Photos now online:
Van Nuys Cosplay Potluck Picnic at Lake Balboa (30-May-2009)
LASFS/Aftermeetings part 346: Coral Cafe (04-Jun-2009) et seq.
Julia's Graduation, part 1: Chaminade Prep H.S. (06-Jun-2009) et seq.
Julia's Graduation, part 15: Party at the house (06-Jun-2009) et seq.
Photo of friendlypinet (Tadao) is from the picnic.

Busy, busy. Commentary (and captions) when I get back from the picnics this weekend. Going to Fresno for a picnic Saturday and Bakersfield for one on Sunday.

(Continued...)

Current Location: Anaheim CA
Current Mood: chipper
Tags: picnics, pix

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Photos now online:
Anime Los Angeles 6 meetings part 1: Creative Director and Publications Division (19-May-2009)
FanimeCon 2009 part 70: Monday (26-May-2009) et seq.
FanimeCon 2009 part 78: Driving Home Tuesday (27-May-2009)
The picture of summoner_lenne9 (Sarah) is from Monday morning.

( Did I mention the plumbing incident on Sunday? )

Sarah's ride was leaving a little earlier than originally planned. And Monday being the last day of the convention, the elevators were extra busy with people checking out. library_lynn and I managed to get her and her stuff downstairs and into the car by a little before 11, and she was off. (left)

It was a day full of hellos and goodbyes, often two at a time. The famous "L-Squared" pair of best buds, xkokuux (Lisa) and fairegoddess (Lindsay), stopped by our table for a snapshot. (right)

( Mike Young and Barrie Young, freshly married piratical couple, visited us for a moment, as did a dancing Crocodile Hunter... )

( Julia and Caitlin again were quite helpful at the table, but they were both exhausted from staying up the night before... )

Once we'd packed up the table, it was time for dinner. tenkuudragon (Stephanie), Lindsay, and ladymaxstarr (Melissa) and I headed out to find something. On the way I realized that it's been a long time since I'd been out to dinner with a bunch of friends over 21 -- not counting Coral Cafe, that is -- and that we could actually all order beer. We went to Gordon Biersch to do just that. (left)

( We stumbled across an old friend of Patrick Beckstead, and a perennial fannish translator... )

The hotel still didn't have a 5th floor room to move us to. But they gave us an upgrade, on the 20th floor, in a large room/small suite overlooking the park. (right)

I wish I'd thought to ask them to knock something off my bill -- neo_serenity (Tiffany) had a similar plumbing issue earlier in the convention, and got half a room night taken off.

We went downstairs, where the move-out of FanimeCon was in full swing. The gentlemen in the orange jumpsuits are the FanimeCon Logistics Crew, and they're moving carts full of equipment to wherever it is they end up between conventions. While I think it's cool to give the Logistics people a distinctive uniform that they can wear more than once during the convention, I'm not sure I really agree with the "just escaped from prison" esthetic. (left)

( Melissa had been trying to meet up with Nikki (and the twins)... )

( We headed out Tuesday morning, about as bright-and-early as we ever do, and made plenty of stops along the way... )

Current Location: Santa Ana CA, USA
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Georgio (Moroder) - "Underdog"
Tags: anime los angeles, conventions, fanime, pix

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Photos now online: FanimeCon 2009 part 56: Sunday (24-May-2009) et seq.

( Notes I don't want to forget, from the coin locker place... )

I've talked before about the FanimeCon venue. I want to mention the pocket program: Many people were pleased with how small and pocket-sized it was. Our days of a single folded-up sheet paper for animelosangeles may have to come to an end. And they had a little one-page restaurant guide in it! Good work on that.

