Ragnarok!.. I mean... Apocalypse!... I mean...!
So recently, I had the opportunity to attend Armageddon, our little convention we have here in New Zealand. Great times were had, and we took away many memories of our day (some of us more than others, haha). Let's begin!
Armageddon took place on the 29th-30th April, at the Queens Wharf Events Centre in Wellington. The Friday before Armageddon, we had a lil' get-together at my house, so that in the morning we could all go to the big event together.
Friday 28th April
At about 10am, Deity arrived. Haha. That was funny. I didn't expect to see her until later on in the day, but she showed up earlier in the morning. Good thing I had a shower when I did; I was planning on leaving it for a couple of hours. XD She finally brought her hard drive and power cables! Yes! So I got BECK at long last (for the price of sharing more goodies. Haha). Deity also managed to get her hands on more One Piece manga, thanks to yours truly (...at a price... hahaha, fanboys FTW... XD). After hanging out with her for most of the day (which involved loud music, lunch and 'socializing' XD), Hara-Kiri made an appearance. He ended up reading One Piece for a little until Louise arrived. Haha.
We had to shoot down to my sister's work, 'coz she was hungry -- she rang up and asked if I could bring her some food, so I took her some small lunch. It didn't all necessarily go together; some beef schnitzel, a sausage, and some chocolate fudge (which was really REALLY good).... but you know what they say: Hunger is the best spice. So we did that, and then came back to my place and just hung around for a while. We played a little bit of four-player Amplitude, which was fun. Louise and I had some intense rounds... though for the most part, I came out on top. Everyone also seemed to think that the final super secret boss song, Cosmonaut Zero - Spaztik, was cute. Yes, it's cute. It's just hella fricking HARD. XD
After Amplitude, we moved onto Buzz, which we're borrowing from one of Dad's friends. I opted out of the first few rounds, choosing instead to cook dinner and such for my guests. Pizza, schnitzel, pasta, and chips. Lol. It was good. Afterwards, however (once our stomachs were satisfied XD), I jumped in and WTFPWND everyone. lol. Well, I don't know that I WTFPWND everyone... but I won, that's for sure. :P
Then, at long last, Louise managed to see RENT. It was saddening. She wouldn't let Deity and I sing through half of it. :( But ah well.
After RENT, we just stayed up and talked for quite a while, as people tried to get to sleep. I don't believe in sleep, so it would've sucked more to be them. Haha.
Saturday 29th April
Saturday finally came. The day of Armageddon (or at least, the day we were going to Armageddon). We had to wake up early, because somebody I know (hint hint, silly Dee XD <3) wanted to wear SPECIFIC FRICKING SOCKS. We were planning to catch the 8:30am train, so we really had to move out early -- it takes a while to get to the train station, and on top of that, Danielle wanted to go home and wear those SPECIFIC FRICKING SOCKS. LOL. Girls. I understand them, for the most part, but there are some things about them I'll just never get.
So, we all parted ways; while Dee and Louise went to grab her SPECIFIC FRICKING SOCKS... I shot back home 'coz I forgot a few things, and Suicide went on ahead to the train station. I met up with him later (he had to stop off at the dairy and get some money or else he couldn't get into Wellington) and we waited at the station for the girls. Eeesh. They arrived with a few minutes to spare.
Waiting for the train!
We texted Spicey back and forth, 'coz he said he was going to join us, but we didn't see him, and time was pressing on. Eventually, the train arrived, so we climbed on board without our friend in sight.
It arrives!
As it turned out, he was back at Upper Hutt Station, while we got on at Wallaceville -- some girl on the train (well, okay, she was probably as old as me but hey, she's a girl so XD) said that there was some guy with bright orange hair back at Upper Hutt Station. I blame the socks for our troubles. Haha. Later on down the line, at Silverstream Station, Sorien climbed aboard. It was good to see him come to Armageddon. I was worried that he wouldn't be able to come with work and such, which saddened me greatly -- I hate it when people plan things, because generally, Sorien gets left out due to work -- but he was able to do his shift on Sunday instead, leaving his Saturday free to hang with us. Yahoo!
Arrival at Wellington Station
When we arrived at Wellington, we decided to wait up for Spicey. Once again, I blame the socks. XD
Chilling at Wellington Station, waiting for Spicey
Our Bankai buddy arrives!
At long last, we finally made the journey from the train station to the Queens Wharf Events Centre. Dee wanted to stop off at an ATM on the way, so we headed for Lambton Quay!
