So it would seem that my faith in conventions has been renewed! Thanks to Yaoi-Con, I'm feeling quite refreshed and excited about conventions again! After attending the most horrible convention of my life (AX2008) I was quite skeptical about going to another con.. but all of my true friends rallied together (I'm sure they don't realize the impact they have on me) and made this con the best one ever!

On Friday, I woke up early to take Daria to school, then came home and began tearing my house upside down looking for my compression shirt. Dressing as Grell would be quite the feat, with my huge DD chest. After 4hrs of searching, I gave up and went to see what I could possibly use as a substitute. I went to the store and tried on the smallest biker compression shirt I could find.. however.. it cut off the circulation to my arms.. so that ended up being a bust. I then drove over to the Party Warehouse, so I could try and find the chainsaw. Lucky me.. at least I was able to find that!! I really would've preferred to have the ragdoll of Sebastian, but the chainsaw was good too.. hehe.. funny thing is.. I was so hot most the time, I never actually carried it around with me!! LOL! Anyhow, so by the time I got to the convention hotel, it was just past 1:30pm.. I rushed to get my badge and jump in line for the swap meet.

Once we got all paid up for the swap.. I set up the table.. my table partner, fujin06 had gone out to eat with her friends.. so she was waaay late.. but it worked out. We didn't sell as much as we had hoped, but let's just blame that on the economy I suppose! I was surprised by Hina, one of the translators over at Beautiful Soup. She had miraculously found me while scoping out the tables. It was so cool! I hope she posts the picture she got of us together.. that was the best! I also got to meet the wonderful ladies of otakupink! It was kinda funny.. because they were kinda doing the same thing as me.. selling the books they'd either already scanned/scanlated or the ones they probably wouldn't ever scanlate. It also came up that we might look into doing a joint some time.. since some of our interests overlap.. not many.. but some.. *drools on the tenipuri-ness of it all*

After the swap, I met up with lynneness and we had dinner at FreshChoice, then went to the opening ceremonies. It was really funny, because we both used our 'status' in order to get front row seats. It was even more hilarious.. because they seated us in an empty row.. so it was just the two of us, up front and personal through the whole thing! After that we were walking out to the elevator.. she was off to see some other friends.. and I ran into my friend Fifi. Fifi and I met 3yrs ago, when he was at his first Yaoi-Con.. he looked so depressed and unhappy.. I just had to find a way to cheer him up.. to this day, he tells everyone that if it wasn't for me, his first Yaoi-Con might've been the suckiest con.. and he might not have ever come again. It's one of the highest compliments I've ever been given!

Fifi helped me get my things into the hotel room and I changed into something more comfortable (and warmer!) then we went to hangout and see what was going on. Down in the lobby, we saw some Kuroshitsuji cosplayers.. and much to my surprise.. one of them was dressed as Grell!! Talk about shocking! However, she didn't have all of the specifics.. so I told her how awesome she looked and gave her some pointers on where to get the right shoes.. then I shared some of the scans from the all color doujinshi that we're cleaning with trinity_mafia right now.

As I was sitting there sharing my scans.. I looked across the room and saw the most beautiful sight.. it was sw_inku! I had talked with shiroro on MSN and she had said she was attending NYAF, so somehow, I assumed that sw_inku would be there too.. but how surprisingly wrong I was!! I was so happy and excited! I don't get to see her as often as I'd like. She invited me to go up to cafe_verfuhren with her so we could giggle at and enjoy the company of our friends. It took us about half the time we spent there to stop giggling every time one of our friends would talk to us while in character. It was a blast though, that's for sure!!!

