(no subject)
I can't believe it's been 3 weeks since my last update and 2 weeks since I went to A-Kon. How do I know it's 2 weeks? I was paid this past Friday (yesterday) and as I'm paid every two weeks, the last paycheck was 2 weeks ago - while I was at A-Kon.
I had a fantastic time in Dallas and really when I got there and to the hotel, it felt like it hadn't really been a whole year had passed. It felt more like only a few days/weeks had passed since I had seen those halls and walkways. They were familiar and just as hot and stuffy as I remember. *laughs*
Just like last year I roomed with Mandy, Ashley, Mark and David. I reserved the room this year as I was able to get a fab deal through my work. A-Kon itself had a deal on room rates with both the Sheraton and the Westin, however I got a better price for the Westin through work. I saved us about $40 a night and we stayed 4 nights.
I flew in to Dallas on Thursday while the others drove from Metarie. I was invited to ride along but I politely declined. It's a 6 hour drive from BR to Dallas and I don't do well on long trips like that. Not only am I prone to getting carsick, but my panic attacks tend to flare up on any trip longer than 1 hour. Especially if I'm not the one driving.
Cosplay is a BIG part of the fun of A-Kon. For my readers who don't know, cosplay is when you make (or buy) and wear a costume of your favorite fictional character. The character can be from anything, TV or movie, animated or live-action. For anime conventions like A-Kon, anime/manga characters are most popular as well as video game characters.
This year I went as Enma Ai, the Hell Girl from the series of the same name. In Japanese it's Jigoku Shoujo and most fans know it as that. I wore a black kimono with hand painted plum blossoms and leaves. There is also a large butterfly which is a nod to XXX-holic, another fave series of mine. I made the entire costume by hand, with the exception of the tabi socks and the zori. I bought the tabi socks online and the zori (shoes) were bought for me by my cousin Paul when he was in Japan.
So A-Kon was 3 days of a TON of fun. I had a really good time this year, more than last year even. Picking up our badges went super fast and every thing was handled so much better than last year (and I'm told previous years). I went to several panels and even participated in a few.
I took quite a few pics and they can be seen at my Photobucket account.
One of the panels I took part in was A-Kon Icon. It's like American Idol but based around anime/manga/cosplay and such. There were 4 rounds. First was a costume content, second was a general fan knowledge round. It was based on Jeopardy. Those who made it past the first 2 rounds then had round three. That was karaoke where participants picked a song from any anime or j-drama and sing. And if you made it that far, lastly was an improv skit.
I made it through all four rounds and took 5th place. ^-^
Once I got back home it was a tad difficult to get back in to the swing of going back to work. I'd had so much fun for almost a week and I had to go back to no fun working. Not that I don't like my job, I do. It's just I'd rather win the lottery. Hee hee.
So I got home and got back in to the swing of work. With work comes days off and I've been enjoying those too.
I'll post about those and more recent events in another entry. ;)
I had a fantastic time in Dallas and really when I got there and to the hotel, it felt like it hadn't really been a whole year had passed. It felt more like only a few days/weeks had passed since I had seen those halls and walkways. They were familiar and just as hot and stuffy as I remember. *laughs*
Just like last year I roomed with Mandy, Ashley, Mark and David. I reserved the room this year as I was able to get a fab deal through my work. A-Kon itself had a deal on room rates with both the Sheraton and the Westin, however I got a better price for the Westin through work. I saved us about $40 a night and we stayed 4 nights.
I flew in to Dallas on Thursday while the others drove from Metarie. I was invited to ride along but I politely declined. It's a 6 hour drive from BR to Dallas and I don't do well on long trips like that. Not only am I prone to getting carsick, but my panic attacks tend to flare up on any trip longer than 1 hour. Especially if I'm not the one driving.
Cosplay is a BIG part of the fun of A-Kon. For my readers who don't know, cosplay is when you make (or buy) and wear a costume of your favorite fictional character. The character can be from anything, TV or movie, animated or live-action. For anime conventions like A-Kon, anime/manga characters are most popular as well as video game characters.
This year I went as Enma Ai, the Hell Girl from the series of the same name. In Japanese it's Jigoku Shoujo and most fans know it as that. I wore a black kimono with hand painted plum blossoms and leaves. There is also a large butterfly which is a nod to XXX-holic, another fave series of mine. I made the entire costume by hand, with the exception of the tabi socks and the zori. I bought the tabi socks online and the zori (shoes) were bought for me by my cousin Paul when he was in Japan.
So A-Kon was 3 days of a TON of fun. I had a really good time this year, more than last year even. Picking up our badges went super fast and every thing was handled so much better than last year (and I'm told previous years). I went to several panels and even participated in a few.
I took quite a few pics and they can be seen at my Photobucket account.
One of the panels I took part in was A-Kon Icon. It's like American Idol but based around anime/manga/cosplay and such. There were 4 rounds. First was a costume content, second was a general fan knowledge round. It was based on Jeopardy. Those who made it past the first 2 rounds then had round three. That was karaoke where participants picked a song from any anime or j-drama and sing. And if you made it that far, lastly was an improv skit.
I made it through all four rounds and took 5th place. ^-^
Once I got back home it was a tad difficult to get back in to the swing of going back to work. I'd had so much fun for almost a week and I had to go back to no fun working. Not that I don't like my job, I do. It's just I'd rather win the lottery. Hee hee.
So I got home and got back in to the swing of work. With work comes days off and I've been enjoying those too.
I'll post about those and more recent events in another entry. ;)