( Notes about daughters of various people... )

little_serenity (Caitlin), magi_sammy (Julia), and tenkuudragon (Stephanie) were again a great help to have at the table on Sunday. And the sisters are definite draw to have at the table -- people came over to look at them, and in fact Caitlin got compliments on her turquoise wig all day as long as she was wearing it. (right)

( One of the things that nagged at me regarding the Artist Alley was the way that the badgers at the doors were blocking two of the fire exit doors... )

The table was a fair place for people-watching and costume-watching. daoutlaw (Stan) came by, as a shark, for example. (left)

I say "fair" because a lot of the people and costumes we saw were people who were coming specifically to find our Animé Los Angeles table.

( Sunday was Disney Princess day... )

With the increasing overlap between our staff and FanimeCon's (as well as others, of course) it means that attending other conventions becomes more and more valuable for keeping in touch. We have two Divisions and one major Department run by NorCal people, for example Gary de Guzman here in the white chauffeur's cap is in charge of Programming/Live Events at FanimeCon, and our Exhibition Division at Animé Los Angeles. (left)

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the Artist Alley was open most days until 8:00 pm. A grueling schedule, and when we left for the day we were all ready for dinner, or a nap, or both. (right)

I was struck by Stephanie's "campaign" bag -- she has a tote bag for "Mario and Luigi '08." (left)

Once we'd had dinner, we went back to the convention center. ( Lindsay and Lynn helped me set up the Peanut Butter and Jelly Party... ) At 12:16 am we were all done. (right) A minute shy of two hours -- a little longer than I was expecting, we had 50% more bread than the night before and it took more than twice as long.

On the way to the elevator at the end of the night, I took pictures of the various signs that the second-floor Marriott departments had...

There's a place for a sign in the first two photos that might have used one. Just as here, under the venue's sign that says "Meeting Room B1" there's a signholder where the convention's own sign could have been slipped in. (right) Although I suppose they probably considered that superfluous, given the size of the big sign in front of it!

(Continued...)

Current Location: Anaheim CA
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Opus - "Life is Life"
Tags: anime los angeles, conventions, fanime, pix

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( Photos now online: FanimeCon 2009 Masquerade entries 26-44, Awards, and Late Night on the Concourse... )

( I mentioned that the more-cumbersome props and costumes were front-loaded towards the beginning of the show... )

The halftime entertainment was a subtitled anime of some sort up on the big screens. I didn't have a good view of that, without getting up and moving six or twelve rows back, so I got up. little_serenity (Caitlin) and magi_sammy (Julia), and the rest of their group (Entry 13) were sitting in the audience section where all of the participants sat, and I went over and showed them that yes, I got a few shots of them on stage. I learned that neo_serenity (Tiffany) and the rest of the group cheered when they flashed "Animé Los Angeles" on the screen as one of the sponsors. I think that if we do this sort of thing again, we'll want to be able to provide a title slide for them. Something splashy they can throw up there, with the animelosangeles logo and perhaps Ala in a costume.

They had to get the awards presented before their curfew at the auditorium -- which I expect is also why the whole thing started so early (pre-show at 6:30 pm, first competitive entrant at 7 o'clock) -- so there wasn't as much stage time for photos as there might have been. Each winner did come on stage, but there wasn't a consistent "stop here and hold for 20 seconds for a photo" routine set up for each group. I grabbed some shots to the best of my ability, though. (left)

I tried to take notes as to which were the "Best in Class/Show" winners, and then joined the crowds heading back over to the Convention Center.

( Almost everything we needed for our nightly Peanut Butter & Jelly Party was in Saltine in the convention center parking garage. Met an old friend of Victoria Shapero... )

55 minutes to go through 8 jumbo loaves of bread (equivalent to 10 2/3 ordinary loaves), about a hundred sandwiches or so. A lot busier than Friday night. Saturday is the big night of course, but I think the "Free Snacks" sign in the middle of the table helped a bit. (Which reminds me, I need to make it a double-sided sign.)

( I packed up the car, then I sat around the Concourse for some time after that. I saw Sarah, Evan, and Death that night... )

And finally, at about 3:00 am, I went to bed. More than an hour and a half after packing everything back in the car for the night... I've got to stop doing that.

(Continued...)

