Friday - After staying at Squall's house on Thursday, we woke up late enough on Friday to avoid most of the morning traffic and actually get some sleep. We had a fun several hour drive from Arlington down to Chesapeake (and I'm sure Kyo and Trunks want to kill me for saying that after riding cramped in the back of a sports car ^_^ ). We arrived in the early afternoon, unloaded, and checked out the place. I was Arima Souchirou (Karekano) for most of the afternoon, and Trunks put on his Mirai Trunks outfit. The bathroom stank of hair spray for the next few hours, and several of the towels were covered in black and purple hair spray. ^_^; I walked around the con for a bit before finding Toma and Zoe, and we went to opening ceremonies, Colleen Doran's shoujo panel, and the karaoke panel. I then returned to the room to finish work on Hanabishi Recca's school uniform (Flame of Recca). I didn't really show off Recca as much as I would have liked, but I was proud to be cosplaying Recca while singing "Nanka Shiawase" by The Oystars at Nekocon's karaoke (which was then followed by Anime Raver singing the Punk Rock Version of "Cruel Angel's Thesis" ^_^). After karaoke I went to several rooms, and then retired to continue working on Serge (Chrono Cross).
Saturday - This would be a fun and interesting day. While Kyo and Squall got an early start on the day Trunks put on his GT outfit, and he and I enjoyed a nice breakfast buffet- good food at a good price. ^_^ I went back to the room to continue working on Serge, and by two I finally left the room under Squall's advice since I had to still sign up for the cosplay (sorry about that Dan). Once that was taken care of I wandered around a little and found Juri as well as her friends Utena, Nanami-san, and Wakaba. I didn't bring Tsuwabuki with me to Nekocon but was in character (and thanks to them Tsuwabuki would be revived at Katsu 7). It was cool to hang out with the Utena Gumi (thanks for the food btw!), but I still had some finishing touches to make on Serge. Around 5:20 I started suiting up and left the room about 5:45 to make a quick stop at con ops before running to the cosplay. While waiting to go onstage (entry 25 out of 36 or so) I was able to talk with some of the people in line. Quick shouts to John, Norm, Stripping Marron & friends, the convention hooligans, Shin-chan, and the Chesapeake Xelloss. I went onstage, swung the Mastermune a few times, and left. I was happy with how Serge turned out; I had put a lot of work into it and although it wasn't near perfect (still isn't as of this writing), I felt that I had done a damn good job with Serge. The only thing I know I forgot was my belt, which was left in the hotel room and wasn't realized until after sitting down in my seat. ^_^;; From those skits that I saw there were some great ones that other cosplayers did, and I was glad to have been a part of the cosplay. After the cosplay I changed out of Serge (still had blue hair though) and stayed up until about 3 the second time around (daylight savings time).
Sunday - I spent the rest of the con as Kaworu Nagisa (Eva). After packing the car, listening in on a few more panels, and saying goodbye to everyone we were on our way.
After O2K I needed a nice small convention to attend and unwind. Nekocon delivered. With attendance just over 1000 and a location in Chesapeake, VA, this was by far the friendliest con I've attended yet. It is true that it was a little annoying walking back and forth between the hotel and the convention center, but compared to Otakon this was a godsend. I'll definitely be attending Nekocon Flash when Nekocon returns to VA Beach. Quick shout to everyone that I spoke with at the con; I'm sorry if I omitted your name but I haven't forgotten you!
 Utena Gumi! Nanami, Juri, Utena, Wakaba |  Merle taking my Mastermune |  The Cosplay Hoolingans |
