After having a good night sleep on the roll away bed, I began preparing my cosplay day one. Luckily, I had ironed everything the night before. Since posting my Pacific Media Expo 2008 report, my Bay Area friends really wanted to see my Ranka Lee costume, so I delivered. I began wandering around the main concourse looking for Sean Barber. A while back, Rob Miles had requested video content for Stage Zero. I brought a memory stick of all Traveling Valentine convention music videos. The quest for Sean Barber was a story in itself - from paging Mr. Barber at con-ops, stopping by Stage Zero every now and then, and eventually finding him as Stage Zero was prepping for opening ceremonies.

On this journey, I ran into Gerardo “Loudmouth” Paz from my alma mater, San Francisco State University. Now, the question of everyone’s mind was “Where’s Tom?” That’s a very good question. Even Loudmouth was figuring out the answer to the age old question.

The early hours of day one was slow. I spent some quality time with Julia and Caitlin (We're Not Twins Cosplay). It is to be expected. Some kids were still in school, people were still coming in, or people were still at work.

Opening ceremonies did not start until 3PM later that day. I ran into this piano man by the name of Vlad (Team Banzai). I asked him if he knew anything by Cole Porter or Sondheim. I was thrilled to find out that there’s someone at this convention that is musically cultured. We started singing show tunes and making up songs as we go.

Deb and I went around taking pictures of each other’s cosplays.

At about 11PM, Jared arrived into town. We started looking for the panel operations room so he could get his discount for his Horror & Thriller Anime panel.

I moved my belongings to the Hilton. Let me say this, you get your money’s worth. While the Marriot may be considered as the “cosplayer’s hotel,” the amenities, spacious room, restaurant, and complimentary lemon water (for day one) were enough to make me want to stay at the Hilton again. Having a fridge saves us so much money on food!

After having Mexican rice leftovers for lunch, we decided to hit Artist Alley. My only regret was forgetting to pick up a skirt or two from Nancy’s table.

However, I did find a Ranka Lee to take twin shots with! I really like taking pictures with other variants of the character I am cosplaying as. Lucky for the Macross Frontier idols, their wardrobe is infinite.

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