What an awesome past weekend!
The weather was perfect too for the anime convention.
My sister and I headed up to the con at 7:30am and arrived by 10:30am. When we arrived, the only parking spaces at the Congress Centre was pretty far. We were gaping at the long line-up for pre-registered visitors, but the line moved really quick so it wasn't much of a wait anyways.
I picked up nearly the entire series of Kekkaishi and three volumes of Pumpkin Scissors (both animes were superb by the way). I couldn't resist buying Flower of Life all complete 4 volumes worth and Pluto volumes 1 and 2 as well as 20th Century Boys volume 1 (the live action flick is incredible).
The Beguiling was the dealers table I went to first since they have great prices and deals (no pun intended). They were very organized and all the mangas were basically listed alphabetically, in new release section, clearance, and oversized. The guy who helped me gave me an additional discount to an already buy 5 get 1 free, since I was purchasing a lot of manga from them. He let me place them aside since they were so heavy to carry around. All in all, this dealer is highly recommended. By the way, I also visited their main store in the downtown region quite a few times. They have a great assortment of art and graphic books as well as novels, from very obscure and unknown to pop culture. Here is their official web site: http://www.beguiling.com
The Labyrinth was the only other dealer I went to since they had a huge variety of yaoi manga but I had a horrible time trying to purchase with a debit card. Only one person was designated with the debit machine and unfortunately, no one knew who was holding it. I was so annoyed that I was going to give up paying for them and just leaving, but I really wanted Flower of Life volume 4. Fumi Yoshinaga's works are amazing... After asking five employees at that store and walking up and down the aisle of tables, I finally found the official idiot who held that all important debit machine. The Labyrinth has been at the convention for many years now and they're still disorganized. It was difficult to look for other manga other than yaoi since they were in shojo or shonen sections but titles were not in the right place. I wish they were listed alphabetically. But, in a positive note, they do carry a lot, and I mean a lot, of manga. If you have time and patience, you'd more than likely find tons to buy.
I bought ten adorable bunny magnets from a dealer "Dragon Mango". I loved their art since I discovered them in my first con when they were in the artists room. For the last several years they have moved into the dealers room so the price of their magnets have went up a little bit. Two years ago, I bought a cute bunny figure which to this day is still sitting in my dashboard. You should also check out their comics at their offiical web site: http://www.dragon-mango.com
I was disappointed that there weren't many goth/glam/vk people on the weekend. There were lots at the con about four years back. I took photos of some really great cosplayers, from Pikachu to a Vulcan to an Anbu to a Noh face. When I find the time, I want to share those photos from this con and from past years as well.
Besides the con, we picked up my brother since he got off from work to go shopping at the Chinese malls. We didn't purchase much, just strolled around a bit before going to have bubble tea at TenRen's (my favourite tea place other than the Green Grove). I had a cold almond milk green tea. It was delicious! I did get Gary Cao's music dvd and Endy's cd.
Since my brother is backpacking in Peru in the next couple of weeks, I bought him some first aid equipment and insect bite ointment. He'll definitely need the ointment in the rainforest.
I got a free cellphone this weekend from my brother. He had a Samsung model which he thought he lost so he bought himself another cellphone. Later, his friend found it in his car. So he ended up with two phones. He decided to keep the new phone and give me the older one. It's newer than the model I currently have which doesn't even have a backlight or camera. I just can't activate the phone my brother gave me till August when his contract term ends. Woo hoo! I like receiving gifts!
My sister and I stayed at the Delta for one night. Upon entry, the room was stuffy and the air conditioning was barely cool. Needless to say, I couldn't sleep at all in the heat and the creaky hard spring mattress didn't help any. The two reasons I like Delta over Holiday Inn Suites is that their wireless internet is faster and they are cleaner.
While driving back home, the plastic ring that goes around the windshield nearly fell off and was rippling through the air at 120km/hr. The cars around us slowed down as this was happening. We ended up pulling over along a side county road to fix it till we reached the next service centre. It has happened before but on the opposite side of the windshield. I have an appointment with my mechanic this Wednesday to repair it.
Overall, the weekend was a blast and went by way too fast. I wish it was longer but I had a great time and hope to do it all over again in the August anime convention.
Yea! Can't wait!!
♫ Lollipop ♫
12 years ago