Oh Canada!
Alright... So I just realized I have spent about 400 bucks on anime north alone...included in about 4300 spent money this month... which isn't so bad when you consider that 3000 of it was for a car... but i will have to pay another 500 for oral surgery... and 130 was from my car being towed from the monroe community college parking lot while i was in toronto. but its all good now and the rest of the money was well spent and worth it so ok so now that the bad stuff is out of the way.
Anime North was amazing and im bloody going back next year with laura and her posse.
I loved the chance to travel and to be honest a lot of the fun i had was not even at the convention. The night before anything even started we decided to go out into the city and to get our money exchanged to canadian. We promptly got lost. After a long time of aimlessly wandering around we ran into the airport, which by the way is the most confusing tangle of roads dipping over and under and next to each other that by the time you get off it you feel like you should go buy some cotton candy and play games down on the midway. After a bit of maneuvering through that asphalt roller coaster we find a parking garage that can be summed up in three words: The Borg Cube. It was spooky as hell and when we got in we had to go through this maze of gigantic elevators that could fit a large truck in them and moving platforms that make you feel like you can walk at super speeds and then fling you off the other end. After the currency exchange we then had to navigate our way back to the car and then get out... only problem is we couldn't. We kept going in the same circle over and over every so often spying a sign that says "sortie" and us screaming "no! no sortie!" then when we get to the exit we realize the parking machine doesn't accept cash, only plastic. We explain that we only have cash and the obviously chinese man says in the most historically confused and slightly outraged stereotypical 'what?!? you don't got credit caaard?!" Needless to say typing it does no justice whatsoever.
So, we finally escape and decide to go downtown to spend this money, possibly get some food. We promptly get lost again and somehow, like the forbidden city shrouded in mist, fall into china town. Much happy shopping and browsing ensues and we end up staying there hours upon hours. Eventually, after getting some bubble tea (good stuff), we remember we are hungry and track down the CN Tower to find downtown Toronto. After wandering around aimlessly for a while we find a gigantic I-Max theater. Low and behold they have x-men 3 playing at midnight because its the very first showing of the movie, the very day of its opening. So we conspire to never tell our friends in the hotel we left behind that we plan to see it without them and buy the tickets. Problem is we have 2 hours to burn. We are hungry anyways and we need parking so after much debate we decide on Hooters which had a special deal on parking tokens. We drink sangria, we eat wings, we leave happy. X-3 was of course excellent and we find our way back to the hotel at around 4am and pass out. In some ways we had more fun that night that we had for the rest of the con... but don t discount it yet.
Much fangirl/boying was to be had and oogling cosplayers and watching viewings of anime... much trading of Yu Gi Oh Cards and playing of it (I mostly just watched.) Things were bought in the dealers room (I got a leather whip with a metal clasp so i can put it on my belt and a few soundtracks and dvds) and many pictures were taken of others and had taken of us (those of us that were cosplaying.) Later that night 4 of us including me get buzzed on vodka and rum and have a cuddle orgy in bed until we fall asleep, much to the envy of the rest of the people.
This part is definitely the first real actual fanboy moment I have had. We were in the elevator with this guy that kind of looked like Paul from the Beatles, when suddenly laura realizes that it looks also just like Quinton Flynn. This won't mean anything to a lot of you but he is a well known voice actor from games, animes, tv series, and animated movies. So, after we are out of the elevator and outside the building we see him turn around because he seems to have forgotten something in his room. Laura goes up to him and asks him if he is indeed Quinton Flynn. He bloody is! At this point she is taken aback because she didn't expect him to say yes. After much praise of him and fangirl/boying (though not rabidly) he tells us to wait in the lobby and he will bring down pics that he will autograph for us. At this point when he is gone I am informed that he did the english voice for Reno from Advent Children. Fuckin Reno! I LOVE Reno! He is definitely my favorite. SO, at this point i got to experience a true fan boy moment and waited for him to come back. After signing for us he had an actual conversation. Not some 'I talk to you cuz i have to,' bull. But an actual normal conversation. And he actually keeps walking with us even as we expect him to duck back into his car. He is a great guy definitely.
So then more happy fun stuff happens and we sleep and the next day we do more happy fun things and head back home. On the way back we stop at Niagara Falls and get something to eat.. play in the arcade a while.. watch the falls.. get ice cream.. then continue home. Much time passes....
When we get back to the parking lot my car is gone...towed...so i end up staying the night at Laura's place who coincidentally is friends with another close friend of mine. I find out i cant get my car til tuesday morning so we hang out and the next day i get to see Mia..yay! Theres a bit of a damper when Mia learns her grandma passed on but later on we cheer her up and more good times are to be had. Sleepy time and wake up today... After much fiasco today i get my car back and give hugs and goodbyes...go immediately to work...get out of work early and go to the oral surgeon...find out about the costs and go to the first day of class... all on about 2-3 hours sleep... getting home from class is where i am right now
So there you have it... my weekend in a nutshell... many other good things happened but it would be insanely long if i said everything...this post is bloated enough... so without further rigamarol... I'm Back :D