Well, the n00b survived her first con. Is it possible? Hehe. I experienced a lot of things that I had been previously warned about. From room space (oi, I’m still numb) to conslugs. But, it was definately worth it all.

Thursday

                On Thursday, I began my packing. I ran through a checklist about eight times, making sure I would not be without my essentials. (I still forgot my nightclothes >.<) Then, after a rush about who was going to take me to Barbara’s house, I was finally away from my house. I was so psyched. Three days, no work, no family, just all fun! Shin and Babs and I went on a quest for a few things, then dropped Babs off at work. Shin and I hung out at his place while Babs served her TJMaxx slave duty. We picked Babs up at ten and went back the her place, where she and I did my last minute costume prep. Woo....the Dota costume ended up looking good, but we had a hell of a time getting everything done.....

Friday

                Friday morning, Babs and I went to sleep. Then, three hours later, we woke up so we would be ready. At eight, Shin showed up bright and early. We loaded up the Honda with all of our bags (poor car...) and headed off to Chris’s house. At Chris’s, Babs, Pixie and I did a thorough job of scaring all the guys with our happy bubbliness. I was bit scared myself, though, when I saw Pixie and Babs downing packs of sugar. (EEK!) After a few final seating arrangements, we put Mappy in the Honda with us and headed off. At first, Shin and Loki tried to do the early morning “street racing,” but it was soon ended when Loki got ahead and then ended up getting off of the interstate for breakfast. Thing is, it took us a minute to figure this out, so, we just decided to meet them at the Hotel, and went and got breakfast ourselves.

                After a long ride in which Mappy almost dismembered a Semi truck (hehe....ask him about it) we arrived at the hotel. The nice pretty Hilton. Oh, what a beautiful site. We went upstairs to drop off our bags and then poked around the hotel for just a bit. Nothing for the con had started, so we headed off to Rocky’s Replay, the awesome Orlando arcade that has DDR 4th mix! For about two hours, Shin, Mappy, Loki, J-chan, me, and even Bee (a bit) practically raped the 4th mix machine. I discovered I had gotten better at DDR, much better than my last trip to Rocky’s. Well, when we ran out of tokens and we all got tired, we ran back to the con.

                The original plan was, register, shower, get into my Asuka costume and head down to check out the dealer’s room. Well, all that changed as I saw the pretty glow coming from the dealer’s room as I completed registering. I ran over there, and began drooling. I had been told of a dealer’s room, but nothing prepared me for this. (Sad part is, it’s tiny compared to some other cons.) Well, I was still mighty impressed, and I had to hold myself back from buying all the cute plushies and things I saw. I was on an original mission for a Card Captor Sakura wand. (I need a Sakura Wand for one of the costumes I plan on doing.) I found it at a dealer’s table for $36! I had researched online for it earlier, and both dealers carrying it were offering it for $45, so I was very happy to find such a good deal. I then decided that if I didn’t get out of the dealer’s room with my full wallet then, I’d never survive. I bought the wand and then ran upstairs to shower and change.

                In the room, I deposited my bag and got ready to cosplay. The Asuka costume was horribly wrong, but I still had fun wearing it. That was the first and last time I commission someone I don’t know personally. All in all, it was good to wear. I got a couple compliments on it, mostly for the hairclips. (Made by Alisa.) I went back to the dealer’s room, where I bought an Asuka Key Chain to wear with my badge, a Digi Charat wall scroll, and the first Cowboy Bebop soundtrack. (I love Tank!) Then, I dragged Pixie and Babs into one of the rooms to watch some Kodacha. I love the series, and now, so do they! ^_^

                After that, I went upstairs and got out of the Asuka uniform. (I don’t know how Japanese girls can wear those every day.) I put my jeans back on and went and walked around a bit more. We visited the game room, where everyone had converged to play Para Para Paradise. I watched as others tried, but I was too chicken to try it myself. (Now I wish I had.) After a couple rounds of that, and a few of Drummania, we left the con and headed back to Rocky’s. Again, we raped the 4th mix machine, though this time the others played a bit more on the 3rd mix. (I stayed away from it....the difficulty was on high....miss two steps and I’m out....no way.) Babs and Pixie wanted to leave Rocky’s after a while, because they don’t play DDR much. I stayed behind, and at one point thought I had been deserted, but found out later that everyone else had converged around a new Konami Boxing game. Shin kicked major arse at it, and proved that he can throw a punch. It was funny watching him, because he just kept winning. He went down, maybe two times, but he kept feeding the machine tokens, and made an impressive score. After he beat the game, (or ran out of tokens, I’m not sure) we left Rocky’s and went back to the hotel.

                Shin, Babs and I relaxed in the hotel room for a bit, and then headed downstairs for the Para Para Tournament. They had yet to set it up, and still had a DDR pad out when we arrived, so I had a little fun displaying my newly acquired skills. (I may not be great, but I’m better.) Then, the tournament began. Even though I was a bit tired, I enjoyed watching Shin and Mappy play, and J-chan make a total ass of himself, literally. I nearly fell asleep next to Babs on the floor, but I managed to stay awake until the end. Then, I dragged myself to the room so I could pass out on the bed.

