...aesthetic...

CURRENT SONG:
"May It Be" by Enya from "LotR: Fellowship of the Ring" soundtrack
CURRENT OUTFIT:
"Pirates for Life" Jack Sparrow PJ set
CURRENT MOOD:
Satisfied!

Ohayo goziamasu, minnasan! Got back from the convention last night and it's that time of year again for my report! Hope everyone enjoys!

NAN DESU KAN 2007: THE CON REPORT!

THURSDAY:
I went and picked Shareece up at her house around 7 a.m. and we were on the road by 8 a.m. Fortunately, the weather was with us, as lately in our state region the weather has been very unpredictable. We had SUCH a ball driving down there! We laughed so hard I think my stomach was sore! Made it to the hotel around 3 p.m. and unpacked. The room we had was so nice, but I think I almost froze poor Shareece out being that I still get very bad hot flashes from my hysterectomy. Chani called and we went out for sushi with her and her roommate Sarah around 7:30 p.m. that evening. To make a note, when the concierage tells you that the sushi restaurant is two blocks from the convention center, they mean 27 Rapid City sized blocks! ::laughs:: It took us about ten minutes to get there, but the food was so worth it! If you're ever in Denver down by the Marriott Tech Center, look up the sushi place, "Bara," you won't regreat it! Headed back to the center, said goodbye to Chani and Sarah and hit the hay! ZZZZZZ...

FRIDAY:
Shareece and I got up bright and early and went and hit the swimming pool. It was so nice and uber warm! Headed back up the room and met Beverly on the way, who was also heading to go swimming! She's so sweet, I adore her! (Sorry I missed you in your cosplays! =;.;=) We hung around the room a bit and then by 9 a.m. threw on our cosplays. Shareece was dressed as a "Harajuku Mouse" as I dubbed her and I was wearing my Purple Snakeskin Cyber Geisha outfit. I even dreadlocked my hair to complete the look! =O.o= Went downstairs and I spent the time taking photos. We got into the pre-reg line almost immediately and had to wait only about 45 minutes. Got our badges (they made mine with my pen name on it! Woot!) then after wandering a bit, we got into the dealer's room line and shopped around for a while. To Josh and Brett that we met in the line, you guys were so cute, wish we could have talked more! =^^=

After that, Shareece and I continued to just wander around a little before heading back up the room so I could rest for a while since I still get pretty tired. The rest of our cosplay troupe arrived around 5ish (?) including Chani, Mikki, Jessi, Josh, Josh's friend Amanda, (I hope that's right!), Rich, Jessi's daughter Keirra, Chani's friend Jessica, Constance, Nikki and Foxy. We had quite a big troupe! We all managed to coordinate and ended up all going to the J-Pop dance that night! I changed into my "Raver Moogle" as I dubbed it and it was so much fun! We meet Josh's friend Aspen and her boyfriend down there. They both teach ballroom and swing dancing, so I really adored seeing them dance! It got pretty hot at the dance though, and we all were pretty tired. Got back to the room and ordered a Hawaiian pizza before hitting the bed hard! ZZZZZZZZ...

SATURDAY:
Up bright and early again! Shareece and I ran downstairs and grabbed some breakfast before heading back upstairs. We met Chani at her room and headed back down to the pool before needing to rush back up to the room again. This was the Genki gang's REALLY busy day! We gathered up our cosplay troupe and headed downstairs to the Bluebell room. My Cosplay 101 panel and Shareece's Wing panel were one right after another in the room. I had my "Young Iruka Umino" from "Naruto" on and Shareece had put her "Ai" from "Princess Ai" on. We all hung around for a bit, Jessi, Mikki and Chani heading to the dealer's room for a while. (They brought back much cool stuff during our panels! Woot!)

My Cosplay 101 panel was a great success. I want to thank everyone for coming. A special thank you to Becca and her husband! After four years of knowing you on-line, it was so great to finally meet you face to face! (And your Carbunkle was so kawaii!) Thank you also for all the interesting Cosplay 101 questions, many of them I had never thought about before!

