Photos online:
LASFS/Aftermeetings part 372: Coral Cafe (24-Sep-2009)
LASFS/Aftermeetings part 373: Coral Cafe (01/15-Oct-2009)
LASFS/Aftermeetings part 374: Coral Cafe (22-Oct-2009)
Sunday at Coral Cafe (04-Oct-2009)
Remodeling Monster 2009 part 4: Spare room with bed (24/27-Sep-2009)
Remodeling Monster 2009 part 5: Replacing the old windows (21-Oct-2009)
Remodeling Monster 2009 part 6: almost All New Windows (23-Oct-2009)
Anime Los Angeles 6 meetings part 17: Meeting at the Marriott (25/26-Sep-2009) et seq.
Old storage, part 8: Clearing out the 5x10 (27-Sep-2009) et seq.
Old storage, part 10: Empty and full units (Sep/Oct-2009)
Old storage, part 11: Two Quilts for Charity (06/13-Oct-2009)
Old storage, part 12: Surplus fabric (Sep/Oct-2009)
Old storage, part 13: San Diego Costumers Guild Swap Meet (10-Oct-2009)
Maria's new clothes (28-Sep-2009)
Rock Band at Victorio's, Burbank (02-Oct-2009)
Our Santa Barbara Weekend part 1: Saturday (03-Oct-2009) et seq.
Our Santa Barbara Weekend part 3: Sunday (04-Oct-2009) et seq.
Anime Conji crew goes to Ani-Magic and back (09/11-Oct-2009)
At the Hat with Kate, Lynn, and Gallifrey cards (21-Oct-2009)

Current Location: Anaheim CA
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Big Daddy - "Dancing in the Dark"
Tags: pix

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Photos online:
Old storage, part 7: More books, many of them surplus (16/17-Sep-2009)
Remodeling Monster 2009 part 3: Spare room, new floor (16-21/Sep-2009)
Melissa's Birthday Dinner (17-Sep-2009)
LASFS/Aftermeetings part 371: Coral Cafe (17-Sep-2009)
MikomiCon 2009 part 1: Friday (18-Sep-2009) et seq.
MikomiCon 2009 part 6: Saturday (19-Sep-2009) et seq.
MikomiCon 2009 part 10: Sunday (20-Sep-2009) et seq.
Sarah and the couch (21-Sep-2009)
ASIS 2009 Exhibits part 1: Monday (21-Sep-2009) et seq.
ASIS 2009 Exhibits part 3: President's Reception at Disneyland (21-Sep-2009)
ASIS 2009 Exhibits part 4: Tuesday (22-Sep-2009)
ASIS 2009 Exhibits part 5: Wednesday (23-Sep-2009) et seq.
Dinner at The Hat with Kate and Melissa (23-Sep-2009)
LASFS/Aftermeetings part 372: Coral Cafe (24-Sep-2009)
The picture of summoner_lenne9 (Sarah) is from last Monday when she went home after spending the night on our couch.

We went to that anime convention at CSU Northridge and took all the fabric that we're trying to give away. (left)

The box of patterns was about half full, and there were 26 boxes of fabric -- and when I went home, there were half a dozen patterns left and half a dozen boxes of fabric.

We've been taking "Help Wanted" job descriptions to conventions, and this time out someone volunteered to be one of my minions. I've actually met Emerald (right) before, as early as five years ago at FanimeCon and as recently as earlier this year at magi_sammy (Julia)'s "Clue" party.

The work in my mom's storage unit has continued. My elder older sister Dorothy and I have moved all of the books out, and this week we're going to work on the non-books. I have more fabric to give away, so I'll probably bring it to Coral Cafe Thursday night. I'll also take what's right after that to the San Diego Costume Guild swap meet (2009-10-10).

I went to the ASIS trade show in Anaheim (left).

My employer had a booth, but I signed up for a free trade show floor-only badge under the name of animelosangeles so it wouldn't be obvious that I was in the business when I went browsing the other booths.

The show used Halls A-B-C-D, open all the way, and Hall E just for Registration. (right)

Monday night, as anyone with ASIS badge could have done, I got in free to Disneyland for a private party. About 1000-2000 people, in Adventureland/Frontierland/New Orleans Square, from 7pm to 10pm. The rest of the park was closed up tight -- the shops on Main Street were all closed up, the first time I've ever seen them that way. (Lights on, music up, but no doors open. Strange.)

