Anime Los Angeles 5
This one won't be as long as my concert reports, promise. XD
So my folks left the Sunday before, leaving me alone for New Year's. Whatev. I needed to finished getting things ready for the con. Invited incoherants over on Monday and we hung out all day. Then she and firenaux came over Wednesday night and we got into costume and took pictures before I took them home.
Left for ALA the next morning and got there SEVERAL hours before I needed to. Apparently a Rose Bowl batch of peeps were taking their sweet-ass time checking out, so we couldn't get our rooms until 6pm or so, three hours after check-in. I had cheese and meat in my car D: They survived to be eaten that weekend though, and nobody got food poisoning XP Not only were we not able to get our hotel rooms, but we weren't able to start setting up the Ballroom (Con area) until 6 or so. Wonderful. So we all did registration and whatever other little things we could. Got my badge and box of ribbons ("Artist," "Department Head," "Spreche Deutsch" (thanks to Chaz!), and "Huh?"), and met Tana, Martin's girlfriend. AKA, Death Metal Biker Chick. Awesome woman. :D I'd love to go see Disturbed with her.
sanji-cat got there a little after sundown. By then we had had our room so we got my luggage out of my car and toted it all down to the room. Once we were settled, we went to work downstairs, putting up posters and signs and making sure rooms were ready for the next morning. The Ice Cream social was going on in the Artists' Alley room, and once we got most of the signs and posters up, Christian had us help crack glowsticks and toss them into the room. ^^ About midnight, things started to settle down, so Sanji and I went back to our room to unpack and wait for David, who wouldn't be arriving until 2 or so. LAME. I was exhausted but he didn't have a key @_@ He and his friend, Sarah, finally arrived and we all got acquainted, talked for a little bit and then went to sleep. The hotel beds were VERY comfortable, I might add.
Friday
Woke up at 8 am, ate some Cup Noodles in zombie mode, got dressed as Inugami Akira (the one with the horns...), got a bunch of texts from otaku_jrock asking if AA was ready and open yet. I'm in my fracking hotel room and I'm not the one that was to set the tables up. How the hell should I know? XP Finally made in downstairs and set up, checking the artists in for the next handful of hours. Except for two people that e-mailed me on Thursday telling me they were either late or not coming at all, there were no surprises, and despite my not getting their e-mails, nothing really got messed up. Everyone seemed pretty happy with everything. We'll find out otherwise when I send out the questionnaire... I sat next to Rum Party's own Capt Jack and Reaver, and Cindy from Cat Nap Caps and we all had fun with each other all weekend :D
By mid afternoon word had gotten out that I had the "Huh?" ribbons, and I had to start having more discretion with how they got passed out XD That made for some fun times. Made a few new friends at AA. One girl in particular left her backpack under my table for the while and kept coming back to say hi and whatnot. Sanjicat made us all lunch eventually, and resumed doing her own thing. One Naruto cosplayer came by seeking out the "Huh?" ribbon, and Cindy just had a blast sitting there watching me confuse the poor guy for like, ten minutes XD He finally caught on and earned himself a ribbon. After that, he was able to earn himself more, had that been possible, and started teaching other people how to get it XD And one of the many girls that stopped by the table a bunch of times took a picture of me as Akira with my "Huh?" face. ^0^
7pm finally rolled around and it was time for AA to start packing up. Made sure all the doors were shut and or lockable and then went back to my room to eat and get ready for Rum Party. Sat and talked with Sarah and David for a while before then, and since David had a shit-ton of work to get done, asked Sarah if she wanted to go to the Rum Party and help out. She said yes and down we went! Had lots of fun there, and at midnight she went back up to the room. At about 1 or so everyone left the party and we started cleaning up, getting done rather quickly considering we were understaffed and the room was nearly twice as large as the year before. Said good night to everyone and then went upstairs with Sanjicat, then went to bed. Eventually.