Shareece's Wings panel went very well! She gave a very thorough run through on how wings work and the best way to construct them. Thank you to everyone who attended the panel and asked such great questions. Shareece is the one to ask when it comes to feathers and how to use a plumber to help you build something! =^^= A good thing for her though was during the panel her wings cracked and the panel was supposed to be two hours, but it only lasted an hour. So thankfully the Chibi Genki Militia (Constance, Nikki and Foxy) were able to help her fix the wings before her private photoshoot with Eurobeat King.

Shareece then zipped down to her photoshoot and I went about applying all my white makeup for my Haydee cosplay. (Notation: DO NOT use traditional Kabuki white makeup unless you use the sealant with it. Even if it's terrible to take off at the end of the night, you will avoid the cracking situation I ran into!) However, I finally did get all put together, including the wig my mother styled so beautifully. I LOVE my Haydee cosplay even if it is a tad bit uncomfortable and stole my soul for about seven months. Shareece and the rest of the gang met me back up at the room after the photoshoot. (The pics of her Ai Cosplay are absolutely gorgeous!) They picked me up with Jessi's help and then we went to Craftsmanship judging, which only took about ten minutes a piece. Afterwards, Jessi walked me around a little so I could get used to walking in my cosplay and Eurobeat King did a suprise "mini photoshoot" with me, so that was really sweet of him! (And I finally got a picture taken with EBK, that was great!)

Afterwards, we headed back to the room and chilled out. Constance, Nikki and Foxy continued to work trying to keep Shareece's wings together, and she just ended up drafting Nikki and Foxy to be her onstage "Cosplay Ninjas" as they're called to ensure she could get on and off the stage without the wings shattering. We got into line about 5:30 p.m. and for once everything ran REALLY smoothly.

The cosplay competition started at around 7 p.m. and it was little difficult to follow this time around since whenever you registered, that was your number, even if you had a Beginner following a Master. But, the process ran smoothly and Shareece's wings looked so awesome on her Ai cosplay when they were all folded out! However, they didn't last too long afterwards, which made all of us so sad! But in least they made it through the even they needed too! I was just glad to get across the stage in my Haydee cosplay as my makeup by that time was starting to shed.

The cosplay awards were a little confusing, including the fact that the Craftsmanship awards were not given out because the staff didn't give the judges enough time to tally the scores. (However, the winners are going to be posted on the NDK forums soon as well as the Cosplay.com NDK forums group.) Congratulations to my dear friend Val and Amber for winning the Best Traditional Japanese Clothing category and second place in Masters for their intepretation of the Legend of the Fox Spirit Wedding. You two looked SOOO gorgeous and deserved all the awards you got!

After the cosplay officially ended, we all headed back to the room and I quickly jumped into the shower to remove the rest of my Haydee makeup. Shareece and I then ordered another Hawaiian pizza and chilled for a bit. I changed into my Raver Moogle" again and Chani and Mikki came to our room. Shareece and the other two decked themselves out in glow in the dark paints and jewlery and we all donned our glowstick jewelery and glowsticks. The rave was an absolute ball! We danced for a good hour or more until Shareece and I were both very tired. We headed back to the room and pretty much collapsed on the bed. ZZZZZZZZZ...

SUNDAY:
Shareece and I got up early, but not as early as we previously have. ::chuckles:: After grabbing a light breakfast, we got dressed in our Lolita outfits, Shareece wearing her Black and White Loli and I was wearing my Pink Butterfly Sweet Lolita. We met Mikki, Chani and Jessica downstairs and spent the majority of the morning going through the dealer's room. My shoes were killing me though and I ended up changing into my khaki's and my Keronekosama t-shirt for the rest of the day. Shareece and I headed over to Wendy's then for a small (and lousy tasting) lunch before heading back. We hit the dealer's room a couple more times before saying goodbye the rest of the Genki gang. After everyone had headed out, the con came to a close and Shareece and I ended up going swimming that evening.

