Otakon and the infinite nostalgia

I had a free ticket to Otakon this weekend courtesy of Kelly from the Science Center. Given that it’s my last weekend in town, it probably wasn’t a great idea to spend it at a super nerdy convention instead of hanging out with all my friends, but I couldn’t help myself. After my plans to go with Emily last year sort of fell through, I had to go one last time!

This year, I roped Tom into going with me. I tried to convince a few other people as well, but they either didn’t have the money or weren’t into video games and Japanese culture that much. I mean, $80 is a lot of money to pay to see people walking around in costumes, and I wasn’t really paying to begin with, so I understand their positions.

Friday afternoon, I wanted to head down right away, but I had a date for lunch with Lauren Lankford. She was there for me when I was going through rough times, so I wanted to give her a proper goodbye. Plus, I missed her birthday party when it turned out to be the same day as my sister’s birthday (weird!). We met in the lobby of the Barnes and Nobe and she burst into tears before I could finish saying hello to my old Boss Diana.

The two of us hugged and smile, then walked down the street holding hands to find food. Lauren is just that sort of person, like the little girl you become best friends with in kindergarden who doesn’t know how to interact with people without being affectionate and loving. It’s refreshing, really, and really rubs off on me in a good way. I need to be more compassionate with people in my everyday life (i.e. my parents).

I convinced her to come along to XS with me for sushi and french toast, we talked about her girlfriend, jobs, school, and other stuff, and then we parted. But not before I helped her pick up my basil and mint plants and dropped her off to the bank. My last chance to help her out!

After that, I was finally off to the convention. I walked down through the city because the circulator was so behind and St. Paul St. still had a burst water mane, so I was sweaty and late when I finally met up with Tom. We roamed around, gawked at the amazing characters – the sailor moons, the rainbow pony’s, the Dr. Whos, the Resident Evil zombies, the school girls – visited the arcade room, and scoped out the merchandise.

It was a good time, but way too crowded. I think it has finally grown too large as an event and just doesn’t have enough stuff to do. Whenever we we went to go to cool panels, they were either filled up or there was a gigantic line. The game room, on the other hand, was a bit sparse, with mostly consoles and TV’s and only a few (maybe 10?) arcade machines set up. Also, with the panels, there were only 1 or 2 an hour, so there weren’t too many options to go to. The anime was a bit easier to get into, and we watched one about Lovecraftian horrors chasing some Japanese school kid and another about a kid who’s secretly a zombie. We also watched a panel called “anime for older audiences” that recommended us some good shows.

In the evening, we had beers with Katie and a friend in Fed Hill, then I walked back to go to the rave by myself. It was a bit crowded, but not that many people were dancing. I felt old, sort of, and a bit lonely. I imagined Emily at the events when she was younger, dancing, and couldn’t help but feel like I had sort of missed out as a kid. Or maybe I was just missing her. Hard to say.

I walked to rest of the way home and decided to check it out again on Saturday, a little earlier. Saturday, we enjoyed more of the same. More costumes – dark crystal cosplay, Tom as Shaun of the dead, me as a quasi- Team Zissou person, more anime, more looking around at the shops and the artwork. I wanted to go to the rave and maybe meet up with Liz Mendoza, but then Scott wanted to hang out with people in the evening. Amanda, Matt, Erick, and Rebekah were all coming and, considering it might be the last time I’d see them, I had to go. Emotionally, I wanted to be at the rave, making up for lost time, I guess, and dancing my head off as I ignored the impending inter-personal apocalypse looming on the horizon. But these were my friends, so I met up with them, watched the Olympics, bitched about stupid stuff, colored super hero coloring book images, and drank. Another day passed by!

Sunday came. We roamed around again, watch another anime, and chilled. There wasn’t much to do and the panels that were running were sort of lame. After about two, I cut out to go to my parent’s goodbye cookout (In my honor). That wasn’t going to be nearly as fun as roaming among fellow geeks but then again, I was beginning to feel a bit too older to hang out at Otakon. MaGFest was so much better – an even based on drinking, games, and music instead of cartoons and cosplay. Who could have guessed one would be better for adults?

Anyway, that’s all for now. More tomorrow before I fly out.