It was a cool morning that I awoke, the 21st of September and the first day of NDKGo, my 'home' convention located in Denver, Colorado. This year I left from a much nearer location: Greeley, CO, where I attend the University of Northern Colorado. The morning was spent in my usual music theory and choral classes, but as soon as 2:pm rolled around, my boyfriend, Tyler, and I were out of the halls and classrooms and on the interstate, making the hour-or-so long trip to the Holiday Inn DIA. And thus begins yet another adventure.

Of course, as many others, the events of September 11th weighed heavily on my heart in the days after the tragedy and again as the con drew nearer. I was happy to hear through the grapevine that the con would go on, and a part of me returned to standing proudly when I heard it. I sent Becca Norman an email of encouragement, my belief that if we go on and still participate in the activities that we love, see old friends and make new ones, and share in something right in the world we loose another shaft of freedom that will eventually pin down terrorists forever.

Traces of American pride were everywhere. Con staff, guests, hotel staff, and con-goers wore ribbons and flags, and a flag was hung in the main attraction room. The National Anthem was sung at opening ceremonies. I wore a miniature flag given to me by a trumpet grad student, her hometown being Boston. Even though an anime convention is something that celebrates Japanese art and culture, it is impossible to completely forget the American spirit.

Tyler and I arrived, checked in with little difficulty, registered with no difficulty at all (con staff, we love you!), and then were set free among... everything! I soon changed into my Lain slip to wander the halls, and ran into Andrea and Kimberly right away. Now, I'm -really- bad with names and faces, but I was soon just chatting away with the folks I remembered from last year. I met Chris with Kimberly and Andrea, ran into Zoe in her fabulous Chaos costume, and Matt, Kat, and their mother. Then I skittered off to track down Tyler, who had escaped to one of the viewing rooms.

On my way there, I ran into Kevin Lillard, who sorta got heckled ("We know who you are!"), and took a picture of me as Lain. ^^ It was really a pleasure to see him, and I wish I'd had a bit more of a chance to chat with you, Mr. Lillard. You rock, man!

I was back up and down the elevator a few times, and finally caught up with my best friend, Merlyn, complete with cousin and grandmother. She and her cousin, Sam, looked beautiful in their kimono, and I wish for the life of me that I could remember if I got their picture or not. *O.o* Anyhow, eventually, we all ended up in the main events room for the opening ceremonies.

Opening ceremonies were presided over by Kelly Wensing and Becca Norman, two absolutely beautiful women, in body and spirit. Becca made an eloquent speech about the recent tragedy, standing before the American flag. It was all I could do to hold back tears. Not tears of sadness or despair, mind, but tears of happiness and hope and love.

Once the poignant moments had passed, the guests were introduced, Scott McNeil just going crazy up there with the voices. He was absolutely hysterical. Tristan MacAvery followed, putting on his best Gendo Ikari. I just kinda had to eep at that one. Scary. *grin* But waaaaay cool.

Mmm... There was a lot of running about after that. Eventually I made it back to the main lobby, where I caught up with Claudine, and we chatted for a while. LynLeigh, a beautiful and very talented young woman, came along soon after, and it was a great pleasure meeting and talking to her. Her costumes are simply amazing. I also ran into my friend Laura, a member of our cosplay group from last year, and the girl I mooched wings and wigs off of last year (ok, and this year). ^^ Laura, love ya babe.

About that time, the air conditioning was getting to be too much for just my little Lain slip, so I returned to my room to change, then back to the halls for the dance, checking out the Perils Otaku (anime'd version of Monopoly... super sized, baby!), and pondering the karaoke. *o.o* I just don't know enough Japanese songs anymore. Remind me to bring my karaoke CDs next year... Though Tyler and I did think we should take up residence at the piano and just do some jazz stuff. Heh. Fly Me To the Moon. Oh yeah.

