Anime Weekend Atlanta 2012 Swag Post

YAY ANIME WEEKEND ATLANTA!....cough cough cough....Work is overrated anyway. As one can see I spent another day holed up in bed with scary movies on fear.net keeping me entertained in between naps. Watching subtitled anime right now seems too hard for my little mind. That and I have Pokemon to catch before the new Black/White game comes out.

Pikachu was not for sale but was super cute. XD

Before I take my NyQuil and pass out for the night I thought I blog my last AWA post. That way when I am all nice and better by tomorrow *fingers crossed* I can jump right back into blogging anime yay!! And catching up on blog comments yay! And maybe going to work....to make money yay! So without further delay...since we were at AWA last week spending money...it is the Tenchi Spent Way Too Much Money Post. AKA The Swag post!

Super Happy Fun Sell buys. Don't look friend as your Christmas Present is among this loot. I save my tips so I have plenty of 1's and 5's for this event. Probably should have brought a bigger bag. Supply bags booth people. XD Had I remembered to update my darn manga list I probably would have bought more. But yes so many good deals were had. $5 art book? YES PLEASE!

What? Disney merchandise at an anime event? BAD TENCHI! But they are so cute....and so much easier to get them when they are not in the blind boxes. I hope everyone made some decent amount of money at the Super Happy Fun Sell.

Only regular sized Nendoroid of the weekend. I think I need to raise my price point to $50 being the breaking point for Dealer's and even if I bought and had it shipped over from Japan. So Inori was the only Nendoroid that met my breaking point and that is only because the man knocked $5 off.

While the series ended on many special notes....Inori was pretty cute. Although I am not sure if I like her outfit in this version or if I would have preferred her "singer" outfit. Maybe some petites are on the way? The husband was like wft is that robot thing? I might have gotten him interested in the show.

All the petites I walked away with this weekend. Will do another post with my nendoroid lovelies. Spoiler Alert: Got a secret one on my first box. Makes up for the fact that one Dealer was selling bootlegs. Must have already had the ConFlu for not telling by the box. Silly Tenchi.

Mangas from the Dealer's Room. I am not sure I would have bought more even if I had the list as I think the days of Sunday sales are gone. I remember walking away with arm loads of mangas at certain booths that were buy one get one free. Both those booths didn't do that this weekend thus me and my money went somewhere else. I mean I know THEY have to make money. XD I just can't stretch my dollar anymore with all my interests adding up.

Ah! My love of plushies. Can't walk away without buying at least one a convention right? I love this Leafeon. It is always important to go through the Dealer's Room more than once because the Eevee forms were NOT out at this booth on Friday. So cute wish I could have afforded them all. And the giraffe? Um....I love giraffes. So yes this is an anime convention but CUTE GIRAFFE PLUSHIE! There was like 10 different kinds so I am surprised I only came away with one.

For some reason the husband always feels bad when I run out of money and he still has his left. So he runs out and buys me things right before we leave. I AM SPOILED! So this time I got magazines that I thought were actually reasonably priced for the Dealer to make money and for me not to be ripped off. Also Saber petite nendoroid? WOOT!

Artist Alley treasures. I also got a Stitch necklace that I was wearing at the time of picture taking. Not too much this year. :( I meant to buy something from the girl who upgraded to the Dealer's Room this year but I forgot to buy her cute sheep plushie before I spent all my mesos. I really love this year's Eevee fanart. Hopefully I can get one once a year if I got to anime conventions. Love my two other pieces too, also get something from her. Other than that...yeah. A lot of special. But the squid plushies everyone had were cute too.

My favorite shirt people were not here AGAIN! Now I really wish I had bought from them back at Otakon. But I got three this year so that makes me happy. Finally got a Piglu shirt weee! I wish they had more girl sized shirts instead of the "unisex" shirts they try to sell us. Like um no we are not all built the same folks.

Close of my Madoka pins. They had a witch set too but at that point I was super poor. But I am glad I got them all. And once I venture outside again they shall be placed in my car with my other anime pins.

