Friday morning started off with our new usual routine for Otakon: I got my hair straightened in the morning, and then I came home, we loaded up the car, and we were on the road by 11:30 AM.

We stopped once for lunch, and to ask for some opinions about the car (most of my family agreed that it would probably get us there and back safely, and that I could deal with it when I returned), and despite the brakes, the sudden storms that blew in from out of nowhere and blue out again as quickly, and needing to do the exact speed limit instead of my usual +10 on the highway, we made it to our hotel around 4 PM. 

I had remembered my Club Carlson card this year, and I'm not sure if it was that, or good luck again, but we ended up on the 18th floor, with the sleep number beds and the complimentary breakfast.  You know, the Radisson isn't quite as close to the convention center as the Marriott seems to be, but with these benefits (and being just a tad cheaper) it has bypassed the Marriott Inner Harbor as our preferred hotel.

It took us quite a bit of time to get up to our room, unpack, get settled, and get into our costumes.  I had done my makeup before going to get my hair done, but Louis's Zell tattoo takes some work to get just right, and we both had to change. 

We were running a little late, but as soon as we were ready, we hightailed it down to the convention center, with my Rinoa costume for Lady Terentia to borrow in tow.  Given that Pope Cerebus had a full schedule of shoots he was trying to stick to, Louis and I decided to forgo picking up our badges, and instead go straight to the outside area with the benches to start the shoot as soon as possible. 

Avian Firefly met us and took the bag with the costume into to Lady Terentia to help her change, and I got to catch up with my friend Hime-chan and her husband and her brother—and Hime-chan confirmed the amazing news she had hinted at earlier that month—she's gonna be a momma!  (She's going to be the best momma EVER, in my opinion!)  I also got to spend some time with Ferio!Chris, looking amazing in his Locke costume, and Aki Reinii, whose feet were unfortunately starting to pain her after having worn her Lightning costume (and killer boots) all day.

Avi, as Songstress Yuna (or Lenne, I forgot to ask), and Lady Terentia as Rinoa came back shortly, and we were able to start our Final Fantasy VII, VIII, X-2 & XIII photoshoot with Pope Cerebus.  We had a lot of fun, doing both full group shots, and then being paired off as well.  Reinii left as soon as her shots were done due to her boots hurting her so, but we still had plenty of time to get a lot of amazing pictures.

As soon as we were done with the shoot, Louis and I said goodbye to the group for the moment, because we still had to pick up our badges, and we also wanted to find Doc the Stampede, who had graciously agreed to be interviewed for the radio show that Louis and my brother Freddy do every Friday night, “That's What HE Said”.  Doc met us at the registration booths, and volunteered to help us find a quiet place in which to conduct the interview over the phone.

We left the convention center proper and headed over to the attached Hilton, where we found a vacated conference room.  It was perfect for our needs.  Doc told some wonderful stories about Otakons past and present, and then he and I got to quietly catch up while Louis and Freddy covered the rest of the news for that week.

After the show was over, Doc, Louis and I took a small walk around the Hilton, looking for an out of the way alcove in which to take a few shots.  Doc and I had actually met many years ago at AXNY 2002, when I wore my Tifa costume for the first time.  It's amazing how the years go by, and what changes, and what doesn't!  Doc also gave Louis some tips on how to pose—Louis is more photogenic than I am, but I've had more experience than he does.

After doing the shoot with Doc, and talking to some nice people who were relaxing in the chairs nearby (including one who was a history buff who filled us in on all sorts of trivia about Baltimore!), it was getting pretty late, so Louis and I said goodbye to Doc, and headed across the street to The Ale House for our yearly Friday Night date.

The Ale House has, unfortunately, cut down their menu and upped their prices, so assuming we go back to Otakon next year with a car that isn't actively trying to murder us, we may look up how far away The Wharf Rat's new location is, and try to go back there.  However, the food was still up to par, and we were actually able to catch some of the London Olympic's opening ceremonies!  Normally we probably wouldn't care too much about it—although they're always visually impressive—but Louis just about choked on his crab cakes when we looked up and saw Mr. Bean!  That was a fortuitous coincidence!

After dinner, we realized that we hadn't really seen much of the con—having gone from photoshoot to show recording to dinner—so we decided to take a very late walk along our usual route throughout the convention center.  It was fairly late, so there weren't as many people as we are used to seeing, but there were still plenty of cosplayers out and about for me to photograph.

After we got to the indoor fountains, Louis suggested that we check out the game room, which we hadn't been back to in years.  It's a good thing we did, too—I was carrying around my 3DS with Street Pass enabled, and I got more Street Passes on the Friday night of Otakon (and Saturday and some of Sunday too, to be fair) than I have in the almost full year I've owned it!

Louis is really more into video games than I am (I used to be a hard core gamer, now I own a Wii), but it was wonderful to see some of our old favorites, such as Dance Dance Revolution (I can remember when we used to play that every weekend!) and Puzzle Fighter (I thought about challenging some opponents, but the kids who were playing didn't look too keen on handing off the controllers), still attracting players.

After wandering around the video game room for a while, we decided to head on back—after all, it was late enough that there wasn't a lot open to do (the Artist's Alley and Dealer's Room were both closed), and we had had a long trip, so we decided to head back to our hotel room for the night, and rest up for the next day.

Louis took this from far away. Can't imagine why.

I'm not really sure what he was even trying to take a picture of here, other than my nose.

A Korean DDR-esque game--notice how the arrows are in the corners, rather than a cross.

Glad to see Puzzle Fighter is still getting some love!