My trip to Otakon Otakon came and went. While I don't particularly care about blogs, I figure writing a blog about my Otakon experience might prove entertaining to readers. Also, this might help people decide whether or not to go to a convention if they decide to use this blog as reference to how a con experience generally is. About myself: I've been going to cons for several years. I don't go to cons for anime whatsoever. I go for basically three things, cosplay, AMVs, and meeting people. I'm mostly there to meet people, so much so that I sometimes wonder why I bothered even buying a badge in the first place. Otakon: 22k people attended this year. There would have been many more but there was a 22k cap which went into effect at around 10am on Saturday. There were around 21k pre-registrations this year. Only around 3k at-the-door badges were sold, taking into account that there were probably around 2k people that didn't show up to pick up their pre-reg badges. I feel bad for the people that showed up for the convention on Saturday and found themselves unable to buy badges for the con. Anyway, it seems like the Baltimore Convention Center is too small a convention center for Otakon next year. A week before I was expected to leave for Otakon, I went down on my motorcycle. Ha ha, go snicker at the seemingly inadvertent sexual undertone there. Anyway, I took a low speed spill (~45mph) but was wearing full safety gear so I walked away with no scratched but some bruises from the impact with the ground. Great saves you skin from road rash and such, but they don't save you from the actual impact if you hit the ground at high speed. Anyway, I went to Otakon with some rather nasty bruises and had trouble lifting my right arm and shoulder. Thursday: 12am: I'm playing Dugeon Siege II. Been playing it for the past few days because of my motorcycle injuries and have basically stayed home healing. 5am: I realized it was 5am and figured I should get some sleep before my friend, Gregg, arrives at my place to pick me up. I've been to Otakon with Gregg last year. 7am: Realize my ride will be there within a 1/2 hour and quickly scramble to pack my things for the con. I didn't sleep. I ended up playing Dungeon Siege II clear through the night all the way up until an hour before his arrival. 7:30am: Gregg arrives at my house. We quickly load up the car and head out. 12am: Arrived at the Hyatt Regency Hotel at with a friend 12:30pm Met up with ZerodotJander. You may notice that the name is from the AIM logs I've posted on my page not too long ago. I've stayed with him at Otakon last year. Got everything squared away with the hotel such as sleeping arrangements. Ten people were expected in that hotel room. I got the bed all three nights because of the injuries I already had from when I went down on my motorcycle a week earlier. I showed the people in my hotel room the bruises and they realized I wasn't joking around and trying to make up a lie to get the bed all three nights. 1:30pm: Several people have yet to arrive at the Hyatt. We decide to hang out in the hotel and play some Guilty Gear Isuka. I rack up a win streak before I get bored and pass my controller to someone else and decide to take a nap. 3pm: I end up falling asleep on one of the beds around now after having played PS2 for a while. I haven't slept at all last night and the lack of sleep finally catches up to me. 5:30pm: I wake up and realize that the line for pre-registration had started. I'm alone in the hotel room. Everyone staying with us had arrived by now. It seems like all 9 people have decided to let me sleep. Decide to go find the crew and get my badge. Call ZerodotJander and find out that all of them had gotten their badges. I bitch at them for not waking me up to join them. This is an anime convention, damnit, sleep is optional! I decide that I guess I'll be waiting on line by myself so I head for the convention to get my badge. On the way to the convention, I bump into Gregg. Gregg is PISSED! Seems like he didn't get his badge. ZerodotJander pre-reg'd us as a group. The staff couldn't find his name to give him a badge and Gregg was under the impression that ZerodotJander didn't pre-reg him. Gregg looked ready to murder ZerodotJander. Gregg says he's going home because he doesn't want to wait on line tomorrow to get his badge. I go "Are you fucking stupid?" I proceed to convince him that he should wait around so we can get things straightened out, that he is jumping to conclusion of epic proportions. I then proceed to head to the con to get my badge and meet up with the group and tell them what's going on while Gregg goes back to his hotel room. I'm under the impression that he's going to pack his stuff and leave