We got busy right away registering press, many of whom
told us that they had arrived late last night. The Pottermaniac took
requests for interviews and began working with The Godfather, the head
of Guest Relations, and Doc the Stampede, the head of Industry Relations,
to secure interview times.
I volunteered to run errands when it was needed, just
so that I could get some exercise. This gave me at least a few glimpses
of the rest of the convention, and when I wasn't in a high hurry, I
could stop and snap a picture or two. I love this shot of our president,
whom I'll refer to by her Internet handle, Vyxle. She looks so cheerful
and calm in the midst of the madness around her. Seated in front of
her, by the way, is the Corporate Lawyer, apparently deep in thought.
I also caught the staffers of Info Desk at a rare time
when they weren't surrounded by tons of people.
I also caught The Cousin while she was assisting at Registration.
She was on a special troubleshooting squad for the weekend, comprised
of experienced staffers who could help out wherever needed.
Incidentally, every Otakon, I get mistaken for her, even
though she's several inches taller than me. This time, it was actually
a staffer who thought I was her, although he realized his mistake when
he grew closer. I think it's the hair and the glasses.
The Gryphon came to get me at about 12:30 to have lunch,
and we went up to sign up for some food, provided to staffers who can't
get away to the staff suite during the day. The person who was distributing
the sandwiches told us we could have two halves of anything but that
there were limited vegetarian and we should only take them if we really
were vegetarian. I opted for half a turkey sandwich and a bag of chips,
which is a little more than I typically have in terms of calories, primarily
because of the chips, which were not low fat. Next year I have to remember
to pack some low-fat snacks, like Kashi bars, which I can have when
needed.
We ate our lunches in Con Ops, talking to a few people
we ran into there. Of course, The Gryphon kept dashing around the room
to gather information he needed from people he saw passing through.
That's pretty typical for The Gryphon, who tends to run himself ragged
every Otakon. Fortunately, he has remarkable resilience, and it never
seems to get to him.
When I returned, The Pottermaniac had a job for me. She
wanted me to go up to our interview room, which was separated into three
booths for private one-on-one interviews, and facilitate an interview
between voice actress Willow Johnson and a media outlet. So I dashed
up there, made sure that the interview space was prepared, and waited.
First, I met a group of reporters who were flushed and
out of breath. They were the same ones that we'd tried to reach that
morning about a last-minute availability with voice actor Yuri Lowenthal.
Very apologetic, they explained that when they got the call, they were
across town at a bank, exchanging Canadian currency. Their phone had
failed to pick up the number when I'd left a message. I gave them the
Press Relations number and told them to call The Pottermaniac and see
if Yuri would be willing to reschedule.
Of course, if I'd known that Willow's interview would
also run into trouble, I would have asked them if they wanted to stick
around and interview her instead. However, I'm not gifted with foresight,
so I bid them good-bye and waited until Willow arrived. She was fresh
out of an autograph session and was carrying some flowers and other
gifts that fans had given her. This being her first Otakon, she was
pleased with how well she was being received. We chatted while we waited
for the reporters, and she told me that she was having a good time.
While we were waiting, a fellow staff member, who happened
to be lost, looking for Con Ops, arrived. He was one of the Guest Relations
staffers I'd met the previous day. At first, though, I asked him if
he was the reporter, because that's who I was expecting. Then I looked
up and realized my mistake. I told him where Con Ops was and then introduced
him to Willow. Turns out that he'd been looking for her to tell her
that he had something for her in the Green Room, so it all worked out.
I called The Pottermaniac to let her know that the reporter
was late, and she called them and got no response, so she returned my
call and told me to apologize to Willow and tell her she was free to
go. By this point, Willow's boyfriend had arrived, bringing her some
food. They took their time heading out and still no reporter. I never
did find out what happened, but I did apologize to Willow as she left.
When I returned, I asked The Pottermaniac if I could visit
the Dealers' Room. I was hoping to find a birthday gift for my friend,
The Artist, who was celebrating her 30th birthday with a barbecue at
her place the next night. She lives in the Baltimore area, so I'd already
gotten permission from The Pottermaniac to attend.
