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This report is entirely based on my
point of view. Please do not ask me to take off any
remarks on here. Where I live, we have first amendment
rights, meaning that we have the freedom of religion and freedom
of the press. In my case, it's the freedom of speech, which
goes under the first amendment rights. If you don't like the
comments I made on this page, sorry, but this is my page.
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| Day One (Thursday,
July 5, 2001) San Francisco, CA (6:00 am) Weather: 50º F (cold) "Search For The Senshi" How do I put up with this, you ask? Simple, I go to bed early... sometimes. Anyway, mom helps me load my luggage into the car. My God. Too much luggage if you ask me. You'd think I was going to Europe. I didn't even have a chance to have breakfast. I said to myself, "what the hell? I'll have it when I get to the airport." Again, it was very nice of mom to drive me to the airport and dropped me off at the American Airlines terminal. As I walked through the sliding doors, I couldn't believe how long the line was for baggage check in. I said, "oh, my God! This is ridiculous. I just hope Will gets here in time." Fifteen minutes later, Will shows up, but I was still stuck in the long line and it's already 7:00 a.m. A security guard approaches us and asks us when our flight was leaving. I said, "around 9:00 a.m." He said, "forget it. You'll never make it in time. Come with me." The security guard escorts the two of us outside to the curbside check-in. I've never done curbside check-in before. It was my first time. I will say this. It was really quick. Man, if only I had known about this sooner. Hey, no one told me, okay? So, stop making fun of me. *laughs* Let's see, the good old checkpoint... ohhhh, yes. What do you know? I didn't have any problems this time. :) Will and I had plenty of time before we boarded our plane. There was this stand that sells drinks and danishes. We figured that we might as well take advantage of it. About an hour and 35 minutes later, we boarded our plane. What was weird, not to mention, creepy was the number of people on board our plane. I'd say there were less than 20 people. I'm not used to traveling on a plane with so few people. Everytime I take a flight, it's always full. The flight was a good hour and a half, which was nice. We arrived in John Wayne airport and immediately went down to the baggage claim area to get our bags, which didn't take too long. Afterwards, we waited for Zoey. What was weird was the fact that we waited for Zoey for over an hour. I said, "Will, don't worry. I'll call my boyfriend to see if I can get a ride from him or one of his friends." I placed a call to Al, and he told me that he wouldn't be able to pick me up because he came in the car with Joe. He even asked Joe if he could pick us up, and he refused to move his car because he was afraid he would lose a good parking space. After I got off the phone, I started getting frustrated. I yelled, "what an asshole!" Will goes to me and says, "what's wrong?" I said, "Al's buddy, Joe doesn't want to pick us up because he doesn't want to lose his good parking space." Will rolled his eyes and said, "Oh, my God." Will kept telling me to calm down, but I couldn't. I had to meet up with the girls so I could get their signatures and turn in the application to the masquerade coordinator. Today was the only day for me to do that, otherwise we're out of the competition. We waited, and waited, and waited, and then I finally said, "oh, fuck it! We'll take a shuttle." There goes some of my convention money, no thanks to my miserable excuse for backup. :p As we were in the shuttle, my cellphone rang. It was Zoey. I told her that we waited for her for over an hour and we didn't see her or anything, so we took a shuttle bus instead. She apologized and told us that there was traffic on the way from Grand Junction. I said, "don't worry about it." I told her that once I get to the convention, I would gather all of the other members from Senshi Mysterious to sign the masquerade application, and get rehearsal out of the way. We arrived at the Long Beach Convention Center, and I'm practically gathering all of my things together, which was a lot for me to carry. Wouldn't you know it? It's hot, not to mention raining. :p Could this day get any worse? I asked the con staffer where we could get my badges and he told me that I would have to go to the Westin Hotel which was two blocks away from the convention center. I'm all, "what the hell?" Talk about stupid! Will and I had to walk two blocks, which seemed like an eternity with all the heat and rain. There's a sign that directs us to pre-registration. When I got there, I groaned the minute I saw the flight of stairs. I said, "hell no! I'm not lugging all this stuff upstairs! What if I fall and break my neck?" The con staff was nice enough to direct me to the elevator that would take me to the pre-registration room. It didn't take too long for them to get my badge. :) Yay! And they even got my name right on the badge this year! Well, at least one good thing happened. :) It took Will longer to get his badge since he didn't pre-register. I figured that I should go and change my costume while he's in the registration line. On my way out of the pre-reg room, I bumped into Michiru (girl on the left) from Eyes on Me Cosplay. :) I couldn't believe that she actually made the trip out to AX. I felt honored right there. I said, "I really love your 'Scenes From An Elevator' show that you have on-line. You know, I showed the program to my boyfriend and his friends and they said that you should do this professionally." Michiru was shocked and she said, "wow! Thank you", and I left. I walked into the bathroom and I got into my Yukino Miyazawa costume (sorry, no photo of me as Yukino) and waited in the hall for Will. Once Will came out, we were on our way. We walked back to the convention center to see if there was anyone we knew. The rain wasn't helping me at all, which really ticked me off. As I walked into the doors, I met up with Jessica, who was dressed as Princess Serenity. Poor girl. She told me that she was wandering around in the convention by herself. I'm glad I found her. I told her that I needed to look for the other members in our group. Will was practically joking the entire time and I wasn't in the mood for his jokes. :( I know, pretty pathetic of me, isn't it? Before we left the convention center, Jessica asked me if she could borrow my tennis shoes since she felt a little uncomfortable walking in the rain with her good shoes. I don't blame her. I said, "sure, but be careful. The shoes are probably a little big." Jessica was nice enough to let me into her parent's room at the Renaissance Hotel, so I could leave my luggage with her until I found my room. Two hours went by and I couldn't find anyone at all. :p I figured that I should call the Inn of Long Beach to tell them that it would take a while for me to get to the motel. The lady on the phone then asked, "are you Claudine Roselle Puente?" I'm all, "yeah..." and she told me that there were a bunch of people waiting for me. I said, "What?! Really? Yes!!! I'll be there in about fifteen minutes or so", and I hung up. Will, Jessica, and I went back to the Renaissance Hotel to get Jessica's luggage. It took a while for us to get Jessica's things, not to my stuff. We asked Will if he could help us with a few things. He was goofing off and joking, and of course I got upset again. Don't get me wrong. I mean, Will's a nice guy, but at that moment, I wasn't in the mood for jokes. I'm all, "can you help us out here, or not!?" He's all, "if you're going to be that way, then no, I won't!" Poor Will. He wasn't enjoying this either. We head out to the Inn of Long Beach, which was about three blocks away or so. Seemed longer, but then again, I was told that the sidewalks of Southern California were much longer... or was it the