Pre Monazite Con Experiences

So yes, this is a lame title but I was out of ideas for a title of this entry.  This will pretty much wrap up the few convention experiences (until 2010 at least) I’ve had, be it staffing or as an attendee. So the very first convention that I attended was Anime Expo, way back in the early to mid 90s. The exact year always escapes me but I do remember I went with Alice and her dad. For some reason I remember my ex Adam (boyfriend at the time) being there but I could be mistaken.

This was one of the years where it was still being held at some of the Disneyland hotels.  To be honest I can’t remember too much, other than seeing people run around in costumes. This was a big thing for me because I love dressing up and some of the costumes were really well done.

Fast forward about 10 years or more into 2007. Anime Expo was still alive and going, but this time I had inside access because my friend Alice who I first went with, had been staffing it for ~ 5 years. She was working in the Exhibit Hall and seemed to be having a really good time doing it. This particular AX was still at LBCC, which I later learned was not such a smart move. I rolled with it and still had an enjoyable time as an attendee. I did spend a good chunk of the first morning waiting in the super hot sun (at least with my parasol) and my two friends Eder and Robert. We had a good time because some of us had our DS’s, which I learned was later a common thing in conventions. Had a good time there and was looking into staffing the next year.

As of 2008 I had talked to Alice and was in the door to being a staffer for the Exhibits Hall at AX. I even talked my boyfriend into staffing as well because he was going off to Switzerland for a month, a week or 2 before my birthday. So he was in AxeCon and I was in Exhibit Hall. We didn’t get to see other as much as we would have liked and he ended up hating it because he worked 15 hours days on his feet, which he is not at all used to. He’s a computer nerd and spends most of his time at work sitting down. Needless to say, most of our time at the convention was spent working. I didn’t mind it too much but after that he was not willing to go back.

Then we hit the year 2009 and I was back at Exhibit Hall with my friends. My favorite thing about staffing was all the friends that I made and getting to see them for more than a day at a time. I roomed with my friends Sharon, Val, Oscar (Ogre) and Alexis (Rainbow). Again, most time was spent working but Val and I did find some time to escape and relax a little. Of course after this last year, I decided that I wanted to be an attendee, but at conventions I had never made it to before.

Now I’m jumping around a bit here and going off into another convention experience I had, 2 years in a row. So at the time I was completely addicted to World of Warcraft, so when I heard about Blizzcon I just about went crazy with excitement. I had never been so excited for a convention in my entire life. I was able to get tickets in 2007 and boy was I excited. But I was going solo. Oh well! I still made the most of it, bought too much merchandise and had fun making friends with people I have never met before. In 2008, I was able to get my best WoW friend Richie to come, as well as people from AXCorps guild. Now Richie was my friend before WoW and he had been playing it for years. I kept finding excuses not to play it, but lo and behold I joined up. Later going to the Horde side, of course. I had the greatest time with all my guildies and Richie. It was the most nerdy weekend of my life at that point.

In 2009 I did not make it; I went to the Stone Brewery 13^th Anniversary party which kicked butt. But I can’t forget the convention that really made me want to go to San Diego Comic Con, which was the very first LBCC Comic Con in late 2009, which I attended with my 2 best friends Alice and Brandy.

So as you can see I haven’t too much in the way of conventions but that will be changing. This year my conventions will include SDCC Comic Con and Strategicon. And in about 1 week I will be at Orccon, the first Strategicon of the year, where I will game it up with my gaming group, the Electric Mayhem. But that will be for a later entry.

Next entry, Shadowrun sessions with Electric Mayhem.