Memoir Topic Sketch #2 - Anime Weekend Atlanta

If you're into that whole "Japanese cartoons" thing, then you might have heard about the anime convention down in Atlanta, Anime Weekend Atlanta. AWA, as it's abbreviated to, is a rather large con that occurs every year during a September weekend. I'll mention my first AWA, since your first time is always special.

To go back in time for a bit, I was part of a group of friends that wanted to do something special. Aaron, one of the guys, had it in his head to host a ball centered around the beginning plot point of the video game Final Fantasy 8. He intended for all of us to be cast as the character, to roleplay and interact with other people as if we were really the character. He even got permission from the convention events director to host it! I was excited, but a bit saddened that all the main female roles were taken, even the villains! I was stuck picking the most feminine looking guy: Laguna Loire. In a way, this was to my advantage: I didn't know how to dance, period, and I figured it would be best to pretend to be the so-called village idiot of the story. One of the girls even got to play the part of my character's wife, so hilarity was destined to ensue. Everyone got their costumes made and practiced the Moon Waltz that was in the game as best as they could for the six months prior to the convention. Needless to say, I slept very little as the awaited date drew closer.

Flash forward to September, after large bits of traffic (thanks, construction zone!) and a few stops for food, I finally arrived at the Sheraton. The hotel was big, and there were tons of people there on Friday. Everyone met up at the room the ball was going to be held in and figured out where we were going to be during the two big scenes, and what was going to happen after. We all met up in Aaron's hotel room to get ready. My nervousness shot through the roof when we were told that the ball had sold all of its tickets! That's at least one thousand other people that we were going to candidly interact with. Needless to say, my heart was racing.

Timer ended.