heat? Anyway, as I walked into the registration desk, I was ready to pay for the room and when I took out my credit card, she asked for ID (so what else is new?) As I showed it to her, I realized that from the way I was dressed, she would think that it wasn't me, so I took the wig off, and the lady at the front desk started laughing. She told me that she thought it was my real hair. I said, "no, it's not. I took it off because I was afraid that you wouldn't believe that the person in the photo is me." She's all, "no, I know it's you." *laughs* She gave me the keys and I checked in at the front desk in room #203. As I walked into the room, I saw Casandra, David, Autumn, Maureen, and Kristen in the room. I gave Autumn, Jessica, and Casandra their costumes. After carrying all that heavy luggage, I needed a rest. It was so hot and sweaty, that I decided to get out of my Yukino Miyazawa costume and put on my Kasumi Tendo costume, considering that it was more or less meant for hot weather. Casandra showed me where her room was and I took the funniest detour I could think of in order to get to her room. There was a gate barrier from our room to hers, and we climbed over it. We looked like burglars coming in and out of our rooms. *laughs* Unfortunately they couldn't get connected rooms for us. Oh, well. I guess that goes to show you that it's bad to reserve a motel room. :p Oh, well. Anyway, we settled down for a while, sipping numerous amounts of cans of Red Bull Energy Drinks. Ohhhhhhh, man, do those things give you energy. No joke. It made us jitter and laugh a lot. Oh, God! I'm starting to sound like we were on drugs or something. Before we went back to the convention center, Casandra and David got into their costumes -- Akane and Tenchi. :) At around 3 p.m., we headed back into the convention center, Susan Spann (our Sailor Venus) so we could get our masquerade registration out of the way. I even went as far as calling the hotel to see if there was a Susan Spann registered for the hotel room. They said no. Then I figured that I could go back to the AX pre-registration desk to ask them if Susan Spann had checked in for her badge. They said no. I was like, "oh, man. This is like looking for a needle in a haystack. At the time, I was also looking for Kathy because I wanted to return her scrapbook to her. I wasn't too concerned in finding her because I knew she was around somewhere, not to mention that I knew who she was personally. Since we struck out with the hotel desk and the AX pre-reg desk, we went into the dealer's room to see if we could find Susan. Now I know we should've set up a time on where to meet and what not. Who fault is that? Ohhhh, well. Live and learn, I guess. In the dealer's room, I bumped into Lynleigh, who was dressed as Sailor Star Maker, and might I add, a VERY good Sailor Star Maker. I asked her if she had seen Susan Spann and she said no. I'm all, "Oh, man. I need to find her so she can sign the masquerade application so I can hand it in to the MC." She told me that she would keep her eyes open and contact me if she finds her. We ran into another familiar face. It was Ambre Poda who was dressed as Ranma... well, with the exception of the blue hair, but hey, she looked good. :) We also ran into Zoey, who was dressed as Galaxia, with a few changes from the last time she wore the costume. As we went into the Hyatt, we ran into Kathy, who was dressed as Sailor Moon. I returned her scrapbook to her with no problems... or so I thought. She goes to me and says, "I didn't know our group was having a pool party. Why didn't anyone tell me?" I said, "we posted the message on the Yahoo! Club message board. Didn't you read it?" She refused to answer my question and she kept saying, "I should've been informed about this." Then I asked, "Kathy, have you seen Susan Spann?" and she said no. She didn't tell me that she would help us out or keep an eye out for her. Afterwards, she asked me when we were having the pool party, and I said, "it'll be at 9:00 p.m. at the Inn of Long Beach. You're welcome to come if you want." She said, "okay, I'll be there." and we went our separate ways. The funny thing was, she didn't bother to tag along with us or anything, which seemed really odd considering that she always tags along with us anytime we're going to hang out somewhere or stuff like that. Hours went by; it was already 7 p.m. and there was no sign of Susan Spann. I needed to get the technical application into the MC before 8 p.m.; I had only one hour left. I guess you could say that I practically lost faith in the skit right at that moment. Out of the blue, my cellphone rings. At first I thought it was probably Al trying to reach me, but when I saw the caller I.D., it read "unidentified caller" and the number was displayed. I answered the phone, and it was Seung Ha. He had told me that he found Susan Spann. I asked, "what?! Really? Where is she?" And he says, "she's in the Hyatt Hotel in a panel on the second floor. Lynleigh told me that you were looking for her, and I thought I should help you out in this." Man, what a sweet guy. :) I said, "thanks so much. I'll be right there". Before I hung up, he told me to hurry because the panel was ending. We hurried to the second floor, and when we got there, there was no sign of Susan. :( Luckily, my cellphone keeps track of phone numbers, starting with the most recent person that called me. I hit the redial button, and I talked to Seung. He told me which room to go to and I went in. It turns out that it was a cosplay panel hosted by Meg and Gina. As I walked in, I saw Lynleigh dressed as Princess Uranus. Lynleigh knelt towards me, and while indicating the girl in the short hair she whispered, "If you're looking for Susan Spann, she's right over there." I whispered, "thanks", and I walked in back of Susan, who was dressed as Lum from Urusei Yatsura, tapped her on the shoulder. She turns around and I whispered, "hi, I'm Claudine Roselle Puente." And she whispered hi and told me that she had the money for the costume, and she gave me the $30.00. I told her that Will was also looking for her, and she came out of the room with me. As I walked out of the room, we had all the masquerade paperwork squared away and Will had found his roomate. :) I invited Susan to come to the pool party, but she declined because she had other plans. I said, "okay, no problem. In the meantime, let me give you my cellphone number. We're gonna have rehearsal tomorrow at 10:00 am, and I was wondering if it's possible for you to call me an hour earlier?" She said that it wouldn't be a problem. I told her that I would tell her where the rehearsal spot would be the next day, since we were still looking for a place to do that. Our motel room is way too small for rehearsal. :( She said that it's fine, and we went our separate ways. I told the girls that we will have rehearsal tomorrow since I know everyone seems a little tired today. Anyway, I asked the girls to wait for me in the lobby while I turn in the paperwork to the masquerade office, hoping that it wasn't too late. It wasn't. :) The funny thing was, the minute the MC (Maxine) sees me, she recognizes me as the President of Senshi Mysterious. I was like, "yeah... that's me..." What really baffled me was the fact that I've never met the MC before. She saw my application and told me that everything was fine and she gave me the masquerade passes. She told me not to lose them, otherwise, we wouldn't be able to get into the theater. I said, "no problem" Whew! That was close. TOO close, if you ask me. Anyway, I went back into the lobby and told the girls the good news. After all the walking around with no break, no nothing, we were starved. Well, what do you know? Along comes Al, and he sees all of us and asks us if we were hungry, and we head into the lower level of the Hyatt and had dinner in the buffet. They served Japanese food there, which was a shock. I wasn't too crazy about the food, and I said to myself, "hey, it's better than