so I start thinking of how I'm gonna get back home since he's my ride back. I don't think to hard about it because I'm pretty sure I'll find my way back somehow. Meet up with rest of group and tell them off the snafu that happened with Gregg and him not being able to get his badge. We all head back to the hotel room to clear things up and meet up with Gregg. We arrive at the hotel and find Gregg packing his suitcase. Seems like he would have left had we not gotten back to the hotel in time. 6:30pm ZerodotJander goes downstairs to the computer lab and prints up the receipt that has Gregg's name on it. He gives it to Gregg and Gregg heads back to the convention to see if he can get his badge but is really pissed to hafta wait on line again. The gang and I decide to go out and get some dinner. 7pm: I still didn't get my badge. I'm in no real rush. I call Gregg and ask him to call me when he's close to the front of the line so I can join him. No need for both of us to wait on line. The gang and I head for Legal's Seafood Restaurant, which is located near the convention. 7:30pm Gregg calls me and tells me he's by the front of the line. By now, I was at the restaurant waiting to be seated with everyone else. I quickly bail to get to the convention. I call ZerodotJander and tell him I'm gonna bring Gregg to the restaurant and request that the whole gang pitch in a dollar each and offer to pay for his dinner as a way of making him feel better after the crap he had to go through to get his badge. By the time I got there, Gregg had already gone in and I can't get in and there is still a long-ass line. I meet up with Gregg and Gregg seems happy that he now has his badge. I bring Gregg to the restaurant. On the way, I basically told him my opinion on his reaction. Basically, it went along the lines of "Man, the way to blew up reminds me of the people I rant about on my webpage. You didn't even know the whole story and basically came to your own conclusion. Do you realize that if you didn't bother to think for just one minute that it MIGHT not be ZerodotJander's fault, you'd be in the car driving home right now?" Gregg gets the picture and decides to come with me to the restaurant to apologize to ZerodotJander. 7:35pm: Gregg and I arrive at the restaurant. Everyone is seated by now. Gregg apologizes humbly. I find it amusing because it means he realizes first hand that finding out the truth to what happened instead of assuming something is the best course of action. Basically, because Gregg didn't bother to get ZerodotJander's last name, that was why the Otakon staff couldn't located his badge. Basically, the incident turned out to be Gregg's own fault ;) The group offers to buy dinner for Gregg. Gregg declines. I bother to mention "Hey, remember, it's the thought that counts." Gregg goes back to the hotel. 9pm: We finish eating. There is a party we can go to. ZerodotJander is a Goon. Goon is basically a member of SomethingAwful.com forums. It seems like there is going to be a Goon party and ZerodotJander invited us with him. After the meal, the group splits up, half going back to the hotel while the other half start heading for the hotel with the party. The party's several blocks from the convention center. On the way, I stop by the convention center and get my pre-reg badge. There are no longer any lines. I kinda snicker at the thought of all those people that waited on line to get their badge earlier in the day while I go my badge in under five minutes simply because I didn't want to wait on line and decided to get it later when there are no lines. 9:30pm We buy alcohol for the party. At the party, we all start drinking. I end up drinking. Someone at the party makes a really good tasting drinking. 1 part Apple Pucker, 1 part Peach Tree, 1 part Vodka. It tastes like a Jolly Rancher candy. I end up drinking a bit too much of it. During the party, I indulge in conversation. A person from our group named Z (short for Zdenko), try to drink shot for shot against ZerodotJander. ZerodotJander is around 100lbs heavier than Z. Over the course of around 1/2 hour, they drink around 15 shots. I drink at my own pace. I have a drink and go about playing Guilty Gear XX. Someone at the party had the game out and I basically start racking up a large win streak on the game, all the while drinking and becoming inebriated. 12am: I decided I've won enough times in Guilty Gear XX and go to the bathroom. I was sitting the whole time while playing games. While in the bathroom, the full force of the alcohol hits me. I black out around 1 second after taking a piss and fall backwards and hit my head against the slab of marble located on the floor of the doorway inside the bathroom. