Tom and I arrived Saturday morning. We had an interesting time going to Van Nuys. First, we had to fill up the tank for the minivan. I also wanted to go to Starbucks. Tom realized he forgot his tie. We drove back to my house to get the tie. We then finally fill up and go to Starbucks. All of sudden, we realized we forgot our masquerade music CD. We turn around find the masquerade music cd. Finally, we were on our way.

I will say that we were lucky to get decent parking spaces close to the main points of the convention. We were decked out in our Full Metal Alchemist costimes we bought at Anime Expo. I finally could wear my Riza Hawkeye wig. For most of the morning, we were being sporadic. We ran into Kyle Herbert of DBZ fame. We also went to Svetlana Chmakova's Drama Con panel. I did not know much about Drama Con until I attended her panel. It was nice that she did a reading of the first couple pages of her manga. We also scored some free manga thanks to Anime Sith Lord's tipster. Tom got Galaxy Angel. I got I'm No Angel.

We went back outside to the cosplay photo area. Despite the Full Metal Alchemist gathering being held on the previous day, a bunch of us Full Metal Alchemist cosplayers decided to do our own impromptu gathering anyway. These are the types of gatherings I enjoy. Unplanned and sporadic. We had a great time posing with the othe Full Metal Alcemist cosplayers.

At 1PM, we went to the masquerade mandatory meeting. We got to see how the stage was set up. Tom and I scoured around the stage area if it would be safe enough to do the final stunt. (As well as jumping around in high heels!) We also had our lunch during the meeting. I brought homemande hot dogs from home. Had I known LunaNeko's daughter was jonesing for one, I would have made more to share. -_-;

After running into several of our friends, we attended the Brilliant Moon panel. They ran an interesting panel about shopping in the Los Angeles Fashion District. Mind you, I just moved back to Los Angeles area. I've only been to the area once just to pick up lace, but the panel was very helpful to someone like me who is not familliar with the Los Angeles fabric district and how to go about it. I'm used to $6 per yard heavy weight cotton in San Francisco's Mission District, but Brilliant Moon mentioned that they were able to score the same kind of fabric for $2 per yard. My jaw literally dropped to the floor. I know where I'm going to on my free time now. Meanwhile, Tom says he can still get his fabric for free.

For the most part, we just wandered around. The rain came in which only put a damper to the cosplay gatherings outside. People had to meet up in the lobby. I wanted to take more pictures of the cosplayers, but after being yelled at by staff to take the photos outside, I decided it was not worth it. Tom and I went to Tiffany's room to chill for a while before we had to change into masquerade. Quiet time and taking a step back from the hecticness convention is always a good idea.

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