*sits down and cracks fingers* Okay, now that I'm rested, on to my review.
I flew in on Thursday, and everything went pretty smooth there. No delays, etc. OMG was waiting to pick me up at the airport, we grabbed my luggage, and then headed out to the hotel and convention center. I got my backpack together I'd be using the whole weekend, and we set off to catch the bus to take into the city.
We were just in time, and the next bus came up as we reached the stop. Got on, and settled in for what I thought would be the standard 10 minutes it takes to drive there. Unfortunately, that was not the case. We hit 5 o'clock rush hour traffic, and I got a taste of typical NYC traffic. It was a snarled, twisted nightmare. I later remarked to Ivey if I lived here I would never drive in this city; I'd just walk everywhere. Then we hit a jam, where at times traffic was at a standstill, when we ran into an accident.
That was... fun. OMG and I were stuck on the bus for an hour and a half before we finally reached the station in Times Square. We made it a little over an hour before the Avenue Q show started. There wasn't time for anything else. I swear, next year I'm catching an even earlier flight so I can finally see the city like I want. Third time's the charm, right?
OMG and I met up with Ivey and Crittle whom were waiting for us inside the station. We walked all together to Avenue Q, and stood in line waiting for about 45 minutes before we were allowed in to be seated. In that time, it had started raining, so we got a little wet. Mike's signature on my backpack from when he signed it at AWA got a little smudged, but it's not too bad.
I got to say, when I knew we were seeing this show, I was a little hesitant; especially when I was told of a few topics it dealt with. However, I went in with an open mind, and at the end I really liked it. I was going "Uhhhh" and kind of looking away a few times at certain scenes, but all in all it was really fun. I enjoyed it.
After the show, we stood around outside waiting to see if any of the cast members would come out so people could get autographs. Ivey managed to get the one who played Kate Monster. Fortunately, by that time it'd stopped raining, so it was a nice, dry walk to the bus station to go back to the hotel. And this time it only took the ten minutes it was supposed to. We got pizza delivered later, and then went off to bed.
I didn't sleep that night though. Our neighbors were very noisy all night long; banging and talking loudly. I'm a light sleeper, so I must have absolute quiet because the slightest noise wakes me up, and if it's continuous as it was that night, no chance in Hades will I sleep. So I heard Ivey when she got up around 5 am, and I kind of just laid there. I think I dozed for a bit until the neighbors started again after a brief quiet spell.
I gave up trying to sleep. By then it was 6, and Ivey was getting ready to leave to go wait in line for badges. She left, and I decided to get dressed and tag along. It was weird that it was already so bright outside considering by that time it'd still be dark where I live. She was glad to see I had come to wait with her and we hung out watching some of her music videos, and thinking of ways to tease Crittle for sleeping in. *laughs* At one point Ivey said "We should tell her she missed seeing Mike come by and doing a strip tease." I laughed my butt off at that.
The convention was a little late setting up to open. We didn't get in until a quarter after 9 from when it was supposed to. Ivey and I picked up our badges, and then we headed to get breakfast. While we ate, we mapped out our panels for the weekend. After breakfast, we headed back to the hotel to rouse the late sleepers.
As was mentioned, there was a little mix-up with panels thinking there was going to be a TMNT one on Friday too. Once we found it was just that one for Saturday, we went to the autograph line to start it early. I only wanted Mike to sign a card for me and take a picture, but he was late as usual. So I wanted to wait for him. *laughs* Yes, I was being stubborn, but hey, I wasn't the one late for my own panel. *giggles*
So I got at the back of the line once he arrived, and went through again. I had my Leo card signed and a cute picture taken with him. I'll have pictures later once I upload them from my camera. After the signing, we had to hurry on to the next panel, the opening cermonies. I think that could have been done better, IMO. I was rolling my eyes a few times at the overly silliness of it.
There was the panel for the voice actors after it. When it was over, we went to get some shopping done at Sam's and Walmart. I definitely need to get me a Sam's card. It would help with food costs for me because I wouldn't have to go back to buy more so often.
