What a way to start off my new life in San Francisco by kicking the school year off with a convention. I have to be honest, I was in no mood to party with our neighbors (mainly because I was drained tired from moving from SoCal). Tales of Anime had a Survival Horror theme. To stick with the theme, I went as Sir Integral Wingates Helsing. For a while, Tom posted around that he'll be my vampire (but didn't specify which one!). What they didn't know was that Tom would be going as Lupin III in his vampire disguise from one second season episode. We had an idea for the skit, but didn't know how to execute it. I also found out that Adam wanted in on the con, and now we have a Father Alexander. Masako, just fresh from the east, also wanted to go as one of the Iscariot chicks.

It was strange because the day before the convention, it didn't feel like there was one. When I was living up in Sonoma it would be rush rush packing to get to Tom's place. Now that I live in the area, none of that is really necessary - even for one day cons. Tom came to my apartment Saturday morning as I was showing my roomie how to make omelettes. I didn't want to wear my wig on public transportation, so I had it off. We walked to the Muni station near SFSU. The ride was okay, until some idiot excuse for a person wouldn't give up her seat for a crippled woman. Geez people. -_-;

We finally got to the Van Ness stop. According to the Muni site, it looked like the Van Ness stop wasn't too far from hotel. Well, it was. It didn't tell us about taking the 42 to the hotel. We had ways to go. Upon arrival, we met Michelle, Kim, and Lionel. We talked for a bit. The con seemed pretty small, and I still needed a rest and needed to put my wig on. So I went to the bathroom to do so. In the ladies room, I ran into Dany and Kat. Dany and Kat were nice to help me with the wig. I also had to redo make up because the walk over really messed it up. x.x Thanks for the present Kat!

For the most part, Tom and I chilled out in the game room. I have to say this con had the best game room ever. For one thing, it did not reek of fanboy. That alone says something. Plus, there was a nice selection of games to choose from. They had Mario goodness, Wario Ware crackness, DDR, Para Para, just to name a few. The nice thing it was not that crowded at all. Along th way, we ran into more friends like Masako, Nando, and Elly. Once Al saw that our Hellsing group was ready, we opted for a Hellsing photoshoot. Thanks for the pics, Al.

Tom and I checked out the other game room. It seemed like a nice addition to the con, but too bad that no one really showed up. Afterwards, it was time to get lunch. I had planned a bay area birthday gathering at about 1PM at Mel's. Some of the people who wanted to go weren't able to make it. Yet, I feel it was a decent turn out. It was also nice to have new faces at the table like Liz and Kim. Though Mel's is perhaps my favorite burger joint (gotta love American Grafitti), I was traumatized hearing a certain evil. Eh...won't go into details...just say it gives me really bad flashbacks from high school. However, it was a good meal. Thanks to those who came over! Really appreciate it!

Afterwards, we went back to the con to do our con thing. For most of the time, I was snappping pictures of cosplayers. There wasn't much to do at the con being that it was small. However, I will say I got a Lupin III plushie! *^^* I'm very happy I found one. Though it would make my Aoki and Yuki plushie jealous...as if they weren't before. ^.~ Adam, tom, and I gathered about to discuss plans for masquerade since Tom just signed us up as Traveling Valentine and Friends. We revolved the skit around our original concept. Adam and Tom worked on the execution. Tom's silly random acts gave us an inspiration how to end it.

For the most part, we just chilled out with Andy, Masako, Hitori, Mutton, Slytherin Girl, Genki Panda, Claudine, and others in the game room. Adam went off to play video games with Liz. We just chatted about life and whatnot. The con was really chill from what point on. No worries about masquerade. I played some Para Para. Tom has the footage of me shaking my booty on Para Para. At one point Genki Panda and Jason got into a fight. Al found a Chi trash can. Masako demonstrated Di-chan's philosophy - being cute gets you things.

It was just about time to prepare for the masquerade. Yami and friends allowed us to use a box for our skit. We had a little bit of fun with the box. The J-Rockers had their cutesy mascots on there while friends and I put "SBC Packagers" on it. I was surprised people got the joke. Tom did a rehearsal for the box thing. Let's say, friends got carried away and locked him in his coffin.

We were able to get Masako lined up at the last minute for our skit so she wouldn't be alone for a walk on. Though it was last minute, she fit in just fine. Performing onstage was just as fun as the last time I did masquerade back at Anime Overdose. It was a good show. Though there were few entries, it was nice to see cosplayers step up and do their thing. Congrats to all of you! In the end, our group ended up winning something! Yay! We divided amongst ourselves the prizes and it was just about time to head on home.

We said our "bye bye"'s to each other before going. Yami, Sergio, Claudine, Tom, and I walked on to the Powell Station to catch the bus home. Yami and Sergio just had to BART back. The rest of us had to Muni back. It was wonderful getting to know you more, Claudine! Tom and I arrived at our SF State stop. It was a very romantic walk back to the dorm with the fog low and all. ^.~ I made him a really quick dinner as we snuggled on the sofa and watched Pulp Fiction. Good con indeed.

And this video covers everything about the first Tales of Anime:

Pictures are copyright by Victoria Erica (Scarlet Rhapsody). If I took your picture, feel free to use it on your site or cosplay gallery. If you want me to remove something, kindly email me. While you're here, do sign the guestbook. This report was brought to you by the font Heather