Jacon was wonderful, and the most fun I can say I’ve had in a really long time. For geeks like me, anime conventions are like heroine – one shot and you’re addicted. I’ll start from what happened from me leaving home to when I returned.

The trip up there…

It was a 100-mile drive from where I live to Orlando, and the drive up there took me about an hour and 45 minutes. It wasn’t bad at all, especially considering I hit bumper-to-bumper traffic going through Tampa, but one I reached the interstate, it was smooth sailing at 85MPH.

One fascinating thing I noticed on my way up there was how much things have changed since I last rode up that way. It’s been over 5 years since my last trip up that way, which so happened to be Disney World. The one thing I remember the most was the enormous amounts of farmland/rural areas. It was something I enjoyed to look at, since I used to live in places like that – sort of like a nostalgia trip. Sadly, it is no longer like that. There is still farmland there, but about 60-75% of it has been converted into populated areas. I guess it only makes sense though – living in such a highly populated state.

Another thing was the construction right around Disney World. Now, if you don’t know, this is construction that has been going on for well over a decade, maybe two. No, it’s not completed yet, but it was cool to see just how far they’ve gone over the years. The construction is mostly road work, widening, adding new paths, overhead passes etc, and it’s really something that would take a while when you are working on an interstate that has so many cars passing through it every day.

Alright, so, I arrive at exit 72, which is the Sea World exit (The convention was like right next to Sea World), and follow the directions listed on Jacon’s website. Before you know it, I’m pulling into this resort’s parking lot. I pulled into this resort to make sure I was at the right place, and to call my overprotective father and let him know I’m capable of going further than 5 miles away from home and surviving. So, I do what I have to do and then I wonder…where is Jacon from here?

The directions said I was at the right place, but it didn’t look like it would be a proper place for an anime convention. So I sat in my truck for a couple minutes, and then I see a couple people walk by. These people were wearing Jacon badges which everyone receives when they register. I figured they may have just been people who were also going to Jacon and staying at that hotel. Then, I look down the road and spot two girls wearing these long furry tail things. Well, they were obviously cosplayers, and a basic understanding of physics says you cannot ride in a car with tails like that, so I figured that had to be the place.

I get out and start walking down the road, following these people. Amazingly, this hotel resort was a LOT bigger than it looked from one side… I mean the size difference of comparing Little Prog to the World Trade Center – which is about half the building size (I kid, I kid…). So I walk for like a quarter of a mile (still outside of this resort) and get to the main lobby. I walk through the door and WHAM, cosplay city. If you walk into a building and 80% of the people inside are cosplaying, you are either dreaming, at a huge Halloween party, or at an anime convention. Since it is May, and I knew I wasn’t dreaming, I picked the latter. I proceed to walk around, register, and then decide what the hell I’m going to do. It is about 4:30 when I get registered.

Finally At Jacon!!!

When you register they give you this HUGE schedule of all the panels and events you can go to, and since I was waiting for my friends to show up, I decided to go to the one place I would feel completely natural in – the game room. So, I enter the game room and they have several plasma-screen TVs setup with Xbox 360s, Nintento Wiis, or PS2s attached to them. They also have a Guitar Hero station setup and a DDR/Some other game like it where you use your arms station setup. On all of the console stations, there are people playing 2D and 3D fighters. Since they didn’t have my favorite ones…Street Fighter, MK, or Killer Instinct, I decided to watch for a while. Nothing too interesting here, but I decided to head up early to the Cosplay Court thing about 15 minutes early to make sure I got a good seat.

After walking across almost the entire convention, I arrive at the area where they are doing the Cosplay Court. Basically, if you don’t know, it is a cosplay/skit contest where groups of people write up their skits and act them out in front of everyone. It was one of the main events I wanted to go to. It started at 5 PM.

As I get ready to go inside, I see Chris, one of the guys in our group. I go get his attention, and we sit down and get ready for the show. The show starts a little late, due to technical problems and people who signed up but never showed up to act out their skits. Overall, I have to give the show two thumbs up. There was a skit or two that were meh, but then there were a couple really awesome ones. Just about all of them were definitely enjoyable and made me laugh. One of the funniest things about the show were the hostesses, which cosplayed as the two OBJECTION! Lawyers from Kajet’s memes on youtube. They acted their characters quite nicely.

