It's that time of year again. AWA  was the major con most of the Fuji-crew and friends attended for the past 4 years. I went to AWA 5 because I heard great things from Mappy, Crazy Bee and Unlucky Charms about it. I went. I had a fucking good time. Friends and convention. I couldn't wait to goto AWA6 then. Between those conventions I hit a couple of local Florida based conventions. AWA6 Arrived, AWA 6 was lazy. I only really enjoyed a couple of things about the convention it self..Who's line is that Anime (prolly the best part next to some of Anime Hell and the Music Video Contest). I was satisfied by the convention. But besides that the coolest part was hanging out with every one. That was the best part. Now let's skip ahead to the present. Now, AWA7. AWA7 sucked. Five   good things came out of this. 1. Hanging out with every body and meeting a lot of new people 2. Tons of pictures 3. My new Kobun plushie that I got at the dealer's room 4. Every one's Cosplay 5.The Drive to and from was great! To the story!

I woke up around 5 AM and got ready. Left to pick up Barbara and Brandy. Then we met up with Locky and Lee- The Fan Boy Assasin. Our trip began with a five car train that derailed several times. Leading was Locky and Lee in the Nissan Stanza, Lindsey and her two friends (I can't remember their names..sorry ^_^;;) , Boom Box Boy Leonardo DeCaprio Matt and his Pontiac, Blue haired James (A friend of Locky and Lee) and his Truck, Then Finally Shin (me!) with Barbara and Brandy and my Honda Civic DX 97 SOHC. Several times we lost each other but with Locky's and my driving skill, we got every one there. Funniest part when all 5 cars took all 3 lanes of  (what I belive) was I-85 and some how formed a middle finger out of the cars and taking all three lanes of the highway. Then Eventually we ended up at the convention.

It was great, I walked into the hotel where the convention was held. I never met her in person before until this weekend, but a girl ran upto me and It took me a second to figure out who it was. Maryssa recognized me ^_^. It was great to finally meet her. From there on it's a blur. I can only remember hanging out with Maryssa and meeting Max and their friends Mike..and for gods sakes, I hate my memory. I can't remember the other guy's name but they were good people. After the countless pictures I took I turn around to find Kate screaming at me and I started to run. She wouldn't stop so I kept on runnin'. Then I stopped and let her have her way. I was greeted by Kate , Meghan and Natalie. Very cute girls. Then Joey, Another cute girl. ;_; The heavens have blessed me with soo many cute girls ;_; Thank you Lord. Eventually later we ended up on the 2nd floor and hung out with every one. I didn't stay still for but a minute or so taking pictures all over the place. When I finally sat down on the couch on the upstairs,  I opened my book bag to give Brandy her Birthday gift. In turn, she brutally raped me infront of every one X.x.

         Well after being brutally raped. I can't really remember what happend next. At one point I was with Joey and Dogbert watching the DDR Project. After that was over, I eventually ran into Mappy. It was about time he got there. So I hung out with him and Jenny , Maryssa, Max, Kate , Meg , Nato and every one else that was there. Interesting stuff there. Dragging people around, drunk people and Canasians. Got some good pictures ^_^. Around 2 AM I left and went to sleep. That's the end of Day 01. Rather interesting and got to meet a lot of cool people.

Saturday Sept. 22nd 2001 - Damn that free breakfast was good / Battle Royale hasn't started yet...

         I woke up with the girls and went off and got my breakfast on. Pretty damn good too. After we hit the con. After a couple of pictures and hanging out with Kate, Meg and Nato I then decided to go ahead and get my cosplay on. Bran , Barbara and I went back to the room. Forgetful me forgot my electric razor. I didn't know how to use a manual razor..I'm lame..so what? So they did it for me ^_^;; After that and some preperation I got my cosplay on. Puchiko. Woo ha! The first guy to do Puchiko (as far as I know it) and the 2nd Puchiko at the con (I do have to admit the other Puchiko was cuter ^_^;;). I actually got some pictures taken of me. Kinda weird, the most that I've had strangers take pictures of my cosplay. I haven't seen it (even at this time as I'm writing this) but I had a picture on Fansview.com. More more pictures I took. Eventually I got hungry again as well as Meghan did. By this time it was around 11-12:30. So we got our snack on down at the overprised food stand. Again, I have bad memory. So the following probibly didn't happend the the following order.