At about 11:30pm or so, I went back to the room and hung out with my room mates for the con, the wonderful people from the girl's games channel on irc. I totally ended up falling asleep, drooling on myself during the movie.. and I woke up just in time to make it into bed. Poor amadeus, he snores really loud, so he ends up feeling super guilty about it all the time.. yet none of us really care.. we're still more than happy to share a room with him.. cause he's so awesome like that. ^_^

On Saturday morning, I woke up early and started getting my cosplay together.. however, I discovered quite early, that I had forgotten to pack all my pants.. skirts, yes.. pants, no. That also included my cosplay pants. So I drove over to the Ross down the street and checked to see when they opened. I had about 30mins to spare, so I went on the hunt for a REAL Starbucks.. not that little hole in the wall place that "serves" Starbucks. I found one right off of El Camino Real, and set my sights on a vente Double Shot + Energy.. with lots and lots of creamer.. *drool*

I was able to get my pants, and ended up finding a shirt that worked pretty well (though it was a long sleeve shirt) as a temporary replacement for my compression shirt. I got back to the hotel and got all spiffied up in my cosplay.. but while I was able to get the wig on, I couldn't see well enough to pin it.. so I tried calling people so I could beg for help. No one was answering.. but that was no surprise. I did as best I could then hobbled to the Artist's Alley to hunt down someone. (3.5" heels.. on a male character.. is just sooo wrong!!!)

I was able to find dustyjack and beg her to help me out.. of course she said yes, which was a HUGE relief! However, jadeprince was taking her sweet time getting her cosplay on.. so we were sitting there laughing for the longest time. Especially since I had to part the hair in my face just to see, because the bangs wouldn't stay put on my face! (The parting of the great sea~ and the opening of my curtains.. were well used metaphors) This awesome Hero(Persona3) cosplayer walked by and asked for a picture.. well.. first instinct was she was talking to someone else.. I dunno HOW, but I had forgotten for a minute, that I was dressed in cosplay. I was like.. osnap!.. sure.. want me to walk around? So she got the picture and I sat back down.. somewhat shocked. dustyjack just laughed at me.. and about every10-15mins.. she'd get this scrunched up look on her face and ask wtf was taking so long!

jadeprince eventually got back and dustyjack and I were able to escape up to the hotel room.. not only to get my wig fixed.. but to also get her into her Sokka cosplay. On our way back, we stopped by cafe_verfuhren to see who was around.. but I was specifically looking for sporkkunoichi so she could help me get the silly bangs fixed.. I figured, at least my head was pinned on.. the bangs were just annoying. Turns out, I actually found her down in the Artist's Alley.. which was great.. cause we were able to get my wig somewhat fixed so that I could SEE where the hell I was walking. I actually drove down to Starbucks and Safeway in my full cosplay.. that was quite fun actually.. LOL!

After the AA closed, we all decided to meet up and get some dinner. We headed over to the little hole in the wall cafe that was behind Ross and had a totally excellent meal.. though, the Split Pea soup was a bit bland for my taste.. and neither salt nor pepper seemed to help it out. After we were done, I had promised my roommates that I would help get them awesome seats at the Bishounen Auction. So I went to meet them at the doors and get them inside. Everything went smoothly, except that it took over an hour.. instead of 30mins.. for the auction to start. I went back upstairs to the private party and proceeded to get a bit toasty with everyone. jadeprince's inhibitions disappeared, as usual.. so the licking party promptly began when she pulled her shirt up and told everyone to have at it! LOL! At one point, they drew a chocolate syrup penis on her.. it was very entertaining.. heh heh heh. At around 2am.. I felt a little too tipsy to stay.. so I went to bed. It was an awesome party.. with waaaay too many hawt girls. *licks her lips* Being drunk and staying around them probably would've been a very bad thing.

On Sunday, I packed everything up and drove to get coffee.. I hung out with everyone again and just had the most excellent time. I ended up spending just under $250 in the dealer's room.. which is by far a record low for me. When the convention was over, I drove lots of people to the airport (cab fare is insane!!) and took sw_inku to her hosts house, just a few miles out from where I live. All in all.. I spent a wonderful 2.5 days with my most treasured friends.. and reaffirmed just how much I love going to cons and hanging out with everyone!!

Thanks to everyone.. even if I didn't name you above.. you all made my heart smile again.. and it's been just so long since I could put an honest smile on my face. sihaya_chan I hope you remember my face next time.. otherwise, I might just pull you into a kiss you'll never forget! :P