After the Cosplay Court, I discovered Chris was a One Piece fanatic, and there happened to be a One Piece panel just after the Court, so I went with him over to it. This was about 6 PM. We journey through half the convention to get to it (you will notice me emphasizing the distance a lot to point out that I literally walked about 10-15 miles during the entire weekend), and sit down and get ready…we were sitting in the front row. So the panel starts, which wasn’t all that interesting to me, mainly because it was directed at those who have never watched OP before, or those who have only watched the dubbed version (which was horrible). At the end, they held a trivia thing, and Chris won some candy due to his obsession.

The Wait…

After the OP panel, it was about 7PM and we decided to call the rest of our 5-man crew to see where the hell they were…not to mention we were hungry. Jeff was about 30 minutes away and Mike and Steven were 20 minutes behind him. So, Chris and I decide to venture back into the game room for a bit (since he hadn’t seen it) while we waited for the rest to arrive. We watched a few people get their behinds handed to them in the Naruto 3D fighting game (I don’t remember the name), and then we get bored and decide to go walk around, find some chicks to mingle with or whatever. As soon as we get outside, the back entrance of the main lobby, we find Jeff. He wanted to change his clothes into his little US Army cosplay uniform thing, so we go and wait for him to do that, to then which we get a phone call saying Mike and Steven got lost in Orlando on their way there.

I immediately think…”If I didn’t get lost, how the hell did they?” But I then soon discover Mike is like Rorona Zoro from One Piece when it comes to a sense of direction. Also, I’ll say this now for future comedy, Mike is gay – and I’m just pointing out his homosexuality for my own demise later…you’ll see. So, after a lengthy cell phone convo, they finally arrive and look for parking. While they are looking for parking, we go back inside and order virgin strawberry daiquiris to drink and cool off. They come in, do the same, and then Mike decides he wants to go the Yaoi party to find some guy to pick up. He goes to do his thing and then Steven meets his ex he hasn’t seen in a couple years – who also goes to do his catch up thing with her.

The three of us remaining decide to go to the Village Inn across the street and get something to eat. It’s around 9-10PM at this point.

Me want food rawr!

I’ve been doing really well with my diet since I started back in January, and I’ve lost a LOT of weight because of it, but I decided to blow it off for the weekend – mainly because it would have been a pain to find good things to eat at most restaurants and I was out to have a good time. So, I order an appetizer, which happen to be breaded cheese sticks and then a main entrée of this huge cheeseburger (Yeah I know, talk about blowing the diet). Chris orders the same and Jeff just orders a Carafe of Orange Juice (Apparently OJ is like alcohol to him). We ate, he drank, and I picked up his tab since he picked up my daiquiri from earlier.

After dinner we all decide to head back to our hotel room (which was different from the resort where Jacon was at).

The trip back…and my aching behind.

Well, we managed to get to the hotel room, which was about 5 miles away from the convention without getting lost (I was leading the way n_n). As I pull in the parking spot at the hotel and turn my truck off, I feel my truck bump. Now, I obviously didn’t jump, so something had to hit me from behind. I turn my head, and Mike, the gay guy, rear-ended me (Now understand why I made this point earlier). Apparently he was tired or whatever and didn’t know what he was doing and pulled into the parking space too wide, which bumped into my bumper.

If I wasn’t in a not-even-two-year-old-truck, I wouldn’t have minded it so much. But, I go around, look, and there was some of his paint rubbed off on my truck, but no damage at all to me, not even a scratch. He apologizes, I sort of shrug it off because I don’t want to let my weekend get ruined from something so minimal.

We all get to our room and we try to figure out what we’re doing for sleeping arrangements (5 guys in a room with 2 beds). As soon as I get into the room, I plop down on one of the beds, whip out a GBA and start playing Pokemon Leaf Green saying something to the effect of (I don’t care who does what, I’m tired.). Chris sat down on the other bed and called that his – and Jeff and Steven both decided to sleep on the floor.

