I've been to many a sci-fi/Trek con over the years, but only to one other anime con, Anime Festival Orlando '01. So I was really looking forward to this and, especially, to meeting my fellow Star Moon online RPG'rs! I wore my Star Moon shirt (with black jeans and my every present Birkenstocks, lol) for easier identification. Hehehe!

The flight out was uneventful, though I was one of those picked for a more complete search in Atlanta. Yes, I flew Delta so I HAD to go through Atlanta! lol They checked out my shoes, carry on bag and ran a detector wand over me. Funky!! I had noooo objection, of course, as they're trying their best to keep us safe.

Arrived in Nashville on time, but the courtesy shuttle to the hotel took over an HOUR to pick me up. :P Got to the hotel around 4:30 or so. Checked in and registered for the con, but I didn't see any of my friends in the lobby, so I headed to my room to drop off my stuff. Plopped my stuff on the generic king-sized hotel bed and wandered of in search of adventure and friends!

MTAC was a rather small con held at a small hotel, but it had a very welcoming, casual and friendly atmosphere. There was one main room, a panel room, two video rooms showing non-stop hard-to-find anime, a game room (didn't stop by there), a con suite where munchies/sweets were available (I think, 'cause I didn't go there either, lol) and an art/dealers room (spent LOTS of time here, hehehe).

I still didn't see my friends in the lobby or main rooms, so I headed to the dealers room. Ahhh, the dealers room!!! Though it was small with only a few vendors and non-functional air conditioning, I managed to find some great stuff.

Over the course of the weekend I picked up two new 'How to Draw Manga' books, three new artbooks (Ayashi no Ceres, Fire Emblem and an illustrations collection by Haruhiko Mikimoto), two new shitajiki (Ah! My Goddess and Sakura Taisen), two Japanese manga (Sailor Moon #5, Fushigi Yuugi #3), a bunch of pins (yet another Tamahome, Botan from Yu Yu Hakusho, Washu from Tenchi Muyo, Kuronekosama, Krillin - for hubby, and Mokona from MKR) and a small Ken-ohki plushie. I also fell in looove with two cuuuute Jiji (black kitty from Kiki's Delivery Service) plushies, one on a keychain! I collect black kitties in honor of my RL kitty who was with me for 13 years. I bought a few other goodies for hubby (Mazinger Z model) and son (Hamutaro & Pokemon stuff) aaand later went in with Coru-chan on a goodie for a friend.  Thank goodness I'd been saving up for this for a while. :)

A small side note - I was very proud of being able to actually *read* the Fu-shi-gi hiragana off the FY manga! lol Okay, okay, so it's not *that* impressive, but it was cool to me. :)

While making a purchase, I heard a call from behind... It was my fellow Star Moonies!!! ::::happy dancing::: We had a spontaneous huggle in the middle of the dealers room. :D

I'd seen pics of Priire and Coru before, so it only took a moment to realize who they were, but Nom was a surprise...a pleasant one to be sure! :::huggles for the Nom::: You see, her character on Star Moon is a very tall senshi, a powerful Eternal warrior of great dignity and strength, who my character respects tremendously. The RL Nom, while retaining the classy personality, comes in a much smaller package than one would expect. :) Note to self: remember to upload the Borg pics from the last Trek con I went to for her. It was sooo wonderful to be able to hug these people in person at last!! The Nom Mom was along too and she was great!! Gracious lady was healing from broken back, yet took the time to be with us. ::::careful huggles and healing Force vibes for the Nom Mom::::: Priire was in costume, a villainess out of Fushigi Yuugi I think???

We decided to catch the Opening Ceremonies which mainly consisted of the 'mascot' walking out and introducing the guests. Just a tad...um....booooring!! lol Sooo, we decided to head off to Priire and Coru's room to relax, have some munchies and bounce around with glee before the Karate Demo scheduled for 8pm.

The marvelous Coru-chan had provided a bunch of munchies which, since I'd only had airport food, was very very welcome! We talked and bounced and ate and talked and.... lol Okay, so I did *most* of the bouncing. Hehehe!! Just for the record, Nom, Coru and Priire ROCK!!!! :::more happy dancing:::: We had sooo much fun!! The whole weekend was just fantastic!! Not so much the con, which was fine though small, but the chance to hang out with friends and to bounce story ideas off each other!!

At 8pm, we saw the karate demo. Was verrrrrry good with talented martial artist demonstrating an Okinawan style of karate. I *think* we then went and saw some Anime Music Videos which are amazing, but that may have been on Saturday. The AMV that won the contest (announced on Saturday) was soooo good, it actually got me wanting to see Trigun!! lol Sorry, but angsty guys with big shiny guns isn't usually my anime preference (I prefer swords, hehehe), but the video was awesome!!

