MOCHI > The Scrapbook > Convention Memories > Anime Detour > 2006

After some of the serious stress that followed from the last convention we'd been to, we tried to take it easy at this one. No rushing about to deliver talks at a panel; no need to play Super Staff (tm), running around trying to fix things.

Poor Grandis had spent the better part of two -- almost three -- months suffering from attacks of dizziness. Just in case you have any doubts, labyrinthitis s-u-c-k-s. Trying to work on a costume when the world refuses to stay still is just too much to handle. While the dizzy attacks were on the wane, we all were hoping that the dizziness would not rear its ugly head at an inopportune time: like, on, in the middle of the masquerade.

Sadly, some serious basement flooding meant that we were going to be without Spiky. On the bright side, we would be joined for two days of the con by Kent, who some of us knew through our travels through gaming circles. So far, he had been successfully resisting most attempts to suck him into the world of cosplay, but Daifuku still held out hopes that he might yet change his mind. [You will be assimilated! -Daifuku]

Pre-con shennanigans

As we did last year, MOCHI came in roughly three contingents.

Contingent A (Sugar Bomb and Daifuku), looking for a little adventure, came up on Wednesday via a leisurely train ride. Sugar Bomb could sleep, Daifuku could do some hand-sewing, and both of them got enough leg room. It was quite a civilized experience compared to the usual "cattle car" mentality of airplane travel.

Contingent B (Grandis & company) drove up on Thursay. Of course, Contingent C (Toasted) didn't have to go anywhere: he was happily going to be at home, as he lived within a stone's throw of the convention.

Oddly, Sugar Bomb's weird karma about cars and Minnesota flared up. The last two times he had driven back to Minnesota, his car had broken down. He figured that, this time, since he had taken the train, he should be safe. What happened instead was that his weird car karma struck Toasted Mochi, who had come to pick up Contingent A from the train station. After piling luggage and warm bodies into his car, Toasted discovered that it simply wouldn't start! After pushing the car and popping the clutch a few times, they were able to get it going long enough to drop it off at the local mechanic.

Thankfully, nothing untoward happened with Contingent B. After arriving at Toasted Mochi's house (their headquarters for most of the convention), they oggled his latest results from his vacuum table and got to work on snaps, Velcro, and other final details of the costumes that would be going into the masquerade.

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