Have I ever really needed to justify going to anime conventions? Of course not. This one is no different in that aspect.
There were many plans made, to accommodate other people, and those plans fizzled out. This con is no different in that aspect either.
So what made this con different? We shall see.
Two years of technical schooling, and all I did was SHAKE THE DAMN THING.
After work, tied up some loose ends, tossed my luggage and laptop into
Yamiko-chan and started my journey to Ohayocon. Less than an hour
into the trip, I started feeling tired. Had to stop at home first,
mostly to pick up some odds and ends. Realized that if I'm feeling
drowsy between Baltimore and Waynesboro, then the rest of the trip would
be no fun at all. So, I had the bright idea of staying there for
the night. There, I could tackle the bulk of the trip fully rested,
and NOT have to pay for a motel room! Yay! Although while there,
I did have to fix my mom's VCR that had eaten a tape among other malfunctions,
which was a project that didn't take long, and didn't require blunt objects.
PA Turnpike + Winter = snow
Gobs of sleep later, I hit the road. I predicted that there would be snow on the PA Turnpike. So I'm cruising along, and sure enough, a few snowflakes were seen merrily dancing their way onto my windshield. "Ah, it's just a small flurry" quickly became "AHHHH IT'S COVERED THE ROAD!!" But that wasn't anything to make Yamiko-chan slow down for. Well, maybe a little.
Got to the hotel in one piece. It's still snowing. Am I glad I did all my sleeping at home. Registration yielded a program book, and a badge of the pin-on variety. Haven't seen one of those in awhile. Time to pull out the Northrop Grumman lanyard. It's a rather hefty lanyard, I could possibly put all of my convention badges on it and the first thing to break would be my neck. No name on the badge, just a number to correspond with my name. Found Mike and Corey in the dealers room, then got a room key, and my stuff into the room. Unleashed the air mattress! Woo! Did some shopping, then hung out with some fellow AUSA staffers and talked about various AUSA stuff.
"You crack me up, Chise!"
After that, went out with Mike and Corey for some food at some sprawling
shopping center/mall that had most of their stores outside. It was
decent, although for this weekend I would have settled for just about anything.
Got back, and fired up the laptop for a mini-thon of Abenobashi Mahou Shoutengai,
since I've seen a large portion of the video schedule already, and actually
had unwittingly brought much of it with me. They're showing Saikano,
titling it as "My Girlfriend the Superweapon." Now, I'm not so much
of a stickler for details, but that makes it sound like a sitcom.
"Shuuji, I destroyed another city today..."
(canned laughter)
"Dummy."
(more canned laughter)
See what I mean?
We are the knights who say CHII!
Showed some AMVs and Hanaukyo no Maid Tai to Mike, then started to try and sleep, while engaging in a steadily degrading conversation about Chii-related jokes, puns, and disposable gags. But fatigue had begun to take it's toll on our senses of humor, so now I prepare to sleep on the blessed air mattress, which I cannot begin to praise enough.
I guess this con is doing better than last year. Haven't been
in the video rooms yet. Come to think of it, haven't done much that
was con-related yet. There's tomorrow, though.
This is why fast food exists.
Eventually I woke up, got a shower and dressed and whatnot. Mike and Corey want to get something to eat soon, but I'm not hungry enough for a full meal, but too hungry to wait for it. Ooh, they're using screens and projectors in the video rooms this year. Egads, room service fitted my air mattress with sheets, and straightened out the blanket on it! I'm impressed!
Tasty gray meat.
Found a WhiteCastle burger place, then stopped at an Apple Store and got myself a memory card reader, which was promptly used to offload all of Corey's pics onto my computer. Hm, bringing the setup was quite worthwhile. Welp, cosplay's coming up. Corey and I signed up for getting choice seats for taping. I elected to sit the whole way in the back and let the zoom do all the work. Plus I can stretch and sit tall and sprawl without being in anyone's way.
Ayu, quit acting like you have a head injury--oh, sorry.
