ConnectiCon Recap, Long Overdue
Well, I've been extremely lazy as of lately--typing-wise, that is; I've been busying myself with artwork quite a bit, as I shall explain why a bit later. For now, I want to make sure I have a written account of ConnectiCon 2007, as I'd like something to look back on, even if a few memories fade or age.
Friday:
Stepping out of the car was one thing; letting my eyes adjust to what I was seeing was another. The moment Tasha and I lugged our luggage from the Buick, our eyes exploded with delight. A Sephiroth and other cosplayers adorned the steps next to the Marriott, and I already felt welcome. Even as we found the pre-registration desk, hauling our bags inside, a little girl asked "Ash" for a hug. I smiled, forgetting my impish dislike of children. The line itself was short (10 minutes is nothing), and as we grabbed a small goodie bag, we made our way upstairs, not able to check into our room until 4 (as we later found out). Much of the following moments were observing and exploring. We found many incredible cosplayers strutting their stuff, with many people sitting in groups chatting with fellow fans. I was stopped at least 4 times that day by Team Rocket cosplayers, and we all laughed good-heartedly as I gave out shifty eyes and tucked Pikachu inside my vest. We found the console gaming room early on, and marveled at the wide selection of gaming available (DDR, SSBM, Wii Sports [I believe], PC gaming, etc.). Those who know me should already know I made a mad dash for the Guitar Hero II and watched people play for a while.
It wasn't until a while after when Tasha told me she was going off to the Tea Ceremony/Asian Brush Painting workshops, so I was by myself for a good portion of the day. Part of me didn't know how to deal with that (I'm quite shy and not the best at talking to people..yet), so I ended up drifting in and out of the Artist's Colony, browsing people's artwork and chatting a little bit here and there. I also ended up playing a couple people in Guitar Hero II, beating the first and losing to the second (hey, the 360 version takes a bit of getting used to when you're on PS2). After searching anticipatedly for Tasha at least an hour after the workshop ended, I stopped in the outside gap between convention and hotel, letting the wind hit my face and grinning anxiously at scattered "Ash!" calls. There I was, alone [but not so much]. Then, out of nowhere, a tall quiet man with short hair approached me in the gap. He asked if I had seen where Tasha was, as he held out a small notepad; her number was etched neatly onto the paper. Confused, I explained that I hadn't seen her for quite some time and had been looking for a great while. Only later was it confirmed that this person was our roommate. Imagine what a surprise that was for me, when I was told our roommate would be a girl! Confusion set aside, we both took off in search of her, chatting awkwardly as we ascended the escalators. Part of me was nervous and another very large part of me was dizzy and lightheaded, so I sped up in my pace, eventually (but unintentionally) losing Caloris [his nickname] along the way back to the Marriott. I HAD to sit down in a quiet place, since my migraine felt like it was tearing me in two. (What a weekend to have this happen! -_-)
After sitting down for a while in an armchair, I made my way back to the convention center. A phone rang in my pocket. Silly Tasha left her phone with me while she was away, but lucky for me, Justin was the caller; he notified me that he was in the pre-registration line. I went to see him and told him I couldn't find Tasha, and to keep an eye out for her for me. More wandering ensued. Finally, after stepping off an ascending escalator a bit later on, I found them waving at me and grinned sheepishly. Next time, we will ALL have cell phones.
The only thing we did after we found each other was attend the ConnectiCon musical (II)..or what we could in the given half-hour until we had to go check into our hotel room. Jessie and James had me cracking UP; James was so perfectly flamboyant, and I knew I'd have to find the mp3 of "Double Trouble" when I returned to my Internet. We snuck out the back door and headed to the Marriott, where we met with Caloris and proceeded to our room: 1002. We unloaded our stuff there, and I pounced onto the uber-fluffy bed nearest the window. NAPTIME. Napped for about an hour (I love sleeping off my headaches), and felt significantly better when I woke up. Thank you, Excedrin! ^_^ I woke to find only Caloris was in the room, going through some of his stuff. He showed me figurines and merchandise from previous conventions, all of which he'd be shipping back to his home in Australia. (He's a Cardcaptor Sakura fan as well! YAY!) Tasha and Justin returned a bit later, and we explored the con some more before returning back to the room later on in the evening. And THAT'S when things got REALLY fun.
