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< Piro >

"honto ni"

Sunday - August 5, 2001

[Piro] - 03:34:00 - [link here]

I swear, people probably think i make this stuff up.

If you recall, i was supposed to head to New York over the weekend to attend my cousin's wedding on friday. It was going to be a pretty tight schedule - 8:45 flight into Newark, drive to the Island (about a 2 hr drive). I would have got in around 12:30 in the morning. Fly home Sunday morning. Well, by 10:00 pm my flight was still on 'indefinite delay', so i said screw it and had Seraphim come pick me up. I didn't feel like driving thru the city at 2 am, and they were making noises like the flight was gonna be canceled, and they could fly me out the next morning. Peh. I just hope my flight to Otakon this Thursday goes smoother.

So, having a weekend to myself that i didn't have before, you'd think it would have been easy to catch up on things. Heh. I should know better. It was a remarkable series of 'oh jeeze, what now?' events.

I've been trying to print out a set of MT comics at 300 dpi - it takes a while. It takes even long when your cat eats thru yet another printer cable. Fourth one this year.

Yesterday, Seraphim and I spent several hours in the dark as the power cycled on and off most of the evening. Coupled with this, Comcast was suffering from some kind of major outage for the entire region yesterday. It's been working off and on.

And then... agh, no, that's enough. ^^;; You get the idea.

It all adds up to be rather frustrating when you are preparing for a con, and trying to get some comics done. ^_^ Didn't do too bad, considering - all the drawings for today's comic are done, all i need to do i scan, clean up, and put it together. It will go up later this evening. I think the status meter works pretty well. At least now you know what's going on if the comic doesn't show up on time. Maybe it provides too much info... at any rate, for this week, it will be very handy indeed.

Well, this is the week - the week Largo and I head of to Otakon. We really don't know what to think about it, really - it's odd going to a anime con as a guest rather than just another intrepid con-goer. As such we really don't what to do - so we'll probably be making it up as we go along. I'm sure we'll both end up in trouble before the weekend is out (better come this year, i bet otakon wont invite us back next year ^^;;)

Dom, Largo, Wing Zero, and I will be there to answer any and all of your questions (at least the ones that Dom lets people ask), plus we'll be showing off two full color works that Merekat and I have been working on for the past few weeks - just as a little something extra for everyone coming. If you can come, i hope to see you there. This time, i'll make sure i have a chance to talk to everyone who wants to talk to me. :)

I will post the time and location for the Megatokyo Discussion panel as soon as the schedule is finalized. Stay tuned...

Hot Soup from Lethal Doses, who is also coming to Otakon to hang with Largo and I, finally launched his new web comic / online graphic story 'winter' last night - check it out. He's delving into more of a story telling mode, with the help of his two writers Mike (Daedalus) and Matt (Arturis). They even have quite a head start, and have 7 comics done. ^_^

Agh. As i was writing this, my cable modem died again. (sigh) I guess i'll just pop this onto a floppy disk and upload it from work. Now if only i can find a floppy disk...

< Dom >

the guy on the left is largo's new drinking buddy.

"akon-templations"

Tuesday - July 24, 2001

[Dom] - 04:34:00 - [link here]

One note before I switch from angry-rant mode toamused-rant mode: For the love of God, Outlook users,change your settings so your pain in the ass of a mailclient stops auto-opening anything. The rest of you, forcrying out loud, don't open e-mail attachments, even fromthose you trust, without first using an up-to-date virusscanner. I'm in the same boat as Piro, and I swear if I seeone more "Hi! How are you? I send you this file in orderto have your advice" I swear I'm going to track you downand tear out your larynx with a Chia pet... end rant.

Okay, it's been about a month and a half, I can now lookback at A-kon with a muddy memory and talk more about myoverall impression of the con and things that stick out inmy mind than about nitpicky details of the con.

