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08/28/2003 Entry: "Convention Pre-reg woes: the latecomers"
 When I ran preregistration for Katsucon, we had a bulk rate for anime clubs, college universities, and so on. Now, out of the 20 or so clubs, most were prompt and followed directions. Some got a little confused. And a few were a pain in the ass because they always sent in checks late, post-dated, gave you only nicknames of people instead of their real ones ("I think Bob-Chan and his sister are coming. Oh, and Gozer said he'd try and make it..."), or kept making changes to their roster. There were a few repeat offenders over the years, and while I won't name them, I will name one group that, while I was not really fed up with them, they kept adding people at the last minute, right under the cutoff date. It was a college called IUP, Indiana University at Pennsylvania (I think). Now those people are decent guys, and tried really hard to be nice. But one day, they added another three people, yet again, under the wire. So I was in a goofy mood (if people who got funny mail from me when I did pre-reg, I apologize), and I sent them this reply: | Your request was reviewed by some very bored Kabuki Ninjas. Being who they are, they have hatched an evil plan. Technically, we should say "no." I mean, it's the rules, right? The Ninja who said this was then taken to the men's room at our complex and given a massive swirly. After all, HE was the one who made the sepukku badges for Katsucon 4. He deserved it anyway, what does he know from rules? Although, it's hard to give someone a swirly when they are wearing a skin-tight head mask. It made us even more frustrated and therefore, more insidious. So we decided a qualified "Yes," only under these conditions : 1 - You tell no other club
2 - You MUST (ooh, must must must) get the check to us by Nov 15th
3 - In addition, the three members who caused this will have to:
- Go to the center of Oak Grove at IUP in the middle of a
bright weekday when a lot of students are around. - All three must sing, in harmony, the theme to "Dragon Half"
at the top of their lungs (lyrics and a sound file will be
provided to you free upon your request, but may not be used during
the trio's performance). Musical instruments may be used in
conjunction with the singing, but it must be low enough to
clearly hear the singing. All three singers must be clothed. - It must be videotaped, the VHS copy of the tape sent to us,
with permission to use it in opening ceremonies.
We are not kidding. That will be worth the $30 we lose on the deal, plus the hassle that was given to us for the delay, you for having to deal with the deal, and the guy who has to take out time to cut an IUP check. We figure if they are true anime fans, they will not hesitate, and may in fact also ask, "Can we also wear costumes?" Bonus points will be given for creativity, as long as it's PG-13 or lower in rating.Ball's in your court. :-D Grig "Punkie" Larson
Katsucon Pre-reg Ninja
http://www.katsucon.org
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He got the check cut in time... I would have said "no" if his club wasn't bringing so many people as it was. But... Rats! I was kind of hoping he'd agree. That would have been cool. Often, I would write very silly things when we made a mistake, or took too long to reply to someone. Here's another one I sent to some poor soul who sent a spreadsheet in the wrong format, and then sent this gushing apology, hoping that he "didn't mess things up too horribly": | You have no idea how this really messed things up. We tried to change it, but the machinery started to tangle, gears flew everywhere, and two of the pre-reg Ninjas had to go the hospital. Then, the floor supports supporting the printing press gave way, crashing through the floor support joists, crushing 90% of the merchandise of a Woolworth's occupying the first floor. The water and gas lines ruptured, and the fireworks factory next door had a poorly sealed vault of magnesium phosphate. The damage was catastrophic. Two whole city blocks had to be evactuated. |
I'm a riot. Okay, I may not be funny, but I want to leave you with some semi-funny links:
- When I leave positive feedback on Ebay, I try to be original or helpful, but this guy... wow.
- Take the "Love Hina" intro song, add some Online Peter Pan, mix with James Bond, random anime, and too much time on your hands... and wala!
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