This past weekend, I went with my roommates (Dani and Tyler) as well as Dani’s friends (Emily and Desiree) on a road trip up to Denver, Colorado for Nan Desu Kan (NDK) 2012, an anime convention. My roommates had long-standing plans to go to NDK and invited me for the ride. I was looking forward to going to a convention with them, not to mention I would be able to visit my Colorado friends (primarily Ryyu, but it would be nice to see all the other Colorado people I’ve met through him, too). It had been a while since I went on a road trip, not to mention an out of state anime convention.
For all the people that know me well, they know that a few things generally happen when I go to conventions these days:
- I bring more than just my camera phone and still forget to take pictures.
- I rarely make it to panels.
- I barely get sleep.
- I spend all my time socializing with friends and meeting new people.
- I party like a fucking rock star.
…yeah, this time was no different.
I really should have brought my arcade stick up with me to Colorado (even though Estevan is still borrowing my only dual-modded stuck) because I literally spent the most time hanging out in the gaming room, playing fighting games. …and no one was surprised, not even me. I really didn’t want to spend a lot of money, so I didn’t spend a lot of time looking through the Artist’s Alley or the Dealer’s Room. I did pick up Crows Zero (a Takashi Miike film; Miike is one of my favorite directors) on Blu-Ray, though, which I’m excited to watch. Maybe I’ll make a post about it on Atomic Mesa when I do watch it?
Anyways…
When I go to conventions, I like to party with my friends. It’s one of the few times where people will be in one centralized location where we all generally don’t have to drive. That means we can go out, drink, and get blitzed without anyone having to worry about sobering up to go places. I get to catch up with people, I get to hang out with people, and I get to meet new people. And we get to make delicious drinks! Or go out and get delicious drinks! I’d say partying is the primary reason I don’t take a whole lot of photos when I go to cons. I just… forget that I can? Probably.
I was really happy that I got to see my friend Jamaal (Ryyudo; he’s the one in the picture above). He had a serious face before I took this picture, but he started laughing after I started harassing him. I met him on Phantasy Star Universe (PSU) way back in the day, and we’ve been friends since. We’ve been to conventions together, and my friends went with his friends to a cabin for New Year’s this year. I haven’t seen him since we went to EVO in July. It was awesome that I was able to see him up at NDK!
(I apologize in advance for my convoluted storytelling abilities–I’m still burned out from the trip. Watch as I jump all over the place trying to recap my weekend.)
Our plan was to leave for Colorado after everyone got out of work, sometime around eight in the evening. I got out of work a little early since I hadn’t packed any of my things. I had to run by my parents’ house to pick up some cosplay costumes and a suitcase before having my dad drop me off at home (he was going to take my car to the shop while I was out of town for some maintenance). I literally spent all my time before the trip emptying out some bags and dumping all my stuff into my bags. If you can’t tell, I don’t really plan ahead for these kinds of things. We loaded up the car with everyone’s stuff and set out for Colorado in the middle of the night. Tyler drove, I sat in the front with him, and Emily, Dani, and Desiree sat in the back.
The car trip was nice since Tyler and I spent the whole time talking about all kinds of things. I stayed up with him so he wouldn’t get drowsy. Not like I was feeling sleepy, anyways. We got to Denver in the really, really early morning. We unpacked our bags and went to bed–we needed the sleep. The con was being held at one hotel, and we stayed at another hotel a little ways away.
Woke up Friday morning, took a shower, and went to check out the con. The turnout was way better than the anime conventions in New Mexico. I didn’t preorder my badge, so I ended up paying a bit of an inflated rate to get in, but the line wasn’t that bad to get my badge. After some running around, I ended up meeting up with Ryyu in the Artist’s Alley (where the picture above was taken). I was so happy to see him!
I ended up spending my day hanging out in the gaming room. They had a bunch of consoles set up, and there were all kinds of fighting games going on. This was where I was infinitely regretful that Tyler and I both didn’t bring a stick up with us. Ryyu and his friends were awesome to let us borrow their sticks for some matches, but it would have been nice to have ours with us. I also spent some time with Ryyu and Robert (one of Ryyu’s friends) as they set up their costumes for the con.
YES! YES! YES! YES!
They had the perfect costumes. Not even joking. They ran around the con getting people to chant, “YES! YES! YES!” wherever they went. It was a blast. A blast from the past, no less!
Afterwards, we went out to buy alcohol. We left the liquor store with two handles of whipped cream vodka and a fifth of honey whiskey. While that sounds like a lot, we were only contributing a bit to the pile of liquor that was already stocked for the occasion. Between when we parked the car and when we got back to the room that belonged to all Ryyu’s friends, Ryyu, Robert, and I ended up drinking somewhere along the lines of… oh… half the bottle of the honey whiskey.
Let’s just say that instead of food for dinner, I had whiskey for dinner.
The night ended with me going on drunken tirades, getting lost and meeting friendly people in the hotel area, and somehow avoiding a hangover in the morning.
Yikers. I sure am getting tired. I think I’ll post more about NDK tomorrow. I still have a lot more story to tell!
