On Sunday morning, we woke up late. At least it was late compared to the other days. We ate our final breakfast at the hotel, packed our bags, and loaded up the car. When checking out, I asked if we could still use the shuttle and leave my car in the lot. The lady told me I could, but I had to be out by a 3. Oh well, we didn't have to stay to the tail end of the con anyway.
Again, Edward and I arrived before the lobby officially opened. Since there were no guys playing music at the top of the escalators, we decided to go to the game room.
At first, I thought the game room was just a bunch of arcade games that were set up. Then, I saw a doorway into a huge room packed with TVs and gaming systems of all types. And there, towards the back of the room, I saw it: RockBand.
There may have not been karaoke at this year's ACen, but this was the next best thing. I got up on stage as Edward cheered me on. Since I didn't know how to work the controls, one of the other players did it for me. The song he picked? "Never Gonna Give You Up", AKA the Rickroll song. I swallowed my pride and sang.
After that, some girl wanted to sing some songs by No Doubt. I joined along, a bit nervous to suggest anything myself. After the second No Doubt song, I watched the other players scroll through the song list, trying to figure out what to play next. Unfortunately they didn't have that one song that I'd been dying to sing the whole convention, so I just got offstage and left.
As Edward and I exited the game room, I noticed some people playing "Pokemon Stadium". I was surprised to find that they had a Nintendo 64 system at all, much less "Pokemon Stadium". Had I known, I would have brought my old Game Boy cartridges and Transfer Pak. Oh well. That's what next year is for.
Since there weren't any panels that we were interested in, and we couldn't find out where the AMV contest was happening, Edward and I went back to shopping. Actually it was more like browsing. I didn't buy anything and Edward spent the last of her money on the second half of the first season of Attack on Titan. But at least we visited every shop, to make sure that I wasn't missing out on any good swag.
It was only 2:00 by the time we tired ourselves out. It was finally time to leave ACen 2017. It's not like we could have made it to the tail end anyway. I had a car to remove from the hotel parking lot.
Perhaps the most miraculous thing to happen was that I stayed awake all through driving from the hotel to Edward's place, and from Edward's to my apartment. It was difficult, but that's what loud music and trail mix is for.
Thinking back, this was probably my favorite time at ACen yet. I was able to get so much more out of it than last year. Looking forward to next year, I wonder if I'll be able to stay in a hotel again. After all, I'm still holding out for karaoke.
[Break]
Bonus level!
I don't remember which cosplays I saw when, but I do have some pictures of the more notable ones.
A group of dinosaurs
A family dressed as the Charmander evolution line
A bananagator (not an actual cosplay, but a woman was wheeling this huge thing around and I had to take a picture)
Mimikyu
Sans from "Undertale"
Kermit the Frog
Sesshoumaru with a Jaken plushie
Guys dressed in armor made ENITIRELY out of Yu-Gi-Oh cards
Some robot dude with light-up eyes
This egg guy who's supposed to be the biggest thing since Hello Kitty
Luigi and Daisy
Santa Deadpool
The Cat Bus (it was built around a person's wheelchair)
Ryuk wearing apple-shaped shorts
Steampunk Belle from Beauty and the Beast
Totoro
Mulan and Mushu (who was pretending to be the Great Stone Dragon)
Almost the entire cast of protagonists from The Seven Deadly Sins
