Ah yes, the Orlando convention once again. Fujikomas deemed "favorite" con, due to it being so much more lax and simple compared to the big wig cons. This year was no different than the last, in fact it was even cooler this year and everyone had a really god time despite a few minor quibbles.

It began Thursday night. Dogbert and I took a last minute greyhound over to Jacksonville, met up with Loki and his roommate Lee and then headed to Bee's house. We BSed most of the night and in the morning we were all set to go. We rounded up the crew, loaded up the cars then we were off!
The drive was pretty fun. I was with Bran-chan, Babs, and Shin. We played Happy Hardcore CDs all the way down. we stopped to eat once at the Waffle House and get gas. On the way I did the arm-pull thing to get a truck to honk its horn then I guess he pulled the emergency brake because the truck suddenly started swerving and smoking coming to an abrupt halt. it freaked everyone out; but we kept driving! ^_^;;

The hotel was really nice. not as outdoorsy as last years but bigger, better, and best of al only 10 minutes away from Rocky's Replay; an arcade that has several Konami machines we all love. Since we arrived a few hours before the con officially opens we all decided to go play at Rockys until it opened.

We got there to see they had not only a DDR 3rd and 4thMix machines but also MoCap Boxing! Yay! we played there for nearly 2 hours straight. sadly the 3rd Mix machine was cranked to extremely tough difficulty so most of us got tired of failing a song after only missing 3 steps. MoCap was cool. I think only myself and Shin played it a lot but its really cool, and gives you god arm/punching workout.

We left back to the hotel to find more people were arriving now and the tables were open. since I preregisted, I got Pocky in my bag as well as a few comics. everyone else just signed up at the desk. First place I was off to; Dealers Room.
Keeping the same tradition as last year, AFO2 had even more bootleg stuff than last year. this time they were not only selling CDs & soundtrack bootlegs but DVDs as well! and at $10 a CD, how can you resist not buying at least 5...or 6.. or 10?! ^_^ I also saw a really cool art book there I had to get. Bee was beyond broke so I had to hold him back from spending what little money he had. "Even if theres a Mononoke Hime cel, autographed by Miyazaki himself; you hold me back" he told me. haha. I noticed that Chynna Clugston-Major would be a special guest at this con and sure enough she was in the dealers room with her own table selling copies of her new comic Absolute Beginners. I was really happy to meet her as I love her style in comics and the humor she uses is totally original. I got to actually sit down with her and talk about her comic, where she got some inside jokes from, and other things. shes such a cool person and on top of that; shes HOT!

I mingled over to the videogame room where people were already busting out DDR on an el' cheapo Topway pad. Other games were Eretzevaju, DragonBallGT, CardCaptorSakura Puzzle, Cannon Spike, and a few others. Later on someone busted out an atari 2600! lotsa variety in this place. Gene showed up later with ParaParaParadise, Dance Summit 2001, and DrumMania. unfortunately Gene was really sick during this whole con so it was hard for him to really enjoy himself.

Before heading back to Rockys later that night, Terra, Gene, Diana, Terra's friend and myself got together to go eat at some japanese place down the street. the food was really good but since I was in "con-mode", I really didn't eat all that much. I took a giant plate of meat with me to Rockys which everyone helped themselves to. All night we stayed at Rockys playing 4th Mix and MoCap. Gene even knew a code that would let you fight the old referees in the game! it was funny! "Old Man Moses is goin doooown!". Most of the Fujikoma crew left later on that night as not everyone is a big fan of DDR. just as they had left, who arrived but the DownSouthStomp DDR crew! KneeDrawp, SGumi, MrSatan, and DQ were all there! they had got lost in traffic so instead of saying the cheer "DSS Like Whuuut" I go "DSS Like Looooosst" ^_^. we got to see everyone do their routines but I was way too worn out to do anything much else that night, and Rockys doesn't allow videos so I couldn't get any of them on tape =[

By the time I got back that night most everyone was either coming back from the pool or just playing games. The ParaPara tryouts for the finals were that night and quite a few of us were there for it. Only about 6 or so people played, most who have never heard of the game before. saw one guy just go up there and wave both arms back and fourth really fast. it qualified him but he looked ridiculous doing it. well....not as ridiculous as Dogbert tho =P. Bed arrangements that night were funky. Lee slept on the couch, Loki slept on the floor (as always), Bee and Pixie had a bed to themselves, and Shin, Babs, Brandy, and me shared one big bed. sometime in the night (morning?) everyone was saying how Babs' ass became my pillow. crazy!

