Otakon was frickin' awesome. I had a lot more fun this year than last.

Yay, Jeremy! It's a lot better with him there. Also, I think he's finally mastered the art of driving into downtown Baltimore. Also, I was better at finding my way around and scheduling things this year.

Bumped into Lauren there too. That was frickin' awesome. Small, small world.

I had a costume of sorts, on Sunday, if wearing a giant yellow foam World of Warcraft exclamation mark on my head can be considered a costume. Damn the torsion power! It kept falling over, or keeling over in the wind. Plus, I had to take it off to go through doors and low ceilings.

A bunch of people took my picture (most of 'em thinkin' I was from Metal Gear Solid) - I hope none of them get online or you'll have pictures of me in a bike helmet with a styrofoam sphere and a high-density foam block attached to it. I ran into two other people who had forms of punctuation attached to their heads too.. that was amusing. Plus I bumped into a bunch of guildies from my server. The number of WOW junkies at Otakon was just incredible.

(The number of people who went as Full Metal Alchemist characters... less so.)

Jeremy went as Larva from Vampire Princess Miyu and ended up being glomped by an uncomfortable number of girls.

I can also say with perfect confidence that while he was dressed as Larva, (and when we went down to the Inner Harbor), he freaked out/awed a bunch of little kids ("Are you a magician?"), and homeless people did not ask him for money.

Otakon 2004

Went with T and Mehmet. Got lost on the drive to Baltimore on Friday, as T was trying not to take the highway. It took us several hours to get there, but fortunately the Baltimore Convention Center is not too hard to locate. Baking in a midsummer noon stew, you could smell the line of otaku stretching several blocks down Pratt Street even before you could see them, and you could see them from quite a ways. Stood in line for an hour or so, in air conditioning because I'd pre-registered, mercifully. It felt a bit like an airport (maybe what the UMBC Commons were supposed to be, with more success), from the lines to the row of registration booths, the cosplay security officers from some anime I've never seen pacing around like the real thing, and even down to the people holding arrival signs for other people they intended to meet up with.

Did not know what to do once I got in; ambled around for a bit, peering into panels and videos that'd already started. The panels are not that great. By the time I got in, the seats would be full and the mikes not working so that you couldn't hear the panelist. It didn't matter too much because the panelists, unlike your teachers, are offered the position because of their position in the anime industry, not great lecturing/presentation skills. So what you'd get is a response that's completely incoherent:

Panelist: *mumble mumble thump* Yes.. to answer your question, I'd like to refer back to what Yuki said, about orange eggs.

Audience: (laughter)

I don't get panels.

Sat in for some AMVs and a few fan-trailers. Some of these were pretty good, like a Fight Club trailer set to Pokemon, a Trigun AMV to "Ice Ice Baby," and some Furi Kuri AMV which actually, convincingly, managed to be wistful and sad. This is a miracle, considering the actual anime was loud, outrageous, and seizure-inducing. But most of the AMV's were bad. Little did I know that they were the "Overflow Videos," aka the Contest Rejects. This would be what I'd be doing most of the day, with the exception of getting lost and taking pictures of people in cool costumes.

The intimidating thing about Otakon is that, unlike Rennfest or Gettysburg or other nerd Mecca's, most events are screenings and so have set start and end times. At Rennfest you could drop in on a minstrel here, an acapella group there, a jester here, a juggler there, all punctuated by casual shopping that would bore the daylights out of Jeremy. Gettysburg was a big battle every four hours interspersed by long periods of nothing - mostly browsing, eating, stopping to peer at musicians as you walked by, and talking to re-enactors about 19th century "life." At Otakon though, if you don't get to a certain room by 11 o'clock, the screening starts without you, and the next screening is at twelve. Or, it would happen that you would make it in time and watch 10 minutes of the 11 o'clock screening, not like it, leave, and have nothing better to do for the next fifty minutes, since all screenings basically start at the same time (on the hour). Consequentially, Otakon requires a bit of planning, knowing what activities you will be attending, where you will be when. I did not, so I spent my time drifting from room to room patching together fifteen minute sequences like a cinemetic anime quilt. I'd move from a comedic moment from the middle of some 26 episode series to an action sequence in a 2 hour movie to a completely random scene involving high school girls in short skirts and robots. It's a bit like when you find you've killed three hours watching cable tv by flipping the channel every five minutes.