Current Location: Santa Ana CA, USA
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: The Sirens - "Don't Slander Me"
Tags: anime los angeles, fanime, pix

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( Photos now online: FanimeCon 2009 Saturday, through Masquerade Entry 25... )

Saturday at FanimeCon. The furry ear people were at the end of the row from us -- Bay Area Animation Society, I think -- so we shopped for new fuzzy ears for library_lynn. We ended up buying one pair (above right), and special-ordering another pair with fur that Lynn liked.

That morning, I'd gone on the shopping run by myself, to get more bread, peanut butter, and jelly. I stopped at Las Flamas, a Mexican restaurant on Market/Monterey, to get a chorizo and egg burrito to go. It was very tasty. (left)

( I'd managed to talk to the Masquerade Assistant Director on Friday about giving some Anime Los Angeles memberships as masquerade prizes for some of the winners... )

Evan James, our Creative Director, was serving as one of Julia's seconds. Julia Ha is our animelosangeles Events Division head, and she has a similar post (Extravaganzas Director, I believe) for FanimeCon. Our new status as a Masquerade sponsor got me and Hillel a special perk -- we got to sit in the reserved seating area. (Row 3, to be exact.) Evan, Julia and Jinni (Julia's other assistant) were outside the auditorium, and showed us to our seats. (right)

The emcee for the event was Ric Meyer, who kept snagging props from masquerade entries to hold for a while, by grabbing one before the appropriate ninja was able to remove it. (left)

( Something that FanimeCon does is put the entries with the larger costumes or props towards the beginning of the evening... )

In any event, one of the entries that I wanted to make absolutely sure I didn't miss was the one that little_serenity (Caitlin) and magi_sammy (Julia) put together. (right) Unfortunately there was a lighting miscue, and I wasn't able to get a picture of divine_sage (Carolyn) who played the part of their punchline!

(Continued...)

Current Location: Anaheim CA
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Common Rotation - "Here We Go"
Tags: anime los angeles, fanime, pix

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Photos now online:
FanimeCon 2009 part 1: Over the Grapevine (21-May-2009) et seq.
FanimeCon 2009 part 8: Friday Morning (22-May-2009) et seq.

FanimeCon report part 1. ( We stopped three or four times going to Bakersfield... )

We were northbound out of Bakersfield by about 3-something. We then stopped at the Coalinga-Avenal rest stop where Sarah opened up the graduation present that missmea (Maria) made for her. (right) You can't see it clearly in the picture, but it's a scrunchy made with Nepalese sari wool that Maria had lying around. Sarah was especially touched, because her parents met in Nepal.

( Lynn and I traded off driving all the way up to San Jose... )

On the drive up, Melissa had been working on finishing a scarf for Nikki. It was ready, we ran into Nikki in the Swap Meet (Gaming Room), and Nikki loved it. (right)

In fact, the Swap Meet and the Concourse in general was the place to meet lots of the usual suspects. We drive hundreds of miles to hang out with people we know from back home, such as magi_sammy (Julia), little_serenity (Caitlin), and SanjiCat (left).

Nikki and her boys helped me shop for some used PS2 video games, to get our video game equipment collection started. I ended up with 12 games that wouldn't be automatic if-you-sit-down-you'll-be-playing-for-two-hours time sinks. Thanks for the help!

( We learned that FanimeCon has two kinds of advance registration: ''Pre-Registration'' and ''Early Registration.'' Snarky comments behind the cut... )

We went off-site, to buy peanut butter, jelly, and eight loaves of bread. We came back, got our badges, and headed down to Artist Alley.

( Artist Alley setup was announced to run from 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm. Mildly snarky comments here... )

I was very glad to have Caitlin and Julia helping me, in addition to Sarah. They really pulled their weight. Artist Alley was open until 8:00 pm, so there were some long hours for us to man the table. They committed to working two two-hour shifts a day, which was just amazing. (left)

tenkuudragon (Stephanie) also showed up and put in a lot of hours at the table. We were giving away postcards, selling memberships, giving away snacks, and selling badge ribbons to raise money for the ones we give away at the convention.

