Okay, on Saturday was the greatest day of my life... Well okay, nothing beats meeting Edward Elric's voice actor, but Saturday was definitely up there. >D I went to Jafax, the ONE anime convention that I'm guaranteed to go to every year, simply because it's close, and it's free to get in. ;D And, since it'd been a year since I'd gone to a con, I was pretty pumped about going.

Now, I'm probably going to bore you all to death, but I wanna type out how everything went. :3

I woke up at 6:00 AM just to get ready. My grandma and her friend wanted to be there early, as soon as everything opened up--before that, even--to get a good place in line. Being the ultra otaku that I am, I couldn't argue. My friend Mikuru (her real name's Desi. She's the one helping me write .Sylence~) had spend the night, so it took me about ten minutes to drag her out of bed and upstairs to get something to eat. After that, we were both prepping like mad, though we didn't dare get into cosplay too soon. We didn't want to get anything dirty. But out of anything as far as getting ready, I think deodorant was our biggest concern. Running around in thick costumes in a place packed with thousands of people while its uber hot outside will make you smell terrible. We wanted to avoid that at all costs.

Well, before too long, my friend Jon was over, and that was around 6:45. Being my neighbor, it's easy for him to walk five steps to my house all early in the morning like that. Once he'd gotten here, Mikuru was ready to get into my kimono. I helped her into it, and then I had to be spammed with random things on the Internet by Jon before I could even get into my cosplay. They were things I'd already seen before, so I was a little irritable, but finally was able to sneak back into my room and get on the mini skirt and turtle neck of my Clannad cosplay.

I braided Mikuru's brilliantly long hair, and she and Jon watched more Internet crap while I rushed to get all of our things together. Our money, the camera, the famous wooden starfish (and the near most important part of my cosplay), a pair of parasols for Mikuru and I, some drawings in case I wanted to show anyone, the ribbon I planned to tie in my hair, the jacket to my uniform, ect. I was putting band-aids on my left fingers afterward, and before long, my grandma was here. She brought with everything I'd told her to the day before; two pairs of blue nylons, a bandage, scissors, shoes, and lastly, a bag of starfish-shaped sugar cookies that was meant to complete my Fuko Ibuki cosplay. If you know her, the girl's starfish-obsessed, and hands out starfish carvings to people at her school. I'd been planning to mimic her and hand out the starfish cookies at the con, but unfortunately, most of them were crushed. I wasn't too devastated, though, and I tried to be optimistic about it all.

I ran up into the bathroom to make my final preparations. Nylons came first. I tried on a darker pair to star with, and they were perfect in color compared to Fuko's, but unfortunately, they had a hole in them. The second pair was a little lighter, but that didn't matter. They looked great. Then I tried to wrap the bandage around my left hand to make it look like I'd had a carving accident. It was too small and too think to do any good. Band-aids would have to be good enough. Then it was time to manage my hair. I carefully trimmed by bangs, ignoring Grandma and Jon's requests to help me. I didn't want my hair to be screwed up. After I had them trimmed, but still long enough to resemble Fuko's, I brushed it all out, but ended up becoming flustered with it. I must have sat there for a while trying to mess with it, and eventually I wandered down stairs to put in some bobby pins, but then I pulled my hair back and tied a purple ribbon near the end of it, leaving the hair by my face down like Fuko's. It looked nearly perfect.

After I ran upstairs and picked a comfortable-looking pair of shoes from my grandma, I slid on my jacket to the uniform and buttoned it up, just about ready to leave. However, my grandma had a horrible bladder and had to use the bathroom first. Jon and Mikuru were both playing on their DS, a multi player game or something. Calming myself down from the bad mood I'd been in, I sat down next to Mikuru and watched the game. As my grandma came back downstairs, Jon was trying to tell me I should join them by stealing my little brother's DS. I didn't want to, but Jon snatched it off its charger anyway before we left, after Desi had used the bathroom as well. I slug my Fullmetal Alchemist bag, which was packed with supplies, over my shoulder as we headed out the door and got into the car.