A beautifully cold day in Wellington
Sorien goes surfing! lol
Inner city Wellington, with the Beehive/Parliament Buildings in the background, and Lambton Quay to the left.
Lambton Quay -- for all your Wellington shopping needs!
After stopping off at an ATM, we headed to the Events Centre!
Heading out to the Waterfront, across the street from the Queens Wharf Events Centre
The Queens Wharf Events Centre: the venue for Ragnarok!!... I mean!... gah!
Yeah, right there. That spot on the ground. Lol.
Welcome to our convention!
There were quite a number of guests and such here. Areas and stalls included: Nintendo Wi-Fi gaming area, the creators of Red vs Blue, X-Box 360/PS2 area, National Media Design School, National College of Design and Technology, Lord of the Rings exhibition, The Gamesman, Yu-Gi-Oh Duelling area, deviantArt, and numerous anime/comic/video/fantasy stalls. Guests included Sean Schemmel and Mike McFarland (Goku and Roshi from DBZ), the folks of Bro'Town, John Schneider (from the Dukes of Hazzard), and a few others.
Deity's hungry for some Bankai sandwich!!
We went in and took in the whole scene, and just explored and went browsing. I ended up playing some Dragonball Z: Tenkaichi Budokai for the first time. That was cool. I WTFPWND the kid who beat Glenn. lol. That was so good. But then some older guy (who I found out has the game at home XD) WTFPWND me back. Bah, ah well. It wasn't too bad. It took some getting used to, that's for sure. While in the Gamesman area, I asked if they knew when Kingdom Hearts 2 and Guitar Hero were slated for release over here. They couldn't answer for Kingdom Hearts 2, but Guitar Hero's due to come out sometime in the next two months; I told them "I'll see you then".
It's Zangetsu!... as a golf club! XD This golf game was being showcased for some odd reason. It's no Nintendo Wii, but it'll tide us over 'til then.
While walking around, I saw Leem and Kerryn there; snuck up behind them and said g'day, before they joined us just a little. While walking around, we met up with his sister, Leazer. I haven't seen her since we were in primary school! She's doing hairdressing or something like that, and it was good to catch up with her again. It was quite funny; she said "You seem a lot more friendly now than you used to be". I believe so too. I've been a lot more, outgoing I suppose. How was it Malison put it... I tend to put on a bit more of a show than when we first met. I'm a little louder, a little more in peoples' faces. I'm alot more... fun. XD
Leem's sister, Leazer. I haven't seen her in years.
Ended up walking around a bit more. Following Deity led me to the deviantArt stall. There we met a group of fellow artists, to who Dee politely introduced herself to. One in particular, Kylie Scollick, was kind and Dee ended up purchasing a picture from her. Kai's cool, she's a nice lil' girl. XD Check her gallery out [url=http://keysha-chan.deviantart.com]here![/url]
'Generally' speaking, I wonder how many people took pictures of this car. Har, har.
Special guest John Schneider (from the original Dukes of Hazzard series) was prowling the convention. As a side story, the next day, Spicey got a picture with him for his mother, since his mother was a big Dukes of Hazzard fan. It was really cool actually. Spicey saw him on the street, and started talking to him and was like "Would you mind if I got a picture?" and John was like "Yeah, sounds cool, you wanna be in it?".... so Spicey got to take a picture with him, in his orange haired glory. XD
Half of the Yu-Gi-Oh duelling area. There was another area similar to this set up for duels, and even another small room for the final few matches.
Spicey was a competitor in the Yu-Gi-Oh tournament. He did okay. I was there to witness his last match though. It was beautifully done. He was beaten well. Spicey's monster field was empty, but he had several traps on the field. In the last move, his opponent summoned Mirage Dragon to the field (meaning Spicey couldn't play any of his Trap cards), and wiped him out with that and a Black Luster Soldier powered up to 4700! Awesome, AWESOME move. XD
Afterwards, we decided to travel together as a whole group to go see our idols; the folks of Red vs Blue. Personally, for me, these guys are the reason I came to Armageddon this year. And it was very very exciting to get to meet the folks that put together one of our favorite series. We ended up having a good conversation actually, about how they put it together... I even found out that they use some of the same programs that I do for audio editing! Having brought my laptop, I was pleasantly surprised when they agreed to perform a script that I'd written for them. It was a good script too, and I'm just a little disappointed the voice clips didn't come out well -- I was running off battery power and it cut half of their voices. I'm pleased they did it, however, and that's enough for me. :)
The crew behind Red vs Blue!!