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about, some bathroom have those slabs of marble/stone under the door to separate the bathroom from other room. Anyway, the back of my head hits it. I wake up after blacking out. My head hurts and I don't know where I am. After a minute, I realize I blacked out. I get up and touch the back of my head. I'm bleeding. The impact of my head against the slab of marble had caused large gash on the back of my head over an inch long. I duck my head under running water faucet to clean up the blood, all the while unaware of just how injured I've been. 12:15am I go back out into the party room and tell them of what happened to me. By now, I'm sober. Someone at the party had a first aid kit and cleans up the wound and bandage me up and wraps up my head up in bandages. As I'm being cleaned up, I hear that Z is now totally wasted and a cab has been called to take him back to our hotel. ZerodotJander helps Z and me take a cab back to the hotel room. After we get back to the hotel, we find out that while drunk, Z had dropped his wallet. ZerodotJander, after dropping us off, headed back to the party to look for the wallet. Everyone in the room put Z to sleep and learn the hard way that we should have put him to sleep in the bathtub instead. 2am: Z throws up in his sleep. We lug him across the hotel room as vomit dribbles from his mouth and into the bathroom toilet where he proceeded to throw up all the food he ate at Legal's Seafood Restaurant earlier. The room reeks and needs to be aired out. One of the people staying with us throws up from the smell of the vomit. Because the bathroom was occupied by Z's unconscious body, the guy had no where to throw up into and tried to hold it in and the vomit ended up coming out of his nose. I remember laughing at that but stop because it hurts to laugh due to my motorcycle injuries. I don't wanna stay in the hotel while it stinks that badly and decide to call a friend, Taler, that is already at the con and chill at his hotel for a while so the smell could be aired outta my hotel in the meanwhile. I spent most of my time at Otakon last year with Taler and his group. Taler is also the person that helped me set up a paypal account and was the first person that ever donated to me for my webpage. 2:30am I show up at Taler's hotel room. I tell them the story of what happened to us and why half my head is bandaged up. We end up chatting about nothing in particular. 4:30am: I head back to my hotel. It doesn't stink as badly as before but the bathroom still has a lingering vomit smell. I end up kicking someone out of the bed because I need the bed due to my motorcycle injuries. ZerodotJander snores loudly, very very loudly. No one really sleeps. I can't really sleep anyway because it hurts to sleep on my back because of the gash on the back of my head and I can't sleep on my side because of my motorcycle injuries. Basically, I'm screwed. Either way, I believed it was a fun Thursday. Friday 11am: Wake up somewhere around noon but not positive. I wait for my turn to take a shower and get dressed and head to the convention. Gregg comments on ZerodotJander's loud snoring and heads over to a nearby CVS to buy some earplugs. I call Taler and we make plans for lunch. Pete, someone from our group, comes with me. 12:30pm: I go to the medical center of the convention to have the gash on my head checked out and cleaned. The people manning that post is surprised that such an injury could occur so early since the convention started. I tell the truth about what happened the night before instead of trying to make up a story. The crew seems surprised that I came out with the truth and owning up to it instead of lying like most people do. Over the course of the convention, I'll be visiting the medical center getting my head wound cleaned out. Afterwards, I meet up with Taler and his ground and end up going to Johnny Rocket nearby and getting some lunch. 2pm: We finish eating lunch and head over to the convention and watch the last half of the Anime Music Videos. I didn't really care about missing the first half because I'm only interested in the last two categories of the AMVs anyway. I was kind of disappointed with the AMVs I saw this year. 3pm: I head back to the hotel. There, I play some Guilty Gear Isuka with a few people staying at the hotel with me. I rack up another win streak before getting bored and deciding to take a nap. 7pm: I get up somewhere around now and get in touch with Taler for some dinner with his group. I meet up with 'em and we go to Legal's Seafood Restaurant. This is the second time I'm eating at the restaurant. We end up getting the same waiter my group and yesterday and he remembers me. No one else from my