#TouchGrass Comic Frontier 17 Day 1 | Share your Friday - #IAmAliveChallenge Saturday, December 16, 2023

As people always say good and bad luck is always the balance in life, I already feel those two in one day. I start my day wake up at 03:00 AM and prepare to go to the meeting point with my friend Shiroe so we can take the first train at 05:00 AM. Always double-check as precautions of something that will happen, Cash, E-wallet balance, Ticket reservation QR Code, My smartphone charged 100%, Phone charger, Paper fan, House key, Train card balance, Mosquito repellent, Jacket, and Nintendo 3DS (For doing something while queueing instead of draining my smartphone battery) are ready! Let's go! It's still early as I'm going at 04:07 AM and arrived at 04:30 AM

Then... He comes around 05:30 AM and I think he is going to another stair because I didn't see him in front of me. He tells me, "Where are you? I'm already on the train (Wagon 7). It's almost taking off." Well, I go down and ask the officer because there are 2 trains there and the one that will take off some seconds again is the right train. So, I go to the right train and walk to wagon 7 just to find out that my friend was going to the left train because I can't find him in Wagon 7 and my train is already taking off while he was still waiting to take off. Late, too rushed, and take the wrong one.

So, I'm waiting again when I arrived at the destination station. He's there with one of the Discord server members named Chio. Well, as I do not really ever meet irl with my friends' Discord server members, I try to meet them one by one to know at least the name and the face to save it in my brain 😂. Chio said that Shiroe didn't prepare for the re-scheduled trains from his nearby station. Well, can't help with that 🤷‍♂️.

We arrive at the Comifuro (Comic Frontier) at 07:00 AM and it's already full of people there. Well, it's predicted like Comifuro 16 before. It's in the same situation but I think it's not that many like before.

I'm with Chio are the ones who are in the queue. I bring my friend's QR codes too and Chio has the others too. There's 1 hour of waiting until the exchange counter to open at 08:00 AM. That's what my 3DS will be used for. I'm playing while talking to my friend. We don't really talk much but we do more chats on Discord server with others. After the time is already 08:00 AM, it's time to start moving! It took me until 10:00 AM to reach the front at the exchange ticket counter.

Exchange it to entry bracelet is done and I'm walking to go to the venue. It's still not crowded in there and the first thing to do is walking around while giving my friends tickets. However, I don't meet them in person as they asked to give it to her boothmate. They are going to Comifuro around noon. After doing that, I check my booth list and walk to check whether the merchandise that I want is still on sale or not. Sadly, their web catalog is still using the Comifuro 16 list and it's different from Comifuro 17.

Well, I don't get any so I move to the main destination which is Meet and Greet with Ola Aphrodite. After buying some of her merchandise with the required amount, I can Meet and Greet (MnG) her and also take a photo. It's still 10:32 AM and the cosplayers will come at 11:00 AM. Well, it's worth waiting and becoming the first to MnG with Ola 👍.

I don't have many things to say as I'm nervous with her in front of me. I know this is the second time but she's like the senpai (upperclassmen/senior) and sensei (Teacher) of my cosplayer activity who I admired. I got a lot of photos and information that I need too. It's fun to talk with her tho I'm kinda nervous. She's friendly and professional with her career as a cosplayer. I also take some photos with her and get her to sign on her merchandise. If you want to find her, you can check her Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/olaaphrodite/

Ola Aphrodite and Me

Ola Aphrodite and Me

Well, my hair is still long and wavy. I don't really have time to find a hairstyle that matches my face and somehow it's better like this so far personally. After I'm done with my MnG session, It's already crowded and the queue is so long before I realize it.

Ok then, it's time to go meet others and I meet with some new faces that I need to remember. I meet other 6 members of Shiroe's Discord server and one of them is cosplaying 'Blade' from Honkai Star Rail. I take photos together with her too. Her Instagram is https://www.instagram.com/gold_fish8_8/

Gold Fish and Me

There are a lot of activities and in the middle of that, someone is sharing that there's a pickpocket in there and it could be more than one. Be aware of your surroundings and don't put your smartphone or wallet/purse in your pocket. It's in a real-time situation where someone was caught by the publisher of that post before the publisher's friend lost his smartphone. Well, it's kinda to easy to tell if someone is participating in this event for some activities or just looking around without doing something even thinking of pickpocketing. He looks suspicious because of walking to many booths but instead of seeing the merchandise or things that the booth sells, he's looking around there and looks below. No anime lover aura, No anime merchandise in hand, and just looking around while pretending to go to booths. Well, sometimes people lower their guard when they are doing what they like. It's always good to have accompany now when attending a J-event like this. This is not the first time, It's already like at least 1-3 cases of losing goods, especially smartphones in this kind of event. Attendees are always reminded to watch their belongings and put them in a bag.

Well, that's all for today. It's fun to talk and have good luck with my gacha to Meet and Greet with Ola and of course to not be stolen. The bad luck happens when I go back to home. It's chaos outside with the marriage of state officials. There are a lot of police, some roads are blocked, and I got the information that the Vice President of Indonesia is there too (Dunno if it's a hoax or not). AND.... You know what? Their wedding place is right beside the Comifuro 17. With the end of Comifuro 17 Day 1, A lot of Anime Lovers are going out and taking their cars or calling an Online Taxi. At the same time, A lot of guests at the wedding just come there. It makes a real deal traffic jam because some police cars that escort the state officials' cars always want to slip the other cars which are Online taxis that someone called who's still looking for their passengers. It even becomes a drama that's been talked about until now. Imo, I don't even know why they need to have a wedding at the same time as this big event even rent some halls beside Comifuro 17. This event was already announced a few months ago. It takes me around 3-4 hours instead of 1-1.5 hours to go home. It's ridiculous. Some Comifuro 17 attendees even wished bad luck to the bride and groom because they already made a traffic jam with their police doing something that they shouldn't have done. It messes with most attendees' schedules and routes back.