Otakon 2008: Sunday

I actually had this post written up a while ago, but I've been too busy to put it up, so here ya go.


I woke up on the final day and, though still tired, forced myself to pack so we could get checked out with plenty of time to spare on enjoying the last day at Otakon '08. Once again, I went down to the gym for some extensive stretches, and when I returned everyone was ready to leave as well. So we brought our bags to the car and then I headed my separate way to the Baltimore inner harbor to find lunch. There were rumors of a Chipotle in the area, and my information didn't disappoint, plus the walk itself was nice and I enjoyed the scenery.

On my way inside the convention center, I met up with my friend Steve and we had both decided to go to the Dealer's Room. Unlike on Friday, I wanted to comb through the entire room nice and carefully. So I would start on one end and look at the booths on each side as I strolled through every isle for anything that caught my eye. I should say at this point that I didn't bother investigating tables of manga or anime, ironically, mainly because I could do that on my own time in bookstores and online and didn't want to start a long collection on a whim, unless there was a cheap, concise box set. Unfortunately, there was still no sign of Hunter X Hunter or cool Rock Lee merchandise, which I have been scouring for every year since I started watching those shows. Ah well, Hunter x Hunter has been licensed now so it's only a matter of time before the mainstream transforms the fandom.


When I was about 2/3 of the way through, my friend calls and tells me that he's ready to go, and seeing as he drove me to the convention that's a sign that I need to be ready soon too. I told him I'd be a few more minutes, then quickened my pace a bit until I got to the end of the room. We met at the front of the con and had ourselves a little arm wrestling re-match since he thought he could beat me this time (poor Chris!), and then spent a few minutes trying to get in touch with another friend of ours (Aaron Q.) so I could beat him at my full strength, but he must have chickened out because he never answered his phone. At this point, it was the early afternoon and we were ready to skedaddle.


It wasn't a long drive back to my friend's house, but I was exhausted and ended up sleeping most of the ride. When we got there, his mom had spaghetti and French bread waiting, which was really nice and quite delicious. I said my goodbyes and headed out, but that wasn't the end of my weekend yet. No, I didn't think I'd had enough of an adventure, so I called up another friend who was staying in an apartment on my college campus and asked if I could chill with him and another friend who lived there too.

I hadn't seen Gary and Mike since school ended, so it was cool to catch up with them and see what sort of trouble they were getting into now. In an attempt to think of something to do, we started driving to a bowling alley but didn't realize until we were in the building that it was lame duck pins. Someone who worked there tried to give us directions to a real bowling alley, but none of us remembered what they were and almost got lost before turning around and going to the mall to see a movie. We kind of wanted to see The Dark Knight again, but Pineapple Express had just come out so we chose to see that for the first time instead. It was kind of funny, but a lot of over-the-top action for a stoner flick. lol After the movie, we went back to campus and soon forced ourselves to go to bed since they had work early in the morning, and I slept on the couch.

I think I woke up around 7 or so Monday morning, ate the rest of my Chipotle burrito from the day before, and left when my friend Gary went to work. Instead of going home, I went to the metro again and took that to Washington DC, where I found myself at the Embassy of Japan a second time in less than a week. I intended to pick up my travel Visa, but what I didn't realize was that morning was drop-off only, so I had to wait about 15 minutes for them to get it ready. By this time, the meter my car was at was running out, so instead of grabbing lunch I went right to the metro and when I got back the meter had already expired. But no ticket, so I was safe.

That's about it, I guess. Add that to the list of exciting Otakon weekends, and hopefully there will be plenty more where that came from. If anyone has plans for Otakon next year, for going or for a group cosplay, let me know and we can take care of those early.