My Plan A for this one was to go down there for Saturday only.
After hearing about possibilities of making a full weekend of it, I stopped
and reconsidered. Then I reconsidered again and decided to stick
with Plan A due to the fact that even if I got there today, I would have
nowhere to properly stay for the weekend. A repeat of Anime Central
last year is something I do not need at all. Yes, I still remember
that vividly. At least for this I have the option of just going there,
and then going home for the night. Good ol' Option H.
There is a time for action! And that time is... tomorrow.
Instead of jumping into Ai-chan and hitting the road with full gusto and no common sense, I stick around the house finishing up some odds and ends. Yes, I can live with just going to a con for one day. Gee, I must have matured or something. Three or four years ago, going to a con for one day only was unthinkable. Why, I had to go for the whole weekend! Now I'm content with the idea of Saturday only. Tomorrow will be soon enough, but the day after will be too late. Besides, while I want to go, and I see myself as able to, I must watch myself financially. The fact that I'm going to this at all is almost a miracle. While the unemployment checks are ok, I don't want to rely on them too heavily. One day is half as expensive as two. The objective for this evening, however, is to get to sleep at a reasonable hour because waking up at two in the afternoon is not reasonable. Especially when I want to leave the house seven hours before that.
The goal!
Perhaps I'll be able to stay under a hundred dollars for the event.
Can it happen? Maybe. Gas, registration, and some food should
cover the bulk of it. Maybe some anime or a cd. So I sacrifice
a day or two for the sake of better preparation and lower expenses.
Sounds like a fair trade.
Time to get moving.
Woke up earlier than normal, so I could get moving earlier than normal. Success! But the trip to the con was three and a half hours of ugly. My foresight of replacing Ai-chan's wiper blades a short time ago put the drive quality back into the tolerable range. There's something about going to this convention that would incline me to drive here in my old 300ZX or even Suba-chan, if I still had either of them. Maybe it's the whole "maybe I'll get there, maybe I won't" or "reckless abandonment" thing. Just for the fun of it, I listened to Yuko Miyamura songs the whole way down.
So I got my registration for Saturday only, and I start with the music video contest. Some old, some new, some good, and some... ew. It ends early, so they use the Bozak Origins movie for the remaining 50 minutes. Nice choice of filler, but I would have thought they'd use other music videos. There must be about fifty thousand of them in existence by now.
In the program book, I see that much of the staff had a lot to do with running Katsucon and Neko-con. A small con with big con staff.
There is a Mr. Slim Pickens in the dealers room this weekend.
When the MV's and Bozak are done, I wander in the dealers room. Whoa, not much stuff. I see all I need to in one pass of 15 minutes. It looks like my goal of staying under a hundred bucks will be easy, or at least not impossible. At the baggage check, someone is running Digi Charat on a laptop for the amusement of those nearby. It's damn cold in here. All I brought were shorts. I'm hungry. Wah.
So far, I'm glad I'm not going for the entire weekend. It's a fun con, yeah, but I gotta cut corners where I can. And going for Saturday-only cuts a big corner. Maybe a t-shirt or two, and the Belldandy figure Eric requested if it's here and reasonably priced. Hmm, feels like a knee-brace day.
A prelude to food.
Got some munchies from the con suite, where I bumped into Liz. She was taking a quick break of watching some Kenshin and had also come for Saturday only. Munchies are ok, but I'm going to need a meal before long. To quote from Sam and Max, I smell bird meat! Mm, chicken.
To hell with my budget!
I want to buy some stuff anyway. So I ordered some Excel Saga cards, which was likely the biggest thing I've bought in a long time, plus a con shirt. So much for the $100 objective. Hm, this is a pre-order for the shirt? They were apparently using a portable press for shirts, but it broke down, hence the pre-orders. Well, I remember what I had to do the last time a convention did pre-orders for t-shirts... Ahem. Videos and CDs will have to wait. But food is the next objective. Meanwhile, found that Chris, Joe, Russ, and Bobbie are also here. Well, I knew they were going to be here, but didn't see them until now.
I'm so hungry, I could almost eat at Arby's.
Well, close to it. Ate at Subway's instead. Foot long subs have a way of curing my hunger, like the Double Whopper meals from Burger King. I should be fine for the rest of the day. Looking over the video schedule, not much grabs my eye. Yeah, there were a few things on Friday and Sunday, but I justify not seeing them. Probably because I'm either seen most of this stuff before or have ready access to it. But the Oh My Goddess movie looks worth sticking around for, if the cosplay is over soon enough. They're limiting entries to 30 acts, so it shouldn't run long at all.
Prepared for the hopefully unlikely.
