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Jul. 24th, 2002
Things that stay with you.
Jul. 24th, 2002 11:59 amI was taking a faith/spirituality quiz on beliefnet.com and I started looking at the descriptions of the sets of beliefs for several different religions. On a whim, I clicked on the details for Reform Judaism, which is what my mother is, although we never practiced. It was really weird to read it and see the ethics and morals she'd taught me (and is still teaching me) while growing up-- right there in print. And I felt really proud that I've - even after realizing I'm an atheist - retained most of the ethics and morals of what she taught me. You can see that, when comparing Reform Judaism to several other religions, it is one of the most liberal - yet moral and ethical - religions. One of the… THE most important issues to me - in any topic (religion, politics, personal daily life) - are contemporary issues (namely abortion and gender/sexuality), and Reform Judaism is as liberal as I could want in a religion.
Of course, the main thing that separates me from most religions is that I don't believe in a "God" (i.e., a higher/supreme spiritual being, etc.), not to mention that I don't particularly care for all the trappings and traditions that tend to go along with religion (even liberal religions), and I certainly don't believe there is any inherent meaning in one's life but what you make of it (and that you're not bad or a disappointment of some kind if you choose not to make your life "meaningful") ...but atheists still have morals and ethics, y'know.
Okay, sorry for the intensity of this post. (I dunno where it came from!) Now, back to our normally scheduled genki-like programming. >_
Of course, the main thing that separates me from most religions is that I don't believe in a "God" (i.e., a higher/supreme spiritual being, etc.), not to mention that I don't particularly care for all the trappings and traditions that tend to go along with religion (even liberal religions), and I certainly don't believe there is any inherent meaning in one's life but what you make of it (and that you're not bad or a disappointment of some kind if you choose not to make your life "meaningful") ...but atheists still have morals and ethics, y'know.
REFORM JUDAISM:
Belief in Deity
Beliefs vary among adherents, including that of nonbelief or questioning belief, and all are welcome and considered personal, but the official stance is that there is one God Almighty--Creator, all-powerful, ever-present, and all knowing--formless, incorporeal spirit.
Incarnations
None, as only God is worshipped. Moses was the greatest of all prophets.
Origin of Universe and Life
Most believe that Genesis is to be understood symbolically. God created and controls all phenomena revealed by modern science.
After Death
Reform Jews believe in the world to come and a messianic age (but no individual Messiah). Personal beliefs in the details of afterlife are diverse, as there is no official position. Some believe in heaven and hell but only as states of consciousness; some believe in reincarnation; some believe God is all-forgiving; and some may not believe in an actual afterlife. Regardless, Judaism generally focuses on living a virtuous life, rather than working toward reward after death.
Why Evil?
No original sin. Most often, Satan is interpreted symbolically to represent selfish desires that are inherent within all. God gave people free will, and people are responsible for their actions.
Salvation
The main emphasis is on living the kind of life that God commands, which will surely be rewarded if there is an afterlife. Most believe God is forgiving of all; there is no hell to which some are condemned. Salvation is achieved through faith and prayer to God, good works, concern for the earth and humanity, and behavior that does no harm to others. The extent to which one follows Jewish Law is an individual decision.
Undeserved Suffering
God gave humans free will to feel pleasure and pain, and his purpose in allowing deep suffering of the innocent must be good even if mysterious. It is generally believed that God suffers along with the sufferer. More important than knowing why God allows suffering is to work to help those in need.
Contemporary Issues
Judaism holds that human life begins upon first breath, and Jewish law requires abortion if necessary to save the mother's life prior to birth. Most believe potential human life should never be terminated casually, but it is generally regarded as a personal decision, especially within the first 40 days of pregnancy. Homosexuality: Homosexuals are God's creation, and Jewish instruction is to love our neighbors as ourselves. Reform (and Conservative) Judaism have a long history of support for homosexual rights.
Okay, sorry for the intensity of this post. (I dunno where it came from!) Now, back to our normally scheduled genki-like programming. >_
The Shoujocon itinerary: day two of two.
Jul. 24th, 2002 04:09 pmSATURDAY MORNING
9:00 am
Before we left Sharon's room the night before, I'd asked if we'd be able to leave our bags and extra pizza pie in her room the next day. She said it was no problem, and to call around 9. So I set the clock for 9 so I could call her and start getting ready for the day/packed up, etc. Liz had a workshop (Inking) at 10, and checkout was at noon. I woke up a few minutes after 9 and called Sharon… I asked if anyone would be in the room between 10 and 11 (because since we'd just woke up, there was no way we'd be ready earlier than that) and she said DC would be there.
