audio: "shadowplay." (live, from les

audio: "shadowplay." (live, from les bains douches.) joy division.

there's actually not too much more to tell, so i can prolly condense this, since i've rambled on so long about last weekend...XD

SATURDAY

dunno when we actually got back to the con, but we knew it would be a zoo. since there were people everywhere. and really, most of it passed in quite a haze...got to see Heather's tea ceremony demonstration, and watched her niece Amber for a little while as Heather was setting up her equipment and waiting for Mara to arrive and help her.

oh, wait...Amber!

i nearly forgot! it was SO GREAT. Amber is about 6, right? and very, very adorable. and she was dressed up as Sailormoon. and earlier in the day, apparently she and Heather had stopped by one of the egg-encased-toy machines over at Anime Jungle's booth and picked up a little Sailormoon figure for her to play with.

problem was (and you'll find this if ever you've played with one of these types of toys), parts of her kept flying off whenever you tried to play with her. and she wouldn't stand up on her own, either. XD

Amber, for her part, was having a really great time playing with this. she'd be going (in a high-pitched voice, as Sailormoon), "Oh, it's time for me to go to school...aaaaaah! My legs fell off! I have to go get them!" and on and on. you get the idea.

i was highly amused. but of course, made the mistake of saying that since it all fit together with little pegs that were all the same size (and therefore interchangeable), if it were *my* toy, i'd probably put her together all wrong on purpose. so Amber diligently did so, which ended up in Sailormoon's head being up her skirt and her legs coming out of her neck. XD

(it got even better later on...i've got some great photos of Dale playing with the Sailormoon doll. will post them up later, along with all the other ones i've been promising. XD)

oh, and the Food Chain moment! was in the main hall, and i see this trio of girls dressed in GORGEOUS costumes that were either from some visual kei group or from Angel Sanctuary...was really difficult for me to tell. ^^;;; at any rate, i wanted photos. so i was chasing them down when my phone rings; it's Kev, looking for us. i inform him that i'm chasing some cosplayers to take a photo, and will have to call him back. chase them, get a couple photos, and turn around to go back over by Spaz, who is waiting patiently for me over by a large plant at the side of the hall, out of the stream of people.

...and get a mad tapping on my shoulder. "Excuse me, can i have your autograph?" a girl who was quite a bit taller than me asked me, rather shyly. and thus, the food chain. XD

went around, met up with friends...went through the dealer's room again...bought some Tarepanda hair clips and some cute stationary, which rounded out the extent of everything i actually bought from the dealer's room that weekend. shock, shock...spent under $40 in total. ^^

...and sometime, in the dealer's room, a very strange thing happened.

i was glomped, randomly. by a girl who i did not know. not knowing what to do, i hugged her back...she seemed harmless enough, and i'd not felt a knife stab into my ribs or anything as she hugged me. XD by way of explanation, she squealed, "...you're the SWEK singer!"

O.o;;; er, yes. she then said she really liked our show, and some other boys behind her said the same and shook my hand. and a bunch of people had indeed seen me and said similar things, but i've never had someone i didn't know randomly glomp me before...so please excuse my surprise. she really was very nice. XD

more congoing stuff, more congoing stuff...and then i had people actually FREAK OUT over me. they were dressed up really nicely, too...one dressed as Li Syaoran in full battle costume, and another dressed up as Pyoko from DiGi Charat. both were having a nice conversation when Spaz and i walked by, and then they started spluttering and freaking out and staring at me. i smiled and kept going, and then one of them said "It's the SWEK singer! It's the SWEK singer!" and was hopping up and down and pointing at me. by this point, i was a little further away, so i waved and smiled...unsure what to do. and then Pyoko asked very politely if she could take my picture, and i said sure. and she did. but...weird. O.O;;;

i mean, nice. these people are nice. but the reason i find it particularly odd is that these aren't our songs. we're having fun doing them, and i'm certainly glad people like them, but i think i'd feel a little less weird about it if we'd actually written these songs that people are freaking out over, y'know? it just seems...strange to me.

