Sunday, July 16, 2006

2006 Anime Expo Day Four

AX'06 Day Four: The Con Both Went By Both Slow And Fast

I woke up at 8:00 A.M. Tuesday. Priscilla and Erin walked back to their hotel room. I thank them for their company and I enjoyed being with them and their friends. I showered and pack up my belongings. I left the hotel room at 9:00 A.M. cosplaying as Syaoran and taking a long shot at getting an autograph from Seiji Mizushima, director of the FMA series and movie. The reason for the long show was because the autographs started at 9:00 A.M. I arrived in line at 9:20 A.M. and the line was very long. Obviously, people lined up really, really early. At 9:35 A.M. when I reached to the third floor and outside main events room, I got word Mizushima was no longer signing autographs. Oh, well. I expected no success since I arrived late. It was worth a try.

I walked downstairs to the courtyard and took more cosplay pics. There was a Trigun cosplay gathering and took pictures of the gathering. At 11:00 A.M., Lisu, DLZ, and Ryu came to my room and we put our belongings in the trunk. Ryu borrowed my Syaoran cosplay boots for a cosplay gathering and he left quickly. At 11:40 A.M., Lisu, DLZ, and I walked back to the con. We saw two Rozen Maiden cosplays and immediately stopped them for cosplay pics. We separated at the courtyard. As I walked to the Hilton gift shop, I met HanyaanFaery again and her friend and both had another cosplays. She has a ton of cosplays, everyone. I took her picture which I'm happy to do. At 12:30 P.M., I purchased a quick lunch of a Snickers candy bar, cashews, and bottle water at the Hilton gift shop.

Hunting For Bargains

At 1:00 P.M., I went to the Dealer's room to hunt for bargains. Of course, I took more cosplay pics. I also got a Syaoran cosplay picture taken by ign.com. The last I checked, I’m on their website. I visited most of the booths and I couldn’t find anything which interested me. Around 2:20 P.M., I participated in a Full Metal Alchemist Collector Card Game demonstration. The game was easy to learn. It took time for me to memorize the rules and familiarize myself with the cards and symbols if I got into the game. The demonstration ended around 2:45 P.M. I got a free booster pack for participating. Not bad. At 2:50 P.M., I walked at the Del Rey booth and they were giving away free manga. Each person got two free manga. Wow! I got xxxHolic Volume 3 and Volume 4 worth a total of $20.00. The dealer's room closed at 3:00 P.M. I walked around the con and found Lisu, DLZ, and Megumi hanging out inside the con. At 3:30 P.M., I went to the Charity Auction which sucked. There were two or three items that generated bids in the thousands of dollars. I hope next year is better.

After the auction was over, I walked to the Marriott where everyone was hanging out. Everyone was at Lisu's room. When I arrived at Lisu's floor, I saw Ryu. Ryu said everyone was sleeping. At 5:30 P.M., we headed to the Marriott lobby to hang out. We talked about the AX in general and we both agreed the con was great. Ryu had fun volunteering for Funimation. He had to work for three hours on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. He received a free t-shirt and got a contact person. Also, he got free admission to AX'06. Later on, Lisu and Megumi arrived. Then Bart Boy came over. And then DLZ. We all talked about the con. Lisu and Megumi shared stories from the Hyde concert. They went two times. Bart Boy and I talked about the cosplay gatherings for which most of them sucked including Naruto, Bleach, and FMA. CLAMP was the best cosplay gathering because it was a good turnout and organized. I went to the Marriott Starbucks to purchase snacks. I purchased a bag of potato chips, bottle water, and a Twix candy bar. The store didn’t accept my Starbucks gift card. What gives, man? So I had to pay with my credit card. Blah!

At 6:30 P.M., Bart Boy took off. Lisu, DLZ, Megumi, Ryu, and I stuck around the lobby and talked about random stuff and kept each other laughing. Around 6:45 P.M., we went to dinner at Carl's Jr. Megumi had plans at 8:30 P.M. back at the Marriott. Plenty of time. We walked back to where the car was parked at The Anabella and drove to Carl's Jr. After we ate, we drove Megumi back to the Marriott. At 8:30 P.M., we got gas at the Chevron station on Katella Avenue. Then we started the drive back home.

Going Home

During the drive back on Interstate 5, we saw fireworks and listened to Ryu's anime music mix CDs. Traffic was light throughout the Los Angeles area. After we passed Magic Mountain, it was 90 MPH driving thereafter. At 11:30 P.M., we stopped for gas and snacks at the Chevron station in Coalinga. At the gas station, we saw a racing car which I forgot the name of the racing car and two other cars driving with the racing car. The people in the three cars were AX congoers and lived in the Bay Area. Ryu recognized one of them because he is a Fanime Con staff. Before went left, I went to the trunk and got my laptop. Lisu watched a few episodes of Fate/Stay Night on my laptop.

The two stops before my home were Watsonville where Lisu and DLZ lived and Hayward where Ryu lived. The first stop was in Watsonville. I drove on the west side of Highway 152 for the first time. The first part was driving in Gilroy. The city was quiet and pretty much deserted during the early, early morning. After driving through the city, I drove on the hills which were not bad. I didn’t a Gilroy Police car. When we arrived in Watsonville, it, too, was like Gilroy which was quiet and pretty much deserted during the early, early morning. The last time I went to Watsonville was in 1986. Lisu and DLZ’s neighborhood reminded me of Santa Barbara.

The second stop was Hayward. I drove on Highway 1 and Highway 17. Ryu went through my classical rock CDs and we listened to Aerosmith’s Greatest Hits. The last time I was on Highway 1 in the Santa Cruz County was in 1986 and the last time I was on Highway 17 was in 2001. The drive was a breeze. No cars. And I took advantage of driving on the dotted white line when making the freeway turns. Yes, I drove really safe. Safe, safe, safe.

Ryu and I stopped in Campbell to switch drivers. Ryu drove the rest of the way on Highway 17 and Interstate 880. We arrived in Hayward. I copied some files from Ryu’s hard drive. Ryu’s got all his stuff in and I drove back to San Jose both tired and happy. I have never been this happy since, gee, I don't know when. I arrived home at 4:00 A.M. Wednesday. I brought my stuff in, took a shower, brushed me teeth, and went to sleep. Oyasumi (-,-)

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Resume? I don't need a resume. Here is my resume: Innovator. I'm available to innovate for hire.

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