We were a little late getting the Turtle party started, but we did have a few people come.
I brought cookies I had baked myself for the party, but we'd been basically eating on them all weekend. I got so many compliments on them, and I really appreciate that.
Thank you.
We hung out and talk, and Ivey was telling ghost stories. During one story, her phone on the table suddenly vibrated, and everyone froze. It kind of freaked us out for a few moments, and then we laughed when we realized what it was, but it was still spooky.
After the party, we went to Chili's to eat dinner. It was pretty nice, but it was a bit pricey. Not something you'd eat at too often, or it'd get really expensive. Then we went back to the hotel, and crashed. And I got to sleep! No noisy neighbors that night. I was happy.
The next morning, Saturday, was a bit more relaxed as our first panel, TMNT panel, wasn't until 2 that afternoon. So we didn't have to feel rushed or anything. That was good. After breakfast, we hung around our hotel room a bit until we were ready to go to the center. We sat in on a couple of other panels beforehand. The Afro Samurai one was interesting. The anime is really graphic and gorey. Probably not something I'd watch because of it, but other people would really like it.
The panel after that was... eh. The drawings the guy did of eyes looked way too much like something else, as did his noses. I went to the dealer's room during it for a bit to buy a little something for myself. Which one of those things was a couple of packs of a strawberry flavored jelly roll type pastry, that I blame Ivey for getting me hooked on.
Those things are kickass. I came back near the end when he was doing those drawings, so I don't know what occured before then.
The TMNT panel... What can I say? That panel rocked. It was incredible, and it was sooo cool we got to meet John Campbell, Raphael's VA. He's really nice and a bit shy, but you can definitely tell he's a Raphael type. That panel was the ultimate highlight of the weekend.
*giggles* Somebody asked him to sing "Jenny Around the Block" in Raph's voice, but John turned the lyrics into "Raphie Around the Block" instead. That was just gold. Oh, and Ivey asked him to do toddler Raph, and that was cute too. I got some really good pictures of that panel. I also ended the panel with what I think was the best question/request; I asked Mike, Wayne, and John to do an impromptu in the Turtles' voices. That was so fun.
Later at 5, there was a signing with all of them there, and I got John's autograph. That was cool. What I thought was really neat was Ivey finally got her shirt completed with obtaining Raph's sig of the 4Kids VAs. After we got the signatures, we headed to the dubbing panel Mike was hosting. I tried to get in on that panel because I really wanted to try it out with doing a voiceover for a character because I think I'd like to do voice acting one day, but sadly Mike didn't see my hand raised. I was kind of disappointed, but I know I wasn't the only one who didn't get picked who wanted to do it.
After the panel, we went to our room to start the Venture Bros. party we were having. Once again, a few people dropped by, and we watched a few episodes of Venture Bros. I have to say, it's pretty good. I'll have to look into seeing more. I left the party towards the end to get something eat. I'd been living on junk food mostly by this point, and I really needed to eat something with more substanance because my bloodsugar was entirely too low, and I felt faint. I would meet Crittle and Ivey for the night panel we were going to afterwards.
Unfortunately, I guess real food wasn't meant to be had that night. I wanted to go to Subway, and as soon as I arrived, I was met with a long line. I got in to stand for awhile, but it was not moving very fast at all, and the time was drawing closer to go to the panel. Plus, I was getting impatient because when I'm
that hungry, all sense of rational logical reason is gone and I'm irate. So I made what would later be a big mistake, which made me miss out on getting anything at all, and got out of the Subway line to try BK; thinking it would better.
No such luck. The line was even worse here than Subway, and that line had grew even longer as I was standing in it. There was no way I'd be able to get through, and I had a feeling for the panel Crittle, Ivey and I was going to that it would be absolutely swamped with people. When I got there, I saw I was right.
I met up with them, and we stood in line. We got really lucky and was able to get in, with a front row seat to boot. We sat on the floor. During the panel, I ended up eating what snacks was in my backpack for dinner, so that was my fault. This particular panel was... Well, there's no way to describe it. You just had to be there. I think I've forgotten most of the images already, and that's a good thing.
