Returned and rested from Otakon.

I actually was back in my area around 8 p.m. Eastern on Monday night (my Tuesday for work), but I had work. Within an hour of returning home from both a long trip and an albeit long night (due to a lack of sleep on the way back from Baltimore, both to Indiana and home), I crashed. I crashed hard. I feel much better for it, though still a little tired. However, given that I need to get back on my midnight shift schedule, it's going to be that way for a few more days. Plus, I'd be tired anyway because my sleeping schedule is still a little out of whack. I'll be adjusted before too much longer.

Now for the convention report.

I actually didn't do a whole heck of a lot at Otakon. I attended one Q&A, and that was for Crispin Freeman. Otherwise, I wandered around the convention center, taking pictures. I unfortunately didn't get as much done for my Fayt cosplay that I wanted to, and, by the time Kojika was dressed up as Albel (pictures forthcoming later), I was already dressed up as a Spaceball. (The costume was courtesy of my friends Rose and Tony Tuski.) Things didn't get done with Fayt Leingod cosplay anyway due to a hectic time for Kojika trying to redo the dragons for her mom's Ashton cosplay - they were Ashton and Celine on Friday. (I'll get the pictures from Kojika as soon as I can - maybe do a photo dump over the weekend.) I did take a ton of amazing cosplay pictures throughout the weekend and saw another Albel on Sunday (no pictures. I kind of know who it was and wasn't sure how he'd react to me - there were some transportation issues. I'm leaving it at that).

There were some not so good moments for me at Otakon. One was finding out in advance that, at 10 a.m. Friday, there were three panels I really wanted to go to, but they were at the same time. Only one repeated the next day, but the other two were only once and done. The other snafu? The autograph lines. I didn't know it was recommended to be in line an hour in advance of such things so I'd gone to lunch. In my limited experience - until Otakon, the biggest convention I've ever attended was BotCon back in 2004 - the lines weren't managed very well. A few people I spoke to who had been to the convention before (I'm guessing) agreed with me. My friend Tony did point out that Otakon has an attendance of about 25,000 people. That certainly outstrips every BotCon I attended (which was 2000-2004). It still doesn't stop me from thinking that the lines could have been managed better and the autograph sessions a bit longer than what they were. People do need to eat. If they're not part of a large group, they do miss out. And that isn't just for the autographs. The lines for the dealer's room and artist alley were insane. On Sunday, I felt like I was part of a human conveyer belt (I said treadmill at the time, but it was an inaccurate assessment).

That said, I very much enjoyed Otakon. I picked up some birthday presents for my best friend and for my little sister, though I feel awful because I didn't get my best friend what I really wanted for her. She'll have to make do with what I got her in the meantime. And I did do a few things I wanted to do while there - mainly, find a food truck and get food from it. We don't have food trucks (ice cream, yes, but that doesn't count) in the town near where I live so it was an adventure for me. It was also Brazilian-style food, which was yummy and filling but not something I'd try again. The flavors were wonderful. Textures, not so much. I found some Hetalia goodies for myself, though nothing Star Ocean. Can't say it surprises me, really, but it's still a little disappointing. I do plan on going next year and hopefully forming a couple of Star Ocean cosplay groups. We'll see what happens.

Pictures of Kojika's cosplays (at least the four I took of her Albel cosplay) will be forthcoming soon. Have a good Wednesday evening!