(As an homage to "No Country for Old Men," this report follows the style of the original novel of using no quotation marks)

As Newsweek raves An instant classic, several cosplayers again brought forth the Socal Cosplay Spring Gathering for the fourth consecutive year. This event has exponentially grown to over 400 attendees. This year's gathering was held at the Mason Regional Park in Irvine. This brought back memories to veteran cosplayers from the early Cosplay.com days when one of the first Cosplay.com gatherings were held in Mason Regional Park. Tom recalls cosplaying as Ryoga searching for Akane and his cosplay partner that day was a boy named Jim.

Southern California weather is unpredictable. Yesterday's spring day grew to a record high of 91 during the picnic. It did not stop the Gijinka (Human) Pokemon, Reborn hitmen, and two Victorian aristocrats from attending. I will admit, I would have loved to cosplay as Dawn from Pokemon: Diamond and Pearl. But being that I put a lot of work into Grandis (Nadia: Secret of the Blue Water), it was hell or high water. The rewarding part of cosplaying from Nadia is that after so many compliments, we introduced a few cosplay greenhorns to a classic series.

We gave our friends Deb, Stan, and Carolyn a ride over to Irvine. It was the five of us packed into our 1987 Mercedes Benz. The party was just starting up as we arrived. There were many things to do at the event. Rock Band, Dance Dance Revolution, and other games were set up for play. If you were into actual reality, several people practiced volleyball. Hungry? There was plenty of burgers and barbeque on the grill.

What other event can say they had Tiger Woods present? J Ryoga, fellow conventioneer, dressed up as the golf champion. i360, Mr. Postman, Dragon Yo-Yo, Asian School Boy, Crazy Bunta, Agent Sakura 9, Kyle, and Wayne #2 were some of the photographers present. There were a few surprises from the old days of cosplay. Rey Rey, former AniMagic Master of Ceremonies, made a special apperance. I told them to RSVP under the name Rape Rape.

It seemed everyone who made some sort of impact in the SoCal cosplay community was present. Hazel Chaz promoted Anime Los Angeles 5 while serving over 35 gallons of pink lemonade. At the last summer gathering, I only went through 15 gallons stated the ALA chair.

What I liked about the event is that it really brought out an oppurtunity for cosplayers to mix and mingle. The fact we were in the same hobby already broke the ice. It seemed everyone was there for their own fun be it taking photoshoots or having a birthday party. One activity that brought people together was the photo themed scavanger hunt. Tom and I kept getting our photos taken for female cosplayer donning a hat. There was also a raffle where you could win swag. There was also a fish naming raffle!

There were these group of guys that started to sing songs from anime. They surprised us with a guitar accompanied rendition of the US Pokemon Theme.

I wanna be the very best! See if you can remember all the words!

On the other side of our designated picnic area was a lake. Tom says this is where Cosplay.com used to have their gatherings. With assistance from Jason, we had a few pictures of our Nadia costumes by the lake.

Then it came time for one mass gathering shot of all attendees which was made of Rickrolling. Better Never Gonna Give You Up than the same old Avenue Q redundancy. The day came to an end. Tom foraged a few items from the raffle. I took plenty of photos and connected with new faces. This gathering really gave me a chance to meet up and coming cosplayers as well as cosplayers that have been around as long as I have.

All good things must come to and end, yet I had a mild panic attack which led to a fainting spell. Many thanks to my friends who were at my side to help me regain conciousness.

Our friends Yana and Stephanie were having a birthday party at Chili's. We joined them as soon as we could. It was great to reconnect with a few faces from an old forum, Infinitely Excellent. Thanks for inviting us, Yana and Stephanie. The highlight of this dinner was mummifying Deb. Tom owed Deb a birthday present anyway. The night was winding down. We all had to get our tushes home. As Carolyn led Tom back to the car by way of her boobs, it was time to close the book on the SoCal Cosplay Spring Gathering 2008.

Who knows? The SoCal Cosplay Spring Gathering is a high contender for Best Event of the Year. Yet, let's not forget the event's directors. Thanks for holding this picnic. We look forward attending more in the future. You guys really know how to run an event! Our only regret is not having showed up to these things earlier.

Quotes, if any of you follw up on them.

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