and so, on it went. and i also did an interview later on. Ganymede has an anime show he does in Cleveland (which may expand...he'd like it to) and was there with press passes and had a nice press setup in a room near ConOps. Mara interviewed me, and we were placed in front of a green screen...much speculation has been had over what's going to be chroma-keyed behind us (free pr0n! w00t! XD), of course. as he handed me the release form and the questions sheet to look over, Ganymede said, "wow, this is weird...i don't think i've ever handed one of these to a friend before." XD true enough. strange. XD they'd interviewed Crispin Freeman and Jessica Calvello earlier, too, apparently. and this was Mara's first day interviewing. they promised me a copy of the tape (and of our show, which they also taped) so i can see how dorky i appeared. XD

after all that, we went out to dinner again. this time, it was Spaz, Caleigh, Ganymede, Heather, Mara, Amber, and me...and we went to the Bowl House! ^_________________________________^

god, i love the Bowl House! so nummy! Amber was taught how to use chopsticks, and Caleigh had just come for some green tea ice cream...much food was enjoyed and random weird discussions were had. after Amber had been picked up by her mother, of course. there was a great one about how cleavage apparently echoes...something about how Mara's car is really a gay man, and i pointed out the wrongness inherent in her riding inside a gay man, and Caleigh declared that her hair is really a gay man, so she's got him sitting on her head...and, uh, this was all without the aid of alcohol. XD but it was loads of fun, and very, very good food. have i mentioned lately that i love the Bowl House? because i DOOOOOOOOO...*.*;;;;

oh, and before Priya punches me, the Takahashi brothers. there was a family who had come in shortly before us to the Bowl House, and there were two teenage boys who were obviously brothers in this family. and i SWEAR, they were the spitting image of the Takahashi brothers from Initial D. and i didn't even notice it at the time...Spaz pointed it out to me the next morning! and really, they *were*! O.O;;; and here i just thought they were very pretty boys...while all the time, they could've been at the cosplay we were boycotting and winning the entire show! XD

SUNDAY

knew it would be sort of a downer, as Sunday of the con usually is. called up Priya to see when and where we should meet up, got ready, went to the hotel and went upstairs to wake Caleigh up (as we'd promised her the night before). she was already up, and we told her we were going to get breakfast with Priya and asked if she wanted to come with. she did, and we went downstairs to find Priya and co. in the dealer's room.

went and hung out with Priya at Sally's (again), wherein Priya half-strangled me when i told her i'd learned how to play a certain something on my keyboard. (much like FioFio, she insisted that i must record. i made no promises. XD) nummy breakfast was had, and we all went our separate ways...was nice to meet Priya, and she is indeed quite a Special individual. XD

afterward, went back to the hotel. and waited. and waited. and wasted more time. and waited. ran into Terra again. and waited. and waited. and watched Caleigh do her flop-dancing (pictures to come, i promise). and watched Sarah drag Caleigh around the dancefloor by her feet (pictures, i swear!). why were we waiting?

had to get our stuff loaded out after closing ceremonies were over. (which netted us lots of free chocolate, BTW. ^^) so much waiting was done. eventually, we got most of it loaded into the Explorer Jon had brought with and the old Jetta we'd brought with. drove it (and Mike) back to Jon's house, dropped a bunch off...Eric and Sarah and Caleigh had gone home, and Dale and Mike went to go get food before heading back to pick up the rest of our stuff. Jon and Spaz and i went to Omega (mmmm...ravioli and REALLY GOOD bread...o.o;;;), and that was that. all told, Sunday was the most exhausting day of the weekend, really.

conked out, woke up with a sore throat and thoroughly exhausted Monday morning, so was absent from work. drove a bit, and was doing better...and obtained myself an Invader ZIM faceplate for my cell phone. which is really, really cool. and has purple buttons. ^.^

...and now it's friday again, and what have i got accomplished?

not much. XD

we'll be listening to the MD of the performance at practice tonight (which isn't really going to be practice...just a gathering, morelike). if anything is worth it, MP3s will hopefully be made available soon. should try to post pictures this weekend.

to Keito-chan, Jae Young, Fifichu-chan, and Beeru-chan, and to anyone else who wished me good luck...THANK YOU very, very much. i really, really appreciate it. and much love to you all. and to everyone, really.

for if i am not full of love, what *am* i full of, really?

(none of you answer that, please. XD)