Went to the Dealers, a giant basement room essentially converted into a bazaar. Got myself a Slime from Dragon Warrior. Still, you can't spend a lot of time looking at merchandise because, unlike Rennfest where there's a lot of cool handicrafts, the extent of anime mechandise originality goes as follows: DVDs. Manga. Soundtracks. Action Figure of Anime Character. Plush Doll of Anime Character. Tote Bag with Anime Character on It. T-shirt with Anime Character On It. Mug With Anime Character On It. Wallscroll with Anime Character On It. Repeat.

I have certain series loyalties, but no loyalty to the big swarming entity that is "anime" in particular. It's like asking me if I like "movies." The answer would be.. yes. But I'm not going to buy a shirt because it has someone from a movie in it. And also, just because I like Full Metal Alchemist doesn't mean I'll buy some shirt with Edward on it. I don't even find those things particularly interesting to look at.

Watched Princess Mononoke at night on a lush silver screen, love it to death. Still, not a kid's movie, that.

Had dinner at the Inner Harbor food court, and on my way out, ran into Janis and Jessica sitting at an outdoor cafe. Small world.

Back at Otakon, went to the video game room, a giant basement room like a ginormous LAN party, with projecting screens everywhere, arcade consoles, and DDR. Played some Soul Calibur, got my butt kicked, decided it wasn't worth waiting in line to play a game I get owned at.

Saw some of Otaku Idol, which wasn't good enough to be good or bad enough to be funny, and some of the yaoi panel. Like all panels, it was boring, but maybe because we came in late, and there were no visuals, like powerpoint slides or videos, only handouts.

Bumped into some people Mehmet knew, and we decided to crash at their hotel, the Radisson not too far away. Me and T checked out the Otakon Rave, and then we stood in line for "I Dream of Mimi," a hentai. We butted in line with the people we knew, and talked about how astonishing it was that it was so easy to see familiar faces. During this time I was looking at the girl standing next to me, who turned out to be a Jennifer from RM, who took ceramics class with me in 10th grade and also was dating Matthew G. Small world.

The hentai was running late, so we in line started rioting and chanting, "Hentai! Hentai! Hentai!" until we were finally let in.

"I Dream of Mimi" is a hilarious hentai about this high school computer nerd who buys a supposed PC from a bum on the street (don't ask why) only to find out that it's a non-refundable sex android. Thus begins a string of "Insert your data in my front disk slot!" and "Oh yes! Enlarge my memory!" jokes that will procede for the next three episodes, including busty American "Nacintosh" virtual fembots who like "installing Japanese fonts."

I must admit though, it does get me thinking about Jeremy, a "hardware engineer," in a new light.

Stayed at the Radisson, eight people to a room. It was extremely hot with the air conditioning on, until we opened the window. The ice vodka with Red Bull chasers helped, but I still insist that chilled or no it tastes like rubbing alcohol. Did some dubious things in the bathroom that tasted like dirt. I don't see why people consider this to be their idea of a good time, except that we are young, and should do something subversive to show that we are alive. Some young people hitchhike across Europe, some climb mountains, some express their vibrancy through their music or art - but for the rest of us who haven't got their physicality and spirit, we sit in bathrooms laughing at things that aren't funny as shadows of people who actually live.

Got lectured on it by T, who said that since my mom had trusted her to be my guardian on this trip, I shouldn't do anything dumb because she'd have to bear all the responsibility. I thought about this more and decided that this was a breach of my mom's trust in me as well. It doesn't matter that nothing happened to me, but it was, in principle, a breach of trust, and I stayed up a while after that feeling guilty.

---

Woke up. Saturday. Ate at Burger King across the street from the Convention Center, stole T's hash browns, went back to Otakon. There are otaku everywhere. It must be terrifying to normal people. Apparently Burger King ran out of food a few years back when they didn't know that there was a con. Anyway, we went to the Convention Center and ambled around for a bit, hanging out in Charles Street Lobby, a beautiful windowed place surrounded by fountains, and a photographic agora for cosplayers. Cosplayers are extremely friendly, and most, if not all, are game to you calling them to pose for a photo. All about the Convention Center, otaku hang about everywhere, curled up in crevices, sitting on the floor leaning against walls, reading manga or playing cards, standing absently strumming guitars, or standing in corners holding up signs (Mostly, "Free hugs!" "Glomp me!" or some variation. There's also, "Death to Hugs!" as a counterrevolution). The pulse of activity procedes so naturally that you forget it's only a few days each year, a conglomeration of misfits, foreigners and tourists, and it seems instead, as you walk through the airy and open corridors, that you're in some giant nerdy city alive with hubbub, that this is one day of many in a teeming metropolis.

