my moral standing is lying down

Thursday 10/29/09:
AA 59 JFK 7:05am → SFO 10:30am

Sunday 11/01/09:
AA 20 SFO 3:15pm → JFK 11:45pm

So yes, JUST purchased tickets to San Francisco (as well as a rental car -- $88 for the weekend)! I will be there during the weekend of Yaoicon, but I won't be buying a badge to the con. There are other things I'm intending to do -- skydiving, visiting the Winchester House, and going to see the annual Warp 11 Halloween show! And this time, Liz & Juliet, and maybe Judy will be going!

On Thursday, however, I intend to just kick back, hang out, and talk shop with friends I haven't seen in forever! yaoichick and badmomma64 are among the ones I know are going to Ycon this year. I need to arrange meet-ups!


You know what's weird? My flights are the same exact flights (with almost the same exact departure and arrival times) as my last flights to Ycon, back in 2007.


[edit: Liz's flight itinerary]

Thursday 10/29/09:
VA 25 JFK 4:35pm → SFO 8:15pm

Sunday 11/01/09:
VA 24 SFO 3:05pm → JFK 11:40pm

[edit: Juliet's flight itinerary]

Thursday 10/29/09:
SW 690 MDW 7:25 → SFO 10:05pm

Sunday 11/01/09:
SW 635 SFO 1:45pm → MDW 7:55pm

[edit: Judy's flight itinerary]

Thursday 10/29/09:
Delta 717 JFK 7:00am → SFO 10:38am

Tuesday 11/03/09:
Delta 724 SFO 10:25pm → JFK 7:00am

Ycon Report, or What I Did In SF While I Was Supposed To Be At Ycon.

I didn't get a wink of sleep on Wednesday night. My flight was Thursday at 7am, so I was up for a full 24 hours before the plane actually took off. But once I was on the plane and actually sitting down, I passed out so hard that I slept through take-off. ^^;

I had a great time driving around San Francisco! I was actually quite happy to have Judy who needed to go back and forth to her aunt's (who lives in SF), so that it gave us an excuse to drive around the city. I certainly am becoming more familiar with certain parts of the city than I was last time, that's for sure. Also, driving is a completely different experience when you've got a bunch of friends in the car and are chatting and listening to good music, etc., as opposed to driving when you're alone and tired.

We did the standard going to Japan Town on Thursday and, not surprisingly, met up with Christine, Sharon, Artemis, et al. It was nice to hang out with them. And though it was for a pretty short time, I think it was the longest I'd actually get to see and talk to them. It was a big change from last year. I think it's partially due to that this new con hotel's lobby is not really conducive to lounging and talking in relative privacy. At the Westin, the lobby was recessed and slightly away from the front desk. In that respect, the new con hotel wasn't the best. However, other aspects made this hotel very enjoyable -- the rooms are HUGE! The beds are pretty darn big too; they weren't doubles -- they were queens! We also happened to get first-floor rooms, which was really convenient. Also, the con rate for the rooms were so amazingly well-priced. Less than $100/night!

So unfortunately, I think I did even less con stuff than I usually do. Previously, I had gone to a panel or two. This year I bypassed everything and went straight to the dealers' room/art show/fan market. I did not pass go; certainly I did not collect $200. On the bright side, I spent under $30 at the con itself.

On the other hand, I spent almost $100 on dinner/club with Nicky and her boyfriend Ryan on Saturday night. But OMG, it was SO WORTH IT! The Supper Club is an awesomely entertaining place. You sit on a bed. And eat at a small table on the bed. There's a DJ and some live entertainment. Our host(ess) was a (very good-looking!) drag queen. One part of the live entertainment was a woman who did acrobatics on a rope that hung from the ceiling. It was HOT, beautiful, and impressive as hell -- she must be insanely strong! I wish I had brought my camera! I didn't actually get to stay and see Grand Master Flash because I had to leave before I got too tired to drive myself back to the hotel. >_<;

Ryan brought two bottles of red wine to share, which were delicious, and considering I usually don't like red wine, they were pretty damn good. The food was also really amazing. They serve a 5-course meal (you don't get to choose what you get, you just tell them if you have any allergies, etc.). One of the courses was a very lightly cooked salmon that was just heavenly. And I don't like salmon. Or even most fish, in general. It was really amazing. Getting to catch up with and see Nicky, and getting to enjoy the Supper Club really made this trip worthwhile.