( It was a good day for people-watching... )

( After dinner, we came back and started setting up our Peanut Butter and Jelly Party on the concourse... )

By being out on the concourse so late, I did get to see a bunch of folks as they came back for dinner or went to the dance.

Such as travel_valenti (Victoria). (left) Her report is up, by the way -- go check it out.

divine_sage (Carolyn) and neo_serenity (Tiffany) were having a bonding experience -- Carolyn's joined the ranks of the legal adults, so no 10:00 pm curfew for her anymore. (right)

Sheri "SanjiCat" Jordan was out late, too, in her red loli dress and with her dollfie. (left) We talked quite a bit -- she wanted to videotape me answering the question "Why did you start Animé Los Angeles?" The problem with that question is the answer is long and involved, and it's a speech I haven't figured out how to edit down into a manageable, YouTube-appropriate sound bite...

(Continued...)

Current Location: Anaheim CA
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Ramones - "Do You Remember Rock and Roll Radio?"
Tags: anime los angeles, conventions, fanime, pix

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Photos now online:
Melissa helps out (13-May-2009)
LASFS/Aftermeetings part 344: Coral Cafe (14-May-2009) et seq.
Secura Coin Locker (16-May-2009)
California Strawberry Festival, Oxnard (16-May-2009)
Mother's Day (Observed) at Faire (17-May-2009)
The picture of missmea is from the Faire.

Things I've done recently: Went to the Strawberry Festival. On the way there, we stopped off at Secura Coin Locker in Chatsworth and looked at their products. We're probably going to buy a dozen coin-operated lockers, to use in the animelosangeles game room.

On the next day, went to the Renaissance Faire. This was our traditional Mother's Day trip, delayed a week because of missmea's work schedule.

The following week, ala_mokita and I met up with Joyce Hooper and Evan James, to talk about the job of "Creative Director." Evan's going to be approving the designs for all of our convention publications. In the past, he's done all of the design. Going forward, the Publications Division and other divisions with other publications to design will work out the preliminary designs, then forward them to Evan for tweaking or approval.

To aid in this, Publications Division now has a copy of everything that's passed through Evan's hands for the convention, including all of the signs and publications produced -- so there's a thick file of sample designs.

Our Publications Division head, Arianna, joined us as well, and we talked briefly about what her team is going to do. Some of those are graphic designers yet to be recruited. We're going to post "Help Wanted" notices for her division on the website, and she's going to join us at Anime Expo to talk to potential volunteers (mostly, artists) for her division.

Then it came time to go to FanimeCon. We had our "Peanut Butter and Jelly Party" (or Frenzy) on the ConCourse each night. Staff aren't allowed to bring in food to the concourse; we're not allowed to prepare food; we're not allowed to sell anything, or take donations or deal with money in any way, out on the concourse. Fortunately, we weren't in violation of any of those rules: we just put bread, peanut butter, and jelly on the table and let people make their own sandwiches. Over the course of the weekend we went through 28 two-lb. loaves of bread -- which is the equivalent of about 37 ordinary one-and-a-half-pound loaves. Lots of sandwiches.

This past weekend we sponsored a picnic at Lake Balboa Park, where 82 fans signed the sign-in sheet. Recruited a few people to help with the convention in a number of divisions. We now have a Gaming Department head. I am pleased by how many departments and divisions showed up -- we had representatives from departments in all of our divisions.

And Sunday, yesterday, I collapsed with dehydration sickness. Too much sun[burn] and not enough water on Saturday resulted in a daylong headache and much sleeping on Sunday. I've got to watch out for that in two weeks, when I'm going to attempt back-to-back picnics in Fresno and Bakersfield!