I got into the shower around 9:20 and was probably out by 9:30 or 9:35. I woke Liz up and she started getting ready to leave. After a few false starts - where Liz kept running back to the room because she forgot something - she was finally gone. Angelica woke up and got into the shower. I started packing up Liz's and my things… by the time Angelica got out of her shower I was done. I did the Zip-out checkout thing where you use the TV to checkout and we were out of the room and off to Sharon's room at around 10:30.
We knocked on Sharon's door and Susan opened it. I took one look at Susan and realized that I'd left something in the room! (Go figure.) See, I had brought the complete X TV series on VHS with me for Susan - Sharon had sent a paypal payment for the tapes a week or two earlier. I almost smacked myself upside the head. I went to find a maid, but she said it wasn't her room so she couldn't open it. I went back to my floor, went down the hall, found a maid, but she said it wasn't her room so she couldn't open it. Grrr. So I went down the other side of the hall and (finally!) found a maid who could open it, and did. Whew. It was right there on the floor in the closet where I'd put it, and actually remembered to take it about 3 minutes before we left. (Don't you hate it when that happens?!)
Anyway, I got back to the room and sat down. I think Sharon was there at that point, but I'm not quite sure. Then we left at almost 11 to go to the Dealers' Room.
11:00 am
On the way to the Dealers' Room, we actually bumped into Liz. So we all went together. We all kind of split up - I went with Liz, roaming around the room… I was tempted a few times to get something, but not enough to give in. This wasn't all that exciting, and before you know it, I think it was close to noon because Liz had her second workshop (cel painting) and she had to go. When she left I wanted to go to the front desk to double check that we'd been checked out of our room correctly. After finding out that, yes, I was checked out, I intended to go over to the theaters to take a look at what they were showing. But I ran into DC, Sharon, and Susan. They mentioned that they'd run into Sparcck in the Dealers' Room, and I was so disappointed because I'd been wanting to meet her! I love her fics, and love her LJ, and it was so hidoi 'cause we both live in NYC, but I've never met her. (I suppose it's more annoying to not know someone when they're living in your town than when they're a few states away.)
So I asked where she was, and they told me where she'd been (generally) in the Dealers' Room, and what she looked like. So I kind of ran up there to see if I could catch her before she left the Room. Well, I got to the Dealers' Room, and I was looking around, but I couldn't really find her. At one point I bumped into Shi-chan and asked her, "Do you happen to know who Sparcck is?" And - to my immense surprise - she said "Yeah!" and dragged me over to one of the merchant tables. Apparently, Sparcck was working in the Dealers' Room. ::bangs head on desk:: I hadn't realized from what DC & Co. had told me… that Sparcck was working there! Anyway, I introduced myself and told her that I love her fics… love her LJ… we both live in NYC. I said that I go to NYU, but that I live in Queens. She said, "Oh! I live in Queens too." I'd thought she lived in downtown Manhattan, but apparently we live relatively close to each other. She also mentioned having seen me go by and caught my name on my badge (I'd written Koyasu no Miko) and she wanted to say something to me, but didn't know if I'd know her. I swear, when I heard that my eyes bugged out (or wanted to, at least). Where'd she recognize my online name from anyway? I know it isn't that well known…? But anyway, I mentioned that I'd see her online… reply more often to her LJ or something. She's so kawaii!!!
That was SUGOI!
After that I was riding on cloud 9, I swear. I sort of wandered over to the theaters (finally) and peeked in on the Fushigi Yuugi OVA, saw Angelica. Surprise, surprise. But I didn't particularly feel like watching it over, so Iwent into the Kodocha theater. They were showing episodes 1-3. I sat through half of 2 and all of 3 (Kodocha's so great) even though I've seen it about 3 times over already. Then at 1 I went over to the School Romance Discussion. Angelica came with me. (Apparently, though, she had a block on what time it was supposed to be - first she thought 12, then she thought 2, but the whole time I kept telling her, "It's at ONE!") - so it's just coincidence that she happened to run into me at the right time.)