What is left of our noms. We had more but...we nommed on them. Always go to the Wizzywig booth first people. They sell out of some products way before Sunday. Get what you want when you can. Nom Nom Nom. But all the booths had really reasonably priced ramune. Probably...under-priced? XD

All the random posters and pieces of paper I walked away with by the weekend's end. I need it all folks! Yay for free posters I can tack on to my ceiling. I think this is about it for all my lovelies. Hope you enjoyed my attempts to save the economy! Back to bed!

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Anime Weekend Atlanta Convention Report: Day Three

Hello there people reading my blog. Still sitting here on the couch waiting for the packages to come. Hopefully by the time I actually post these I will be sitting here with the precious. But for now I am getting things done so I guess I shouldn’t be complaining. XD I did just get a pile of anime/manga goodies so why am I worried about getting something else? GREEDY XO

Oh no?! Where did Anime Weekend Atlanta go?!

While I apparently hide under the blanket from the scary rain…more blogging! How is it I am already at the end of Anime Weekend Atlanta? You look forward to something all year and in 4 short days it is over. But I guess that is what makes it worthwhile, despite all the crazy security people and drive time. It is money spending and cramming things into our vehicles before heading home time!

This is not cereal!

I am not the most punctual person ever so getting up in the morning is a bit hard for me. Perhaps we should have done some packing before we went to bed last night but we were much too tired to do things like that. Instead the husband did all the packing while I yawned my way through breakfast and getting ready. We tried to check out via the TV but it kept giving us errors. The husband called downstairs and since we were paying with a credit card we were good to go. No line in that aspect.

Is there room on the elevator for you?

Anime Weekend Atlanta is a hotel based convention. Thus people are spending the night in the same space the activities are going on. People try to get rooms at the hotel so they can be close to the action. I am sure some go to other hotels nearby but the price difference really doesn’t seem worth all the walking one would be doing anyway. The only thing that really sucks is the elevator usage. It gets backed up from time to time and of course it is majorly backed up on check out day. We ended up walking down to the lobby as each and every elevator was full. Not before a Staff Member told us we should just ride the elevator up to go down…which was against the rules. And that we were not allowed to use the stairs at all and gave us a look before we walked away. Okay dude.

So many wallscrolls, no room at all!

After getting all our stuff loaded in the car…it was time to buy more! Onwards to the Dealer’s Room. The Aisles were very large, perhaps a bit too large. I wonder how many more booths could have been put in the room had the super large aisles been slightly squished down. XD Tables get crowded because people can’t see, it doesn’t matter how much space there is across as people are going to wait to see what is in that booth.

HUGE OPEN SPACES!

X__X I ended up getting a bootleg nendoroid! It was in a blind box so I had no way of knowing it was a bootleg. The box was pretty legit but I thought something was up when the girls exchanged a look when I bought from them. Good thing it was only a petit and it was only 8 dollars. Besides that little snafu I came away with a lot of good merchandise. I think that people were overpricing their nendoroid petits as I know the TRUE price (miss you Japan) but I got the ones that were on the lower end of the scale. The husband got me some magazines that were priced pretty fair and I ended up walking away with a few T-shirts. My favorite T-shirt booth wasn’t at AWA again. Hope nothing happened to them. The husband bought a Steampunk shirt, pokemon badge pins, and tons of Japanese snacks. NOM!

No pics of the Artist Alley. Didn't want to deal with angry people.

After going to the Dealer’s Room there was one more spin around the Artist Alley. We had noticed that the food vendors were missing from the Dealer’s Room and main hallway. Well the vendors were located at the end of the Artist Alley. I know logically this move made sense. But the hallway smells so nice with the food cooking. Or maybe it helps cover up the confunk. I did miss the tables in the Dealer’s Room itself but it made sense why it was back there. Although the autograph lines could go back there as well and that would increase traffic for them. They needed to have better signage though to advertise the food. The sign in the middle of the walkway wasn’t very helpful as most people were busy dodging the random sign that appeared out of nowhere.

Again no pic of the Artist Alley. Has a huge open space in the Dealer's Room instead.