Current Location: Santa Ana CA, USA
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Michael Jackson - "Remember The Time"
Tags: anime los angeles, conventions, fanime, pix

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neo_serenity (Tiffany)

library_lynn

Current Location: Santa Ana CA, USA
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Wax - "Right between the eyes"
Tags: picnics, pix

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library_lynn

loscon

Current Location: Anaheim CA
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Wax - "Right between the eyes"
Tags: anime los angeles, picnics

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Current Location: Anaheim CA
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Kirsty MacColl - "In these shoes?"
Tags: anime los angeles, gallifrey, picnics

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animelosangeles

Current Location: Santa Ana Ca
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: The Beatles - "Good Day Sunshine"
Tags: picnics

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Current Location: Santa Ana CA, USA
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Asia - "Only Time Will Tell"
Tags: work

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( I've noticed that it's become easier to keep up with my LJ FL of late, and other musings about LJ, DW, Twitter and FB... )

Current Location: Anaheim CA
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: The Beatles - "Golden Slumbers"

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This Saturday is the "SoCal Cosplay Gathering" at Mason Regional Park, in Irvine. ( I've been trying to put my thoughts and plans in order... )

I'd like to make it clear that I'm not complaining. It's an interesting task, and the sort of logistics exercise that I take in stride these days. We'll have no trouble pulling it off, and I've got contingency plans in case some of the people can't show -- worst case scenario would be I leave the park after mixing up the first ten gallons of lemonade, go back to buy or retrieve the stuff we're missing and pay another five bucks to get back in the park. I just thought some of y'all might be interested in all this.

Current Location: Santa Ana CA, USA
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Portslade - "Girls and Boys"
Tags: picnics

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Photos now online:
Returning from Bakersfield part 5: Patriots Park (03-May-2009) et seq.

After a delicious brunch at Zingo's -- I got a peanut butter and bacon sandwich -- it's not really summoner_lenne9 (Sarah)'s cup of tea, though; she likes Thai food and other cuisines a lot better than American Diner Food -- and pie, some of which were baked by our very waitress -- ( we made a detour to look at Patriots Park... )

Lynn and I talked a little about Sarah, who's not quite an adopted daughter or niece, and we're not quite adopted relations. It's a lot of fun -- I come from a family of six (two sisters, one brother), so I'm used to a large family situation, and now I get to enjoy having more "kids" of my own even though Maria's all grown up now. It struck me that we didn't pick Sarah out of the crowd; she picked us.

Not everyone wants to have friends far outside their peer group. I try to be friends with everyone. I didn't have a lot of friends over 30 when I was in my earlier twenties, nor many under 25 when I was in my thirties. I give science fiction and anime fandom most of the credit for introducing me to cross-generational friendships, although I suppose they're more common nowadays thanks to the internet.

( Finally it was time to say our good-byes and leave Bakersfield... )

We left the Screaming Squirrel just as Sarah's mom was leaving work too. We dropped off Sarah at her house (right), and headed home.

We made it home after about two more hours of driving, with two stops to trade drivers and get a snack on the way.

Current Location: Anaheim CA
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Buck Owens - "Ruby, Are You Mad?"

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Photos now online:
Returning from Bakersfield part 1: Brunch (03-May-2009) et seq.

( Lynn and I had booked a room for two nights at the Spring Hill Suites Marriott, in Bakersfield... )

We drove over to Carissa's family's house, which is one of the places Sarah sleeps at when she stays in town. They have plenty of room, so she gets her own bed and everything. Carissa's dog "Duchess" met us at the door. (right)

Sarah had plenty of stuff to take home, including her very heavy backpack and her gym duffle bag. (left) I was glad I'd freed up more space that morning! I almost regretted leaving the one cooler in there, but Sarah's skinny and had enough room.

We'd decided to go to Zingo's, a 24-hour diner on old US Highway 99-E (i.e. Buck Owens Blvd.). Great place, genuine atmosphere, family-run, good food. I'm surprised the BHS crowd doesn't know about it, it's only about a quarter mile north of the Denny's off Rosedale they go to!

