One new personal best was set over the three days of AD 3. I saw no anime. Not one TV episode, OAV or movie. Yet it seems that the less you watch, the better the convention; let's face it, if you're perpetually busy elsewhere, you don't get a chance to see anything! But let's start at the beginning.
Friday night. Visit 'Frog and Parrot' pub, brewers of reputedly the strongest beer in the world, 16.9% alcohol. Pity it tasted like cold coffee with treacle in it. Stuck to stuff that actually tasted nice. Returned to hotel via chippie, admired utterly excellent con booklet, talked to people about things (recollection of exactly what things is dulled by consumption of Actually Tasting Nice Stuff), crashed out.
Saturday morning. Man dealer's table. Rake in cash from desperate otaku. Contemplate producing line of Samurai Pizza Cats toilet-paper for next year. Blow credibility by acquiring two SPC figures of my own.
Saturday afternoon. Visit Fat Jack's, winner of 1992 Cute Waitress award from the McLennan Institure of Kawai. Sadly, neither Kei nor Yuri lookalike from last year are there. Large slabs of dead animal help sooth my disappointment.
Saturday night. Beer, pitiful attempt at answering pub quiz and rapid dash to watch 'City Hunter'. Now, this might seem to clash with my statement about seeing no anime, but this was the Jackie Chan version. Shown to a standing-room only audience (not bad for 1 a.m!), who lapped it up in rapt admiration, despite the video projector's insistence on kicking the brightness up to supernova-level, flushing any light hue to Dulux White - including the subtitles! [If you want to see more live-action stuff, tell Dave Row, as I'm negotiating with him over showing some at ContAnimeted. The more people demand it, the better]. Leave on adrenalin high with urge to fall off tall buildings. Instead, discuss morals and ethics of fandom. Don't get anywhere, no conversation after 2 a.m. ever does! Crash out.
Sunday morning. Forego breakfast, bypass shower - a decision I regret later when a pair of renegades from Aberdeen point a video camera in my direction and fire questions at my terminally dishevelled form (I'll remember that, Alex!). Sit at dealer's table reducing prices until everything sells. Visit Fat Jack's again - happy happy, joy joy, the Kei is there! Salivate wildly, but make note to avoid the chicken in future, after discovering that "chicken breast" appears to be a misprint with an extra "r".
Sunday afternoon. Pack. Leave. Discover con badge nestling unworn in bottom of envelope. Try to find Sheffield railway station. Find Sheffield Space Centre instead - is this an omen? Down motorway at high speed. Drop Paul at Waterloo and Jon at Streatham. Drop John at West Norwood - unfortunately, neither of us notice it is closed (he takes 2 1/2 hours more to get home!). Arrive in Tulse Hill. Crash out. The End.
It was a real blast. Two and a half days flew past without me ever having to think "what can I do?". Apparently, there were some problems with the video program, but as I ignored that area, they had no effect on me! The success of AD 3 means that this will undoubtedly be it's last year in the Rutland, but this is probably no bad thing, after Dave Row's brave attempt to single-handedly alienate the hotel staff by yelling about pornography in the foyer - a tad unwise given certain paranoia-generating events of the previous week. I guess the receptionist who came up and asked him to consider the other guests, missed the irony that he was referring to the Nadia box-set.
Dare I suggest extending the con to three days? As it stands, the Sunday is a bit of an anti-climax, as people start drifting off about lunchtime, which means that the con is effectively only a day and a half. If run over a Bank Holiday weekend, it'd virtually double the length. One other suggestion, more optimistic than realistic, I fear: ensure all future cons cover April 16th, even if it means they have to run Tuesday-Thursday. As the 16th is my birthday, it means I get an awful lot of free drinks...