In an almost unprecedented move, Lou and I *actually* got out of the hotel room in good time Saturday morning. Oh, sure, the toilet clogged up again, so we had to call somebody to come help us with that, but we made sure we were dressed and out of the door so that we could both make it to photoshoots at 11.

These days I just snap a photo (if I have my camera), and hand each cosplayer a slip of paper with my name, e-mail address, and the name and address of Sailor Moon Avatars, and hope that they'll feel like contacting me.

It means I lose out on some of the cosplayers I would've gone after in the old days, but at this point, Sailor Moon Avatars is growing steadily enough that the loss of one or two people who really aren't all that interested to begin with, isn't going to make or break the site.

It wasn't the biggest it had ever been, but everyone who was there had such beautifully made costumes!

I'm sorry I missed out on the Trigun photoshoot, though. When I cosplayed Meryl last year, we were dying to find other characters to pose with, but we barely even found any Wolfwoods! (Found two great Millies, though!) There were a lot of the characters at this shoot, though.

Anyway, back to the Sailor Moon shoot. So, the rest of Outer Power, Inner Beauty was there as well, and after the big group photos were done, we posed together on our own to allow other photographers to get a few shots of us.

That group is amazing, everyone's costumes were so well made. And I couldn't believe, even though my costume was made at a completely different time, and by a completely different person, we still all seemed to match so well! And the colors of our dresses photographed so vibrantly, we are all really pleased.

After posing for a few general shots, David Ng herded us together, and we started off on a trek for our private photoshoot with him.

As soon as we stepped outside, we were BLASTED by heat. If those dresses all had sleeves, I doubt we would have made it; as it was, they're all floor length gowns, and mine is made of faux-velvet, so we were HOT. And it was quite a walk to the location Dave had selected, but it was well worth it.

We posed near this gorgeous waterfall...sculpture...structure, I really don't know how to describe it. I have never gone to it before, but I recognized it from some of Dave's previous photoshoots. The water is so blue!

We took a lot of beautiful shots with Dave, which I won't go into right now, as they are up in full here, and I'll be creating a separate page for them under "Photoshoots" on BS&G shortly. Let me just say that everyone had a wonderful time, everyone came up with really inspired poses and picture ideas, I enjoyed all of the girls I was meeting for the first time, and spending more time with Avi and Dave in general. And the pictures came out FANTASTIC--nothing less from the Ng Master!

Dave and our Neo Queen Serenity, Tsukinohime3, had to dash off to attend an autograph session, so the four inner princesses and Small Lady posed for a few more group pics, and then took turns taking pictures of each other. Those pictures will probably be displayed both here on the Princess Mars page, and of course on Sailor Moon Avatars, so keep an eye out for them!

Unfortunately, by the time we were done, being out in the sun had given me a WHOPPING headache. So, saying goodbye to Avi and the others, I headed back inside to take yet another turn through the dealer's room to find Hime-chan.

Sigh. STILL no luck. Princess Mars was very hot, and I really needed a break at this point, so Lou and I headed back to the hotel to change into our Final Fantasy VIII costumes.

I'd like to digress for a moment here--I can't believe Lou's Zell costume has held up as well as it has all this time. For those of you who don't remember, *I* made that Zell costume, with help from both Lou and even some from Alex, for BAAF 2003. It was made in one week. I believe glue was used at some point. How is it still in wearable condition? The world may never know.

So, getting to wear Rinoa to match Lou's Zell was something I was really looking forward to--we had originally thought we were both going to be in at least Final Fantasy wear together the first time around, but due to BAAF's holding the cosplay competition on Sunday, we missed our chance that time. Then, we got to be Tifa and Zell together at Otakon 2004, but it's still not the same. Finally, we got to match, and it was a lot of fun.

I realized something, though: I make a TERRIBLE Rinoa. All day, I felt like I was Tifa cosplaying as Rinoa. Partially I think it's because my hair is all wrong; it's too long, and I should at least have made sure it framed my face and covered my ears. In retrospect, I also forgot to get a black ribbon to tie around my arm. Damnation. Maybe next time--I really should wear this again at least one more time, because I got very, VERY few good pictures in this outfit.

My own insecurities aside, the costume itself is WONDERFUL. It's incredibly well made, really, really accurate, and I have to say, incredibly comfortable. I was originally going to wear my super-control stockings underneath my shorts, because I always wear stockings to help my legs look better, but once I changed into the body suit and shorts and that wondefully soft duster, I just couldn't bring myself to wear them. This is the very first time I ever went without stockings at a con, and it felt almost like being in normal clothes (something else I've never done at a con.) The only thing that kept this from being my most comfortable costume ever was that my combat boots were really heavy. They were great for the soles, but after a day of walking around in them, my shins were complaining!