As for the Artist Alley itself…same old same old. The 50 percent fanart rule still prevails and some people….look like they are running an arts and craft booth at their local church. Almost like OH snap I forgot I signed up to do the Artist Alley let me get some things ready in this week I have left. I don’t like it when there are booths that say DO COMMISSIONS and only have 5 pieces of sale. I want my merchandise now. XD But while I complain about there being a lack of anime/manga at some of the panels I welcome plushies and jewelry of nonanime characters. Maybe because they are still done in an anime style? Or that I love plushies. I found several things to spend some of my money on. And my biggest regret is not buying the Daryl zombie killing poster. Because this is an anime convention!!!

Pikachu chooses....to watch other animes!

So after spending our lovely money in the Dealer’s Room and Artist Alley it was time for more panels. Off we went to the Pokemon Panel where apparently we should have gotten there beforehand. Once again a panel that was placed into a tiny room where it had been placed in a bigger one the previous year. The husband and I had to wait for two spots to open up but the wait was worth it. The panel was fun and entertaining. Oh and many spoilers from the Pokemon universe were shared. I would share them with you too but every time I tell someone else the information their minds are BLOWN! More Pokemon all the time please!

Piglu wants to be a contestant!!!

The last event we attended before heading back home was the game show Anime Press Your Luck. We missed the first minutes of it traveling from the Pokemon Panel to the Anime Press Your Luck room so we didn’t catch the rules. Of course the husband bragged that he already knew the rules but they were easy to catch on to. The game show was taped for a Youtube channel and I guess there were predetermined players. But I loved how excited the audience got and how great the prizes were. NO WHAMMIES! It was very entertaining and one of the best game show panels I have ever been to.

You'll get yelled at by security Piglu!

With that last event…it was time to head back to the car. We took a few more pictures and I pouted a bit as we left the convention center. After a brief stop at the Discovery Mall and Burger King it was time to map our way home. This time we took the highway which was probably safer as it started to rain. If you are going to break down you want to do so where other people might rescue you yes? The ride home seemed to take longer that the ride up. Probably because the excitement takes away some of the boring. But we tried to stay away by talking about the convention and what not.

Goodbye Anime Weekend Atlanta!

After arriving back home at 1 am….it was time to pet Kira and pass out in bed. Well not pass out as Kira was just crying and crying like the most neglected kid ever. But yes we were home and thus marks the end of another successful convention.

Until next time!

There were some ups and downs with this convention but I think overall there were more ups than downs. It seemed like attendance was down as the hallways were easier to manage. But we needed to get to panels sooner to assure seats. I think complicated cosplays were down while more casual cosplays were up. I didn’t see as much price gouging in the dealer’s room but the artist alley had less things I was interested in. I had tons of things on my list and while I didn’t (couldn’t) do everything it seems like we were very busy. Overall I had a blast, a nice vacation with the husband. XD But we are getting older. All these young kids…making me feel old. We have plans on trying to be annual pass holders to Disney next year so I don’t know if we will make it to AWA. I hope we do but if we can’t make it back for a bit we had fun this time around and look forward to the next. Hopefully it will continue to improve and be fun. Until next time!

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Anime Weekend Atlanta Convention Report: Day Two

Hello there internet peoples. How are you doing this day? I am sitting here trying to catch up on posts and put the house back together as I wait for two packages to arrive in the mail. One being an 85 dollar doll and the other being the husband’s new computer. I am not sure which of us is more excited but hopefully all this waiting will help me be productive today.

Good morning convention!!

Anime Weekend Atlanta Day 2. Saturdays are usually the biggest days for conventions. People are trying to get there from work or school on Fridays so the convention is at its most hectic. That means more costumes, more people who need to take showers, and more lines waiting for fun events. So how was Day 2 for me and the husband? Lets find out!

I choose all of you pokemon!!

The first event we attended was the Pokemon photoshoot that was to take place on the lawn. Sadly the person hosting the photoshoot never showed up. Or if she did we already left as it was nearly the hour mark. She had costume problems or something along those lines. So the photoshoot got off to a late start and there were less Pokemon present than years past. I wonder if that is because the photoshoot was early in the day and it had changed days before the convention. Also why wasn’t it near the Pikabug? :( Maybe they got in trouble last year or something but I love Pokemon so I would go to the photoshoot regards of when or where it was. Stay out of the tall grass.

Some fashion show pictures!