group wanted to eat there with us again because eating at Legal's is expensive and they would rather spend their money in the dealer's room. 9pm: I'm finished with dinner and split up with Taler and his group to go to 2009 Lost Memories where I meet up with ZerodotJander and someone else from my group. I watch around an hour into the movie before I decide the movie is too boring for me and decide to head back to the hotel to take a nap in anticipation to spending Saturday night hanging out. 12:30am: I head back to the convention to meet up with some friends to see Otaku no Sketcho. The panel was quite amusing but was ended prematurely because the convention was closing at 2am and the panel started late. 2:30am: I find myself back at the hotel with everyone else. I'm really not in the mood to drink, especially with what happened yesterday, so I decide to call a friend of mine that is staying at the Sheraton Hotel. Someone from my group bought 'A Time to Fight', a Taiwanese movie done by the same produces of 'Ong Bak', and I wanted to see it but couldn't watch it at my hotel because some people form my group were already sleeping. Everyone in my friend's hotel room were wide awake and didn't mind company. 3am: My group and I visit my friend. We hang around and get to know each other. After a short while, we watch 'A Time to Fight'. The movie is really good and full of awesome stunts and action sequences. If you liked 'Ong Bak', you should like 'A Time to Fight'. 5am: After the movie ended, we realize it was getting late so my group and I head back to hour hotel. We hang out in the lobby of our hotel and hang there for a while talking. After a short while, we go back to our hotel and call it a night. Because of the earplugs Gregg bought earlier in the day, lack of sleeping from snoring wasn't an issue anymore. Funnily enough, snoring isn't an issue because ZerodotJander ended up sleeping in the bathtub because he knows he snores loudly and decided that was the best way anyway. Saturday 11am: We wake up and get ready. Because there are so many people in our hotel, the morning ritual taking a shower and getting dressed and out the door is pretty time- consuming. 12pm: Several of us meet up with a bunch of Goon (SomethingAwful.com forum members) and head down to Pizzaria Uno for lunch. We ended up having 15 people to the group. 2pm: I ditched lunch to go see the Gundam Seed Movie. I never saw the Gundam Seed series but liked what I saw of the movie. The one conclusion I came to watching the movie is that Flay is a bitch. 4:30pm: I walk out of the Gundam Seed Movie theater pissed because the movie ended prematurely due to time constraints. I decide to head back to the hotel and take a nap because the cosplay will be coming up and I don't wanna be tired to enjoy it. 6:30pm: I wake back up and get in contact with Taler and his group and go wait on line for cosplay. Entering the room, I'm a bit pissed when I see most of the seats already filled from the people that attended the MegaTokyo panel in the same room. It's as if being a fan of MegaTokyo gives you priority in terms of seating arrangements over being a fan of cosplay. 11pm: Cosplay is over. It was a rather decent cosplay. Most people don't like cosplay because most of the skits suck, but from my point of view, there are usually a couple of skits that are really enjoyable that make sitting through the rest of cosplay worthwhile. After cosplay, I headed over to the Saturday Night Games panel where I met up with ZerodotJander. It was rather enjoyable because the trivia was presented in a humorous way where one multiple choice usually had some outrageously funny answer. 12:30am: I head over to the 4chan.org panel and find that it was full and couldn't get in. This annoyed me because I originally wanted to leave for the 4chan.org panel a bit early but allowed ZerodotJander to convince me to stay until just before the 4chan.org panel was expected to start. 1am: I head back to the hotel room with ZerodotJander where we hang around for a bit for the convention to end to meet up with everyone and start partying. I tell myself that I'm really not interested in partying since I still have a somewhat fresh gash on the back of my head reminding me of the dangers of alcohol. 2am: Head back over to now-closing convention and meet up with a bunch of people I was supposed to meet up with at the 4chan.org panel had I not arrived too late for said panel. We go about figuring out what party to go to. While with the group, I met up with a friend that I've known from previous cons that wasn't a part of the group. We end up chit chatting. Before long, everyone dispersed while I simply hung out with my friend. Instead of going out partying for the sake of partying, I decided to hang around and just enjoy chit chatting. 