Mike was there at this panel, and you could just see he looked as uncomfortable as I felt. I could see him glancing towards me a few times to see if I was okay because at points I was trying to hide myself from the screen. I don't think I'll be going to one of those shows again any time soon.
After the panel, we returned to our room, and chilled out before heading to bed. The next morning, Sunday, we packed everything up so we could check out of the hotel, and then headed to the convention center for the first panel. We didn't have time for breakfast, but before the panel started, I left to head to BK for a couple of cheeseburgers and fries. I brought the food back with me, and shared with Crittle and Ivey.
We left the morning panel early to set up for the directors panel, which Mike was in. The guy of the panel that was running beforehand stopped it early because of us, and I was confused at that and a little guilty. I hope he didn't think we were disrupting it. I thought it was a little unnecessary that he did end it like that.
The directors panel was interesting; very informative. It delved into a lot of what goes on behind the scenes of doing a cartoon, especially dubbing anime. There's a lot more work to it than I thought there was.
After that was a big VA signing in which almost all the VAs were part of. Crittle, OMG, and I waited for Ivey while she was going through to get some more of her stuff signed. I thought of while I was there to buy at least one overpriced con-food item before I left, so I bought a $2 ice cream in a cup.
When Ivey was through the line, we headed off to wait for the Venture Bros. panel. We were early, and at the time they were playing something called Red VS Blue. Clips of a video game pieced together with voices to form some kind of show I learned.
I would have to leave after the Venture panel to catch my flight back home, and I was not really looking forward to that. I wanted to stay for the closing ceremonies, and also hang out talking with Mike afterwards. I would've liked sitting in listening to the interview Crittle was doing with him.
The Venture Bros. panel was really good, and I got a lot of pictures in that one. Some didn't turn out so great because of the damn lighting, but once I had the idea of turning the flash off, the pictures started coming out better. The lighting was too bright, and coupled with the flash, the pictures were turning out too dark. There's a particular one in the bunch I think Crittle might like really well.
Once the panel was over, I had to go, so I said my goodbyes to Ivey and Mike. I didn't get to say goodbye to Crittle, and I wanted to, but she'd gotten busy. I'm so sorry, Crittle.
I left with OMG and he took me to the airport. I said goodbye to him, and I went inside to get checked in. Of course, in the process I learned my flight would be delayed almost a whole hour, and I was really displeased with that because I could've been able to stay for the closing cermonies. Then Delta information started calling my phone with updates after the fact, and I'm thinking "Well, gee, you couldn't have called a little earlier? That doesn't exactly help me now. I already know and it's too late to do anything about it." I also was unhappy because somewhere along the way I lost one of the little turtle shell keychains on my backpack.
My plane finally arrived at around 8:30, and I was able to board it fairly quickly. Although, between waiting for everyone to get on, gas up, go through safety procedures, and getting on the runway, we weren't in the air until almost a quarter after 9. It was 11 when the plane finally landed, but I had to wait nearly an hour in baggage claim to get my suitcase because the luggage wasn't ready yet to be sent up.
Once I had my luggage, I made a quick stop to the restroom before catching the Groome shuttle back to my city because I really had to go.
I was on time for the 12:15 a.m. shuttle, which was really fortunate because the next one wouldn't have been until 1:15.
I slept a bit on the way, and I was really groggy by the time I reached the shuttle station, and I still had to drive home, so I had to be careful. I made it home where I unpacked everything, cleaned up the apartment a bit where my roommate had left it a mess, showered, and crashed into bed about 4 a.m.
I am still feeling wiped out despite the extra sleep I had today, but I've had to run around too, and get back to normal life quick. I have to go back to work in the morning, and I'm not really looking forward to that even though I've had a vacation from it. I'm cringing just to think about it. I'm going to look for a new job in the next few weeks putting in as many applications as I can at places. I hope I get something better with a little more pay so I can do these conventions more often.
Well, that's my story of the weekend, and I'll have some pictures up in the next few days as I get them uploaded. Now, I'm going to head off shortly to bed.