I got a little ahead of myself -- Friday was also slow. I enjoyed window shopping on Haight Street. There's a vintage and/or Halloween store every other block! Unfortunately, Amoeba Music, which is listed on the Warp11 site as carrying their albums, did not have anything, so I went away very disappointed at not having been able to purchase their newest release. Fortunately, I remembered to ask Nicky to bring me the 3rd album (which I also didn't have), which she'd gotten signed for me when it came out two years ago. Haha. Later that night was just fun and hijinks in the room. Lots of giggling on my part. ^^;

Sunday was basically getting ready to go back home. I had to return the car by noon even though my flight wasn't until 3:40. However! I'm a smart girl and got on standby for the 1:25 flight and got a spot! Sitting in a middle seat and being slightly uncomfortable was definitely worth getting home at 10pm instead of midnight. =D

All in all, a very enjoyable trip. Some pics are here. I think some of the more incriminating ones have been left out. ^_~

BTW, Capital G is an excellent song!

And Happy Halloween, people!

Thursday 10/25/07:
AA 59 JFK 7:00am → SFO 10:10am

Sunday 10/28/07:
AA 20 SFO 3:30pm → JFK 11:55pm

Unfortunately, it's a late flight back to NYC, but for $300 round trip (and keeping my accrued miles), it's worth it. I'll just take a cab home (which shouldn't be too expensive since I live within about 15 miles from JFK) 'cause I'll have work the next morning. Yep, I like to kill myself by going straight back to work right after a con completely across the country. ^^;

And I'll be traveling by my lonesome this year (Angelica is taking Delta), so this will be a novel experience. Hah! I'm sure to have the seat next to me free (I've booked the window seat of a two-seater on both flights), so I'll be able to stretch out!

Angelica, I have yet to book the rental car, but the total should be approximately $90. Let me know if that's okay and I'll go ahead and book it within the next few days.

OMG I love the car that we rented. It's a 2006 v6 Toyota Camry. I ♥ it. ^^ And it's a pretty cute color too. I was somewhat apprehensive that it would be a horrible puke color. I tend not to like anything that isn't white/black/gray/silver/etc. But it's a really light silvery blue. I shall try not to go on and on about the car. ^^

Yesterday we got the car, drove from the Oakland airport to San Francisco. It was such a pretty drive~! We checked in and drove to Japantown where we RANDOMLY bumped into DC, Ravyn & Nemiko! That was cool. Lots of hugs were exchanged. Then went to shop and met up with them later in front of Kinokuniya, along with Sharon, Leslie, Heero & Duo, and others... Hung out there for a while... went on a cool trip over to downtown SF to buy white face makeup for my Sora cosplay (LOTS of traffic on Market Street OMG). Then went back over to Japantown to have dinner with the big group.

Lots of fun =) and spending money =(.

More later. ^^

(1) NIN is playing the Friday night of AnimeNEXT at the PNC Bank Arts Center. Oh, what shall I do? Go? Can I afford it? Err, money/planning/decisions.

(2a) OMG, MUCC is playing Otakon.
(2b) We should probably buy bus tickets sometime soon, right?
(2c) Looks like our cosplay group is narrowed down to me, Maryann, Liz, and Juliet cosplaying the grey-scale versions of Sora, Donald & Goofy from the Timeless River world, with Juliet cosplaying Hayner to match up with Angelica's Roxas (except that I think Angelica isn't cosplaying the casual version of Roxas, so it may not quite match) and possibly Lene as Axel. The four of us will also be cosplaying 4 of the homunculi from FMA: Liz and I will be Lust and Gluttony, Maryann will be either Envy or Sloth, and Juliet will be Greed. ♥

(3) For anyone who is going to Ycon, the $40 pre-reg ends May 31st, so you should send in your registration payment by that date. The next tier is $50 until Sept 20th, and $60 at-door.

Angelica, I'd appreciate it if you could find out from your mom if she can get me those opaque, white contact lenses, and how much a pair would be. Sankyuu~

Yaoicon 2006 dates are Oct 20-22. Which means it won't be on Halloween weekend. Which means that we won't be able to go to the Warp 11 show that year unless we stayed for a whole week. As much as I'd love to do that, I won't have enough vacation time for that.

metallicapixie and inbredchocobo, you're going to have to decide whether you want to go to Ycon more, or go for the Warp 11 show, or neither or both, or if it doesn't matter either way.

The one year that Liz can actually go to Ycon, and go (at least with a fake ID) to the Warp11 show, Ycon has to go and announce dates that are NOT for Halloween weekend.

This sucks.

Woke up around 9am. We took our sweet time getting ready and packing, and eventually went to the dealer's room at the Westin for last minute shopping. Why could I not resist? I bought two American original-chara doujinshi for $20, plus an FMA shitajiki. I guess overall spending $45 in the dealer's room really isn't that bad.

