Woo!!! Otakon was a blast! I don't know if the others had as much fun (or troubles) as I had. But I'll give you all the big juicy scoop. ~

Thursday: (unrelated to Otakon) My video card essploded from too many games. XD Srsly.

Friday: Get off of work early. Good omen. Get to the airport early and everything is peachy keen. Plane ride's great yada yada yada... Get to Baltimore... I take out 40 bucks for the cab ride... Go to the con to pick up Rattles and Gibbies, we all have happy glomping time, then we go back to the hotel. The taxi ride was 60 bucks... not too big of a problem... a little shocking, but nonetheless I go inside the hotel to use the ATM to get another 20 out. Except... the ATM is out of service... go figure. So I end up spending another 3 bucks to go to a bank across the street and get another 60 bucks (100 is a good even number). Go back to the hotel and give the cabbie his money and bid him farewell (rattles insisted that even after a 65 dollar cab fare that i should tip him > ). Get inside to pay for the hotel room and the guy at the front desk says that there are no rooms available. I'm like... wait... nonono... I reserved these rooms last month... they should be here... lol. Then I go to pull out my debit card to verify my information and lo and behold... it's gone. poof. vanished. I'm freakin' out... Rattles is doing everything to keep me calm, and Gibbies is passed out. XD Well.. the hotel man found a "no show" room and put us in that. he was really kind to us. I told him that if anyone turns in my card (I thought I had left it in the cab) to just give me a ring ring up in our room. So all night I'm worrying about whether or not someone is using the card. I debate cancelling, or just waiting til morning. Well. I'm glad I did, cause at 5.30 in the morning, i get a call saying that my card was found in the parking lot (which I checked). Oh well... no charges were made, and I was happy. Well... sort of.... I had no money anymore cause of the freakin' hotel costs. So I talk with Rattles and Gibs and we decide to head out and we'd find a spot to stay somewhere else for Saturday night. BTW! Rattles and Gibs and I had some interesting hi-jinks in the hotel room. >3

Saturday: Freakin' blast! OMG! People were right when they said that Otakon was definitely shooting big for "breaking my con cherry" as RPDOfficer so eloquently said. RPD is short. Ripfang looks hawt as Sanji, and Felix was rather withdrawn... which I was surprised about.. Oh well... It was soo amazing how many people were there... and how many of them kept making me lose the game. > crap. I just lost it again. There were so many great costumes I took so many pictures... and quests seem to be the new thing. :\ Indeed... Quests... BUT ANYWAYS... there was so much art... and dancing... and I know I'm probably gonna be on youtube... I know for a fact that RPD is or will be shortly. XD There were so many cameras. O_o; I saw the amazing Blair B, the creator of Star Crossed Destiny. Amazing Web Comic. You should seriously read it. I spent like... 60 dollars on her merch and I would do it all over again. ^_^ My most visited table. She's very personable. It was all hunky dory until about 11 'o clock when I'm sitting in the Otakon Game Show (which was horribly hard) and I get a text message from Gibbies saying that Artist Alley is closing. I wasn't winning... not even close... so I didn't mind going to pick my stuff up out of the AA. So I get there and my backpack is gone... Yeah... my laptop, my clothes, MY DEODORANT! D: (I got really sweaty). And then I find out from Gibbies that me, him and Rattles didn't actually have a place to stay, and that we were going to be sleeping on the streets of Baltimore. Lovely, huh? We had been talking to Josh (Starscream) about spending the night over at his house, but no decision had been made. So I approached Starscream (Rattles was waiting for the Yaoi panel to begin) and asked him if we could stay the night... I put it bluntly that we had no other place to stay. Yes... I was desperate. I was not going to subject us to sleeping on the streets and risk the possibility of getting shanked by some unknown hobo. So he obliged and let us hang at his townhouse. Townhouses are amazing. I love them. XD Nothing is better than a two/three-story apartment building. It's fancy. So we crashed there for the night. Gibbies slept on the second floor and I slept on the floor of Starscream's room, and Rattles had hi-jinks in Starscream's bed. NOT LIKE THAT! XD She knows what I mean. I spent 140 dollars and had 1 dollar in my pocket.

Sunday: Got up at like... 7 in the morning, had a coke and ran out the door to get to the con. We talked about politics in the car, so it was refreshing to hear someone else's views on how the country is run. It took an hour or so to get to the con. It was much more barren on Sunday. We went to Artist Alley and hung out for a couple of hours. Rattles went to the Dealer's Room to spend more money that she didn't have. XD Oh well... bless her heart. Took a couple of last minute pictures including one of the amazing Pimp Black Mage. He was truly a pimpin' mage. XD Then it came to be about 11 o clock, and the Rattledaddy called (Rattle's dad). He was almost to the convention center, so I quickly waived bye to RPD and glomped him a little bit, then we made our escape from Otakon. I don't know if Rattles told him, but when we were at the airport, he gave me a 10 to spend on foodies. T~T BLESS HIS HEART! I owe you a beer Mr. Rattledaddy. Got to sit in the airport for 4 hours watch flights go through my gate... until finally mine came... didn't get home 'til 11 Texas time. I then proceeded to reformat my computer and start this journal escapade. XD So here comes the end of my Ota adventure. XD

Rattles already has rooms for next year (she's paying full price). Me on the other hand... I think I'm gonna wait a little bit to order... maybe when con prices are released... I'll start watching the site early January. IF YOU WANT TO GO, AND WOULD LIKE TO STAY WITH THE NYOBUTT, CONTACT ME. Via IM or e-mail... I don't care. But make sure it's before I buy... cause I don't want to say that I'm going with 2 people, and have it end up being like... 4. That might tick someone off. XD

THINGS I'VE LEARNED ABOUT OTAKON:

- Don't all of a sudden say, a month before the con, "I'm going to Otakon" and put yourself in 10 kinds of debt by doing so, and putting untold stress on yourself. It sucks... seriously... But it was well worth it for me, cause I needed to get out for the weekend. Plus I had to give Rattles her birthday present.

- Take more than 150 dollars worth of spending money. It disappears in less than 30 minutes... then you're left standing there sad while everyone else is running past buying commissions and pretty art that you REALLY WANT because it's SEXY HITSUGAYA BUT YOU CAN'T AFFORD IT CAUSE OF THE STUPID TAXI AND THE HOTELS AND THE BWAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!

- Security deposits get refunded.

- You can book a flight up to 330 days in advance. Why not start now? XD (Flights to Otakon can be booked the Sunday after next :3)

- The Artist Alley is nice, but the real money spending is done in the Dealer's Room. Goooood stuff in that room.

- Back to the money issue. Bring a lot... like next year, I plan on taking about 3 grand with me to the con. Why? Because I can, and I WILL spend it all, trust me.


That about sums everything up. To everyone that I saw, thanks for breaking my con cherry with me. XD I hope to see you all again next year.

Sincerely,

nyoseki (John)