The next two panels we went to were back to back in the same room so that was helpful. The Lolita Fashion Show and the h. NAOTO Fashion Show. The room for the fashion shows was much improved from the room the previous year. However it might have been better had they turned off the special concert lights that were on in the background. Made taking pictures almost impossible. And while I realize this was a concert room more chairs would have been nice. I would comment on the rudeness of some photographers but that is really not the fault of AWA or the people putting on the event so…you know.

Lots and lots of eyeshadow!

The Lolita Fashion show was rather brief. I would have loved to see more models but in the end what they showed was nice. It looked like a lot of time and energy went into planning the outfits. We only walked by the Lolita Frill store once during our trip but it looked busy. Hopefully they did well. The h. NAOTO portion of the fashion show had more models and some wild styles. I think the eye make-up was a bit distracting at times and last year there were way more male models. Still I enjoyed the crazy Japanese fashions that went across the stage. The husband was bit confused as he thought it was going to be more of a Lolita fashion show for both events. Silly husband. XD

More Goddess Madoka please!

After all the fashion shows it was time to run back outside to take pictures of the Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica photoshoot. This show was super popular last year, one of the top animes of the year. So I thought that this would be one of the shows that would be cosplayed to death and we would be tripping over Mamis and Madokas. For some reason that doesn’t seem to be happening. Perhaps that is because there is only 5 real characters in the show and none of them are boys. Still I am very happy with the girls (and boys) that did come out to the photoshoot. Yay for pictures. It seems that Mami is the most popular so yay for me again.

Run Mami Run!

There were several game show panels going on at this time but for some reason I decided that we would go to Know Your Anime. Looking back I might have chosen differently. There was no game show set up at all. Just the panelist reading questions from her computer. No score board, not game board, no nothing. The panelist lost control of the game show rather quickly, with audience members calling out what categories should be next or why that answer was technically not right. I felt as if the panelist wanted to do a game show but didn’t follow through or have the resources to make it a successful and fun game show for all.

Taking pictures after the costume contest. Here is a winner of an award.

Up next is a must for us at any anime convention. Costume Contest Time! This year they actually cleared the room. That would have pissed us off had we gone in like usual to the previous panel as that hasn’t happened before. I really didn’t believe the people we questioned if the room was going to be cleared or not because they said the room for the costume contest is ALWAYS cleared. We waited outside anyway just in case they were right and they were. I thought we had decent seats but they are only as decent as the people you are sitting behind. Given how strict the security people were in some aspects of the convention you would think the rule SIT DOWN during an event like the costume contest would be obvious. But it wasn’t and sadly most of our pictures turned out…well sad. Hurry take pictures after the contest where we are yelled at for “blocking” traffic.

The costume contest winner.....

Now the costume contest itself….well this is my blog and as such I get to express opinions that may not be positive or popular. Every year there seems to be less and less entries in the costume contest itself. The event ended at 9:08. It was scheduled to go from 8:00 to 10:00. And some of the entries were okay for walking around the convention and having fun. But most of them were not note worthy of running for awards. Maybe that is not why people entered but I love seeing over the top costumes and pieces that took hours to create. I want more breath taking pieces, not just oh okay. I don’t think I need to mention that there needs to be more anime/manga/Japanese video game entries and not…other things. Other things that end up winning the costume contest that have NOTHNG to do with Japan.

Our one illegal picture before we got yelled at.

Since the costume contest ended early we decide to catch what we could of Johnny Yong Bosch’s bad Eyeshine. We had to wait until there was space in the “full” room before we entered. We didn’t arrive in time to hear the “rules” nor were the rules posted/told to us when we were waiting in line. So when we were allowed into the “full” room my husband went to take pictures and was promptly yelled at by the like 15 security people walking the room. NO PHOTOS! Oh okay. Not sure why we weren’t allowed to take photos when last year I took as many pictures of Eyeshine as I wanted at another convention with tons more people in the room but okay. Pictures are overrated anyway. I tried to brush that rude event aside (thanks for assuming everyone in the room was there for the rules stated at the beginning of the event) and enjoy the concert. I think I was more amused by the people dancing in front of me and really getting into the music.

No concert pictures...so have some costume contest winners.