Then we stayed for Anime Karaoke!! Much fun!! Some excellent singers!! Coru and Priire did a cool song together. Sounded very good, but the stupid guy running the sound had the music turned up waaaay too loud. :P Was much better sound level Saturday night. After karaoke, Nom and I decided that we might just try on the Saturday night karaoke. lol We headed back to Priire and Coru's room for more story brainstorming (poor Kyoshi doesn't know what's in store for him, lol) and general chatting 'til the wee hours. And we serenaded a friend via Coru's cell phone!!!!! I finally got to speak to Bunny!!! ::::happy dancing::: I wish she could have made it. :( We'll just have to take a con to her!!! :) Reluctantly headed off to my room for sleeeeeep.

Next morning, I had the complementary hotel breakfast buffet, then met the mob for Astroboy at 10 am. lol  Yes, "Astroboy"! It's considered the very first 'true' anime. Many of the things that set anime apart from average kiddy cartoons were definitely present in Astroboy. From the tragic childhood, rejection by a loved one and lots of angst amid the fun robots-and-explosion stuff to the very expressions/reactions on characters' faces, one could see the roots of anime.

Bounced down to the main room to see about Cosplay registration and watch more music videos. Again, I must say that the music videos (with one noteable exception :::rolls eyes knowingly at Nom, Priire and Coru:::) were outstanding!! Makes me want to try making one. :D A Vampire Hunter D one was absolutely gorgeous!!

I went to eat at the hotel's Indian lunch buffet (yummy!!), then met Coru-chan for the "Inside Voice Acting" panel. Was verrrrry interesting! Then saw more videos before Priire, Coru and Nom had to get ready for the "Anime Internet Subculture" panel. :)

The panel was a weee bit sparsely attended, but went great!! A guy working on his doctorate joined in the panel too. Those attending also felt comfortable enough to really share stuff, so we had a great time!! Told people about the Star Moon site, while reminding them that the list was closed.

Had enough time to grab some munchies and cruise the dealers room again before the cosplay session at 7 pm. I picked up an Outlaw Star CD and borrowed Coru-chan's CD player to listen to the lyrics of the end theme so I could write them down to practice for karaoke.

The cosplay session got delayed, so Coru and I got the chance to see part of Tokyo Mew Mew #1. It was soooooooo adorable!!! Must...make...costumes.... lol

We still got pretty good seats for the cosplay. Priire and Nom entered the cosplay as Saint Tail (Priire) and a person who'd lost their con badge (Nom) and couldn't get into the dealers room. :D Was soooo cute!! There were a good number of just 'walkabouts' and just a few skits, so it didn't run too long. Some GREAT costumes!! Took many pictures that you can see via one of the links above. :)

After cosplay, Coru ordered pizza in celebration of her 3 yr. anniversary as part of the Star Moon list!  While waiting for the pizza, Priire, Nom and I went to the karaoke. Priire and Nom sang "Sugar Baby" which is hard to explain!! ROTFL!! It's Rini's voice actress (Chibi Moon, Amer. dub) doing a funny version of the Real Slim Shady (sp). They did GREAT!!! :D

Priire did a solo piece which was soooo good!! She has such a pretty voice and a *wonderful* stage presence!! I got up the nerve to sing the end title from "Outlaw Star" which seemed to go over pretty well. I looove that song!! And it's slow enough that I was able to transcribe the lyrics from the CD. lol Then back to Coru and Priire's room for pizza, celebration and more story plotting/RL chatting!

Sunday, I managed to make it to the breakfast buffet again, then off to my room to pack. :::sigh::: The wonderful Nom Mom extended checkout to her room, so Priire, Coru and I were able to tuck our stuff into their room 'til the arrival of Coru Dad.

Kinda just hung out making last minute purchases in the dealers room, then Coru and I went to a "So you want to be an actor" panel. Was much fun with chances to act out commercials and small scenes that Rozie Curtis supplied. She ran us through a typical audition. :) Then Priire and Nom joined us as we stuck around for even more Music Video highlights. Shortly after that, Coru Dad came to pick us up. It was time for Nom and Nom Mom to head back home. ::sniffle::: Much sadness and huggling. It was sooo wonderful to get to meet Nom and her mom!!

I didn't have to be at the airport until seven and Priire was staying with Coru for a few days, so Coru's wonderful dad drove us all to the OpryMills mall for a few hours. He went off to see a movie while we prowled the mall. Verrry big mall...cuuute Sanrio store...great memorabilia store, "Past & Presents"! Had a nice meal at Chili's. :::wistful sigh::: Dang it, I had SOOO much fun just bouncing around the mall with Priire and Coru!! All too soon, I needed to go to the airport. Time for one last huggle and wave goodbye. :::more sniffles:::

The whole weekend was better than I could have ever imagined!! Sure, the con was fun, even if a bit small, but what made the weekend sooo perfect, was the chance to just hang with some marvelous friends. We MUST do it again!!  :D