Epsilon said:
So since you're heading to a convention in Florida, that means you've gotten your personal issues more or less settled and can put the muse to work when you return from your trip?
No, it means a friend with spare money didn't want to drive alone for the five hours it takes to get there.
The 'Con wasn't bad, exactly, but there was no Con Suite I could find, the convention center choose not to refill the vending machines over a weekend, despite having a thousand-plus nerds present, so the Coke machines were nearly empty by Saturday afternoon, and pretty much gone on Sunday - and the snack machine had three products left (the ones almost no-one wanted, obviously).
The computer they had running the video lairs malfunctioned, a lot: we frequently either had no subtitles, sound and subs out of sink with the video, sound and subs out of sink with each other, no sound, no video, or nothing at all. OTOH, the staff were courteous, and perfectly willing to fix it every time it went wrong. When fixed, it at least stayed fixed long enough to finish whatever set of episodes were playing. Also, they had a good selection of new anime, and next year, will most likely do better, since this was a new machine. Maybe they'll go back to the tried and true method of 'guy-or-gal coming in every few hours to change the DVDs'.
The Dealer's Room was huge, and interesting, with plenty of variety, though no-one seems to have been selling Japanese food this year. Beyond that minor disappointment, no problems, there. I have an Urahara hat now, if anyone cares. No geta, though.
I kept missing the Human Chess tournaments, so I can't comment on them, but my friend went to several panels, and seemed to like them.
Also, lots and lots of pretty girls in neat and/or skimpy costumes. Some of the costumes I saw were incredibly elaborate, and must have taken mad amounts of work, time, and money.
Finally, one thing I
highly recommend for any convention: they had their security staff talk to anyone who was especially smelly, and send them off to shower, which resulted in a 'Con that was far
less odious on Saturday and Sunday, than it was Friday morning. EDIT: I have a fairly weak sense of smell, and I could smell BO on Friday. My friend Steve has a normal sense of smell, and even he thought it was no-longer bad on Saturday and Sunday, so clearly, it worked.
All-in-all, I think I'll want to attend, next year, though I'll want to bring more of my own snacks.