nothing." Al paid for everyone, and again I thought to myself, "wait a minute? Why is he doing all this? Something's really odd here." As we walked up the stairs heading from the buffet to the lobby, we ran into Layne Kou. I said hi to her, and she said hi, but for some odd reason she seemed really miffed about something. I didn't take it personally, since I was pretty sure it had nothing to do with me... at least I hope it didn't. Anyway, we went back to the Inn of Long Beach, with a half-hour to spare for the pool party. :) We went into our rooms and got into our swimsuits. I asked one of the girls if I could borrow their T-shirt for the pool. I completely forgot to shave my underarms, and I felt embarrassed about going out to the pool and having people stare at the girl with hair under her arms. :p Autumn was nice to lend me her T-shirt. We were in our room for about a half hour or so. While we were in the room, Autumn played the song Mr. Wonderful on the radio and she started showing me the moves and everything. I was so shocked as to how she memorized the dance so perfectly. I mean, that REALLY made my day. :) We were waiting for the other members to come to the motel and join us. Unfortunately, no one showed up. No one came in, and no one called us. We figured, "what the heck. Let's just get in the pool." Jessica, Autumn, Maureen, Kristen, and I went into the pool and started pushing each other back and forth, not to mention that we were carrying each other. *laughs* It was nice of Will to take photos of us while we were in the pool area. A few minutes later, Casandra, Al, and David would join us. The girls were exhausted and wanted to go back into the room and get some sleep. The rest of us went into the Jacuzzi and stayed there for about a half hour or so... that's when the manager of the hotel told us that the pool was closed. Oh, well. No biggie. At least we had a whole hour in the pool. :) As Casandra, David, Al, and I went back into our room, we heard a knock at the door. It was Arek and his buddy, John Hokanson. Arek said, "sorry we're late for the pool party." I said, "it's okay. No problem." We chatted for about an hour or so and I introduced Arek to the other members of Senshi Mysterious; as for John, it was the very first time he met us. John and Arek told me that they had a heck of a time getting to our motel. First they told me that they didn't know where it was, and two, as they were walking towards the motel, these homeless guys on the streets were giving them a hard time. I said, "ohhhhh, no. That's all we need." John then goes to me and says, "if you guys plan on going out tonight or even tomorrow, I wouldn't recommend having you guys walk out on those streets alone. If you're going to go out, go as a group." I said, "thanks for telling us, John." Man, and I thought San Francisco was rough. But then again, this is Southern California we're talking about here, so anything is possible. It was already past midnight and a few of us fell asleep, so Arek, John, and Al left our room. Before Arek headed towards the door, he asked me if we would like to have rehearsal in his hotel room. I asked him if the room was big enough, and he said, "i'm sure the room is big enough for all of you." How could I say no to that? I said, "okay, we'll have rehearsal in your room. Is 10:00 a.m. a good time for you?" He nodded and said yes and he left. Before I went into bed, I made the announcement to the rest of the girls telling them that rehearsal would be 10:00 a.m. in Arek's hotel room. I asked, "is that okay for all of you?", and they agreed that it was fine. Okay, I guess that was that. :) Day Two (Saturday, July 6, 2001) Inn of Long Beach/ Long Beach, CA (7:00 am) Weather: 80º F (hot) "Rehearsal/ Costume Blues" I was the first one up. So what else is new? :p Shortly the other girls got up and we got dressed. At first I was going to wear my Ukyo costume, but it turns out that I was missing the black belt for the costume. :( Oh, well. I'll wear the costume next time. Instead, I got into my Natsumi Tsujimoto costume. My cellphone rang. It was Arek. He was calling to ask me when we would come into his hotel room. I said, "I'm going to call Casandra to let her know that we need to get a move on. As soon as Susan calls, I'll send her up to your room, okay?" After I got off the phone, I placed a call to Casandra's room to let her know that we needed to start rehearsal ASAP. Unfortunately Casandra ran into a little problem. David refused to get out of bed. I said, "I'm sorry, Casandra, but I told everyone the night before to be up by 7:30." She's all, "I know, I know, but it's just David... I'm gonna wake him up, okay?" Again I apologized to her. Why am I not surprised that I would run into this problem? Ohhhh, boy. Jessica then tells me that she left her Sailor Moon costume back in her parents hotel room at the Renaissance. I said, "okay, no worries. We'll go and get it. So, we walked about half a mile to the hotel, only to find out that her parents weren't in it. We had to go all the way down to the front desk. We told the person in the lobby that she had something in the room, and the lady almost didn't let us in, and I can understand why. I mean, ANYONE could pose to be someone's daughter or pose to be related to the person who has the room. Anyway, she said, "I'm going to have to ask security to go with you guys, okay?" And both of us were like, "sure, no problem." We waited outside her parent's room and about 3 minutes later, the hotel security guard showed up. She unlocked the door and told us to wait outside. She asked us what we wanted and we told her that in the closet was a costume, which is a white leotard, with a red bow on the chest area, with a blue skirt, and red boots with yellow crescent moons at the top. She opens the closet and says, "yep, it's in here", and she asked us if there was anything else that we needed and, Jessica said, "yeah, there's a little black bag near the sink in the bathroom, and it has makeup in it. The security guard looks in the bathroom and says, "yeah, I see it." She gives us both of the items and we thanked her and left. About 5 minutes later, we returned to the Inn of Long Beach. We had a heck of a time getting David to wake up. After coaxing him out of bed, my cellphone rings again. It was Susan. She told me that she was up and ready to meet us for rehearsal. I directed her to Arek's room and I said, "when you he answers the door, tell him your name and he'll let you in, okay? We're on our way." I hung up and we walked all the way to the Hyatt. As we walked into Arek's room, we started rehearsal. I brought my tape player and everything and Arek was all, "oh, we have a stereo in this room. I'm like, "wow! Cool!" Susan showed me the dance, and I was so amazed over the fact that she practiced and everything. I have a feeling the skit is going to be wonderful. :) David videotaped us and took photos of us rehearsing. We rehearsed for about an hour or two, and we each went our separate ways. I told the girls that if they needed me, to call me on my cellphone. I stayed and chatted with the Arek and the guys -- John Hokanson and Mike Choi (or should I say the guy known as Mad Mike). We chatted about times we spent at certain conventions, and things we did in our everyday life. We spent about... I'd say a couple of hours at least. As I was in their room, I took a good look at the back of my knees and they were so red and itchy. Could it be that I'm allergic to the arid weather? It looked really bad. Arek gave me some ice, which helped a bit, but the redness didn't go away. :p Oh, well. I said to myself, "I just hope it doesn't get worse tomorrow." At around 12 p.m., I headed into the convention center to look for either Randy, Ambre, or Zoey. I still had yet to finish Sailor Mercury's and Sailor Mars's buckle for their costumes. I bought myself a personal pizza from the snack bar for lunch. Oh, God! All I can say is, $8.00 for a drink and personal pan