We took to the con center outdoors and eventually to the balconies of the con center to enjoy the view of con and find other familiar faces to chat with and film. Nasir was wandering the area as some sort of drunken ninja showman. We could see and hear his antics from above along with Crazy Bunta and Agent Sakur9. People recognized the "Geobreeders" costumes. We left the balcony and ran into Katalin and her friends who were waiting in line for Masquerade. Oh yeah... that was happening tonight. I forgot about that. Discussed KoF and building cosplay plans. We saw some more friends coming and going and caught some data regarding some Masquerade issue. I wasn't there to see it so I cannot take sides. Even if I were there I would not take sides due to my Swiss nature of neutrality and my personal nature of having no idea what's going on half the time (and not caring the other half of the time). My opinion on the matter would be as good as having Ray Charles testify as an eyewitness to a car accident. But something that I did notice and care about was the death of Marlon Brando before AX. Last year's AX took Barry White and this year AX took one of the main actors of "The Godfather," my family's favorite movie saga.

In 2003, we used the 4th of July fireworks to confess our feelings. Why not do the same this year? According to the mouse's mouth, the 4th of July fireworks were scheduled for 9:25PM. We figured that we could have an early dinner, a bit of dancing despite having no AX Ball to dance at (like hell you'd find me at a rave), and then watch the fireworks show together.

No ramen rations or fast food for dinner tonight. The Hilton restaurant provided a nice dinner, nice atmosphere, and a nice price for us. I got my traditional Pina Colada for the con at last. Mmm, Pina Colada. Some people may have had beef with AX in regards to reg lines, AMV selection, Masquerade, or certain people. In my case, my only beef with AX was from my gourmet burger with shitake mushrooms at the Hilton. After dinner we ran into Sihaya and her company just getting seated. Keith of Manga along with his entourage and some Tokyopop employees were sharing dinner. Keith also had Pina Coladas (first lacked the rum taste, second made up for it). We hung around Keith's table for a bit to kill time before heading back to the room.

We arrived at the hotel room to change into our final costumes. Victoria was an original Para Para character. I was Takubo from the "Close Your Eyes" routine from "Para Para Panic." I could have been confused as a Matrix Agent. But Matrix Agents do not wear white gloves. Nor do they Para Para. It was another game of beat the clock to avoid missing an intended event but this time we didn't know that we were playing. As we finished changing, we could hear the distinctive pop-pops of fireworks (not to be confused with the pop-pops of cars backfiring or gunshots). A check of the time showed it was 9:00PM. So much for relying on the mouse's mouth. It was a mad dash to the con center roof to see the Disneyland fireworks. And the baseball stadium fireworks. And the illegal fireworks. It was wonderful to be able to see them again with Victoria this year.

I didn't feel it a good idea to set up the impromptu AX Ball on the same floor as Masquerade. The music would have distracted from Masquerade and there were planty of people who might crowd the floor out after Masquerade ended. So instead, we hit the Masquerade for a bit since we were already there. If AX were on schedule, it would have been the middle or near the end of Masquerade when we arrived. As it turned out, the words "AX" and "on schedule" still did not belong in the same sentence. They were still on the single digit entries when we sat down. We saw a few acts. The MC was more memorable than most of the skits for me (though I tend to forget Masquerade skits by the end of con anyway). I liked the "One Piece" skit. Then there was that one skit with the costumes and the music and the dancing But from the camera work and my hearing, I couldn't tell what the costumes were or what the music was or what the dance was. But it looked cool.

Unable to take any more technical delays, we left Masquerade for any late night socializing. We hung out with Moo and Karisu-sama and family. More listening to saxaphone goodness was in order as well as some packing humor. Sakaki still had no luck with gray objects capable of biting. We retreated to the Hilton to listen to our songs. Eventually I did feel like ballroom dancing for a bit. It took a lot of patience (and the vacating of most people) but I did come through on those plans in the end.

After one last shot of Taba with a laptop (see above), Victoria and I packed up our costumes, rations, and other belongings. Tomorrow we were forfeiting the last day of AX in favor of some place just as animated.

Traveling Valentine bids farewell to AX04.