All of the concessions were closed, but there were about 125 caterings stations throughout the three lands. Roast turkey carving stations, prime rib carving stations, salad and appetizer selections, desserts and coffee -- and I estimate at least a quarter of the stations were free open bars. (left)

I couldn't get a Disneyland Non-alcoholic Mint Julep, but I could get a real one if I wanted one. I have never seen so much liquor in one place outside of a liquor store!

For example there was a bar set up a little ways in front of the Cafe del Zocalo (between Big Thunder and the shooting gallery); another one in the middle of the restaurant; and a third one at the very back of the place. Every bar in the park except that one tucked in the corner had a big crowd of people getting their free drinks.

I ordered a Mai Tai at one of the bars set up in front of the Haunted Mansion (closed for redecoration). I wandered the streets of New Orleans Square remembering the last time I wandered the streets of New Orleans (La.) with a drink in my hand. (right)

Rides that were open included Tarzan's Treehouse, Pirates, Indiana Jones, Tiki Room, Big Thunder, and Disneyland Railroad. (left)

On Wednesday, library_lynn came to the show with me (right).

Lynn and I had fun wandering around the floor, looking for companies in my employer's field, and accumulating free pens, notepads, pens, shopping bags, pens, squeeze stress balls, pens, and screwdrivers.

We also met my elder older sister Dorothy, who was working at a booth in the show. In fact, she'd met Maureen and Bernice (salespeople from my company) at lunch, and our two companies' products were in each other's booths.

One of the inexplicable freebies we ran across was two cold cases full of ice creams. I had an ice cream sandwich, and Lynn had something, and when we got to Dorothy's booth again she asked where hers was. I pulled her ice cream sandwich out of my bag and got a chuckle and a thank-you from her.

I've recruited a helper to make things go more smoothly with the postcard mailings. Kate Capps (right) lives locally and wants to help with the convention, so I met up with her and we got started with the new postcards. Thursday I took her with me to Coral Cafe, where I turned over a quarter of the labels and stamps to the regular crew (Bessie and company), and we got several hundred ready to go that night.

(If you're one of the people who have agreed to help me track of our mailings, please look for a number in parentheses on your mailing label and e-mail it to me at the postcardart.info address.)

Current Location: Santa Ana CA, USA
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Taj Mahal - "Fishin' Blues"
Tags: conventions, mikomicon, pix

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Photos online:
Old storage, part 4: Surplus fabric and notebooks (01/03-Sep-2009)
Old storage, part 5: Surplus fabric (14-Sep-2009)
Old storage, part 6: Many books, some of them surplus (15/16-Sep-2009)
LASFS/Aftermeetings part 368: Free fabric and books at Coral Cafe (03-Sep-2009) et seq.
LASFS/Aftermeetings part 370: Free books at Coral Cafe (10-Sep-2009)
Anime Vegas 2009 part 1: Saturday (05-Sep-2009)
Anime Vegas 2009 part 2: Sunday (06-Sep-2009) et seq.
Anime Vegas 2009 part 4: Monday (07-Sep-2009) et seq.
Anime Vegas 2009 part 5: Monday Night (07-Sep-2009)
Anime Vegas 2009 part 7: Going home Tuesday (08-Sep-2009)
Freeway Service Patrol, and Dinner with Maria (11/13-Sep-2009)
Remodeling Monster 2009 part 1: Spare room, remade (14-Sep-2009)
Remodeling Monster 2009 part 2: Spare room, repainted (15/16-Sep-2009)
The fabric pictures were taken at Coral Cafe.

So, since you saw me last? I hauled all the fabric to Coral Cafe. I went to Anime Vegas. I've been working on packing up my parents' books and fabric from the storage unit -- in rough terms, a week dealing with the fabric, two or three weeks with the books, and a week with everything else should be enough to empty the unit -- and giving away a lot of fabric and books wherever I can. I'll be at Coral Cafe again tonight, with a dozen boxes containing fabric that I didn't bring two weeks ago. Come on by! About 10:00 pm, I think. Call my cell or text me if you want to know if I'm en route yet.

