Initial Otakon-ness

Got there, and stood in line for two hours (that was the line for pre-registered folks, the at-the-door registration line was estimated at 3+ hours). Because I needed to loop home to a) pick Megan up at work, b) shower and defoliate, and c) get dressed (thank GOD I didn't go with my initial plan of getting dressed properly this morning... 2 hours outside in the corset and they'dve been carting me off on a stretcher), Ryn and I have briefly parted... she was heading for Piro, to get in what we'd figured was going to be another massive line, and then try to locate Sue-chan... proximity of which I'm supposed to hook back up with her.

Our wait in the prereg line was actually shortened by almost an hour. lostkun recognized me from a four year old photo and pulled us into where that small knot of folks were waiting. I met... Westie? And... there were three or four others, and I'm /HORRIBLE/ with names, but they all seemed quite nice and fun. :) And finally meeting Lostie was a treat, as we've been intermittent RP partners down through the years.

Otakon Staff are already looking frayed and battered; I feel for them. It's a pain I remember from working Security for EveCon and Creation Convention events, and doing crowd control for concerts and WWF (now WWE) events at the old Cap Center. I don't envy their position at -all-. What I've seen of the costumes have been quite nifty... and Ryn snapped a pic of me melting in the sun in t-shirt and jeans that I'm going to have to burn. :p (And yes, Rynnie is armed with a camera. God help us all. :p)

As for me, I'm a bit worn and people frayed, but... I'm focusing as I was told, as I did for AnthoCon, and while the distance weakens the effect, I was still able to be pleasant and cheery in the midst of the people wave. I hate crowds. But there are some things I'll brave them for, and I know that once I'm in the dress folks give me a bit more clearance. For some odd reason, the sheer formalness of it seems to keep most folks at bay.

Ryn seems to be in a very buoyant mood, and more focused than I'm used to from her. A good thing, really, and I'm glad to see that she -can- focus. It honestly looks like it'll be another great con... I just wish some of the missing key folks in my life weren't stuck elsewhere because of financial duress. Having a Lady and a couple more dolls about would be quite spiffo, and there a bear and... J strikes me as feline, but she might not like that, but there it is. Having them here would be ubercool. Maybe next year. :)

*hugs* I need to start cleaning up. I can do some of it while waiting for Megan to call, and then finish when I get home. On the way back out to the car, I found a tiny little parking lot nestled in behind the convention center, where I'll park when I return. Much closer. :)

Anyway, that's me. If I'm conscious when we get home tonight, I'll post again. It might have to wait till tomorrow morning...

*snugs*

[Otakon - Day 1] The Escalator Stikes Back

Well, Ryn and I survived day one, and had a good time. I got to meet and chat with Sue-chan for quite a while, and I chatted briefly with Young Wang (who seemed -quite- nice, but was busy and I didn't want to interfere). Neither Ryn or I had any luck catching up with Piro (the mind behind the amazing Megatokyo webmanga), but there's still two more days to track him down. :)

My purchases today were small; a plastic-sheathed, credit card sized copy of a Print from Young Wang, a Print from Sue-chan (linked to a personal webspace on a very dear friend's machine, because it no longer seems to be on Sue-chan's web site... WARNING: It's a nearly 5meg file even scanned at 150dpi.), and acute little button that's also from Sue-chan, that's now clipped proudly to my purse. :)

Happy Ellie. :) *grins* I need to post things to other places, so I'll dash off now. I /WILL/ note, however, that the escalators at the Baltimore Convention Center leave a LOT to be desired. Being somewhat limited in mobility, it becomes a hassle when I routinely have to tromp down service tunnels to get to a section of the building where the escalators/elevators work. :p

*hugs* Off I go to the next task. Love you all! :)

~Elisabeth