I was forced to play the DS. Luckily we played something easy; it was like the game Sorry, and I have to admit that everyone, including me, was really into it, and Jon was being pretty evil after it took him forever to get a piece out onto the board. He was pretty much the guaranteed winner by the time we got to Sharon and Ryan's house, though we decided to stop there so Ryan wouldn't have to be board. He was a kid my age who'd gone to Jafax with me and Mikuru last year; he'd never met Jon before, but they seemed to have a lot in common. Sharon was Ryan's mom, a lady who works with my grandma. She was into anime, since she was used to watching it with her son, much like my grandma was used to watching an occasional episode of Fruits Basket, Fullmetal Alchemist, Ouran High School Host Club, or Chobits with me.

The car ride from there was... interesting. I can't remember exactly how everything went, but Jon was pestering me by stealing my starfish, which in the end helped me get into character. I yelled, "Please give it back!" and threw a fit, even though the only reason he took it was because I'd hit him over the head with it. He had it under his leg, and I felt dirty trying to yank at it. Mikuru wouldn't do it, Ryan definitely wouldn't, and with all of my whining, Sharon finally made him give it back to me and promise not to take it again, and made me promise not to hit him with it again. We were kinda quiet from then on.

When we got there, all of us were pumped. We got out of the car, practically bouncing, and Mikuru and I opened our bright parasols. The first cosplayers we saw looked like they were from Yu-Gi-Oh with the crazy hair they had. We smiled at them, and Mikuru and I jumped ahead a little to lead everyone. I could see all of them in the distance, with a massive line leading up to the door. Then, even at the distance we were at, I saw a cosplayer of Lucy from Elfen Lied. Besides not having pink hair, she was perfect. I was spazzing until we were up to her, and then she actually ran to me, assisted by a girl wearing bright, rainbow colored clothes. They asked for a picture, and Mikuru, Jon, Desi and I posed willingly. I wanted to get a picture of Lucy, but I'd realised in the car that I left my camera (that didn't have batteries anyway) at home somewhere.

Mikuru and I were able to talk to Lucy and her friend for a while before heading off to get in line with the rest of our group. I was randomly hugged by a friend of mine, Oreo-chan, but we didn't talk at all before she ran off, and so Mikuru and I were waiting impatiently in line. Before too long, I heard someone calling, "I love you, Fuko!" Hearing that, I almost jumped, but saw a cosplayer of Rika from Higurashi. It was a perfect cosplay, completed by a blood splatter on her face. I'd smiled and called back, "I love you, too, Rika!" as a natural reaction. I'd sat there for a while before I realized that she's recognized me; I owed her a starfish cookie. I scrambled in my bag to find one, though only one was still shaped perfectly.

I took it and walked up to her, and I said, "Rika-chan, you have recognized Fuko. Please accept this." When she saw it, she screamed and instantly hugged me. "Please come to Fuko's sister's wedding!" I said, attempting to stay in character, though I couldn't help but smile. "I will!" she said, sounding like she was going to cry. A true Fuko Otaku! "And I'll never forget you, either!" I laughed as she let go, and I told her thanks as I walked back over to everyone. Mikuru was giggling, and Jon and Ryan looked clueless, while Grandma and Sharon looked pretty amused. I was thrilled with Rika's reaction, but that wasn't the end of her. She walked up to me and hold me how good the cookie was, and I said thanks but gave all the credit to my grandma. As I told her she was the first to receive a cookie, I offered a high-five, and willingly imitated Fuko's "Dribble, Shoot!" before the high five. Jon was completely embarrassed, but Rika was thrilled.