I noticed that Carissa was getting along well with Melissa and aesthier (Nikki), so I asked her if she'd like to join us for brunch. (right) Nikki, whose car didn't have any of our picnic equipment, agreed to take care of getting her there and back.

We had an important motive for wanting to have some kind of time to sit and visit before we hit the road, because Lynn and I had a graduation present for Sarah. (We've been invited to three different graduations this season.) We like graduations. (left) More precisely, we enjoy being invited to the milestones in our friends' lives.

We wanted to make sure Sarah got her present before her next convention trip -- a very pink suitcase (right), with a matching carry-on bag. Plus a small toiletries bag, where we'd put half a dozen new pairs of socks (some with flamingos on them).

Sarah was pleased to receive the new luggage, because her old red suitcase is completely unsuitable. We also gave her a copy of Miss Manners' Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior, which (as I hope all of you already know) is a very amusing and educational tome. She dove right into it. (left)

Next: Patriots Park and Pine Mountain Village.

Current Location: Santa Ana CA, USA
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Shivaree - "Good Night Moon"
Tags: pix

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Photos now online:
Dinner with Melissa (13-Apr-2009)
LASFS/Aftermeetings part 343: Coral Cafe (23-Apr-2009)
Oceanside Cosplay Picnic at Buddy Todd Park (25-Apr-2009)
Caitlin's Gallery Opening (01-May-2009)
Bakersfield Cosplay Picnic at Riverwalk Park (02-May-2009)
Zombie Prom at Bakersfield High School (02-May-2009)
The photo of magi_sammy (Julia), little_serenity (Caitlin) and their parents is from the gallery opening.

Busy, busy, busy: I've been to two cosplay picnics over the past two weekends. ( The picnic in Oceanside had a good turnout - 45 people put their names or nicknames down on our sign-in sheet... )

With Melissa, Corwin, Alec and Pam helping it took about two hours to get everything set up. We'll want to allow at least two hours to set everything up next weekend in Irvine at the big SoCal Cosplay Gathering. (left) If you're planning to help me there (Christian, Alec, etc.) please try to get to our location (aerial photo here) by 9 o'clock.

Then, last weekend we drove to Bakersfield. ( We stopped by Caitlin's gallery opening at Scripps College. Go see it!... )

( From there, we headed to Bakersfield for the cosplay picnic... )

After the picnic, we went back to the hotel. I took a shower while Melissa and Nikki fetched us dinner from Carl's Jr. and then we boogied down to the BHS Harvey Auditorium. A very impressive theater, especially for a high school (left).

( The show was ZOMBIE PROM... )

Sarah was flabbergasted to receive such a huge bouquet on the second night of the show. (right) I understand the male lead was jealous, because he only got one or two, and Sarah's "just" Random High School Girl #12.

Next: Having lunch and heading for the hills.

Current Location: Santa Ana CA, USA
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Keely Smith - "Always True To You (In My Fashion)"
Tags: picnics

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Photos online: Xanadu Las Vegas part 1: Arriving late Thursday night (17-Apr-2009) et seq.
The picture of theresamather is from the convention.

AniZona, then Xanadu. AniZona had a mix of a seasoned "old" (over 30) crew of concom, and its third batch of under 30 staff learning the ropes; while Xanadu had a small concom of over-30 people learning as they go. About 350 members attended Xanadu.

AniZona's supposedly trying to train up the younger generation. My conclusion: it's not working. If this is their third batch of staff, if they've managed to have a 100% turnover in staff twice, then there's something wrong with how they're going about it. And it's not because people don't want to make anime conventions happen in Arizona: Saboten-Con over Halloween Weekend, Phoenix Cactus ComicCon (they dropped the "Cactus" this year) in January, AnimeTuCon down Tucson way... (We'll gloss over Yaoi Jamboree for now.) Anime convention fandom has spread into Arizona.

