Back To The First Day...

III. The Second Day
Saturday 1996.6.29 - 13:25
With a night of substantial sleep (8 hours) brought renewed energy and enthusiasm for the remainder of the con events. Today is a designated "panel day," since I'm promising myself that I'll avoid spending all my time in the dealers' room, especially after yesterday's conquests...

After having Carolann style my hair (Since I trust her to do it - She has more fashion sense, and more experience with long hair than I do ^_^), I set out for the hike to the Harbor/Chapman B of A (Since the hotel ATM was of little use for balance inquiries, and was showing the effects of heavy use from con attendees.) I'll say it again, the wisest decision I made was to sign up for direct deposit of my paycheck to my bank account.

After transferring a considerable portion to savings, and generating a statement for use in my book balances, I grabbed lunch at Carl's Jr., and some bottled water and diet sodas for myself, Sis and Mike. Returned to the room to play with Flax, who was up and alert... Scarfed the food, and set off for the Presto Studios' panel on the upcoming Gundam 0079 game for PlayStation. (I'm glad I bought a PSX now! ^_^) After the panel, in which I met up with Prisoner and Jigen again (Got more info on the elusive #anime! IRC party - new host (Keiichi), tenative time (21:30 as of this entry), still need a room location), I headed out one last time (I hope!) to the dealers' room.

This time was mostly a CD day, and I made out like a champ! I got the Armitage III soundtrack ($19), A Taiho Shichau Zo double-CD set ($30 - I think this is the one that Peter “Mokona” Evans told me about, and played for me over Radio Free Anime ^_^ - At least I recognized enough to see that the parody “500 Yen/Hr. Youth” track was on it.), and a couple of classics - the Laputa soundtrack ($31.25) and the Project A-ko soundtrack ($41 - A few dollars more than I paid for the vinyl version back around '89, but at least now, I can keep that LP sealed up and protected!).

Right now, I'm watching AXTV as I type, something called New Dragon Century... (I'm showing more interest in the commercials than the programs... Got some more time to kill, and I've missed about half of the AnimEigo panel... I'll probably rest for a bit, since I'm planning to attend a block of panels on Track 2 later in the afternoon. (The Game Show, Anime “On-Line” (Great... more newbies in #anime! :P), and the EX Anime/Manga Webzine panel (Let's hope for a great success, post-“Kimberly”))

Again, I'd like to take the opportunity to thank all the IRC folks that I have met up to this point for saying “Hi” to me, taking to time to talk with me, and making me feel more at ease for my first time of doing a full con weekend. I hope I haven't made too much of a nuisance of myself (Well, prior to any #anime! IRC parties! ^_-) I hope I have the opportunities to strengthen the new friendships I have made since last year, and I'll see most you on IRC post-con, as always (Though I may need to rest and recuperate a lil' bit...)

All in all, having a great time so far, and it's looking to be a good con!

Items of note purchased: Armitage III soundtrack CD ($19-domestic), Taiho Shichauzo Song Collection double-CD ($30-import), Laputa soundtrack CD($31.25-import), Project A-ko soundtrack CD ($41-import), AX'96 T-shirt ($15), AX'96 pin ($5), Evangelion mug ($6)

Total expenditures on merchandise today: $147.25 - Cumulative Total So Far: $542.25 ($_$;)

IRC friends I met today/tonight: Fntc, Shinsei, Apulo, Rheinhard, Daitokuji, Umi-chan, and many others...

IV. The Last Day
Sunday 1996.6.30 - 20:00
Pre-departure Recap: What Happened On Saturday Night...
On the IRC party situation - The party went on, in spite of a lack of any kind of plan. It was originally intended to be held in a normal room on the fifth floor... That idea proved to be a bad one, as the room quickly filled up, with the smell of otaku.... A decision was made to move the party down way below to the gaming room... Things improved somewhat, and, in no time at all, the room became packed with mostly happy folk... Music, drinks, food, video games, Corn Pone flicks, the required group shot, Kagato's EVA mugs, Akane's Anime Central '98 T-shirts, and.... The Watermelon!! (Just add vodka! ^_^)

Things went on in full swing, with visits and cameos from most of the main IRC regulars, and a few new and long-time-no-see faces... I had about 6 shots of vodka and one beer... enough to put a smile on my face... :D (For most of the night...) - The EVA mug I got came in handy... (Wish I had an all-malt beer, though... ^_^)... Kyou, Keiichi, pcKit, and Xaemyl got in the party frame of mind, and, with a little help from illustrations from a few artistic folks, became the “Ecchi-men!”

I stayed until 4 am, when things started to wind down (Had to finish packing for the trip home!) The only problem was when I entered the room... Woke up sis a little when I was wrapping my EVA mug in newspaper to pack in the suitcase... (Oh, well...)

What Happened On Sunday... (Told from a retrospecive of about 1996.7.10 - 21:19)
Sunday started a little late (or so I thought...) Check-out time was at noon, and I thought I slept until 11 am (Sis lied to me... She got me up at 10, just to make me suffer!) Anyway, we were packed and out of there with time to spare...

A stranger-than-fiction fact - Peter Brown (From Saturday's Masquerade, a.k.a. Sailor Moon Eternal :P) was in line behind me to check out... Needless to say, I got my business over with, and skedaddled....

Items of note purchased: Urusei Yatsura Movie 2 - Beautiful Dreamer ($20)

Total expenditures on merchandise today: $20 - Cumulative Final Total: $562.25 ($_$)

IRC friends I met today/tonight: SD_Neko

On To The Epilogue...