FFR Convention: An Epic.

[flipsta_lombax]

(Warning: Potential tl;dr)

No, seriously. Having me briefly summarize what had happen over this weekend wouldn't be worth it; it has been one of the greatest experience of my life. If you are someone reading this thread who unfortunately couldn't make it to the convention, I advise you to try your hardest to get up here. No, don't say you can't find any transportation. We had folks hitch-hiking to get to the convention, I kid you not. Got no money? Jesus Chris folks, do something to make something. If you are dedicated and willing to meet the folks who make FFR what it is today, it's really worth it. Trust me, regrets never existed for me.

So I have come to share with you guys the plot of this event coming from my perspective, from when I left Philly, driving up with folks, and back. If any of the other people who made it to this, feel free to add.

For a long while, I decided to hitch a ride with DarkManticoreX2 and the two others that decided to go with us, lumphoboextreme and thunderstrike687. Thunder was really cool, and Lumpho was a bit quiet during the trip, haha. When I was at the Philly Station -- 30th Street:



..the place was huge and had awesome stuff all over the walls: Scultures, artwork, etc. Awesome.

Okay, going from there to Exton, PA, where Manti picked me up, we drove a good 275+ miles west to Pittsburgh, to pick up the other two. Just when we entered in the city.. BAM! Traffic jam. We got stuck in traffic for a good 45 minutes, moving 5 effin' feet per hour, until the we got to a bridge and tunnel called Squirrel Hill Tunnel (we had a quick laugh over that, haha. I think you'd know why).

Anyway, getting out of Pittsburgh around 4:00 PM that Friday night, we drove another good 300 miles going towards Ohio, then a bit through Michigan to go to Pinball Pete's. The only reason why we took so long to get there was because of epic confusion. Thanks to Yahoo! maps and sh*t, we wasted another good 30 minutes trying to find that one fork that separated the right way towards the place into another road that sent us into a street that had a different name every 4 street light... I swear we were getting impatient, LOL.

But yeah, we made it, we parked, we went to some restaurant where the group was at, had tapioca ball drinks at Bubble Island, and near that was Pinball Pete's. Oh yeah, glow-in-the-dark air hockey tables, DDR, ITG, ParaParaParadise, pool, and alot of other things you'd find at your nearest arcade. I have no pictures, but I have a video for the place. I got Synthlight on vid (he was playing air hockey with Sprite-), but I dare not post it. =P I'll just save that in my memory card for safe keeping and to know his mysteriousness is void.

But yeah, after a very awesome night at the arcade, the admins all had a hotel to stay in, while almost the rest of the group (besides Sir_Thomas and his gang, who also stayed in a hotel) stayed at Red Roof 'Ricki's' (DrugstoreCowboy, durrrr. =D). Lol! We still a blast there, especially since the hotel was awesome, clean and neat, and that it was free of charge, haha! We had Sprite- and Manti's laptops up for some after-midnight rounds of SM, FFR and just a couple of lol's thrown in here and there. Awesome night there. I'd actually like to thank Ricki for letting us stay there for the night. Seriously... I feel like an ass now knowing that I didn't even get to thank him. We love ya Ricki! <3 No pics of his house because I didn't get a chance. =(

Next day: Convention Time.

We all woke up at about 8:00 AM (well, All_That_Chaz, Ricki, and I did, but I dunno about the rest of the group, haha ;D). Funny how my alarm clock was my cell phone, playing Sympathizer as loud as it can get, waking everyone up to the tune. Lol, t'was funny.

We went out to eat at this awesome breakfast house Ricki led us to, and damn, the breakfast was cheap, but very very tasty. =D If you guys only saw the flaming cheese show, you guys would have been in awe like the rest of the gang was lol! Ricki ordered something that involved cheese, a pan, alcohol and a lighter. The thing was set to flames, haha! We all were laughing when we found out what the hell it was in the pan to begin with. xD



There is Ricki and Sprite_, respectively. Lol.



From right to left: Lumphoboextreme, Thunderstrike687, and just barely making it in this pic is the epic-awesome HammyMcSquirrel. =D



Left to right: DarkManticoreX2, jellygod, and All_that_Chaz. =D



Petey. <333333333



Jellygod, with a kyooool stack of jelly cases in front of him. Respect, lol.


Breakfast was great, yup. =D Props for Ricki for knowing his stuffff!


NOOOOWWW... we make it to the convention. And seriously.. you'd never know weeaboo until you see the real sh*t. Too bad I didn't take a picture of any of them, but I think the "Venus flytrap" took first place in my weird book. Jesus.

One word for the convention: Awesome. Rockband was set up, laptops (connection sucked, but that's fine), a live-feed with a mic, the good stuff. DDR didn't work, but it was there too. One thing that really made me look forward towards this convention was meeting the staff and the handful of regulars on FFR. You know who ya are. ;P I'd hate to list the people and miss some of you guys. But yeah the group of folks there, some almost didn't looked the same way I thought they would, lol! I played SM and FFR most of the time. Oh, and messing around with the live feed, haha! Although Rockband got a bit repetitive the whole day, geez. "Creep" seems like a favorite to the people at the Animarathon, some saying how it relates to them or whatever. I laughed. xD

When it was all said and done, Manti brought the gang, bringing Pete along with us. We stayed in Quality Inn - Findlay (you don't know how many times I forget that word), and slept for the night.

