stay free my misery

Subject:	MUCC and Yoshiki at Otakon
Time:	11:03 pm.
Mood:	nostalgic.
Music:	mucc- danzetsu.

It is amazing how surreal experience making the trek down to Baltimore this year was. I had originally had regrets of whether to go or not due to the cost and many restrictions on our getting/staying there. However, in the end I can not imagine having not gone. I had the most amazing time ever.
Jess, Maria, Maria's friend Vick, and I left on a greyhound bus from Manhattan early thursday morning and arrived in Baltimore at around 2h. The ride was fine and cool but when we got off the bus it was a good 102-104 degrees, sunny, and humid. We head over the Mount Vernon Hotel and checkin. I found it was pretty humorous that we got the handicapped room where there were bars in the bathroom to help you walk around and also an emergency phone. The plus side though was the room was huge, probably for weelchair accessability. We all know that we got the room for Maria's "special" needs. We headed over to the pre-reg line which I heard was like 8,000 people long(out of the 24,000 total at the convention) So we were like "fuck" and then found a friend of Maria's and just stood at the front of the line with them. It was very "interesting" to meet all the cosplayers and anime dorks in general. They were very nice people but very odd. heh. Anyway, we get in get our passes for the con after standing in the sun for 2 hours and then we just peaced and went to the hotel to get an "early night's rest." Maria was the one who wanted us to go to bed super early. However, somehow the apartment building across from our hotel caught our attention and we saw what seemed to be a woman staring out her window. The start of a much-longer than it should've been "let's all go stare them out" session. This consisting of us flashing the lights and having a dance party in front of the windows and then seeing at least 4 other windows look back and then one man was peeking and ducking. You would not believe how many people look out of their windows. Yes, the woman was there future nights, you gotta wonder...
So friday comes when I get to see MUCC! We line up bright and early(2 hours before the con's doors open) to run for the 4th floor to get concert passes. 8h30 comes and we are wondering why the doors weren't opened and found out that they werent going to open them. OH EVIL BRENDAN CAME OUT. But, Brendan had to run like fucking hell to the front of the center up 4 flights of stairs and across the whole center again to wait in a line where he'd hope that he'd get a pass. It worked out all fine and we got our passes and were merry. Of course Maria is like "jess, brendan, vick you guys gotta run to the venue before anyone else gets there." I tell her theres no need to rush as I KNEW that evevryone would be going to the panel 4 hours later. However, Maria is Maria and we ended up RUSHING and geting there right away. Let's see, 4 hours went by? Hmmmm, and no1 was there. We got so bored that we drew pigeons and loitered on the streets and went to the giant Barnes and Nobles across the street and we were still the first ones there. The first 2 girls came and then we found out we could line up. I was very impressed with MUCC fans, nicer than dir en grey fans in general and I found them all to be pretty cool. After 10 hours of waiting and a lot of line drama( yes a jrock concert is never complete without line drama). I get in and get dead center front row, so mine. The concert started and Nana Kitade came on. She is so adorable. You wanted to get your own. She came out and said "I am a japanese princess." Her music is good for pop I guess. I think its ok, but nothing I'd get crazy about. Her faking the guitar wasnt cool in my books tho.
The excitement rushed as I waited for MUCC to come on. They finally did and they put on the best show I've ever been to. Dir en grey lives have nothing on MUCC lives. The whole band is so energetic and into putting their best music and excitement out. The crowd went fucking wild and even people who hadnt been MUCC fans loved every second of it. Tatsurou's vocals were so perfect and were either as good or even better than many of the recordings. You of course cannot beat Yukke's bass playing and it was as perfect as ever. Some of my favorites they played were saishuu ressha, zetsubou, suimin, 9gatsu 3ka kokuin, media no juusei, yuu beni(and all of 6), etc. When Tatsurou returned for the encores he had a nintendo in hand and was reading some random english off the screen for some good laughs before they started the amazing encore. I could go into every detail of the concert, but all I got to say is that it was FUCKING AWESOME. After the concert I finally remembered that I hadnt eaten anything all day and that I was hungry, hmmmmm.