Afterwards, we decided to head up town. It was Leem's birthday (well, actually his birthday was the next day) and we all decided (after a long argument about whether people were going or not. Haha. Poor Deity.) to head to the movies to see Ice Age 2: The Meltdown. So, we approached the door and got our awesome tattoos.... lol, they're just stamps. XD
Have you been to Armageddon?
Let our powers combine!!
So together several of us headed to Reading Cinemas; me, Deity, Leem, his girlfriend Kerryn, Leazer, her boyfriend Jeremy, Louise, and Sorien (who joined us later at the theatre). Provided an ample opportunity to take some pictures of our city on its trademark cloudy day. ;)
We head uptown
The streets of Wellington
As we got closer to the cinema, Kerryn met up with some old friends from one of her previous schools. Man, that was funny. She had NO clue who they were. How saddening. Hooray for random encounters. XD
The paths we take
The movie was alright. It was enjoyable. A lot better than the first Ice Age, I have to say. The first movie wasn't that enjoyable... but the second one was good. Yeah. XD Afterwards, we headed off and back to the Queens Wharf Events Centre with hopes of catching the voice of Goku, along the waterfront this time. I got this picture of Sorien. It saddens me actually. He purchased a shortsword at Armageddon, and I said "Dude, you should go down to the end of the wharf and be all muscley and hold your sword and pose heriocally." Sadly, he wouldn't, so I had to opt for this photo instead. XD
Sorien the Brave, defender and hero
Unfortunately, we were too late... and there wasn't really much else we wanted to do at Armageddon, so we decided to journey home. We stopped off at a restaurant on the waterfront and met up with Leem's cousin for a little bit (who I also know from primary school).
Meeting up with Channy
Leem's peepz. Family, friends, and the all-important ;)
It was after that that we headed home. It was a good day. It was a good day. As the train made it's way back to Upper Hutt, our group slowly disbanded; with Kerryn in Waterloo, and the majority of our group parting ways at Silverstream. Eventually, when we arrived in Wallaceville, Deity went off home, as did Spicey, leaving Louise and I alone. A journey which led us home. Much more took place later on... but, that is another story.
That, my friends, is how I spent my day at Armageddon. :)
Bonus picture:
Our heroes, ahead on their way...
Armageddon took place on the 29th-30th April, at the Queens Wharf Events Centre in Wellington. The Friday before Armageddon, we had a lil' get-together at my house, so that in the morning we could all go to the big event together.
Friday 28th April
At about 10am, Deity arrived. Haha. That was funny. I didn't expect to see her until later on in the day, but she showed up earlier in the morning. Good thing I had a shower when I did; I was planning on leaving it for a couple of hours. XD She finally brought her hard drive and power cables! Yes! So I got BECK at long last (for the price of sharing more goodies. Haha). Deity also managed to get her hands on more One Piece manga, thanks to yours truly (...at a price... hahaha, fanboys FTW... XD). After hanging out with her for most of the day (which involved loud music, lunch and 'socializing' XD), Hara-Kiri made an appearance. He ended up reading One Piece for a little until Louise arrived. Haha.
We had to shoot down to my sister's work, 'coz she was hungry -- she rang up and asked if I could bring her some food, so I took her some small lunch. It didn't all necessarily go together; some beef schnitzel, a sausage, and some chocolate fudge (which was really REALLY good).... but you know what they say: Hunger is the best spice. So we did that, and then came back to my place and just hung around for a while. We played a little bit of four-player Amplitude, which was fun. Louise and I had some intense rounds... though for the most part, I came out on top. Everyone also seemed to think that the final super secret boss song, Cosmonaut Zero - Spaztik, was cute. Yes, it's cute. It's just hella fricking HARD. XD
After Amplitude, we moved onto Buzz, which we're borrowing from one of Dad's friends. I opted out of the first few rounds, choosing instead to cook dinner and such for my guests. Pizza, schnitzel, pasta, and chips. Lol. It was good. Afterwards, however (once our stomachs were satisfied XD), I jumped in and WTFPWND everyone. lol. Well, I don't know that I WTFPWND everyone... but I won, that's for sure. :P
Then, at long last, Louise managed to see RENT. It was saddening. She wouldn't let Deity and I sing through half of it. :( But ah well.
After RENT, we just stayed up and talked for quite a while, as people tried to get to sleep. I don't believe in sleep, so it would've sucked more to be them. Haha.
