AnimeLA: how I spent my weekend

i was at an anime convention for 3 days, and managed to watch less
than 30 mins of anime. somehow, that was half the amount of lizzie
mcguire i watched.

like i said, the convention was small. the anime viewing room was
probably equipped for 40 people max. the live action viewing room
was a hotel room. The vendor hall consisted of a hallway and 4
hotel rooms. still, i managed to spend $40. there was a hospitality
suite where all conventioners could go and have free snacks and
drinks. i was amazed. they could have made a decent amount of money
selling soda and things, but they just gave it away. and very few
people abused the privilege.

This was not a convention for people who wanted to be exposed to
new and different anime. It was for hardcore anime people who just
want an excuse to gather, dress up and take pictures. 2 hrs into my
arrival i was already lamenting the fact that i was lazy and didn't
bring my costume. especially since (drinking) mario and (smoking)
luigi showed up, and there was no princess in sight.

by the friday night dance, i realized that i had my practice belly
dancing clothes in my car and decided if i couldn't look like a
real character, at least i could not wear jeans. so after a change
of clothes and half a bottle of cherry vodka with coke, i was ready
for dancing. cherry vodka is very, very good, even though it smells
like cough syrup. (thank you, Dave) unfortunately it is 70 proof
(rather than the usual 80 proof) and that 5% less alcohol really
makes a difference in my inebriation. I'm going to look for it in
the store, and next time mix it with regular vodka for more kick.

the anime people come prepared. somehow they all brought glowsticks
and were dancing and glowing to the techno rave music. as lydia
keeps telling me, i'd make a good rainbow brite, and if i made a
costume i could be queen of a rave. i was no rainbow brite, but i
did get some attention. some girl came up to me, we exchanged a few
words about belly dancing, shimmied at each other and as she was
leaning over me, she bit me on the neck. kissing lydia is one
thing, but being bitten by a complete stranger is quite another.
but she ended up being harmless, and more attractive than i first
though. i haven't turned into a vampire yet. so i think it's okay. and i was amused for the rest of the weekend when she or her friend yelled at me from across the way "hey, you're that girl
from the dance"

after this incident, Lydia said "lets go shopping while we're
drunk." and while i wasn't particularly drunk, i rarely turn down
teh opportunity to look at cute japanese things for purchase. but
the first store/hotel room we found was not quite as japanese as
much as it was dead animal and rock. i picked up a headpiece for
bellydancing. at $12 it was less than half of what i'd expect to
pay. lydia bought a real fur tail. and tried to convince me that i
need a $4 fox head pelt. they had a live rabbit, i was very worried
that tomorrow it would become a rabbit "love glove" $10 natural
color, $12 dyed. but the lady seemed very attached to her rabbit so
i think he's safe. we spent kinda too long in there. they told us
to come back tomorrow to see the "pink o'nine tails" which is their
mink o'nine tails only very, very pink. if i ever needed a(nother)
bondage toy that was the one to get. but i missed my chance. gosh,
was it pink. and soft. i could have just worn it as a tail.

karaoke was rather disappointing--not that i know any anime songs,
but something was wrong and they didn't have the lyrics for any of
their anime songs. they only had a small handful of karaoke cd's. I
sang a disappointing version of cabaret where they completely cut
out the good verse, which left me on stage confused, trying to
recover. lydia sang a fantastic version of breathless in her little
pink dress. i made sure to sing before her. i'm not stupid.

Saturday night was a super cute anime song cover band. With a real
Japanese singer wearing an amazing mickey mouse had from Japan that
looked like a baby seal with ears. i signed up to be on their
mailing list. i hope i get email from them. i wish i had a party
that i needed a band for.

Lydia's friends turned out to be rather unscary for people she met
online through geek channels. i was pleasantly surprised. although
some of the people were definitely questionable

We were in a group with a friend of a friend of Lydia's friend and
he turns to me and asks "didn't you work for me?" and i looked at
him confused, and asked who he was. He was in charge of something
at AnimeeXpo. and my sister had worked for him. I guess we really
do look alike.

The brother of the girl lydia knows from the internet had a real
storm trooper outfit. apparently when they buy those things they
take your information. and sometimes the put out an APB for storm
troopers to gather for some reason or another. i didn't quite get
the whole story. boys are weird. can you imagine a convention of
girls all wearing the same dress? there would be maulings, at the
least.

Thanks to Lydia (not like i'd be there without her though) i
somehow felt I was in the inner circle at this thing. it was very
odd being one of the cool geeks. Granted, I was like the geek
mother, holding the stuff that we didn't want in the pictures,
making sure the length of the skirt stayed as respectable as
possible and the boots stayed up. I guess that's what it's like in
small places. You start with the right friend or two and it grows
into instant popularity. In all, i really liked the smallness of
the thing. the kimono workshop would have been fantastic if i
focused on sewing rather than calling towing companies. that never
would have worked anywhere bigger. and the free snacks, definitely
wouldn't work at a big convention. Quaint may be the right word. it
amused me. passing the same people a few times a day and actually
recognizing them, that was interesting.

Only one problem I found with the quaintness was the student film
"the importance of sound and music to film" it was worse
than one of my high school videos. it's a darn good thing i
finished the vodka just before arriving to the viewing room. i was
all set to watch anime about panties. but then some college kids
showed their class project, that had nothing to do with anime. not
only was the plot bad, but also the sound and lighting. and they
said they got an A on the thing. obviously, wherever they go to
school, it doesn't have very high standards. If i had Kenny's
movie, i would have beat up those 3 very large guys and put that in
the player instead. Maybe i wouldn't have beat them up, but i would
have used my feminine wiles, and the "typewriter," the dance move
of the weekend, which seemed to impress everyone.

and that was my weekend. I'll leave it to Lydia to provide a visual record of the weekend