pizza is a complete rip-off. :p I searched left and right, and I bumped into Randy in the dealer's room. I asked Randy what room they were in, and he told me that they were staying at the Hyatt and their room was in the basement. He also said that Zoey was in the room working on her costume. I went back to the Hyatt and went to her room. I asked her if it was okay if I could use her sewing machine, and she said, "no problem." I was in her room for hours working on costumes and everything. It turns out that Zoey was still working on her Sailor Chaos costume. Man, that must be hard. She told me that she had worked on her costume for days and she's still not finished. When I looked at her costume, it felt like plastic leather or something, but for some odd reason it was much thicker than slicker, pleather, and PVC. I asked her, "what did you use to make your costume?" She told me that she used place mats. I said, "what a great idea! I should try that someday." :) As I was working on the costumes, Jessica's boyfriend, Adam, who was dressed as Trunks came in to look at the costuming progress. Shortly, Randy would come in to rest, then Arek and Mike would pay us a visit. It was really nice. I enjoyed it. :) Man, I never thought I'd be wasting the entire day to work on costumes. This is why you should never procrastinate; you miss out on a day. :p It was already 7 p.m. by the time I put the finishing touches to costume. I decided to call the motel room to see if they were there. Casandra answered the phone and told us that they we were there. While I was chatting, Arek asked me to inform them about the party taking place in his room. I figured that we should bring music into the room and have a dance party while we were there. There was no way in hell I would go to dance where neither I, nor the rest of the guys from SNM Productions wouldn't be a part of the DJing act. I said to myself, they can have their dance party, and we'll have ours. I decided to go into the dealer's room for about an hour to see if I could find anything I could buy. All I found was a Chrono Trigger soundtrack (SonMay brand, of course :p ) That was all I was interested in. I did get interested in the Aibo pets they were showing. I never knew that they had robotic pets -- REAL robotic pets, that is. :) Again, I ended up buying another pan pizza and sports drink (worst sports drink I ever tasted). Okay, okay. I know what you guys are saying. You think that I'm giving in to the hotel too much. Hey, I was starved, so sue me. *laughs* By 8:00 p.m., the dealer's room was closed, and I was on my way out. As I walked up to the main lobby of the Hyatt, I called all the other girls to come and join us for the party. The people who showed up were Autumn, Kristen, Jessica, Maureen, Arek, Nick Hiel, John, Mike, Al, Randy, Ambre, and myself. We were having a grand old time, munching on chips, drinking soda, and dancing to anime music. It was great. :) We started by doing footsies (man, I look bad in this photo :p) and then Kristen and Maureen started doing their own dance. Eventually, Nick would join us and start dancing. :) It was around midnight and we figured that we should get back to our motel and get some sleep, for we knew that we needed to be at the masquerade meeting by 10:00 a.m. Al was nice to come with us and escort me to the car with the rest of the girls. As we walked out of the Hyatt, we ran into Alex Alvarez. In the beginning, I told Al not to say anything to him while he was with me. If I know Alvarez, the minute Al opens his mouth and says something to him, Alvarez would try and come up to us. Al walks past him, and says, "Alex, I can't do anything." Alvarez wants to talk to him, and Al almost walked back towards him. I'm all, "don't talk!" and I yanked Al's arm as an indication to not get near Alvarez. How could Al do that? I mean, geez! What's he trying to do? Provoke the guy to coming up to me and giving me a hard time? I ran, and of course, Arek thought I was overreacting. Okay, yeah, I guess you could say I was, but I was doing my best to avoid him, and all of that ended the minute Al opened his mouth. :p We went into the convention center garage and John was really nice to offer us a ride back to our motel room. :) But first, we made a stop at the local 7-Eleven to get some spaghetti sauce and a few sodas. :) What really amazed me was how well Autumn and Jessica were getting along. And I thought Sailor Mars and Sailor Moon weren't supposed to get along. *laughs* On our way back from 7-Eleven, a homeless guy was trying to panhandle some money off of us, by saying some story about how he was beaten up by police and all that. I said to myself, "whatever, you low life." We arrived back at our motel, with the spaghetti sauce and some spaghetti ready to be cooked and everything. :) We cooked in Casandra's and David's room, while watching "I Love Lucy". Yeah, I know. What a combination. :p After the spaghetti dinner we had in our room, we went back to our rooms, taking the same detour. *laughs* Day Three (Sunday, July 7, 2001) Inn of Long Beach/ Long Beach, CA (7:00 am) Weather: 80º F (hot) "No Time, But Showtime" I woke up shivering. Could it be because we forgot to turn off the air conditioner? Ohhhhhh, boy. Oh, well. Autumn was the next person to wake up and we started getting into our costumes. Well, wouldn't you know it? I forgot to bring my tights. :p We figured that we should go to 7-Eleven to see if they sell any stockings. We did. Autumn was wearing part of her Sailor Mars go-go costume and I got into my Natsumi Tsujimoto costume. It was even hotter than ever once we walked outside. :p We went to 7-Eleven and I bought a "cheap" pair of stockings (you'll find out the details later). On our way back, this homeless lady is trying to panhandle from us by saying, "I need some help. I was just shot in the leg last night. Can you help me out?" I said, "Sorry, but I don't have anything." Autumn and I head back to the motel and I mumbled, "that's the dumbest excuse I've ever heard when it comes to panhandling." :p We have the biggest homeless population in San Francisco, and they don't even use excuses like that when it comes to panhandling. Ohhhhh, boy. As Autumn and I walked into the room, we noticed that Jessica, Maureen, and Kristen were already up. Jessica was just getting into her costume and so was I. Afterwards, I gave the girls their masquerade passes to for the masquerade meeting and the backstage meeting. Our motel phone rings. It's Arek telling me that the line for masquerade tickets is long, and he also mentioned that people have been waiting since 5 a.m. Man, talk about desperate. I called Casandra to let her know that if David wanted to get tickets for the AX masquerade, that he needs to get in line ASAP. David didn't want to do that. He said that he refused to get in a line with a bunch of people waiting. Casandra started freaking out, and I said, "don't worry. Tell you what. Maybe we can ask the people in the masquerade if they can give him a backstage pass." She started feeling a little better. It was already 8:00 a.m. and we all got into our costumes. Before we knew it, we were on our way to Susan's room to pick her up. As we walked towards the Hyatt, we had a couple of people looking at us like, "wow! Who are these people?" *laughs* I don't know if our costumes were THAT good, but hey, it's nice to know that some people are appreciative of the costumes you make. :) As we walked by the masquerade ticket line, I was like, "holy smokes". The line for masquerade tickets practically stretched all the way from the convention center to East Ocean Blvd. We ran into Kathy, who was dressed as Pikachu from Pokemon. She told me that she was close into getting the masquerade tickets, but that's about all she said, and we just walked on. As we walked into Susan's room, I was shocked over the fact that Susan was wearing a bright yellow wig, identical to the one in the Sera Myu performances. We took the elevator