Don’t think I’ve ever been so late posting a con report, but here it goes! After a two year absence, I finally got back to Ohayocon, but it was not easy. I’d been looking forward to going back for a long time, so I planned ahead. But as is all too often the case, things did not go entirely as planned.
First, I had to get a new car. My old car, a 1998 Camaro, had over 100K miles on it. It had been a good car over the years and I took good care of it. But I know from experience that after 100000 miles, some components just start disintegrating. So when the car start running poorly just a week before the con, I knew I wouldn’t be able to rely on it to make the Chicago to Columbus trip. I’ve never been stranded on a convention road trip, and I did not want to start now.
I had hoped to put off a new car purchase for at least another year, but I didn’t want to miss the con, so I went shopping to see if anyone would be crazy enough to give me a car loan. My credit is good, but in this bad economy, I did not hold much hope for  getting a loan fast enough. Well, silly me, I’d forgotten that car dealers want to eat too, so in a few short hours I got a call from a Chevy dealership that was quite interested in my Camaro trade in. I’m still a gear head at heart, so their enthusiasm swayed me, that and the possibility of getting a 2010 Camaro as a replacement.
Long story short, I got a 2010 Camaro with a little “building lockdown due to possible gunman sighting in my office building on the day I need to pick up the new car” drama thrown in for good measure. Oh, and while all this is going on, I’m feverishly finishing up a new costume and tweaking a couple of older ones. I ended up finishing up my maid outfit at the con, derp da derp…
So Friday morning I hit the road, two hours late, in a hot new car. Funny thing is that as much as I wanted to, I never really opened it up all the way. I don’t think I ever exceeded 90 mph. Just too many police out there and states hungry for money to take too many chances. So, for the first time on any con road trip, I actually used the cruise control to keep my speed a respectable 5 to 10 mph over the limit.
Once I found parking, the con’s first challenge was the elevator. This never improved the whole weekend and I ended up climbing an descending a lot of stairs. Brutal! And being hours behind schedule, I had to, gasp, spend a lot more time in normal clothes than usual. These days I feel almost naked at a convention when I’m out of costume.
The first thing I noticed was that Ohayocon was using a lot more of the convention center than the last time I was there. And there were a lot more people at the con than two years ago. Last time, I missed out on karaoke, not this time though. I had a lot of fun singing and enjoying the singing of people I’ve come to know on the con circuit. The combination of karaoke and cosplay is one of the things I enjoy the most about going to anime conventions. (^_^)
I also enjoy dancing my ass off, in costume no less! We also got a preview of a new Pendulum song, courtesy of Greg Ayres. Friday night I didn’t get back to my room until after 3am, a new record for me. The next night I smashed that record and didn’t get back until dawn! XD
The AMV contest was pretty good, and I got to a few panels as well. The one that impressed me the most was Greg Ayres panel. He talked about the heart attack he had last year and how his life had changed since that time. I was really impressed and inspired by his resolve to do what needed to be done to go forward.
As always, I took a lot of pictures of cosplayers which can be seen here. I’ve also put them into a tasty slideshow format with some appropriate theme music. I listened to a ton of I’ve songs on the drive! Needless to say, I had a ridiculous amount of fun at Ohayocon and can’t wait to return next year!