blueZhift Blog

It’s over a week after Otakon but suddenly I’m remembers some weird stuff that I want to record for posterity…I guess. So here are what I call Otakon Out-takes.

The pre-reg line was ridiculous, but I’m used to waiting in lines so toughing that out is pretty easy. But what I could not escape was the drama unfolding between the young couple right in front of me. It started out with the usual kissy face every five minutes but somewhere along the way it turned ugly. Apparently something to do with the rollon bag the guy was pulling. Next came tears and sobs from the girl as she says she was trying to make things easier for him. Him trying to offer a consolation hug and explain how he wasn’t being a jerk. Pro-tip young guys: At this point it doesn’t matter if you are wrong or right, apologize and move on! I so wanted to tell him that, but I was doing my best to not notice what was going on. I have no idea how it all turned out.

The next bit of weirdness happened on Friday night while I was returning to my hotel room for a break and to freshen up before the dance. While waiting at the elevator, a young woman tells me that I make a terrible Mikuru. This may or may not be true, but I’ve heard more good about my Mikuru than bad, so whatever… I ignored this and continued my wait when from behind she lifts my skirt to see my panties! WTF! I turn and calmly tell her that that’s rather a rude thing to do. She tells me that I should be wearing striped panties and further informs me that she will be wearing striped panties the next day if I care to check. At this point it seemed pretty clear that she was probably drunk as she disappeared into another elevator with her friends.

Saturday was the big debut for the Princess Sakura cosplay I’d been working on feverishly to finish the last two weeks before the con. I was worried about walking in boots with 5 inch heels and other aspects of the costume. I was happy to make it to Panel 4 in time for the Crispin Freeman Q and A without falling over and had a seat on a nearby bench. Here on the bench I proceeded to have a pretty normal conversation with someone’s dad who was waiting for his son to come out of another panel. It must have looked a little strange to passersby since once I started speaking it was pretty obvious that I was not female. In any case, he was cool with it. However the guy I was soon standing in line behind seemed completely weirded out. He almost jumped 6 inches when I got in line! I successfully suppressed the urge to giggle!^^

So that’s it I think. Another, the 5th, interesting Otakon adventure is in the books. So now I’ll hunt around for pics of my cosplays and check out video of events I couldn’t go to, then it’ll be time to get ready for Youmacon!

Almost a week has passed since I began yet another excellent Otakon adventure. I can scarcely believe I’ve been driving there and back from Chicago every summer for the past 5 years. Happily, this year that driving did not involve getting a speeding ticket!

All in all I had a ridiculously good time. Things got off to a less than stellar start though with a 90 wait in the pre-reg line. This lead to my missing dinner with the Mega Tokyo crowd and I also skipped the pub meetup which due to the pre-reg line delay started a lot later than I could stay up. But from those hiccups came the secret of my Otakon 2009 fun, think different!

I decided to do things a little differently this year, go to some different panels than I might normally choose. I was not disappointed. I saw Kikuko Inoue, soooo cute! Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, awesome! And Crispin Freeman, cool cool cool! MELL concert, OMG!

The main changes I made were skipping the rave and masquerade on Saturday night in favor of other things. Friday night’s rave was so crowded I literally could not dance and what little room I had left was taken up by the break dancing circles. The final straw was the truly horrid mix played by the DJ during the time I was there. It was the same beat over and over again. So, given the extra 5000 people that seemed to be present, I doubted Saturday would be any better.

I ended up using the Otacafe and karaoke as my main activity hub between panels and taking pics of cosplayers and showing off my own cosplays. I’m sooo happy at how well received my Princess Sakura cosplay was! I worked late night for two weeks straight finishing up the costume before the con. But the boots totally killed my feet, lol! Looking back, I must have walked a mile in those boots before returning to my room to change into my flats and hose as planned. I knew the boots could be trouble, so bought some matching flats at the last minute.

The gothic lolita look must really suit me, because I got a good number of compliments and picture requests. And I think there was even one guy who seemed to particularly like me dressed up this way… I was so happy with the outfit and the reaction that I wore it again on Sunday.

I usually shop and try to get in some last karaoke on Sunday. I got to sing two more songs that day, including the very last song of the con before the Otacafe shut down. That still gives me a warm glow because everything was nearly perfect. I sang Shizukana Yoruni from Gundam Seed which is one of my favorites and went well with my Princess Sakura cosplay.

In the end, there are always a billion things I would have liked to have done, but couldn’t. But that’s just life anyway. I had a really good time meeting old friends, making some new ones, and doing the things I enjoy the most. What more can anyone ask for from life?

Last week I watched the Attack of the Show 1000th show special on G4. For the most part, I’ve enjoyed the show since I first got G4 4 or 5 years ago. But a few years back when G4 made a lot of wholesale changes to AOTS, which included the addition of Olivia Munn and the departure of some old favs, like Sarah Lane, I wasn’t too wild about the changes. The AOTS changes and those to some other G4 shows looked like the simple, low brow addition of T and A.

Now I like T and A as much as the next guy, but not so much on my tech and gaming shows. But I have to say that while Munn still has a lot of haters out there, I am not one of them. She doesn’t strike me as a true gamer girl like X-Play’s Morgan Web, she’s more like the pretty girl who hangs out with geeks, nerds, and A/V guys for no apparent reason. And in that role she’s the perfect. A nice girl who’s easy on the eyes but not so hot as to be totally unbelievable.

So kudos to Olivia Munn! I think the Girl At The Video Game Store video casts her quite well!

With only a week to go until Otakon, I’m feverishly working, as usual, to finish a new costume. I keep telling myself that this may be the last one, but I just know that may not be true. It is certainly one of my more challenging projects.

This is one of the outfits Sakura wore on chess world in Tsubasa Chronicle

I still don’t know if I’ll finish in time, but last night I had one of those OMG moments I get when I feel that things are looking good!^^

It’s still hard to believe that Michael Jackson is gone. No one was expecting this to happen so soon and the obvious comparisons with Elvis are, well, obvious… All I’ll say here is that I believe he was  a true artistic genius and I enjoyed his art immensely. I can only hope and pray that he is finally at peace.