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?

#m

Hi Michael– I am such a bad aunt!! I knew you would be gone for your birthday, so didn’t worry about getting the card in the mail on time– see, bad number one…it should have been early!…then I got caught up in the back to school hoopala of the kids and didn’t get it in the mail late….bad number 2….now, almost 2 weeks later, here it sits….bad number 3…but I PROMISE it will go in the mail tomorrow! (and I made a new check for a bigger number due to the guilt!)
I love you and happy belated birthday!!

muh-muh-muh-michael…

did irani want you to do OO? i think he must be trying to recruit people quickly. i don’t want to do it either, what i’d love is DI but i don’t think i’m good enough…

i know pellow’s the teacher who’s going to explode, but the male model… could you possibly be talking about maness? because i can’t think of anyone else who wears glasses, other than irani. and you couldn’t be talking about him.

i’m refusing to think about the lorax.

when lee said irani, my mind was accosted with the image of irani taking off his shirt *flinches*, taking off his glasses, and swinging his shirt about going “WOO!!”

disturbing.

I haven’t talked to Irani about what category he thinks I should do. Did he just ask you guys?

No, Irani’s never talked to me about Forensics, I was just looking at all the categories that seemed at all reasonable.

About the male model, Maness is actually the one I was talking about. It’s the whole, “constant smile/smirk and slight squinting of the eyes” that makes me think that. Ahh! Bad picture of Irani, Helen, how could you even think that!?

Heh, heh, Lorax-what? I don’t know what that is. I’m glad that I’m no longer the main character in our children’s stories though (I was going to be Max from Where the Wild Things Are). Now I don’t have to worry about the fact that we did absolutely nothing in the Thursday rehersal, and we have three left to think about set, costume, and that whole “acting” thing.

I skim-read! I saw ‘male model’ and ‘Irani’ and heard Mr. Irani saying “WOO!”

I chose not to think about the other images.

Anyway.

You’re in the Lorax, so silencio! I’m the Narrator in The Paper Bag Princess, so I’ve got the most lines but I have the most fun. I love narration.

michael. I feel like you arent 14 anymore.

[...] 49 other theatre geeks from around the state. The one setback - the program is the same time as Otakon, the second largest convention of Japanese culture in the western hemisphere. Though, as much as [...]