Shineigami02
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Posts posted by Shineigami02
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there's a really cool human body museum in the inner harbor that i'm interested in. you get to see what it looks like inside a human body - cool stuff
That would be Bodyworlds 2. It's taking place at the Maryland Science Center this summer. I know b/c me & my group may be going to that Sunday after the con if we can.
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Considering my TCG schedule, here is what I'm going to try to see this weekend, even if I don't catch 100% of anything:
Friday
Part of the JAM Project concert
This Is Otakudom
Saturday
Masquerade
Japanese Modern & Indie Rock
Eva: ReDeath (part of the Fan Parodies)
Otakon Game Show
Some late night panel programming...
Sunday
Best of AMV's
Slayers Revolution
Closing Ceremonies
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Being a Virgo, I'm naturally thrifty, I carry enough cash to take care of the essentials & a little extra, for anything beyond that I use my bank card. It's easier to keep track of your spending at cons if you don't use a card for small purchases.
~ Something to take note of ~ Even though most dealers nowadays accept credit/debit cards, many have a minimum purchase to use them.
Found that out the hard way last year when I wanted these 3 pins from this one dealer & was told there was a minimum purchase of $20 to use a card. Since at the time I had barely any cash on me (it was Sunday morning) I wound up buying an Edward Elric plushie I would've never bought otherwise, it's my 2nd official plushie, 1st being Ein from Bebop. I'd have rather found the black Mokona plushie I've been wanting.
So the lesson here is, carry enough cash on you so you don't wind up buying more than you intended to b/c of minimum purchase requirements.
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I'd certainly love to have a new job with better pay & hours myself. I haven't gotten a raise in over a year. They keep getting delayed due to labor costs, & I currently work in the fast food industry while going to school for that better job.
I see many people apply & get interviewed, maybe 5% are hired these days simply b/c sales are most definitely down from last year...
So I wish the best of luck to all of you seriously looking for a job right now, it's not as easy as it used to be with the economy the way it is. As sad as it may sound, it's the honest truth.
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Thursday from a TCG's point of view:
Wake up early, take shower, get dressed, finish my packing, call Pedro to see what's happening on his end, then call Frank & make sure he connects up with Pedro. I'll either be making my way to his house or he'll pick me up on the way to I-295. We'll take that down to the Delaware Memorial Bridges, get on I-95 & cruise on down to good ole Baltimore. We plan on arriving in the Inner Harbor by 1pm at the latest.
Once we find a place to park, we'll check into the hotel, drag our stuff up to the room & relax for a bit. About 2:30 wherever I may be, I'll be making my way to the Security entrance of the BCC to wait with my fellow TCG's for a Staff member to come & escort us all to Gofer Ops. Once we get orientated, we'll make our way over to Pre-Registration, find a Staff member to work with for the duration of the evening & help set-up.
Once the doors open I'll most likely be sitting at one of the booths putting stickers on badges or clipping lanyards to badge holders waiting to meet some of the many interesting people who come to Otakon.
By 11pm my shift at Pre-Registration shall be over for the night. Time to grab something to eat, meet Frank for a pint of ale at the Wharf Rat, then we'll head back to the hotel room to look over the schedule & crash for the night. The other 2 will most likely be out clubbing in Fells Point till 2-3am.
You can certainly tell the difference between the 2 Otakon veterans & the 2 newbies in my group, that's for sure... -
Definitely the elevator. Loaded down with my luggage, you couldn't pay me to take the stairs if there's an elevator. I've lugged my luggage up the stairs to my room enough times in my life thank you.
Also, since my room is rarely below the 4th floor, you don't catch me taking the stairs too often at cons anyway.
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Back in '01 when I was just starting to truly get into anime, sometime in June I went bowling with my friend Frank. While there he was telling me that him & some of his friends were going to this anime convention called Otakon. I was interested so when I got home I checked out the Otakon website, researched a bit & thought it could be a lot of fun. So I went to work the next day & told my workbuddy Kaybo about it, she agreed with me & we started organizing the trip, her brother joined us then a week before the con Frank ends up joining us b/c his group fell apart. Talk about irony.