As far as Xanadu: Jacqueline Mason, the lady who'd convinced me to sign up back in September, was no longer part of the Xanadu operation. I expected to find a con suite, but they didn't have one. They didn't have name badges for at-the-door members, just wristbands. And the hotel, the Plaza Hotel (ex-Union Plaza) stinks of cigarette smoke, not just the decades-old kind but the fresh kind from the guy standing outside the door to the ballrooms smoking. I'm not going back to that hotel for a convention again.

We're heading out to Bakersfield tonight, for a cosplay picnic that summoner_lenne9 (Sarah) is involved with. Should be fun.

Current Location: Santa Ana CA, USA
Current Mood: calm
Tags: anizona, conventions, picnics, pix, xanadu

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Photos now online:
AniZona 4: Late Thursday night (10-Apr-2009)
AniZona 4: Friday (10-Apr-2009)
AniZona 4 part 8: Saturday Morning (11-Apr-2009)
AniZona 4: Sunday (12-Apr-2009)
A stop at the PODS Warehouse (13-Apr-2009)
The picture of aesthier (Nikki) as "Morrigan" with the animelosangeles tattoo is from Saturday.

Part 1 of my AniZona report. The Friday night dance at AniZona was cut short at midnight, apparently because the DJ got tired or bored or something. Reportedly the fans weren't dancing that much anyway. Which reminds me of a card I need to write out and mail:

I'll look up his address and get that sent off real soon now.

I've been writing a lot of notecards lately, in fact -- I've written over 200 in the past month or two, thank-you notes for everyone who worked at our convention this year. When I have time, I write until my hand gets tired, then stuff the envelopes and stamp them; repeat. So some of them have Arizona postmarks if I worked on them last weekend.

We had a fan table at AniZona, which was nice. ladymaxstarr (Melissa) rode out with me (left), and we took turns driving. A lifesaver, truly; if I had to choose between having a helper for the drive, and having one at the table, I'd take the drive to make sure I get where I'm going safely.

And the attendees at the convention seemed to have a good time. Which is not surprising: when people go to a convention expecting to have fun, they usually do.

If I remember the numbers treasurer Stephanie Bannon (right) told me, 70% of the members pre-registered in the last month before the convention. (They maxed out their cap the week before, so there were no at-door membership sales.)

What did I think of the convention? I saw lots of people having a fun time. ( There were some details that were lacking, such as the signs... )

It was an odd convention experience for me. AniZona's as old as Animé Los Angeles, so for it to end on such a conflicted note -- the regular attendees having a great time, but clear signs of early burnout on the part of the staff -- is hard for me to internalize.

I'll have more thoughts on the convention in my next post, along with some ponderings on the Arizona convention scene.

Tonight we hit the road for Xanadu Las Vegas. ala_mokita (Christian) is on the road already, to set up a movie illustrators exhibit. (As I write this, he's about 60 miles from Vegas, while I haven't left Orange County yet.) Lynn, Melissa and I plan to wait until the traffic dies down a bit after rush hour and then we'll hit the road ourselves.

Current Location: Santa Ana CA, USA
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Elton John - "Sorry seems to be the hardest word"
Tags: anime los angeles, anizona, xanadu

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Photos now online: Sarah and Hannah (05-Apr-2009)
Sarah and Maria went shopping (06-Apr-2009)

( Sunday was an easy day, mostly... )

( The goal for Monday was to get Sarah ready for the prom. Two dresses behind the cut... )

( All that remained was to get Sarah safely home... )

Maria and I were back at the house by a quarter after midnight. I've come home later that from Coral Cafe on a Thursday evening! (I've left Coral later than that...) Coral would be another good choice for a halfway point, come to think of it. We sailed past that vicinity about 11:00-11:15 pm.

(Many thanks to Maria for riding along there and back again -- I didn't end up tired enough to need her to take over, but that was probably because I had her there to talk to. I would have been more likely to have zoned out without her riding shotgun.)

Current Location: Santa Ana CA, USA
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Pet Shop Boys - "West End Girls"

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