Mike, the gay man who just rear-ended me, plops down on the bed next to me. I of course get immediately harassed by the other guys in the room, but I really don’t care about it. He’s gay, I’m not homophobic and I know he’s not going to do anything – especially with everyone else in the room. So, we end up sleeping in the same bed to which the joke became “Proggy got rear-ended twice by a gay man in the same night.” I will note that I didn’t sleep too well that night, mostly because I snore, and roll around a lot when I sleep, and I’m kind enough to try to not keep others awake. Also, I’ve always slept alone, so it was awkward having someone else in the same room.

Friday gone, but Saturday brings more… (to be continued)

Current Mood: amused

Apparently it is true that I am capable of writing a blog post. Otherwise this would still be empty. Even though my attempts at writing these things have failed in the past (mainly due to my laziness or not knowing what to write), I am going to give it another go. The primary reason for this is a fairly recent boost of self-confidence mainly due to the fact of me not sitting in front of my computer at home like I used to.

About a month ago to this day, my home computer broke down and left me somewhat stranded from the online world. While I could still access things from my laptop, it wasn’t the slightest bit convenient. That said, I have been taking it upon myself to start going to my brother’s LAN center more often, mostly out of boredom and because the people who usually hang out at such a place are generally geeks - and what a better way for entertainment, than for someone to go hang with their own? So, over the course of the month or more, I have met quite a few new people, some I am able to call friends. There have been some fun times over there. Between all the overnight parties, and our airsoft gun wars, and just the general hang out and chat environment. This really became apparent this past Saturday, when I was invited to go with said friends to Jacon in Orlando in the beginning of May. As much as I do enjoy anime and manga, I have never gone to a convention, and I am so excited at how much fun this is going to be. Such a sudden invitation seemed to only wake problems up from the depths of the emo graveyard. I need outfits to wear. I need to get a haircut. Do I cosplay? If I do, what costume can I have in time for the convention? I need to get my oil changed before making the ~1.5 hour trip to the convention. This is technically also the very first away-from-home trip I’ve ever made with friends and without any other family. I’m not exactly nervous or scared, but anxious. I want to bring my brother’s digital camera so I can take pictures, of everyone including myself. It is like a whole new person is coming out, but it feels so good. So… natural. I’m being calmer than normal about situations that arise (except this one obviously), and it’s also becoming easier and easier to talk to complete strangers. It truly is a wonderful feeling. All great things have their complications, right?

To top all of this off, something wonderful happened last night. Back when I had first entered high school, I became attached to a girl. It was someone I truly cared for, daresay even fell in love with, but now that I look at it, it wasn’t exactly in a relationship context. She was someone in a lot of pain, who was going through a fit of hell in her life I wouldn’t wish anyone through. One thing led to another and we were separated between her being kicked out of the people she was staying with and eventually going and living with her father (someone she despised). When this happened, I couldn’t help but lose myself in a fit of emo, because I did truly care and feel for this girl, to the point where I would still constantly wonder what happened and I hoped she was okay. Last night, I saw her again, for the first time in nearly four years. I didn’t even recognize her, and was carrying on somewhat of a conversation with her and not even realizing it was her. Then, she brought it up to me. I was in pure awe, a magnificent and beautiful awe. She was standing in front of me, in one piece, even more beautiful than before. Even though she had matured over the years, she was still the sweet and friendly girl I had remembered, the type of person that could stand in the middle of a room full of depressed people and make them all feel happy. While, at the time in the past, I would have wanted to spend many years with this girl, a relationship was the last thing in my mind. What really made me happy was her being in good shape, having a job, having a car to drive, and still being such a sweet-spirited person. She turned out alright, even through the hardships. To my amazement, this girl was hanging out at my brother’s LAN center and also is friends with those who I have just befriended myself. It really is a small world sometimes. Do I have a chance with her? Most likely not, but that doesn’t even begin to bother me. Sometimes just having the right people close enough to talk to is all someone really needs.

Things are looking better all around for me, which proves that April showers DO bring May flowers.

Current Mood: ecstatic