The next morning we all got in costumes. Shin as Amie, Brandy as Dota, Loki as Larva, and Lee as Dr. Ito. I wore a ghetto Beat costume (like everything was missing from it) then followed up with a ghetto Rage 4th Mix costume. Derek wore his Konsento costume aka "PlugMan" costume which Everyone loved. he kept asking people if it freaks them out, haha. I overheard some fanboys in the bathroom saying they were jealous because girls payed more attention to PlugMan than them, heh.

Trekked over to Rockys once again, this time with Ashley and her husband Tony. they've never experienced DDR, Mocap Boxing or Police 911. so it was really neat to show them these new arcades. Hex and Dave were here also so we got to hang out and try all sorts of things with Mocap.

The cosplay began around this time, about an hour off schedule, and filled up really fast. For a bit I stood in the back with Bee and Liz but then I found a seat by Megan, Shin, and Locky. Loki became Loki officially sometime around now because Megan kept pronouncing it wrong, but in a funny way the name just kinda stuck with him. I didn't stay for the entire cosplay, there was a rave to prepare for!

Over at the videogame room WackoTTL was there running it. Gene was here also and he had brought Samba De Amigo for me to have (Muchos Gracias Gene! Arribah!). Unfortunately around this time Babs got into an accident so for a little bit there was extreme panic about what we would need to do. Things eventually got settled but Shin, Brandy, and Babs had to leave right away. Diana and I went out to get some eats at McDonalds before the dance. When we came back the cosplay was just ending so we had to make fast and clear the room of chairs and set up for the dance. The coordinators for AFO are really cool people. they'll allow random congoers to come in with them to setup but Only if they're setting up. they had the room cleared of chairs, tables and trash in less than 20 minutes flat. the sound was now working and the projection screens for DDR & ParaPara were all set up. the doors opened.

All night dozens of fans came in. most to watch, others to play. the giant room was divided into two sections; DDR & ParaPara. in the back of the rooms was Space Channel 5. The con set up a booth selling two of the greatest things ever- Glowsticks...and POCKY! you could buy both for only $2. as the night went on they lowered the price. the sound was everywhere and people were loving it.

Gene was lucky enough to have Jen show up to help with ParaPara. Jen knew nearly EVERY parapara dance routine so she got up on the stage next to the projected screen. Gene was a really funny host too! One of the best quotes "If you don't have a glowstick; its like being a Nazi without Hitler!" the night went on and we eventually decided to just set the game on Endless mode and have people just step up and play. Tournament time was now starting. several people hadn't filled out a form at the door, so we just kinda winged the tournament and had people sign up on the fly. it was strictly score based. we really didn't have time to judge people and it was too dark anyway. Near the end we had to turn away late people who signed up as the event coordinator was really pressed for time. Lets put it this way; the Rave should have been over by midnight but it went on until....4am!!! just goes to show how popular it was ^_^. in the end of it all we all wrapped up and said our goodbyes.

I didn't want to sleep just yet to I went around to find Dogbert and I notice Dave was playing Clerks in the middle of the lobby. the hotel was REALLY cool because so long as we weren't disturbing people they didn't mind! After that we watched Tokyo Breakfast and did MetalGearSolid impressions with a cardboard box we found. It was really late now so up I went to the room. The hotel was doing AnimeTV too just like big name conventions. just turn on the TV to find that it was playing one of many many movies from the weekend. End Of Eva, Tank Police, Lain, and other movies were being played on the hotel tvs all weekend. I fell asleep during one of the dubbs. That night I had the bed allll to myself ^_^.

That morning I left with Ashley, Tony, and Dogbert. the con was great and even though Babs had that unfortunate accident, things cleared up and everyone had a great time. Again; BOOTLEGS! AFO is still the best con for this and they really know how to run a con. This would have to be a little larger than AWA2, and with better movies and dance. AFO; thanks for everything!