The room was not cleared for the Heidi Concert so we stuck around to have our eardrums blown out. Since we were there from the start we heard the rules about no pictures and what not. Which was still sad. I remember last year we were able to take pictures of the Japanese bad but maybe this is what their manager wants and what not. The music got a little loud and the previous concert ran over in time so we didn’t stick around for the entire concert. Plus the husband got “talked to” and “nudged” for sleeping during the concert. At this point I think security people were playing a game of Find The Husband and making up reasons to yell at him. It would have been funny had it been happening to someone else. But we stuck around long enough to be polite and went on to our next event.

Not the Panel of Doom. Have some giraffes instead?

AWO’s Panel of Doom was up next. While this panel had more anime clips than Anime Hell it did have a lot of real life/non Japanese related items. Anime Conventions should focus on anime/manga/Japanese video games as they are related to…anime. My Little Pony, Homestruck, and Doctor Who are not Japanese related. So while I found some of the clips funny and probably wouldn’t have been exposed to them otherwise I wish there was more anime at ALL the anime events. This panelist had the right volume going on though and his comedic timing was better than the other funny clip panels. Too much talking and you can’t hear what is going on and not enough talking makes the room feel awkward. So that was a positive that helped make the non anime related clips funnier.

Kyubey wishes you a good night sleep.

With roughly 9 hours of events behind us and tons of travel/eating/random pictures sprinkled in between it was time for sleep. I actually had an easier time falling asleep tonight but that was probably due to being tired rather than it being quiet. The dance was going on and people were glow stickin it all over the place. When we checked into the hotel we had to sign a piece of paper stating we would not bring booze into the hotel and would only consume it in restaurant areas. HAHA doesn’t seem like that was going down folks. But maybe if I tire myself out enough I can just fall asleep like the husband. Need some sleep to pack and travel back home anyway. XD One more post to go!!!

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Anime Weekend Atlanta Convention Report: Day One

Hello there my lovely readers! It is I the lazy one. Why didn’t any posts get blogged yesterday? I have no idea. 4 days of straight fun/travel can take its toll on your body. Like MOG all this laundry and housework and blogs to catch up on? However shall I catch up with my crappy reality shows and looking at my own pictures from the convention while reading other people’s opinions of AWA?! XD Silly, silly me. Hopefully most of my AWA will get posted today. We got anime posts to blog, before the new season descends upon me and I start off Fall behind.

Piglu is up bright and early before cosplayers descend upon all corners of the convention center.

So Day 1 of Anime Weekend Atlanta! Will Tenchi spend all her money in the Dealer’s Room before the convention has barely started? Will confunk be present despite the convention being hours old? Will cosplayers be out and about or saving their best costumes for Saturday? Lets find out. XD

Ah. Peace and quiet.

Starting off getting sleep at AWA is hard for people like me. The way the hotel is set up sound just travels upward no matter what room you are in. And while I stay up late in my everyday real life…I don’t do so while on vacation. Or at least I stay up late in my room doing quiet things. Ah the loud people at conventions. It is almost this event is many people’s main source of fun for the entire year thus they need to stay up all night and have the maximum experience or they will die. I just wish there was more downtime. 2 am is when the noise starts to die down but I need my sleep. I am old folks.

The husband trying to be artistic. Pretty yes?

After dragging myself out of bed and finding out that I forgot to charge the camera battery from my trip to Disney it was off to the lobby to take some random pictures and head towards the Opening Ceremony. The Dealer’s Room never opens on time so why wait in line when we could see the special guests for the weekend? XD I actually have no knowledge if the Dealer’s Room opened on time but I am sure it didn’t so…I will just pretend it didn’t.

I have been every single anime dub EVER! Enjoy!

The start of the Opening Ceremonies was so funny. Very entertaining. So glad they went with Johnny Yong Bosch instead of another voice actor that gets on my last nerves yet is loved by the masses. At least some of the masses at AWA. But Johnny Yong Bosch and his explanation of AWAs past and how he has been in every single anime ever was entertaining to me. LAUGH EVERYONE! Then the special guests were introduced and they said their quick hellos and promoted their events. I think we stayed for about 45 minutes, enough to get a feel for the Opening Ceremonies but I think things were starting to die down so off we went.

No pictures from the Engrish Jamboree so...more pictures from the Opening Ceremony.

