Day 1

I began the day already packed from the night before. I jumped in the shower at 3AM and got ready. I ate some waffles, toast, and waited for Kim to come and pick me up. I wore my Arashi t-shirt that I made, the white and purple one. It has a heart with their names written in the center of it. I brought along my Arashi Around Asia Dome concert bag, and stuffed my Taiwan shirt in my bag too!

Kim came and got me with Hailey already in the car around 5AM and we set off for Baltimore, Maryland. It’s about a 3 hour drive on highways. Not bad at all, really.

We arrived and our hotel was latterly RIGHT ON THE HARBOR! It was wonderful, because when I went to see TM Revolution, my hotel was about a 30-minute train L ride from the hotel to the convention center.

We finally managed to find a parking spot in the parking area, and ditched out bags because it was still very early, so we couldn’t check into our hotel.

Kim & I after we got to Maryland. The guy in the background knows Kim somehow. I don't know his name...

We then got into line and picked up our badges. Hailey though had to get into a separate line because she didn’t pre-register for her ticket. (She only likes anime, not j-music like Kim, Mezi, and I do.)

Finally got our badges, headed back to the hotel, and called up Hunter to tell him that we had arrived and to see if he was alive still. Turns out later on when I did get a hold of him that they didn’t even leave for Maryland until 10AM, and that I woke him. XD

While getting the room keys something awesome happened. AAA cut through the entrance to the hotel and over to the Gallery Mall! Hidaka stopped and looked over toward me smiled and waved when he noticed my shirt, and Tokidoki bag. ^__^

Then their security forced them to keep going and they all went shopping in the mall.

Next we met up with Mezi and her girlfriend and walked around for awhile. We missed the jpop intro, which wasn’t good from the sounds of it anyway. (No JE boys at all.)

Ran into possibly the only Arashi fan-BOY I know besides Justin! (Who also I ran into by the way. JUSTIN WE MISS YOU!!!)

Here's the picture he took of me!!

We did see a guy that dressed as an amazing Donte from Devil May Cry. Not hard on the eyes at all, is he?? XD   (I'm a big DMC fan~~.)

His name is Sam (Thank you random stalker girl who told us that while we took his picture~!), and he’s a very handsome fan-boy of that game series. Yummy~~! (Sam...if you read this. You're hot.) OMG! lol. Sorry to his girlfriend in advance~!! Some random girl attacked us from behind and was all "OMG. That's his sister!"  ^_^' So I posted with no worries of a girl-friend reading this and getting upset! (Sorry! You're lucky though! You've got an awesome boyfriend~~!! That girl was stalking him though and found out his name that way. That's how I knew his name, or at least thought it was his name, and yeah...I guess she was right??? ^^')

Haha! So yes~~~. Oh with the story!!

We didn’t eat much. Mainly what we could grab at Otakon, and drank tons of water. The wait in lines was pretty long too. Though we managed to get Chinese as the Gallery Mall.

 SO  SUPER YUMMY!!! A++++ (For the fast food Chinese!!) <3

I look like I'm going to fork my hair into my mouth!! >__<'

We were able to get in the middle of the line for the concert and were in the front row on the left side of the stage. So for those of you there… Not the middle set of seats but the front of the row to the left of that section. If you heard Kim and I we were the two screaming at the top of our lungs so that when the guys came over they would notice and gave us heart’s and waves and plenty of smiles and shocked expressions because…yeah we so screamed louder than most. (Though I don’t think we screamed as much as the girls in the fan-club in the front middle during the concert! **hugs them**) ^__~

They were so energetic and happy. Their choreography was amazing too. (Mitsuhiro and Nishi are my favorites in case any of you were wondering~~.) Kim couldn’t be more happy because toward the end before we left Nishi ran over and gave her hearts and waved. It was such a great concert. (Though, the die-hard j-rock fans weren’t to thrilled. Whatever, you should be supporting Japanese music artists in America so that more of the artists you want to see come over!!)

After the end the voice of Otakon…lol…told us to go to the fountain opening to the convention center to get autographs and buy AAA goods. It was a mad dash to the complete other side of the convention center only to find out they had told us to go the wrong spot!! NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! So we had to turn around and run all the way to the way back past the con and around the corner of the stairs. Thankfully we were still ahead of everyone!! I bought 2 CDs and got the poster for free!