After a while of that, I just had to finally pass out, and slept like a log, all night. First eight hours I've had in a long time, let me tell you. Next morning, I would be Ayanami Rei. I did the getting ready thing while Tyler abandoned me for the video rooms again (oh, and I was totally reading the schedule wrong and missed all the things I wanted to see... and the Escaflowne movie played during the cosplay, and I MISSED IT!!! *whiiiiiiiiiiiinne*).

Eventually I made it downstairs and joined the line for the cosplay. It was a long wait, and I was late to the panel with Tristan McAvery. However, it went overtime, as things tend to do, and I even ran into another Rei in the room. ^^ We took some pictures together, then skittered off to pounce Ikari-san himself... Okay, we didn't really pounce, but we got pictures. Two Rei's, one Gendo. Wrock. ^^ Mr. MacAvery was kind enough to sign a paper for me, while I explained I didn't have anything nice to sign because I was a poor college girl. So what ended up on the sheet was, "The first clone to graduate college?" *O.o* What a concept.

I kept pestering Laura all morning about a Serenity wig, and we eventually headed over at 2 o'clock to take pictures of the COSP Mailing List and American Cosplay Paradise groups (if you see these pictures, I'm Rei). I was really pleased to meet Grandis, who I'd run into earlier as Big Mama. The pictures were finished in a hurry and everyone was off again.

I popped around and about all afternoon, managing a bite to eat here, a nap there, and then off at 5:pm for the cosplay preparations. I didn't have a cosplay group this year, so I chose to participate in the costume contest as Serenity-tenshi. While I was sitting around waiting, one of the staff members gave me a "Cool Costume" button! Yay me! ^^ I was feeling a little bad about the whole thing right then, but that little token just turned my whole day around. Thanks, whoever the staffperson was.

Then they got us all herded like cattle into the inner recesses of the hotel. *O.o* It was kinda freaky, but I got to hang out with some really awesome girls in line. Unfortunately I didn't get the names of any of them. *sniff* If you guys see this, mail me, huh? ^^

So, there was a particular funny thing that happened to me as I walked up stage... I was barefoot, as I'd left my white dress shoes at home on accident, but decided that barefoot was okay, and on my way up the stairs of the stage, I tripped. *O.o* Almost ate it right there, and people were like *gasp*, and I know that lots of them thought it was part of the act. *O.o* It was not.

But it ended up okay, I took it all in character, made an indignant princess face and attempted to regain my composure, curtsied, swirled around, and curtsied again. Was very funny. ^^ Go Bev. *falls over*

After the cosplay and costume contest was over, Tyler and I headed to KFC for some real food (we'd been sustaining on PB&J and ramen for the past day. Yesh.), and felt much better. We returned to peruse the viewing rooms, dance, and few panels still going, then it was time to pass out again.

The next morning I dressed as Kanzaki Hitomi, one of my dearest and most favorite costumes, downed a pop tart (ack!), and finally got to hit a video room before heading over to the cosplay roundtable. Tyler and I enjoyed an episode and a half of a series called, "Noir," which was not only beautiful, but deeply interesting (even though it was in raw Japanese. *O.o*).

I was really pleased to be able to participate in the cosplay discussion this year, with the members of Yume no Senshi presiding. They are all darlings, and I was glad to get the chance to introduce Method: Cosplay to the folks there. But by far the mostly lovely part of the panel was the arrival of Mr. Sakurai, who spoke on cosplay in Japan. I really marked his last statement, which was that he wishes that cosplay will continue to be done out of love for the character one chooses to portray. Well said, Sakurai-sensei.

After that panel, I had the opportunity to finally meet and talk to Becca Norman, the con chair and just a pure Wonderwoman. NDK would not be anything without her, and yet she remains humble and sweet. ^^ It was such a pleasure to speak with you, Becca!

Then the con was over for Tyler and I, and it was now the simple yet tedious task of returning home and back to normal life. ^^ We both come away with lots more happy memories, severe post-con depression, and plans for two couples-cosplay next year. I hope to see many more of you there; the Rocky Mountains are a truly welcoming and beautiful place, and that doesn't even begin to describe the people.

But anyway... NDK '02, here we come!