4:30am: My friend and I head over to the Day's Inn Hotel and hang in the lobby and simply talk. I end up meeting the girl that had been cleaning out my head wound throughout the con at the hotel lobby. I find out she has to be at work at 9am and get worried that she'll be dead tired when I go to the medical center to have my head wound cleaned out again. I end up befriending several people that were also hanging out at the lobby. We spend most of the early morning chit chatting, talking about nothing in particular, while Adult Swim played on the big screen television in the lobby background. 6am: I meet up with ZerodotJander and head back to the hotel. ZerodotJander hung out with a different group elsewhere in similar fashion like I did. Sunday: 11am: I'm up and about and get ready to leave for the convention. I decide that I should check out the dealer's room at least once during this convention and figure now is a good time. At the convention, I find that the dealer's room was already opened. I figured it opens at 12pm so I'm pleasantly surprised. I notice a slow-moving line and realized that I might have to wait several minutes to get in. I didn't want to wait so I go in through the dealer's room exit. I get stopped but I tell them I had left the dealer's room a few minutes ago but realized I left one of my bags at a dealer's booth. They let me in. 12:30pm: I leave the dealer's room to meet up with a few friends to see Howl's Moving Castle in the 35mm theater. I meet up with two people from my group. I call Gregg up and tell him that I'll be watching a movie at 1pm so I'll be indisposed for the next two hours. Over the course of the movie, Gregg calls me a few times wondering when the movie gets out which I found annoying. 3pm: The movie ends and I go to the medical center one last time to get my head wound cleaned out. I say goodbye to the medical staff that took care of me and give them my gratitude. 4pm: Gregg and I are on the road on our way back home. I end up falling asleep for most of the trip due to lack of sleep the night before. I feel bad for not being able to stay up for the majority of the trip. Odd things: A person that stayed in our hotel had been seen playing Final Fantasy Tactics on the PS2 for a large portion of the convention. Every time I go to the hotel room, I found him in there playing the game. I remember making a sarcastic comment along the lines of "Man, I'm sure playing Final Fantasy Tactics in a hotel room is far superior playing the game at home" There was a girl trying to sell CDs of some band outside the convention that caught me staring at her chest. She said that I should buy a CD from her as a way of paying her back for the peep show. I told her no and that she should try that method on someone that would get embarrassed getting caught. Two of my friends ended up buying CDs from her on my behalf because I think they were embarrassed that I was with them. Z never found his wallet. Taler lost his wallet in the dealer's room but found it a short while later. He's lucky because he needed ID to fly back home. There was someone obviously famous walking around the con Saturday night because there was a large crowd surrounding him. When I first saw him, I thought he was the Underwear Cowboy from Times Square because the guy was wearing a large cowboy hat and had long hair but was wearing clothes. Upon a closer glance, I thought he was Shawn Michaels of WWE fame. I remember thinking, I always thought he was taller. I was later told that it was Scott McNeil (Voice actor of Piccolo and Duo) which kinda disappointed me because that meant he wasn't Shawn Michaels and I wanted to take a picture of him because my dad is a wrestling fan. He then went about giving everyone autographs but I didn't get one because I never saw the point in autographs. I lost pretty badly to a girl on Tekken 5. She was cute and I didn't care if I lost. The guy before and after me lost to her as well so I don't feel that bad. There was some homeless guy commenting about how Michael Jackson raped little boys and was able to get away with it and the guy only wanted some money so he could rape a double cheeseburger. I found the approach very amusing and went to Burger King and bought a double cheeseburger to give it to him. When I went back to where he was, he wasn't there so I ate the double cheeseburger. ZerodotJander paid for one of my meals at Legal's Seafood Restaurant because he got me sick last year when I stayed with him at Otakon and he had a cold. I should've ordered lobster but that would've been mean. Instead, I ordered the same thing I always ordered, Tai style fried calamari.