Anime Expo 2002

07.03.02.

Ruu, Nova, and myself travelled to Long Beach on the third. We were going to be joined by Shorty but she had to work. So I was left to purchase her ticket for her. I always end up buying someone's ticket. Last year I bought Nova's 'cause he was working. The trip to Long Beach was rather scary because one part of the freeway bends and you can actually see cars coming towards you even though they're seperated by a divider. Ruu and I got freaked out because we thought we were going to get into an accident.

Waiting in line always takes so long. We got to the Westin around 2 ~ 2:30 pm which meant we had to wait about two hours to get in and register for tickets. It was a long wait but we got to sit in the hallway and talk about all sorts of things. When we actually moved into the hall where the registration room was, we had to wait an additional hour. The AX people let the Pre-Reg line go in first which took forever because there seemed to be twice as many of them as there was of us.

Getting the tickets took a while 'cause I had to buy Shorty's ticket too. But after everything was taken care of, we travelled back home where we went shopping for AX snacks. It was rather weird going into the Vons with our badges on doing price comparisons. It was sad because we were getting excited over the $0.59 bread loafs. @_@. That's a sign of being poor.

After the shopping was finished Nova, Ruu, and myself went to watch our city's firework show. It was pretty. Ruu and Nova kept making sound effects for the fireworks. So now, thanks to Ruu, whenever I see a firework I'm going to hear it quack. ^.^;. Once we were done watching that and Excel Saga vol. 1, we went home for some rest. Of course, rest for me meant sewing my Yuna costume and trying to get it done before Friday. I stayed up 'til about one o'clock in the morning sewing and painting. Then I was so tired I had to go to sleep or risk collapsing and being stabbed with the sewing needle.
 

07.04.02

I spent the fourth at home, working on my costume. It took me most of the day but I was able to finish it. If only the sewing machine hadn't broken two days before, I would've been able to finish it so much faster. But I had help doing the last minute things which was a relief. I wouldn't have gotten it done otherwise, I don't think.

I got to run around in my costume for a while inside my house, inspecting it in the mirror and making sure it looked at least half way decent. I didn't have a bikini top so I had to wear a tan tank top underneath the white. And my sleeves weren't dyed because I didn't buy the dye the last time I was at JoAnn's. ::sigh:: But other than that it looked pretty much like Yuna.

While I was watching the fireworks from the safety of my home, I returned Nova's call (he'd called earlier). Got to talk with him for a little bit while Ruu and him were on their way back from the con. After that I watched some television, got tired, and went to bed.
 

07.05.02

What an early day. I woke up at 5:30 am and rushed around getting ready. Ruu showed up at my house early and I felt kind of bad because I still had a few more things to do. After I was done I rushed out and we headed over to pick up Nova and Shorty (the only day she was going). How funny we must've looked: A Nabeshin, a Yuna, a Saitou, and a Nakaruru in one car. We ate breakfast in the McDonald's parking lot before heading off to the con.

The first thing I wanted to do was see the Watsuki panel. So we all got in the huge line two hours before it started. But that meant that passers by could take pictures of us, which they did. ^.^! Nova decided to go wandering since Watsuki didn't interest him. Once we got into the panel, Ruu decided he wanted to check out the game console room. So it was just Shorty and I listening to Watsuki talk about Kenshin. Watsuki is so shy!!!

At the end of the panel they did the sketch/autograph raffle. I was holding my ticket just thinking, "There's so many people here, I have practically no chance of winning." I kept looking at it saying "Call 4906 . . . call 4906." And then I hear 4906. I'm still looking at my ticket, not hearing them. Shorty nudges me with her elbow and says, "That's you, Hitomi! You won!" I jumped up and looked at my number again. Then I rushed up to the AX guy and got a ticket that said I could get a sketch from Watsuki-sensei! I bowed to Watsuki-sensei and went back to my seat, totally psyched. I never thought I'd ever be lucky enough to get a sketch from my favorite manga artist ever!!!

After the panel we met up with Nova, who needed to go to the car for something. Shorty went with him while I waited for Ruu to stop playing Smash Brothers. ^.^;;;. When he did we went out to the car where Nova was calling his house, due to him forgetting something he needed. I laid down in the car for a while 'cause I was feeling a little light headed. Ruu forced me to eat a pop tart even though I wasn't hungry. Then we decided to go with Ruu for the Smash Brothers tourney.

The Smash Brothers was amazing. Ruu is such a good player! He kept pulling off these awesome saves which practically kept me holding my breath for the entire time he was playing. In the end, he got third place, which isn't bad. He should've won but he accidentally died a few times.

Later we met up with Shougo and Otaku In Training. After watching Hellsing, the entire gang went to Subway. My feet were blistered and hurt due to my uncomfortable Yuna boots, so I ended up dragging myself down the streets of Long Beach muttering ridiculous things to Ruu. I was force fed at Subway due to my not wanting to eat anything. Ruu and Nova insisted I be fed since it looked like I was starving and my blood sugar was low even though I'm not diabetic.

We spent more time at the con watching Steel Angel Kurumi and Kare Kano. After that we spent a while talking and then headed back home.
 

07.06.02

Wow, I had really only planned to spend one day (Friday) at the con . . . but on the third Ruu decided to give me the puppy dog face and insisted on me going the rest of the time. It was good that I got to go more than one day because I got to watch the Smash Brothers tourney instead of going to the Watsuki-sensei autograph session.

Nova, Ruu, and I were hungry so I treated to a breakfast at Denny's. But it was weird 'cause I was in my Yuna costume walking in and sitting in a booth. I pretended like I didn't know English very well which was sort of funny. We ate our meal and then we left.

When I got to the con, I got to cut in the big huge Watsuki line and be the second person. After a bit of rushing around to find a sign board and waiting, I got to go into the room with Watsuki-sensei.

I asked him to draw me Kenshin and watched as the master went to work. He was absolutely awesome. I was so thrilled to watch him draw. It was like a dream. And then he made Kenshin say my name in a little text bubble!!! I said, "Kawaii!!!" And Watsuki-sensei laughed. When I walked out of the room, I was so happy. I showed the people in line my beautiful drawing when they asked and they were all jealous and offered to buy it off of me. I told them it wasn't for sale and proceeded to excitedly attack Ruu and scream with joy when he walked up to me.

The line for the exhibit hall was extremely long so instead I sat in the video game room while Ruu played Smash Brothers again. We ran into Sapphire, who I haven't seen in years, and we had a nice catching up chat. Then we decided to go see Real Bout High School. I fell asleep during Outlaw Star. After that we hung out for a while and watched various anime. Then we went home where I promptly placed my prized sketch in a prominent place where I could see it. ^.^v!
 

07.07.02

We didn't get to the con until late because we went to church. When we got there (all of us costume-less), Nova and I headed for the exhibit hall line while Ruu went to back to the console game room. I walked the whole hall twice without finding anything really good to buy. Since I hadn't bought anything, I wanted to find something to purchase. I ended up getting some free Escaflowne posters, a free Hellsing poster, and I bought a Kuronekosama plushie! It was fun 'cause when we were heading back, I made Kuronekosama talk in Japanese to Ruu and Nova.

After we drove back home, we hung out and watched some MST shorts. After that I got to read a wonderful story that Ruu wrote while Nova and Ruu tried to figure out a game they had rented. At about midnight, Ruu and I headed home, exhausted from our days of conning!

The good news is that the con's supposedly going back to the Anaheim convention center next year. Yay! I heard that was a great place! I hated walking all over Long Beach, so it'll be a nice change.