SATURDAY AFTERNOON
1:00 pm
There were only 5 people in the School Romance discussion. Two were me and Angelica. One was the discussion leader (who'd never held a discussion before, but did great for all that… mostly because we all knew what we were talking about). The other two were two girl friends. They were a lot more knowledgable on school romances than I am - although, mostly for the fact that they know a lot more Japanese than I do and so could read a lot of manga that will never be translated or animated. Although I am familiar with almost all of the school romance anime that we brought up, and several of the school romance manga that were mentioned (even if I hadn't finished a few of the series).
It started out with mentioning several of the school romance series, both in manga and anime: Kare Kano, Marmalade Boy, Hana Yori Dango, Akuma na Eros (although that fits into more than one genre), Fruit Basket (which is also more than one genre), Sensei!, and some others.
Okay, sorry for going off on a tangent. Anyway, about half way through the discussion two older men come in. LOL. They're both at least in their 40's. So, we include them in the discussion. It was a nice discussion, small, but fun and informative. (Which reminds me, I have to go subscribe to Margaret magazine…)
2:00 pm
We had to leave right away at 2 because Angelica and I were scheduled for the Plushies workshop. That was bad. We got there and after about 10 minutes of waiting outside, they finally let the people in who've signed up for it. But then there's some commotion about some people who were scheduled for Sunday but couldn't make it, so they wanted to get into the Saturday workshop… or something. It was just rediculous. The guy at the door was such a complete pushover, he couldn't get anyone to do anything. And the woman who was supposed to be running the workshop was just standing there watching the whole fiasco instead of starting the damn workshop! So we started at 2:30.
Even had we started at 2 there wouldn't have been enough time to finish, but this was ridiculous! Not to mention, the instructor didn't instruct. She gave out an (unhelpful) instruction sheet and sort of just called rows up to get supplies. But if you didn't really know what to do (poor Angelica), you were screwed.
The whole thing was just an annoyance and I don't feel like going into further detail.
4:00 pm
Technically, the workshops last one hour, but there's an extra block of an hour after each workshop in case they run over. The Adult Fanfiction discussion had started at 3 and I'd wanted to go (especially 'cause I heard that MadamHydra was going to be there - my favorite ficwriter! I absolutely love her characterization of Duo!), but we were no where near done at 3. Not that we'd gotten any farther by 4, but we had to leave 'cause another workshop was going to start.
So we all went over to where the Adult Fanfiction discussion was and sat down. Amazingly, everyone was still there. I was really hopeful that I'd be able to get Sharon to introduce me to MadamHydra, if she knew who she was. The discussion ended up running (informally) for another 45 minutes. Then almost everyone cleared out… except 2 women, Julie (the same cool moderator from the Fanfiction discussion the previous night), Jana, Sharon, DC, me, Angelica, Liz (she'd met up with us at the Plushies workshop and came over to the Adult Fanfiction discussion with us), and I think Susan came in a little later on. Guess who the 2 other women turned out to be? One was Kikotei (Amy), who owns the DHML archive, and her (currently being reworked) fic archive (which I used to go to all the time!) and… MadamHydra! Finally! I finally got to meet the elusive ficwriter who I've been trying to track down since my first con (Otakon 2000). I was really bad and from then on, whenever it came up in conversation - or anywhere I could reasonably fit it in - I would mention ::coughcough:: her unfinished fics and how much I want her to continue the most awesome fic ever - Dominion Road. And I mean, every time I possibly could! I felt really bad afterwards… I have to go email her and apologize. ::giggles:: But I just couldn't help myself at the time! I gave my email & website addy out to Julie and Amy, and later on Susan… mostly for trades, etc. Let's see if we keep in contact. ^_~
We stayed there until 6 because there was another panel scheduled for the room we were in… So we all went back to Sharon's room.
Liz had to leave at 6 for her last workshop (Prismacolor), but I told her that we'd all be in Sharon's room, so she could meet us there when she was done. So we went up to Sharon's room… and ate! We hadn't eaten since those cereal bars in the morning, and our pizza was waiting there for us. So when we got there, we ate, and talked some more. Liz came in around 7:30, after her workshop was finished. We all pretty much continued talking until around 9, when we started heading downstairs for various things.