So the 4 of us went to Otakon that year & had a blast. However I was the only one to come back every year since. Kaybo & her brother last went in '02 & Frank in '04, however he's coming back this year.
I've gone to Otakon with a slightly if not altogether different group every year, keeps it interesting... -
Since I've always had an higher than average vocabulary thanks to my Mom, misspelled words will forever annoy me. You don't need a spell check around me, I'll be sure to let you know, misspelled words just seem to pop out at me. What annoys me the most is when I misspell a word & don't notice it before I post or send something.
All this slang shortening words when not necessary isn't any better. Some of them I don't mind & use myself like b/c, w/o, lol, brb, ttyl & sometimes even u when texting on my cell. Others like pls, thx, & prolly couldn't annoy me more. Alot of them I admit I don't know at all & look at confused!
As far as my name is concerned, I'm used to having it misspelled, in fact it surprises me when someone gets it right the 1st time. I'm always spelling it out for people, simply b/c there are too many ways to spell Chantal. To start with, my name is the original French spelling, but I use the English pronunciation so basically everyone assumes it ends with 'el' instead of 'al'. I absolutely hate it when they start spelling my name with an S though, especially when there isn't an S anywhere in my name!
My last name isn't much better, people constantly find ways to misspell that too! 
I've been dealing with it my entire life... -
With 7 years worth of Otakon stories it's not easy to pick a #1 favorite, in fact I don't have one, it's more like 1 or 2 from each years con if I had to pick faves. So instead I'll just tell you a couple of my favorite Otakon moments for now:
~ 2003 ~ Friday morning as me & my friends are walking to the BCC to get in line for our badges, I suddenly realized I'd forgotten something vital, so I told my friends I'd meet up with them in line & ran back to the hotel. We were staying at the Days Inn that year & as I'm waiting for the elevator in the lobby I notice the guy next to me with his luggage looks familiar to me. It wasn't until we got in the elevator that it hit me that the guy standing right next to me in the elevator as well was Johnny Yong Bosch.
I said hello of course & got off on my floor, rushed to the room & back down the elevator to the Pre-registration line to tell my friends. Go figure that I didn't get the chance to see him again the whole con...~ 2006 ~ Saturday afternoon just as I'm getting off my Gofer shift at the Otakon Merchandise Table in the D.R. I'm at the back of the table area when this guy comes up to me & asks if my online alias is BlackRose. I really looked at him & just asked "Micheal?" He nodded & I just hugged him, it had been over 12 years since we'd last saw each other, & it was in Baltimore too!! So us long lost cousins had a 'lil reunion at Otakon that year, it was nice...
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I watched Today's Special and it forever creeped me out about mannequins wearing hats and purple jumpsuits...however, I was a big fan of Muffy the Mouse and Sam Crenshaw the store security guard...so I did find enjoyment from that. XD.
I was a big fan of Muffy the Mouse too! I used to love her apartment, for a mouse she had an awfully nice house didn't she?
Sam Crenshaw was cool too.Anyways, many of you have reminded of so many shows I watched in my childhood so I shall add to my list:
Muppet Babies
Fraggle Rock
Dinosaurs
Smurfs
My Little Pony
Inspector Gadget
TMNT
Garfield & Friends
Rocko's Modern Life
Tiny Toon Adventures
Animaniacs / Pinky & the Brain
Out of This World
Small Wonder
Growing Pains
Facts Of Life
Perfect Strangers
Doogie Howser M.D.
Wonder Years
Saved By The Bell
Clarissa Explains It All
You Can't Do That On Television (the orgin of slime!)
Double Dare
Finders Keepers
GUTS
Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego?
etc, etc, etc!!
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Well, my schedule for both Friday & Saturday morning generally goes...
