"I have no reason to think less of you."

Sunday Gallery

My arms felt swollen. My sister shoved me off the bed. I heard Kyle Hebert down the hall. And I was not wearing trousers. What could I say? It was a typical convention Sunday.

Thanks to the aforementioned items, I woke up at 7AM to a beautiful scenery outside the window. Still missing my trousers, I hit the shower while it was still free and took advantage of the bathrobe. I wish I could take one home. Through the empty halls of the convention I lugged my gear into the car with no need to wait for elevators. Eating some leftover KFC chicken while watching a couple cooking shows, I replayed some of the incidents of Saturday hoping for articles to write later while simultaneously wondering why I did not have a hangover today. Those who know me know that alcohol causes me to stay awake until the wee hours of the morning until I wake up later and notice a few new bullet holes in the room.

Eventually the rest of the room woke up as Guy Fieri showed me how to make tailgate sweet tea spiked with bourbon. They began their loading and showering while Michael slept some more. Finally agreeing to watch Comedy Central to get everyone in the mood to check out, we bade our farewells to room 2512 for one last hurrah at AOD.

Some group of cosplayers accidentally detonated an impact noise making device inside the hotel. Eyes were on me briefly, but that was an obvious mistake. I use guns, knives, and the occasional singlestick. So me detonating a bomb is like the Cubs winning the World Series. In any case, the hotel staff was not happy.

A rarity, I gave Trina and Angie an impromptu photo shoot lasting about five minutes at the lounge area of our floor. Despite being known as a convention photographer, I hardly do photo shoots because I am more of a spur of the moment, flying by the seat of my currently missing trousers shooter who gets in the thick of the convention and shooting what goes on with little regard for setting. My camera is a basic workhorse acquired on the cheapest budget since I will be buggered before I lug a large camera that I end up dropping while changing its lenses or tires. Additionally, I lack the time to schedule models or scout shooting locations for them.

Given the slow Sunday of AOD, it was the perfect time to get the first Traveling Valentine family portrait with me and the Little Sisters. Little Sister #2 Yuna was still busy at Registration but we managed to assemble for a couple shots. All we were missing was my brother Michael, who had wandered off to panels. We will throw him in at another convention.

I decided to spend Sunday with Hanako, Trina, and their friends in Japan Town. Those two had bonded so well after acknowledging each other as sisters during SacAnime that they could start wearing each other's costumes--provided they fit. We got to work on our sibling dynamic at Kinokiniya bookstore and getting snacks at the market. The highlight of this little day trip was hitting the purikura booth. Thanks to Hanako's addiction to these booths, she treated us to a free session.

I never did one of these booths before and as a guy, I have to admit it is rather emasculating the first time doing this. The choices in backgrounds before the choices in posing in front of the green screen and then the choices in customizing the shots with cute decorations remind me of room design. Women will have dozens of ideas how to design a room. Men will have one. TV here. Bring peanuts. So while Hanako and Trina sparkled, glittered, doodled, and stuck random stuff all over the photos we took, I stayed the hell out of the way

Several of us grew hungry so Ryu took point to lead me, two Mikes, and Trina to a cheap restaurant. But as we left, Yomi popped over to drag me to get the autograph from the BlazBlue talent. It was a grand reminder minus the fact that I still managed not to have an interest in fighting games. She argued it was a good gesture to ask, but that group lunch still took priority. So Yomi escorted us to lunch and got the contact info of Trina. Now the two of them can girl talk and gossip privately about boys, costumes, and my flirtatious ways... oh, boy.

I will admit that I regret not being able to attend the guest panels of AOD this year. The 25th anniversary of Robotech would have been sweet to cover, but I had my own panel to do. Michael attended several panels, but I have to teach him how to communicate within his species to learn what information he gathered from them. But AOD did provide me a wonderful venue to reconnect with my friends I have not seen since 2009. Any time spent was quality time whether it was sharing drinks, reconnecting with my siblings, defending my siblings from various hazards, smacking a dipshit around before giving him a kiss, and basic networking. It sure beats online chat rooms.

So hopefully this person's memories of two days of AOD will at least entertain whoever reads these things. I look forward to next year's AOD, which may spread out to three days so things will be easier to cover.