my moral standing is lying down

OMG! Carrie was quoted in the Herald News!

And besides that, AnimeNEXT got a nice write-up! Go look! ♥

OMG, these are SUCH good costumes! ::is insanely jealous::

From the registration desk, I saw this HOT Riku walking around near the entrance and needed to get his picture. Turned out that I really need to get her picture. ^_~; She does really awesome crossplay -- I'm sure it helps that she has a thin frame and small boobs.

( You should really clicky-clicky to look at teh awesome cosplay! )

Anyway, I ended up attending a panel where she and her boyfriend (the Heartless Sora) were on the panel -- Fan Etiquette Uncensored. I thought that it was probably one of the more interesting and entertaining panels I've gone to (and we all know that some panels can be really boring), and had some really cool and smart panelists, which can also be pretty rare!

I'm really loving this con! And I actually think I like working this con even more than attending, so I really want to work it again next year! (LOL, thinking about next year already and the weekend isn't even over yet.)

And! OMG! The best (and nicest!) Cloud ever was also at the panel. And a really awesome Hughes, too -- his costume was perfect and his face was really similar to Hughes' face. I'm really stupid for not getting photos, but I'll try to catch them tomorrow.

I got to the hotel around 4pm and waited for a while for my room key. Helped carry some food things into the hotel, then finally got my room key and brought my stuff upstairs to drop off. Then went back downstairs and down the block to the Meadowlands Exposition Center to stuff the registration goodie bags for 3 hours.

Then pre-reg pickup started around 7:15pm and I checked people in for another 3 hours.

It was actually pretty amusing and quite fun ~ and I saw some people I know, and even checked them in -- Jasmine and Jesse from Christor's group. ^^ It was really odd seeing them from the other side of the registration desk.

After pre-reg pickup closed I went for dinner at Uno's (the only thing left open in the immediate area) with one of the other registration staff, a guy named Sung Tae. We had a nice rambling conversation, and it was nice not to eat by myself. Then we went back to our respective rooms.

I LOVE this hotel. I think all of the rooms are suites. Two double beds, a sink/microwave/mini-fridge, a sofa bed, desk, TV... it's probably only slightly larger than the rooms at the Radisson in Baltimore, but there are more amenities. Dammit. And it's cheaper too!

Going away now 'cause I'm starting to ramble with the tiredness. Yes.

This weekend was nice. After spending time just hanging out in the back yard, Maryann and I drove into the city to meet up with Liz and Juliet and eat. We had falafel from that yummy St. Mark's place, which is open til 4am, OMG! We walked around the village for a bit before sitting in at the 24-hr Starbucks for a while. Then drove back home. Sunday, did nothing much.

I've been reading Jennifer Fallon's Hythrun Chronicles series, and although Wolfblade (the first book in the second trilogy, which is a prequel to the first trilogy) is out in hardcover, the third book in the first trilogy, Harshini, in not yet out in paperback. This is damn frustrating. I read through her Second Sons trilogy really quickly, but I like this series better and it's annoying that I haven't really been able to get my hands on that third book. It seems that it came out in hardcover, but it's been long enough since then that you can't find it in bookstores anymore (not that I'd buy it in hardcover anyway), but it hasn't come out in paperback yet either! =(

I picked up Steven Brust's Agyar from the library about a week ago, and was just able to start it today. It's intriguing so far, although I'm only in the very beginning. Brust certainly does have a way of catching your interest and curiosity and keeping you reading. There are many books I've read that I've been interested in, but few, I think, that have made me curious. A fine and hard-to-define distinction.

I finally bought Samurai Deeper Kyo volume 17 and read it. OMG, I love SDK soooooooooo much! I need more, it comes out tooooo slowly. *sobs* It isn't fair that it's already up to volume 30-something in Japan, and that I can't read it. T_T I like so many more of the secondary characters than I usually do in this type of story (and most definitely than I did in the anime) -- I ♥ Akira, and Bontenmaru, and it's only about half-way through the series so far! *dies*

New topic -- the next two Friday nights. Angelica suggested getting together on Friday the 24th, I think. I was interested in that, but my coworker Matt is having a party that night that I definitely want to go to. We can still hang out for a while, though, because he said that probably people won't start showing up til around 11pm. So there's definitely time. I think I might be dead tired by then, but I'm still going. =D I forgot exactly why Angelica specified that Friday -- was there a specific reason? Can we move it up to this Friday instead? Aside from that, does anyone want to do something for this Friday?

Also. This Sunday I have to attend the AnimeNEXT Staff Meeting in NJ. eyoko, are you going to be there? I wonder if there's anyone I can meet up with to get there, or car pool/etc.