Sam reminded me that I forgot something important from Day 1.
During the FLOW concert, Sam somehow lost his phone. We actually didn’t notice until some people tapped us on the shoulder and handed it to us through all the noise. We thanked them profusely.
Going through his phone, we discovered that they had gone through Sam’s text messages and found one from me saying, “I saved you a spot near the front!” Knowing I was meeting Sam at the concert, they texted me back saying, “We found this phone. Where are you?”
It’s great to know there are still such nice people in the world.
Anyway…
Fanime 2010: Day 3
Tango lessons ended at 5PM and the Ball would begin at 6PM. We should have known this would cause problems…
After lessons, we rushed to get ready. Transitioning from Litchi to pretty, dance-ready Julia took me hours. I felt awful, but Sam and Derrick kindly insisted I take my time, because they didn’t want me to rush, feel ugly, and have a bad time at the dance. I’m so lucky to have friends like them.
Speaking of having wonderful friends, I should probably talk about the awkward part of getting ready… perhaps even the most awkward part of the entire trip (brace yourselves).
Derrick was the only one to bring a shaving razor (and an electric one, at that). I sheepishly asked Derrick if I could borrow it. After examining my obviously hairless face, he said, “You’re not allowed to shave your pubes.” (I assured him I would not.)
Eventually, I admitted I was concerned about my armpits and showed Sam and Derrick. Both agreed I needed to do something about it, so Derrick loaned me his razor.
Through the closed bathroom door, they heard me giggling and yelping. No matter what I did, it seemed like I was making no progress. I opened the door to reveal my armpit red, horrible, and still hairy.
“I give up,” I said, defeated.
“Did you want me to do it for you?” Derrick asked.
“That… that’s embarrassing though…” I said.
My face is burning red as I type this. Yes, in my pretty dress and pearls, I lifted up my arm and Derrick shaved my armpits for me. I cringed and squirmed as the razor tickled me, but in the end, I must say Derrick did a fine job of grooming my underarms.
That is what you call a true friend.
Anyway, other horrible mishaps while getting ready included: the front of my dress drooping (fixed with a safety pin), Sam forgetting a belt and having his pants fall (also fixed with a safety pin), and Sam forgetting dancing shoes. I actually spent a very long time trying to get Sam’s pants to stay, but I assure you that, in the battle between Sam’s pants and me, I prevailed. And I never want to utter that sentence ever again.
Already two hours late, we experienced more drama. Afraid we wouldn’t be allowed entry (a strict dress code was enforced), Derrick and I insisted Sam buy dancing shoes, saying we would help pay. Then upon arriving at the con, Derrick realized he had forgotten his badge all the way in the hotel room, which was required for entry. Sam was kind enough to go back to the hotel to get it, but Derrick and I felt terribly guilty for the trouble we had caused him.
While Sam was away, we discovered a way to sneak into the ball. This was nice, but it also meant that neither Derrick’s badge nor Sam’s shoes were needed, meaning a lot of our efforts went to waste. I anxiously waited for Sam to come back.
Thankfully, Sam forgave us, and we had fun at the ball. We met up with Desi and Oliver and lots of fun was had. We sorely regretted learning only three dances, but many people were kind and patient enough to teach me other dances, including the hustle, salsa, cha-cha, night club 2-step, and west coast swing.
To the dismay of one of my lovely dance partners, my last dance was stolen by a handsome masked man by the name of Kyle Tanaka. Our dance was absolutely sensuous and magical and he ended it with a steamy kiss on my hand.
After the ball, we spent our last hour with Desi and had a sad goodbye. I’ll sure miss her.
We went back to the hotel and got ready for the rave. In a lapse of judgment, I decided that dressing in extremely revealing clothes to rave would be a good idea. After quickly learning some dance moves from Derrick, I decided I was ready to dance.
At the rave, we first met up with Kelly and Sammy and their friends. We had a lot of fun dancing with them, especially watching Kelly really get into the music.
Later, I felt a hand stroke my waist and I realized with horror that the hand could not have belonged to any of my friends. I turned around to see a very old guy motioning for me to come closer. I made a disgusted face, shook my head and hands vigorously, and pushed Sam in between me and the guy. I looked over at Derrick and he said loudly, “Your fault.”
Eventually Derrick decided he was too weak to handle the bass and left. Not wanting to get separated, Sam and I followed after him. We found him in a dance circle where he, after two nights of raving, finally got the guts to go into the middle to show off.
Being on edge, I harshly rejected another guy who asked me to dance even though he probably didn’t deserve it. I didn’t dance with anyone besides Sam, Derrick, and my friend.
Derrick and Sam sandwiched me and I noticed a guy and a girl talking. The girl nods, walks over, awkwardly cuts in between Sam and me, and starts dancing.
She looks only at me, “Hey, want to go to an awesome party?” I stopped dancing. “No, not really.”
I later find out this same girl tried to recruit Kelly too. We decided that we nearly got raped by a girl searching for hot Asian girls to sex traffic.
Derrick chastised me, saying none of this would have happened had I not dressed and acted slutty.
Julia: I know I dressed slutty, but acted slutty? I only did the dance moves you taught me!
Derrick: Yes, but they look very different when done by a girl, especially one dressed like that.
We danced until I sadly found out Kelly had already left and Sam and Derrick decided they were tired.
Although it was a wonderful night we long anticipated, we didn’t want to think about what it meant: Fanime was almost over.