Anime North 2001
This was originally written on May 29th, 2000, which technically wasn't right after the con ended (I was lazy and posted it several days after). It was posted to alt.fan.sailor-moon (a USENET newsground and my second home), so some of the stuff is only relevant to people who post there. ::waves to afsmers::
Oops, this is rather late, isn't it? :P
On Friday morning I was up at 7:30 am trying to get packed for the con.
Geh, there was so much to do, and I was so excited I could hardly do any of
it. o.O;; Could I have *brought* any more luggage?
My mom and I left for Sunil (my friend's) house at 10:30, picked him up,
and waited at a McDonald's service centre for the Ottawa group (including
Scott and James) to pick us up and take us to Toronto. We watched MST 3000
and THGTTG on the way. :)
We got to the hotel around 4 pm ish. We checked in, and Sunil and I went to
our room. I was hall cosplaying my Sakura-chan costume from last year on
Friday. I got registered and stood in the dealer's room line-up (it was
opening at 5). At some point I talked to Lauren-Michelle, and she said she
was going to pick up ZnM-chan from the airport at 7:30, so I begged her to
let me come with her. ^^;
At first look at the dealer's room I didn't see much that I wanted. Of
course, this could have something to do with the fact that I spent around
$2000 on anime during the year (living 10 minutes away from an anime store
is a VERY BAD THING). x.X
I talked a bit with afsm people before the opening ceremonies, then we all
went in to watch them. They _tried_ to play a video (yes, plugging it
in is a good thing :p), but Lauren-Michelle and I had to leave before they
got it working.
Fortunately, the airport was practically right beside the hotel, so the
shuttle ride was short (jeez, could that place have _been_ any more
maze-like? o.O). Unfortunately, we almost died when we got into the
arrivals area. ZnM-chan's fight had been cancelled. This meant she was
stuck in the Philadelphia airport (she had a layover). We tried to find
people who could tell us what was going on, and we eventually found U.S.
Airways people. The woman explained that ZnM-chan was probably flying into
Hamliton at around 1:30-2:00 am. My response: "Hamilton?!?!" Hamilton's
about 45 minutes from Toronto by car. So, LM and I had no idea how she
would get to Toronto. Disappointed and worried for ZnM-chan, we went back
to the hotel. We tried to find James; we thought he might possibly have
ZnM-chan's home number, but we couldn't find him. Eventually we learned
from Scott that ZnM-chan's mother had phoned the hotel, and told us what was
going on -- Yes, ZnM-chan was flying into Hamliton, and she would be taking
a bus to Toronto. She also gave us a number where we could reach ZnM-chan,
but it was just a payphone (^^;;;). *Anyway* Lauren-Michelle and James went
to the airport around 1 am, but they had no idea where the bus would take
her, and couldn't find her. I met her in the hallway the next morning,
thank god. We were worried, ZnM-chan!! ;_;
I went to the "Gay themes in manga" at 10 pm. I met Erica
Friedman-sama!! She's like, "And you are...?" And I'm like, "Andrea!" And
she's like, "Oh, I know you!!" And I'm like, "^=^>;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;" Sorry,
I get reduced to an idiotic Valley Girl whenever I meet someone really cool
like Erica-sama. Just ask beans. Or James (when we went to a VKLL panel in
'98). Or Tim Nolan. ^^;;;; It makes a really good impression, I'm
sure.
At the panel we watched Miyuki-chan in the Wonderland and discussed
shoujoai/yuri which was great, really it was, but there was no talk of yaoi
at all. ;_; They should _really_ separate the yaoi and yuri panel. I mean,
some of us like both (ooh! me! me!), but a lot of people _don't_. We need
a place where all the people can drool over 2x1 and another where we can
drool over HarukaxMichiru.
At 12 am I ran an impromptu karaoke contest (okay, it wasn't much of a
contest; it was just for fun). They were just going to have *an hour* of
karaoke on Sunday (which didn't really turn out that great -_-). Paul (you
don't know him ^^), Chris S and I couldn't allow that to happen! It turned
out fairly successful (I know I had fun ^^v), and we had a *good* way for
people to take turns, instead of just raising hands like said Sunday karaoke
contest. >.>
I got four hours of sleep, and then I was up at 7:30 am. I wore my movie
Hitomi costume on Saturnday. :) I met up with ZnM-chan (WAAAAAAAAAAAIII!!!