We then headed off to the sushi place only to find out some places in Denver are actually closed on Sunday! ::laughs:: However there was a very nice sub shop nearby and we ate there. Aftewards, we headed back to the room and made sure everything was packed up. We were both so very tired that we crashed around 8:15 a.m. HUGE ZZZZZZZZZZ...

MONDAY:
We got up bright and early and managed to get everything loaded and into the car. We were on the road out of Denver by 8 a.m. in the morning. We ended up pulling over in Longmont to have breakfast, but also due to this massive rainstorm we ran into where you could hardly see ahead of you! I was glad it happened in the morning, it would have been terrible to try and drive through!

Dropped Shareece off at her house around 3:45 p.m. and we said our goodbye's. It was beyond fun and so wonderful to get to spend this weekend with her as well the chibi gang! Was very glad to finally get home around 5 p.m. and find my mum waiting for me the front door. Still nothing better than getting home and getting a hug from your parents. They fed me a home cooked meal and I was out like a light by 8 p.m. WELL DESERVED ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ...

Now that the convention report is done, now comes my usual list of Thank you's, Pros, Cons, Swag List and the New Additon, "Random Things Said at the Convention!"

THANK YOU'S:
All the staff for Nan Desu Kan, you guys rocked this year! Thanks for everything!
Eurobeat King of Cosplay.com for being the great photographer and sweetheart you are!
All the artists who competed in the art competition.
Val and Amber for being the two crazies that I've come to love!

PROS:
Getting to hang with all my friends!!!
The cosplay competition line up went very smoothly.
Everyone was quite polite about asking for photographs this year.
They opened the staircases to prevent massive back up for the elevators at the convention center this year.
The dealer's room was really impressive this year.

CONS:
Shareece's wings broke and my makeup ended up sliding off my face!
The cosplay award ceremony was really confusing.
People kept taking pictures in the dealer's room, which isn't allowed.
Certain cosplay people were being the usual Coslay Brats
That fantastic sushi restauarant was not open on Sunday, so sad!

SWAG LIST: (Miry spent way more than usual this year!)
1 WillXJack/Bootstrap BillXJack PotC doujinshi (SO HOT!)
1 Bootstrap BillXJack PotC doujinshi (EVEN HOTTER!!)
1 JechtXAuron FFX doujinshi by Elastic Plastic
1 JechtXAuron FFX doujinshi by DUO Brand
1 Gankutsuou Anime and Production Design Artbook (NOW OWNS MY SOUL!)
1 Iruka Umino UFO plushie
1 Pretty Cure Black UFO plushie
1 Pretty Cure White UFO plushie (Gift for Shareece)
1 Pretty Cure Luminiscent UFO Plushie (Gift for Jessi)
1 Keyboard Nyanko (Gift for Mum)
1 Keronekosama Keychain (Gift for Kenneth)
1 Purple Kimono wearing Hello Kitty (Gift from Shareece)
1 Bottle of Tart Hello Kitty Candy (Gift from Shareece)
1 Box of Decor Chocolate Pocky (Gift for Shareece)
1 Box of Coconut Pocky
1 Package of Daifuku Cakes (Gift for Pop)
1 Box of Chocolate Koala cookies (For Sissy and Bren)
2 Boxes of Strawberry Koala cookies (One for Oniisan and Bren and one for me!)

"Top Five Random Things that were Said at the Convention"
5. "Look, Gaara's a Dumptruck!" (Mikki in reference to her Hot Wheels Naruto car collection)
4. "BEEP!" (Shareece and Mir talking about an AMV idea)
3. "Wait, Shareece that doujinshi is really hard...
"OMG!!!"
"...core." (Shareece picking up PotC hard doujinshi without proper warning from Miry)
2. "Jack needs to show Will what it's like to be a real man!" (Shareece commented to Miry in swimming
pool, whereupon she swallowed some pool water.)
And the #1 Random Thing Said that covers this whole convention...
1. "LOWER LEFT PANEL, LOWER LEFT PANEL!!!!" (Josh in reference to reading my PotC yaoi
doujinshi.)