What a difference a week makes. After a weekend of Asahi-Con's detailed bizarre events that I was too coked up to remember, spring season officially hits me like a brick with the first Okage Sama De~ Cosplay Tea event of 2010. In contrast to the official convention with about 160 people and various panels at Asahi-Con, Okage Sama De~ (OSD) offers attendees like me a chance to kick back, relax among fellow cosplayers, shoot people inside the sacred church grounds, and take in the hosts' efforts to provide themed entertainment & service as members of the Ouran High School Host Club. The Ouran cast played by OSD was in full swing with the key hosts consisting of Blondie, Football, Giant, Smartie, Twins, and Girlie Man. No, I have not finished watching Ouran, how did you guess?

Not wanting to get mistaken as an Ouran Host Club member and be put to work, I swapped my Ouran High School jacket for my gakuran. Throwing on a school cap and my bokken, I attened the OSD event as a school enforcer. Taking Trina who had dressed in her original kimono-like costume, we arrived at the church about 10 minutes after the event started. Seeing the familiar faces from previous OSD events mixing in with the familiar faces I have seen from other conventions finally making to an OSD event. The tea was Lupicia

Cake decorating kicked off the list of events. As usual, the creative execution of decorating a cake to match the assigned anime series has always been a challenge. My team was assigned Hetalia while others tackled Trigun, One Piece, Sailor Moon, and Gurren Lagann. One Piece won while Sailor Moon took second and Hetalia took third. Eating up the masterpieces was also great sugary fun. The heat did blob out a few creations at the end.

The strategic and physical war known as musical chairs followed. Being an OSD musical chairs veteran, I found myself shocked to lose so quickly in the rounds. On the positivie spin, the little sisters Hanako and Trina proved to be rather good players. Though our competive streak tended to cause us to attack each other during the game. Tamaki deemed that any tie between a man and a woman occupying a chair automatically went to the woman, that sexist SOB.

Haruhi selected me to mummify her for the mummy wrap game where lucky people got to wrap up the hosts in toilet paper. I worked with my usual methodic pace and Haruhi had a petite frame that made the job easy. It was a fun way to kill time and have a feminine looking host to myself.

Ouran Jeopardy was when things began to slow down. While the OSD Ouran hosts hosted a game show for the Ouran fans to compete in, the uncool kids who were not fans of the show ventured off for photoshoots. It was great to have Yomi play defense with Trina for me while I was engaged with other shoots. Eventually, Little Sister will have to nip her situation in the bud.

Jeopardy gave way to Tamaki Says, which I did not play until dragged in. The artist and swap meet tables had plenty of goods to tempt Trina. I was not in the mood to go shopping. But to support OSD, I dopped a few bills hoping to win some quality time with several of the Ouran hosts--primarily Honey (to play football with), Haruhi (I could go gay for him), and the Twins (I like the symmetry). If I won multiple sessions, I would have donated to Trina or Hanako. But Hanako had to leave early. I ended up winning a session with the twins. Yomi attempted to film blackmail footage of my time with them, but they were too refined and gentlemanly to perform such acts to me. To each other on the other hand...

In addition to chatting with the hosts, they also served as our wait staff during dinner. The menu tonight was pasta with either marinara or alfredo sauce with a side of salad or fried rice. It was a simple dinner and time for attendees to bond. It seems part of the $8 admission fee went for food, but it does beg a question. If people wanted to just go to the OSD event without eating, was the fee needed?

Masquerade, the rave, and the post OSD dinner at Carrows were scheduled after dinner, but Yomi and Kei needed to head back home. Trina and I said our farewells to OSD--pity we could not stay longer--and followed Yomi to the rendezvous point for a little pearl tea and catching up before calling it a night. The OSD managed to provide a relaxing atmosphere for an event again and I look forward to the next one, hopefully with less unrelated issues to deal with.

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