I love this poster!! <3 <3 (So framing it w/ the group shot of us with them on day 3!!)

The one on the right I had they autographed on day 3~~.

The staff guy that was around AAA was really nice. He wasn’t part of the management, and was in control of the lines during the autograph sessions. We had fun conversations, and he let out get out of line the last days to dance to one of their songs on Sunday! (Read about DAY 3!! It was one of the days I will NEVER EVER forget!!!)

I was the 20^th person to have my poster signed by the members! Hidaka liked my purse and asked me if I collected the brand. (I’m trying to…really, they’re just very expensive. I’m actually going to buy a wallet before I get home from vacation!!) I nodded and told him yes though because I do love them and the HaraJuku Lovers brand, which are getting popular now. (A ton of girls had the Tokidoki bags.)

Misako liked my purse too! She said she has 5 purses and a few of something that I couldn’t understand. Though, she speaks English very well! Hidaka recognized Kim and I as the girls that screamed loud during the concert and me as the Arashi t-shirt with the bag, etc. girl. Moreover, he was still in such an excited mood he stood and hugged me! I didn’t even ask for a hug!! So happy!

Kim!! I love you for getting this picture of Nishi and Naoya!!!
LOL. Is that Jesus on Nishi's shirt?? **laughs**

Hunter called after I got everyone’s autograph and I headed to the gaming room…(How typical to find them there lol.)

“Tim, where’s Hunter?” I looked around and didn’t see his curly hair…

“I’m right here.” I looked to my right and…

(+_+’) “OMG! Your HAIR!????” (I feel kind of bad. I gave him such a look of pure HORROR!! I was shocked.)

Hunter’s hair is so short now!! (It’s been like a month and a half since I’ve seen anyone thanks to working full time!!)

Well we were super tired and the guys wanted to go eat. Despite my hunger, they left without me though! We were going to meet up and get a burger late at night by Kim and Mezi wanted to go the rave for a little bit. Then at the last second they changed their minds and got snacks out of the machine!! >__<’ I WANTED MY LATE NIGHT BURGER & FRIES!!

We went back to the hotel and after waiting until 2AM for Hailey to get back from the rave I passed out in a bed FAR more comfortable than my own! (Which is saying something because I <3 my bed so much!)

Day 2

I woke up at 8AM. Hailey showered first so Kim ended up leaving for the con after I did. Mezi and I bought us all breakfast in the morning.

I managed to find the area where the line for the AAA Q&A panel was and got a phone call from Cherry of livejournal! We met up WAY further toward the front of the line than I would have been at if it hadn’t been for her, and on top of that…SHE GOT ME A TICKET!!! **tackle hugs her**

OMFG!! THANK YOU FOR GETTING ME A TICKET CHERRY!!! **tackle hugs you again** She got me a ticket that allowed me to be one of the first 50 people in line to get AAA’s autographs after the Q&A panel. (How she managed to get 2 I’ll never know!) ^_~

The line moved quickly inside and we were so lucky to be in the second row to the front of the Q&A panel! Right behind the AAA fan-club who were trying their best to ask if they would go out to eat with AAA, but I don’t think the manager was paying attention to them at the time!! >_<’

Lame question of the hour… “You all have dogs…do you ever get together and let them play together?”

NO. lol WHY WOULD YOU ASK THAT!?? **slaps you**

In the very last few seconds the manager stood up to speak and surprised us! “I feel like being nice. You have the next two minutes to take as many pictures of the group as you like!”

#)$IJ(WSJ@#$I#(RIP934823098rwsdj!!!!!!!!!!!!!  **SNAP-SNAP-SNAP-SNAP**

I’ve never seen so many camera flashes going off at once!! So many that it screwed my cameras settings and the pictures I took either were blurry, shadowed or too dark!! >_<’

Here are mine as well as my friend’s pictures~.

Kim's pic turned out better, though mine was more zoomed in and got adorable Hidaka & Nishi!!