down to the second floor, then took the escalator to the main lobby of the Hyatt. As we walked out of the Hyatt, we were kind of mislead into going to some rooms for the masquerade meeting. Finally, someone directed us to the second floor of the convention center. We waited outside, with a bunch of other people, until they finally opened the doors. As we walked in, the MC started giving us the rundown for the entire masquerade. She then called for attendance and everything. When she called people's names, and if they didn't say "present" or "here", she would scratch their names off the list. I said to myself, "that's kind of cold. I mean, I understand that she needs to be organized and all, but what if the person is having a heck of a time looking for the place? The directions given to us, isn't exactly what I call simple directions. It's so easy to get lost." :p Another thing that I didn't like is the fact that they made all of us meet in the room at 10:00 a.m. They have some nerve. Don't these people realize that a majority of attendees don't wake up until noon? Oh, well. We were practically stuck in that room, I'd say about an hour and a half. After the meeting was over, Casandra went to me and asked me I don't know how many times, "is there a way to get David backstage with us?" I said, "we're gonna have to talk to them about that. I can't promise you anything, but I'll see what we can do." By the time we had a chance to talk with the MC. She was really nice and was willing to give David a backstage pass. All I can say is, he was lucky. Before we exited the room, the MC goes to all of us and says, "please meet back at the main theater by 4 p.m." Jeez! That doesn't really give us enough time to enjoy ourselves. They have some nerve. :p We figured that it would be best if we went into the dealers room to see if we can use the time to enjoy ourselves. Heaven knows how fast time would go by. As we walked towards the dealer's room, the girls were excited when they saw someone in a Makona costume. We figured, "what the heck", and we had our photo taken with the Makona. :) As we went into the dealers room, there was this one girl who saw us, and she asked outloud, "why are the Sailor Senshi dressed up as go-go girls?" *laughs* I thought that was funny. :) Anyway, all of us went to this stand where they were selling Sailor Moon plush dolls. We figured that we should get them so people wouldn't be so questionable about the costumes we were wearing (not that it bothered me, mind you). We had a few people who wanted to take our pictures; I was really impressed. I didn't think we were going to make a good impression with the attendees. Before we knew it, Autumn (Sailor Mars) and Casandra (Sailor Mercury) went in a different direction. Jessica, Susan, and I wandered around for a little while longer. Before we knew it, it was past 2 p.m. Man, we were running out of time. We bought a personal pan pizza from the snack bar, and yes, we were giving in to the place... again. :p We needed a place to sit down... me especially, since the heels I was wearing, were killing me. We went into the restaurant and as we ate, we chatted for a little while; I was basically telling Susan that I was a little worried about the group. I told her that I felt as though as we're comrades in arms, and not really close good buddies. I got to know Susan a little more during that time and the funny thing was, we pretty much think alike. :) Everytime I said something or she said something, we tended to say the same phrase at the same time. Little did we know that our "short" chat was over an hour. See what I mean? Not enough time. :p As we went outside, a reporter sees us and wants to interview us on the spot. Jessica, Susan, and I jumped at the opportunity. He interviewed us until it was about 3:30 p.m. After the interview, he asked us for our e-mail addresses so he could send us the video on our interview, so we gave him the info on how to reach us and everything, and we parted. We made it to the theater... well, we were outside, and Arek was there. He thought it would be a great opportunity to take photos of us and we said, "sure, why not." Jessica was first, then it was me, and then it was Susan. Afterwards, I jumped on the pillar and sat with Jessica and Susan. It was foolish for me to jump onto it considering that I ripped my stockings doing so. I said, "Arek, we've got a problem. My stockings are torn." I figured, "okay, I shouldn't panic. I'll go to the Hyatt gift shop to see if they had any pantyhose." Arek told me to hurry up, which I did. Despite how sore my feet felt from the shoes, I ran all the way to the lobby of the Hyatt and as I walked into the gift shop, I asked the lady if she sold any pantyhose, and she did. Wow! She really made my day! :) Wouldn't you know it. They cost $7.99. Oh, well. I said to myself, "at least these will probably last longer than the ones that I bought earlier." After I bought them, I ran into the bathroom to get into them, which took about a mere two minutes or so. Afterwards, I ran back outside to the theater area. Autumn and Casandra showed up. Okay, the good news is that I was able to get new stockings for myself. The bad news was, Autumn left her purple scarf back in the motel room. Wouldn't you know it? I come back all ready to get inside, only to find out that one of my members costumes was incomplete. :p To make matters worse, the people call us into the theater. Arek offered to go back to the motel room to get the scarf. I said, "okay, but I'll have to wait by the door so you can give me the scarf. That was really nice of him. I informed AX security about that and they said that it shouldn't be a problem. A few minutes later, Arek comes back with the scarf. Poor Arek. Having to run back and forth in that hot sun. :( The MC called for check in and we were there -- all of us in costume. Again, if there was a group or an individual who didn't show up, she would scratch the name off the list. Man, the MC didn't waste anytime when it came to that. Afterwards she took us on a tour of the stage and everything. I was like... "uh... okay, now I'm confused. How do I know where to go and what to do?" Oh, well. I'll worry about it when the time comes. We were taken back to the house and the MC announced that we would be given some time to rehearse our skit on stage before the costume craftsmanship judging. We said, "cool. Let's see if we can get our rehearsal out of the way. We never had a chance to do that. People were getting up on stage (those who didn't bother to sign the sheet). Talk about disorganization. :p If it's not the rehearsal, it was the costume craftsmanship timing that was disorganized. I thought we were going to get judged by group number, but nooooo. The MC brought us in completely out of order. :p I said to myself, "I have a feeling this is going to be a long afternoon, or should I say a long night?" We were brought in backstage and we were told to wait, and we said, "sure, okay." As soon as the group was finished, David and Kimberly Ramsay of JASPER Cosplay Closet called for us. When we presented ourselves, I was so nervous. I was so worried that I wouldn't be specific enough when it comes to describing how our costumes were created. The girls helped me out quite a bit, which was a great weight off my shoulders. :) They pointed out the bracelets, which I forgot to mention. Hey, I told you I was nervous. As I pointed out that we used spirit gum to keep the heart gems on our faces, Kimberly Ramsay mentioned that we could try eyelash glue the next time. She said that it's better than spirit gum because you don't need any kind of remover to take it off; it peels off on its own. I said, "Oh, I didn't know that." Then I asked, "where can you get eyelash glue?" and David said, "oh, you can get it in a drug store." Wow! That didn't take too long at all. :) It was great. Afterwards, we went back to the seats in the house and watched Kikuko Inoue on stage singing "My Heart