I think I will wait to talk about the Dealer’s Room on Day 3 as that was our lightest day. So after the Opening Ceremony the first event we attended was the Engrish Jamboree. We missed the first few minutes of this panel as it was full and we had to wait for people to leave. Partial our fault for not getting in line before the panel started but for some reason panels that were pretty full last year were put in smaller panels. Why weren’t they using that room off the side of hotel check in? This panel room was small and the sound system was terrible. The scene wasn’t high enough off the ground so it was hard to see the subtitles. So…while some of the jokes were understandable without much effort the panel wasn’t as successful as last year because of the sound system and video screen.

High School of the Dead anyone?

I had other events on my list at this time but since a certain voice actor was at the event The 25,000 yen Pyramid I decided to skip that. So after food, walking around the Dealer’s Room, and seeing most of the artists in the Artist Alley the next event we went to was the Totally Lame Anime panel. Out of all the panels that we went to that were supposed to make fun of anime/Japanese culture this one had the most relevant content. One would think that would be obvious, having anime at an anime convention you would be surprised. There was a good mixture of old clips and current material that everyone in the audience should have been entertained. I do wonder if 2 hours is a bit too long for ANY panel though. While I had fun how many more events could we fit into the schedule if these panels ran for only an hour and a half? So good panel, had some laughs, and people were entertained.

Being with Yuno is like being in hell sometimes right?

The next event on our list was Anime Hell. This seems to be the most promoted event at the convention and there is an obvious reason for that. But I am beginning to wonder why that is. The panelist seems to think that the audience wants to hear ONLY the bass, not the actual words or music in a clip. I nearly left after the first clip of the little blue monsters fighting with humans. It was that loud. The amount of anime/Japanese material showed at this panel was probably not even 50 percent. It was almost like the panel was geared towards people who have been to every Anime Hell with people reciting lines from certain scenes when the dialogue wasn’t even understandable. I did enjoy some of the scenes shown but if your panel is called Anime Hell maybe there should be more anime in your clips? And maybe you shouldn’t try to blow our eardrums on the first night.

Sweet dreams cosplayers!

After 4 hours of crazy clips we decided to skip the last event I had on the maybe list. It was already 12:30 and the husband was fading fast. We did spend about 6 hours doing event/panel things today which I think is a pretty decent chunk of time. Off to bed we go as we are old people who need sleep after so much fun. Day Two will have more events, more cosplay pictures, and Tenchi spending more money in the Dealer’s Room. Onward we go!!!

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Anime Weekend Atlanta Convention Report: Day Zero

HELLO THERE MY LOVELY READERS! It is I The Tired One. AKA Tenchi after spending 4 days on vacation. From September 27th to September 30th I spent time at (and traveling to) Anime Weekend Atlanta. Much antics were had, wallets were emptied out, and many nights were spent not sleeping because anime convention attendees are loud zombies. Now it is back to the real world which involves working with crazy people and waiting for the next fun event (Halloween Horror Nights here we come).

To the Tenchi Mobile!

But before I hope right back into anime posts and what not…it is time to post about my trip! Can’t go on a trip without a Trip Report right? XD So beware many posts in the next few days all about AWA, costumes, and swags. Lets start off with Thursday, our travel day, registration pick up, and Super Happy Fun Sell fun!

That looks like the never ending building in Orlando!

Due to the husband’s work situation I had to meet him at his base so we could leave during his lunch time. I would have liked to leave earlier in the morning so we could check in (get a better room if possible) and maybe visit the HUGE mall nearby before registration but what can you do? At least we got to go you know? XD So I finished packing up and doing last minute things around the house before I headed out. Kira got scared of the suitcases so I didn’t get a goodbye from her. Crazy cat.

Apparently many bugs were killed in the making of this road trip.

So after meeting up with the husband and getting some noms at the local Burger King (to get the HHN cup because I am not a fan of their new fries) onwards we went. Our map scheduled us for 5.5 hours of FUN through the backwoods of Georgia. There was so much to see folks I don’t know where to begin. There was grass and trees and horses. I saw some cotton and run down houses and trees. And then we saw speed signs that said 45 miles an hour and we wondered how this way could possibly be faster than the highway. Onward we went through the land of no cellphone reception and a church on every corner despite there being NO HOUSES for miles.

