Saturday had to consist of four important points I had to hit:

• The photoshoot with Outer Power, Inner Beauty
• Meeting Hime-chan for lunch
• Meeting Chris for lunch
• And going on a fancy double date with my friend Jess and her boyfriend Smitty.

Plenty of time to do four things in one day.

After the all-character Sailor Moon shoot, it was time for Outer Power, Inner Beauty to assemble, and head on out with David Ng for our photoshoot. This year, we had decided--quite wisely, I think--to do the summer junior high school uniforms from the anime, so we wouldn't all die in the humid Baltimore summer heat. We only had four characters, but with three inner senshi and Hotaru, who's always an outcast anyway (sorry Avi, love you anyway!) we were still able to get a lot of shots that made sense.

We shot outside on the sky bridge that links the convention center to the Bank of America Shopping Center. It was BRIGHT out! Luckily, Dave and I have worked on our timing together before (the Chun Li photoshoot), and were able to count, "One, two, three, shoot!", which would allow me to close my eyes against the sunlight on the numbers, and open them wide for the shutter, keeping me from going blind. I think the other girls eventually used this too. Overall, we had a great time. And finished just in time for lunch!

Hime-chan called me just as we were finishing up our set with Dave, and came up to meet the girls. I just about dived into her arms, because I hadn't seen her since last year's Otakon! I also got to see Molly again (the poor girl, in that heat with a pleather coat on!), and meet some of Hime-chan's other friends, but we got out of the sun as quickly as we could, and decided to have lunch in the Bank of America Shopping Center.

Hime-chan and I had a great time catching up, chatting about art, her family, my family, art, our jobs, cosplay, art, when were going to hang out again, art, you know the drill. Eventually, she had to move on, as she and her friends were really only going to be at the con for one day, but we promised each other we wouldn't let another year go by before we saw each other again.

After lunch with my "sister", it was time for after-lunch of a kind of Louis's "brother"! One of Lou's best friend's, Chris, lives in Virginia and works in DC, so Baltimore isn't too far of a drive for him to come visit, so we see him for lunch on Saturday at Otakon every year. And it was the same for him and Lou as it was for me and Hime-chan: they talked about video games, their families, their friends, video games, their jobs, comic books, video games, and so on and so forth. He had to leave all too soon too, but at least we know we'll see him for Thanksgiving.

By this point Lou was absolutely dying in his Vash coat, so we had to go back to the hotel room so he could strip down and cool off. I must admit, male cosplayers really get the shaft when it comes to their costume designs: women get to run around in tiny little skirts and what have you, whereas almost every single anime guy's costume is a full-fledged suit, or floor-length coat, or full-body kimono, or some such nonsense. It's a wonder more people don't die of heat stroke at Otakon every year.

After that, Lou and I decided to head back to the Dealer's Room. I grabbed Usa and Nick again, because we hadn't been able to really talk much throughout the photoshoot on Friday because I look very retarded when I'm photographed with my mouth open, and anyway it's always more fun shopping for Sailor Moon merchandise with a friend. We ended up with Kayla and Travis and Kelly too, and ran into a bunch more people I knew, like Janice and and Joshigo. And, of course, we bought things. I've already forgotten what all swag I got (isn't that horrible?) but I bought both Usa and Louis matching light-up Misa Misa cell phone charms from Death Note--how cute is that?

After shopping, it was time to get ready for our fancy-schmancy double date at Luna Del Sea with Jess and Smitty! On our way out of the con, we ended up running into Lisa, Mike, and a friend of theirs, who looked absolutely wonderful as a Paradise Kiss group.

Dinner was fabulous, as usual, and we had a wonderful time. Really, sometimes I think the only reason Lou agrees to go to Otakon is so that he can have Alaskan King Crab Legs. It's was hilarious: Jess had never seen anyone order Alaskan King Crab Legs before, and when they brought of a platter of what looked, to her, like alien tentacles, that Lou then proceeded to crack open and feast on the sweet flesh inside, she looked horrified, and blurted out, "That's barbaric!" Which, of course, made Louis make more of a production out of it, making sure to gnaw on the legs with the corner of his mouth, making appropriate grunting noises. Fun.

After dinner, we decided to head back to the convention center. After milling about the fountain room a bit, Smitty decided he wanted to check out the game room. I thought that wasn't a bad idea: I had actually never been in Otakon's game room before. I guess my thought process was, why am I going to pay a whole lot of money and travel many hours to play video games I have at home?

I found out why: to make grown men cry when you annihilate them.

Okay: maybe I'm not the world's greatest Puzzle Fighter. I did lose after an epic 20 minute battle at AnimeNEXT in 2004. But I certainly hold my own. And I'm better than most. Not that that's saying much: maybe 1% of the population has played this game, so even fewer own it and have had a chance to get good at it. But I'm good. I'm very good. I kicked ass, and I'll leave it at that--no use going into details, lest that poor man find this con report and be humiliated. :)

I will relate one thing that happened in the game room to me, though: creepy half-thief guy.

When we first walked into the game room, this one guy (looked roughly my age, maybe a little younger, although I admit I'm terribly at estimating anything, but especially ages) came up and asked me for a photo. Okay, nothing unusual there, so I dropped my bag and posed. He said no, and asked me to go over to the corner where there was a table, and pose there. All right, that's a little unusual, but there's still nothing wrong with it, so I picked up my stuff and dragged it closer to the table, and then posed for him.

He took two pictures right away, but I could tell that he was sort of distracted, and he started sort of talking to me, but I couldn't really hear what he was saying. Quickly, he thanked me, bent down, picked up MY "goody" bag, and sped off. I tried to calling him, but he apparently didn't hear me, so I ran after him with HIS bag, tapped him on the shoulder, and told him he had accidentally switched bags. He denied it, but I opened his bag and showed him his disposable camera in his bag, and then pried mine open and showed him whatever was in mine--my phone, among other things, I believed. He apologized, and started to walk off again--still with my bag! I grabbed him again and physically switched the bags again. Then he lit out.

To this day, I can't tell if he was just a very, VERY socially awkward kid who made a mistake, and got so embarrassed that he just kept making mistakes, or if that was the lamest thieving attempt I've ever seen.

Anyway, we left the game room, got Smitty to pose with a kickass Superman cosplayer (Superman being Smitty's favorite superhero ever, and this guy looked just awesome), and took a few more photos. I got to run into Jez, which was wonderful because I hadn't seen him in months, and he introduced me to his lovely friend, Yaya. Anyway, we grabbed some more people, some of Jess's friends, and some of my friends, and retired to our hotel to have a few drinks in the lobby bar, and then hit the hay.

Another pic taken on our way to the con.

Another shot of all the Sailor Moon cosplayers.

The group was so big, I couldn't fit them all in one shot!

Part three of the same shot.

A large Hellsing group.

Vash meets Midvalley the Hornfreak.

Kayla's so sexxxy.

She gives me kissssssies.