Then on Friday and Saturday, I'll be at CSU Northridge for an anime convention and I'll bring all of the fabric. The patterns, too -- at this point what we have is mostly vintage patterns from the 1960s, so if you're into the tv show Mad Men and want to fit in with those styles (and are a lady with a 28" waist or smaller, or know what to do with tiny patterns) check it out. Again, 10 o'clock is when we'll be doing the give-away.

Oh, and my old spare room/store room/office is being remodeled. I'm taking pictures every day I'm there, to show the progress -- here you can see the second day. The carpet has been pulled up, the tile is being removed, the closet shelves cut in half and a curtain rod installed, and the whole room will be repainted light purple with a bamboo wood floor put down. (left)

Current Location: Santa Ana CA, USA
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Louisiana Red - "Going Train Blues"
Tags: mikomicon, pix

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Photos online: Costume College 2009 part 24: Post-mortem Meeting (30-Aug-2009) et seq.

( Sunday, I didn't have a picnic to go to, but the next best thing: a garden party, or rather, a Costume College committee meeting... )

I'd brought the box of vintage patterns, which I've mentioned before. Fran Wasielewski found a pattern she could use. (left)

I don't know who else took patterns, but the box seemed much lighter by the end of the day.

For myself, library_lynn and Christian, it was mostly a chance to spend an afternoon in a place cooler than home. ladymaxstarr (Melissa) is going to be Colleen's personal assistant ("Minion") and spent most of the meeting waiting for something to do. Christian and I hung back, in the shade of the house, listening to the meeting and reading. After the meeting we had a chance to visit with Shawn. (right)

At dinner afterwards, ala_mokita (Christian) had a box full of things he was giving away. I took some "Hello Kitty" plates, to add to the party kit, and a few anime DVDs, not shown. (left)

Shawn and Colleen stayed home after the meeting, instead of joining us for dinner. Next time I think we should offer to drive them to and from the restaurant rather than leaving them home, where the only options for supper are potato chips and junk food because anything else would involve cooking.

Current Location: Santa Ana CA, USA
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: kfai.org - "Rocket Ship Ska Trip"
Tags: costume college, pix

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Photos online:
Old storage, part 1: Sorting through treasures and trash (29-Aug-2009)
Old storage, part 2: Surplus fabric and projects (29-Aug-2009) et seq.
My elder older sister Dorothy has a big sledgehammer because that's what it takes to get one of the sliding latches to slide.

Grand plans and harsh reality ran smack into each other last weekend, as I met Dorothy to work on clearing out my parents' storage closets. We had a marvelous scheme to toss all of the saleable stuff into one pile, all of the trash in another, and making roundtrips between there and appropriate destinations until the place was empty.

The problem we ran into was that it wasn't just trash, stuff to donate somewhere, and easily-sold treasures in the units.

( We did find a bunch of fabric and craft supplies, and Maria gets first dibs... )

( There's quite a lot of fabric and supplies... )

( And then there's the choral sheet music... )

The challenge in all of this is to be respectful of my mom's feelings without actually bringing it all back to her house. (And ideally without having her come out to the storage place, because that would just slow us down.) So my emphasis has been on giving things away in situations where there's a personal connection -- family, friends, the church we used to attend every Sunday (that's as old as I am -- it was built the year I was born, a year before we moved to California), et cetera.

My intention is to start bringing things to Coral Cafe in Burbank, about 10pm Thursday nights, that are free to a good home. I might alternate fabric and books. Stay tuned (and watch my Foob, if you've got me on your Facebook list).

( The other interesting recent development is I have a Costco card again, and spectacles have been ordered... )

Current Location: Anaheim CA
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Starjets - "School Days"
Tags: family, pix

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Photos online:
Chaz's birthday dinner with Lynn and Maria (26/28-Aug-2009)
LASFS/Aftermeetings part 366: Coral Cafe (27-Aug-2009) et seq.
The photo of library_lynn is from dinner.

My birthday was fairly quiet, this year. Lynn and missmea (Maria) took me out to dinner at Hans's Homemade Ice Cream, which has various deli sandwiches. (Some quite good.) They're in an old Swensen's Ice Cream location, not far from Bristol and MacArthur, and it looks just like the old place. (Pretty sure I went here with Cytnhia, two and a half decades ago, although most of my Swensen's Ice Cream custom was at the Costa Mesa location which now has a Rite-Aid drugstore.)