******GLOMP*******), and we bought stuff in the dealer's room. Then I
signed up for the Masquerade, and set up for the afsm party at 1 pm.
ZnM-chan and I went to the Sailormoon fanfic panel at 12, which was really
good, like always (Time Nolan was there!! *_*).
I think (hope) the afsm party went really well! We whooped Phoenix's ass,
right, guys? Right? Uh....anyway! ^^;; We started off
with drinks, chips, and a cake kindly made by Jen (you don't know her
either). Then we moved on to Sailormoon Jeopardy!! I think I made some of
the questions too hard... ._.;;; Sorry, guys. ^^ We did a little bit of
karaoke, then we moved to ZnM-chan's room and watched James get into his
*dress*!! Haha, dude looks like a lady! ^o^ He was quite a good sport
about it. Pictures coming soon to a newsgroup near you!
Just for reference, here's who were at the party: Scott Delahunt, James
Helferty, Chris Schack, Lauren-Michelle, Zoisite no Miko, Rob Fraiser, Alex
Taylor, Greg Taylor (no relation :p), Dave Greenlaw, and myself. Dear god,
did I miss anyone? o.O;;; Non-afsmers were Curtis, Jen, Travis (Jen and
Curtis' son), and four other people (I totally forget their names...).
Lauren-Michelle and Zoisite no Miko were very lovely as Mako-chan (school
uniform) and Tomoyo (also school uniform) respectively. :)
I then went to Anime Name that Tune. Even though I wasn't a contestant
(they picked names from a box), I still had a lot of fun. I always enjoy it
a lot.
I then ate, and went to the green room for the masquerade. Geez there were
a lot of acts; 71. And Sunil and I were 56 (he was Van). Lauren-Michelle
was 21. Yeah, I hate her, both for being so early and for having a number
as cool as 21 (2x1). Personally, Wufei and Zechs don't do anything for me.
It was *so* boring waiting. We couldn't even watch the show, because there
was no live feed.
I screwed up my lines. Way to go, eh? Plus the audience couldn't hear us.
A word of advice: never actually say anything. Just dance or something.
LM-chan and I went to the Lemon Fanfic panel next. I was sort of on the
panel. ^^;;; It was pretty good, except for all the panellists except me
hating PWPs. PWPs are a *staple* of yaoi (I strict definition of yaoi even
*means* PWP!!). LM-chan thought the same thing.
Then I ended up at the J-pop dance party. The afsm congregated together!
^o^ Just Communication was awesome. Then some breakdances took over the
floor (they weren't even good!), so we all went outside/to the lobby to talk
till about 3 am. Ah, that was fun. :)
I got up at 7:30 am on Sunday. No, I wasn't tired. No. We all wanted to
go to the Music Video repeat at 10, but it was pushed back to 11. In fact,
everything on the Sunday schedule was messed up. Sailor Jamboree was really
cool. Their costumes are just like the ones from Seramyu. ^_^ I was
singing along to a lot of the songs, thus annoying the hell out of a lot of
people. ^^>;;;;;
By that time it was about 1:30ish, so Sunil (you don't know him either,
btw), ZnM-chan, Alex and I went out to lunch. We got pretty wet, but it was
good lunch (even if I was slower than hell ). We wanted to go to the
"surprise", but Gundam MS08th Team was playing instead (and can I just say
that the boys were no where near as cute as the GW boys?).
Karaoke at 5 was kind of bad. Not *really* the organiser's fault, but they
still needed more organisation. My karaoke thing was much more fun. No,
I'm not biased. No.
The Closing Ceremonies continued to be boring, but they were short (unlike
the awards for the masquerade during the dance o.O).
In a short time, the Ottawa gang (with two Kingston refugees) were heading
down the 401. Another con gone, and another year before the next one. It
was still the most fun ever.
Here's what I got (I'm probably forgetting stuff):
Cardcaptor Sakura poster (it's an actually Japanese official on from the 2nd
movie)
Cardcaptor Sakura artbook Cheerio! 3
Gundamwing the first photo book (it has *the* awesome pictures!!!!)
Heero wallscroll (to match my Duo one)
A North American doujinshi circle's manga (a bunch ^^)
Are you still reading?! Wow, you get a gold star! ^_~
~~Andrea Doolan
who might be able to go to Yaoi Con!! How cool is *that*?!
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