Otakon 2002 Con Report

Please Note: This report is just MY view. If I offend anyone by what I say in this, I am sorry. Otakon 2002, I would have to say, has been the best day in my entire life. My friends and I had a great time, though we wish we could have stayed for all three days instead of only Friday.
On Thrusday, July 25, the day before Otakon, my friend Katy came over to my home at 9:30 at night to spend the night before going to Otakon. We were up until 10:30 trying to find someone that she could cosplay as. We came up with Saint Une from Gundam Wing, Melfina from Outlaw Star, and a J-Rocker. She decided to go as a J-Rocker so we gathered all the odd looking clothes that I could find in my home and we went on to bed.
The next morning, we were up at 6:20 and rearing to go. We first ate a complete breakfast of cinnamon rolls, then we went upstairs. Katy and I dressed in our outfits, with me needing a little help with mine. Once that was completed, my mother did my make up. Then Katy pulled my hair back into a low bun and placed my deep green wig onto my head. Last minute checks were done on our outfits, then we loaded my Staff of Time into the car and away we went. We had to stop at the local shopping center to pick up my other friend, Ken, who was also going to Otakon with us.
8:45 AM found us smack dab at the front doors of the Baltimore Convention Center. I found this to be the hardest time of the day since it was raining and the line was incredably long. I think that something should be done about that line if it can be. But we were just happy to be there. I had a few pictures taken of me right after we exited the car. I could tell right then that this was going to be a day full of flashing lights from cameras in my face.
After waiting in line for a little over an hour and having even more pictures taken of me, we finally reached the registration booths. We were celebrating when we got to them and the people who worked there were pretty confused by our behavior. After receiving my Gene Starwind badge, the three of us journeyed into the Neverland of Anime. We were amazed as we walked along and saw how long the line was. I heard that the last people were still in line around 2:30 that afternoon. Yeah, I love anime and all, but I don't think I'd be standing in line for that long just for one day...but who knows. If I were in those shoes, then maybe I would have...just maybe...
Anyway, we walked around for a little while; people took my picture all the time. Ken got so fed up with all my pictures that he said, "If one more person takes your picture, I'm leaving!" As soon as he was done saying that, someone asked for my picture! I just busted up laughing. Ken was also counting the seconds between pictures. At first there was only a ten second gap between pictures, but as the day went on, that gap of course got larger.
About an hour later, after exploring the entire Baltimore Convention Center, we decided to watch some AMV (Anime Music Videos). I will have to admit, some were horrible to watch. But for every horrible AMV, there were ten great ones! Good job to most of the people who sent in AMVs this year!
After the AMVs we decided to go for some food. I advise anyone who goes to Otakon to eat OUTSIDE of the Convention Center. A bag of chips cost me $3.00!! Ok, that's just a bit too much, don't you think? There's a Burger King right across the street and next year, we are going to eat there!! The food was just too much! I think around 75% of my money that I spent was on food. Terrible...
Anyway, after eating we decided to tackle the HUGE line for the Dealers Room. If it wasn't for Ken's idea of "blending" into line, I don't think we would have even seen the white floors of the Dealers Room. The line was HUGE! Ok, so it wasn't as long as the one to get in but still, it was big. I think the Dealers Room needed a few more dealers, possibly in another room. Also, I think there should have been more Sailor Moon items that weren't just dolls or plushies. The only interesting Sailor Moon item that I found was a deck of playing cards which I bought. Sailor Moon items are going down the drain...pooh..
When we were finished in the Dealers Room, we made our way upstairs and sat down, taking a break since my feet were starting to hurt some in my boots. Again, pictures were taken so really I didn't get to rest my feet too much. Oh well. I will have to say that I was really impressed by a lot of the costumes. Though there were many Lulus and Yunas from FFX, some of them had really amazing costumes. And even though there weren't many Sailor Senshi (Scouts for you used to the American version) the ones that I did see had great costumes. You go girls! I was saddened though because I saw all the Sailor Senshi except Sailor Uranus. What, are people homophobic or something? Ok so you can go as Neptune or one of the transgender Starlights but you can't go as Uranus? I challange someone to go as Uranus next year! Also, when did Star Wars, Men in Black, and Harry Potter become animes? I saw people in those costumes and I was just very confused by them. Also, there were SO many Vashs!! THANK YOU GOD!! Vash, you're cute! Also a lot of Belldandys...lots of them...
Ok, so enough ranting about the costumes. After we sat for a while we decided to go to the Opening Ceremony. I will be the first to admit that the Opening Ceremony SUCKED! It just repeated itself over and over and over again! Guest would be announced, guest would come out, guest would say little speech, little clip was played, then the next guest would be announced and it would start all over again! I don't know about anyone else, but that to me is just too boring. The Opening Ceremony, in my opinion, was a waste of my time.
So after that little napping time, Ken decided that we should go back to the Dealers Room. We did that for a little while, then we went to the other side of the Convention Center and to the Game Room for its opening. We stood in line for a few minutes, went to the bathroom to fix my wig, then came back out and stood in line again. It soon opened though and Ken played games while Katy and I sat there and did nothing. So I left for a while and sat upstairs until they joined me.
After we all rested for a while, we decided to eat dinner so the rest of the evening could be free. So we ate...at the expensive hot dog place again. Bad idea bad!! Oh well...we weren't allowed to go out of the Convention Center so that's all we could do! We walked around again for a little while...then we decided to watch Vampire Princess Miyu...and quickly walked out after finding it not interesting at all. I guess we just don't like animes like that.
We went back to the AMV room to watch a few more AMVs, then we walked for a little, then we went to watch Trigun!! Oh my gosh if there is one anime I suggest, other than Sailor Moon, it's Trigun! I'm going to buy that anime ASAP! It was great!! And we watched some of Vampire Hunter D, again another great anime. But we had to leave during Vampire Hunter D so we could go to the dance...
MISTAKE! Ok, unless you like to dance like your a limp noodle, then you wouldn't have fun at the dance. And if you didn't have a partner to dance with, you wouldn't have fun either. So needless to say I didn't have any fun.
When 11:00 rolled around and it was time for us to leave, we were grateful to see my mom's car. We piled back in, along with my Staff, and away we went back home. As we drove away we waved goodbye to the great day that we had, and our hopes are high that next year, we will all go in costume and we will go for all three days.