FanimeCon '08 Site Up

I just caught the new page for FanimeCon '08, hence the new banner.

I also added a countdown timer for anyone who's keeping track of when it's going down.

BTW, it's going down May 23-26.

Forum Drama Update

First off, I take that comment back about "fucking hitting everyone over the head" for the forum drama. Despite knowing what's going on, there's a lot more things that I didn't know what was going on. If anyone felt offended by that, I'm sorry. But at this point, we really don't know what the true picture is.

I will be home tomorrow morning and back on my laptop. Hopefully I can think over everything that's going on, and see where everything is going to head. I have seen the forums, but I haven't logged in and posted anything. Like I said, I'm waiting to get home tomorrow and then I will deal with this.

There's a lot of things that I know that I cannot say publicly about the things that I know...but by now the people who know should know mostly everything.

At least I'm not directly involved in all of this...all I do is sit behind a table and peace bond...

Forum Drama

The one time I decide to visit the Sac-Anime forums during my trip to LA, I see all this forum shit going down involving Bart and just about everyone else. And from what I read, I couldn't even put together a real response in the forums; it's going to have to wait until I get back on Monday. But from what I saw I just shook my head and went "What the fuck is going on?"

Then I tried calling him in the afternoon and the evening during the poker tournament (which I went out early), and someone else picked up, playing off like this wasn't his number and that there was no George. Now, how can that be when I just left him a message on his voice mail which was him? Either he's trying to lay low and pretend that he's not there to avoid any more trouble, or someone else picked up and was fucking with me.

I swear to god, I just want to fucking hit all of them over the head for all the shit that they're causing, especially when I'm away...like I said, I would love to respond, but I just can't anything together for a response, not when I'm down here.

Into The Blue

There was something that I wanted to do at Sac-Anime that I did today - jump into a pool after a long day of work.

After work, I went to family birthday party. The first thing I did was say hi to everyone before taking a quick dip in the pool. Oh man that felt good, even if I only swam for about 15 minutes.

At Sac-Anime, I wanted to so jump into that pool that was near everything, but I never did. It would of been nice to wind down after con with a splash at the pool. Maybe I should of taken some time out to go to the poolside gathering...

In other news, I'm waiting on Bart to write up his report, so once that comes up I will put that under the "Reports/Gallery" section. And there's still 170+ days until Sac-Anime January 2008, which will be back at the Scottish Rite Center. It's for three days, Jan. 11-13. And yes, I will be staffing there again.

Edit: Check that, Bart has his gallery up, and write up is in progress.

EBK's Photos

OK, so I was looking through both sets - Saturday and Sunday - of the pictures EBK took from Sac-Anime. I find it funny that I looked better from the pictures that were taken Saturday, because the ones he took Sunday were from the Masquerade, and for some odd reason when I did my John Woo pose I looked like I was on crack, for reals!

I'm still waiting on other sites to upload since it's been a week, so I'll be on the lookout for more.

Official Sac-Anime Summer 2007 Report

The journey began for me at 9-10 AM, when I arrived at the Red Lion Inn. I was fully packed and waiting to check-in to the room that I was going to be in. But since my friend George aka Bart wasn't arriving until 11, I decided to help out and get registration ready. Once 11 hit, I went to go pick up Bart, drive him back to the hotel, and he checked in. I got everything up to my room before 12, which was when the staff meeting was going to be held. I stayed for a bit because I was needed at peace bonding, which would be my home for the majority of the con. So from 12:15PM to god knows when (I think it was like 9ish) I sat at that table and worked and worked and worked. Then about 5:30PM I was relieved so that I could go attend the Ouran gathering in the lobby. While there wasn't that many of us (and no Haruhi, she didn't show up until Saturday), we had fun and we all ate cake & drank tea (although I passed since I had 8 bottles of Powerade to work with). Once that was over, I went back to change and see the Dealers Room for a bit before heading back to finishing off the evening. After that, I went to the Green Room (the place where all the staffers could hang out) to eat before heading back down to cover some more. While I was in the lobby, someone had told me that Crispin Freeman was here eating over at the hotel restruant. So after pretending to do security work, I talked to him for the first time, shaking his hand and greeting him to Sac-Anime. Of course, after that I got all giddy because I had just met Crispin Freeman. I would cover at the rave for a bit before turning in everything I had with me for the night.

Saturday started for me at 7:30AM, so for the most part I only had 5 hours of sleep when I planned to be awake for 18+ hours. I did more peace bonding that morning before heading down to Cosplay Chess. Now, for an event that was supposed to be held indoors (it was held outdoors), the event went pretty well the first time. This is where I met for the first time Eurobeat King, one of the most famous cosplay photographers (and does cosplay himself on the side). He took my picutres, and my they came out good. After that it was back to peace bonding until the Masquerade tech meeting. I went there knowing that I would know the order of skits, but when I found out we wouldn't know until tomorrow, I left go to back to work. I was there from about 3PM to 8PMish, but I took a break to go get something to eat, check out Dealers Room again, and to go check out Artist Alley. There I got me a Chibi Badge courtesty of Katie (I think that's her name). The funny thing is that halfway through her sketch, I threw her a $20 and told her to keep the change, since it was $16 for the badge. After I closed peace bonding, I went go to cover the rave again for the majority of the evening, but not after having some fun in the Hot Yaoi Night session. I won me a nice art drawing for $5 and I had some fun with the ladies (and a guy, lol). I was going to be part of the Bingo game, but I got called down to rave and that's where I was. After that, it was off to bed and into Sunday.