Next day (today):
We we're striving to wake up at 5:30 AM. We woke up at 7:37 AM. Not good. -.- Pete almost missed his flight, but thank goodness Ricki was there actually waiting for him. Pete almost left his iPod and wallet in the hotel, and I had to pull a 'an hero' moment. xP

So yeah, we left, Manti and the gang, at 8:30 AM, an hour and a half behind expected travel. We got to drop off Thunder and Lumpho around 12:30 PM back to Pittsburgh and we set off for Exton on the way back. We had a really really cool scenery going, so I decided to take pics here:



Windmills. Woo.




The Appalachian Mountainssss. (Well, one of the many chains anyway).



WHITE CASTLE TRUCK! Manti's awesome driving and my angling made this pic look smecksy delicious.

And this was the funniest part of the road trip back. We saw this car that had an epic license plate number:



HAHAHA! We had a good laugh on that for a long while.

I didn't make it to first train on my way back. -.-; We missed the train by 10 minutes, thanks to multiple stops for gas and a long line at Sbarro a while back in the Turnpike. Manti and I panic a bit, but thought of a plan. We raced the train to Philly Station before I missed my only chance of getting home, but luckily we made it. Manti got stuck in a serious accident 2 minutes later though. I swear we effin' lucked out on that. Well... I did... Manti got back okay and stuff.


And there you have it. I really, really needed this event because getting out the house was not only well-worth it, but it was great as well. Not only that, I got to meet the most awesome people in FFR, the awesome admins, and got one of the most thrill rides back home (thanks to Manti being a beastly beast, haha! 90+ MPH overall average).

I'd like to give a shout out to all the people who made it that night, and to the staff/admins who dedicated their time and effort to set up an event I'd never forget. Thanks Tass, Nestleqwik, MalDON, JasonKey and Synthlight! We love you guys! <33 Mods: Ricki, Sprite-, Rebirth. You guys were hella cool. Can't wait to meet you guys again.


Well, I'm out now, lol. tl;dr FTW. I gotta get some goodnight rest now. Talk to you guys later and can't wait for next year's convention.


Flipsta_Lombax, one of the few elite FFR devotes. Flipsta out.

[Phynx]

*initiate shameful crying sequence* WHY DO PLANE TICKETS HAVE TO COST SO F*CKING MUCH?!?!?! WAHHH!!!

[Windscarredfaith]

I'm so jealous. ;_;

[flipsta_lombax]

Last picture:


Starting from left, clockwise direction:

HammyMcSquirrel, All_That_chaz, DarkManticoreX2, thunderstrike687, lumpho (he is 'hiding', lol), jellygod, Lonevvolf, and Ricki (lol, faic.)

[CR_fLiP_fOaM]

pwn. that looks fun. Too bad ddr didn't work but meeting the staff and ffr reg is cool.

[Bynary Fission]

I wish I coulda been there, seems like tons of fun.



~Bynary Fission

[Sullyman2007]

I'm so jealous right now.
AGNRY FAIC!!1!

[Sprite-]

i wish i could have gone

[Sullyman2007]

By the way, cool pics Flip.
Did I tell you I talked to Steve on the phone?

[CR_fLiP_fOaM]

Originally Posted by Sullyman2007

By the way, cool pics Flip.
Did I tell you I talked to Steve on the phone?

no.

[Tasselfoot]

I won't speak for the rest of my red brothers, but we felt the weekend was worth all the hassle of being there from LA. I can't even go into all of the problems we faced, but it was a lot. It was expensive. And it was extremely tiring. I think when we finally get back to LA (Mon night around 9:30pm PST, then figure another hour to get back to AdminCave and bit longer back to my place).... I'll sleep until Wednesday.

Glad all the regulars who came were able to make it, and we seriously look forward to being able to not only continue doing Animarathon for years to come, but to have more conventions across the country (specifically, we're working to do Anime Expo this summer in LA).

[irishknight]

Originally Posted by flipsta_lombax

Last picture:
HammyMcSquirrel, All_That_chaz, DarkManticoreX2, thunderstrike687, lumpho (he is 'hiding', lol), jellygod, Lonevvolf, and Ricki (lol, faic.)

If that's the mcdonalds in Philly train station, I've been there before.

Looks too much familar! ftw.

[Zageron]

I'm coming next year with Skish. We're both catching a flight from Vancouver to the airport closest to the convention! :3
I'll make sure I get a stick of RAM in my laptop, and a wireless card, and I'll bring it along.

Can't wait. x.x

Edit: If you do a convention in LA, I'm SO there!

[travman301]

Originally Posted by Tasselfoot

Glad all the regulars who came were able to make it, and we seriously look forward to being able to not only continue doing Animarathon for years to come, but to have more conventions across the country (specifically, we're working to do Anime Expo this summer in LA).

YES! West coast Convention!!!

[blindreper1179]

awe drugstore, you went. how'd you get there? drive? i would of went maybe.

[Tasselfoot]

drugstore lives about an hour away. he was there last year as well.

[skishmonkey72]

I am so coming next year with Zag... or to LA if something's happening there.

Maybe I'll have bought my laptop by then. Lol, nobody's going to know me and it'll be fun.

[Phynx]

I'll be buying my plane tickets in like 2 days for next years XD Actually I'll need to know the exact date first but still, all I'm sayin' is that I'm going next year, whether I come back to a job or not... I'm f*cking going.

[Sprite-]

lol i'm most likely not going next year

[HammyMcSquirrel]

Awesome thread, Flipsta. The convention definitely was a blast.

I would like to go next year, but I would only go if...
1) I have the money.
2) I am able to fly instead of drive.
3) It fits in with my schedule, since I will be going to college in Georgia starting in the Spring semester of 2009. I'm assuming the next convention at that place would be around the same date.