Ohayou, Guys!
On Tue, 2 Jun 1998, Richard Lawson wrote:
: Ah, A-kon. This is the first time I've been back to a con. A-kon 8 was a
: lot of fun; I was really looking forward to A-kon 9.
:
: Please note: These are just my personal reactions to the con. All opinions
: are strictly my own.
Hmmm, sounds like you weren't overwhelmed.
: For this con I had Lara Bartram as my con-going buddy. I picked her up at
: the Minneapolis airport and we began our twenty-hour drive from Minneapolis
: to Dallas. The weather was hot and sticky, making rest well-nigh
: impossible. We listened to CD's and admired the Milky Way and talked about
: steaming guts and compared dead animals our cats had produced for us.
Heheheh. But it's still better than when they bring in *live*
animals, drop them in the hall and then look at you expectantly.
Jennifur: [muffled] Myow. [drops something to the ground]
Sebastian: [not looking] *Please* let that be a simple hairball.
: Eventually we met Nick Leifker, and he let us use the shower in his room.
Why Richard, you sly dog! Or did you mean use it separately?
: The main lobby in front of the dealer's room was lined with tables. Above
: one of the tables was one of the hotel's paintings. Taped to the wall next
: to the painting was a hand-written sign, "This is an ugly painting". Later,
: another hand-written sign was placed above the first piece of paper which
: said, "This is an understatement". :)
Heheheh.
: I found Lara with Zen and a couple of other people in the hotel's
: restaurant. I tried to steal one of her onion rings, but her advanced
: security system confounded me - the onion ring crumbled in my lap.
: Unfortunately for her, the advanced security also affected her own attempts
: to eat the rings.
I see you had fun. :)
: A bunch of fanfic authors got together at 7pm to go out to an
: all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant. It was expensive - $20 a head - but you
: could really eat all the Japanese food you wanted, including all the sushi
: your heart desired. During the trip there, Lara was crushed in the back of
: Nick's car between me and Zen. I thought furiously of baseball stats during
: each trip.
Again? :) Do that often enough and you'll be pavloved to react to
baseball stats in a... certain way. :)
: At one point I got spatula'd in the rear by Zen.
Deservedly, no doubt.
: Oh, and Nick is bi-shonen.
No news there. :)
: Looked at the displays in the art show, which had some really good stuff,
: much better than last year's. There was a picture of Ukyo in a Hooter's
: shirt.
You mean a shirt with Eric Bazilian, Rob Hyman, David Uosikkinen,
John Lilley, Fran Smith on it? Well, it would indicate a good
taste in music if nothing else. :)
: Someone came wearing an Ukyo outfit, complete with spatula (which was much
: less impressive than Zen's). There was an interminable DoCo sketch, with
: bad singing that went on and on. The skit was more interesting for the
: overflow audience, who were entertained by the camera operator using his
: fingers to crush the heads of the singers. ^_^
:D :D :D
: The best skit started with two people in martial arts outfits, facing each
: other preparing to do battle. Their martial arts moves as they warmed up
: were authentic; these guys knew their stuff. Then the music to Mortal
: Kombat began to play, and they moved towards each other. Just as they were
: about to attack, the music screeched to a halt and was replaced by 1920's
: dance music. The combatants immediately began doing the Charleston (and
: quite well, too). The music screeched to a halt again, and was replaced
: this time (to the combatant's dismay) by the Marcarena. They were forced to
: do this dance for agonizing seconds before finally the music went back to
: Mortal Kombat. They finished their fight to cheers from the audience. The
: whole thing was very well staged and executed, and got big laughs from the
: audience. This skit was awarded the Best in Show.
Sounded very cool.
: Random comment overheard as we went back to the hotel room: "Is the room
: still on fire?"
:D :D :D This is what makes life interesting.
: We had a final lunch at the hotel restaurant with Zen, Nick, and a bunch of
: other people. During lunch the hotel's fire alarm went off.
Apparently the room was *still* on fire.
: Still, the fun of these cons is always the people, and I had lots of fun
: with Nick, Zen, and especially Lara. Spending time with them is always what
: I treasure most. I sure hope I can get together with some other people at
: Otakon; I'm certainly going to try. :)
Look, I *told* you I don't have the money. :) But you do a good
job making me go green with envy.
Sebastian