Ok, so I've just about recovered enough from Acen to talk about it. Seems a bit late but oh well.

[b]Friday - No Acen for you![/b]

So I got there at about 10:30 with my friend who could only go for this one day. I expected the registration line to move a bit slow but only spend a few hours in it.

Oh how wrong I was.

We got there and the line was OUT THE DOOR. It seems they didn't divide up between pre-reg and atcon-reg yet again, so we all got clumped together for a few hours.

We get into the actual registration line (yeah, we waited 2 hours in a line to get into the registration line) and then their servers crash. 4 hours and three restarts later, they give up and just start to hand-write our badges. By this time my friend has left the line to enjoy what little of the con she can. And that line that eventually divided up between pre-reg and atcon-reg? Yeah, they merged ONCE AGAIN before getting to the Payment booths. Dealer's Room and Artist Alley closed at 6 PM. I didn't get my badge until 7:25 PM. After celebrating my badge by a mad dash to the bathroom I hung around for a bit before going home, my ankles on fire and my knees feeling like I just ran a 20k marathon.

[b]Saturday - Gattai!, Sprite and Impromptu Art Jams[/b]

Saturday - with my badge in hand - I finally got to see the Dealer's Room and Artist's Alley. And this year they kinda bungled that up too. Artist's Alley was secluded away from everything (yet it still got a lot of foot traffic...) and Dealer's Room was all over the place. I met up with ~LorBot (Lor) and ~EllieVyle (Ellie) at their table in the Artist's Alley, which wasn't hard to find since they had a brand new poster that had to be a good 7-10 ft. tall standing up on their table with a new 'mascot' for Rainarc Raphsody. They also were next to the table for Studio Anti-Thesis, and behind them (if my memory serves me) was =One-Vox with his new art. So that little corner of the Alley was about to explode with all of the artist talents there.

I hung out with Lor and Ellie for most of the day, helping out however I can and letting Ellie use my Copic markers again (man she's really good with them). I ended up going to dinner with them and their friends at Gino's East (pizza place known for good deep dish pizza in Chicago) and had a blast there. We talked about several things, including:

- The origin of the 'Yaoi' paddles often sold at anime conventions.
- the current 'it' thing in the anime/fanart community (btw, its Death Note).
- How cool TTGL is.
- Marvel and how they can finally properly represent their comics in theaters with the wild success of Iron Man.
- How a man could drink an entire pitcher of Sprite by himself and not spend 5 minutes in the bathroom peeing like a racehorse (I don't think we ever got to the bottom of that mystery, and I'm glad we didn't.)

The night ended with an impromptu art jam in the basement of the hotel that ran well into the night (to near 1 AM) before I finally left.

[b]Sunday - East meets my Western stomach[/b]

Sunday I helped our Lor and Ellie a bit behind their table as best I could, and when the con ended at 4 everyone went to Matsuwa marketplace, a Japanese supermarket/food court/bookstore to pick up various things and to have one final meal together.

Oddly enough, I'd never had pocky (the staple treat of anime fans) or a Rasmune (those oddly-shaped bottles with a marble in them), and was treated to both by someone (if you tell me your name I'll give you credit for it!) I also had Chicken Curry Udon, another Japanese dish, for my dinner. It was a bit of a culture shock to me to be eating these foods all at once, but it was interesting in a good way.

Well, I think that's about everything. I had a blast and hope to be back next year - armed with a mailed-to-me badge and a hotel room for myself.