Back on the correct road we think.

Finally we made it to Atlanta, land of traffic and super confusing roads. Last year we were traveling around in the car pool lane when the husband starting cussing as he missed our turn off. This year we vowed not to do the same thing. So we were cruising along in the car pool lane when suddenly we watched our exit go right on by. Or really the entire highway TURNED and we were going straight on the now regular road and not highway. Who has ever heard of a highway turning 4 lanes and the “straight” lane being the nonhighway road.

There is the hotel! And the dead bugs on our car. XD

As complicated as I just explained it…it turned into a hot mess. The husband tried to get off at the next exit but traffic got crazy so we had to go two more exits to turn around. Only by now it was 5:30 and everyone was getting off of work and there was chaos in the streets. Cops directing confused people and stand still traffic. It was X___X. A split second mistake turned into a 45 minute attempt to make a U-turn.

Casa de Tenchi for the next 3.5 days.

We FINALLY made it to the hotel without getting in an accident or getting further lost. The husband vows next time that we will not get in the car pool lane as it keeps screwing us over and not helping us out like it is supposed to. The husband went to check in while I got out of the car and stretched my poor legs. All around me were people trying to get all their stuff out of their cars so they could start enjoying their weekend too. Funny how we were only gone for 4 days yet we had so much stuff to haul upstairs. But by the looks of all these bags and boxes we weren’t the only serious packers.

Before our mess expands and takes over.

Checking in didn’t take that long so off we went up to our hotel room. We got an elevator and parking space rather quick, something that would not happen the rest of the weekend. We hauled our stuff up to the 5th floor. Not too bad considering our set back on the road. I have come to learn it really doesn’t matter how high up you are at the hotel, the noise is all the same. XD So you might as well try to get a place closer to the ground so in case you have to take the stairs you don’t die.

Don't jump Piglu!

After snapping a few pics of the hotel room and getting slightly settled we got our happy selves back down to the lobby to get in line for registration. Last year we got to the hotel around 7:40 and there was barely any line. This year we got in the registration line at 6:40 and we weren’t even in the line. We were in the overflow line that would lead into the line eventually. I think some people were shocked by this and I heard other people complaining that the lines were better last year. Well I pulled out my little DS and played Pokemon the entire hour I was in line. I rather wait in line on Day Zero than Day One. XD It also reminded me of a previous AWA (might have been 8..) where my friends and I didn’t prereg and we just walked to the counter where the prereg people had a long line.

Almost to the real line!

After waiting in line and nearly losing my mind because battling a legendary pokemon, a rival, and the real baddie all without saving is fun…..it was Super Happy Fun Sell Time. WOOHOO! Time to spend money on gently (maybe not so gently) used goods. I almost kicked myself in the head though once in the room. I thought I was prepared for AWA but apparently I have made a year long mistake. After returning from AWA last year….I didn’t update my manga list. What is wrong with me folks?! So yeah. I probably would have bought way more mangas had I updated the list. Woe is me.

Only bring cash to the Super Happy Fun Sell. And your own bag.

But even though I am massively special I still found things to buy. It is a little intimidating when there are so many people looking at you hopefully and being…maybe slightly overly helpful when you are just browsing. Like buy our stuff so we can eat this weekend!!!! But in the end I walked away with a petit nendoroid, some mangas, things that have nothing to do with anime, an artbook, and a really cool wallet that my friend should flip over.

Soon this will be full of people!

After getting our share of yard sale goodness and obtaining food from a very empty food court the husband and I went back upstairs to read the ConGuide. I had made myself a schedule when it was posted on the AWA website but I wanted to read everything and see if my opinion would change. Plus the husband hadn’t researched anything yet so we had to make sure he knew what was going on. Spoiler Alert: He just did everything I wanted to do. XD He is the kind of person who doesn’t want to be disappointed so he doesn’t look forward to things. Unlike me of course….

Is it almost time for fun?

So that is about it for Day Zero. Yay for driving forever and having the highway hate us. Are we ready for 3 sleepless nights because this hotel is shaped funny? Oh we are such old people. XD

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