I almost didn't go to Otakon 2023. It was that close. After the "Schrodinger's Con" of Otakon last year (where whether I was attending or not varied sometimes not only by day but by hour) and the fiasco that surrounded New York Comic Con, I had decided my cosplaying days were behind me. I didn't buy a badge, I didn't buy any costumes, and in January of 2023, I had quietly "announced", in my State of the Crissy address on Facebook, that I was done. A few people (far more than I had anticipated; I had anticipated "none") reached out privately to express surprise, but most of my friends knew what I was going through with my family, so that was pretty much that.

Until late May when I got an e-mail from Otakorp, reminding me that my hotel cancellation deadline was coming up. I don't remember ever getting one of those before, but I suppose it wouldn't be too hard to set up a system where such reminders went out to people who had reserved a hotel but had not bought a badge. I didn't remember reserving a hotel, but the hotel blocks usually open up within a week after the previous Otakon ends, and in July of last year I would have thought attendance was still possible.

And so I had to scramble to get ready for a con in almost exactly two months. First was the badge--sadly, our friend Sai was unable to make it to the con herself, but fortunately, it was for a happy reason, and that meant I could buy her badge off of her. The hotel was reserved which is what started this whole process, and transportation is no sweat now that I have a car, so that left only the costumes. I talk more about this on each of the individual costume pages, but with the help of my friends, I managed to put together three new costumes in two months without going *too* crazy.

After all that, actually getting to the con was a breeze. I made excellent time down to Washington D.C. Friday morning, and as I pulled into the driveway of the Henley Park hotel, I saw the concierge who had kept me company while waiting for my car on the Sunday of last year. He was all grins as he came over before I could even get out of the car, and as I opened my door he said, "You know, I was thinking about you today! I was wondering if you were coming back this year!"

I mean, I don't believe in signs, but if I did, that was an awesome one.

And then as I checked in, David Ng found me in the lobby. He wasn't staying in that hotel, he didn't know I was staying in that hotel, he was just scouting for potential photoshoot locations, and happened to be there right as I was checking in. I'm telling you, kismet.

Dave helped me schlep all my stuff up to my room, and kept me company while I texted the girls that I had arrived, and started to unpack. He had things to do before starting his own schedule of photoshoots, so he left after a little bit, but not long after, Lady Terentia and Beth arrived to help me get into Beidou. The costume itself wasn't too hard, but I was once again stupidly insistent on using my own hair, and Beidou's hairsticks make her style a bit more intricate than I could do myself. Beth also had the eye patch she made for me, as I hadn't done a great job of resizing my own, and with both of their help, and a HECK of a lot of bobby pins, we got me ready to go, and then walked over to the Marriott to do our first photoshoot of the weekend with Dave.

And we had fun! Dave is a huge Genshin Impact fan, as are Stevie, Lauren, and Lady Terentia. Beth is more of a fan of Aloy and was just enthused that she had an excuse to cosplay her with us, and as for me, well, I'm a fan of drunken pirates. We had plenty of reference photos on hand to recreate our characters' iconic poses, and had a lot of fun goofing off behind Dave's back--literally; he could hear us, but he was so intent on what he was doing he paid us absolutely no mind at all. Within an hour we had taken all of the pictures we wanted, so we wrapped up, and immediately crossed back across the street again to go to the Henley Park Hotel for tea.

Tea was pretty wonderful--we had two tables, so it ended up being me, Aki Reinii, Teren, and Dave at one table (missing only Avian Firefly--we miss you, Avi!), and Alyce, Beth, Vill, Lauren, and Stevie at the other. I brought out the second Cosplay Decadebook I had made and tried to pass it around for signatures, but the pen I brought down wasn't quite up to snuff, and of course once the tiers of food arrived we were much too busy to bother with books anyway. Reinii looked so adorable as Kiki from Kiki's Delivery Service, by the way, that it ought to be illegal.

After tea Teren and I went up to my room for a quick bathroom break, and then made our way to the convention center, as I had been in Washington D.C. for hours and yet had not officially been to the convention yet. Otakon had a new prop policy this year; while certain guidelines had always been in place (no live steel, no moving triggers, etc.) this was the first year where if you had any sort of a prop weapon, you had to get it checked and, after a staffer "okayed" it, they would write what prop you were carrying on the back of your badge. Thankfully by the time we went in on Friday there was no line at all, so I was able to get Beidou's Blackcliff Slasher approved in short order.

There was only about an hour until the AMVs were schedule to start, and since the room hosting the AMVs was not as big as it had been in years previous, Teren wanted to wait in line to make sure she got a seat. We (carefully!) sat down on the floor close to the wall that bordered the door, and that's when I realized I had forgotten my phone in my hotel room. Teren said there was plenty of time for me to go back and get it, but honestly, between my feet hurting (the heels on Beidou's boots weren't too bad, but I really should have ordered a half size larger), and just feeling so content in the moment, I decided I didn't need to. I was more than happy to just sit and watch the con go by.

Before too long, however, a staffer came out and said that there were plenty of seats in the previous panel, and that they weren't really encouraging people to "line up" for the AMVs, so why not come inside and sit on a seat and be comfortable? So that's what we did, and that's how we got to see some of "Nightmares to Dystopian Apocalypse, A Guide to Dreamcatcher and the Story of their Music Videos". I'm not exactly a fan of K-Pop (I don't dislike it, I've just never really come into contact with it) and I've never heard of Dreamcatcher, but I'm always up for watching pretty girls in awesome music videos. The hosts of the panel were really good, too; they gave enough information for a complete and total newb like myself to have some context, but also let the music and visuals speak for themselves. It was a good "opening act" to the AMVs.

Speaking of which, once the Dreamcatcher panel was over, they had actual, specially created "filler" to display on the screen while people were seated--everything from trivia about previous AMV contests, and AMVs in general, to an incredible "teaser trailer" that was edited to make it look like anime characters were creating the AMVs we would be watching in a bit. I don't know who Otakon got to do their videos but I hope they're getting compensated well, because even just that short trailer was amazing.

Now I had watched the AMV contest once or twice before, but I don't think I've ever sat through them from start to finish, and I definitely never voted for them before! I was having trouble making out the fine print in my red colored contacts, especially once the lights went down, but I tried to be as objective as possible (not just voting for the few anime I recognized) and scribble notes in the dark so I could remember which ones I liked best. There really weren't a lot I recognized, but the two I liked best were an "animated manga" one that was *so* technically impressive that I had to vote for it for Best in Show, and "Double Take", an homage to how many visual character tropes are repeated in anime, that had the audience absolutely roaring (and was the AMV to take home Best in Show.)

The AMVs finished up around 10 o'clock, by which point I am *normally* in bed on a typical night, so Lady Terentia walked me back to my hotel and helped me take out the ten thousand bobby pins that were hidden all over my scalp. She was also kind enough to take my Saturday evening costume back to her hotel room, because we planned to have dinner in their room after our Sailor Moon shoot the next day, and I knew I'd need to also use that time to change. By the time I got out of costume, took off all of my makeup, and climbed into bed, it was quarter to midnight! I got one last text from Lady Terentia, asking if she had left her water bottle in my hotel room, but no dice--we must have forgotten it in the AMV room. I offered to walk back to the con with her to check, but she said we might as well wait until tomorrow and check with Lost and Found. After that, I fell asleep immediately and I think I only woke up once during the night, which is an absolute miracle for me.