By the time I headed for the Dealers' Room, it was fully
operational and packed. In fact, I was so overwhelmed once I got in
there that I felt a bit lightheaded or dizzy. I'm not sure if it was
from perfume and cologne or simply from the giddy atmosphere of all
those bouncy, happy people.
I breezed through, looking for something that might interest
The Artist, but I saw very little. She's not an anime fan, and nearly
everything else I saw was either out of my price range or something
that wouldn't appeal to her. Then I got the brilliant idea to head for
Artists' Alley to look for some original art.
When I got there, I immediately felt better, because it
was a lot less crowded and I could breathe. I walked up and down the
aisles looking for something that she'd like. Along the way, I got a
picture of some artists who were cosplaying in extravagant outfits.
They were selling really cute wooden boxes decorated to look like cakes.
Not long after that, I ran into Georgia Horesh, whom I
remembered from when I used to help staff Artists' Alley, about seven
years ago. She was selling a book of prints, so I bought one and had
her sign it. To my delight, she even did some artwork along with her
signature.
Finally, I found something that I thought The Artist would
like: it was a necklace, bracelet and earring set made from washers,
wrapped wire and polished glass beads. The craftsmanship was excellent,
and the necklace had a quirky sophistication that I felt The Artist
would love. I've since received an e-mail from her thanking me and telling
me that it's just her style.
On my way out of Artists' Alley, I ran into another cosplayer.
This one had a metal arm that she'd fashioned herself. It looked terrific,
but it wasn't terribly useful, and since she was right handed, a friend
had to do many things for her. "You must be a good friend,"
I observed.
There were a number of interviews and press conferences
that afternoon, and we all took turns handling them. There were still
press wandering through our room, asking questions and looking for information
on such topics as the photo policy for the JAM Project concert that
night.
Our work tended to come in spurts, with periods of quiet
interrupted by busy periods. We had a gofer assigned to us, and we tried
to keep them occupied, knowing that once we needed them, it would usually
be too late to contact Gofer Ops . When the place started looking like
a disaster from all the activity, we asked our gofer to tidy up the
room and decorate a folder to put all the loose papers into. Yes, we
had our gofer do craft projects, and he seemed happy about it. He also
didn't mind when we joked that we were calling all gofers Matthew just
so we wouldn't have to learn new names.
Near the end of the day, The Water Ballerina came by to
find out if The Gryphon and I would be interested in grabbing dinner.
We try to get together with her at least once every year. She hung out
while I tried to arrange things with The Gryphon. We also had to wait
for another full-fledged staffer to return to take over the Press Relations
room. In the meantime, she told me about a videogame she'd been playing
passively throughout the day. It's a game that allows you to interact
through a wireless network with other people playing nearby. If you
run into them, you can buy objects from them. So when she had a quiet
moment in Video Ops, she would pull it out and play it actively. Otherwise,
she would stay logged in but tuck the game in her pocket, and her character
would still randomly encounter people. Apparently, you can text them
messages or draw things and share them, too.
Finally, The Gryphon managed to extricate himself to meet
us at Press Relations, and a staffer returned so that I could go. We
decided we had to go somewhere close, so we chose a nearby sushi place
by the harbor, Edo.
When I checked in with The Pottermaniac, she said that it was so close
to the time the room would shut its doors that I could consider myself
excused for the day.
The restaurant was surprisingly open when we got there,
and we had no trouble getting a table for three out on the balcony,
which gave us a nice view of the harbor.
We were all badly in need of a break, so it was great
to have such a calm, beautiful place to eat. We discussed what we wanted.
Both The Water Ballerina and I selected sushi, while The Gryphon got
another entree which I've forgotten. Along with my sushi, I ordered
a Green Tea Martini, which looked a lot like a margarita but tasted
more like green tea ice cream with a little bit of a kick. I think I
amused the waiter, who spotted me taking photos of the food. "It's
so pretty," I told him.
The Water Ballerina was very excited about a trip she
was going to be taking to India, and she told us about all the research
she'd been doing to figure out which sites to hit. She is planning to
take a train across the country and visit such sites as the Golden Temple
at Varanasi. While she won't pass the Taj Mahal, she's going to try
to visit it before she catches the plane home.