Snagging Justin's hi-power laser pointer and experimenting its power on the space outside the convention center 10 floors below, we found the ultimate source of our Friday night fun: human laser tag. Wiggling the tiny light at people's feet, we got many curious looks, people waving up at the windows, and by 10:00, a large gathering of people were forming elaborate strategies to chase and capture the green laser. Some even wielded prop swords at the light, others even doing full nosedives into the ground. I gained many a friend and acquaintance that night, eventually joining the crowd below and revealing my identity. [Caloris joined me in this as well; he seemed extremely amused at all that was taking place.] Autographs were signed in my book, pictures and video were taken by countless passersby, and chatting continued until about midnight, when we parted ways and exchanged goodbyes. We headed back up to the room and, after toying with the laser a bit more, settled down for the night. Cold pizza was consumed sparingly, as I had a bit of stomach virus remaining in my system. Nothing, however, could've put a damper on the complete euphoria of this new and exciting experience.
Saturday:
Saturday was a bit of a different ballpark; here's where my memory of things becomes a bit more meshed with the other days of the weekend, just because so much had been going on. In the morning, Justin, Tasha, and I went to an Intro to Japanese Language workshop, which had been very informative in my opinion (I was interested in learning more about the origins of kanji). We really got a good view of the Dealer's Room, which blew me away with the amount of merchandise available; several webcomic artists were scattered throughout, and I was honored to have found James Hatton ("In His Likeness") and his booth, as I knew Tasha was one of his biggest fans. Pushing her in the right direction of his booth, I returned after several laps around the DR to find her still chatting jovially to him. I couldn't help but grin widely. She ended up getting a Devil plushie as well as some buttons and free stuff. Call her a walking billboard, if you will, as I often teased; but I was very happy to see her so upbeat.
Goodies I ended up buying included two wall scrolls (Fullmetal Alchemist and Tsubasa--a Sakura/Syaoran one), a Kon plushie from "Bleach", a mushroom hat from the Super Mario series ($5 discount, just for being hesitant!), a Sakura plushie, some Chocolate Mousse Pocky for my mom (she is now in love), a button from one of the Artist's Colony booths ("I'm not shy, I'm just quietly examining my prey"),and probably something else I can't remember. I can't say stuff was cheap there, but I will remember to bring a couple hundred bucks for next year instead. Tasha had been eyeing a beautiful pentacle necklace with blue stones, so I bought it for her with the last of my money. She ended up, with some reluctance from me, buying me a little suttin-suttin: a Samurai Champloo chain wallet (which left me with my mouth open for quite some time).
A good bulk of the weekend was spent taking pictures, and quite a few of them. I regret not seeing some fantastic cosplayers, although I was overwhelmed to find at least 8 other Ash Ketchums there. My friend Kelly, from the ConnectiCon forums, ran into me on Friday and, stunned, I stopped and chatted with her quite a bit throughout the weekend. [She cosplays Ash so incredibly and is a very nice girl!] I got a nice picture with her on Saturday, as we were both in our Ash costumes that day. As for Artist's Colony, I met some very kind people there as well--a phenomenal Midna, for example, with some incredible plushies (regretfully I did not buy her Link plushie before it sold out, and I hope I get the chance next year). Hunger getting the best of us, we were guided by a kind cosplayer out of the convention and towards a CVS/Burger King/Dunkin Donuts streets away, into the general normalcy of downtown Hartford..or so we thought. In the CVS, I couldn't help but laugh out loud; cosplayers with bulky props and costumes weaved in and out of aisles while everyday people stared out of the corners of their eyes. It was so bizarre to see people so extravagantly dressed behave as normal people shopping for snack foods and aspirin (as was I). We stuck out like sore thumbs, but acted as though this was an everyday feat. And I LOVED it. Burger King was just as jam-packed; where there weren't cosplayers, there were people with the signature teal lanyards bearing the convention badges so prominent in the area.
