An AnimeFEST! Con Report (or, "What I did over my Labor Day Vacation")
by Krista Perry


Well, it's over now, and I guess I should say a few things about my
first-ever con, even though I'm sicker than a dog right now.  Who knew
that Dallas was so freakin' humid???  All that humidity has made a nice
little nest in my lungs, on top of the icky ear-nose-and-throat thing
I've also developed in the past 48 hours.  My guess is that it was
either the humidity (possible, since the same thing happened to me when
I went to Hawaii a few years ago) or Louis Phillipe-Giroux gave me that
mutant flu he was nursing.  Dang, I *knew* I shouldn't have sat next to
him at the panel!  ;-)  (Just kidding, Louis.)

My brother Kurt, Michelle Thatcher and I all flew in from Salt Lake on
Thursday, the day before the con.  We made it to the hotel with minimal
difficulty, and, after getting checked in, headed to where the dealers
were setting up.

Before I continue, I guess I should mention that I somehow ended up
being a "Guest of Honor" at the con - a title that was granted to me
under rather strange and dubious circumstances. ^_^;;;  Sometime around
January, after weighing my finances and figuring out that AnimeFEST
would be the first con I would be able to attend, I checked out their
web page and wrote to chairman Robert Jenks, asking him if there was
going to be a fanfiction panel, or even a fanfic contest similar to one
I'd seen advertised on the Anime North web site.  He said, "No, but we'd
love to have them.  Would you like to organize both?"  And, being overly
zelous, excited for my first con, and feeling relatively safe nine
months away from the deadline, I said "Why, sure!"

*sigh*   Need I say more?  ^_^;

Anyway... heading to the dealers room, I found the registration table,
picked up a con schedule, and discovered that my Saturday 1 p.m. fanfic
panel had been moved to Friday 2 p.m. - which caused me no small amount
of heart failure, since I knew most of the panelists wouldn't be
arriving until Friday evening.  Fortunately, Robert Jenks and Suzie Vega
were very nice and helpful, and the panel was rescheduled for Saturday
at 2 p.m.

Once that was straightened out, I headed into the dealers room, wandered
around a bit looking at all the anime merchandise... and was suddenly
struck by the most incredibly strong urge buy everything in sight. 
Probably has something to do with it being my first con, and the fact
that Utah is an anime wasteland.  Since the dealers weren't officially
opened for business, I ended up only buying a Pikachu key chain, and the
Rurouni Kenshin RPG for Playstation.

I don't even *own* a Playstation. 

Fortunately, those two purchases seemed to ease the madness a bit, and I
was able to leave the dealers room under my own power.

Kurt, Michelle and I then went to the Dennys across the street for
dinner (against RpM's considerate advice).  There weren't any ants in
the salt shakers, but the root beer my brother ordered tasted like
carbonated cough syrup.  Yuck.

When we got back, we found Gary Kleppe in the lobby (actually, he found
us).  
Gary is a really nice guy.  He's much more soft-spoken than I expected
him to be, but his is as razor sharp in person as it is on the
internet.  ^_^  Anyway, we discovered that my friend Chad, who was
flying in from New Hampshire to attend the con and was supposed to share
a room with Gary, wasn't coming in until Friday.  So Gary stayed that
night with Michelle and Kurt and I, and is now one of the few
still-living males ever to see me looking like a drowned rat after I've
taken a shower.

With the buying madness still upon me, we hit the dealers room first
thing Friday morning.  I can't remember now when I bought what
throughout the con, but here's the list:

In random fits of "Awww-Kawaii!" I bought a plush Pikachu, Ryo-oh-ki,
and Jiji.  

In my all-consuming need for all things Kenshin, I bought the entire set
of Rurouni Kenshin painted collectible figurines (minus Saitou - he's
one of my faves, but the figurine had his bangs painted to his face
rather than sticking out like they should, and it just looked dumb).  I
was very pleased to discover that Sanosuke came with that big bad sword
of his.  But the crown of my collection (and my favorite purchase
altogether) is the rare Hitokiri Battousai figure.  It's just so cool! 
^_^   I also bought a Kenshin artbook, two pencil boards, as well as
most of the Kenshin music Cds.  And I bought an Utena artbook somewhere
along the line.  Oh, and I bought an Aoshi keychain when I thought I'd
lost the Pikachu keychain I'd bought on the first day.  After searching
high and low, I thought that perhaps one of the hotel staff might have
been unable to keep from stealing it from my room ("Roomservice... Oooh,
Pika!") but I just found it in my suitcase a little while ago.  SD Aoshi
(complete with his twin kodachi) and Pikachu now hang from my keychain
together.  Whatta pair. ^_^

There was a *huge* security guard who patroled the dealers room.  He
carried a *huge* bone, and literally growled at anyone who looked
suspicious.  My brother got growled at twice.

Ah, well, it looks like the Niquil I took is taking effect, so I guess
I'll post this before I become too incoherent, and hit the sack.  

Coming in Part 2:

Getting lost in Dallas with Nick Leifker and Avatar!  (There are *two*
Holiday Inns???)
Whattaburger!
I can't remember my name!
Peanut butter and honey sandwiches, with Mountain Dew!
And much more!


-- 
"I think it's impossible to really understand somebody, what they want,
what they believe, and not love them the way they love themselves." 
                                                                
			from _Ender's Game_
			by Orson Scott Card