The Gryphon had to get back to work after his dinner,
but The Water Ballerina and I stuck around for dessert. We both had
ice cream, which was creamy and fruity tasting. A nice finish for the
meal. Then we walked back to the BCC together. She said her good-byes
then, because she was going to meet up with a friend from Baltimore.
I wandered up to Con Ops to see who was around.
Sure enough, The Gryphon was up there, as were The Pottermaniac,
The News Producer and Quack. I asked The Pottermaniac if she'd eaten
yet and when she answered no, nudged her to get some dinner. They had
some provided food for staffers across the hall. Turns out that the
three of them were going to the JAM Project concert, and when I expressed
an interest in going, they invited me along. On the way, we made sure
she grabbed herself a sandwich from the staff room.
The concert was already underway when we arrived, but
we had no problems finding seats in the section reserved for staff.
It was actually somewhat brilliant: staff seating was in the first balcony
off to the side, where it was easy for staffers to come and go. Sometimes
people can only spare a short time to enjoy events before we have to
resume our duties.
The News Producer, The Pottermaniac and I all tried to
get some decent shots from where we were sitting. I think that The News
Producer's will probably turn out best, since he had a SLR camera with
a long lens. Still, I got a couple shots that I found conveyed the experience,
albeit in a somewhat Impressionistic way.
For the first part of the concert, the band primarily
sang harmonies to a prerecorded background. A lot of it was from anime
series that the audience recognized. Then, near the end, their roadies
brought out three guitars, bongos and some Congo drums, and they played
several acoustic songs. We were blown away: they were really good. Some
songs even gave me goosebumps. I wish they'd done the whole concert
that way.
In particularly, The Pottermaniac and I loved the female
singer in the group, who had a beautiful voice and was also very stylish,
in an animal print, high-waisted flowy dress that gave her an effortless
style. The rest of the band was dressed in typical rock garb: leather
jackets, tight pants and lots of extravagant details, paired with big
hair.
At the very end, each of the band members did a solo performance,
singing a song that he or she had made famous. You see, they were all
artists in their own right before combining forces. We left just as
they announced the last song, in order to beat the crowd out of the
theater.
We passed a couple people who were just arriving, and
we told them they'd just announced the last song, but they went anyway.
I'm told they gave a couple encores.
Back at the BCC, in Con Ops, I hung out for a little while
with The Laughing Man, The Scrapbooker, and their infant daughter. She
seemed to think it was hilarious when I made funny faces. I held her
for a while and was amazed by how much mobility and strength she had.
She also took a shine to The Pottermaniac.
Afterwards, I spent some time with The Court Wizard and
The March Hare. We had a little fun with a "Quiet Zone" sign
we found outside one of the staff rooms (The March Hare is on the left
in this shot).
Then we roamed the halls a little bit, finally settling
on the patio outside on the third floor level, from which we could see
people walking on both the third and second levels. This was a lot of
fun for people-watching. We had a lot of fun critiquing costumes, many
of which were very impressive. One of my favorites was two guys dressed
like Spartans from the movie 300. Most of their costume was simply
that they'd been working out! I also loved a black, flowing Victorian
costume with a cross on the hem. It looked so good I could have sworn
it was made by an actual designer.
Of course, being staffers, we're never totally off-duty.
A guy in a samurai costume ran past us on the gravel, lost his balance
and fell, breaking his sword and gashing his face. The March Hare accompanied
him to get it patched up.
When we headed back towards LARP later, we encountered
a guy with his amp plugged into the wall, which is against our rules.
The last thing we need in a busy hallway next to panel rooms is someone
with a loud, amplified distraction that can create an impromptu crowd.
I had seen him earlier in the day and told him to unplug it, and so
this time I was a little mad about it, especially when he denied having
spoken to me before. We let Spec Ops know, just in case.
In LARP, things were just winding down, but The Dormouse
and The Cheshire Cat were still helping players. I had a unique chance
to get a good shot of both of them. (The Dormouse is in the foreground,
while The Cheshire Cat is helping people in the back.)
We happened to run into The Court Wizard's roommate, who
had lost his room key and had been looking for us. It was just another
instance of being in the right place at the right time.
More on Alyce's Otakon Experiences:
Musings
on Alyce's Otakon Experiences