They gave me lots of hugs, and a wristwatch, and Torchwood first series, and a book called Candy Freak which I've been enjoying immensely.

Maria stayed over at the house for a night or two, and they and ladymaxstarr (Melissa) worked on getting all of my stuff out of the spare room (which was once my office/store room).

On Thursday night, I went to Coral Cafe, and ran into some out of towners including Jeffrey and Bethany Hulten. I've mostly known Jeffrey as one of the Angelwear Minions, so I've usually just seen him in his capacity as one of Angela's employees. He's married, now, and of course brought his bride to see lasfs. At least, I assume that's why they were in town, I never heard differently... (left)

When I got home that night, I saw the results of the massive excavation effort. Which means that I now have a metric blortload of kipple and keepers to classify. (right)

So don't expect me to get out much, most nights. And weekends that I haven't already committed to something should find me here in the dining room, dealing with all this.

Current Location: Santa Ana CA, USA
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Hideko Takamine - "The Story of Nagasaki / Ginza Girl"
Tags: lasfs, pix

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Photos now online:
Anaheim Cosplay and Planning Picnic at Yorba Park (23-Aug-2009)
little_serenity (Caitlin) and magi_sammy (Julia) represented the Decorating Committee.

( Ohhh, what a long day, but a great day it was. ... )

( I learned that ''Sexy Kat Kashi'' now lives in the neighborhood, in the city next door. I recruited her to help with the next postcard mailing... )

Someone brought a strawberry-flavored Gurran Lagann picnic, with handmade decorations. Quite the production, and tasty too. (right)

( Bekka the Alice, our Fan Guest of Honor, was at this picnic. All of our GoHs were represented... )

( I'd promoted the picnic as a potluck affair, and everyone came through with plenty of food... )

When we had the whole place packed up, we tore down the signs. Once everything was loaded, we didn't tell everyone to go home. I just thanked all of them, and told them that I was heading to Carl's Jr. for dinner and it wasn't far away.

As I expected, a handful of people joined us at Carl's in due course, but I received a phone call that meant I had to go resecure someone. Kate's mom's car's brakes had failed, and she didn't have AAA towing, so I went over to make sure the two of them got home safely and the car got delivered safely to Tokyo Automotive. They'd run the brake fluid dry, and hadn't taken care of the car generally, so I was happiest leaving the car there. And even though they were a one-car family, Kate's mom would be able to get back to the auto repair shop via a single bus ride.

Meanwhile, ladymaxstarr (Melissa) and library_lynn were entertaining Stephen at our house. I had another stop to make that night -- I needed to print something out at the office -- and then finally it was time for us to get Stephen back to the hotel.

Thank goodness Melissa was available. (right) I dozed in the back seat.

The reason I wanted to go, apart from to say good-bye to Stephen, was to drop off the new hotel contracts for animelosangeles 7-8 (2011-2012) and an addendum to our contact for 2010. The new paperwork locks in our convention through 2012, and includes a room rate of $109 for single/double/triple/quad -- including the 2010 convention. We're also getting more space, and we're getting more of our earlier space on Day Zero. I'm happy with the contracts, and as long as our numbers don't take a horrible nosedive the convention's in good shape.

Current Location: Anaheim CA
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: The Robins - "At Smokey Joe's Cafe"
Tags: anime los angeles, picnics, pix

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Photos online:
LASFS/Aftermeetings part 363: Coral Cafe (20-Aug-2009) et seq.
Anime Los Angeles 6 meetings part 15: GoH/Live Program meeting (22-Aug-2009) et seq.
Photo of ala_mokita (Christian), sbeckstead (Scott) and friendlypinet (Tadao) is from the dinner meeting.

For animelosangles 6, I've invited "Bekka the Alice" (Becca Feiner, nee Becca Norman) as our Fan Guest of Honor. For her role in conventions in Colorado especially Nan Desu Kan, for being a voice of reason on the Anime Conventions Mailing List, and for her live program expertise.