We carried our goods back to the hotel room and ate for a bit; I then piled my chicken tenders next to the cold pizza (good eatin'!), rested for a while, then headed out to our next two workshops: Herbology 101 and How to Be a Ninja in One Hour. Herbology was very interesting, though the man teaching it seemed to have a twinge of attitude throughout the weekend; I thought the workshop could've been a bit more well-structured, but maybe that was just me. The ninja workshop was spectacular and grabbed every bit of my attention (I regret missing the Samurai workshop most of all, but am now compelled to turn my own friends towards the Way of the Ninja). ^_^ The rest of the day was spent in the board gaming room playing either Scattergories or Apples to Apples, which is a TERRIFIC party game and one I cannot wait to play at next year's con--it's great with many people. :D I even ended up running into my friends Jaci and Steph from high school! I convinced them to play Apples to Apples with us, and we ended up playing until midnight, when we were forced out of the convention. When we got back to the room, I tried out the laser pointer again for a bit with much success..until I was signaled by a convention staffer/volunteer to stop (I take it that it must've been some sort of authority figure, given the sharp cutting signal across the throat). Yeah..I'll be doing that again next year. And I'm TOTALLY not being sarcastic about that, I promise! ^^
Sunday:
Sunday was the least eventful day of the three, and the day in which everything was starting to wind down. There was still plenty left to do, although not as many of the workshops seemed appealing and there were fewer people, it seemed; Justin and Caloris left earlier in the morning, leaving Tasha and I to entertain ourselves until around 5 o'clock. We explored the con a bit more, and later in the day decided to go back to the board gaming room for some Lord of the Rings Trivial Pursuit: Movie Edition. BIG mistake. We were soon joined by some--at first--modest guy geeks, who were mostly talking amongst themselves and showing off their knowledge of the movies. Somewhat arrogant and all-knowing, I thought, as I exchanged suffocated looks with Tasha. We made up an excuse for leaving and then left the room, happy to be away from the awkwardness.
3:30 rolled around soon enough and I slipped into the Alchemy: Lead to Gold workshop, taught by the same person who hosted the Herbology workshop. Boy, did he seem bitter that time around. I bought a small blank cloth from him for a few dollars and, half-listening to his seminar about alchemy and transmutation circles, half-drawing my own transmutation circle, I left the seminar feeling satisfied yet increasingly agitated. It had run late, and though I was worried that I had kept my dad waiting for us, I was extremely reluctant to return home. Never before had I felt such a strong sense of unity and belonging with such a large gathering of people..it was disheartening to think of having to return to work, where I constantly encounter so many rude customers and mundane, routine, colorless tasks. The more I thought about it, the more agitated I grew; I could already see the crowds thinning, and the bland, grey colors of my workplace coming into view. Not thinking about anything else, I was stopped by a cosplayer who apparently enjoyed my costume, and when asked to "Kiss the Ed" [on the cheek], I blurted out quietly, rushed, "I don't have time for this.." and, hurriedly kissing her on the cheek, headed towards the escalator. Only a moment after this happened did I jolt awake, like I had been slapped. I didn't mean at all to be rude; had anyone known what had been running through my mind, they would've understood my agitation. I calmed down soon after, though still feeling guilty for my unintentional rudeness.
As Tasha and I headed towards the exits, I breathed in one final glance of the convention. It was intoxicating, and I knew I had to have more--to see more people, do more things, experience what I hadn't experienced. There was so much I loved about the trip, even for someone who is normally quite shy and quiet. But that's what I loved--everyone and everything was so accommodating. I decided that I would make my dream come true for the following year, to gain exposure for my artwork and creativity while taking in a full experience of the convention for a second time. Next year when I return, I'll be setting up my own Artist's Colony booth--completely Legend of Zelda themed.
All I can say in addition to all that's been said? WOW. I would recommend the convention experience to EVERYONE. There were so many surprises that I can't even begin to elaborate on. How people can bond and be completely bat-shit crazy over a laser pointer. How someone you expected turned out to be nothing like who you expected (and yet, how you can still manage to harbor a crush). How everyone and everything so colorful and unconventional can be so conventional at the same time.
I will continue to anticipate the coming conventions year after year, and while keeping in touch with those I've met, create new and different crafts and artwork for the future years. It's like a spark's been lit in me and it isn't being extinguished. All the while I thought my hope in all people had faded, and I'm happy that I had an experience like this to show me that it hasn't.