Saturday the same process with getting passes occured and right after we rushed over to get on line for MUCC autographs. We get into the the room and MUCC is sitting right there! They were so friendly and each of them signed my dvd with their very unique signatures, said thank you, smiled, and shook my hand. Even Miya, who is always full of zetsubou was smiling, seems they were having a great time in Baltimore(good sign theyll come back). Maria gave the drawing that Jess/me did for the group which was just us having fun on the bus(hope they liked it!). It was so great to meet these people who make music that I love so much. After the signing we hurry over to the Yoshiki panel and find a previous panel still running. I found it funny that most people in the room were just Yoshiki fans waiting for the japanese voice actress to shut up, leave, and then pounce upon the seats in the front. We got decent seats as we split up every man for himself. I sat next to some very nice Yoshiki fans and we found out that Yoshiki was gonna make a fashionably late entrance, the drama queen that he is. He finally arrives and I was so excited to hear what he was going to say, as he has been out of the headlines for many years and had much to tell us about. His panel was so funny, with the revelation of a band with Gackt, his run in at the AIRPORT(hehe) with Michael Jackson, the fact that Yoshiki(yes, him personally not his workers) has a myspace that you can talk to him on, and details on his life in X and upcoming Violet UK which is due out soon. I was touched many times when I heard about X and I saw how much of a funny and caring to his fans that Yoshiki is. After this was over we hurried to the autograph line for Yoshiki to find out that it was fucking HUGE. Long story short. Nobody who went to the panel got in for an autograph. BALLS! However, the panel was totally worth it and those people who just waited on line missed out.
After finding out we'd never get an autograph that day we rushed over to the mucc concert which was about to start. We got there exactly as nana was coming on and I started in the back alone because the other 3 wanted to check the upstairs up. I was dissapointed that Nana did the same exact setlist with the same english to the audience that she did the first show. However, I was in the back and was just waiting for MUCC to come on. I was so glad that MUCC had 2 completely different and amazing setlists both nights. Once the second song they played came on the crowd went wild and a bunch of the kids in the middle opened up a moshpit. I was like "score" and then just weaseled my way in there and pushed my way all the way to the 3rd row in front of Yukke. From here I was with all the true MUCC fans(as opposed to some people just watching in the back who just wanted to see a concert >_<) Anyway, I got so much more into this show as I had no barrier in front of my to prevent me from going forwards. I went fucking crazy and had a just as amazing time. They played ryuusei and daikirai which made me so happy. I also got a grip on satochi's drumstick that he threw into the crowd but a he-she in front of me managed to also get a grip and a bunch of girls kinda knocked him down so I couldnt get it. Ah well, you cant win get everything. We got dinner, went to the masquerade where we saw skits done by con attendees. Some very funny naruto, bleach, katamari, and of course "zelda triangles." And the funniest was the awful people who thought they could play their fucking instruments. I tried killing myself but it didnt work. I had to actually sit through them. Ugh.
SUNDAY! LAST day of otakon. We get there later this day and go to the dealer's room right away, and alas another fucking long line for no good reason. We get in and go to the tofu booth right away to see if/when yoshiki was coming. They were very unsure and said if anything 1h30. They were like "nana will be here in 10 minutes" so I figured what the hell and got a Nana signature. After, we kinda separate and me and Jess go shopping a bit. My prized purchase was my hide plushie which I will treasure forever!! I bought the mucc, despairs ray, and X japan tshirts that were being sold also. We get back to the tofu booth and were about 10th back in line as we wait for yoshiki to come. It seemed that they were more sure now that he was coming and they were getting the works set up for someone as huge as Yoshiki to come. They gave out these special stickers that you had to have on your pass to get in order to get an autograph. I didnt like the idae because these 3 girls or so were waiting on line and went to the bathroom while they were given out and was unable to get one and ended up not getting an autograph. Very lame. Anyhow, Yoshiki finally came and a huge crowd had gathered on line. I finally get up to him and tell him my name for him to sign. He seemed to have difficulty spelling names out even though he speaks english fairly well, so I had to help him spell it out. He was really nice about everything and I thanked him for his music and also for coming to otakon and being so great to all his fans. He shook my hand and then I walked away thinking "wow, I just met FUCKING yoshiki. I admire him so much. His music, piano playing, composing, status, everything. He is such a prolific figure in jrock and is still very human. Meeting Yoshiki was such an amazing way to end the convention. You gotta love anime conventions where you dont do anything anime related. ^_^

The end of my novel

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