Okay, the first impression I got of Jacon 2002 was a good one...I liked the atmosphere when I arrived Friday and the location was great! However, the parking conditions were pretty bad! The dirt lot was wreaking havoc on many costumes and the somewhat long trek across the bridge was hard, considering the rain. Recognition was almost instant, though, and several cries of Miaka, etc. were heard. The moment I stepped into the con, it was like walking into a weird world where being dressed up like an anime or game charachter was the norm. This was great for the inexperienced people in our group, who were a dominant percentage...out of the 11 of us, only 4 had attended previous conventions. We got our badges rather quickly and they were a lot better than what I have seen before, having nice, laminated paper necklaces was a lot more fun than a clip-on or a paper bracelet! We were even given some bags with a con guide and a comic inside. The stuff was nice, but the bag's stupid dye rubbed off all over my white shirt...maybe white bags would be better? So, we decided to troop around for a bit and find out what was going on. Unfortunately, everything we wanted to do didn't have very clear signs or even hints at how to get around, but most of us made do. Fortunately, we were able to score some lunch at one of the resturaunts downstairs and avoid the hassle of leaving the con like at some events. After lunch, we headed to the dealer's room, which was the coldest room there (yay!) and looked around some more. After that, we found Mike, the cosplay and costume contest coordinator and inquisitioned him for about 10 minutes about what was going on the next day. Thankfully, he was able to clear up some questions we had. We did get the chance to see the opening ceremonies, which was a bit long, but okay...I wish the emcee had told us what the speakers were really famous for...I didn't know what on earth he was having these people there for! Anyhow, we went home around 7pm or so and our group split ways until 8:30. My boyfriend and I went on to the Radisson, then and checked in. Cosplayers were everywhere, preparing for some continuing events at the con, and some getting ready for the all-night anime that Anime Sushi was hosting. We went ahead and got to our room and relaxed for a bit before heading out to rehearse the cosplay skit for Saturday. We finally got the skit timed for under 2 minutes (which is very hard to do) and quit for the night. We got back to the hotel and achieved total meltdown sometime around 11pm.

     Everyone got to our 'base' about 9:30 and had doughnuts and some caffine and started getting dressed. By about 10:45 we were ready to go, so we headed over to Jacon. Even that early, people were there in droves and we got so many photos taken of us in the first ten minutes, I was surprised none of us went flash-blind! After we made it upstairs, we walked into the dealer's room, where we were grabbed by the Jaco table and given a hall costume award! After that, we were caught by another batch of photographers and got more snaps of us taken than most of us had gotten in the past ten years! After looking around, we visited some of the panels, rooms, and the auditorium and then went out for a pre-prejudging lunch break. After frightening part of Orlando and the population of a McDonald's, we returned to the con and found a sea of cosplayers waiting in the prejudging line. After waiting for about an hour, we were  given numbers and finally called in to get our 'judgements'. The panel of judges was very nice, though I felt that some more questions should have been asked in regard to how a lot of our costumes were made, etc. After our release, we attempted to find the coordinator for the Cosplay contest and we were eventually lucky enough to track him down. After getting registered, we all agreed to meet on the second-floor balcony for a quick rehearsal and went our seperate ways. Around 6 or so, we had our "dress rehearsal" and then realized that our Touga needed his shoes, so a quick dash to the Radisson later through the pouring rain, and we were all set to go onstage. Thankfully, pleather is very waterproof! After getting inside, we saw an even bigger crowd than ever before around the auditorium doors, all waiting to see the costume contest, and the costume competition participants and cosplayers were loaded into the nearby hall. After a quick fix of Mamiya's epaulets (his balls fell off) we were ready to go! We got into the line and suddenly participated in a huge game of 'hurry up and wait' with a couple hundred players. We were given some music to listen to, but unfortunately, we could hardly hear the coordinator when he was making announcements. After an hour or so of waiting, we were herded down the hall and onto the stage. After the first 14 people went up, it was our group's turn, the next 10 of us being the Utena cast and, in the spotlight, I forgot how to pose, so I did a quick bow and walked offstage. We got back in line as soon as our group came down, to wait for the cosplay portion of the show to begin and were moved back and forth up the hall while the costume contest people finished up. Kicking our shoes off for a bit was nice, and we all relaxed, oblivious to the entire ceremony going on nearby. The monitors were set up so only a limited amount of people could watch, and the doors were off limits unless you were holding a video camera so we missed the winners for the costume contest almost entirely. So, we relaxed and got a drink, if only to wait for an hour before our group was to go on again. During the long wait, we were shephearded into the corridor alongside the auditorium and given a small monitor to watch before we went on. We did get to hear the Jrock group rehearsing their guitar playing and meet a few other cosplayers, but mostly got ready for the skit. When we went onstage, our shadow girl announced our skit in Utena-like fashion with a loud "Gogai, gogai, gogai," and laid the mike closer to the center of the stage. As the skit began, a cheer of recognition and some applause went through the crowd and the response to our act was very enthusiastic. After watching the two remaining skits, we sat down to wait for the decisions. After the videos were shown, we saw the cosplay winners announced and decided to call it a night, aside from the two people who wanted to go to the all-night dance at the hotel. After making a quick decision to stay an extra night, we checked into the Days Inn nearby and started getting cleaned up. After spotting several roaches, we both decided to return home that night, and made complaint to the hotel. The people there were firm in refusing to give a refund and we took down the number and our leave. We picked up the bigger costume things from our 'base' and headed back home, getting here around 2:30am and crashing almost immediately.

     Well, being back home early was a definite plus, as we got to sleep in, and from the parts of the group that stayed, I heard that Jacon was pretty dead on Sunday. So we got to sleep some and I took a long-needed nap. Working on 22 costumes and coordinating 11 people was not easy at all. This is something that I think should be only attempted by those residing in mental wards or those with friends who all know how to make their own stuff. It was a great challenge and I enjoyed the finished product a lot, but oy...I felt like I couldn't let up for a second or something would go horribly wrong. A heartfelt thanks to all those who were so nice to us at Jacon and a huge thank you to our Hotohori/Anthy and our Nuriko/Nanami I couldn't have done it without you two!