I must admit, Manifest 2002 completely changed my opinion of Australian conventions. I had the most wonderful time, and I know it was all because of the fantastic people I was fortunate enough to meet that day. Manifest was held over two days on a weekend, however like last year I only attended one day, Saturday.

I arrived at around 10am that morning, and already there was a huge line. While making small talk with the people around me, I was messaging Shiori like crazy on my mobile, trying to keep up some kind of conversation going. At the same time I was shaking like a leaf from nervousnes for it would be the first time I met Shiori face to face after our three year old on-line friendship.

In a few minutes I was approached by two girls, and I instantly knew who they were Sapphire and Madison. I left the end of the queue and joined them further up where I finally got to meet Joey and Himiko. I was so excited that know I could finally put a face on all the people I had interacted with on-line. And I have to admit I was very much impressed, all of them were so friendly and cheerful.

Lucky for me, I got to skip the queue since I had pre-registered. Once I made it in with my little Manifest nametag I went on my search for Shiori. After a tiresome 15 minutes, I decided to lean against the staircase for a quick rest (my bag was really heavy). And out of the blue, Shiori makes her grand appearance!

I was so excited and lost for words I just give my wonderful Keiji the biggest hug ever. After our entire group finally met up, Shiroi and I headed straight to the bathroom to get changed into our costumes. Shiori as K from Gravitation and I was Yuumura Kirika from Noir. I loved helping Shiori get her wig on, it was so cute on her and it was a great time to actually chat and get to know each other much better off-line.

After almost an hour, Shiori and I were finished and everyone else had finally made it into the building (like I said, it was a long queue!) Joey and Himiko dashed off to get changed, and Madison, Sapphire, Shiori and I headed down to see all the merchandise. And wow, it was crowded! I couldn't believe how packed it was, crowds have never been my "thing" and I felt incredibly overwhelmed after only a few minutes. Everyone was so understanding when I had to go out for a little while. I truly felt like I was holding everyone back from exploring and that I wasn't mixing well, but everyone was so incredibly sweet! *group hugs*

Joey and Himiko made it out in their adorable costumes! I was in awe as to how talented they both were, in fact I was in awe at how talented all my friends were *^^*. Joey was San from Mononoke Hime and Himiko was Takuto from Full Moon wo Sagashite. Almost everyone was complimenting Joey since according to others and us she looked a lot better than the cross dresser who was wearing a similar costume.

Lunchtime rolled around, and Madison took all of us to a local café where we all indulged in pizza! We were all pretty quiet at first, but the conversations between everyone soon picked up and we were all chatting up a storm.

After we continued to shift through all the anime goodies we soon found ourselves drifting into the theatres to watch what we all came here for, anime! Unfortunately at the same time Madison had to leave, so our group was down to five. The cosplay competition was on at 4pm, so at 3 the rest of us headed to a classroom and tried to practice some skits for the competition. Instead we ended just "mucking around" and chatting about almost everything! 4pm rolled around and we were off to the competition, as were almost another 100 other people O_o; Crowded couldn't begin to describe this crowd, and being small doesn't help much either.

I hadn't enrolled in the competition so outside with Sapphire and the crowd I stood, till my name was called out. Turns out my mobile phone had gone missing and some kind soul had found it. I was so grateful, so if whoever found it and actually handed it in!

Due to the crowd, the competition was moved to a much larger theatre and so the competition began. There were over 50 - 60 entries and only one hour to go through them, which was a huge difference from last year, which only had under 15 entries. The competition was great, the costumes were stunning and each and every person had a smile on their face, which made it all worthwhile. It shows they were having fun and that's all that mattered to me.

By the end, Himiko had to leave and within the hour I had to go. I only wished I could have stayed longer with the rest. It was the most fun I have had in a long time, I can't thank everyone enough for coming and enjoying the day together! Thank you! *huge hug* I can only hope that perhaps Matt and several other close friends can make it next year, and perhaps I'll be able to attend both days? Thanks everyone for the memories *^^*

I do have on regret, that I didn't take enough photos of my friends! By the end of the night I realised I had hundreds of photos taken of other cosplayers and the Manifest environment in general, but few to none of my actual friends! So I do intend to change that for next year!

On a final note, I have to admit that Manifest in general was managed very well. I was surprised anyone would return my mobile after losing it, and yet it was! The honesty and kindness of everyone there is really commendable and I look forward to next year.

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