we're finally notdotq anymore

By this I mean that I’m no longer running an experiment. As for the experiment’s implications for my life, I am no Mizunashi Akari but pacifism and kindness are definitely things I’ll be striving for every day.

Day 8

Day 8 was Friday, the last day of my internship at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. We were crammed into an auditorium all day, watching each other give boring talks about our work. I was hella nervous for the first hour or so (I’m not so comfortable with public speaking) and then I had my turn and then I was just uncomfortable. I’m too large for the auditorium seats; it’s like being in airplane where there’s no leg room, etc. I found myself unhappy with the situation. I couldn’t find anything wonderful to think about it. After work was over, I got my paycheck (woot, tons of money) and then cleaned out my cubicle (sniff).

Went home, changed, finished packing, caught a train to the San Francisco airport. It was time to make my first trip on my own—my trip to Otakon 2008.

My airport experience was fairly wonderful, surprisingly. See: I have to travel with artificial blood protein due to my hemophilia, and that stuff can’t go through the scanners. <abbr title=”fucking bastards”>TSA</abbr> is great at molesting/raping people with special needs in security. I have some beef with them. BUT this time stuff was fairly painless. In fact, my passport (which I was using as my ID) proved more of a problem; the photo’s from about nine years ago and doesn’t look like me at all.

I sit around a bit, loaded down with Clif Bars (my mom thought I might starve/my plans with Pip might fall through due to him being an internet weirdo and she gave me a hefty supply of rations *rollseyes*)
, waiting for my plane. It comes, I get on it, and off I head for Charlotte.

On the plane, I offer Starbursts to my seat neighbors. They decline to partake. Phooey.

Day 9

We land in Charlotte without trouble—a little early, in fact—and I wait around for two hours for my connection to Baltimore. I talk to some nice folks in the gate who were even more sleep-deprived than I. I can’t sleep on planes due to extreme discomfort; these people had had a flight canceled and had been in the airport waiting for far longer than I’d been in my plane.

Eventually we leave Charlotte. I offer a Starburst to my neighbor and he graciously accepts, twice!

Get into Baltimore, meet Pip, and whoa, whoa, suddenly it’s real, it’s happening—the crazy idea of flying to Baltimore for one weekend just for Otakon, I’m there, I’m talking to Pip!

Some un-wonderful things come to light: Erica Friedman has run a yuri panel, and at it, she dubbed Aria yuri. Otakon has too many people and too many lines. Omo failed to get an aniblogging panel through. Os is a Hirano Aya fanboy that will always irk me. Etc.

A lot of the weekend was a blur. I had so much fun just being around the people I met—
Pip, Os, Pip’s sister, Os’s friends, Baka-Raptor, TheBigN, Moy, Omo, Wildarmsheero, Link, maybe more I’m missing here…

My behavior most of the con was fairly not-Mizunashi. But I don’t think that made it un-wonderful. I think that it would have been extremely lame if I had refused to have fun and let go around my friends, if I hadn’t made jokes about trashing Friedman’s booth, if I hadn’t recorded a podcast with Pip, if I hadn’t spouted anti-Hirano shit constantly. I mean, this is me. This is who the people I was with knew. We all had a great time and I don’t think I made anyone feel uncomfortable.

Actually, I might have upset Baka-Raptor by being too wonderful once or twice.

But yeah. It was wonderful.

Other anime bloggers have done a better job covering what actually happened at the con better than I could. Yeah.

Since the con is covered and this is an anime blog blog, allow me to instead say some things about some of the guys I met:

Never get into Os’s car. He is the Yukari-sensei to my Chiyo-chan.
Pip doesn’t actually want to put his penis in my butt.
Baka-Raptor was really quiet the first few hours. Then he started singing anime songs in response to questions and comments. That was badass. Maybe he was just shy ;)
Os is really nice and gregarious. It’s kind of scary.
Baka-Raptor tells the saddest stories; he reduced me to tears three times in two days.

At about eleven, Pip and Os and I returned to our hotel room, where we dined on Clif Bars and recorded a podcast. Pip showed his underaged sister porn. We lol’d. Eventually I fell asleep in Os’s arms.

Day 10

Woke up Sunday sad because Pip was leaving. It was a short dream, but it was fun. We bid our farewells and then Os and I hit up AMVs. After some time of that, we ran into Baka-Raptor again and took to the dealer’s room. Baka-Raptor and I returned to the AMV room after a while where we laughed and discussed ideas for Maid Guy and ef AMVs. Mmm.

After failing to get our hands on swords, Baka-Raptor and I reconvened with Os and we got lunch. I cried into my tuna sandwich.

Baka-Raptor, I am never eating a meal with you again!

At three, the entire thing was over. Os drove me to BWI and I waited around for hours for my fight. Caught two planes back—getting lost in the Las Vegas airport due to gate changes—and then spent the night at my bro’s place in San Bruno. Again, I offered Starbursts to my neighbors and again one declined while one accepted. Things were pretty suteki, I guess.

I don’t know.

There’s so much to talk about. It was really sad saying good-bye to Pip and Os. I wish I could have spent more time with them. I guess there’s always next year, though. I’m definitely burning a the time and money again. It was so worth it.

I didn’t take many photos. In fact, I only have one—of Os, and Pip, and Pip’s sister, and Os’s friend, at a table at a grill where we ate burgers and cheesecake. I’m feeling a little selfish so I wanna keep that pic to myself for now.

From the beginning, Mizunashi Mode was never “let’s pretend we’re little girls on Mars.” The point wasn’t to be Mizunashi Akari, but to examine human interaction. I discovered that there are still people out there who like graciousness and kindness and reciprocate wonderful gestures. Smiling evokes smiles. Peace and calm can be obtained. There are things out there that ruin wonderful mode, like Hirano Aya and my hatred for her, and you know, all the strife and shit in our world, but the idea of being kind for its own sake and making others happy is a good one.

I’m ending my time with Mizunashi Mode prematurely because I’ve found what I wanted to find. I’m still going to abide by some of the rules of the experiment because they’re good rules for living. Be wonderful.

I’m not going to write any more reports, though, unless something groundbreaking occurs—and if such a thing should happen, I wouldn’t need an “experiment” premise in which to discuss it in this blog. So yeah. No more updates, but I’ll still be examining the world while attempting to be kind to others.

It’s been great and it will continue to be great as I hone my suteki powers.

Expect a return to trolling and meta-anibloggery some time this weekend.