It was another one, where I used a 3-hour tape for something that needed only 2 hours of tape. Dammit, I hate when I do that... Went back to the room and put more stuff on CDs for Mike, then wandered around, was almost forced to hug some dude dressed as a sheep (PLEASE DON'T ASK), and grabbed some munchies from my car. Goofed off in the room a bit more then in my travels found Justin and subsequently inflicted my MS Kanon doujinshi on him, to his amusement. Hung out there for a few hours, munching on some unwanted leftovers that I'm sure will have negative effects on me at some point. Taco Bell after being out for over a day can't be good.
It is late, and I ponder. Should I stay up for the rest of Hanaukyo no Maid Tai, or should I go to bed because I'll need the sleep? I will need to leave well before the con is officially over. But I shouldn't dwell on that now, I should either find something to do or go to bed. Haven't spent any real time in the video rooms, probably won't either.
I pick up an Anime Central flyer, and look at various people that have
fallen asleep throughout the convention area, reminding myself of my own
experiences. At least here I have a bed, and I think I shall put
it to use very soon, despite all the fanservicey goodness that the Hanaukyo
maids can offer.
CD-burner at the con, tee hee hee.
Got up around noonish, and merged my Pita-Ten CD singles onto one CD. Showered, and moved a few things to my car. Mmm, more doujinshi. Hey, I never saw any con shirts here! Same as last year! What's going on!?
Hungry, and must buy more stuff.
Did in fact buy some more stuff, including some more doujinshi, including a To-Heart doujin with the main characters looking like they're from Fist of the North Star. I could not leave that one alone. The food thing is going to wait until I'm actually on the road, which is very soon. Hung around the Planet Anime tables talking with Gemma, then watched the last episode of Abenobashi, cause it had sound and my version didn't. Finished up a cd for Corey, packed my bags, found Mike and Corey one last time in the art auction, said our goodbyes, and off I went.
Clear for takeoff.
The trip home was uneventful, and went as expected. Started the music with the Pita-Ten mix cd, and didn't touch the player since. In-dash 6-cd changer. Yeah, baby. Stopped at a Flying J to feast on their buffet, would have gotten some gas there since it was insanely cheap, but 150 other drivers had the same idea at the same time. Oh well. Afternoon turned to evening, daylight turned to dusk. The road constantly unfolded in front of me, relentlessly, reminding me that home is going to be another few miles down the road than what I'm used to, that I'll get home a little later than I'm used to. But it's a road I've been down before, and likely not for the last time, either. Stamina was good, took some breaks to stop and stretch and make some phone calls. Been traveling since about 4 in the afternoon, got to Baltimore at a little before midnight.
So, how was Ohayocon different for me than other cons? Was it
the snowy weather? Was it seeing the same friends but in a different
location? There were countless differences too subtle for words.
The whole convention had a winter theme to it, reflecting the current season.
Ohayocon's theme is a reminder that conventions are like snowflakes, no
two are alike. And that is something we should treasure.
Attendance: Official estimate is about 1900.
Highs:
It was all good. Can't complain when I'm at a con with friends and things are going well. Appreciated the abundance of mall food within walking distance.
Lows:
Not necessarily a perfect con, half of the stuff in the video rooms was stuff I actually had on hand. Parking was tight.
Fooood:
Some kind of Mexican dish from Max and Erma's, Whitecastle burgers, and a buffet raid at the Flying J. Munchies in between.
Cost overview: Normally I keep track of what I spent. But this time I didn't keep a running total, so I have to guess. And the magic number is: About $550 to 600, spent on an equal proportion of goodies. The Pita-Ten cds took up a chunk, but it wasn't going to break me. Doujinshi was a bigger chunk than normal. Maybe I'll sit down and put all the numbers together someday.
On that note, I must say that things have improved, plus the fact that I didn’t go on a solo basis. Looks like another trip out there is on the schedule.
Up next: Katsucon 9!