I tried to find a place to get a refund for the ticket Jeremy never used. In any case, I was interrupted by a bunch of people I've met online, namely Dr. Lighthead, Sakaki22, CyKairus, and Cookirini from Mobius Forum. Dr. Lighthead called me on my cell, and Sakaki held up a sign. These are all screen names. Real names are irrelevant. For those of you who've never actually met someone you knew online, I shall answer the great question: Yes, you still answer and address people by their screen names, even if it's something that you'd never dream to have someone actually call you by in person. It just seems more natural that way. It actually wasn't awkward at all.

Spent a bit of time with Sakaki (who was dressed up as Squall) in the Dealers, writing funny signs. By the yaoi section he wore a sign reading, "Looking for other MALE Final Fantasy Lead. Inquire within." A Black Mage asked, "Within what?" and then ran away, frightened, as Sakaki tried to give him a hug. So it went. I have pictures.

Met up with Cookirini, who was playing cards with her sister, and we all decided to eat at the Hard Rock Cafe, on the Inner Harbor. I was the only local, and I knew how to get there from the Convention Center (It's not that hard). Dr. Lighthead, despite being from Bowie, didn't. It took a while to guide him. I must express my admiration for Sakaki, who, dressed as Squall, slogged through the crowded thoroughfare of Baltimore in a leather jacket and leather pants, with straps and buckles. In July.

Hard Rock ended up being very loud and expensive, and the food wasn't great. Because we couldn't actually talk to one another, we took out a piece of paper, scribbled on it in pencil and passed it back and forth in a sort of proto-chat. Even after having met one another IRL, it seems that text is always the default.

I was terrified by how much money I'd spent. If you think about it, $50 is not a lot to spend in the course of two days, including hotel fees, but it was terrifying for me to suddenly discover that, out of my wallet, I was down fifty or so. It's not something that happens to me often. Even though I live "independently" at school, I still have rent paid for me, food paid for me, tuition paid for me. I spend money maybe once a week or so, on a movie or coffee, but I never calculate how much that is; just what I consider to be "reasonable" pocket change, and my wallet magically replenishes itself when I visit my parents. My parents had always complained I didn't know the cost of things.. I thought this charge was ridiculous, because I know that a movie is like $9.00 at night ($6.00 matinee), a meal is between five and ten, bus fare is $1.10... but in the end, the accusations turned out to be true. When I was given $60 to spend on everything it all disappeared and I don't know where it went. If you count and list and scrutinize, you see it, leaking out of your pocket bit by bit so you didn't notice. Gas money here. Money for a toothbrush. Money for dinner. Money for breakfast. Money for lunch. Money for a souvenir. Money for a hotel. And then you look in your wallet and say, "Where did my money go?" In my mind, though I know it isn't so, dental hygeine has always been free. Rides have been free. A place to stay at night has been free. A bed and a bathroom and someone to drive me places have been free for me so long that though I knew abstractly that someone somewhere pays, I never had thought about it all too much. It's a very cold shock. Though it's not as if I spent an unreasonable amount of money this year, next year, I shall plan.

Went back to Otakon, parted ways with everyone to wander on my own. Was depressed, went to the bathroom, somehow managed to clog it, felt terrible and fled the scene as water flooded the floor. Still feel badly about this, though nobody knows it was me. Ala anime quilt fashion, saw a bit of Lady Snowblood, a corny kung fu movie, and went to the first half hour of an anime doll panel. Then, went to see the first three episodes of Initial D, which cheered me up considerably. Went to see some of the Saturday Night fansubs, though I couldn't hear much in the echoing vault, and then went to the car.

Mehmet took the last of my money for parking and gas.

Lightning streaked across the sky horizontally, like the arcs of crawling electricity in Frankenstein's lab, and I had a feeling I wouldn't be coming back. I told T and Mehmet that if we weren't coming back that I'd call and find a hotel, and they could go home.

T said, "We are coming back tomorrow."
---

Due to thunderstorms, could not come back the next day.