It made sense to me, then, to have her come out to California before the convention and meet our program people to talk about program ideas. And having decided that, having all of our guests of honor meet in a casual setting to talk about what they'd like to do at the convention made a lot of sense. The Spoony Bards sent Stephen Poon to represent the band, our Music Guests of Honor; and Kyle Hebert (Voice Actor GoH) and le_moose (Jessica) (Artist GoH) are local.

We met for dinner so we could get the conversations started. (They would continue the next day at our potluck/outreach event/recruiting and planning picnic.) It was primarily a Guests of Honor/Program meeting.

Dinner was very productive. Pearl and Bekka talked about a number of program and workshop ideas. It looks like we'll be able to have a Spoony Bards concert Friday night, and the Bards will also serenade the Masquerade line. Scott got important data about their tech requirements. Lynn got some info on likes and dislikes that will be helpful in putting together gift baskets for when the GoHs come back to town in January. Jessica did some more sketching and showed us the plan for the program book cover.

At one point, Bekka offered an apology for speaking her mind on an idea for the staging. I reassured her that no apology was needed, that in fact that was why we'd flown her out and invited her to the convention in the first place. We'd like to have cross-pollination of ideas, and getting an outsider's insight is exactly what we're looking for.

The dinner also gave us a chance to make sure that our GoHs are the kind of friendly people we'd like to have. Christian was quite impressed with Stephen, and wishes we had someone local just like him to recruit to work on the convention. Kyle held court at the east end of the table, talking up a storm with Tadao and cracking jokes with ladymaxstarr (Melissa). Jessica showed 'round her art, and Bekka proved to be the life of the party at the west end of the table. We like them all.

Eventually, the party broke up, we walked Bekka and Stephen to their rooms, and we went home. We heard later that they stayed up a little, exploring the ballroom level of the hotel to start familiarizing themselves with the place. Not sure if they found the stairs to the first floor and pool deck, though...

Current Location: Santa Ana CA, USA
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Skitch Henderson - "Skitch Plays the Mule"
Tags: anime los angeles, pix

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Photos online:

Dinner with Maria at Ruby's in Fullerton (20-May-2009)
Tiki Oasis 9 part 26: Things I brought home (18/19-Aug-2009)
Michelle at the Office (17-Aug-2009)
The picture of snobird (Kim)'s daughter was taken at work, in the cubicle formerly occupied by colleency (Colleen).

( For breakfast Saturday and Sunday during Tiki Oasis... )

( In the Crowne Plaza parking lot, there was an encampment... )

( I'd promised Hukilau I'd be available to volunteer anywhere he needed me... )

( The pool area was the main ''floor'' of the convention... )

( Most of the hotel's lawn next to the pool was covered with the stage and with booths from all sorts of vendors... )

Melissa liked the Hula Girls Hawaiian Shave Ice. She had banana, bubble gum, and cotton candy flavors. (right)

Current Location: Santa Ana CA, USA
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Los Tigres Del Norte - "La Reina Del Sur"
Tags: anime los angeles, conventions, pix, tiki oasis

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Photos online:
Tiki Oasis 9: Friday Afternoon (14-Aug-2009)
Tiki Oasis 9: Saturday (15-Aug-2009)
Tiki Oasis 9: Sunday (16-Aug-2009)

( I drove down from Anaheim to help out at check-in, getting there just in time.. )

Most of the evening activity at this laid-back convention revolves around drinking and parties. You can think of it as a weekend with a thousand amiable drunks.

I walked into the "Limoncello Lounge" Friday night and was handed a little black souvenir tiki shotglass with limoncello over crushed ice. Limoncello is a strong lemon-flavored liqueur. Drink all you like, your breath will smell like Lemon Pledge. A lot of people were already carrying a drink -- you can see that Chris "Colonel" Sanders and Chao Sanders here have three drinks between them.

( The Martini Kings started playing, right there in the party room... )

I met bartenders Kitty Cat and Scarlett Letter at the Pele Utu party. (left) They had a little bar menu, showing three or four alcoholic drinks on one side, and a similar slate of virgin drinks on the other.

I got a "Blood of zombie tiki priestess queen" or something like that. It was a pink drink. As Tiki Todd can vouch for, each drink came with a leechee nut/blueberry eyeball as garnish (right).

