California Conventions Blog: ALA 6 (2010) Report: Part 2

I woke up just after 3:30am because usually I can't sleep the day I travel to cons. Since my fight was at 7:10am, I was supposed to be there around 5:30am to allow ample time to check-in and go through security. Unfortunately, I left my carry-on which contained everything back at the house, but even with that I was through security with an hour to spare. That's where the first vlog of this con would come from, and I would learn pretty quickly that trying to upload raw footage on shitty internet connections would be a bad thing.

I got on the plane dressed up as Junpei from Persona 3; I learned this from FanimeCon 2009 when I wore my Ouran uniform down to San Jose. Within five minutes of the flight...sun. Oh, beautiful sun, how much I missed you.

I arrived early ahead of the scheduled arrival time with plenty of time to spare.

Welcome to LAX

I went downstairs to the baggage claim, and for some odd reason my luggage was the first on the belt so that save me some time. I then went to look for the shuttle that went to the hotel. It pointed me westward, so I walked and I walked and I walked until I found the shuttle. I could of missed it if it wasn't for me asking the driver which hotel he was going to since I didn't really know what that shuttle went to.

Photos that I took from inside the shuttle

I arrived at the hotel ahead of 9am. I first checked my bags in with the bellhop before heading down to the con floor to pick up my badge. Now, for a Friday the hotel was packed - remember, there was a National Title Game the night before and fans from both the University of Texas and the University of Alabama were in full force; there was even a man selling merchandise that I wanted to pick up. I made some comments to the bellhop about how the Texas fans were feeling, even though they did almost come back after losing their star QB in the first quarter.

I went downstairs, and the wait time in line wasn't long. Soon enough I had my badge and my goodies bag and I was ready to roll.

(HETALIA) AMERICA, FUCK YEAH!

I roamed around the con floor for a bit before trying again to see if there was room available for me. I wanted a balcony room, but there wasn't one available at 10am. However, there was a room available next to the elevator, so I was like "screw it, let's take it." I ended up on the 12th floor, which wasn't too bad - the elevators were mostly empty when it came up to my floor.

With my room established and my first roommate established as well, it was time to wait around for opening ceremonies. I find my friend Ryan from FanimeCon, and he tells me of the news about the manager for tomorrow's SoCal Host Club fell sick and that he was the lone wolf in trying to run it. With nothing else planned on Saturday, I greatly put in my word to help him out. Of course, we had all day to talk about how to go about this, so for now I continue to wait for opening ceremonies. While waiting, I went outside to check out the pool deck area, where the majority of the gatherings would take place.

12pm hits, and still no opening ceremonies. For some odd reason, I ended up on the wrong side of the main stage where no one was lined up (everyone was lined up on the other side). So while I waited I took more photos of people waiting in line to get into the dealers room.

Somehow, someway, I found myself sitting down in the front for opening ceremonies, which was now running late.

LOOK AT MY HORSE, MY HORSE IS AMAZING

With opening ceremonies over, cosplay chess would be starting in just over an hour and half...so, back to pool deck.

3pm - Cosplay Chess. Granted, I wasn't supposed to be in cosplay chess because I didn't sign up through Maguma via submission form, but I was first to jump on the walk-ons, requesting the knight on the black side.

I like I said, I had some troubles with handling weapons and hearing, but all and all it was a good time. Besides how many people can say that they were defeated in cosplay chess by a Pikachu with a crowbar?

In the end, Kenshiro went down to Emperor Lelouche.

With that event over, it was time to eat - finally. Victoria and Jared from Scarlet Rhapsody wanted to eat at Champion's Sports Bar, where it was happy hour with half-off appetizers and $4 domestic draft beers. Both of them wanted to get something in before going to the AMV contest which they had two videos entered. This would start the trend of living off of half-off appetizers during the con weekend.

With that, I really had nothing to do for the day. So I walked around, found every little nook and cranny this con had to offer. I also found Ryan again, who's pretty steamed because The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya gathering failed horribly. However, it was redeemed when he took this shot with Christina Vee.

Damn right Kyon.

For the rest of the night, we discuss what we want to do at tomorrow's SoCal Host Club gathering in addition to roaming around the convention. One of things I did was stop in on the Rum Party just to see what it was, and again right at the end when they were doing the auction. I also did the dance for a bit.

With 1am Saturday settling in and me having to get up early to prepare for the SoCal Host Club, I decide to call it a night.