As we continued sitting in line, we gladly looked around to everyone. There were a lot of cospalyers we saw that we loved, including Lelouch and C.C. from Code Geass, Haruhi of the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, and a ton of girls in gothic lolita. However when Mikuru saw a Link cosplayer from Zelda, she freaked. We'd decided earlier that she could only say her little 'word'--'koi'--to people outside our group unless I told her otherwise, so I figured I could to the talking for her. We ran upto Link willingly. "Fuko has a message!" I told him, waving my starfish around a little. "This girl would like to confess her love to you!" I said. Mikuru shouted, "Koi!" and I stared up at him seriously. "Forgive her, she can't speak English," I told him, and he laughed as we turned and pranced away.

Sometime after that, someone blasted CaramellDansen. Mikuru started dancing instinctively, since I'd taught her now the night before, though I decided not to, as much as I really wanted to, to now be any more of an embarrassment than I already was. Though eventually, it was turned off and Mikuru and I were sitting there bored again. And then, I saw a girl cosplaying Sumomo from Chobits, and I knew her. It was Sakura-chan! We'd met a few times before at the convention. The year before, she'd attempted to help Mikuru and I Hare Hare Yukai, and I hadn't seen her since. With a little urging from Mikuru, we ran up to her. She was so excited to see us, and she freaked at how adorable I was. That was when CaramellDansen was turned on again, and Mikuru was dancing with ease. I laughed a little, but shook my head, turning as I heard someone call out for me. It was my friend Ami, who I'd planned on meeting up with. But she was so far back in the line, and our line was moving... and it was moving quickly. As much as I felt bad about it, Mikuru had to run the other way to catch our place.

As we sat there, under the parasols again, we noticed that we were now remarkably close to the Lelouch cosplayer. We Mikuru and I ran up to him, told him he was amazing, and ran off. Then we sat in line again, trying to stay sane. As we moved up, we caught sight of one of my other friends, Lani-chan, who was cosplaying Hanyuu from Higurashi. Ami ran up to us, cutting in line, as we neared Lani, and I gladly have her enough little bits to make her a cookie. I'd promised her one when I came up with the cookie idea, and she was glad to have one. She, like Rika, had thought it was delicious. We moved up in like and signed in and got our bags, then proceeded to the vendors. I had my shopping list out and ready to go as I neared cat ears, but they were expensive. Plus, they'd mess up my hair if I tried to put them on. I decided I'd come back to them later and moved on to find the number one thing I wanted; the first DVD of Clannad. I was poking around DVDs patiently, only annoyed slightly by the massive crowd around me, when suddenly, I sucked in a huge gasp. My hand was trembling as I pulled the DVD up, and I looked at Jon desperatley, and said, "I found it," like a life-long goal had been accomplished. He'd already bought a five-dollar Zelda necklace, and only had 25$ left. Clannad costed 32$. He felt guilty instantly, even though I had money for myself, like he'd wanted to get it for me. But I didn't hesitate to get it myself, and I eagerly nuzzled the case and showed it to Mikuru, Ami, and my grandma. Though I was happy to have it, now I really didn't have much left.

Now, a little issue was catching up with us. Mikuru's kimono was loose first of all, which wasn't a huge problem, since she was wearing something underneath and I could easily tie it back, but there was another little something, which I won't say, that she had to take care of. My grandma led us to a bathroom, and after managing her issue, Mikuru let me tie up her kimono on her, though I did it looser than I had before. Afet that, we all wandered around again. We baught ourselves some ramune, and wandered to look at things to buy again. Jon was trying to open his, and since he'd never had ramune before, I tried to help him. However, my attempts were usless, and I only ended up hurting my hands. He tried on his own again, and then Ami hold him to press it against the wall. Stupid idea. I still wanted to slap her for suggesting it, escpessially when the ramune exploded. I gasped, and then, panicked, I pushed Desi and told her to run away. All of us scrambled from the scene, even if Jon and Ami were the only ones who needed to be slapped. After we'd rushed away a little, I looked down and saw a wet spot on the jacket of my cosplay, and even a little on my skirt. I panicked and rushed to the bathroom.