Wake up about 6-6:30am, drink a Pepsi, take a shower & get ready to work the con. Walk about 2 blocks to the BCC, thru the main doors & up the stairway around 8am for my shift at Registration Friday morning. Down to the D.R. for my shift at the Merchandise Table Saturday morning.
I've usually been the 1st one awake in the morning every Otakon somehow. I like being either the 1st or 2nd one in the shower, leaves me time to eat before I head to the BCC.
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Hmm, childhood shows I watched, let's see... Other than Sesame Street, I distinctly remember watching The Muppets, Mister Rogers, Reading Rainbow, Punky Brewster & Today's Special.
Now who remembers Today's Special? I swear that's where the idea for the Mannequin movies came from...
As far as cartoons were concerned, I watched plenty of Looney Tunes, Tom & Jerry & Disney. I also watched Masters of the Universe, Rainbow Brite, & several others I can't remember at the moment. I remember the beginnings of the Disney afternoon better, Duck Tales, Chip & Dales Rescue Rangers, Tale Spin...
I was a totally an 80s child, can't you tell?
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I would love to see cowboy bebop badges...but sadly this more then likely wont happen....Cowboy bebop too old. *tear*
Actually Cowboy Bebop was a badge choice in '01, I distinctly remember there being a Spike & Faye badge. I had chosen the GW Wing Zero badge since I was more of a Gundam Wing fan at the time. However I would love to see another Bebop badge choice with all the main characters on it.
I still want my Ouran or Xxxholic badge & I'm glad to see I'm not the only one.
Only about 3 more weeks until we find out what our choices are, ah, the torture!
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I'm not so sure either about the casting for Ouran. I saw a video of the Ouran announcement panel done at AX where all the main voice actors showed up, including Mike McFarland cosplaying as Ranka! I thought that was awesome. LoL Overall, I think most of them will do a halfway decent job, but the one I am most skeptical of is Caitlin doing Haruhi, not the voice range I imagined for Haruhi at all. However I'll wait till the dub comes out in October for my final criticism on the subject.
On a side note, as soon as I heard that Funimation got the licensing rights to Ouran, I just knew that Vic was going to get chosen to voice Tamaki for some reason & lo & behold I was right.
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Between now & Thursday Aug 7th, I will be doing the following in no particular order:
~ Working my lovely job that certainly doesn't pay me enough
~ Going to school Tue, Wed & Thu nights enduring my school internship
~ Getting my group ready for Otakon, at least 2 newbies coming with me this year
~ Visiting the Otakon BBS on a daily basis for important info & updates
~ Catching up on my anime
~ Trying not to let my family & friends drive me insane...
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I agree, I just don't see the Baltimore Police Department doing something like picking up underage congoers coming back to their hotel from the BCC at 2am when the con closes. It just doesn't seem logical at all for several reasons unless the congoer was causing trouble somehow.
I believe this law applies more to the Baltimore locals, not to tourists. I hope all those attending the con have someone rooming with them over 21, it's just sound policy just in case.
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Ever since my first Otakon in 2001 no other events (single or combined) in the city of Baltimore have ever compared to "massive road reconstruction.".
I agree with you 100% on this one, I'll never forget my 1st Otakon in '01. We stayed in a hotel on the Beltway & I had to navigate a new route back & forth to the Inner Harbor each time. Everytime we got in the car we had an adventure, streets were opening & closing that weekend left & right. Oh & who can forget walking out of the BCC Saturday night to Otaku dancing in the flooded street!
Ever since, Ravens game, Orioles games, etc, doesn't phase me, just means many more interesting people I might chance to run into Otakon weekend that's all.
I kinda feel sorry for them as far as hotels are concerned though. Especially since us con attendees pretty much have every room in the Inner Harbor reserved 6 months before the con if not before then. So fans of other events have to fight to get a room at one of the outlying hotels against the rest of us getting rooms.
Oh well, all's fair in the hotel room scramble, right?
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Hmm, what would I like to find in the D.R. this year...
