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It’s Pocky Time on Pocky Day. Mark your calendars – 2011 is year of the Pocky.
PMX - I arrived at the LAX Hilton somewhat late and rather disheveled. I thought the 439 bus that was supposed to stop close by the hotel would alert me sooner, but I think I took it too far. I ended up taking the parking lot shuttle to the airport itself, walking through arrivals to get to departures, and taking the hotel shuttle. By the end I didn’t know where I was but I felt immediately comforted upon seeing the cosplayers milling about in the foyer.
Without signs it was a bit hard to find my way to the Volunteer department, but I got there after making a detour at the Pocky Tasting Room. I met the head staff guy and we started chatting – mostly about volunteer stuff. I started prattling all the cons I’d done and places I’d worked. I guess I made a good impression (or the need for fresh meat was somewhat dire) since he was urging me to join as staff. So I got ninja-ed in at the last minute. Yay for walk-ins!
The people who work at PMX are really nice, totally laid back. These are guys who remember what AX used to be like (because once upon a time… they ran it!). The guys who work at AX are really cute, but somewhat uptight because I remember them being totally business-serious. I guess the bigger the con, the tighter they run it. Roughly half the PMX volunteers were technically minors, but the environment was pretty PG-13 so I didn’t worry too much (Compared to AX where one staff guy semi-freaked out when the minor volunteer went to the bathroom after asking me for permission). Hell, I was more worried about watching Golden Boy in the Volunteer room than what the minors may or may not encounter during their shifts. And for the record: all assignments were “safe”, kid-friendly and closely monitored by some sort of PMX staff or other sanctioned adult of an official-esque nature.
Most of my volunteers ended up at the Pocky Tasting Room. $5 for all-you-can-eat Pocky, I hit my limit pretty quickly. It was a drain on manpower, but it was better than telling the volunteers to come back later or make them wait for work when they wanted to finish their hours quickly. There was white chocolate, orange (mikan) milk chocolate, men’s bitter chocolate, regular chocolate, strawberry, milk, “crunch” and almond (which were actually the same thing). There was crazy Pocky-eating madness. Guys who tried the Pocky-kiss game. People who would out-eat others. Dudes who would stuff an entire handfull into their mouthes. Crazy guys who got into some furry mascots and ran around shouting "pocky pocky". Almost everyone got a free prize and box of Pocky - cuz at midnight in the karaoke room Pocky is like gold. Even on the slow day they still banked like $300. I think attendees liked it, volunteers enjoyed working at it, and hopefully they’ll be back next year. (It was WAY more popular than the Maid Cafe next door, which was $5 for a cup of hotel-grade tea/coffee served by a cute girl dressed as a maid. The service was decent, but you're mostly paying for the stockings.)
PMX - I arrived at the LAX Hilton somewhat late and rather disheveled. I thought the 439 bus that was supposed to stop close by the hotel would alert me sooner, but I think I took it too far. I ended up taking the parking lot shuttle to the airport itself, walking through arrivals to get to departures, and taking the hotel shuttle. By the end I didn’t know where I was but I felt immediately comforted upon seeing the cosplayers milling about in the foyer.
Without signs it was a bit hard to find my way to the Volunteer department, but I got there after making a detour at the Pocky Tasting Room. I met the head staff guy and we started chatting – mostly about volunteer stuff. I started prattling all the cons I’d done and places I’d worked. I guess I made a good impression (or the need for fresh meat was somewhat dire) since he was urging me to join as staff. So I got ninja-ed in at the last minute. Yay for walk-ins!
The people who work at PMX are really nice, totally laid back. These are guys who remember what AX used to be like (because once upon a time… they ran it!). The guys who work at AX are really cute, but somewhat uptight because I remember them being totally business-serious. I guess the bigger the con, the tighter they run it. Roughly half the PMX volunteers were technically minors, but the environment was pretty PG-13 so I didn’t worry too much (Compared to AX where one staff guy semi-freaked out when the minor volunteer went to the bathroom after asking me for permission). Hell, I was more worried about watching Golden Boy in the Volunteer room than what the minors may or may not encounter during their shifts. And for the record: all assignments were “safe”, kid-friendly and closely monitored by some sort of PMX staff or other sanctioned adult of an official-esque nature.
Most of my volunteers ended up at the Pocky Tasting Room. $5 for all-you-can-eat Pocky, I hit my limit pretty quickly. It was a drain on manpower, but it was better than telling the volunteers to come back later or make them wait for work when they wanted to finish their hours quickly. There was white chocolate, orange (mikan) milk chocolate, men’s bitter chocolate, regular chocolate, strawberry, milk, “crunch” and almond (which were actually the same thing). There was crazy Pocky-eating madness. Guys who tried the Pocky-kiss game. People who would out-eat others. Dudes who would stuff an entire handfull into their mouthes. Crazy guys who got into some furry mascots and ran around shouting "pocky pocky". Almost everyone got a free prize and box of Pocky - cuz at midnight in the karaoke room Pocky is like gold. Even on the slow day they still banked like $300. I think attendees liked it, volunteers enjoyed working at it, and hopefully they’ll be back next year. (It was WAY more popular than the Maid Cafe next door, which was $5 for a cup of hotel-grade tea/coffee served by a cute girl dressed as a maid. The service was decent, but you're mostly paying for the stockings.)
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