Fanime 2013

Fanime has come and gone once again (and I shall miss it ever so dearly).  This year actually oddly enough changed my life view (quite an intense statement to make, I know).  I suddenly realized I didn’t need to do everything.  I didn’t have to see everyone.  I could go to the panels I wanted to go to, meander the con floor when I wanted to, and hide in my room when I wanted to.  It doesn’t mean I didn’t get things done, it just meant I saw less of the Dealer’s Hall and Artists’s Alley than I usually do (which was nice for my wallet).  So I apologize in advance if I am becoming an old, boring fogey.

Day 0 (Thursday Night):

Drove up to Northern California with one William Grabill.  Got caught in traffic, but survived.  Made a 2 am run to Denny’s when we were both hungry and attempting to kill each other (okay, maybe it was just me).  I have never seen one individual make that many expressions during one video.  He ended up dropping me off at City Hall instead of the Hilton at 4 am.  Decently good time overall.

Day 1 (Friday):

Slept in, then stood in line from 1 pm until around 7 pm (yes, 6 hours).  Made friends with some random high schoolers, they had to leave before they could even get their ticket because they were only there for one day, it was really sad. Finally got badge and met up with the lovely Kelly (she is probably the most perfect individual to walk this earth, I am not worthy of her presence).  I followed her and her friends to Gordon Biersch.  Nearly died from ecstasy from their fries.  Eventually ended up at the rave, good times all around.  Ran into my friend Alex who was cosplaying Sherlock, he came sober to the con late at night, which meant although he met a lot of cool people, not all of them remembered him.  It also meant he got a lot of tipsy hugs.

Day 2 (Saturday): 

Oh jeez, the list is a bit long.  Wandered around, took ridiculous amounts of photos.  Managed to run into a bunch of cosplay friends.  Artists Alley, Dealer’s Hall, exploring San Jose, the list is really pretty standard.   I wore Velma that day, got a lot of compliments.

Comments I received about being Velma ranged from the absolutely sweet ‘Oh my gosh, you make a perfect Velma!’ to assholes trolling.

The good:

I had a number of people tell me that I was their childhood.  I had a number of people come up and hug me, I thought a couple of them were going to cry.  I was told I was a perfect Velma.  I was recognized by both young and old, and got a lot of (nice) comments from strangers on the street who weren’t even attending the con.  I got smiles from some 80 year old ladies, and had my picture taken with a 6 year old girl.  The good significantly outweighed the bad, but unfortunately my patience has a limit.

The bad:

As I’m walking down the street:
Random fan: ‘YOU’RE WELMA, RIGHT?’
Me: ‘…sure?’
Him: ‘WHERE’S SCOOBY’
Me: ‘In the Mystery Mobile!’
Him: ‘HE’S DEAD, ISN’T HE? YOU KILLED HIM.  HE’S IN THE POUND’
Me: ‘Yes, sure, he’s dead.’
*his girlfriend pulled me aside to take a photo*
Her: ‘I’m so sorry about this, he’s just a master troll, you’re taking this really well.‘
Me:  ‘…no, that’s not how trolling works.’
Her: ‘Just getting in people’s faces and being loud, right?’
Me: ‘…no.’

Later that night, I’ve taken off my wig and glasses and shoes and am walking back to my hotel room:
Random guy goes ‘Hey, are you Velma?’
Me:  ‘I was Velma, I’m done for now.’
Me: ‘Well, you aren’t hot if you aren’t Velma’
He then proceeds to try to ask me where I’m going and flirt with me.  Apparently this is a phenomenon called negging?  Guess what guys, if you do that, you’re an asshole.

The one that made me finally snap was walking the hotel and someone goes ‘Daphne!’ and I’m like ‘Whatever, they made a mistake’  and I smile at them as they pass by.  Their friend turns to them when they are a couple feet away and goes ‘That’s Velma’.  The original guy goes ‘I know, I’m just trolling her’.  Something in me snaps, I turn around, and just shout down the hall ‘OH MY GOD, YOU ARE SO CLEVER.  I haven’t heard that at ALL this convention!’ which was probably not the most mature thing, but c’est la vie.

The best one that wasn’t actually trolling was when there was this 12 year old boy who went ‘HEY DAPHNE!’, which I assumed to be an honest mistake, and I go ‘Hey!’ at the same time another fan goes ‘Hey Velma!’.  The young boy just turns bright red and looks to his friend and goes ‘Oh my god, I just called her Daphne, oh my god, I’m so embarrassed’ and his friend goes ‘You’re such an idiot!’  

And that’s the reasons I don’t assume people are trolling.

Back to funtimes, I attended the Nerd Courting panel with Sam and Char, it was completely full and BRILLIANT. I asked a question about the speaker’s opinion on the so-called Friend Zone, and the entire audience erupted into applause (it was very gratifying).  He informed us all that the Friend Zone was BULLSHIT.  I was relieved.  He spoke about how nerds tend to build whole fantasies in their head before they are even dating, which is why it’s so much more crushing to be rejected.  Finally, I ended up hanging outside at 1 am with a guy named Eric and his friends, he turned out to be pretty chill and we danced together at the rave before I headed to bed.

Day 3 (Sunday):

Slept in till noon.  Did the standard exploring.  Wore Velma again.  Just chilled out until going to a FANTASTIC restaurant with all the people I was rooming with and their friends.  We then returned to the hotel room and got ready for the black and white ball.  I got to practice some salsa, waltz, etc., and remind myself I suck at it.  Samantha’s and my combined efforts managed to sort of hook our friend Alex up with a really cute girl.  Went to bed early but content.

Day 4 (Monday): Drove down with Will.  We nearly killed each other again.  Best part was when I was saying something, and he literally interrupted to just scream AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH for 2 literal full seconds.    We really shouldn’t be allowed in a car together for long periods of time…

Fanime was pretty good all in all, super chill, I just did what I wanted.  I’m going to see if I can apply this new concept to my life in general, it was interesting how much less stressed I felt.

16 DAYS