Iidasenai, Your Heart Tashikametai". She looked so innocent on that stage. My heart just melted the minute I saw her. Too bad I couldn't attend her panel. :( She was one of my all-time favorite voice actresses, too. :) We sat next to Lynleigh and Ashley Brown. We chatted for a while, and before we knew it, we were hungry. I was like, "well... we still have some time, so maybe we can get something to eat. David was nice enough to go out to the Hyatt to get our meals. Poor guy. :( By the time he came back, we were ordered to go backstage. Unfortunately, security wouldn't allow us to bring food into the theater, and when we were told that, Casandra basically hit the roof. I've never seen anyone freak out like that; it was scary. From a far distance, I saw the MC arguing with security. I didn't hear what she was saying, and when she walked into the theater, I heard her saying, "I'm responsible for these people and I'm not going to let them starve!" In my mind, I was like, "way to go, MC!" She along with all of us took the freight elevator that takes us backstage. We're in a room eating our pizzas. Man, it felt good knowing that you would be fed right at that moment. :) Were chatting with MandaLeigh, and she was curious as to how our dance was. We couldn't really show her the dance without the music. We were kind of lost without it. Then MandaLeigh goes to us and says, "looks like you guys need more practice" *laughs* After we had our meal, we waited in line for our turn to hit the stage. It seemed as though as we were in that line for an eternity. :p Some of us had chairs, and for those of us who didn't we sat on the floor. MandaLeigh thought she could sit on the table, and she proved herself wrong, when the table collapsed. Man, talk about a delicate table. :p Poor MandaLeigh. She was scared out her mind. No one complained, thank goodness. The only thing that happened was when the staffers asked us if we were okay? That was good. :) At least they were concerned for our safety. As we waited in line, the back of my knees started to act up. They were so itchy. I guess the rash didn't completely go away. The guy sitting right next to me, who introduced himself as Dale Englehadt, saw my knees and he was giving me a massage. :) I thought that was really sweet of him. I remember the Lupin skit he was in back at Anime Expo 2000; very nice skit, might I add. :) Anyway, we chatted for a while and I was so surprised of how well he could impersonate Robert Stack from the show "Unsolved Mysteries". Before we knew it, we were called to go backstage for our skit(s). He was the act before ours. :) As we waited backstage, there was a TV screen on my left side, that shows the person(s) on stage. We saw the Neko Twins perform their Zelda skit. What I liked the most about the skit was how they were able to make the mouse move, with the help of a radio control car. As I watched the skit, I asked myself, "why didn't I think of that?" *laughs* No, it was just THAT good. :) Afterwards, we would see the Cowboy Tango. That was sooo funny. :) I think Dale Englehadt and his friends did a great job with their skit. :) Well, what do you know? We're next! Ohhhh, boy. Why wasn't I surprised that no one would be clapping the minute the audience heard the MC announce, "Senshi Mysterious Cosplay Group"? Maybe because of all the skit's we've done and all that. At first, I thought the audience would laugh the minute they saw our costumes. They didn't. But before we could get ourselves into position, they started the music. In my mind, I was like, "what the fuck? They were supposed to start the music when we're in position!" Idiots! Another thing they messed up on was the fact that they played DJ Socket's remixed version of Mr. Wonderful. I can't believe it! I even wrote on the CD, "NOTE TO AX Staff: The Song is Track #1 and it's timed at approximately 1 minute and 30 seconds. Don't they understand English? Talk about being stupid! Anyway, what was so unexpected was when the audience started cheering the minute they heard the song "Mr. Wonderful" playing. We performed our dance, and the audience was cheering on and off through the entire thing. At the end of the dance, I never expected that the audience would cheer or anything. I was like, "wow! They liked our skit!" :) As we walked off stage I was waiting to hear the MC announce my name, since they completely messed up on it at AX 2000. Then it came, "Sailor Jupiter, Claudine Roselle Puente." I whispered, "yes!" We were escorted into the main lobby of the theater to have our photos taken. Kevin Lillard then makes this comment, "Let's see... pink, blue, red, green, and yellow... it must add up to something", or something like that. I don't remember specifically. We found it humorous, though. :) As we walked backstage, we were then escorted to back to the main theater and sit with the rest of the audience to watch the rest of the masquerade. As we watched the skits, we saw this virtual reality puppet with, who was later identified as Max. As I watched each skit, Max would talk in this perky high pitched voice, making all these critical remarks. As I sat in the audience, I'm all, "what the hell is this!?" I was absolutely disgusted by it. I'm surprised she didn't say anything about our skit. Shortly we would watch other people perform. Well, what do you know? We're not the only people who had their music cued at the wrong time, or had the wrong song played. :p Who the hell were those jerks who were working on the sound? If I were in charge, I wouldn't allow that to happen again. Before we knew it, we were escorted out of the audience, due to the overcrowding. I don't blame them. What if a fire broke out or something? Anyway, we went backstage again, and as we went backstage, Andrea and Laura were talking to me about how their skit was so messed up. They played the wrong song and they had to improvise. I'm like, "oh, man. That's tough." These AX techies have some nerve. :p We were backstage for the remainder of the night in that cramped room, with no water. How can they not give anyone any water? What do they think we are? Animals? Most of us wanted to get out of there. Not only could we barely walk in there, but we were exhausted. I wanted to take my shoes off, but I didn't. I was afraid that I would lose them in the room if I did. When you have over 50 people in the room, something's bound to get lost. Casandra came up to me and said, "we're gonna win for something." I said, "Oh, I don't know about that. Let me put it to you this way. If we lose, here's the bright side. We didn't spend too much money on costumes." :) Well, the moment finally came for the awards. When they announced the awards, our group name was never mentioned. So what else is new? *laughs* No biggie. The funny thing about that whole time was that they never announced the costuming awards. Then the MC turns to us and says, "The costume craftsmanship awards won't be announced until tomorrow, due to the last minute judging." I shrugged and said, "okay, no problem." As we walked out of the theater, we ran into Kathy. She comes up to me and says in a hoarse voice, "Hey, Claudine. I wanted to talk to you. Sorry, I just got sick, which is why I don't have a voice. You know, I just heard that the MC almost didn't let you guys perform because she thought your costumes were professionally made by someone else." I said, "what are you talking about? That's crazy! I sent in a report with photos on how my costumes were made. For her to say something like that, is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard." And I left and went in another direction. As I was looking for the other girls from our group, I said to myself, "I don't think Kathy is telling me the truth. I think she's just saying that because she wasn't in the skit and she had nothing to do with it." Then I had this sudden flashback of what she told me about Sailor JAM-Boree. She said that they get paid for their performances and that they would rig