Time to break out the camcorder and walk around with it. A bunch of costumers about. In the unlikely event I stay overnight, I have extra clothes and underwear. In fact, I have enough clean underwear to normally last a week. I feel strangely proud of that. Damn, it's either scorching hot outside or freezing cold inside.
As good a place for a nap as any...
Went to the con suite and got a power nap before getting in the cosplay line. I'm gonna need it today. Also put out some AnimeUSA flyers.
So there I was, watching the Cosplay, and suddenly it was over.
It was one of those instances where I was in line longer than need be. At least I was able to pass the time talking with Chris and Joe. Sure, I got a seat close to the stage, but it was too close. So I went back several rows and along the wall, and that was much better. The cosplay itself was quite short. The half-time show/judging time was longer than the total run of skits, which there were maybe 15 or so. How can it take longer to figure out who wins what than watching it? It's like needing 2 hours to watch 60 Minutes. But it all fit on one tape anyway. Looking around, it's not in the biggest room of the hotel, but it wasn't completely filled anyway, so I could have even waited right up until almost the start and still have gotten a reasonable seat.
The beauty of small.
I can see the hotel bar, but I gotta drive tonight. Ah, I can sloshed after I get home if I want. This is one of those cons that not only doesn't use all of the hotel, but doesn't fill all the space it uses. See, that's not bad at all. On the upper level, there is a huge room, possibly bigger than the main events room, that is largely unused, save for a bit of it for a couple panels. It's true that with small conventions, there's so much more that they can get away with. Like waiting in the cosplay line, watching a bunch of guys playing with a hacky-sak, as both con and hotel staff walked by not concerned with it. And if someone you know is there, you can find them easily. It's the little things that go on.
Whee! Anime!
Saw the OMG movie. There was a small crowd waiting to get in,
but it was more like a handful of people. Even for the small room
it was in, there was still enough seats for most. Very nicely done,
and I'll have to look for that and the soundtrack for it too. It
reminded me of the End of Evangelion movie, but with the kind of results
that only the Goddesses can provide. Gave me that warm fuzzy feeling.
Video quality looked like someone went into a theater with a camcorder.
With that done, I hung out with the York gang again at the dance.
I didn't try any moves, as I wanted to save my precious remaining calories
for the drive home. It was a long and fun day. But I must go
home, so this concludes my stay at Anime Mid Atlantic.
What a ride. What a trip.
Finally made it home at around four in the morning. Didn't think I would get the whole way, thinking I'd have to stop somewhere. Perhaps I should have, to be honest. Nevertheless, I'm home.
In the end, it was worth going to. I'd like to have been able to stay the entire weekend, but that wasn't entirely feasible. As far as money goes, while I didn't stick to my "diet" as it was, I still held close to it. Had I seen something else that I really wanted, the budget would have really been zapped. The video rooms were small, but so were the crowds. While there wasn't much anime shown that interested me, it was still a varied selection. Overall, a decent convention backed by experienced staff, but no matter what kind of staff there is, a first run con will always have first run problems. Not overcrowded, in fact it could have used a few more attendees here and there.
Now, while I did have a good time, there were a few snags. I only wish I didn't push myself as much as I did. I probably made someone worry about my driving that far after that long of a day, power nap or no. Then, for the one thing that had a real line getting into it, the cosplay, there was no line coordination. There was a line, but it looped around itself so much that it may have well been a mob. As for the con t-shirts, this has cemented my belief that the con will sell more shirts if they're there and ready to be sold. I've seen what happens when a con does shirt pre orders, and it does not work nearly as well. (Sidenote: As of 7/5/01, recieved my Anime Mid Atlantic shirt. In comparison, the Excel Saga cards appeared at my house within three days of the convention.) The concept of printing them at the con is a noble idea, but with the machine broken, that would have meant a much bigger opportunity lost if the crowds were significantly larger. That's aside from the fact that I'm not a big fan of thermal transfer shirts; they just don't seem to have the durability of their silk screened or air brushed brethren.
Nuts and bolts:
attendance: official figures put it around 600.
good stuff:
OMG movie
hanging out some with York crew
found more Excel Saga cards
not paying for a hotel room
bad stuff:
190 miles of ugly on the way down--and as soon as I got there, the
weather cleared up
didn't find some stuff that I really, honestly thought would be there
uninterested in most of the con's video programming (not the con's
fault)
overly drastic change between outside and inside temperatures
Sustenance: something from Subway, assorted munchies, and the ubiquitous Dew.
So with the question of whether I'll return, the answer would have to be leaning towards yes. Considering I managed to show up at this con in certainly not the best of personal situations, and the comparatively close locale, (hey, for me a three hour one way drive is close) I suppose I'll come around again next year. Besides, a small summer convention within a reasonable distance is nice.
Heck, I might even be able to stay for the entire weekend.
Up next: Otakon 2001!