I was frantic, so when Jon tried to joke around with me and told me to stand even close while he opens his second, I didn't respond. His voice was pretty frantic, too, by the time I'd rushed into the bathroom. He didn't see the spot on the cosplay that could've easily become a stain until after I came out. I'd scrubbed it a little, and I figured that hopefully it would dry and look fine. Jon honestly appoligized to me quite a few times, and before too long I forced myself to forgive him and got myself in a better mood. I couldn't let and incident like that ruin the convention for me. However, I was getting thirsty myself and wanted to drink my own ramune. I had my grandma open mine for me. Surely enough, it exploded, too. I figured that maybe there was something wrong with these... or something. Grandma cleaned up the spill, which gladly didn't get on the carpet, and I drank a little of what was left in it as we headed outside. My grandma had also given me some pocky, so I was sharing it with Jon, Mikuru and Ami as we walked.

Ami wanted to go to the artists alley, since she'd been planning on buying a pipe fox plushie from xxxHOLiC that someone she met online had. The artists alley was being held in a different building, so we had to walk there. There were a lot of things I saw in there that I liked, like a 5$ pair of cat ears that I baught. They were black and pink and kinda cute. I found cuter ones for the same price later on, though I didn't but them, since I didn't have the money. Jon was planning on buying me a present, but I simply didn't want to waste his money, since I'd been planning on buying him a present to. I guess that kept the both of us from buying much of anything else. I also found someone with a BJD. It must've been a 1/3 scale, and it was really cool. I even got to hold it, though I put it down before too long, since I was so afraid that I'd break it.

Well, Ami found the girl who she was buying the Pipe Fox from, thanks to me. It was uber cute, and the girl was really nice. Ami decided to leave while Mikuru, Jon and I decied to wander around a little more. I found Pikachu ears, and Jon made me try them on. I went "Pika, pika!" and I think I may have either embarassed him or gave the poor boy a heart attack, but either way, it was really funny. Afterward, though, he wanted to wear my cat ears. I got into a playful fight with him about saying the Japanese word for 'meow,' 'nya,' and I had a few vendors laughing at us. We got done there and headed back towards where Ami had baught the pipe fox. The girl's cashier had a BJD sitting out. I'd seen her there when we'd stopped by, but the doll's back had been facing me. Now I could see her, and man was she cute. She had really bright aqua eyes and extremely long brown hair. She was an MSD from Luts, and her name was Aria. I got to hold her for a little while, and I got into a conversation with her owner about BJDs. I decided to leave beofore boring Mikuru and Jon too much, though I got to pet a BJD cosplaying Ash that I passed before heading out.

At the doors, we decided to take a quick break and sit down. It was then that I saw someone I'd met before, who reconized me and called me 'Toph,' the name that I go by on the Jafax forums. We talked and he tagged along as we left. Mikuru accidentally spoke to him, which had me demonically scolding her, only to get hit by the guy we ran into. I whined as Jon decided not to help me, and we wandered on. However, as we were walking back, Mikuru realised she'd lost her parasal. I freaked, but she decided not to go looking for it, and said her mom would never know. I felt terrible, but I couldn't argue with her. As we walked back, I noticed that my cosplay was dried off, and I was struck with relief.

When we got inside, we sat down and relaxed a bit. I saw Sakura-chan--who I'd seen earlier--again, and I was able to give her cookies, and I have her friends cookies as well. I knew some of them, so it was a pleasure. I told my grandma everyone like her cookies, and then I met up with Ami again, and our group headed for the vendors again. I was poking through a lot of things, showing D. Gray-man things to Ami and find Lucky Star and Tsubasa things for myself, including a Mokona plushie, but I didn't want to get anything. In the process of all of that, I found someone cosplaying Wrath from Fullmetal Alchemist. I freaked and gave them cookies, calling them 'Wrathypoo.' They laughed and I moved on. Though, Ami was distracted by something with Allen Walker, and Mikuru had... poofed. After buying little pins for my maind trio (I got one that said 'Otaku Queen.' Jon's said 'Hentai,' which is the nickname I use for him all the time. And Mikusu's said 'Kawaii,' meaning 'cute), I freaked a little, found Ami, and we headed off to a less crowded part of the building to find her. However, I found a Minagi cosplayer from Air and gave her cookies. I couldn't help but be distracted.