Sunday was "my free day" since I worked my ass off to get this day free. But I did work some more in the morning, but it was at 9AM. At 11:30AM, I went to go security work for the Q&A panel for Crispin Freeman, Spike Spencer, and Chris Patton. Needless to say, that was the big highlight of this con. After the panel session was over, I was able to get more autographs, hand shakes, and even a picture of me and Crispin which I am still waiting on at this moment. About 2PM, an hour before Masquerade check-in for the show, I finally sat down and had a nice meal in the lounge. Needless to say, I was chillin'. Once then, it was off to Masquerade...but not after trying to get people in a straight line against the wall to prevent a fire hazard. There were some delays, but the show got on the road. I was #20, and I had a blast doing my skit. Sure, I didn't win anything (even though I was kind of disappointed) but my time will come. After that, I was asked to clear out the hotel and cover at places and do various odd jobs. Finally, at 9:15PMish Sunday, I was dismissed for the con. I was able to go home with my haul and my memories.

60+ hours at the con, and only 12 hours of sleep. Yeah, that works out pretty well.

Camera Pictures

The first one is pretty self-explanatory. This from the Sunday Q&A panel that I was covering in. From left to right - Spike Spencer, Crispin Freeman, and Chris Patton.

This one was taken Saturday night. This was after I reponded to a disturbance in the video rooms, but when I reach the lobby I was told to go back to the rave. But then I look over and I see Lisa Furukawa playing the grand piano in the lobby with Spencer and Freeman listening. So before I headed back to the rave, I listened into her performance and took this picture. Afterwards, all of three of us clapped, and I said hi to all three before going back. BTW, this picture is now part of my wallpaper on my phone.

My Apology

I posted this on the Sac-Anime forums tonight, and I wanted to post this there...

As part of the security staff and the head of peace bonding (I was at the table for the majority of the time), I would like to apologize personally for any problems that may have occured during the process of peace bonding.

I tried to make peace bonding as quick as possible, and I know that many people were angry with the policy but the rules are rules. I was lucky that I allowed people to carry keyblades and other weapons that didn't come with a sheath or a sling, but if it was live steal or a gun then the policy was that it had to be peace bonded to you.

I also did security detail for some events and at the end of the con when we grouped everyone together so that security could have a better check on everyone that was still there and was waiting to be picked up. If you recalled, I was doing my part during cosplay line-up for Masquerade when I told everyone to line-up against the wall and making sure that the aisles were clear so that they didn't pose a fire hazard. If I was rude to you when telling you to clear and make a straight line, I apologize. At that point at the con, everyone was just trying to get everything together so that Masquerade could go on and we could all go home after that.

Despite all of that, many were pleased with the job that I did with peace bonding. After all, my job is to make sure that no one feels threatened and gets hurt while at the con, while at the same time allowing cosplayers to be what their character is. Even everyone got my jokes when I tried to peace bond items that weren't really weapons - like roses for Ouran characters, wands, Death Notes, and even the box that contained Jenova.

If you have any futher concerns about peace bonding and/or anything that I did over the weekend, you may contact me via AIM, MSN, Yahoo!, or e-mail. I will answer all questions to the best of my ability.

I would like to thank BSaphire, Dan, and the rest of the staff for allowing me to work with all of you, and to serve all the fans with the best service I can. I would also like to thank Crispin Freeman, Spike Spencer, Chris Patton, Voltaire, Lisa Furukawa, Eurobeat King, and everyone else who attened this con. For me, this is my hometown con and I would go to hell and back for this con. I have been going since 2005, and I will continue to attend and staff at future conventions.

End of Day 3, The End of the Con

(Before I get started...right after I posted the last blog, Spike Spencer wanted to use the business center computer to send some e-mails. I said ok, and I let him use it. As I came back to Masquerade, I asked him "Are you e-mailing your agent?" He said, "You can call it that.")

After 60 hours of being at the Con, the journey finally ended when I got home. Luckly, I have enough time to be on here and blogging before I have to go to sleep so that I can recover and go to work in the morning.

I went up after intermission, and I did a good perfomance. Unforuntately, it wasn't enough to win any awards. Eh, I was disappointed, but one day my time will come.

After that, I helped close the con up and do some last minute things before finally heading home about 9ish.

My full report will be up later in the week, sightings too as well.

But all I can say for now is "Mission accomplished."

Sunday Afternoon, Day 3

I have everything packed in my car waiting for me when I leave the con later in the evening. I did do more peace bonding this morning, but for the most part I have been free, covering the panels - if you want to say it like that - and waiting on Masquerade. Currently, there is a line but since I am staff I'm also helping out in line control.

I was able to get more signatures from Chris Patton, Crispin Freeman (again), and Spike Spencer on both my badge and the program guide. I also did take a picture with Crispin Freeman, putting me at a level that only fangirls/boys can dream of. Take that Cille and Kohikki!

So I wait to get into Masquerade...