(no subject)

[rattmice]

Alright I've got a pretty good one. Let's just say, at AX, you can always depend on the Kindness of Strangers...

Last year, there was a lot of big events... One in particular was the MANA panel.
Needless to say, i shouldn't have to explain who Mana is to this particular crowd, but Mana is basically a god among men who don't speak and look like hot goth chicks and play a guitar.

[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/bf/GLB17-03.jpg/435px-GLB17-03.jpg[/img]

Wiki anyone?
[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mana_(musician)]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mana_(musician)[/url]

So among the weaboo goth otaku comunitee, he is kind of a big deal. Anyone wearing a dress at ak could tell you that. And I was going to see him if it was the last thing I do.

Getting there was a blur. I worked all night at my graveyard job, drove 50 miles in the WRONG direction (San Diego to Temecula... and if you were in Temecula at that time you might remember that it was on FIRE and traffic was streched out for miles).
After getting back on course, finding parking, waiting in line in the Smelly.... SMELLY auditorium... and arriving just int he nick of time to get in the very back row of the Mana panel... I WAS THERE. I had arrived.

Now anyone fortunate enough to get into the Mana panel was given a blue ticket. This blue ticket was announced to be our pass in being able to MEET MANA for a single autograph after the panel.

People were shitting bricks. If you've never seen a goth sweat and cry their mascara off, let me tell you, it is not a pretty sight.

So here i am... very back row... looking across a sea of wigs and hoopskirts to witness a silent god wisper answers to the many different questions asked by his hot topic soaked fans. What did we learn after 20 minutes? He likes cooking... Movies... and he would like his private life kept private.

I didn't have the courage to confront him, so i snickered speculations and questions from the saftey of my back row....
'Hey Mana, did ***** Gackt's ****** give you any special powers?"
"Who does your hair? If i blow real hard will it flutter away like a dandylion?"
"How do you feel about the possible rising costs of welfare and it's effect on the economy in California?"
"What's your favorite color? Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?"

Luckly, i was sharing the back row with three individuals who were in the same boat i was, and even though we were strangers, we were able to band together and create a force unlike AX had ever seen:

[url=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v514/rattmice/Photo%20Lithium/anime%20expo%20o6/100_0644.jpg][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v514/rattmice/Photo%20Lithium/anime%20expo%20o6/th_100_0644.jpg[/img][/url](the 3 of them in line for the Mana signing)

At the end of the panel, we were bouncing on the balls of our feet… eager and ready to make our move.

In just a few moments, 100 people were about to collectively shove themselves through  one exit, down an escalator, past thousands of people dressed as Narutards, and fasten their place in line across the Arcade- all for a chance to meet the Gothic Godlady known as Mana. Luckily, the four of us had an advantage and a secret weapon…

The last ones in are always the first ones out

And

The blonde girl we are with just happens to be on her schools Track Team

If you can’t imagine what a stamped of fat, anxious teenage Goth’s look like, just imagine the scene from Jumanji but all the rhino’s have Lolita Dresses and  black lipstick. That is the closest I can get to describe the chaos and the horror and the destruction that happened soon after the doors were opened.  The four of us were running with a plague behind us, and in a matter of seconds we secured our place five feet from the door where Mana was going to be signing autographs…. Two hours later.

A lot of waiting led to a lot of conversations… and a lot of panic-

The blonde runner girl, in her haste, had lost her blue ticket. She had secured a place for all four of us, but managed to lose the one thing keeping her from seeing her idol.  This is where I save the day. You see, I have ADD, so I tend to lose a lot of items. Upon the announcement that the blue tickets would used as Mana Vouchers, I Immediately managed to lose my ticket. I walked over to the doorman and asked him for another one, which I had given to my blonde roadrunner after finding both mine and the spare.  I became a hero.

…Now this is where things get awkward. One of the highlights of Anime Expo is that everyone here is a nerd, and therefore your friend. Everyone can get along just great because we’re all considerably weird. There is but a thin line between weird… I mean eccentric weird, and coo coo for coco puffs crazy.

And oh what a razor’s edge they danced.

The boy in the group, with his long hair and lazy eye, was openly bisexual and had the same birthday as me. What are the odds of that happening? He and I are born the Virgo Libra Cusp, which means that we both have the incessant need to be a know it all who is right about everything (Virgo) and the vanity complex that needs to  be the center of attention(Libra).  Putting two of us in the same room could have caused a black hole. I’ve never met so one so abrasive before.

His girlfriend, the brunet, was cute as a button, but also a little… perplexing. She had fashioned herself a FemmySora Cosplay outfit, despite never actually playing a kingdom hearts game.  She also informed me that she had recently become unemployed due to an ‘incident’ that landed her in the hospital with a suspended driver’s license. She prompted me that she and her boyfriend had an open relationship, and that she gets her kindness taken advantage of easily, She also turned out to be a compulsive liar.

Now the Blonde Runner girl, from what she told me, was horny and violent. She was hitting on the girls behind us, and despite slight protests, was glomphed to the ground by the guy in an effort for affection… right in front of his girlfriend. She wasn’t too happy. Needless to say, despite a few red lights going off they were very nice...  and indeed, I got my autograph- right on my brand new DS lite:

 

[URL=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v514/rattmice/Photo%20Lithium/anime%20expo%20o6/100_0859.jpg][IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v514/rattmice/Photo%20Lithium/anime%20expo%20o6/th_100_0859.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

 

But I made the mistake of hanging out with them and had my kindness completely taken advantage of.

I didn’t see the Blonde again, but the Brunet was begging me for a place to say, telling me that her boyfriend had passed out from exhaustion and needed my help, attempting to just ‘stay’ in my hotel room alone for no good reason… and having her boyfriend get into an altercation with a very large, black man in full body armor… and having try to kiss me, which honestly in any other situation would have been flattering, but in front of your girlfriend? Uh…No. No gay kissing for you. And don’t lie to me about you not having a hotel room.  And quit being a victim of your own accord for attention.

 

Ultimately it was my fault- I should have not allowed myself to get close to people whom I didn’t know.  I was too nice, and in perspective no one at AX should let strangers take advantage of you. I was an idiot, but I am certainly glad I met them despite the uncomfortable and awkward situations that followed. I’m too eager to make friends, but know I have some perspective.