Afterward, I was able to call Mikuru and find out that she was upstairs, getting pizza. So, we all went upstairs and sat down. I don't like pizza, so I just sat there, and Jon didn't bother with getting any. But while they ate, I found people to pass the cookies to; A Sloth cosplayer from Fullmetal Alchemist, and Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin cosplayeres from Ouran High School Host Club. I might have creeped them out, but it at least looked like they enjoyed the cookies. While I was sitting there, waiting for Mikuru and Grandma to finish eating, Mikuru's creepy friend showed up out of nowhere. Daryl. He's freaked me out for the longest time now, and I screamed like a bitch and hid behind Jon when I saw him. Unfortunatley, I was stuck with him. As creepy as he is, Mikuru still considers him a friend. Ugg.

When we headed downstairs, it was pretty close to time for our movie to start. I'd been planning on watching Kiki's Devliery Service at the con since I'd found out it was playing there a few days before. It was going to be subbed rather than dubbed, but I didn't mind. I just wanted to see it again! It was one of my favorite movies when I was a kid, so nothing was going to stop me from re-watching it now. My grandma decieded to go into where it was being shown a little early. I was skeptical, but I didn't have much else to do. However, as I was nearing the door, I saw someone--a vendor, actually--staring at me with awe. She told me I had a wonderful cosplay, and she asked for a picture. I had Jon hold my bag and parasol so I could pose perfectly, and after she had my picture, she offered me and Jon FREE CANDY. I eagerly took it and offered her free cookies. She accepted.

Well, the movie that came on before Kiki's Delivery Service was just about done, so I had no idea what was going on. Plus, it was a little suggestive, so I didn't feel like sitting through it. I just wandered around instead, poking at things I couldn't buy, like a brilliant Lucky Star cosplay. My grandma fetched me, and everyone else, when that movie was done, and we went and took a seat. It took a moment to get it running, and to my suprise, it was dubbed. It was as good as I remembered it to be, and Jiji made me laugh quite a few times. I also realized that Kiki has my attitude. Jon walked out of there going, "You're definantly Kiki, and I'm Jiji." He was wearing the cat ears, too, so I couldn't help but agree. During the movie, Mikuru's creepy friend kept 'finding' things out by the vendors and he braught them to us. One of them included a pack of Haruhi cards. I flipped.

After that, though, we had to leave. But Jon and I both baught this brilliant candy. I'd baught it the other two years of Jafax; it was a tradition like buying ramune and pocky, and man was that stuff good. I shared some with Mikuru and Ryan in the car, and by the time we were to Ryan's house, it was gone. The convention, over all, was brilliant, even though there were points of irritation that couldn't be helped. I have only two regrets. I wish I would've baught that pair of cat ears, and I wish I could've found Lucy again and given her cookies. I also wish I could've gone the second day; a few of my friends went, and I think a Clannad group in need of a Fuko were going as well. I could have fit in perfectly. But, oh well. I had an awesome time! I think I might cosplay Fuko again next year, or I'll cosplay Konata from Lucky Star, or maybe I'll even be Haruhi Suzumiya again, or find another character I really like.

Here's a list of the favorite cosplays I saw.
Rika-- Higurashi
Lenalee Lee-- D. Gray-Man
Allen Walker-- D. Gray-Man
Sora-- Kingdom Hearts
Lulu-- Code Geass
C.C.-- Code Geass
Minagi-- Air
Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin-- Ouran High School Host Club
Hunny-- Ouran High School Host Club
Wrath-- Fullmetal Alchemist
Sloth-- Fullmetal Alchemist
Chi-- Chobits
Sumomo-- Chobits
Link-- Zelda
Hanyuu-- Higurashi

And... I can't think of the rest. D8

But for now, I'm going to focus on how I'm going to next to the next Michigan convention; Youmacon. >3