Other pic from AAA Forum!! JOIN US!!

http://z14.invisionfree.com/attackallaround/index.php

Next was the second autograph session! This time they had t-shirts! Not $$$ either! I spent $15.00 on it and had them all sign it!! Again Hidaka  remembered me and got very bright and cheerful around me. I watched the other people. He would just look up and smile, and nod. Sometimes laugh if a girl tried to confess in Japanese her feelings toward him. Me though he jumped up in his seat and waved. “Hello again.” He grinned, bowed his head, and signed my shirt. (Nothing special today about signing everyone wait for day three!!)
 

Then I shopped around the dealers’ room and ran into the ever so handsome Sam again. You’re hot Sam, has anyone told you that? (lol. sorry to his girlfriend again!! =_=')  This was taken by my friend~.

After another hour or so of shopping…my feet were KILLING ME. (I have a bad foot. Broke it and have had surgery and everything on it. I was dubbed “the cripple” by my best friends senior year!)

Therefore, I went back to the hotel and fan-girled with Kim after saying goodbye to Cherry who went to take a break and see if Harry Potter had arrived at her house. (I can’t get into the books after my 6^th grade teacher tried to make us discover…THE HIDDEN TRUTH BEHIND THE BOOKS. Like how the school is actually heaven and crap like that. So now that’s all I think…)

Kim went to the Bebop voice panel! (Spike of Cowboy Bebop’s voice actor) And got a massive hug from the guy. She was all giddy about it. Meanwhile I met up with Liz from Japanese and Hunter and the guys and we went to Cheese Cake factory for lunch!! YUMMY!!

Waiting for food...!

Met up with the guys on the sky-walk and saw some half naked child with a cat tail in the water getting her picture taken for Otakon.com...seriously...why??? Finally managed to get to the restaurant and had to wait 55-70 minutes to get a seat!! (The place was rated in the top 10 restaurants in Baltimore...so it was packed!!)

If you think that burger is massive...that's what it looks like after it was smashed down to be edible!! **as he dislocates his jaw**


With Hunter's new hair cut he thinks he needs new glasses and tried on mine & Tim's.

**dies laughing**


I still not used to it being that short. It hasn't looked this way since middle school!! +_+


THE FRIES...THE FRENCH FRIES!!!!!!!!

After eating...EVERYTHING...we were full. So we all split this ungodly delicious cheese cake.
GODIVA CHOCOLATE CHEESE CAKE!!! *__*

After eating…we were FULL. MASSIVE…gonna go hurl my guts up kind of FULL. **dies** It was so damn worth it though! (I didn’t eat Sunday I was so full!! …other than a single bite of those two bar sets of Kit-Kats!)

We sat in a room showing “Black Lagoon” a actually really awesome anime. Awesome as in a ship flying off a ramp high enough in the air to hit a helicopter and shoot it’s torpedoes at it and make it explode while the ship still was fine and landed back in the water. LOL…OMG.

The after two episodes of that we stood over a railing and watched the cosplayers. Cherry met up with us. Hunter promised to take a picture of Sam flashing his naked, man-sexy-ful chest too! (Okay…maybe not flashing, but a picture at least!! **dances**)

Awesomely enough Sam was down on the lower level!! **excited** I snapped another picture and Hunter took some too…though he still needs to e-mail those to me…**jabs him in the side**

The guys wanted to get going so I went to meet up with Kim because she waited in line for hours at the panel and missed our massive meal. **dies again at the thought** We wanted to go to the, “So you think you know visual kei” panel…but it was canceled!! WTF!???

So…we were off to the anime parody panel where they dub over the anime as spoofs. OMFG. I was so amused by the GTO and EVA panel. XD

Then we went back to the hotel and slept for another hour or two before waking SUPER early on Sunday...!!!

DAY 3

The day I'll NEVER forget~!

The alarm went out at 5AM (if I remember correctly~~.) I slept in until 6 and then got ready super fast. We left right away and waited in line for awhile before they would even allow anyone into the convention center~. See. We were bored while waiting! XD


We look so serious in this picture...**NOTE** the bunny ears. lol

After arguing with the guy at the front gate we were allowed in 14 minutes later than everyone else at the other openings!! >_<'

AND WE'RE OFF!! We made a made dash the complete other end of the convention center to get in line for the final AAA autograph panel!!! Our last chance to talk with them. Kim's goal was to get a massive hug from Nishi~~.