Around 4:00 it was time for the AWA Mailing list and Message board reunion. I missed it last year so I made it for the panel this year with Kate and Joey representing Fujikoma pride. Dear lord, what a dissapointment...and a good laugh. From what I rememberd there they said something like they didn't know this panel was planned til 15 minutes before it was schedualed to happen. So they asked for the audience to introduce themselves. So Kate, Joey and I Stated who we were. Us: "We're from Fujikoma" Them: "Ahhhhh!" Kate:" Why do you hate us?" Me: "We aren't even a cosplay group" Fanboy: "Get a life!" Us: " - Laughing -" D.Surat Introduces himself and we left.

Joey, Meg, Bran, Kate and I then found ourselves at the music video contest. There were some great videos and some that were nice. I got bored watching all the slow paced videos so I left. ^_^;;

Through out that day Mappyman called me on my cell phone telling me when he'd be back at the con. He was helping Jenny with her costume. For any of you who haven't seen Jenny's costume, It's gorgeous! I only got one picture of it and It didn't turn out all that great...I wish I could have gotten atleast one good picture so I can cg it. Eventually They showed up and sometime later that afternoon, A good portion of the Fujikoma Crew and friends gatherd for a group shot. I wasn't in it....I was taking the pictures! Why do you think the pictures came out good? I then took some more pictures. Before or after that, the left over cake that I got for Meghan, Brandy and Mappy's Birthday was used against Danny Hong with Jenny using it as a weapon.  Later we took over the Lobby TV with Some Para Para Paradise. Played a bit, I don't know any of the routines so I look like a freak playing the game. Soon after it was time for BATTLE ROYALE! Through out the weekend Kate killed me twice...she so says dispite that none of them have actually watched the movie. The game doesn't start til every one saw the movie. So we all watched. Some where towards the end I got sick. I think it was the ghetto burger I ate eariler for dinner I had to lay down. I feel asleep and missed out on the cool shit. In between drifting in and out of sleep I let Mappy take my camera for the night so he could take pictures. -.-;; I missed out on hanging out.

Sunday Sept. 23rd 2001 - FIN

Again I woke up, I felt a whole lot better. I wandered around the convention a bit and talked to some people. Eventually it came time to go. First it was Mappy. We went to go say bye to Maryssa but she wasn't feeling all that great either. So we went down stairs...rather tried. The elevators were insane. So it took a while before we got down stairs. Before leaving, Mappy Introduced me to Dommi. She's freakin cool ^_^ I only got to talk for a sec. After a couple of more pictures. I said my good byes and Barbara, Bran and I left back home.

Shout outs

To the Fuji-crew in attendance:  It was great hanging out again! We all had a great time hanging out and taking pictures.
Maryssa:  ^_^ About time I met you. It was a pleasure to meet you.
Max: Dispite that we didn't talk to each other much, you're pretty damn cool from what I seen.
Lindze: Attention every one, Lindze's lewd! I would have never thought you were that lewd. It was awesome meeting you! Your PSO Costume owned. As of this writing I've still been wanting to send you the non-resized image of this picture I took of you in your PSO Costume. ^_^;
Tim Flanagan: Your art rocks! I'm glad you hung out with the Fuji crew and I. Ghetto Con 2001! Word!
Ichiban-Crush: That sucked that your one hour trip turned into a multi hour trip. ^_^ Dispite that, It was great meeting you.
Lee, The Fanboy Assassin: Mad Thanks for letting me in on the room for AWA! For those who hadn't thanked Lee for the room who stayed in it, Do so.
Meghan, Kate, Nato, and Joey: ;_; I wish I could make copies of you all for myself! You four were the ones I hung out with a lot between the events. Meg, I still owe you that meal. I wasn't happy with that being that I owed you. Same to you Nato, I feel bad about what happend in Ruby Tuesdays.. Kate, No more chasing me around in Circles around people. Joey, Your Zell costume was awesome as well as the Melvin Costume, But I just realized I had never thanked you for the art work you've done for The Fujikoma page and Me. I regret not doing so.
Jenny: ^_^ It was great to finally meet you too. Mappy's told me about you it was what he said. I hope the Canasian pictures are to your liking! ^_^
To the following:To any one else I forgot, I'm sorry that I have forgotten you. As you have noticed through out this report, I don't have the greatest memory..

Conclusion

AWA Sucked. Hanging out with Friends good. Thank you. Good bye.

October 6th 2001- Shin