So, I think Iapos;m finally put back together after the past weekend. Yeah, took forever I know, but you try going halfway across the country in a small car, driving paranoid because youapos;re not technically allowed to seeing as you donapos;t even have a permit, and then proceeding to get lost when getting to said destination AND leaving it.
I think the highlight of the weekend was how I actually got to SLEEP. I donapos;t get as much as I would like at school, and I got to sleep plenty there. Actually, I slept so much I felt horrible because I thought I was shunning everyone else there.
Anyway, to those who DONapos;T know what I was doing this weekend, I was in Virginia for Anime USA. Itapos;s about a sixteen hour car ride from Columbia, Missouri to there. Not to mention we had to stop by my sisterapos;s place to bake cupcakes and then get lectured by her and her husband about how we were crazy to drive at midnight when neither of us had gotten proper sleep. We made it in one piece just fucking fine, thank you very much. Iapos;ve driven cross-country before. Itapos;s not a big deal. You get tired, you pull over and sleep.
So, we left Wednesday night, Thursday morning, and just started driving. Around three we stopped for food and I had the most amazing mushroom and swiss burger from Steak napos; Shake. Alyx thought I was going to have an orgasm I found it so fucking good. At about eight eastern time, we picked up our friend Mith in Ohio, and so we had a third member added to our party. It was an interesting trip the rest of the way, discussing random signs along the road, mountains, J-rock, JRR, and falling rocks. It took a lot longer to get there than I had thought, so we were pretty tired once we got there. We picked up dear Beaver from the train station, after getting lost and trying to find her on foot before I caved in and asked a security guard outside a parking garage. We werenapos;t that far off at all. >.< After that, we got even MORE lost and it took us an hour just to get to the Hyatt. Alyx and I joined up with Kara and Red in our room and went to go grab our badges and some food with them and Eru. We crashed shortly after.
Friday we got up at about nine, woken up I think by Kara or Red. Iapos;m not too sure about Friday right now. Itapos;s really fuzzy. I slept a lot, thatapos;s probably why. I showered I think. Retro and Retrofriend(Alexa) showed up sometime too. We went to CVS for some stuff, and then Alyx and I iced cupcakes for the JRR picnic. I was told they were good. I hope they were. If anyone got sick, I take full responsibility for it. ;-; We didnapos;t stay more than thirty minutes though, because Beaver and Alyx wanted to go to the Crossplay 101 panel. It was interesting, but Iapos;m not a crossplayer by any means, so I only half paid attention. I might have slept if it werenapos;t for the crazies next store making a bunch of noise. I think at one point they Rickrolled us, or themselves. Congoers are nuts.
They held dance lessons for the Kabuki ball sometime after that, which was really amusing. But Iapos;m not complaining because I like dancing with Alyx. Beaver never gave me a dance though. I had a short moment with Mith when we practiced, but then we just stuck with our original partners. (Oh, and there was this guy dressed as Belle from Beauty and the Beast, and he looked fucking amazing. O.o) Anyway, we left a little earlier so we could all get ready, and I wish I had gotten pictures. I was almost too amused at the fact that Alyx was the only one of us in pants. I may be a lesbian, but sorry, I like my dresses at dances. The only one who stayed the longest was Mith, with a guy I believed they were rooming with. We did dance a lot, and I kind of gave up on the Foxtrot and the Rumba as the latter we left before learning, and the Foxtrot just frustrated me. We stuck with the Waltz, and it was nice.
After that, Alyx and I went up to the room and, guess what? SLEPT~ Yeah, I was really exhausted, and I may have just not liked the weather or something. I felt really tired, and everything seemed a bit off. I donapos;t remember much else from Friday. Oh, we went to a Japanese Bondage panel, but Alyx got sick so we had to leave. Damn. It sucks we couldnapos;t stay for the entire thing, because it was really interesting.
Saturday, I remember, being the longest day I think. We got up at like, eight, and Retro turned on the Buck-Tick concert DVD. I didnapos;t pay much attention. I finally got to visit the Dealerapos;s room, and I was so excited I bought a collar bell from Pawstar as a little gift to myself. It makes a VERY nice addition to my cuffs and collar. Alyx likes jingling it, and she says itapos;ll make it easier to find me, since I have a bad habit of running off. We then went to the room again, and Alyx slept some while I read a book. Then there was some more running around, and lunch at Chiliapos;s, and general...generalness, until the concert that evening.
And NOW we get to the FUN PART. The concert.
Shoot. Me. Now.
God, I sound so horrible in this, and I didnapos;t even complain that much before.