( Everything's better in a tiki mug. Or with an umbrella in it. Or both... )

( At the check-in desk, I had heard Otto Von Stroheim's name mentioned all evening... )

People were making music in the Pele Utu party, next to the volcano. There were a few other parties that night, too. Not a lot -- I missed the afternoon room crawl (I was still on the freeway) -- but as it happens, I think I drank more on Friday night than I had in the previous eight months put together. (And that's including Christmas and New Year's.)

As I headed down the elevator to mosey back to my little motel room, I met Stuart Johnson who clearly was a Martini Kings fan who wasn't done for the night. I was.

Current Location: Santa Ana CA, USA
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Lil' Band o' Gold - "Shirley"
Tags: conventions, pix, tiki oasis

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Photos online: LASFS/Aftermeetings part 360: Coral Cafe (13-Aug-2009) et seq.
You can see that squiptryx0 (Martin) had something very important to say to me, in this photo by ala_mokita (Christian).

Tiki Oasis pictures are being uploaded, slowly; I'll post them real soon now. Possibly as soon as tomorrow.

Current Location: Anaheim CA
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Robert Maxwell Orchestra & the Ray Charles Singers - "Solfeggio"
Tags: pix

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Photos now online:
LASFS/Aftermeetings part 359: Coral Cafe (06-Aug-2009)
Newport Beach Cosplay Picnic at Crystal Cove (08-Aug-2009)

library_lynn wore her purple bear ears on her lavender hat.

And I'm up to date. Tomorrow I go to Tiki Oasis!

Current Location: Santa Ana CA, USA
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Ingmar Nordstrom - "Born to be Alive"
Tags: picnics, pix

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Photos online:
LASFS/Aftermeetings part 357: Coral Cafe (23-Jul-2009) et seq.
Pool Party at the Tower (26-Jul-2009)
Lunch with Sarah and Carissa at In-N-Out (27-Jul-2009)
Costume College 2009 part 1: Posters on Tuesday (28-Jul-2009)
Dinner with Maria (29-Jul-2009)
The photo of summoner_lenne9 (Sarah) and Carissa was taken when they were on their way home from San Diego Comic-Con.

Trying to get caught up before I leave for another convention: Tiki Oasis!

Current Location: Santa Ana CA, USA
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Apache Indian - "Arranged Marriage"
Tags: conventions, costume college, pix

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Photos online:
Orange County Fair with Maria and Lynn (19-Jul-2009)
You can see lots of pictures of missmea (Maria) and library_lynn shopping.

We went to the fair. Thanks as usual to my parents, who live near the Fairgrounds, and for about ten years or so have been receiving free tickets and sharing them with us.

The food on a stick that I had there: A deep fried "Reese's Whipp." Boy, was that ever a mistake. Sure, a big fried thing with a melty chocolate middle -- or a melty peanut butter middle -- would be a tasty thing. But that's not what you get, it's more chocolate-peanut butter marshmallow, and that's just too much for my sweet tooth.

Current Location: Santa Ana CA, USA
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Hank Williams III - "My Drinkin' Problem"
Tags: pix

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Photos now online:
Julia's Clue Party (18-Jul-2009)

As you can see, divine_sage (Carolyn), little_serenity (Caitlin), daoutlaw (Stan), chiyo_no_hikari (Niki), simmaria (Matt), hyper_sam (Deb), magi_sammy (Julia), legally_scarlet (Victoria), Emerald (ivyf15), and summoner_lenne9 (Sarah) were all at the party...

This was an interesting party. The announcement invited us all to pick a character from Clue -- the board game, the movie, the DVD game, or some other incarnation (Cluedo anyone?). After watching the movie, a bunch of the party guests played the DVD-enhanced version of the board game.

Because I knew library_lynn and I would arrive late -- I had a cosplay picnic to go to, and Lynn had to work -- I stopped by in the morning before the picnic to drop off of a crockpot of cocktail meatballs. The recipe calls for grape jelly, which fit the whole "purple" theme that Lynn (Lady Lavender) and I (Professor Plum) were going for. I had a 4-lb. bag of chicken/beef meatballs, and a couple jars of chili sauce and grape jelly.

I wish I'd brought an extra crockpot or two. We could have heated up some of the meatballs separately and had them with the spaghetti that was being served. Oh well!