SATURDAY EVENING
9:00 pm
Sharon wanted to go to the "Shounen-ai Love-in" at the theaters, so DC and Sharon went together. I don't know if Amy and MadamHydra went with them or not, but Susan wanted to go to the Yuri panel, and Angelica and I had said that we'd go with her. It was actually a pretty good panel. Erica Friedman (she's the person that got the yaoi/yuri panels/discussions started at various cons… and I recognized her name as part of the Yaoi-con and Yuricon staff) was the only panelist, but it was obvious there were a few people in the "audience" that knew her and worked with her. One of them washanding out attacking people with Yuricon stickers at the door. When I got to her, I asked her to put it on the back of my badge, so I could keep it as a memento. She did. But then she gave me one for my shirt, too. And later, she gave each of us (Susan, Angelica, Liz, me) a few stickers (still on the paper) torn from the roll for us to stick on other people. ^_^
Erica was really smart - she didn't make the panel a lecture, but I don't think there were enough people there who were really knowledgable about the subject to make it a discussion. She had quite a lot of information, so she ended up naming a lot of titles (manga, anime, online comics, video games, etc.) and taking about the stories behind them. Angelica and I did mention what turned out to be "our thing," I suppose -- I, My, Me Strawberry Egg!. ^^; And, of course, it was perfect because it really did have aspects that crossed over perfectly into both of the discussions we used them in. (Side note: It also probably would have fit well into the "Crossing Over" discussion that should have taken place - the kawaii/ecchiness of the series makes it lean more toward shounen than shoujo.)
The first thing Erica asked when everyone settled in: do we know about Book Off? I practically groaned. It's the tri-state area's worst kept secret. I don't want anyone else to know about it! So for everyone reading this who does - keep your mouths shut! There's absolutely no way I can check the shelves everyday and protect/hoarde what should be rightfully mine! ::clears throat:: Er… anyway, so it must have been my comments about Book Off that sort of pointed some of her attention my way, and I felt really comfortable in making comments to her (although not many) throughout the panel/discussion. Which - if you haven't already guessed - is rare for me. Ihate loathe despise being the center of attention when I don't have to. But as the session was coming to a close, I mentioned that I'd emailed someone at Yuricon about volunteering/gophering about a week earlier and had yet to get a reply. She said to email her and she'd get me the info.
She's cool. I think I remember Sharon saying something about how, when she's in a panel, she sort of takes over or something… (I can't remember the exact idea), but I didn't find her to be that way. I thought that, yeah, she's a take-charge kind of person, but not one who's unreasonable, or who would run you over if you showed a little resistance. I thought that she was very knowledgable about the topic and wasn't afraid to show it, and that she's probably very knowledgable about anything she's asked, or volunteers, to speak about simply because it's a matter of pride not to be caught shorthanded. I felt very comfortable with her; I thought she was very approachable, as a matter of fact.
10:00 pm
The end of the day was arriving quickly for us. After the Yuri panel, Susan brought us all up to their room so we could get our stuff. DC was in the room when we came in; we collected our stuff and said our goodbyes, thankyous, and see-you-next-weekends. Then we were off downstairs. The buses come every hour, so we had to wait for the 11 o'clock bus. We sat down in the lobby - the same place we sat when we arrived at Shoujocon (yes, the symbolism is painfully clear) - and waited, talking, until 10:45 when we left to go back to the garage. As we were walking toward the bus stop, it pulled up and we rushed over. Then it was the 45-minute ride back to Port Authority.
12:00 am
Once we got back to Port Authority, we took the train (although the subway routes in NYC on the weekends/late nights are really screwed up and annoying) back to Queens and my mom picked us up and dropped Angelica off at her house. When we got back to our house, we stayed up for about an hour and a half talking to my mom about the trip. Then I went online for a little while, just to check my mail basically, then I think I crashed in my room. That was between 3 and 4, I think. It's a little hazy at that point.
Of course, there's no rest for the wicked. The next day (or later that day, depending on how you look at it) Liz and I would have to get ready to sleep over at Louie's house to finish work on the cosplay props for Otakon. What a weekend.
One last installment coming up: the post-Shoujocon critique.
9:00 am
Before we left Sharon's room the night before, I'd asked if we'd be able to leave our bags and extra pizza pie in her room the next day. She said it was no problem, and to call around 9. So I set the clock for 9 so I could call her and start getting ready for the day/packed up, etc. Liz had a workshop (Inking) at 10, and checkout was at noon. I woke up a few minutes after 9 and called Sharon… I asked if anyone would be in the room between 10 and 11 (because since we'd just woke up, there was no way we'd be ready earlier than that) and she said DC would be there.
