The weeks leading up to the con were spent head down,
shoulders hunched, eyes trained, chained to my sewing machine. I worked with more new materials and tools on
these two costumes than I think I have ever for a single project. It was great, but it also slowed things
down. I was still putting on the finishing
touches (little last minute things) Thursday morning before the con. Because of this, I had gotten up early (5 am)
to get started, but to my surprise I suddenly found I had lake front
property. Between nervously watching the
ever rising water inching slowly closer to our back porch and fielding all of
the calls/emails/messages from friends and family all wanting to know how we
were it was slow going on the last minute cosplay and packing which all still
had to be completed. And now there was a
real deadline . . . finish early and get out of town before they close the very
last road across town and/or out of town, or miss the con.
Ha ha. This is all
dramatic and sounds like a fiction, but I swear it’s ALL true. After finishing the cosplays, I began madly
running around the house getting things packed up and ready. I convinced my husband that though he had
gotten into work alright that morning, they were quickly closing all routes
home and that he had better come home early. He left work looking at what
should have been a half hour drive home.
Three hours later, and after many panicked phone calls wondering if he
was ever going to find a way across town to home, he finally arrived. After packing the car amidst our neighbors
questioning our evacuation, we were nearly ready and soon after, we managed to
pull out of our driveway.
But, wait, there’s more.
That wasn’t nearly the end of our Thursday. Fielding a confused mass of calls from
friends and family as to road closures, flood protocols, and learning our home
had officially been evacuated, we crept along the main roads in town winding
our way eventually to the highway. Once
we arrived at the hotel and checked in, we settled in for our first night. And was it spent relaxing and hanging
out? Not really. We were all concerned about our homes, our
friends, and family. It was a long and
restless night.
Friday was thankfully, uneventful. Besides realizing in the chaos to get out I
had forgotten all of the racks for my booth in Artist’s Alley (yeah for a close
Target), setting up our shop, and standing in a few hours’ worth of lines, we
had relatively little else to do that night.
Saturday would however make up for it in spades.
We woke, rushed to get our table open, our costumes judged,
and then to the Press event that morning.
By noon we were exhausted. Around
1:00 we returned to our room to grab lunch and then dress for the costume
contest. It was shortly after, while
standing in tiny panties and a top that could get me arrested for indecent exposure
(Hey – I was getting dressed for the costume contest), the fire alarm went
off. At first, the soft binging did
nothing more than make me curious. I
stepped into the hall (covered a bit) where I was told by a maid I was fine and
to simply go back about my business in my room.
Just afterwards, however, the loudspeaker in the Atrium (AA
inside the hotel and right outside of our balcony) boomed an announcement to
evacuate the building immediately. Nearly
7,000 people were ushered into the parking lot area as our room speakers announced
the Denver Fire Department was responding and we were to stand by. Now, I know what a fire alarm means so I
stepped back into the hall and double checked with the maid. She assured us we should return to our room
and listen for further instructions on the speaker. We might have been more concerned if the
staff for the con or the hotel seemed upset in the least, but besides someone
from NDK staff screaming at those who had been told to stay in their rooms to
evacuate, every other member on staff lazily went about their business.
So, we continued dressing, with the added excitement of
adrenaline coursing through our veins and our small daughter wide eyed and
arguing about leaving when a fire alarm goes off. While it seemed to take forever for the fire
department to arrive, once they were on scene, they quickly cleared the
building and people came flooding back in.
That was when the alarm system sounded announcing a tornado watch for
the area. By this point, I was sort of
done. I had been stressed all weekend
over our house, the flooding, wondering if we’d even be able to get home Sunday
night, and normal con stress with the upcoming competition, but this? This was too much!
We finished dressing, collected ourselves a bit, and using
the old adage “the show must go on”, we continued to check in for the contest
that night. While sitting waiting to be
checked in, the alarm went off for a third time. Now I don’t know who thought simply stating
over the intercom that the hotel had an announcement wouldn’t get enough
attention after a day like that, but whoever it was is personally responsible
for nearly sending me (and probably dozens of other people) into a heart
attack. This time it was the Denver Fire
Department stating people had parked illegally and had ten minutes to move
their cars before they would start towing.
I nearly wanted to strangle the idiot on the loudspeaker.
You’d think that would be it, but our night was long from over. Not even going into standing in one position
with giant wings on my back, a hoop skirt which cannot be made to collapse, and
a nervous small child in a hot uncomfortable costume, we patiently waited back
stage for our turn.