Anyway, we had just gotten up to the main door of the convention center when Lou realized he left his badge back at the hotel. I had just called Patti on my cell phone to tell her I'd be there, so Lou offered to run back and get it while I went on ahead. I made my way down to the fountains again (those of you who haven't gone to Otakon yet, they are the main meeting place for...everything, really) to catch them at the Inuyasha photoshoot.

I spotted Patti right away, and Steph shortly thereafter, but I didn't want to just dive into the middle of a photoshoot (especially out of character), you know? Plus, I knew how much work they had both put into their armor--tackleglomping would have DEFINITELY broken SOMETHING. So I danced around in place impatiently while I waited for the massive amounts of phototaking to be over.

While I waited, I spotted a familiar head of teal hair heading down the escalator. It was Michi and Ruka! We backed up traffic (and probably got yelled at, I wasn't paying attention to anything but them in that moment) while I threw myself into their arms, babbling incoherently. We hadn't seen each other in so long, and I love them so much. This country is too damn big.

Soon after squeeing myself into oblivion with them, Patti came up and grabbed me from behind, and I finally, finally, FINALLY got to rest my head on her shoulder. (And, I would've rested my head on Steph's shoulder, but I probably would've gotten another piercing, if you catch my drift. ^.^) Meeting Patti and Steph was absolutely wonderful--it wasn't like we were meeting for the first time at all, it's like we had been friends for years and years and were reuniting after a long absence. Perfectly wonderful.

I couldn't spend long with them right away, though, because we had made plans ahead of time to meet up with Chris, Lou's "blood brother" who lives in D.C. So Chris called us from outside the con center, and we grabbed Rich and Matt and Jen, and marched our way (Matty complaining humorously the entire way) over to the mall, which I had never been to before, to check out the food court. Yay for getting Nathan's in the middle of Baltimore! :) We had a great time hanging out with Chris, I wish he loved closer, too!

At this point, we STILL hadn't made it to the dealer's room, so Lou and I decided to check that out. Guess what? It's STILL huge. And I got pretty dizzy while wandering around...I'm not sure if it's because it was just an exciting weekend, or if it was because it was hot, or if because large places with a lot of stuff in it makes me dizzy anyway (like supermarkets), but at one point Matty bopped me on the head as a joke, and I almost passed out. Not cool--although Matt's horrified expression was pretty funny. So, back to the hotel room with us. Lou and I made a lot of trips back and forth to the hotel this year, but I think that is partially just because we COULD--we were a block away this year, and that's the closest we've ever been!

After a bit, we headed back to the con again. I finally found Hime-chan and Molly in the Artist's Alley, where they were selling their new sourcebook for The Trials of Raphael, a story they are writing and illustrating together. If you want more information, keep an eye on Angel Jules Studios, plug plug plug. :) It was great to see her again, and especially, to see her doing so well. And her art is better then ever! I'm so jealous.

I also was desperate to try to meet up with Cristi, but when I called her, she was on her way to judge the cosplay competition. So I went to the cosplay competition, but they had already herded her inside, and wouldn't let her out! The facists! There was no way I was sitting through the entire masquerade (no offense, I'd even like to get back into doing skits at some point, but Otakon's must be HUGE and several hours long, and I was starving already!) so I told Cristi I'd try to catch her later, and left to try to find some dinner.

The Crew (Jenny, Usagi Seion, and I, and our boyfriends) had decided beforehand that we HAD to all have dinner together down in Baltimore, because it was the closest we'd have to a group vacation this year (or a vacation at all, in my case) and it was such a momentous occasion for us all to be together--Matty detests (most) anime, and isn't really fond of travel, so for him to attend Otakon was a really huge deal. We went to the same fancy restaurant we had gone two the last two years on Saturday nights, Luna del Sea, and had a really great meal, and really great conversation.

We ended off the night by grabbing David Ng and Tony K and heading off to the Marriott's lounge for a couple of drinks, as we've so rarely gotten a chance to just relax together without having cameras going. We had a ball! Tony brought absinthe truffles for Lou, Usagi Seion, and I to try, and they were to DIE for--and I don't even like chocolate all that much! And Dave treated me to a drink, and Matty got tipsy on one mouthful of beer and...osmosis, possibly, I don't know. We had a ball.

And then we went to bed. We were exhausted!