I got into the shower around 9:20 and was probably out by 9:30 or 9:35. I woke Liz up and she started getting ready to leave. After a few false starts - where Liz kept running back to the room because she forgot something - she was finally gone. Angelica woke up and got into the shower. I started packing up Liz's and my things… by the time Angelica got out of her shower I was done. I did the Zip-out checkout thing where you use the TV to checkout and we were out of the room and off to Sharon's room at around 10:30.
We knocked on Sharon's door and Susan opened it. I took one look at Susan and realized that I'd left something in the room! (Go figure.) See, I had brought the complete X TV series on VHS with me for Susan - Sharon had sent a paypal payment for the tapes a week or two earlier. I almost smacked myself upside the head. I went to find a maid, but she said it wasn't her room so she couldn't open it. I went back to my floor, went down the hall, found a maid, but she said it wasn't her room so she couldn't open it. Grrr. So I went down the other side of the hall and (finally!) found a maid who could open it, and did. Whew. It was right there on the floor in the closet where I'd put it, and actually remembered to take it about 3 minutes before we left. (Don't you hate it when that happens?!)
Anyway, I got back to the room and sat down. I think Sharon was there at that point, but I'm not quite sure. Then we left at almost 11 to go to the Dealers' Room.
11:00 am
On the way to the Dealers' Room, we actually bumped into Liz. So we all went together. We all kind of split up - I went with Liz, roaming around the room… I was tempted a few times to get something, but not enough to give in. This wasn't all that exciting, and before you know it, I think it was close to noon because Liz had her second workshop (cel painting) and she had to go. When she left I wanted to go to the front desk to double check that we'd been checked out of our room correctly. After finding out that, yes, I was checked out, I intended to go over to the theaters to take a look at what they were showing. But I ran into DC, Sharon, and Susan. They mentioned that they'd run into Sparcck in the Dealers' Room, and I was so disappointed because I'd been wanting to meet her! I love her fics, and love her LJ, and it was so hidoi 'cause we both live in NYC, but I've never met her. (I suppose it's more annoying to not know someone when they're living in your town than when they're a few states away.)
So I asked where she was, and they told me where she'd been (generally) in the Dealers' Room, and what she looked like. So I kind of ran up there to see if I could catch her before she left the Room. Well, I got to the Dealers' Room, and I was looking around, but I couldn't really find her. At one point I bumped into Shi-chan and asked her, "Do you happen to know who Sparcck is?" And - to my immense surprise - she said "Yeah!" and dragged me over to one of the merchant tables. Apparently, Sparcck was working in the Dealers' Room. ::bangs head on desk:: I hadn't realized from what DC & Co. had told me… that Sparcck was working there! Anyway, I introduced myself and told her that I love her fics… love her LJ… we both live in NYC. I said that I go to NYU, but that I live in Queens. She said, "Oh! I live in Queens too." I'd thought she lived in downtown Manhattan, but apparently we live relatively close to each other. She also mentioned having seen me go by and caught my name on my badge (I'd written Koyasu no Miko) and she wanted to say something to me, but didn't know if I'd know her. I swear, when I heard that my eyes bugged out (or wanted to, at least). Where'd she recognize my online name from anyway? I know it isn't that well known…? But anyway, I mentioned that I'd see her online… reply more often to her LJ or something. She's so kawaii!!!
That was SUGOI!
After that I was riding on cloud 9, I swear. I sort of wandered over to the theaters (finally) and peeked in on the Fushigi Yuugi OVA, saw Angelica. Surprise, surprise. But I didn't particularly feel like watching it over, so Iwent into the Kodocha theater. They were showing episodes 1-3. I sat through half of 2 and all of 3 (Kodocha's so great) even though I've seen it about 3 times over already. Then at 1 I went over to the School Romance Discussion. Angelica came with me. (Apparently, though, she had a block on what time it was supposed to be - first she thought 12, then she thought 2, but the whole time I kept telling her, "It's at ONE!") - so it's just coincidence that she happened to run into me at the right time.)
SATURDAY AFTERNOON
1:00 pm
There were only 5 people in the School Romance discussion. Two were me and Angelica. One was the discussion leader (who'd never held a discussion before, but did great for all that… mostly because we all knew what we were talking about). The other two were two girl friends. They were a lot more knowledgable on school romances than I am - although, mostly for the fact that they know a lot more Japanese than I do and so could read a lot of manga that will never be translated or animated. Although I am familiar with almost all of the school romance anime that we brought up, and several of the school romance manga that were mentioned (even if I hadn't finished a few of the series).