                Alas, my plan was foiled! I could not pass out on the bed with Shin pushing me against the wall because Babs was pushing him, because Mappy was pushing her. This was one aspect of con life I was not pre-warned about.

Saturday

                Saturday morning, I woke up with my entire left side numb. Shin had to practically pull me out of bed, so I could get up and shower. I washed up, and then Shin took me to get a disposable Camera. When we got back, I went downstairs and bought a couple of tapes in the dealer’s room. I had seen a few episodes of Revolutionary Girl Utena the day before, and thought it looked cool. I bought tapes one and two, subbed, of course.

                Then, Babs and I headed off to the Shoujo room to catch the “End of Sailor Moon.” I’m not all that much of a Sailor Moon fan myself, but she is, and she wanted to see it. Well, we ended up catching an episode of this extremely messed up Anime called Daa Daa Daa. Very messed up, and hard to explain, but funny as hell. Hopefully, I’ll get to see more of it in the future.

                Before the Sailor Moon started, Shin called us up asking for a little help on one of his costumes. We left, vowing to rent Daa Daa Daa, and headed up to the room. After Shin got in costume and everyone else left the room, save for a few sleepers, I got into costume. It took Pixie, Babs, and I to get me into the costume, but when we finally got it all fixed, it looked great. I nervously crept towards the elevator, ready to debut myself in full cosplay garb, wings and all.

                It was great! Everyone recognized me! Everywhere I turned, I heard “Oh, look, it’s Dota” and “Hi! You look great, can I have your picture?” Major thanks to Babs, who practically did the entire dress. It was fantastic. She took it upon herself to hold the wings out of the way so I could walk easily. (Thanks girl, where would I be without you?) While cosplaying, I ran into many a cute cosplayer. Gecko-san looked so kawaii in his Milk costume, while Mara-chan ran around in his Digi-Charat, nyo! But, the cutest cosplayer had to be the little Card Captor Sakura. She was so cute! She wore the Sakura Pixie outfit, and was running around, posing left and right. What an adorable girl!

                Well, I was in my Dota costume for about four hours, and my shoulders were hurting by the time the flcosplay pictures were over. The wing straps left deep red marks on my back and shoulders. Because of the pain I was in, I rushed up to our room the second the pics were over and got Babs to help me change. After I was back to normal Bran-Chan mode (I kept my purple wig on, just took the bun covers out of it....hehe) we left for Rocky’s again! Hehe.....more DDR and raping of the 4th mix machine! We played for a few hours, and then headed back to the hotel. I got hit on by some Mexican lookin’ dude. He gave me his number, but, I am not about to waste a long distance phone call on a guy I hardly know.

                After Rocky’s, I was so sweaty and hungry and whatnot. I grabbed Babs and Pixie (and Bee, who went with Pixie) and we headed down to the pool for a bit. I just had to cool off after the Rocky’s session. I didn’t swim for long, though. It gets kinda boring. So, I left everyone else and headed upstairs. There, I ran into Shin who said he was gonna go get food. (FOOD?! Where?!) We went downstairs and had some of the Gundam Wing “this meal has nothing to do with anime we just tacked on a popular series name” buffet. $11 bucks a plate? Well, the food was pretty good, and as hungry as I was, I really didn’t care at that point.

                After we ate, we went over to the game room and found everyone else. They were again crowded around the DDR pad hooked up to a big screen TV. I signed up for a turn, and then sat down next to Babs. I think she and everyone else had come into that room looking for Shin and I. She was a little upset when she found out we had eaten. I was paying more attention to DDR, though, so I kinda ended up blocking her out. (hehe...sorry girl...^_^) When my turn came around, I chose my absolute favorite Erotic song, “turn me on.” I had only discovered that day that I could pass it! I was so happy!

                Soon after that, we attended the cosplay contest. I saw a lot of great talent in that room. One of the best skits had to have been Gecko-San and Mara-Chan’s really cool Pretty Sammy skit. (Damn, I hate it when guys can wear skirts that well! >.<.) The cosplay contest took a very long time to finish with, and when we arrived, it had been standing room only. I soon gave up my good view for a more comfortable seat, and then I had to strain my neck to see everything. Oh well.

                To kill time while the judges decided, there was a very disorganized version of anime name that tune. I watched for a bit, but then decided to head up to the room for a minute. Everyone was raping my Dance Pad....eep! I was so afraid they were going to hurt it. I played one round on it, and then left, making sure that everyone knew they were to buy me a new pad (and fast) if mine was to break. Then I headed downstairs to watch the cosplay awards.

                After that, everyone left to go get a snack or two. I stayed behind and ended up helping with the setup for the DDR dance party. But, I was quickly torn away when Shin ran in and informed me that Babs was hurt. (Poor baby!) We quickly packed up our things and hurried home. We needed to get Babs to her mother, and fast. It ended up taking us about four hours to get home, because Shin had to stop every fifteen miles, or he would have passed out a the wheel. But, we did it.

                All in all, I say my first con went quite well. I had a lot of fun, and got to do many things. I didn’t really miss out on much by leaving early. I’ve heard Sundays at cons are always slow. Besides, the con was little. I definitely hope to go back to AFO next year. (Maybe they’ll be a bit more prepared.) But, up next for me, AWA 7! W00t!

 [ Written by Bran-Chan ]