[Asianmedia] What to Pack: part I

[Katherine Elisabeth Roman]

I know this is a month in advance, but still!

Obviously, if you're cosplaying, pack your cosplay shit.

But in general, there are a few things you should remember that are paramount to
your con survival.

1] A water bottle--there are a lot of people. There's a lot of walking to do.
You might be having so much fun you forget to sip at it--this leads to death
and shit. Thankfully, your hampshire waiver covers this, but still. Sip at it
every few minutes and your body will thank you.

2] A small pillow--By small, I mean the tiny square ones or the squishy ones
that look like cylinders and come in nice colors. You don't know if you'll be
sleeping on the floor or not, so its always a good bet. Blanket is optional, so
if you have room for a -SMALL- throw, thats fine, but the AC and stuff is
adjustable, so we should be good.

3] A sleeping bag--optional. If you have room to pack it. Sleeping space will be
tight, so nothing that'll take up too much room on the actual hotel floor.

4] Change of clothes--if you're cosplaying or not its always nice to have clean
underwear and socks--PLEASE. Bring a plastic bag for the dirty ones and keep it
in your suitcase, but you never know what'll happen. So if you're cosplaying,
its wise to just keep sweats around, and if you're not, PLEASE change your
clothes D:

5] Shower shit. OH MY GOD THIS IS A -MUST-. You won't need EVERYTHING EVER, but
you'll at least need shampoo, conditioner, maybe a shower pouf, and a razor.
When it comes to makeup, you can always talk with people in your room about who
will be bringing what so you can share [unless someone has pink eye or
something]. Be able to fit it in a SMALL bag and LABEL -EVERYTHING-. Don't
depend on the hotel's shower stuff.
And, I don't care what your shower schedule is, you might end up showering twice
a day. It gets hot, it gets sweaty, and it gets really annoying to have to bathe
in other people's B.O. when you share a room. People might want pictures with
you or ask for a hug or something, or might just be NEAR you, so be
considerate.


6] Any medication you have to take. Self explanatory.

7] PHONE CHARGERS. KEEP THEM LABELED.

8] Have one person in your room, or maybe two, bring a power strip. This is nice
when you have a hot glue gun, two hair straighteners and three phones all 
having to be charged at once and you have a photoshoot in half an hour.

9] NO. VALUABLES. If you're bringing a wallet, pack it with the bare essentials
like ID, one card [i dont know how many people have more than one], that kind
of thing. I like to wear a small purse over my shoulder, or a tiny backpack
that has phone and money. You do NOT want to lose this. Any sentimental
jewelery, expensive shit..leave it home.

10] You can bring cash, but I wouldn't suggest a lot of it. ATMs are in
existence and while you really dont want your cash OR your card stolen, but try
not to have a whole bunch of singles or something flying about. Most of the
vendors DO take cards, but cash is easier to deal with for everyone. That being
said, you might want to wait until Sunday to shop, because that's when all of
the prices get slashed and there are less people in the dealers room. Unless
you  find something really cool, grab it. You don't know if it'll be there the
next day. [some vendors might hold things for you]

11] CAMERA, BATTERIES, CHARGER, ETC.


12] If you're cosplaying, bring glue. Fabric glue, hot glue, a tiny sewing
kit--something for emergency repairs.

13] A small snack to keep on you, like a bar, some cookies, something. Keep in
mind that our hotel isn't IN the con center like other people, so its a 5-10
minute walk to get back to your room if you forget something.

14] Pokewalkers. You'll get some dude yelling POKEWALKAAAARRRRRRRRR and you can
go get rare shit and whatever you do with pokewalkers. Also, lots of steps. You
may want to bring your DS too to trade or do stuff or whatever.

15] YOUR GAME FACE.

16] Band-aids, ibuprofen, advil, chapstick.