It started out with mentioning several of the school romance series, both in manga and anime: Kare Kano, Marmalade Boy, Hana Yori Dango, Akuma na Eros (although that fits into more than one genre), Fruit Basket (which is also more than one genre), Sensei!, and some others.
BEWARE OF SLIGHT SPOILER!
One that we brought up in particular was the 13-episode anime I, My, Me Strawberry Egg!. The title is completely out of nowhere - I have no idea what it has to do with the story, if anything. But it's a really great anime about a guy who wants to be a teacher, and goes to apply to be a teacher at this school near his home, but they turn him away because the principal is a bitter old woman and is basically slowly turning the school into a girls-only school, including teachers. The theme of the school is something about guys not knowing how to love, or something. But not in a hentai way. Anyway, the guy's landlady helps him dress up as a woman (with voice-altering choker and all) in order for him to get the job. Supposedly the landlady is doing it so the guy - Hibiki-sensei - can pay for his rent. But you realize that the landlady's just one of those cool, meddling people, who always do the right thing and somehow everything works out for them. >_< The school romance part of it comes in when one of Hibiki-sensei's students realizes she's falling for her sensei - who she believes is a woman. And what's more, they (the script writers/whoever) actually show the girl's internal struggle about the fact that she's falling for a woman - and girl actually ends up accepting the fact that she's in love with a woman. And it's only after she's accepted it inside her own mind, that things happen and it's revealed that Hibiki-sensei is really a man. It's none of that wishy-washy stuff where they're always attracted, but do nothing about it until it's revealed that they're actually of the opposite sex and then it's like, "Oh! No wonder! Well then, that's okay-I knew it all along! Really!" And if you're completely pro-non-traditional sexual preferences (does anyone know of a better PC way to refer to it?), which I am, then I think it's really admirable. ^_~
Okay, sorry for going off on a tangent. Anyway, about half way through the discussion two older men come in. LOL. They're both at least in their 40's. So, we include them in the discussion. It was a nice discussion, small, but fun and informative. (Which reminds me, I have to go subscribe to Margaret magazine…)
2:00 pm
We had to leave right away at 2 because Angelica and I were scheduled for the Plushies workshop. That was bad. We got there and after about 10 minutes of waiting outside, they finally let the people in who've signed up for it. But then there's some commotion about some people who were scheduled for Sunday but couldn't make it, so they wanted to get into the Saturday workshop… or something. It was just rediculous. The guy at the door was such a complete pushover, he couldn't get anyone to do anything. And the woman who was supposed to be running the workshop was just standing there watching the whole fiasco instead of starting the damn workshop! So we started at 2:30.
Even had we started at 2 there wouldn't have been enough time to finish, but this was ridiculous! Not to mention, the instructor didn't instruct. She gave out an (unhelpful) instruction sheet and sort of just called rows up to get supplies. But if you didn't really know what to do (poor Angelica), you were screwed.
The whole thing was just an annoyance and I don't feel like going into further detail.
4:00 pm
Technically, the workshops last one hour, but there's an extra block of an hour after each workshop in case they run over. The Adult Fanfiction discussion had started at 3 and I'd wanted to go (especially 'cause I heard that MadamHydra was going to be there - my favorite ficwriter! I absolutely love her characterization of Duo!), but we were no where near done at 3. Not that we'd gotten any farther by 4, but we had to leave 'cause another workshop was going to start.
So we all went over to where the Adult Fanfiction discussion was and sat down. Amazingly, everyone was still there. I was really hopeful that I'd be able to get Sharon to introduce me to MadamHydra, if she knew who she was. The discussion ended up running (informally) for another 45 minutes. Then almost everyone cleared out… except 2 women, Julie (the same cool moderator from the Fanfiction discussion the previous night), Jana, Sharon, DC, me, Angelica, Liz (she'd met up with us at the Plushies workshop and came over to the Adult Fanfiction discussion with us), and I think Susan came in a little later on. Guess who the 2 other women turned out to be? One was Kikotei (Amy), who owns the DHML archive, and her (currently being reworked) fic archive (which I used to go to all the time!) and… MadamHydra! Finally! I finally got to meet the elusive ficwriter who I've been trying to track down since my first con (Otakon 2000). I was really bad and from then on, whenever it came up in conversation - or anywhere I could reasonably fit it in - I would mention ::coughcough:: her unfinished fics and how much I want her to continue the most awesome fic ever - Dominion Road. And I mean, every time I possibly could! I felt really bad afterwards… I have to go email her and apologize. ::giggles:: But I just couldn't help myself at the time! I gave my email & website addy out to Julie and Amy, and later on Susan… mostly for trades, etc. Let's see if we keep in contact. ^_~
We stayed there until 6 because there was another panel scheduled for the room we were in… So we all went back to Sharon's room.