I've offered Julia my full support the next time she wants help with party logistics. (Of course, she's headed out of state for college, so probably she won't need my assistance any time soon.)

The party included chocolate birthday cake -- it was a late celebration of Julia's 18th -- and there was ice cream to go with it. I brought pink lemonade, but mixed up too much. I think I need to start packing my airpot so I can mix up a gallon or two of ice cold lemonade and serve it, rather than using the 10-gallon barrel cooler or regular plastic pitchers!

Just about everyone at the party had some kind of closet costume. For me, it was a purple dress shirt and my M.C.Escher purple gecko tie. With the possible exception of Miss Scarlett draping herself across Col. Mustard's lap (right), nobody made much of an attempt to stay in character, which was a relief -- I hadn't seen the movie, and had decided that my interpretation of Prof. Plum would be a gentleman who would never use a short simple word when two or three multisyllabic synonyms would suffice. With possibly a touch of Mrs. Malaprop thrown in. I remember that it required considerable forethought and some practice in the form of a silent recitation to one's self within the quiet confines of one's own cranium to present that particular persona. Not easily done without at least some training and experience in improvisational theater.

Current Location: Anaheim CA
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Josh White - "One Meatball"
Tags: parties, pix

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Photos online. And most of them have captions. Help me fill in the gaps!
LASFS/Aftermeetings part 354: Coral Cafe (18-Jun-2009) et seq.
LASFS/Aftermeetings part 356: Coral Cafe (25-Jun-2009) et seq.
Irvine Cosplay Picnic at Mason Park (20-Jun-2009)
Anaheim Gardenwalk and the Anaheim Marriott (21-Jun-2009)
Napmobile and a fenderbender (21-Jun-2009)
Anime Los Angeles 6 meetings part 2: Exec Dinner/Meeting (26-Jun-2009) et seq.
Anime Los Angeles 6 meetings part 6: General Meeting (27-Jun-2009) et seq.
Moving Melissa (28-Jun-2009)
Victoria's Picture Gallery: Anime Expo 2009: Saturday (04-Jul-2009)
Melissa and the Fan Gallery cases (11-Jul-2009)
Anaheim Marriott Tour (16-Jul-2009)
La Verne Cosplay Picnic at Las Flores Park (18-Jul-2009)
The picture of Tiffany (neo_serenity) is from the exec dinner.

( Losing my camera at Anime Expo really rocked me back... )

Oh, there's more going on than just my emotional state, of course. I've taken more photos since Anime Expo, but the photos in the queue have been on hold because of other non-photo, non-blog reasons. Family health issues and household management issues, and if I can be discarding and shredding old papers any of that comes before puttering around on my website.

I've just spent a few nights (in my copious free time) captioning some of the backlog. I think I've got to stop taking so many group photos -- they slow me down so much in the captioning phase!

I've been putting a few inconsequential updates on my facebook. Nothing major, but I wanted to repeat here the bigger items that I've mentioned there.

( The Potluck Party Room at Costume College was a big success, so we'll do it again at PMX... )

Between now and PMX: I'll be at Tiki Oasis this weekend (just for fun), Anime Vegas (in a convention center), and a small anime convention at CSU Northridge. So PMX is the next opportunity to do any kind of hospitality beyond giving away granola bars and candy at our table.

For loscon, I'm hosting a Confirmation: Westercon 63 party. "Poofy dresses (especially white ones), shirt and tie, or school uniform" will be the dress code. We're toying with the idea of using a "Confirmitzvah" theme, stay tuned for that.

( Some small convention news... )

I mentioned last month that I've purchased a new camera. I haven't found the "sports" setting yet, but I've started playing with the High ISO option for available light shots. You can see I've started posting the first crop of photos from the new camera.

Current Location: Santa Ana CA, USA
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Nouvelle Vague - "In A Matter Of Speaking"
Tags: anaheim comic-con, ani-jam, ani-magic, anime conji, anime expo, anime los angeles, anime vegas, animeland otaku mex, animeland tucon, animeland vegas, aodsf, baycon, condor, conventions, costume college, fanime, fannatiku fest, gallifrey, kin-yoobi con, loscon, mikomicon, pacific media expo, phoenix comicon, picnics, pix, saboten-con, tiki oasis, westercon, yaoi-con

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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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