The first thing I remember about the con is arriving at DFWairport and thinking "What the hell am I doing here?" A-kon was my third con in three months and my sixth in sixyears. The first was Origins '95 in San Jose, in caseyou're wondering--that's where I got most of my 1st editionD&D collection, including one of the few copies of OrientalAdventures that still has all the pages in it. But anyway,the point is that it was the third con in as many months,just as AX was the fourth con in as many months, and Otakonis my next con. Sometimes, I fear it will be my last,since the meeting of Piro and Largo is likely to cause fancritical mass. I can see the headlines now, "Comic stripcreators meet; Baltimore leveled in resulting crush offans."

Enough of that rambling, I'll get on to the meat of myrant. As I was waiting for Natsuki to pick me up, Ianother thought came to mind. I'd forgotten what Natsukilooks like. Thankfully, she picked me out easily, sinceaside from her boyfriend, I was about the only Asian inthat airport. The fact that I was carrying costumesupplies and looking about in the manner of an abandonedpup probably didn't hurt either.

>From there, I eventually ended up at the con. The secretsof how I made it out of Natsuki's clutches in one piece andstill in men's clothing still elude me. I'd pay good moneyto figure out how I kept her from tying me to the futon andslapping me in a skirt. Anyway, as I parked myself outsidea room and munched on my burger, I met the first MT fan ofthe con. I took a picture with him, talked a bit, and weboth left unfrightened. Thankfully, the encounters with MTfans I identified by their shirts generally followed thispattern, with me talking to someone as if I were anothercon-goer and not some sort of freak--which I am, but again,that's beside the point. That's a marked difference fromTanzy of OkashinaOkashi's experience, which involved unwanted contactand a healthy dose of fear. There was one uncomfortableexperience for me, but Largo was there to deflect some ofthe attention, and plus there was a table and expensiveequipment between us and them, saving us a great deal oftrouble.

And as a normal con-goer, I of course ran around in costumegetting pictures taken and taking pictures of othercostumes I was impressed by, such as Shiranui Mai, SolidSnake, Yun, Myotismon (the sheer amount of work thatmust've went into that costume boggles me), the cast ofCowboy Bebop--complete with stuffed dog and Red Dragongoons--and the lovable fool who had the balls to weartwenty pounds of chains and cosplay as KoF's Chang. Me, Iwent around as Kusanagi Kyo, and Wild Daigo. I had a lotof fun with Wild Daigo--only four people recognized me (thecostume wasn't exactly quality at that point, but itcertainly was FUN, which is all I care about) and two ofthem asked me for tips on Project Justice.

Another impressive effort award goes to the guys who madetheir own Boo consciences using the wings from a weddingcake (or something) and a stuffed hamster/gerbil/rat/trichobezoarand wore them around the con as a gigantic in-joke for allMT fans.

Actually, that's how I recognized Largo on Saturday night--he'd been given one of those Boos by a delightedfan, and was staring at it fascinatedly as the glitter fromthe wings slowly started migrating from Boo's wings to hishead. What followed was one of the highlights of the con,as Largo was handed a drink, and, still fiddling with theBoo to see if it exploded or had a hidden prize orsomething, some and promptly entered the nation of ReallyDamn Smashed. Right about when he was lying down mumblingabout panels and rooms and signs, Piro called. I onlycaught half of the conversation, but I felt a great deal ofsympathy for Piro for having to conduct daily dealings withLargo. I think I got fired and re-hired two or three timesduring that span of time, too.

Hmm. All in all, I liked A-kon for the sheer fact that Ihung out with so many great people--oh, and Largo, mustn'tforget him--and there was a Chang cosplayer. I didn'tcatch your name, O Crazy Chained One, but wherever you are,you made my con.

Now if you'll excuse me, I want to finish preparing forOtakon before I rant about AX. Let's see, fingerlessgloves, check. Spleen fork, check. Piano wire, check. Vibrating Sheep Mk IV, gotta buy that...

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