We were in the fifth row for the line. Cherry was with us too. I brought my CD for them to sign. ^__^

Well after a few minutes I started to talk to these two girls that we had been seeing all weekend. Turns out that they came from Canada to see them! Their other friend came with her mother from Texas! AAA has an American fan-club. Pretty much all of the AAA fan-club came to the Maryland concert!! It was super exciting to find that out. They got up and were dancing to one of their songs! XD

Here we are practicing!! Cherry in the back row on the far left in green with colored stripes on her shirt. I'm to her left blocked by Mr. Dancing while on his cell phone~~. XD And Kim is to the left of me dressed in jrock with the pink hair~~. You can see me fluffing my hair. This is when we first started practicing and I was still horrible~. lol (I still am...which is why Hidaka...I'll let you continue to read!!)

So...to pass the time and have some fun we joined in and danced to Champagne Gold with them!!
Some of the girls were kind of annoyed and didn't think we should be dancing...(Sorry if you're antisocial and think that AAA wouldn't think it was cool that we knew the moves to the song~~. Really...sorry, because you lost out, not didn't you!???)

We moved by the elevators because there was more room, and OMG. I suddenly notice the manager is standing outside the room where AAA is and is watching us with a completely amused look on his face and waves for the camera guy to film us practicing!!! OMG!!!!!!!!!!

So we get their autographs...and since it was the last day asked if we could have hugs...again! lol. Kim got the first hug from Nishi. She was so happy. I hugged Hidaka of course who stood and I didn't even have to ask him for a hug!!!!!!!!! AHHHH!!! He smiled, "Hello again, hug too?" he said so cutely in English and leaned over the table for a massive hug~.

Nishi I must smelled the best (not to sound weird...). We were all like..."what's that smell..." and then realized that we all smelled like Nishi!! ^^' What were you wearing Nishi?? Seriously it smelled amazing~. lol

THEN...OH...OH...THEN.....!!!!!! The manager asked the girls dancing to Champagne Gold to come back after the session was over!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We ran out and practiced once more before the staff waved us in.

We lined up and started laughing because Nishi and the manager were having trouble tracking to the song. Once it started though were were super charged and ready to dance!! (I wonder if this is how they and Arashi and stuff feel?? hmm...) When we started...they were so happy!!!!!

"WOOOWW!!!" Nishi and Hidaka jumped over the table and ran toward us and joined in. Soon the others joined in too. Hidaka ran right over to me and was bumping hips with me. "Come on Rachel!" HE REMEMBERED MY NAME!?????(Still was FREAKING out~!!!) I just smiled and leaned in with him as and camera came over and filmed us!!

After we hugged again and started talking and running around giving everyone high fives and hugging the others. Hidaka ran toward me and went for a high five and stomped down on my poor foot by mistake! "OWW!" I shouted because that's the foot I had surgery on and I have a screw in my foot. =_=' So he was all "OMG! I'm sorry!" ^_^' It's okay Hidaka. You didn't mean too. **we hug again**

Poor Chiaki was so happy she started to cry!! **gives her a big hug**

Then...OMG! We they asked to get a big group picture of all of us together. It was so much fun. I turned and ran in at the last second and made Shinjiro fall forward after the picture was taken!! I'm sorry!! >__<'''''' He laughed and patted me on the shoulder, "okay-okay~~." XD  You're adorable!! **pinches cheeks** (Too young though baby~~.)

Here's a big picture of the group shot~~!! See! I was leaning in toward Shinjiro!! "Watch out baby! I'm about to fall on top of you!!" =_='

We walked out after saying goodbye and we all screamed and fell to the floor in a heap.

SERIOUSLY THOUGH!!! Just the fact that Hidaka remembered by name made me so-so happy~~~!!! ;___; I mean so-so many people saw them over the weekend!! *__*

I had to call Hunter and spaz-out to him too of course~. He found me on the floor crying and rolling from side to side I was so happy. lol "oh god...what happened???"

"SOMETHING.......WONDERFUL!!!"

lol. A weekend I will never ever forget.

Here are group shots of the girls and guys I danced with. We call ourselves.... AAAX!!! ^__^

They wrote about us on their blog too!!!! OMG!! <3 <3

I can safely say that if you get the chance to hug AAA and want the best hug. Go to Nishi or Hidaka~~. lol

- Rachel