every masquerade competition they entered. That got me wondering. Another thing that I noticed when I chatted with her was the fact that she didn't say that she liked our skit or said that it was terrible or anything. It's as though as she didn't care; she was more concerned about us breaking rules and all that. I think that's when I began to realize what William Chou, Gina Jaio, my brother, and my mom had been telling me for months. It was at that point when I actually said to myself, "you know something. Those people were right. Kathy really IS a liar. She really DID cause tension with all of us, and I -- correction, 'we' were foolish enough to believe every word she said." However, there was not only tension with Sailor JAM-Boree, but also with Chris and Kimberly Rose. Everytime we ran into a conflict, it was because of Kathy. There's a lot more to this, but it's another story, but I might bring it up someday. Casandra and Autumn told me that they were going back to the hotel and I said, "okay, no problem." The only people I found among the huge crowd in the lobby were Jessica, Will, MandaLeigh, Arek, John, and Al. Al goes to me and said, "I'm so happy that you guys decided to use my remixed version of Mr. Wonderful for your skit." I said, "those people made a mistake. They weren't supposed to play that. I didn't want them to use your music without your consent." And he says, "no, babe. I wouldn't get mad at that". We walked by and I saw Lisa, Charlene's friend dressed as Cutey Honey. I said, "you look wonderful in that costume!" And she responded by saying, "thanks." :) As we walked towards the Hyatt, a guy calls out my name. When I looked at his badge, it read the name "Greco Espinoza". I said, "oh, my God!" And I ran up to him and hugged him. I couldn't believe it. :) Greco Espinoza was my trading buddy from La Serena, CHILE, South America. We traded fansubs together. I was so surprised when he sent me a video of himself along with a videotaping of the anime festival in La Serena. I've gotta ask him when the next one is. :) I introduced him to my buddies and as we were talking, we walked all the way to Arek's hotel room. Meanwhile, Will was really nice to escort MandaLeigh back to her hotel room at the Renaissance. As went into the room, Jessica and the guys started getting at the potato chips and soft drinks. I went into the bathroom to take my ever-so painful shoes off. I found two blisters (one each foot). I said, "oh, my God!" As I walked out, the guys could see the blisters on my feet. I guess I didn't break into my shoes enough... not even during rehearsal at home. :p We were chatting and I was eating a few snacks here and there. Afterwards, I sat on the sofa, and that was the last thing I remembered. Day Four (Sunday, July 8, 2001) Hyatt Hotel/ Long Beach, CA (7:00 am) Weather: 80º F (hot) "Let's Wrap It Up" I woke up and asked myself, "what the hell am I doing here?! Some leader I am. I can't believe I fell asleep in Arek's room like that. I noticed that Jessica was gone, along with Greco Espinoza? I said, "how could I be so foolish?" I sat up and I heard REALLY loud snoring. I was like, "oh, my God." At first, I thought it was Mad Mike doing all the loud snoring. It wasn't. He was up and about, complaining to me about the snoring. He wasn't the only one. Arek did, too, and he even indicated who was snoring, by pointing at Al. I said, "oh, man. Sorry about that." Mike was all, "no, no, it's not your fault." Despite what he said, I felt somewhat responsible. I asked the guys, "what happened?" Arek says, "the last thing you did was you ate a potato chip and you fell asleep. I thought it was my anemia acting up. That's not the first time it's happened. Arek went to me and said, "no, I just think you were really exhausted. I mean, think about it. You performed last night, you were trapped backstage for hours, it's normal." John was the next person to wake up and he told me that he would be happy to drive me back to the Inn of Long Beach. John drove me back, we hugged each other, and as I walked up the stairs, the girls were asking me, "Claudine, where've you been?" I'm like, "I was Arek's hotel. I didn't realize that I fell asleep in his room until a 10 minutes ago. Where's Jessica?" Then Jessica says, "I'm right here. Will walked me back to the hotel." I apologized to Jessica about what happened. I never thought that I would fall asleep in Arek's room, and she took it in good stride. I promised myself that I would never do that again. I got out of my Jupiter costume and got into my Yukino Miyazawa costume. We stayed for breakfast a little while longer, since I knew that a few people were exhausted after last night. No doubt David was. About two hours later, we packed our things, and the girls would head out to the convention center. Casandra, David, and I would go to the main lobby of the motel and check out. About 15 minutes later, Casandra, David, and I drove out to the convention center. I don't think anyone of us wanted to walk out in the hot sun again, not to mention with all the luggage I was carrying. As we parked in the convention center parking lot, David was really nice to let me leave my bags in their car for the time being. As we walked into the convention center, I remembered that I needed to show up for yet another masquerade meeting, so I could pick up my CD and binder. Chris Tang was with us, and he told me that he hated the masquerade setup. It was at that point when someone came up to him and told him that he won for Best Novice Costume and that's when he said, "well, at least SOMETHING good came out it. *lol* That was so funny. As we walked in, the Ramsays saw Chris, and they said, "oh, there he is." and they presented him with the award. As I walked by, the lady goes to me and goes, "psst, psst, PSSST!" Man, I felt stupid right there. She handed me back the binder and the CD, and let me add that I was ticked off. When I got my CD back, I noticed that someone drew a mustache on Jessica's face of the CD. That's where I draw the line. Hey, messing up on music cues is one thing, but vandalizing someone's property? Why should I trust these people with my property again? Anyway, the Ramsays announced the winners for the costume craftsmanship and I kind of had a feeling that our group didn't win anything; I was right. Oh, well. No biggie. Haven't gained anything, nor lost anything. :) After the awards were presented, the masquerade staff asked if we had any questions, and the first person asked, "why did it take so long to judge the costumes", and the Ramsays stated that there were some cosplayers who didn't register to have their costumes judged, and with all the confusion, they couldn't say no to them. They had no list, not to mention that we all came in out of order. We were supposed to be judged numerically by group, but that never happened. I don't know the whole story, so I honestly couldn't tell you who was right and who was wrong. All I do know is, the techs were wrong to vandalize my CD. I even brought that up as a question. I said, "who drew this funky looking mustache on this CD? I mean, I don't mind having you guys write the number on the CD, but vandalizing it is a different story." They apologized to me and told me that they have no ideas on what the techs were doing. I felt a little better, but I would feel much better if they would respect other people's property. Afterwards, Casandra, David and I headed towards the dealer's room to see if we could find anything... with the short time we had that day. :p As I was wandering around in the dealer's room, I bumped into Gina and Chrissy of Sailor JAM-Boree. We talked for a short while and we were discussing about the timing when it comes to rehearsals and everything else. Of course, now that I look back at that point in time, I should've told them the truth -- about everything. I had no idea that Kathy was trying to ridicule them, and suckering me and the other people of Senshi Mysterious into believing