Saturday
Got dressed and stumbled downstairs. Settled a couple things with a few artists that were bugging me for this or that. Uh.... Nothing terribly spectacular happened... XD One artist left early because his father had fallen ill, so we made more arrangements with his table mate. Cindy dressed as hide from X Japan, so we didn't look like two people from entirely different planets sitting next to each other. *chuckles* Uhm...
One girl approached me asking if I could sell her ANY space whatsoever and I told her that, because I had to turn other people away first, I couldn't sell her a tiny corner of the floor. She nodded in understanding. Then I told her that it was just because she was black, and she busted out laughing. XD "Nobody puts it on the table! They're all too afraid! You're awesome!" ^^ So hopefully she'll be able to get in next year. David knows her and likes her.
After AA closed for the night, I went upstairs and took a nap. Talked to Sheri for a little bit, then watched TV. David and Sarah brought me a late snack and then I went wandering about the convention area with SUSAN, who had given me about 8 ounces of pure Kamikaze (Half vodka, half Sweet and Sour) that I had to chug in about five minutes lest I get in trouble with hotel and convention security for an open container of booze. So I chugged that while going up and down the elevator for 15 floors. I shit you not. XD Started wandering around the con (It's after midnight at this point) and running into people like Cindy and her boyfriend. And then Patty and Matt, and then Tadao who sat and told us story about burnt toast and frying things... Everyone loves me drunk because I act more intoxicated than I actually am. What I do while drunk I can do while sober, and nobody knows the difference until the crucial moment... I get asked a question where I have to think. Sober, and I'll snap out of the stupor. Drunk, and I'll only lessen the stupor. I rode back up to my room with one girl from staff, and I asked her to press the button for the first floor, "Because my room number is EASY! It's.... one...... What comes after that? *she holds up two fingers* Yeah that. One... that.... and then... what comes after that....? *she holds up three fingers* Yeah that. That's my room number. One. *two fingers* *three fingers* Easy."
Passed out and slept well for 3 hours. XD
More later.
So my folks left the Sunday before, leaving me alone for New Year's. Whatev. I needed to finished getting things ready for the con. Invited incoherants over on Monday and we hung out all day. Then she and firenaux came over Wednesday night and we got into costume and took pictures before I took them home.
Left for ALA the next morning and got there SEVERAL hours before I needed to. Apparently a Rose Bowl batch of peeps were taking their sweet-ass time checking out, so we couldn't get our rooms until 6pm or so, three hours after check-in. I had cheese and meat in my car D: They survived to be eaten that weekend though, and nobody got food poisoning XP Not only were we not able to get our hotel rooms, but we weren't able to start setting up the Ballroom (Con area) until 6 or so. Wonderful. So we all did registration and whatever other little things we could. Got my badge and box of ribbons ("Artist," "Department Head," "Spreche Deutsch" (thanks to Chaz!), and "Huh?"), and met Tana, Martin's girlfriend. AKA, Death Metal Biker Chick. Awesome woman. :D I'd love to go see Disturbed with her.
sanji-cat got there a little after sundown. By then we had had our room so we got my luggage out of my car and toted it all down to the room. Once we were settled, we went to work downstairs, putting up posters and signs and making sure rooms were ready for the next morning. The Ice Cream social was going on in the Artists' Alley room, and once we got most of the signs and posters up, Christian had us help crack glowsticks and toss them into the room. ^^ About midnight, things started to settle down, so Sanji and I went back to our room to unpack and wait for David, who wouldn't be arriving until 2 or so. LAME. I was exhausted but he didn't have a key @_@ He and his friend, Sarah, finally arrived and we all got acquainted, talked for a little bit and then went to sleep. The hotel beds were VERY comfortable, I might add.