You can go to the following links for my videos:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=5XfW0Ipz_m4
http://youtube.com/watch?v=hyhZRld4naY
http://youtube.com/watch?v=RAj9gQn7cA4
If you're interested in the convention, go to:
www.connecticon.org
~Angie
Friday:
Stepping out of the car was one thing; letting my eyes adjust to what I was seeing was another. The moment Tasha and I lugged our luggage from the Buick, our eyes exploded with delight. A Sephiroth and other cosplayers adorned the steps next to the Marriott, and I already felt welcome. Even as we found the pre-registration desk, hauling our bags inside, a little girl asked "Ash" for a hug. I smiled, forgetting my impish dislike of children. The line itself was short (10 minutes is nothing), and as we grabbed a small goodie bag, we made our way upstairs, not able to check into our room until 4 (as we later found out). Much of the following moments were observing and exploring. We found many incredible cosplayers strutting their stuff, with many people sitting in groups chatting with fellow fans. I was stopped at least 4 times that day by Team Rocket cosplayers, and we all laughed good-heartedly as I gave out shifty eyes and tucked Pikachu inside my vest. We found the console gaming room early on, and marveled at the wide selection of gaming available (DDR, SSBM, Wii Sports [I believe], PC gaming, etc.). Those who know me should already know I made a mad dash for the Guitar Hero II and watched people play for a while.
It wasn't until a while after when Tasha told me she was going off to the Tea Ceremony/Asian Brush Painting workshops, so I was by myself for a good portion of the day. Part of me didn't know how to deal with that (I'm quite shy and not the best at talking to people..yet), so I ended up drifting in and out of the Artist's Colony, browsing people's artwork and chatting a little bit here and there. I also ended up playing a couple people in Guitar Hero II, beating the first and losing to the second (hey, the 360 version takes a bit of getting used to when you're on PS2). After searching anticipatedly for Tasha at least an hour after the workshop ended, I stopped in the outside gap between convention and hotel, letting the wind hit my face and grinning anxiously at scattered "Ash!" calls. There I was, alone [but not so much]. Then, out of nowhere, a tall quiet man with short hair approached me in the gap. He asked if I had seen where Tasha was, as he held out a small notepad; her number was etched neatly onto the paper. Confused, I explained that I hadn't seen her for quite some time and had been looking for a great while. Only later was it confirmed that this person was our roommate. Imagine what a surprise that was for me, when I was told our roommate would be a girl! Confusion set aside, we both took off in search of her, chatting awkwardly as we ascended the escalators. Part of me was nervous and another very large part of me was dizzy and lightheaded, so I sped up in my pace, eventually (but unintentionally) losing Caloris [his nickname] along the way back to the Marriott. I HAD to sit down in a quiet place, since my migraine felt like it was tearing me in two. (What a weekend to have this happen! -_-)
After sitting down for a while in an armchair, I made my way back to the convention center. A phone rang in my pocket. Silly Tasha left her phone with me while she was away, but lucky for me, Justin was the caller; he notified me that he was in the pre-registration line. I went to see him and told him I couldn't find Tasha, and to keep an eye out for her for me. More wandering ensued. Finally, after stepping off an ascending escalator a bit later on, I found them waving at me and grinned sheepishly. Next time, we will ALL have cell phones.
The only thing we did after we found each other was attend the ConnectiCon musical (II)..or what we could in the given half-hour until we had to go check into our hotel room. Jessie and James had me cracking UP; James was so perfectly flamboyant, and I knew I'd have to find the mp3 of "Double Trouble" when I returned to my Internet. We snuck out the back door and headed to the Marriott, where we met with Caloris and proceeded to our room: 1002. We unloaded our stuff there, and I pounced onto the uber-fluffy bed nearest the window. NAPTIME. Napped for about an hour (I love sleeping off my headaches), and felt significantly better when I woke up. Thank you, Excedrin! ^_^ I woke to find only Caloris was in the room, going through some of his stuff. He showed me figurines and merchandise from previous conventions, all of which he'd be shipping back to his home in Australia. (He's a Cardcaptor Sakura fan as well! YAY!) Tasha and Justin returned a bit later, and we explored the con some more before returning back to the room later on in the evening. And THAT'S when things got REALLY fun.
