Anime Boston Wrap-up!
Thursday- Rode down with Jerran and one of his friends. We got a late start, so it was late evening by the time we arrived. Wasn't much to do other than sign-in. There was a rather severe problem with the shower, though, causing most of the carpet to get soaked. Not my fault, I swear.
Friday- Signed up to volunteer at the manga library, where I proceeded to spend the rest of the day checking books in and out. This felt like the biggest scam ever: here I was reading manga, and I got free food, a t-shirt and pin, and even a refund on my registration fee! This only really works if you're anti-social enough to spend fourteen hours at a convention reading manga, though. Needless to say, this was no problem whatsoever for me. There was a showing of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, but I decided instead to brush up on my Melty Blood skills and sign up for the tournament the next day. I had already missed the Guilty Gear competition (I figured I would have stood no chance in it anyway, having not played GG for months and having never TOUCHED XX#), but I wanted some fighting game competition. Thus, Melty Blood. By the time I left I had gotten most of the movements down and was ready for action!
Saturday- My free day at the con! Miaka had jitters going into the Voice Acting competition... which ended up not mattering because she wasn't called up. Unfair. -.- I also participated in the Melty Blood tournament. I'm glad I got to play the game again, but the difference between my meager skills and the top tier was just too much. I got knocked out in the second round, though to my credit I didn't get perfected even though I spent more than half of my second match getting pounded in the corner. x.x Why couldn't my friends have made it to my much cooler first match? Grr. Went with friends to the Cheesecake factory; having not eaten anything for breakfast and it being past 4 by the time we were seated, I was rather hungry. This was good, because the mammoth portions provided were intended for just such an appetite. And Rivier College ended up with the tab! Not bad, but Miaka's food wasn't so good (who the hell ever heard of Shepard's Pie with barbecue sauce?!), so she was irritable. This did not help matters when we went to get cheesecake after 11, and the only place open served a tiny little saucer's worth of cheesecake for $7.50 and wanted three bucks for hot water and bagged tea. What a gyp. Which reminds me, don't ever go hotel restaraunts, specifically the Sheraton's. It's a waste. We finished the evening with some light television watching. Miaka was browsing the menus and, I being without my glasses at the time, thought the options looked like kanji. Imagine my surprise when I put on my glasses and found out, "Oh, it IS kanji!"
Sunday- Finished up work at the manga library. They cancelled the second showing of "Haruhi Suzumiya", which I kinda wanted to see. I heard later that the English voices sounded "weird". Picked up a puppy Amaterasu pin at Artist's Alley, and kicked myself for not bringing enough cash to get one of the Shadow of the Collossus prints. Took the bus back to Nashua with Miaka's family and discovered that we probably should have taken the bus down, since it was not as low-quality as the both of us imagined it would be. Well, next time.
All in all, not a bad trip. I still don't quite understand all the noise, but I guess cons will be around as long as people enjoy them. It also got me to start thinking about uniform designs for Para/Normal, I got a couple of character ideas for Tiny Angel Jam!, and developed a really MEAN scenario for "The Icks" (a BESM roleplaying campaign I'll be running with my friends, muahahaha). And anything that helps with writing is a GOOD THING.
Friday- Signed up to volunteer at the manga library, where I proceeded to spend the rest of the day checking books in and out. This felt like the biggest scam ever: here I was reading manga, and I got free food, a t-shirt and pin, and even a refund on my registration fee! This only really works if you're anti-social enough to spend fourteen hours at a convention reading manga, though. Needless to say, this was no problem whatsoever for me. There was a showing of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, but I decided instead to brush up on my Melty Blood skills and sign up for the tournament the next day. I had already missed the Guilty Gear competition (I figured I would have stood no chance in it anyway, having not played GG for months and having never TOUCHED XX#), but I wanted some fighting game competition. Thus, Melty Blood. By the time I left I had gotten most of the movements down and was ready for action!
Saturday- My free day at the con! Miaka had jitters going into the Voice Acting competition... which ended up not mattering because she wasn't called up. Unfair. -.- I also participated in the Melty Blood tournament. I'm glad I got to play the game again, but the difference between my meager skills and the top tier was just too much. I got knocked out in the second round, though to my credit I didn't get perfected even though I spent more than half of my second match getting pounded in the corner. x.x Why couldn't my friends have made it to my much cooler first match? Grr. Went with friends to the Cheesecake factory; having not eaten anything for breakfast and it being past 4 by the time we were seated, I was rather hungry. This was good, because the mammoth portions provided were intended for just such an appetite. And Rivier College ended up with the tab! Not bad, but Miaka's food wasn't so good (who the hell ever heard of Shepard's Pie with barbecue sauce?!), so she was irritable. This did not help matters when we went to get cheesecake after 11, and the only place open served a tiny little saucer's worth of cheesecake for $7.50 and wanted three bucks for hot water and bagged tea. What a gyp. Which reminds me, don't ever go hotel restaraunts, specifically the Sheraton's. It's a waste. We finished the evening with some light television watching. Miaka was browsing the menus and, I being without my glasses at the time, thought the options looked like kanji. Imagine my surprise when I put on my glasses and found out, "Oh, it IS kanji!"
Sunday- Finished up work at the manga library. They cancelled the second showing of "Haruhi Suzumiya", which I kinda wanted to see. I heard later that the English voices sounded "weird". Picked up a puppy Amaterasu pin at Artist's Alley, and kicked myself for not bringing enough cash to get one of the Shadow of the Collossus prints. Took the bus back to Nashua with Miaka's family and discovered that we probably should have taken the bus down, since it was not as low-quality as the both of us imagined it would be. Well, next time.
All in all, not a bad trip. I still don't quite understand all the noise, but I guess cons will be around as long as people enjoy them. It also got me to start thinking about uniform designs for Para/Normal, I got a couple of character ideas for Tiny Angel Jam!, and developed a really MEAN scenario for "The Icks" (a BESM roleplaying campaign I'll be running with my friends, muahahaha). And anything that helps with writing is a GOOD THING.