Friday
Woke up at 8 am, ate some Cup Noodles in zombie mode, got dressed as Inugami Akira (the one with the horns...), got a bunch of texts from otaku_jrock asking if AA was ready and open yet. I'm in my fracking hotel room and I'm not the one that was to set the tables up. How the hell should I know? XP Finally made in downstairs and set up, checking the artists in for the next handful of hours. Except for two people that e-mailed me on Thursday telling me they were either late or not coming at all, there were no surprises, and despite my not getting their e-mails, nothing really got messed up. Everyone seemed pretty happy with everything. We'll find out otherwise when I send out the questionnaire... I sat next to Rum Party's own Capt Jack and Reaver, and Cindy from Cat Nap Caps and we all had fun with each other all weekend :D
By mid afternoon word had gotten out that I had the "Huh?" ribbons, and I had to start having more discretion with how they got passed out XD That made for some fun times. Made a few new friends at AA. One girl in particular left her backpack under my table for the while and kept coming back to say hi and whatnot. Sanjicat made us all lunch eventually, and resumed doing her own thing. One Naruto cosplayer came by seeking out the "Huh?" ribbon, and Cindy just had a blast sitting there watching me confuse the poor guy for like, ten minutes XD He finally caught on and earned himself a ribbon. After that, he was able to earn himself more, had that been possible, and started teaching other people how to get it XD And one of the many girls that stopped by the table a bunch of times took a picture of me as Akira with my "Huh?" face. ^0^
7pm finally rolled around and it was time for AA to start packing up. Made sure all the doors were shut and or lockable and then went back to my room to eat and get ready for Rum Party. Sat and talked with Sarah and David for a while before then, and since David had a shit-ton of work to get done, asked Sarah if she wanted to go to the Rum Party and help out. She said yes and down we went! Had lots of fun there, and at midnight she went back up to the room. At about 1 or so everyone left the party and we started cleaning up, getting done rather quickly considering we were understaffed and the room was nearly twice as large as the year before. Said good night to everyone and then went upstairs with Sanjicat, then went to bed. Eventually.
Saturday
Got dressed and stumbled downstairs. Settled a couple things with a few artists that were bugging me for this or that. Uh.... Nothing terribly spectacular happened... XD One artist left early because his father had fallen ill, so we made more arrangements with his table mate. Cindy dressed as hide from X Japan, so we didn't look like two people from entirely different planets sitting next to each other. *chuckles* Uhm...
One girl approached me asking if I could sell her ANY space whatsoever and I told her that, because I had to turn other people away first, I couldn't sell her a tiny corner of the floor. She nodded in understanding. Then I told her that it was just because she was black, and she busted out laughing. XD "Nobody puts it on the table! They're all too afraid! You're awesome!" ^^ So hopefully she'll be able to get in next year. David knows her and likes her.
After AA closed for the night, I went upstairs and took a nap. Talked to Sheri for a little bit, then watched TV. David and Sarah brought me a late snack and then I went wandering about the convention area with SUSAN, who had given me about 8 ounces of pure Kamikaze (Half vodka, half Sweet and Sour) that I had to chug in about five minutes lest I get in trouble with hotel and convention security for an open container of booze. So I chugged that while going up and down the elevator for 15 floors. I shit you not. XD Started wandering around the con (It's after midnight at this point) and running into people like Cindy and her boyfriend. And then Patty and Matt, and then Tadao who sat and told us story about burnt toast and frying things... Everyone loves me drunk because I act more intoxicated than I actually am. What I do while drunk I can do while sober, and nobody knows the difference until the crucial moment... I get asked a question where I have to think. Sober, and I'll snap out of the stupor. Drunk, and I'll only lessen the stupor. I rode back up to my room with one girl from staff, and I asked her to press the button for the first floor, "Because my room number is EASY! It's.... one...... What comes after that? *she holds up two fingers* Yeah that. One... that.... and then... what comes after that....? *she holds up three fingers* Yeah that. That's my room number. One. *two fingers* *three fingers* Easy."
Passed out and slept well for 3 hours. XD
More later.