her. Oh, well. When we both have the time to talk, maybe we'll spill our guts. We also ran into Diana who was dressed as Noelle from Tenshi Ni Narumon (I'm Going To Be An Angel). She told me that she provided the professional dub voice for Noelle in the dub. I'm like, "Really?! That's great! Congrats!" I always knew she was going to make it. :) Well, we spent about 2 hours in there, and within that time, we couldn't find anything. The weird thing was, Al comes up to me with all this merchandise, and I thought to myself, "what did he do? Raid the tables?" What baffled me the most was the fact that he gave more merchandise to Casandra than he did to me. It's not the amount of things she got that bothered me -- oh, hell no. No, it was the fact of "who" gave it to her. What gives? That was just TOO odd if you ask me. Well, the fun ended... sort of. David and Casandra were ready to leave for home, and I had to walk with them to get my luggage out of the car. We hugged each other and said our goodbyes. Afterwards, I would go to the Hyatt and ask them to hold my bags for me. They said that it wouldn't be a problem... or so I thought. Details later. Anyway, I walked all around the convention to see if I could look for Zoey so she could drive us to the airport. Not that I was intruding or anything... well... not that I know of. As I was looking for Zoey, my cellphone rings. It was Will. He told me that he was looking for me so we can head back to the airport. I told him that I was looking for Zoey, so we can get a ride, and he asked, "okay, but where are you?" and I said that I was in the dealer's room. He told me he would be there and we hung up. As I walked into the dealers room yet another time, I found Ambre and she told me that her mom is in the dealer's room. I walked around a few times and I finally found her. She told me that she would be happy to drive both me and Will home. I said, "great, but first I have to look for Will". We looked for him... which took about a half hour or so, and we headed up towards the main lobby of the Hyatt to get my luggage from the bell captain. It was already 3:00 p.m., which gives me less than an hour to catch my flight. It took practically forever, considering that the people placed my bags in the way back. I'm all, "what the hell? I left it in the front for a reason. Talk about stupid! It took, oh, I'd say about 10 minutes to find my bag, and I started getting really impatient considering that I was flying out, not driving out. After that long wait, or should I say a waste of time, Zoey and Ambre drove us to the airport with absolutely no problems. We said our goodbyes and they wished us a safe trip back home. I said, "thanks", and we left. Will and I walked in and the flight attendant told us that our original flight was canceled. She asked us if it was okay if we were placed on a later flight, and we said, "sure, no problem". :) Talk about lucky. Will went to the McDonald's stand to get his meal, while I went to the Pizza Hut stand. Before you knew it, our flight was called. It was already 4:15 p.m. I was at the gate, but Will wasn't. I said to myself, "I'm not waiting. He'd better get on the plane ASAP." I took my seat and about 5 minutes later, Will sat right next to me. It was at that point where Will basically spilled his guts. I was kind of expecting that to happen. To tell you the truth, I was really tired and I wasn't really eager to hear any complaints, but I figured, what the heck. I owe it to the guy. He told me that I practically ordered him to help him out, not ask. No, I asked him, but he kept goofing off, so it was either be strict and cross, or he wouldn't listen or KNOW that I was serious. Hey, you can only be sweet to an extent. If you're too sweet, people start taking advantage of you. I told him that I was hoping that he wouldn't think of me as a certain someone (who shall remain nameless) who has made him feel foolish a couple of years back. He told me NEVER to compare myself with this person. I shrugged and dropped the subject. Our plane leaves the gate and we headed towards the runway, only to return to the gate moments later. The pilot announced, "my mother always told me not too carry too much, which is exactly what we're doing right now." Later on, the flight attendants would call two individuals to come to the front, and most of the passengers (including myself) were like, "Ooooooh..." *laughs* Shortly after that incident, we left the gate and took off. Will and I really didn't talk much during that flight. I was already tired and ticked off as ever. About an hour an a half later, we landed back in San Francisco (it's about time, too). As we were on our way down to the baggage claim area, he told me that his mom would pick him up and I said, "okay, no problem." We got our bags, and before you know it, Will's mom shows up and takes him home. It would be another 15 minutes before my mom showed up. When she did, I told her a little about the trip. I said a little because I barely had a voice. Hey, it was a long weekend for me. It happens. What can I say about AX 2001? Personally, I hated it because there wasn't really enough time to do anything. Our group was completely obligated into showing up for the masquerade meetings and stuff, not to mention that we had a heck of a time getting people to get rehearsal out of the way. It was crazy. What I did like was the outcome of the performance. We didn't win anything, but we received wonderful feedback from the audience, which was really nice. See? That's what matters to me. If anyone were to ask me if I wanted to participate in the AX masquerade again, I'd probably decline. Don't quote me on that, though. I might change my mind. When the time comes, well... I guess I'm gonna have to think of something. Aftermath Well, what can I say? A word of advice, NEVER get a motel room, and make sure that your friends can afford a hotel room. If not, don't let them stay with you. Anyway, after the experiences we went through during the AX masquerade, we decided that it would be best if we don't perform in the Anime Expo 2002 masquerade. Kathy was not pleased with our decision, and she confronted me on AOL Instant Messenger on Friday, July 13, 2001, ordering me to change our decision. When I refused, she not only deleted the Senshi Mysterious message board, but she deleted our website as well. All of our photos and messages were gone. After Senshi Mysterious was destroyed, So Desu Ne Cosplay was created on July 17, 2001, by the remaining members of Senshi Mysterious, minus Kathy. SNM Productions were scheduled and invited as Guests of Honor to be DJing at an anime convention in Cincinnati. When they said Guests of Honor, they meant only a few of them, not the whole group. When I found out that DJ Nessie, DJ R2K, and I weren't on the invitation list, I basically hit the roof. I was like, "what gives? Am I a part of the group or not?" They were willing to go on the trip without us. I almost left the group because of this. However, one week later, the convention e-mailed us and told us that they have another group of DJs scheduled for the con. In the end, we were all taken off the invitation list. Thank God. I'd be damned if only a few from the group went, while the rest of us would be stuck behind. Then there was another time when we were scheduled to be DJing at Otakon 2001. At the very last minute, DJ Mod canceled our gig, I said, "what the hell?" Al then tells me, "don't worry. I promise you that you will get your chance at this year's Nan Desu Kan." You know, now that I mentioned Otakon, Al tells me that he received an e-mail from Stella Wong saying that she was probably trying to clue him in on getting her to Otakon. I was like, "what gives? Why can't she just save the money and do it herself? Why rely on him? That's not fair." He said he had no intention of going himself because he couldn't afford the trip. Oh, well. Maybe next time. 
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