Liz had to leave at 6 for her last workshop (Prismacolor), but I told her that we'd all be in Sharon's room, so she could meet us there when she was done. So we went up to Sharon's room… and ate! We hadn't eaten since those cereal bars in the morning, and our pizza was waiting there for us. So when we got there, we ate, and talked some more. Liz came in around 7:30, after her workshop was finished. We all pretty much continued talking until around 9, when we started heading downstairs for various things.
SATURDAY EVENING
9:00 pm
Sharon wanted to go to the "Shounen-ai Love-in" at the theaters, so DC and Sharon went together. I don't know if Amy and MadamHydra went with them or not, but Susan wanted to go to the Yuri panel, and Angelica and I had said that we'd go with her. It was actually a pretty good panel. Erica Friedman (she's the person that got the yaoi/yuri panels/discussions started at various cons… and I recognized her name as part of the Yaoi-con and Yuricon staff) was the only panelist, but it was obvious there were a few people in the "audience" that knew her and worked with her. One of them was
Erica was really smart - she didn't make the panel a lecture, but I don't think there were enough people there who were really knowledgable about the subject to make it a discussion. She had quite a lot of information, so she ended up naming a lot of titles (manga, anime, online comics, video games, etc.) and taking about the stories behind them. Angelica and I did mention what turned out to be "our thing," I suppose -- I, My, Me Strawberry Egg!. ^^; And, of course, it was perfect because it really did have aspects that crossed over perfectly into both of the discussions we used them in. (Side note: It also probably would have fit well into the "Crossing Over" discussion that should have taken place - the kawaii/ecchiness of the series makes it lean more toward shounen than shoujo.)
The first thing Erica asked when everyone settled in: do we know about Book Off? I practically groaned. It's the tri-state area's worst kept secret. I don't want anyone else to know about it! So for everyone reading this who does - keep your mouths shut! There's absolutely no way I can check the shelves everyday and protect/hoarde what should be rightfully mine! ::clears throat:: Er… anyway, so it must have been my comments about Book Off that sort of pointed some of her attention my way, and I felt really comfortable in making comments to her (although not many) throughout the panel/discussion. Which - if you haven't already guessed - is rare for me. I
She's cool. I think I remember Sharon saying something about how, when she's in a panel, she sort of takes over or something… (I can't remember the exact idea), but I didn't find her to be that way. I thought that, yeah, she's a take-charge kind of person, but not one who's unreasonable, or who would run you over if you showed a little resistance. I thought that she was very knowledgable about the topic and wasn't afraid to show it, and that she's probably very knowledgable about anything she's asked, or volunteers, to speak about simply because it's a matter of pride not to be caught shorthanded. I felt very comfortable with her; I thought she was very approachable, as a matter of fact.
10:00 pm
The end of the day was arriving quickly for us. After the Yuri panel, Susan brought us all up to their room so we could get our stuff. DC was in the room when we came in; we collected our stuff and said our goodbyes, thankyous, and see-you-next-weekends. Then we were off downstairs. The buses come every hour, so we had to wait for the 11 o'clock bus. We sat down in the lobby - the same place we sat when we arrived at Shoujocon (yes, the symbolism is painfully clear) - and waited, talking, until 10:45 when we left to go back to the garage. As we were walking toward the bus stop, it pulled up and we rushed over. Then it was the 45-minute ride back to Port Authority.
12:00 am
Once we got back to Port Authority, we took the train (although the subway routes in NYC on the weekends/late nights are really screwed up and annoying) back to Queens and my mom picked us up and dropped Angelica off at her house. When we got back to our house, we stayed up for about an hour and a half talking to my mom about the trip. Then I went online for a little while, just to check my mail basically, then I think I crashed in my room. That was between 3 and 4, I think. It's a little hazy at that point.
Of course, there's no rest for the wicked. The next day (or later that day, depending on how you look at it) Liz and I would have to get ready to sleep over at Louie's house to finish work on the cosplay props for Otakon. What a weekend.
One last installment coming up: the post-Shoujocon critique.
