To avoid DNC mayhem, we left on Wednesday night, staying at casa de Wassaf in RI overnight.  On Thursday morning(although a little late :p ), we began the long trek down to Baltimore.  There was a festival of Boco music to accompany our journey, along with a number of both terrible and excellent song selections on our various CDs.  Luckily, we did not have to take out the Lose CD, as despite our 80MPH average speed, we did not encounter any problems with the highway authorities.  Just after 6, we arrived, and the adventures were to begin!

Thursday:

The line wasn't too bad, and I got to stand in it with lots of friends, so that was good.  Before/in/after the line, I met Misti, Jackie, Hiro, Zoe, Caitlin, Chris, and Erin.  Hurrah for new peoples!  I also came across the Boston/CT crew(Not really the CT crew anymore though, but that's the best name I can come up with for them).  A few of us wandered off to find foods after the line, and wound up at Hard Rock Cafe.  Misti made some sort of drawing, but I haven't seen it yet, as it is some sort of secret o.o   Afterwards, we returned to hotel-land and eventually went to sleep.

Friday:

Friday was kind of crazy.  Waited in the dealers' room line with Hiro and Zoe(And briefly Koia) for a while, and took lots of pictures of cosplayers as they all walked past, including the infamous 'Ghetto Link' faux pas by the odd people behind us in line.  I was kinda disappointed by the dealers' room this year, and actually didn't make a single purchase there all weekend.  All my money was spent in...Artist's Alley.  Sadly, Sue-chan was not there this year(maybe next time?), but I met lots of nice artist-type people, and got a handful of commissions(One each of Elora, Ashira, Talin, and Makaje) and some pretty prints.  There was some fantastic stuff up for sale in the auction, I wish I had enough money to be able to have purchased some of it.  Friday evening, went to Fan Parody land and saw Nescaflowne(excellent), and the 3 Azumanga / LotR trailer videos.  Get them at once!  It kind of made up for the absense of MAT3K, though I wish they'd had one.  The evening was capped off by the Midnight Panel of Doom, those who were there know what I speak of.

Saturday:

Saturday went by really quick.  It started out being locked in the bathroom for 2 hours with Misti + Jackie watching/helping them finish and put on their costumes.  Sorry if we woke up the rest of the room ^^;; .  I spent most of the day wandering about Artist's Alley and hanging out with Misti + Jackie in the hallway near the DJ.  It was fun, and I'm already starting to miss all of the con-type peoples I won't see for a while yet.  Maybe some will be able to make it to KurisuCon '04 ^-^, and at least AniBos in the spring.  I realized sometime during Saturday that at Otakon, I usually don't do much of the programming, mostly wandering around instead.  I still have a good time though.  I almost went to the masquerade, but noone else was really going so I decided against it.  I saw some more fan parodies instead, and then the Midnight Panel of Doom II, 'Stereotypes in Anime'.  Pretty amusing, mostly for the fact that they pulled it off, free badges and all.  I got back, but everyone was getting ready for bed/asleep at the hotel ;_;   I was hoping to stay up till 5AM at least once, but it didn't wind up happening, ah well. 

Sunday:

Sunday was pretty uneventful.  Picked up some commissions, made another couple passes through artists alley and the gameroom(randomly seeing Caitlin/Chris/Erin again, and I even got to play some Puzzle Fighter with my namesake).  Said goodbye to people, and that was about it.  I never want to leave, but such is life--only 12 months till next year's Otakon ^_^

The drive home sucked, as you've read in every northbound person's log by now, no doubt.  Traffic was a mess.  Got back at about 11:30 (10 hours drive -.-)

So, Otakon was a lot of fun, though I felt kind of empty some of the time, stuff from reality creeping in to my con-going experience.  I would love to be able to go to a convention not to escape, but just to enjoy myself for a change.  Hopefully next year shall be that way.  And so closes the book on Otakon '04.  Pictures of mine are all non-digital, but I may scan a few after they get developed..