Hi hi!!!
This past weekend I went to Otakon!!!
Otakon is actually the first anime convention I ever attended back in 2011.
I had an amazing time, went to my first dance meet up (with Dansu to Pantsu) and was completely surrounded by everything I loved at one of the biggest conventions on the East Coast for the first time!
This time I experienced the con from a different angle. I worked in the dealers room all weekend in exchange for a more affordable con. While I was extremely grateful for the opportunity to experience Otakon without crushing my bank account, the hours felt long and I didn't get to experience as much of the rest of the convention as I thought I might. I mainly went to Otakon to attend dance meet ups and see friends but had I wished to attend any of the concerts, signings or panels I would have been pretty upset.
The employees I worked with were really fun people so it helped the long hours go by and I'm grateful for them!
The travel to Otakon was long because somehow Natsuki and I ended up on the wrong bus!!!
We had each other's company and I had snacks so 12 hours of struggling to make it to Baltimore when it should have been a three and a half hour trip ended up not being so bad, haha.
(I finally wore my signed magical ban bang t-shirt!!)
On Friday after work hours I attended the DMU showcase!!!
Dance Masters United is an association of mostly English speaking, individual odorite and dance groups. They hold dance showacses/ meetups several times a year. I'm good friends with one of the head organizers Pom and through this association Ari and I were able to perform at Tekko con this year!
It was so great to reunite with my friends from awesome dance groups like Full Spectrum Kai, Abracadabra, JumpShip! , Munite, DTP and meet new groups like Ember and Haru Dance!
I was afraid that because I didn't have enough time to learn anything new for this showcase, that I wouldn't be able to dance anything, but there was plenty of room for requests! I even got to do some of my favorite dances like 4 walls, (along side Pom and Abracadabra ahhhhh) My Copycat (with fellow KuroPOP member Natsuki) and Marine Dreamin'!
(Friday outfit)
Saturday I went to DTP's meet. I think dance meet ups are becoming more request friendly, This time both Crissy Yuki and Natsuki were with me so we got to request and dance to songs we did during out SaKURO tour like, Someone Like U by Dal Shabet and Catch Me If You Can by SNSD.
(The Pomster wearing my hat better than I do)
(Saturday outfit before I changed for DTP. No pictures of my second outfit tho...)
I don't think I've ever been so sweaty at a dance meet up before!! I kind of went all out haha.
During my breaks from the dealer's room instead of braving the heat wave outside I wondered around the dealer's room and artist alley. I restricted myself from spending as much as I usually do, but I just HAD to buy from one of my favorite artists, P-Curly!!!
I adore her fan art and original works and I can't seem to stop buying her InuYasha pieces in particular, haha.
(this is the second sticker pack I've bought since my cat chewed half of them up last time and the THIRD time I've bought the InuYasha set because I can't stop!!!!
I also saw some of my other favorite artists who also create apparel like Fangrrlz and Punimelt but I resisted!!! Maybe next time....
In the end, I'd just like to thank everyone who made this con possible for me. Thank you to Natsuki for making it possible for me to attend, thank you to DTP and DMU for holding the dance meetups! Thank you to every person who said they enjoy watching me dance online and in person, it really meant a lot!!!
If I can make it to Otakon next year I'd like to experience everything in full ~ The cosplay, musical guests and autographs!!
Maybe next year won't be as BLISTERING HOT either!!!!
That's all for now!
