Thursday, July 13, 2006

2006 Anime Expo Day Two

AX'06 Day Two: More Gatherings . . . Gatherings Are Good

I woke up at 7:30 A.M. Sunday using the Snooze function. I ate breakfast and got ready to cosplay as Edward Elric from Full Metal Alchemist. I arrived at the convention center around 8:45 A.M. My priority for the rest of the con was to take as many cosplay pics to make up for the first day. OMFG! I think I overdid myself. I practically stopped every cosplay within 3 feet from me and taking two pictures if the picture on Auto setting came out terrible. I saw Lisu and Megumi at 9:00 A.M. They planned to attend the Hyde concert in Hollywood later in the evening. After talking to Lisu and Megumi, I walked along the line to the Dealer's Room and took cosplay pics. At 9:30 A.M., I took a cosplay pic with Saber from Fate/Stay Night. Saber rocks.

At 10:00 A.M., I saw Matt roaming around. Matt staffed at Japantown Anime Faire 3 and is a college student. We met at Fanime Con 2005. Matt and I walked around the con and headed to the Artist Alley. The Artist Alley was really tight to walk around, and only half of the artists were there in the early morning, yet there were congers trying to move around the tiny area. We were trying to find April who has her own artist website, www.greyscalestudios.net. Matt also gave me tips on digital photography. Then we went to the Dealers Room at 10:45 A.M. Hey, Matt, want to buy one of those faith books we saw? *Hee, hee* Matt introduced me to Tom and Victoria aka Traveling Valentine. Tom and Victoria were in a documentary at Fanime Con 2006 and usually cosplay as Lupin and Fujiko. The next stop was the Anime Selects booth because Anime Selects scheduled an interview with Man-Faye. I have pics and I post on my 2006 Anime Expo cosplay pics soon. Man-Faye was interviewed and gave a speech on the Freedom of Expression and mentioned JFK and how they apply to male crossplayers. After the interview, he tossed free t-shirts, and anyone with the t-shirt could get it autograph by Man-Faye. Matt and I separated 12:30 P.M. because he had a gathering at 1:00 P.M. Between now and 2:15 P.M., I took a ton of cosplay pics. My last booth to visit was Tea Club. The artist of Tea Club was my brother's best friend in high school. I purchased her first manga Volume 1. Good luck. I can't wait to read it.

It's All Gatherings

At 2:15 P.M., I went to the Hilton to meet with my Fanime Con friends. KyraEnsui, Ryu, DLZ, Otakuya, Jyun, Karisma, Karisma's sister, and I walked from the Hilton to IHOP. Lisu came by to say Hi because he had other plans including the Hyde concert. When we got seated, we saw a Maes Hughes cosplayer and his girlfriend. Their names are Mindy and Bradley. We exchanged email addresses and cell phone numbers for a possible get together later. And I took a picture of them. Unfortunately, we never got together. When we ordered our food, there was an oddball moment. When Jyun requested a substitute for soup, the waitress immediately said "No!" We were stunned. Then she corrected herself and said the substitute was O.K. After the waitress walked away, we talked about it for little bit laughing it off. We also talked about cosplay gatherings, our impressions of AX'06 so far, our schedules and plans for the rest of the con, and lots and lots of random stuff. The food arrived late around 3:20 P.M. The Rozen Maiden gathering was at 4:00 P.M. Ryu needed to borrow my glasses. After I got my usual Two Egg sampler which sausage, hash browns, and toast, I took my lunch take out, left $15.00 on the table, and went back to my hotel to get my glasses.

The Rozen Maiden 4:00 P.M. gathering started on time. Ryu made it and I lend him my glasses. The gathering was small; unfortunately, many Rozen Maiden cosplayers I saw throughout the con were missing. Regardless, there were some great shots. Ryu and I separated at 4:20 P.M. I took a few more cosplayers and went back to the hotel to take a shower and rest for the Full Metal Alchemist (FMA) gathering at 7:00 P.M.

Let The Craziness Begin

I arrived at the courtyard at 6:30 P.M. I took more cosplay pics. As 7:00 P.M. approached, I was told the gathering was located at the cul-de-sac next to the AX banner. I then walked around the courtyard and found a few more FMA cosplayers and told them to meet at the cul-de-sac. How did the FMA gathering went? One word: crazy. We moved to the Hall E entrance which has a stairway area to accompany the massive FMA cosplayers. More craziness. During the FMA cosplay gathering, I saw Silver_Unicorn and Audioventchick. Silver_Unicorn thought about going to masquerade dance. She chose not to go. And I gave Audioventchick a CD of her Rose cosplays from Cherry Blossom 2006 and Fanime Con 2006. Audioventchick, I forgot to take a picture of you at AX. Sorry.

I left the gathering at 7:20 P.M. I called Becky if she wanted to go to the masquerade dance. She couldn’t because she was attending a panel. No problem. On my way to the dance, I went to the Hilton gift shop and purchased water. I was thirsty. I arrived at the masquerade dance and it was really hot inside. I was sweating and there was some dancing. Not a lot going on. The dance was a no go. Fortunately, Becky went to the panel.

I walked back to the courtyard and then I saw HanyaanFaery. I took her cosplay picture. She cosplayed as a pirate of some sort. Not sure. I need to check out her cosplaylab.com to correctly identify her cosplay. Walking back to the cul-de-sac at 7:55 P.M. and hanging around there, I saw Ryu walking around. I walked to him and asked if he was doing anything. He said he was free. We choose to eat dinner at Carl's Jr. We walked back to the car and drove to Carl's Jr. The time was around 8:45 P.M. and the line at Carl's Jr. was long and stretched outside. We then choose to go to Jack In The Box. At Jack In The Box, I ordered a two Jumbo Jacks and a small coke. We talked about our futures, relationships, goals, and lots of random stuff. After we ate, we went to Wal-Mart to purchase batteries for Ryu's digital camera. Wal-Mart was about a ten minute drive from the con.

We arrived back at my hotel where we parked the car. We walked to the dance for which it was the rave dance. We went inside the wave dance where I met glowstick expert Protocol7 for the first time. Ryu was having lots of fun. Unfortunately, I'm not into dancing. The last time I danced with a girl was my 8th grade graduation. The AX'06 rave was the first rave I attended. Ryu wanted to put his stuff back in his hotel room and come back to the rave. Ryu and I left the dance and separated. I arrived back at the hotel, took a shower, backed up my cosplay pics on my laptop, ate two oranges, planned Monday's events, and watched HBO's Taxi Confessions. The cosplay pics I took today were much better and I felt better I'm going to post some really great cosplay pics on my Innovate Infinitely web site Anime Page. I went to bed around 2:00 A.M.

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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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