Wow, I’ve been so lazy not to poast (because really, does a half hour out of your day to make a blog post really change how you do on your homework?). A lot has actually happened in the past. I quit forensics, thereby ruining Laurie’s life. I have too much homework. Grr, Savanna speaks Japanese and I don’t. Pockey tastes yummy. AMV’s rock. So does DDR. Noo, Stargate season’s over. Yay, Netflix has anime!

So, interesting story. I’m walking through Fasion Square mall after buying the September issue of Newtype, when I see this woman wearing a white long sleeved shirt, that said Otakon 2005 on it. I’m not the only freak in Charlottesville!

Now for some more pressing news. Most of you probably know something about my Japan obsession. For the past few months I’ve despirately wanted to make an AMV, but it’s been pretty much impossible for me so far. But now that I have access to a computer with more than 129 MB RAM, I got to download the trial of Adobe Premiere 1.5, and let me tell you that it the coolest program in exsistence. It’s fast, it’s easy to use, it has more functions that my math class and the full version is available for the low, low price of $250! Heh, heh… right. Ah, if only.

So, I get to lead my Intro class in warm ups on Tuesday, and wow am I going to suck. But I’ll give it a shot. I think I’m having a Mr. Small overload - Intro, Acting, Lorax, and now Senior Monologues (which I now have to find a monologue for - it’s like all the bad parts of forensics all over again!), soon I won’t be able to handle it!

I saw Prarie Home Companion on Saturday. Can you believe I lived in Minnesota for 9 years and have never seen one until now? But I finally got to see Mr. Keillor’s georgeous face. Plus, guess what? The Mall of America had a new roller coaster! Who would have tought? And I must say that I’m impressed - it’s better than most ones I seen in dedicated amusement parks.

Well, it’s about 11 and my back is getting tired from sitting on the floor (why I put my moniter at knee-height I will never konw). Bleh. Only 10 more months until Otakon 2006…

#m

Note, this post was written over the course of several weeks - not because it is incredibly good or in-depth, but because I haven’t had the will power to write for extended periods of time lately. Please excuse any chronologically confusing bits.

Yeah, the first few weeks were alright. I have a teacher that will explode soon, a teacher that I can just imagine ripping off his shirt and tossing his glasses aside and suddenly become a male model, and of course, Mr. Small. Surprisingly, I had more homework this weekend than my sister, who I might add is taking 6 AP classes (the insane little freak!). I won’t bore you with all the details of my PEVs and writing assignments.

TAing for Mr. Small is pretty cool - on Thursday, I actually got to shut the double black doors during warm-up! So, not much is happening with that, but it should pick up soon (especially once we’re done with mime, I hate mime!). I was a bit worried that I’d have to do the homework in that class again though, so I’m relieved that I don’t have to.

Ok, now that I’m done with that crap, the real fun: OTAKON 2005!

Friday morning, we got up at 1:30 (those lucky people that got to do badge pick up on Thursday…grumble). We got to Baltimore around 6:00 and proceeded to stand in line. This being my first con, I figured there would be a pre-reg line and an at-con line, and thus assumed the pre-reg line wouldn’t start really forming for a while. But no, it was all one line, so we stood in it for over three hours. I was very surprised at how quickly it moved once the BCC opened though.

We saw Otaku no Video first - hilarious, ate pocky, went to the dealers room, saw the opening ceremonies, and blah blah blah. It’s hard for me to describe the feeling of being there. Picture this - 22,000 otaku (almost half in costume) clogging the halls of the largest building (aside from an airport) that I’ve ever been in. Now picture those 22,000 otaku walking around on 3 hours of sleep and weighed down by the hundreds of anime dvd’s they just bought in exchange for their entire life savings. Ah, what a wonderful place.

I’m actually not going to list everything I did since first you would find it very boring, and also because I’m too lazy to go upstairs and get my schedule so I can remember what actually happened. Some highlights were the AMV contest (Azumanga Daioh plus “The System is Down”… and magic is born), the Otaklause challenge (groups of 4 people in costume trying to navigate their way blindfolded around a track in a makeshift Speed Racer car with it’s theme song on full blast), the Iron Editor Competition (Iron Chef plus Anime Music Videos), and of course everything else. Oh, and Chris would have been happy - the video game room had projectors so people could play Halo on a screen several dozen feet diagonal.

I didn’t really take many pictures, so unfortunately you won’t be able to see the glorious Baltimore Convention Center. I shall cherish the memories in my mind however, until next year when I might be lucky enough to go again. By the way, I was one of the first few hundred people (first few dozen if you take into account the speed of sound) to learn when Otakon 2006 will be… August 4, 5, and 6 2006! Ahhh…

You will be hearing more about this later, I assure you.

AHHHH!!!! The Lorax auditions were last week! I sucked. No, I really did. Don’t even get me started on my monologue. I did get called back, although I think about half the people did, so it makes me feel neither encouraged nor dismayed. I just keep coming back to the thought that less than a quarter of the people that auditioned will end up in the cast. Then take into account people like Mark, Jordan, and Robert who will most definitely get in, the spots are few. At least if I don’t get in, I’ll still have Forensics.

Speaking of Forensics, what category am I going to be in!? I don’t want to do Original Oratory, and wouldn’t be able to do any of the debate ones. I can’t think of anyone I would be able to do Duo Interp with, everyone in Dramatic/Humorous Interp would be ridiculously good (of course, that’ll be true in any category)… How do I choose?

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