Saturday 29th April
Saturday finally came. The day of Armageddon (or at least, the day we were going to Armageddon). We had to wake up early, because somebody I know (hint hint, silly Dee XD <3) wanted to wear SPECIFIC FRICKING SOCKS. We were planning to catch the 8:30am train, so we really had to move out early -- it takes a while to get to the train station, and on top of that, Danielle wanted to go home and wear those SPECIFIC FRICKING SOCKS. LOL. Girls. I understand them, for the most part, but there are some things about them I'll just never get.
So, we all parted ways; while Dee and Louise went to grab her SPECIFIC FRICKING SOCKS... I shot back home 'coz I forgot a few things, and Suicide went on ahead to the train station. I met up with him later (he had to stop off at the dairy and get some money or else he couldn't get into Wellington) and we waited at the station for the girls. Eeesh. They arrived with a few minutes to spare.
Waiting for the train!
We texted Spicey back and forth, 'coz he said he was going to join us, but we didn't see him, and time was pressing on. Eventually, the train arrived, so we climbed on board without our friend in sight.
It arrives!
As it turned out, he was back at Upper Hutt Station, while we got on at Wallaceville -- some girl on the train (well, okay, she was probably as old as me but hey, she's a girl so XD) said that there was some guy with bright orange hair back at Upper Hutt Station. I blame the socks for our troubles. Haha. Later on down the line, at Silverstream Station, Sorien climbed aboard. It was good to see him come to Armageddon. I was worried that he wouldn't be able to come with work and such, which saddened me greatly -- I hate it when people plan things, because generally, Sorien gets left out due to work -- but he was able to do his shift on Sunday instead, leaving his Saturday free to hang with us. Yahoo!
Arrival at Wellington Station
When we arrived at Wellington, we decided to wait up for Spicey. Once again, I blame the socks. XD
Chilling at Wellington Station, waiting for Spicey
Our Bankai buddy arrives!
At long last, we finally made the journey from the train station to the Queens Wharf Events Centre. Dee wanted to stop off at an ATM on the way, so we headed for Lambton Quay!
A beautifully cold day in Wellington
Sorien goes surfing! lol
Inner city Wellington, with the Beehive/Parliament Buildings in the background, and Lambton Quay to the left.
Lambton Quay -- for all your Wellington shopping needs!
After stopping off at an ATM, we headed to the Events Centre!
Heading out to the Waterfront, across the street from the Queens Wharf Events Centre
The Queens Wharf Events Centre: the venue for Ragnarok!!... I mean!... gah!
Yeah, right there. That spot on the ground. Lol.
Welcome to our convention!
There were quite a number of guests and such here. Areas and stalls included: Nintendo Wi-Fi gaming area, the creators of Red vs Blue, X-Box 360/PS2 area, National Media Design School, National College of Design and Technology, Lord of the Rings exhibition, The Gamesman, Yu-Gi-Oh Duelling area, deviantArt, and numerous anime/comic/video/fantasy stalls. Guests included Sean Schemmel and Mike McFarland (Goku and Roshi from DBZ), the folks of Bro'Town, John Schneider (from the Dukes of Hazzard), and a few others.
Deity's hungry for some Bankai sandwich!!
We went in and took in the whole scene, and just explored and went browsing. I ended up playing some Dragonball Z: Tenkaichi Budokai for the first time. That was cool. I WTFPWND the kid who beat Glenn. lol. That was so good. But then some older guy (who I found out has the game at home XD) WTFPWND me back. Bah, ah well. It wasn't too bad. It took some getting used to, that's for sure. While in the Gamesman area, I asked if they knew when Kingdom Hearts 2 and Guitar Hero were slated for release over here. They couldn't answer for Kingdom Hearts 2, but Guitar Hero's due to come out sometime in the next two months; I told them "I'll see you then".
It's Zangetsu!... as a golf club! XD This golf game was being showcased for some odd reason. It's no Nintendo Wii, but it'll tide us over 'til then.
While walking around, I saw Leem and Kerryn there; snuck up behind them and said g'day, before they joined us just a little. While walking around, we met up with his sister, Leazer. I haven't seen her since we were in primary school! She's doing hairdressing or something like that, and it was good to catch up with her again. It was quite funny; she said "You seem a lot more friendly now than you used to be". I believe so too. I've been a lot more, outgoing I suppose. How was it Malison put it... I tend to put on a bit more of a show than when we first met. I'm a little louder, a little more in peoples' faces. I'm alot more... fun. XD
Leem's sister, Leazer. I haven't seen her in years.
