On a related note, I’ve just discovered a new show I like, TV Land’s She’s Got the Look is quite an unexpected treat. It’s like America’s Top Model, but featuring women over 35. I don’t know what the ratings are like, but it’s nice to see some very attractive (ie hawt) older women on TV for a change! Here’s overview of the show from Self Magazine.

But I guess that wouldn’t satisfy the desire for delicious vengeance. Vengeance is not justice, and in a country where so many profess to be Christians, they should know that vengeance and justice belong to the Lord. Vengeance is mine saith the Lord, I will repay! (Romans 12:19-21) I guess God’s justice just isn’t good enough for blood thirsty people. Maybe we should do what it says on the money and trust God, instead of trying to sit on His throne all the time.

The internal circuits are essentially painted conductor on thin plastic film. I noticed a number of dark areas probably due to oxidation. So I cleaned these areas with a cotton swab dipped in alcohol, drying the swabbed areas with the dry end of the swab. I paid special attention to the area of the bad R key. I then reassembled the keyboard and am happily typing this post with it, R’s and all!^___^

Saturday the main focus was on cosplay and the masquerade. I always bring out my new costumes on Saturday, so I spent the day as Shuichi Shindou and finally got a chance to experience fangirls first hand. It was pretty cool having people recognize the character and call out, “hey Shuichi!” Not to mention getting a number of hugs and photo requests. Kakkoi!^_^ The kids were pretty popular in costume too, especially my youngest son as little Mario!

Attending the masquerade after a year’s absence felt really good! I was so angry last year at having missed it that there was no way I was going to let that happen again. The show was good, but I felt like there were too many yaoi skits. A couple of years ago, it was fresh and new, but there are no more original yaoi skits to be done, so please people, just stop it. After the masquerade I spent some time on a serious photo quest before I would need to dump my bag for the Soap Bubble rave. This period was interrupted by the now annual arrival of paramedics to take someone to the hospital.

The line to enter the dance was very long and part outside in the cold which was not going to work well with the costume I was wearing. So I decided to wait it out watching some totally f*d up crazy videos with ngsilver and company. After a wait, the line was gone and I went into the dance where I was immediately hugged by a young woman who liked my costume, yay!^^ I really don’t know how long I danced that night, all I know is that it was after 4am when I got back to my room. Yes, I had a ridiculously good time!

Sunday is usually a somber day at cons for me because it means the party is nearly over. This one was little different except for a lot more check out drama than usual. I was so happy about the previous night that I was determined to make things as easy as possible getting my crew out of the room. So I ended up carrying a lot of stuff great distances and giving a lot of commands to keep everyone coordinated. I think it worked pretty well. Working together we got it all done. After sending the wife and kids back to the city, I went to the AMV awards and then made my final swing through the dealers room before heading back to the city myself.

ACen 2008 was definitely better than 2007 for me! I got a lot more photos than last year (click here for photos) and I had a lot more fun cosplaying. A week later and I’m still smiling.^_^

I made a lot of mistakes last year which I think I corrected this year. First, once I realized there was no way I’d get the Gene Starwind and Melfina costumes done in time, I dropped them. Last year I was feverishly finishing costumes on Thursday and Friday morning, which made me miss a lot of stuff. Doing that took a lot of weight off of my shoulders which was good because I was actually quite sick Thursday and Friday so I couldn’t push too hard if I was going to make the show at all. Another thing I did was better plan for the worst and adjusted my expectations. In particular, last year my lovely wife was totally freaked out by my crossplays and didn’t really want to be seen with me at all. That was unexpected, and hurt a lot. I didn’t think that her feelings were going to change a lot, so I didn’t plan anything that would require her presence. She stuck with the younger kids doing kid stuff while we used text messages to keep track of each other and our older daughter who’s old enough to do things on her own. This actually worked out much better than I could have imagined, and we did rendevous on a number of occasions and it was okay.

So all in all, I had a ridiculously good time which I’ll detail here a little later. Here’s one of my favorite cosplayer pictures. I think she makes a really cute Haruhi!^_^

Nobody likes high fuel prices and the ripple of higher prices they cause across the economy. But who knows, if people really do slim down, maybe we, as a nation, will get it all back in the lower health costs associated with a healthier populace. And with smaller sized people, maybe we won’t need those giant SUVs anymore!

With Clinton as his running mate, he will have her onboard 100% to make a strong pitch to the people who supported her to support them both in the general election. Some of these people will still defect, but I’m guessing that most will not. I don’t know if Obama and Clinton like each other much personally at all. But if they want the White House back, they’d better work together. Clinton supporters aren’t going to buy it if she isn’t on the ticket.