Animania Part II

Hey hey hey!

Last weekend Nhi and I went to the Animania 2008 Festival! Well, "went" isn't the proper word. Heh, we volunteered! Nhi was kinda dragged in by me. But it turns out that this was the best convention so far ;)

***We were in train-stable number 8***

Honestly I don't know how we did it. We woke up between 5-6am each day just to come on time. It was usually an 8am start. Freakin' freezing in the bloody morning. How can the weather keep getting COLDER!? Anyhoo the only antidote for being frozen once out of my oh-so-warm bed is knowing the fact I'll be seeing Nhi very soon. Plus a nice warm ride to the train station.

***Thats the look i get for being with her so early in the morning***

So on Saturday morning we left our homes and went past the sleeping neighbourhood watching the sky change from pitch black to inky blue, to a mix of everything with a blinding light (FYI: Thats the sun). The train ride was ok...though we needed to eat breakfast even though our stomach was not ready to tackle any carbos yet. But it can't be avoided, I needed something to get that toothpaste flavour out of my mouth. YUK! And then after I get food, I need drinks. But thankfully Animania provided these essentials, but i felt sick after eating one toasted crumpet. :S

We were assigned to Registration/Cloakroom/Helpdesk. It was great! Better than expected actually! Nhi and I hogged the laptops first thing they were available and were totally pumped to start serving the crazy anime fans. The other volunteers were awesome, so freindly and open which made it so much more fun and light hearted. We decided to have a competition as to who would snag the most patrons to their laptops! Hahahahah!! So stupid and yet so fun. I know I won. Nhi sucked, I must admit! Hahah! Poor girl was wedged between me and Johnny (person on other side of Nhi) and since we were both so high yelling "NEXT waiting!!!!!" people just ignored Nhi. Mwahahah!! Hilarious!

The day went by really smoothly. Lots of food was given. Such good hospitality! As it got closer to lunch time a handful of volunteers handed out the food. They actually went to each booth to find all the volunteers, it was like our health was their main priority. You could hear the walkie talkies from the managers' sqwarking "Who hasn't been fed!?" or "Karaoke needs fuel! Pronto!". Its so sweet of them. Theres going to be an after party in a few weeks maybe months, but I'm really looking forward to it. We'll be pumped up again by then ;).

What did we eat you ask? We had HOT (ok, maybe warm) fried rice! Very yummy. It was home-made by the parents' of the main organiser. Tasted really good! Like i honestly believed it was pre-ordered. The portions and ingredients were so well done! Then there were the "snacks" I suppose. There were boxes of instant bowl noodles and stacks of fun size chocolates. Like so much there were even left overs when Sunday was over. Bread, crumpets, cans of soft drinks and not to mention so much varieties of spreads. Really well thought-out. Oh and they brought in microwaves, toasters and a HUGE and i mean MASSIVE water kettle. Its not even a kettle, its this gigantic tall pot looking thing that boiled water. Really convenient. I might even aquire one for future outdoor purposes. LoL.

***What was left from my portion of food (haha! appetising isn't it?)***

Inside the convention there wasn't as much as I'd hoped. Which is probably a good thing. I didn't spend so much as $15 in total. Not too bad at all. I mean last time i spent almost $300 in total at Supanova? That includes taxi fees and travels. Still a hefty price, man. That was all my savings for who knows how long.

Cloakroom and Helpdesk (combined) was really good. I didn't expect it to be so ... whats that word? Cosy? No. Fun?. No, not that simple. Spectacular? No, thats just overboard. Intense? no...though thats close. BONDING! Yes thats what i'm looking for! Being in Cloakroom and Helpdesk made us involve ourselves more and things just became more intimate.

I've already forgotten most of what happened on that Saturday but Sunday was really quiet. People were bored. Nhi was bored. I was bored. Everybodys' energy was just being drained by the lack of patrons.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN PEOPLE ARE BORED

***They miraculously produce decks of cards. UNO to be exact***

***Or they take photos of people trying to use time wisely (i.e. sleeping) Side note: That is not my extended arm***

I mean there was a HUGE difference. On Saturday we were serving people non-stop for 3hours straight. On Sunday it was only for 20mins and then after that the rare stray person would come by to see what was all the comotion about. And since there were about 6 people on duty and ONE poor patron...you get the picture. Everything was pretty lifeless. But one event that had me perked up for a few minutes was Nhi! Johnny (guy next to Nhi) had dropped a thumb-tack earlier while trying to pin table clothes down and couldn't find it. This whole time we were all saying "Oh well, its too bad for the patrons, I guess. We'll see who the sucker is that steps on it *snicker*" But 10mins down the track Nhi yells at me "Jenn! I found the stupid thumb tack!" I look up thinking "What?" and she holds the pin up and says "I was SITTING on it the whole time!" (BURST OF LAUGHTER) Ahahaha!! So funny! And so like me, I bombarded questions at her like "How did you take it out?" "Are you bleeding?" "Did you full on sit on it?" etc etc. Hahahaha!! Aparently not. She wasn't bleeding (at least thats what she says, i can't verify that fact) and then took her chance to bite Johnny's head off for being so careless. All the while i was still thinking about how she didn't fully sit on it. I mean who sits down SLOWLY and so careful like they knew they were going to be pricked? LoL. Still its just plain funny. So yea, that was the highlight of Sunday. At the end of the day we got free pizza. Though Nhi and I didn't want any. I don't think neither of us would want pizza for the next decade. :S

***Most of the time we mingled with this lot. It was a really good experience. And yes, that is Krystel***

In the end we packed up, took a grand photo, huggled and went home.

Oh yea, when we were back in town neither Nhi nor I wanted to go home just yet, (Like when do we ever?) so we drove to KFC and Mcdonalds drive-thru and literally talked for 3hours straight. In the car of course. I mean it was splendid. Besides the part where the car-park cleaner came past and scared the living daylights out of me. I saw a moving shadow being cast across Nhi's seat and i turned to my window but little did i know that i'd be almost face-to-face (even with the glass in between) with some old man in dark clothing and a black beanie!! But anyway the car was warm. @^________^@

The next day i slept till 2pm! I wonder what the "after party" will do to me...