When I went to Katsucon 2003 (my first year there), my grandparents went with me.
Obviously my grandparents know nothing about anime, and I thought they might go sight-see or something on saturday, but they didn’t – they just kinda hung out, and, I think, had a relatively good time.
Well, saturday afternoon rolls around, and I ask my granddad if there’s anyway he can get a parent badge or something, so he could get into the masquerade and take some pictures for me. He said he’d go check and see if they had anything like that.
A while later, he finds me again, and what’s he got? He got a PRESS badge!! LMAO!! I have no idea what Katsucon’s press badge requirements were (then, or now), but my grandfather actually told him he was with the Millington Star (our little local newspaper), and was doing some kind of story. WHAT!! I was rolling. I couldn’t believe he’d done that. I guess my granddad passes as a newspaper writer pretty well!
Well, ironically, the whole thing ended up being pretty pointless. He got to sit in the front row of the masquerade – but he only managed to get one blurry picture of our group. Despite that, I now have a Katsucon press badge in my collection of convention badges.