1. my nametag. everybody at the event has nametags hanging on lanyards. i know the people who make the nametags, so i got to choose what i wanted on mine. instead of "max oestreicher", i got "mr. important". i thought it was pretty funny, and anyone else who saw my nametag did too.
2. the magical unicorn. in the exhibit hall, there was one exhibit called "ride the magical unicorn." it was one of those bull-riding hicky-doos, except they made it look like a unicorn. they had a wizard controlling it, along with a bunch of elves and fairies. i rode it, and i'm a wimp on those things! so that's pretty good for me. i stayed on longer than most people, but, the wizard was going easy on me.
3. fake 'staches (mustaches). on the "ride the magical unicorn" hicky-doo, they gave you free fake mustaches. and one of 'em kinda looked like a uni-brow. so i put one like a regular mustache, and one like a uni-brow. and, then, i gave one to my sister, and one to my mom (and i took off the uni-brow). here's a picture:
4. hawk nelson. well, my favorite bands are: P.O.D., family force five, the beatles, coldplay, muse, and hawk nelson. so i was very excited to hear that hawk nelson would be playing at the convention. i got to meet justin nelson (yes, that is his name, not "hawk"), so that was really cool.
5. our suite. the hyatt (a hotel) is right next to the convention center where we had the convention. and, since my dad is the president of youth specialties, the hotel gives him a free suite, because they knew that a bunch of people would be using the hyatt so they could go to the convention. our suite was huge. it didn't have a balcony, but it was still cool. there was a room with two queen sized beds for me and my sister, a living room, dining room, kitchen, tv room, master bedroom, 3 bathrooms, and my personal favorite -- the laundry room! (i'm kidding - i never used the laundry room).
6. the governator. since the capitol of california is right across the street from the hyatt, arnold schwartzenegger (or however you spell that), lives -- part time -- in a suite right below the suite we stayed in. his suite has a HUGE balcony (which he apparently never uses, since we didn't see him!). we couldn't open the windows in our suite, because of his suite being right below it. i just thought it was funny that you couldn't open the windows. me and my sister wondered if there would be guards there, but we didn't exactly want to check.
7. the green room. if you don't know, the green room is the backstage room where people who are going to be onstage in a general session wait. sometimes there's hardly anyone back there, and sometimes it's really crowded. it's really cool, because i'm always just back there (drinking a lot of soda, and eating a lot of candy that they have set out!) just sittin' down, watching all the famous people do what they do -- which is usually pretty boring, because all they usually do it type on a computer or something. but there is lots of candy!
8. the escapes. there was four illusions that i saw. one was a girl getting out of a closed and locked water tank (i actually missed that one, but heard it was really amazing). the one i saw was the girl in a straight-jacket, getting hung by her feet really high up. somehow, she got out of the straight-jacket, and got free. another one was the guy who got out of a straight-jacket also -- he wasn't as good as the girl, mainly because wasn't being hung by anything. but they tightened the straight-jacket really tight. the last one was the girl getting into a box, and the guy folding the box into a much, much smaller box that i'm sure no human could fit in. then he stabbed swords through it, took them out, and unfolded the box to it's normal size. she crawled out unharmed. it was really cool.
9. tiny bug. you might know who tic long is. he works with my dad. i call him "tiny bug" because, as you probably know, a "tic" is a tiny bug. and he always gets really annoyed (actually, he pretends to get annoyed), and usually pokes me. it's just this goofy little game we have with each other.
20,000,000. free candy everywhere. there was free candy EVERYWHERE. in the green room, in our suite, in the exhibit hall, at convention headquarters. literally everywhere. practically wherever you were, you would only have to walk about 20 feet to get to the nearest candy bucket (yes, i said bucket). i ate a lot. it was good. :)
as you can see, this was a very fun convention.