Ended up walking around a bit more. Following Deity led me to the deviantArt stall. There we met a group of fellow artists, to who Dee politely introduced herself to. One in particular, Kylie Scollick, was kind and Dee ended up purchasing a picture from her. Kai's cool, she's a nice lil' girl. XD Check her gallery out [url=http://keysha-chan.deviantart.com]here![/url]
'Generally' speaking, I wonder how many people took pictures of this car. Har, har.
Special guest John Schneider (from the original Dukes of Hazzard series) was prowling the convention. As a side story, the next day, Spicey got a picture with him for his mother, since his mother was a big Dukes of Hazzard fan. It was really cool actually. Spicey saw him on the street, and started talking to him and was like "Would you mind if I got a picture?" and John was like "Yeah, sounds cool, you wanna be in it?".... so Spicey got to take a picture with him, in his orange haired glory. XD
Half of the Yu-Gi-Oh duelling area. There was another area similar to this set up for duels, and even another small room for the final few matches.
Spicey was a competitor in the Yu-Gi-Oh tournament. He did okay. I was there to witness his last match though. It was beautifully done. He was beaten well. Spicey's monster field was empty, but he had several traps on the field. In the last move, his opponent summoned Mirage Dragon to the field (meaning Spicey couldn't play any of his Trap cards), and wiped him out with that and a Black Luster Soldier powered up to 4700! Awesome, AWESOME move. XD
Afterwards, we decided to travel together as a whole group to go see our idols; the folks of Red vs Blue. Personally, for me, these guys are the reason I came to Armageddon this year. And it was very very exciting to get to meet the folks that put together one of our favorite series. We ended up having a good conversation actually, about how they put it together... I even found out that they use some of the same programs that I do for audio editing! Having brought my laptop, I was pleasantly surprised when they agreed to perform a script that I'd written for them. It was a good script too, and I'm just a little disappointed the voice clips didn't come out well -- I was running off battery power and it cut half of their voices. I'm pleased they did it, however, and that's enough for me. :)
The crew behind Red vs Blue!!
Afterwards, we decided to head up town. It was Leem's birthday (well, actually his birthday was the next day) and we all decided (after a long argument about whether people were going or not. Haha. Poor Deity.) to head to the movies to see Ice Age 2: The Meltdown. So, we approached the door and got our awesome tattoos.... lol, they're just stamps. XD
Have you been to Armageddon?
Let our powers combine!!
So together several of us headed to Reading Cinemas; me, Deity, Leem, his girlfriend Kerryn, Leazer, her boyfriend Jeremy, Louise, and Sorien (who joined us later at the theatre). Provided an ample opportunity to take some pictures of our city on its trademark cloudy day. ;)
We head uptown
The streets of Wellington
As we got closer to the cinema, Kerryn met up with some old friends from one of her previous schools. Man, that was funny. She had NO clue who they were. How saddening. Hooray for random encounters. XD
The paths we take
The movie was alright. It was enjoyable. A lot better than the first Ice Age, I have to say. The first movie wasn't that enjoyable... but the second one was good. Yeah. XD Afterwards, we headed off and back to the Queens Wharf Events Centre with hopes of catching the voice of Goku, along the waterfront this time. I got this picture of Sorien. It saddens me actually. He purchased a shortsword at Armageddon, and I said "Dude, you should go down to the end of the wharf and be all muscley and hold your sword and pose heriocally." Sadly, he wouldn't, so I had to opt for this photo instead. XD
Sorien the Brave, defender and hero
Unfortunately, we were too late... and there wasn't really much else we wanted to do at Armageddon, so we decided to journey home. We stopped off at a restaurant on the waterfront and met up with Leem's cousin for a little bit (who I also know from primary school).
Meeting up with Channy
Leem's peepz. Family, friends, and the all-important ;)
It was after that that we headed home. It was a good day. It was a good day. As the train made it's way back to Upper Hutt, our group slowly disbanded; with Kerryn in Waterloo, and the majority of our group parting ways at Silverstream. Eventually, when we arrived in Wallaceville, Deity went off home, as did Spicey, leaving Louise and I alone. A journey which led us home. Much more took place later on... but, that is another story.
That, my friends, is how I spent my day at Armageddon. :)
Bonus picture:
Our heroes, ahead on their way...