the staff rate), so I got $12 and change back. This never happened before, so it was a pleasant surprise, and a little extra $$ back. I even had some traveler's checks left over. So, I'll just put them in the bank until the next con.
Today, I reserved my room for Tekkoshocon. I'm still debating whether to get a room at the Gaylord or maybe better off getting a room closer to the Gaylord (the Hampton Inn is a posisbility, since you get a free breakfast).