Wow! Wow…..yeah. I’ve been meaning to update this for so long but just haven’t got to it. So, this will be post number three and probably decent length since it will cover all that’s happened. So, where to start? How about the Tanabata festival(way back in July)?
The Tanabata festival was held this year in Abingdon at a campgrounds. Despite extremely oppressive heat and not really an exact idea what we were doing or what schedule we were following…..it was a lot of fun! It was tough to do anything until around six or seven in the afternoon because of the heat, but we all managed to do something, whether spending time in the campground pool, playing pool in the gamehall, or trying to play some basketball(I would have done better, but the ball was flat XD). We ate some homemade ramen and brownies and drank lots……and lots of ramune(which I now love since that was the first time I had tried it). Around ten that night, we headed out into the field to shoot off fireworks. I think the multishot packages were a hit given that we fired off three or four at a time. The little helicopter ones seemed to get everyone’s attention as well. Even though we had some people try to rain on our fireworks parade, it was still a fun show and I’ll need to get some more if we want to do it again. Next, we wrote out our wishes for the new year on some paper, tied them to a bamboo tree that was cut down(with a shovel) and planted where we were staying that day. At midnight, we burned the tree with the wishes on it and sat down to eat shishkabobs, talk, and watch the fire burn until it was all gone. By that point, people slowly started to leave while cleanup was happening until it was only Barry and myself left at two something that morning. We packed up the last of our stuff and headed back home. All in all, it was a lot of fun and we have to thank Jenn and her folks for letting us use the campground, though I feel bad that she got hurt and had to go to the hospital the next day. We miss you at the meetings Jenn and hope you can come back soon.
Ok. Next topic is AWA, which means we skip ahead to late September. This was the second time that Anime Kanarazu headed down there as a group. Those of us who had went in 07 were talking nonstop about going back this year and those who were going for their first time were anticipating it as well, I’m sure. Well, we went down as a group in two vehicles(with Joe and Ellen going in a seperate one on their own) on the Thursday evening before the con. It was a long drive but definitely worth going down a day early to be there all con long. So we left from Gate City, Virginia and made it to Atlanta(actually Smyrna), Georgia early Friday morning(around two or three in the morning to be exact). We stayed in the Holiday Inn that morning and headed to our hotel rooms at the Waverly around ten or eleven that morning.
So there we were at the con, Friday morning and suddenly it was chaos. Everybody kind of split into their own groups and headed their own ways. I think the only thing we managed to do the entire weekend, as a group, was to eat at Ted’s Montana Grill. That was fun, definitely one of the best places I have ever eaten at. I must however insist you order either Coke or Diet Coke to drink because they won’t have you drink any other kind of soft drink(poor Ben). I also recommend the Kahlua Mudslide Brownie for dessert(delicious)!!
Despite splitting up, I think everyone enjoyed themselves immensely. Yank seemed to like the hotel hottub more than anything. I think Ben enjoyed meeting Jennie Breeden(and Pedobear). Barry got some of the con swag he wanted. E and Friend seemed to enjoy meeting all the different people when they were out cosplaying the entire weekend. Joe and Ellen I didn’t see but once that weekend, but I think they enjoyed their time as well. I didn’t see Ami, Kaishu, Meghan, and Ryan much either, but they no doubt enjoyed running around in their Dokuro-chan cosplay and meeting Tesha there. I got a lot of what I was looking for, buying plenty of art, my lulz monster, and a couple of shot glasses as well.
All in all, it was a wonderfully fun weekend and I really want to go again in 09. I hope we have the same group go again and have even more join us. We did have a lot of pictures and video taken of the trip down, the time at the con and the trip back. I hope to get all of the material together at some point and maybe I’ll be able to post some of the more……tame(ahem) clips. Some of the footage is more offensive with the conversations than others, so it will be a matter of finding those that tick less people off. Anyway, that sums up AWA 08 and I can’t wait for AWA 09!!
Alright! What else……? Oh yeah! Anime Kanarazu has resumed its meetings starting in October and I hope our attendace grows. We’ve had two new people(who I hope will continue to show up) and I hope some people will start coming to the meetings again. I’d love to see Meghan, Ryan, Jenn, Frances and even BJ come back to the meetings when it is possible. I miss them all.
Well, lastly, I guess I’ll mention that we are planning an informal Christmas party for the group and I hope it goes off fairly well. Those gatherings are some of the best we have. I’ll definitely attend and will be anxious to see who all we have show up. Well, I guess that’s it for now. I will try to post more often…..promise!
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