*Anime-Expo

Wow, ok. Got back home on the night of the last day but didnt have the energy to post until now...
Caution! this is going to be a long post. You have been warned!

day before day one:
early registration is a must to anyone who can manage it. I didn't do it in my earlier years of attending anime expo and had to wait for EVER in line. i'm sure a lot of you out there know what i'm talking about. Go the day before and you dont even wait, they have your ticket by the time you tell the computer to print it out some people were even in cosplay, so I had my camera out before the con even started but it was all good . Only thing that sucked today was seeing the hotel my fellow AX goers and i were going to be staying in. Oh HELL that sucked. Four people, two beds no bigger than a twin size in a room that you could loose most of the floor space by placing down two suitcases. However i listened to the coaxing of one of my fellow AX goers and didnt request another room. though i dont know why he didnt want to complain... he's tall! his feet were sticking off the end of the bed!

Day One:
Official first day! I was up and ready to go and out the door before anyone else, dressed up in cosplay and heading down to the Expo While waiting in like, eyes skimming over cosplayers, I saw someone dressed as Lethe! (character from Fire Emblem) Sadly she only stayed a moment and left. I hoped she might come back since she seemed to have some friends in line but did not kept my eyes open the rest of the four days but didnt see her again... if anyone saw her and got a picture please let me know! Laguz are awesome Once out of line and in the main building i realized one unfortunate side affect to my cosplay outfit... the boots were not as worn in as i thought they were. I ended up having to return to the hotel so soon (walking a mile there and back in non broken in boots) just to change out of my costume. I had worn these boots often in the summer and had no problem with them, and yet i guess i didnt wear them enough 'cause damn i had bad blisters on the back of my heels u_u;; unable to find proper sandals i put on my deidara sandals and returned to the con and joined the line that was leading into the dealers hall. man that line was long! but hey i got some cool pictures money was spent and pictures were taken, I got an ORG 13 jacket *insert fangirl squeal here* a few t-shirts and more. I also got an Axel and Roxas figure. the Axel figure, you're supposed to be able to switch out the hands but it doesnt tell you how to do it. I tried carefully, or so i thought, only to end up removing Axel's hand... just not the way it was ment to be removed. thankfully we had glue and all was fixed in a few moments. though i was sad that i couldn't change Axel's hands so he could hold his charkrams
I again went to see the AMV's on the first night, and while waiting in line i joked and chatted a moment with the people behind me about the major screw ups of last year, and how it was nice that we were at least waiting indoors with the A/C. Thankfully this year it all went off just fine, though they gave us just these little sheets with numbers on it!! Thankfully i quickly found a pencil and something to write on in my hand bag and quickly wrote down as much info as i could and managed quite well i believe i shall be posting these later for all to watch! Overall? not a bad first day ^_^

day two:
again the first one to AX! There was more of the purchaseing of Anime/Manga/Fanart goodness! then back to the hotel around lunchtime to get into cosplay with my friends. We group cosplayed and since we all had heavy outfits on, decided to take the shuttle over walking a mile in the Californian midday heat . had a few photo's taken while mainly chasing after others. I'm glad i had rechargable batteries with me this year... either i got more photos in the light this year, or these were just good batteries Overall? much better the second day probbably because i didnt kill my feet today

Day three:
Cosplayed in my new ORG 13 jacket, as i found i had a wig that would work for an ORG member. which made me pretty happy the day went well and much the same way of the goodness of photo taking and the buying of much needed stuff then it was time to get tickets for the masquerade. this... we had to wait outside for... which sucked mainly because i was in an ORG 13 jacket (its a big black jacket that brushed the tops of my feet) and a wig. I removed both (was wearing shorts and a shirt underneath, and proceeded to read a manga while waiting in line. The guy infront of us then proceeded to try talking to us on and off and at random points. now i can understand wanting to chat and meet new people and such at a con... but this was a bit much. and he kept tilting his head and looking at the back of my manga book now and then, it was weird. thankfully though the line eventually started moving, after some of the staff started offering to sell "better" tickets to people for $20. "they're better seats and you won't have to keep waiting in line!" I'd already paid for my ticket to get into AX, I'd rather spend $20 on another t-shirt.
this year, the masquerade was suprisingly short. I believe it was a combination of; 1. things flowing really smoothly, and 2. a bunch of people had to drop out. we were even told that one group was in a car accident (they also told us they were fine). but yes, oddly short. they then had some girls sing, and brought in a school band to play some music, two of which i recognised from Final Fantasy.

day four, last day:
I reeeeeeeeally didnt want to go seriously, i was having so much fun. but i knew we needed to leave around noon or so. I took a few final pictures, purchased some final fanarts... though one girl was quite pushy. even after getting four chibi drawings and handing her the money she wanted to make it an even twenty and offered to sell me two pictures for it. I smiled and polietly turned her down saying I already had them (which i did, i'd gotten them on the first day). despite this she seemed determined to sell me something else. I guess she knew the girl at the table behind her because she then tried to sell me an axel roxas picture she had. I tried again and, still smiling and being polite, said i had it and didnt want it. the girl looked confused and said it was ok and that it was the last day and that I should go for it. i kept saying no but she wouldnt relent so i finally took the picture along with the chibi's i wanted and left annoied. there was nothing wrong with the axel roxas picture, it was kinda cute, but i just didnt like it that much. I ended up staying a little longer, determined to buy something i did like and look around until i felt better, not wanting to leave in a sour mood. a few minutes or so later my mission was accomplished and i left to do one last twirl of the dealers hall before quickly heading back to the hotel for checkout.

we got home that night after a very long drive home, I had gotten up at 9am and had been up for a total of 14hrs. Yeah we hauled the stuff in and i CRASHED. I checked my photo's the next day, having an odd feeling that i'd taken significantly less photo's than I had the year before... I had taken about three less X) I'll post them later, when I finally finish posting last years

how was your AX?