Snagging Justin's hi-power laser pointer and experimenting its power on the space outside the convention center 10 floors below, we found the ultimate source of our Friday night fun: human laser tag. Wiggling the tiny light at people's feet, we got many curious looks, people waving up at the windows, and by 10:00, a large gathering of people were forming elaborate strategies to chase and capture the green laser. Some even wielded prop swords at the light, others even doing full nosedives into the ground. I gained many a friend and acquaintance that night, eventually joining the crowd below and revealing my identity. [Caloris joined me in this as well; he seemed extremely amused at all that was taking place.] Autographs were signed in my book, pictures and video were taken by countless passersby, and chatting continued until about midnight, when we parted ways and exchanged goodbyes. We headed back up to the room and, after toying with the laser a bit more, settled down for the night. Cold pizza was consumed sparingly, as I had a bit of stomach virus remaining in my system. Nothing, however, could've put a damper on the complete euphoria of this new and exciting experience.
Saturday:
Saturday was a bit of a different ballpark; here's where my memory of things becomes a bit more meshed with the other days of the weekend, just because so much had been going on. In the morning, Justin, Tasha, and I went to an Intro to Japanese Language workshop, which had been very informative in my opinion (I was interested in learning more about the origins of kanji). We really got a good view of the Dealer's Room, which blew me away with the amount of merchandise available; several webcomic artists were scattered throughout, and I was honored to have found James Hatton ("In His Likeness") and his booth, as I knew Tasha was one of his biggest fans. Pushing her in the right direction of his booth, I returned after several laps around the DR to find her still chatting jovially to him. I couldn't help but grin widely. She ended up getting a Devil plushie as well as some buttons and free stuff. Call her a walking billboard, if you will, as I often teased; but I was very happy to see her so upbeat.
Goodies I ended up buying included two wall scrolls (Fullmetal Alchemist and Tsubasa--a Sakura/Syaoran one), a Kon plushie from "Bleach", a mushroom hat from the Super Mario series ($5 discount, just for being hesitant!), a Sakura plushie, some Chocolate Mousse Pocky for my mom (she is now in love), a button from one of the Artist's Colony booths ("I'm not shy, I'm just quietly examining my prey"),and probably something else I can't remember. I can't say stuff was cheap there, but I will remember to bring a couple hundred bucks for next year instead. Tasha had been eyeing a beautiful pentacle necklace with blue stones, so I bought it for her with the last of my money. She ended up, with some reluctance from me, buying me a little suttin-suttin: a Samurai Champloo chain wallet (which left me with my mouth open for quite some time).
A good bulk of the weekend was spent taking pictures, and quite a few of them. I regret not seeing some fantastic cosplayers, although I was overwhelmed to find at least 8 other Ash Ketchums there. My friend Kelly, from the ConnectiCon forums, ran into me on Friday and, stunned, I stopped and chatted with her quite a bit throughout the weekend. [She cosplays Ash so incredibly and is a very nice girl!] I got a nice picture with her on Saturday, as we were both in our Ash costumes that day. As for Artist's Colony, I met some very kind people there as well--a phenomenal Midna, for example, with some incredible plushies (regretfully I did not buy her Link plushie before it sold out, and I hope I get the chance next year). Hunger getting the best of us, we were guided by a kind cosplayer out of the convention and towards a CVS/Burger King/Dunkin Donuts streets away, into the general normalcy of downtown Hartford..or so we thought. In the CVS, I couldn't help but laugh out loud; cosplayers with bulky props and costumes weaved in and out of aisles while everyday people stared out of the corners of their eyes. It was so bizarre to see people so extravagantly dressed behave as normal people shopping for snack foods and aspirin (as was I). We stuck out like sore thumbs, but acted as though this was an everyday feat. And I LOVED it. Burger King was just as jam-packed; where there weren't cosplayers, there were people with the signature teal lanyards bearing the convention badges so prominent in the area.
