In a matter of speaking, I just want to say that I could never forget the way you told me everything

[hazelchaz]

Photos online. And most of them have captions. Help me fill in the gaps!
LASFS/Aftermeetings part 354: Coral Cafe (18-Jun-2009) et seq.
LASFS/Aftermeetings part 356: Coral Cafe (25-Jun-2009) et seq.
Irvine Cosplay Picnic at Mason Park (20-Jun-2009)
Anaheim Gardenwalk and the Anaheim Marriott (21-Jun-2009)
Napmobile and a fenderbender (21-Jun-2009)
Anime Los Angeles 6 meetings part 2: Exec Dinner/Meeting (26-Jun-2009) et seq.
Anime Los Angeles 6 meetings part 6: General Meeting (27-Jun-2009) et seq.
Moving Melissa (28-Jun-2009)
Victoria's Picture Gallery: Anime Expo 2009: Saturday (04-Jul-2009)
Melissa and the Fan Gallery cases (11-Jul-2009)
Anaheim Marriott Tour (16-Jul-2009)
La Verne Cosplay Picnic at Las Flores Park (18-Jul-2009)
The picture of neo_serenity is from the exec dinner.

Losing my camera at Anime Expo really rocked me back as far my picture-taking goes. Using a 4 GB memory card in the camera means that I lost several hundred photos all at once.

So that's why you haven't seen much from me here: I like to post updates on my LJ when I put photos up, and losing my camera and an entire convention's worth of photos (because I lost it Sunday during move-out) had a deeper impact than just the one gap in my "fossil record."

Long-time readers of my LJ may have noticed I don't usually talk about my feelings that much. (Although sometimes you can read between the lines.) What matters most is what I do -- actions are far more important than intentions.

Oh, there's more going on than just my emotional state, of course. I've taken more photos since Anime Expo, but the photos in the queue have been on hold because of other non-photo, non-blog reasons. Family health issues and household management issues, and if I can be discarding and shredding old papers any of that comes before puttering around on my website.

I've just spent a few nights (in my copious free time) captioning some of the backlog. I think I've got to stop taking so many group photos -- they slow me down so much in the captioning phase!

I've been putting a few inconsequential updates on my facebook. Nothing major, but I wanted to repeat here the bigger items that I've mentioned there.

The "Potluck Party Room" at Costume College was a big success. I also think that making signs and flyers for the Costume Exhibit paid off: The Costume Exhibit got 314 visitors, based on counting badge stickers we gave out. The Potluck Party Room/Peanut Butter and Jelly Oasis was open from about 11 to 5 all three days and had 154 visitors over the course of the weekend, as many as 80 on the peak day. It was opposite the Costume Exhibit. (Why did 160 people not check us out? A curious mystery. Perhaps we should make a sign for the door that says "Unofficial Exhibit Room." Next year Costume College will be at the Warner Center Marriott, Woodland Hills, so it'll be a whole new ballgame anyway.)

I'm planning to do the same kind of thing at pmx in November. All three days of the convention, and announce it as an all-weekend potluck party.

Between now and PMX: I'll be at Tiki Oasis this weekend (just for fun), Anime Vegas (in a convention center), and a small anime convention at CSU Northridge. So PMX is the next opportunity to do any kind of hospitality beyond giving away granola bars and candy at our table.

For loscon, I'm hosting a Confirmation: Westercon 63 party. "Poofy dresses (especially white ones), shirt and tie, or school uniform" will be the dress code. We're toying with the idea of using a "Confirmitzvah" theme, stay tuned for that.

Some small convention news: Autumn Dream/Ani-Magic has changed their name, dates, and venue. They're back to calling themselves Ani-Magic and they've got a new hotel in Palmdale with a pool. As it happens, I currently don't have plans for any cons in October at all. I won't be attending Ani-Magic, Saboten-Con or Yaoi-Con.

Looking ahead to next year, Gallifrey One has new dates on the same last-February-weekend as ConDor. My February plans are in flux, I still don't know if AOD/Animation on Display is coming back to San Franciso that month either. Fannatiku Fest 4 will be the first weekend of March, and I plan to check out this little St. George, Utah convention. It's just two or three hours beyond Las Vegas...

This year, Animeland Vegas and Animeland Tucon were both scheduled on weekends I had commitments on. I'm crossing my fingers and waiting for their 2010 dates. Animeland Otaku Mex out in New Mexico is too far for me. Ani-Jam in Fresno hasn't announced their 2010 dates yet either. Hoping they pick something that doesn't conflict with the cons I've already pencilled in.

The weekend after Easter is Anime Conji down in San Diego, which will be another anime convention with a con suite -- we won't be able to say "animelosangeles is the only anime convention in California, Arizona or Nevada with a con suite" anymore.

Wizard World's Anaheim Comic-Con is starting up next April, on the weekend after Anime Conji. Phoenix Comicon is moving to spring dates, on Memorial Day Weekend opposite FanimeCon and baycon. Arrgh! I do tell people that I don't go to the same conventions every year, but that doesn't mean they should go scheduling everything opposite each other!

I also think I need to check out Kin-Yoobi Con next year, if I can. They're just a one-day summer event at a college in Hayward, but they've been going for a few years now. Something like RECCA Con, back in the day.

I mentioned last month that I've purchased a new camera. I haven't found the "sports" setting yet, but I've started playing with the High ISO option for available light shots. You can see I've started posting the first crop of photos from the new camera.