What a BLAST!  This was my first A-kon (heck, my first any-con!), and I had a
LOT of fun.    Unfortunately, the only day I went was Saturday (I live in
town, so I just commuted there and back for a day), but that was the day the
fanfic panel was meeting, so nothing else matters, ne?  ^_^  

I got there at about 8:30 in the morning and got in line to buy my day pass.
There was a man in a VERY good costume of Gosunkugi (candles, straw dolls, the
works) in front of us, and when he got to the front of the line he begged the
person behind the counter for a pass, as he had presumably lost his earlier.
He got down on his knees and was yelling out things like:  "Oh, PLEASE,
mistress, I beg of you!"  It was very funny.  

Once we had our passes, my friends and I ran to the dealers' room and split
up.  I have never been surrounded by more anime related products in my whole
entire life.  You may be pleased (or not) to know that I bought 3 ranma
traslated mangas, making my collection almost complete.  One member of the
fanfic panel said to read as much as you could of the original material, so
that your fics are true to the characters, and now I can take that to heart.
I also bought a bunch of other toys and anime goodies.

But speaking of the panel, I went there after I spent an hour or so practicing
painting cels.  Who knows, maybe I'll do that for a living?  Anyway, I was
very excited to actually see many of the other members of the FFML in the
fanfic room.  It's too bad I arrived a little late and left early.  (My
friends were getting hungry, and that makes them... impatient...)  Did anyone
else notice me???  I was the blonde girl in the back right corner of the room,
until I had to sit down and moved in front of a table.  I thought the topics
that were discussed were interesting, and I enjoyed just listening to all
these authors interact.  I really regret not getting autographs.  :(  But, all
the more reason to go next year!  

Once I left the fanfic room, we went to have a late lunch at Denny's, and our
waiter was really rude.  I took the time to look at all the stuff I bought.
Then we headed back into the hotel and joined the (already quite long) line
for the cosplay.  We were lucky, because we ended up on the VERY last row of
the play room, and didn't have to go the back-up room.  So, if you heard a
bunch of screams coming from the back left of the room during the applause,
that was us.  ^_^  I thought it was amusing just how many people jumped up
when they started passing out hentai comix.  Then I found two of my friends
joining in the fight.  ::shrug::  

The costume play was GREAT, IMO.  There weren't a whole lot of actual plays,
in proportion to the number of contestants, but many of the costumes were well
made, and the plays that they did have were funny as hell!  I particularly
liked the FFVII/South Park mix, and the Dead Klingon sketch, and the Dancing
Mortal Kombat fighters.  However, I was ready to run screaming from the
building after listening to the DoCo girls.  AAHHH!  Next year, I am getting
together with my friends and we are going to dress as the DoCo girls and do
some JUSTICE to the song that HAD been one of my favorites until THEY sung it.
::huff::  Anyway...

After the cosplay, we watched the other performances for a while, but then we
had to leave.  Which means I missed the winners!!!  Argh!  Could someone
enlighten me?  So that was my day.  Extremely fun for the most part.  And
again, if you were in the fanfic panel room, it was nice to see you!  

--  Erin, Unfortunate Victim of Spring of Drowned Finch