Black Mokona plushie
An Ouran HSHC or Xxxholic t-shirt or other stuff
A cute t-shirt for my best friend's 'lil future otaku
A few anime pins
To find some merchandise of anime series over a few years old in the D.R. this year! One can hope...
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Not to mention Virgin Festival, which drags in 60,000+. So basically, Baltimore that weekend will be packed. And the ATM's will run out of money twice as fast. Hold onto your wallets, kiddies.
Now if only I can make my friends coming with me this year realize this... LoL The Inner Harbor is bound to be an interesting place to be this years Otakon weekend, that's for sure. Between the anime fans, music fans, baseball fans & the Navy? The Inner Harbor will be a literal melting pot creating some interesting clashes & appreciations during the weekend I'm sure.
I'll definately be down there to see the battleship & take a few pictures during the weekend. After all, my Dad wouldn't let me hear the end of it if I didn't, I come from a family with a strong Military connection, Navy certainly included.
What an interesting con we'll have this year...
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Nom nom. Milkshakes.
Wait. I can get a boysenberry MALT? Can I just hire someone to go over there and get me one every two hours or something? *laugh*
Damn. Now I'm gonna have to find people to make friends with, just so I'll have someone to go find this place with me. Thanks. >.<
MMmmm, good milkshakes... I must find this place as well. I may be willing to bring a few Staffers back some shakes... I'll make sure to pop in Spec Ops & ask before I go k?
Oh & you all are giving me some great food ideas, I just might eat more this year than normal, which would be a good thing...
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Just to let you know I believe the parking lot you are speaking of is the one that was closed a couple years ago to break ground for the new BCC Hilton slated to open the week after Otakon this year.
Sorry to break it to you, I understand though. Me & my friends used to park in that lot the first couple years we attended Otakon as well. The convenience couldn't be beat, however the city found a better use for it.
Never fear though, there is plenty of reasonably priced parking garages in the vicinity if you only take the time to look.
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By chance, is it the one where you have to take the elevator there to get down into? Where the only way by car to get into it is a down ramp from Fayette St.?
In that case, it's the garage me & my friends have been using off & on for years. Love that garage, it's always had reasonable prices, happy to know they still do.
Plan to park the car in that garage this year as well for the weekend, I'm not paying no $20+ a night... -
Well, so far I'm going with my classmate & his best friend going for their 1st anime con ever, a friend of 3 years going to Otakon for the 1st time whose been to AnimeNext & my best friend who hasn't been to Otakon since '04. Someone might be added, who knows, however I'll have an interesting group going with me this year, that's for sure.
Won't see them for over 1/2 the con anyway being a TCG, except for the last one who I've convinced to sign up as a Gofer
None of my friends have ever Gofered before, this will make for an interesting con, I can't wait -
Well, since becoming a Gofer then TCG, I don't need to stand in line for Pre-reg, I'm one of the people handing you your badge instead. I've waited with my friends in line to get their badges a time or 2, & of course I waited in line from '01-'04 when I was a regular attendee.
Anyways when I do wind up in line at a con, I always wind up talking to the people around me, I've met several interesting people over the years that way. Oh & take the occasional picture of a cosplayer that catches my attention. Watched anime in line one time cause someone had a mini dvd player, exchanged flavors of pocky another time, just had fun conversations everytime
I make the most out of the situation, when I'm at a con, I try to have fun in whatever I'm doing.
I just can't!
in General Chit-Chat
Posted
Well I had to go to school tonite, already missing tomorrow, then my ride home took a nice long detour, so I didn't get home till 11pm. I still have to pack! Just call me Miss Procrastination here, I always wait till just about the last minute.
Within the next 10 hours I have to take a shower, pack my bag, sleep a few hours, wake up, get dressed, make sure I have everything I need, make sure my friend Frank makes it to my house around 9:30am & Pedro picks us up by 10am. Then we'll be on our way to Baltimore & Otakon!
So I'll be sleeping at least 4-5 hours tonite at some point, which is fairly normal for me these days anyway.