Photo By Chris Gilstrap
This was the single shining moment of the night. My daughter, at seven years old, was
astounding on stage in front of all of those people, cameras flashing, judges
judging, big screens of her performance easily visible from peripheral vision,
and music pumping. She ROCKED! Our performance was a bit lack luster all
over, but that was my costume issue (my wings bent and covered us :C ).
After we had stepped off stage, it was no better than before hand with
more standing in one tiny space, giant wings, non-collapsing hoop skirt (that
means I couldn’t sit), seven year old wanting out of her costume, and a lot of
time to wait. And more issues followed
during the “half time” show (that will have its own mini blog!).
Finally, after what seemed like forever, the judging was
under way. I am so sorry to announce we
did not win anything, but honestly, that was not the worst part of the judging
by far (I’ll cover the judging more in depth in another mini blog too). Half way through the judging one of the
Cosplay staff at NDK who was 20 feet from us (with front row seats and a clear
view to see her) began shaking, then jerking, then collapsed into a full on
seizure. I will not go into any details
here out of concern for her (and I do sincerely hope she is doing
alright!!! <3), I only mention it
because for an already upset and uneasy seven year old this was probably the
last straw. Who knew you could need
therapy for a lifetime because your parents took you to an anime convention?!?
Needless to say, they did not finish announcing the winners
as usual, instead choosing to read them off and then ask everyone to exit the
room. I thought they handled it particularly
well given the circumstances. Still, I
was wearing a costume I would normally need help navigating crowded hallways if
I’d been by myself and here I had a pig suit, head, props, and a seven year old
to keep track off during the mass evacuation (have you noticed the evacuation
theme of the weekend???). Normally my
husband would have helped us out of the room, but he had been on the far side
and had our video equipment up so it took him some time to get to us. Fortunately, a very kind gentleman offered
assistance and I gratefully accepted.
By the time we made it through the crowded halls, up a tiny
elevator (you wear 7 foot tall wings in a hotel elevator and then say they’re
not tiny. Lol), along the way too short
corridors to our room, and reached the relative quiet of our sanctuary, I desperately
needed a taste of normalcy. We changed
into regular clothing (no costume whatsoever), crossed I-25 for food (which we
had to stand on the sidewalk and wait for a friend to drive through just so we
could get it at that time of night), and returned to the hotel to eat before
venturing back to my booth to help close up for the night.
Sunday was also thankfully less eventful. While we did have autograph and dealer’s room
lines to stand in, the World Cosplay Summit to film (though I wish I had known
someone else for the con was – we wouldn’t have bothered then), and the Artist’s
Alley to work in, for the most part, we had time to breath; which provided us
plenty of time to worry and wonder if we would be able to make it home that night
and what state our homes would be in once we did.
I am pleased to say, we did in fact make it home that night,
with only a slightly longer drive than usual and two spots of road flooding
(one of which was very small). And our
place? Fortunately, completely dry, with
a much smaller lake in our backyard. In
fact, by the time we woke up Monday, the lake was gone and we once again backed
to a soggy grass field.
All in all, it was the most eventful weekend we have ever
had at any convention (or any vacation for that matter). Between the nearly month worth of constant
sewing/stressing leading up to the con and then the con itself, I could really
use a break! I had wanted to try a live
video blog, but Saturday was just too crazy, so that idea fell apart. We did well in Artist’s Alley and loved
seeing the returning faces and meeting lots of new ones! Your continued patronage is incredible and I
am so fortunate to have such a great group of fans!
There was a contest for a returning artist for 2014’s AA
Sunday afternoon, but honestly with everything going on, not only did we forget
to remind folks to vote for us, we didn’t even mange to turn in our own
ballot. :( I am not holding my breath that we will win
the contest this year, but I am still waiting, fingers crossed, just in case. I will happily let you all know if I got in
again for next year. Otherwise I will
have to hope the raffle is on my side next year. I hate leaving things up to chance like
that! Ah well . . .
So that was the Nan Desu Kan that almost wasn’t. It was not just a long weekend, it was nearly
too much and honestly my stress level is off the charts so I won’t be posting
much for a bit (besides the two mini blog posts I have planned). I will try to get our photos loaded to
FaceBook and Photobucket. Thank you
again for everyone’s continued support in Artist’s Alley and everyone who was
worried about us due to flooding.
I look forward to hearing about your experiences with NDK
this year. Was it a strange year for you
too? How did your weekend turn out? I’d love to hear about it!
I’m taking a seriously needed break before jumping into the
Halloween costume season, but for all you out there in internet land; Happy
Crafting!
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