Yes, the madness has got it's own groove and meaning...quotes!

For a bay area cosplayer (but living in wine country where cow tipping is the happenin'), October is the busiest cosplay month of them all. AniMagic, Metreon Fest, Yaoi Con, Para Con, and Halloween...just to name of the main events. In replacement of Metreon (needed the weekend to recover from AniMagic) and Yaoi Con, I decided to test my luck with Para Con - a small anime con in Six Flags Great America.

Since Victoria has no car, she had to take the airport bus to Oakland. Theatre class ended early. I remained oblivious to what a passion party is. So, I was able to make it to the 3:30 bus to Oakland. Paul was kind to drive me to the bus stop. So the bus came, and it took a good two hours to get to Oakland due to the heavy traffic. I arrived there at about 6: 15. I told Tom that I would meet him in the Southwest Terminal. On my way to the Southwest Terminal, I heard a voice calling out, "Victoria!" I turned around, and it was Tom! We kissed our hellos. Tom also brought his younger brother with him. So we head over to Milpitas and get ice cream. Mmm....chocolatey goodness. *^^*

We finally arrive at his place and unpack. I checked my livejournal if plans were still on for tonight. Stella, Hitori, and Stephanie were planning to rendez-vous at Milpitas Golfland. (MGL) Hitori and Steph couldn't make it, but it was rest assured that we'll hang out at Para Con. Tom and I drove to Milpitas Golfland and parked. Another car pulled into the parking space next to us. It turned out to be Stella! ^^ So, we did the Para Para thing. (50 cents for FIVE songs?!) Stella was pretty spiffy with the routines. The Para Para machine even had routines I didn't know. ^_^;;; Must learn "Popteen" 'cause that song is the best ever! So, we played some DDR and other whatnot. Talked about the ups and downs of convention and cosplay life. Then it was nearing time to go. Nice meeting ya, Stella!

Saturday was pretty much a tour of Tom's area. Tom and I went to see the awesomeness that is Kill Bill. He caught me drooling over the swords. Yes, for your information, we saw the entire movie. *nudges Sora* Both of us agreed that this film is one of the year's best. Victoria *hearts* O Ren Ishii. We went to the (not so) Great Mall. It's more of an outlet shopping place than anything else. It really reminds me of South Bay Pavillion - a mall made up of no brand name chain stores. I got introduced to the joy of Vietnamese cuisine. Pho is quite a delicacy! Then we just went around town for the rest of Saturday. Tom's mom took us out to dinner. Mmm...Chinese food! As you can tell, Victoria hasn't had decent Asian food in a while due to the fact she's stuck in a white washed town. Then finnished up Matrix: Reloaded....and went sleep sleep.

Sunday began Para Con. Since the two of us could not make it to Yaoi Con, we thought of bringing the yaoi to Para Con. So Tom went as Subaru, and I went as Seishirou. It's cool too since Sei-chan is my favorite of the Dragons of the Earth. *^^* Also it works well with my fetish for Asian guys in black suits. ^.~ The two of us head to Starbucks. Subaru orders a brownie shake, while Seishirou orders a vanilla shake. Talk about the Yin and Yang!

We arrive at Great America at 11AMish. First, we run into Ray - the JTAF chair dude. We then buy our tickets for Para Con. (thanks Tom for the free Great America passes...and borrowing your batteries!) We signed up for masquerade since Hitori and her Yuzu friend would show up later on. Since it was my first time at Great America, Tom showed me around. We first hit The Grizzly ("I like swords!" "Welcome to goddamn Cornia!"). Then we hit the ride right next too it - Psycho Mouse. It looks like a kiddy coaster, but don't believe that. We honestly thought that it would go off track. x.x;; We hit the skyway thingy to where Top Gun is. From the skyway, we could see Fanime's former home.

We went on the rapids thing...kinda like Big Foot at Knotts Berry Farm. Not only once, but twice! Wearing that Seishirou trenchcoat has it's advantages. We went with the Battle Royale people from JTAF. They asked if Chris was going to show up, but Chris had homework to do. Thenafter, we went on the log ride. Tom made a discovery that Stealth dissapeared. Tom and I went on Top Gun. It was pretty spiffy. Almost just as good as Batman in Magic Mountain. It was almost time for Hitori and friends to show up. Tom and I ordered some funnel cake for lunch. Don't us onmyouji have decent diets? While waiting, we went on Vector. It's much like Riddler's Revenge, but this thing is almost instant migraine.

We ran into Hitori and friends near the Para Con area. We gathered around and discussed about how we're going to pull off the X skit. We run into Lionel and take a few pictures with snake boy. So, it's just about time for masquerade call. We ran into more cosplayers from JTAF. I ran into Fiona, whom I haven't seen since AX 2001! Wow! I ran into Animenation people, and they wanted to use my pics on their site. ^_^ Cool cool. Talked for a bit with other peoples 'til it was time to get inside.

And looks like Animerica is up to it again! Yup, Kotori's heart throb Urian Brown plays the MC. Kit Fox was judging. I felt we could have had more judges for the cosplay contest, especially someone with background knowledge on costuming. Also, I feel Animerica's act is getting tiresome. Let's hear it for skits! Yeah, it was JTAF all over again. So, the X / 1999 group didn't get to do their skit. ;_; But we won free Ah My Goddess cds! Ain't that spiffy? Congrats to the winners! ^.~

After the contest, we hit the arcade. Mutton, Hitori, and I had some girl talk. Ahem...hehe. After going to arcade we went around to going on the rides. We went on Top Gun and then checked out the other arcade. Seems like all the arcades have one form of DDR. We thought about going into the karaoke contest. Tom and I thought about doing "Hot Limit." Unfortunately, "Hot Limit" ain't a Top 40 song. Yup, the karaoke contest consisted of Top 40 songs, rather than anime / game / j-whatever songs. Finally, we went on our own ways. Tom and I saved one more ride on the log ride. The park was just about to close, so we went on our way.

We had dinner at home. Yay...more pho! I had to catch the 10PM bus out of Oakland to Santa Rosa. Thank goodness Adam was willing to pick me up from the bus stop that late at night. Tom drove me to the airport, and he said he would wait with me, but first he had to park. I'd call and tell him the news. We kissed our "see you laters" hoping that we would see each other at the bus stop, but by the time I reached the bus stop out of the terminal, it was already loading for Santa Rosa. I called Tom on my cell phone informing him the bus already arrived. I boarded the bus, and as I napped away, I thought about the wonderful weekend that just passed...Thank you, Tom....and thanks Ms. Ton-that for the bracelet! *^^*