A Funny thing happened at NakaCon

Naka-con, Kansas City, Kansas, 2013. I was dressed in my J-pop outfit. Silver hair, leather pants, Lacy sleeves, victorian-ish riding jacket. I dressed because later that Saturday, I was teaching a Japanese fashion class. I was excited! I went up the escalator to the top. It was busy with con goers. But on the right side of the escalator, A cosplayer caught my attention.

He was dressed as No-Face, a character from a popular anime called Spirited Away. He was super cool. As I turned to him, he looked at me. He reached out his hand. Opening it up, No-faced offered me “gold coins.” My eyes got wide and I took a step back. “No way, Dude!” I said. I didn't mean it to be rude and it may have come out that way. But taking gold from No-face is really bad Ju-Ju! Yeah, it is just cosplay, but I still didn't want to take any gold from him. He titled his head down and looked sad. “Sorry,” I said.

I tried to walk away. But I had a thought tugging at my brain. I kept getting this weird feeling overwhelming me every time I took a step away. I turned around and went back to him. I looked at him.

I know a guy. He lives in Illinois. I don't like him and he doesn't like me. But that feeling kept building and building. “You know this guy” it kept screaming at me from the bottom of my brain. His name is Adam. Ask him! ask him!

So, I say to him slowly, “Is your name Adam?”

No-Face jerks up his hand to his face and puts his finger to his lips. So, I nod my head at him and say something like, “Nice to meet you.” He does this shrug nod thing at me. And I go away, the feeling finally subsiding.

I go to my fashion class. During the class, I mention cosplay, and “Hey, did you see No-face! Wasn't he cool?” My best friend asks, “Did you take any gold?”

“No way! Are you nuts?” I say into the microphone, maybe a little too loud. I turn back to the audience. “Taking gold from No-Face is bad luck. Did you see the movie?”

The audience goes quiet. “If you took gold from No-Face you might not get bad luck, but if you are not willing to find out how “bad” your luck can get, give it back. It's the only thing that break the curse.”

I look back at that and facepalm. Not because I told wrong things. Taking gold from No-Face really is bad luck. The class went fine. No, I facepalm because I did know who Adam was. It just didn't sink in. I didn't get the full message. That No-face at Naka-con in Kansas City, Kansas in 2013 was freakin Adam Savage of Mythbusters! 

 

Truly, I am kicking myself. Not to mention, I can't believe I missed that opportunity to ask him for an autograph. How the hell did I know it was Adam? Did I read his aura? Believe me when I say, “WTF!?”

He remembers the con. He spoke about it in a interview about cosplaying. Would he remember me? Probably not. And I will never be able to apologize to him about the gold coin thing.