We carried our goods back to the hotel room and ate for a bit; I then piled my chicken tenders next to the cold pizza (good eatin'!), rested for a while, then headed out to our next two workshops: Herbology 101 and How to Be a Ninja in One Hour. Herbology was very interesting, though the man teaching it seemed to have a twinge of attitude throughout the weekend; I thought the workshop could've been a bit more well-structured, but maybe that was just me. The ninja workshop was spectacular and grabbed every bit of my attention (I regret missing the Samurai workshop most of all, but am now compelled to turn my own friends towards the Way of the Ninja). ^_^ The rest of the day was spent in the board gaming room playing either Scattergories or Apples to Apples, which is a TERRIFIC party game and one I cannot wait to play at next year's con--it's great with many people. :D I even ended up running into my friends Jaci and Steph from high school! I convinced them to play Apples to Apples with us, and we ended up playing until midnight, when we were forced out of the convention. When we got back to the room, I tried out the laser pointer again for a bit with much success..until I was signaled by a convention staffer/volunteer to stop (I take it that it must've been some sort of authority figure, given the sharp cutting signal across the throat). Yeah..I'll be doing that again next year. And I'm TOTALLY not being sarcastic about that, I promise! ^^
Sunday:
Sunday was the least eventful day of the three, and the day in which everything was starting to wind down. There was still plenty left to do, although not as many of the workshops seemed appealing and there were fewer people, it seemed; Justin and Caloris left earlier in the morning, leaving Tasha and I to entertain ourselves until around 5 o'clock. We explored the con a bit more, and later in the day decided to go back to the board gaming room for some Lord of the Rings Trivial Pursuit: Movie Edition. BIG mistake. We were soon joined by some--at first--modest guy geeks, who were mostly talking amongst themselves and showing off their knowledge of the movies. Somewhat arrogant and all-knowing, I thought, as I exchanged suffocated looks with Tasha. We made up an excuse for leaving and then left the room, happy to be away from the awkwardness.
3:30 rolled around soon enough and I slipped into the Alchemy: Lead to Gold workshop, taught by the same person who hosted the Herbology workshop. Boy, did he seem bitter that time around. I bought a small blank cloth from him for a few dollars and, half-listening to his seminar about alchemy and transmutation circles, half-drawing my own transmutation circle, I left the seminar feeling satisfied yet increasingly agitated. It had run late, and though I was worried that I had kept my dad waiting for us, I was extremely reluctant to return home. Never before had I felt such a strong sense of unity and belonging with such a large gathering of people..it was disheartening to think of having to return to work, where I constantly encounter so many rude customers and mundane, routine, colorless tasks. The more I thought about it, the more agitated I grew; I could already see the crowds thinning, and the bland, grey colors of my workplace coming into view. Not thinking about anything else, I was stopped by a cosplayer who apparently enjoyed my costume, and when asked to "Kiss the Ed" [on the cheek], I blurted out quietly, rushed, "I don't have time for this.." and, hurriedly kissing her on the cheek, headed towards the escalator. Only a moment after this happened did I jolt awake, like I had been slapped. I didn't mean at all to be rude; had anyone known what had been running through my mind, they would've understood my agitation. I calmed down soon after, though still feeling guilty for my unintentional rudeness.
As Tasha and I headed towards the exits, I breathed in one final glance of the convention. It was intoxicating, and I knew I had to have more--to see more people, do more things, experience what I hadn't experienced. There was so much I loved about the trip, even for someone who is normally quite shy and quiet. But that's what I loved--everyone and everything was so accommodating. I decided that I would make my dream come true for the following year, to gain exposure for my artwork and creativity while taking in a full experience of the convention for a second time. Next year when I return, I'll be setting up my own Artist's Colony booth--completely Legend of Zelda themed.
All I can say in addition to all that's been said? WOW. I would recommend the convention experience to EVERYONE. There were so many surprises that I can't even begin to elaborate on. How people can bond and be completely bat-shit crazy over a laser pointer. How someone you expected turned out to be nothing like who you expected (and yet, how you can still manage to harbor a crush). How everyone and everything so colorful and unconventional can be so conventional at the same time.
I will continue to anticipate the coming conventions year after year, and while keeping in touch with those I've met, create new and different crafts and artwork for the future years. It's like a spark's been lit in me and it isn't being extinguished. All the while I thought my hope in all people had faded, and I'm happy that I had an experience like this to show me that it hasn't.
You can go to the following links for my videos:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=5XfW0Ipz_m4
http://youtube.com/watch?v=hyhZRld4naY
http://youtube.com/watch?v=RAj9gQn7cA4
If you're interested in the convention, go to:
www.connecticon.org
~Angie