I did see a whole bunch of Ozaki Minami doujinshi (mostly Captain Tsubasa era) that I wanted, but it was slightly too pricey when I really didn't want to spend that much. So I resisted. Unfortunately.

Oh, Zetsuai. How do I love thee. I think I want to watch it all again and read the manga, and be in love with Koji forever.

After the dealer's room, the three of us had lunch at the Westin's (expensive!) restaurant. Then we had just enough time to go back to the room to get our luggage, after which Nicky drove us to the airport!

I really wish the weekend had been longer, and I'd had more time to spend with Suzu and Windsorblue. And it probably would have helped a little if the con had actually been in just one hotel, instead of spread out into two hotels. Harder to bump into everyone you want to bump into.

The bad part of cons is that they have to end.

Some pics soon to follow.

We woke up at 8am in order to meet the group for breakfast at 9am at our hotel's restaurant. We were in a large group of 15, and then ravynfyre joined us, so it was 16. Hanging out with them all was really cool, and I had a really nice conversation with hyanan toward the end of breakfast, which was cool. =D

Afterwards, everyone split up to go to several destinations in SF. Angelica and I went back to the hotel room 'cause we were expecting Nicky at around 11am. While waiting in the hotel room, we watched two more episodes of FMA, so now I've finished 8. I really do like the series very much! Sharon mentioned a fic that she'd read, a sort of crossover, where Duo is in the FMA universe, which I'd love to read, which I'll have to remind her about so she can find/send me the link.

Nicky showed up a little later than we expected -- some time after 12, I believe. We hung out in the lobby for a while (free internet connection for wireless laptops!) and then Nicky showed up. We took her stuff upstairs and then went out to go eat. We came back to get our badges and such (expedited by the wonderful head of registration, Ravynfyre), and then went out to SF to go get my nose pierced!

There's a place on Haight and Masonic that is highly recommended by Nicky and her piercer at Sub Q in Sacramento, called Mom's. We had a hell of a time getting parking, but finally found a 30-minute-limit meter and ran over to get me pierced, and made it back just in time for the 30-minute mark! Vaughn was the guy who pierced my nose and he was really cool in going over aftercare stuff with me (although I know most of what he tole me already). Surprisingly, it didn't hurt all that much! I think it hurt less than my conch piercing, certainly less than my industrial. My left eye did water, but that was mostly it. For the first half hour, I felt the end of the L-shaped stud up in the back of my nostril, and it felt pretty darn odd. After that, the sensation went away (or I just didn't notice it anymore), bute every time I tried to yawn, it would feel a bit sore and the feeling of soreness would interrupt my yawn, so that I couldn't complete it. Only when I get tired enough to be unable to resist completing the yawn, am I able to do it.

Now, every so often, in certain positions, I feel the end of the stud in the back of my nose, and it feels like I've got something up there that I really want to get out. And then I remember that it's the stud. So yeah.

Gotta go get on line for the bishounen auction now, but will return with more Friday reporting (and maybe some pics!) later.

While at Onna! this weekend, I got to talking with devilkitty0, who said she's in a double room all by herself (although possibly jana1x2x1 might be rooming with her. So since the hotel's pretty cheap to begin with, Angelica and I are going to room with her even if it ends up being more than we had hoped to spend.

Yay!

I hope I can cancel my room reservation without penalty. Usually, they let you cancel up to 48 hrs before without a problem, but I'm getting paranoid. I think it's 'cause the hotels around the Baltimore Convention Center penalize you for canceling like up to a month before -- maybe it's cause the rooms are so in demand 'cause of the con. As soon as gokumew2 lets me know if her friend still has her room, I'll know whether I can just cancel it or if I should transfer the room into her name.

I'm at work right now, but I'm so just not wanting to be here. I think I'm somewhat resentful of having to be here on Sundays now, when I thought I wouldn't have to be. =(

I wonder how/what Maryann's doing this weekend...

Yay! So happy to finally confirm that I'll be able to go to Ycon again this year! We have a room reserved, now we just need a couple of roommates. It's just me and Angelica this year, so there's space for two to four people! Our reservation is at the Clarion for three nights (Thursday through Sunday, 10/27/05 - 10/30/05). Including Angelica and me, it would be only $75 for four people, $60 for five, $50 for six.

If you need a room, I ♥ you; or if know someone who might, please forward this info to them! Thanks!

suzume_sparrow, windsorblue, zerotwofan, ponderosa121, jana1x2x1, yaoichick, klingonpoo -- are you guys all staying at the Westin? *sniffle* But you guys will call me to let me know when/where to hang out with you, right?!