So anyway. We get downstairs after Alyx runs across the street to get food for Retro and I. The two of us really needed to eat because we werenapos;t feeling well. We left the JRR panel early because I guess the heat in the room made us dizzy and stuff. Well, we start kind of forming a little group near the entrance to the main room so we can jump in line the second we get the chance. Noooo, they shove us up in a stairwell, where itapos;s hot and stuffy, and makes Retro feel even WORSE. So she gets escorted out by an EMT lady and has to miss the concert. I just lean on Alyx most of the time and it makes me feel a little better. So then, they line us all up in the lobby where we sit for about half an hour, before they change their minds and shove us back into the stairwell. At this point, thereapos;s a shit ton of people so theyapos;re taking up two. We wait. For a very long while. No one knows whatapos;s going on. I just about give up on life, Iapos;m tired, and cranky, and I start ignoring people so I donapos;t explode on them. I wander the lobby, come back to the group, wander some more, go back, wander...viscious cycle. I have a bad habit of wandering when Iapos;m frustrated. They brought DJ SiSen in for us to get us all excited because they know weapos;re suffering. It was a bit refreshing, and he was all bouncy and cute.
Finally, around...midnight I think, they shove us all into the ballroom, and I donapos;t even bother trying to get closer to the stage. Iapos;m so tired I know Iapos;m going to get trampled. We spot Red and Kara on the screen at one point and try to shimmy up there, running into aoi, Eru, and Ichi. But then we all move back. (I should probably point out that when I say we, Iapos;m mostly talking about me, Alyx, Beaver, and Mith.) They send DJ SiSen out again after about half an hour of waiting, but everyoneapos;s just tired of it and want Versailles. After awhile, we begin to wonder if the concert is cancelled. Theyapos;ve kind of mixed the concert and the rave, playing rave music while people are waiting. Some people think itapos;s the rave, and have therefor turned the room into their dancefloor. Concert goers are getting pissed, and Alyx, or someone, makes the point that they cancel the concert, the fans are going to be pissed, but starting the rave and then cancelling it when the band comes on will have the ravers pissed. So on either side, someone is gonna be pissed.
Turns out it was going to be the ravers. Roger finally got onstage and announced the band, and they came up. Those men, from thirty feet away...can look pretty damn good. It started okay after awhile. I was a bit bouncy. And then, Kamijo jumps down in the little walkway between the fans and the stage...and some girl grabs his sleeve. I watch this on the big screen. She will not. Let. Him. Go. He jerked his arm a few times, and then finally turned around to I suppose glare at her or something. Whatever he did, she released him and he jumped back onto the stage. This is one reason why I prefer to stand in the front. Not only do I get to see the artist, as Iapos;m rather short, but I can stand in front of the crazy fans so they donapos;t do stupid shit like that.
I think that was the last straw for me. The music was good and everything, but I was just too tired and cranky. I sat down for a bit, but I began feeling dizzy again, and I had a headache coming on. Alyx took me back up to the room and promised to get my Versailles shirt signed when they left the concert for their signing. I donapos;t really know what else happened except that I fell asleep almost the instant Alyx tucked me in. I donapos;t even remember her leaving my side, but she apparently didnapos;t come back until four in the morning.
Sunday, we got up early to take Beaver back to the train station so she could catch hers at eleven or something. We got only a little lost this time, went back, and headed downstairs to the dealerapos;s room to buy any last minute things we might want. We took another nap, in which I slept longer and Alyx packed everything for me. Then we hung around where the Tainted Reality booth was talking to everyone, before we got Mith and packed everything in the car. At one point, I was waiting down with the car while they went to go get the cooler. SiSen was standing there with his friend and his boyfriend I assume, trying to figure something out. It was cute to watch him. Alyx completely froze up when they walked by, and wanted to get her shirt signed but didnapos;t want to bother him. She went to go park the car while we said our goodbyes, and when she drove off, Mith and I nearly ran right into him. We stopped and just let him pass, and he said apos;Thank youapos; kind of quietly with this huge grin on his face and Mith and I probably looked like such dorks when we passed him by, we were smiling so much. Okay, that definitely had to be the highlight of the trip.
And so, we proceeded to drive home. We dropped Mith off late Sunday night/early Monday morning, and then got to Columbia. I had class, and managed to catch two out of the three. Then we ate, and crashed, and Alyx went home in the morning.
So that was the weekend. Weapos;ve decided several things, but one of them is that weapos;re not going to make that drive again unless we have more than one day to do it. And from what Iapos;ve heard on the local news, airplane prices may be going down, so weapos;ll more than likely going to be taking advantage of that for Sakuracon. Because we are NOT going to drive thirty hours there and back.
activity series labs, activity series metal halogens, activity series metals, activity series of elements.
