So, funny story: the week before Otakon, I found out that my grandfather had lung cancer. (I guess you had to be there.) Spoiler alert, somehow a 90 year old man kicked cancer's ass, and I started writing this con report in November of 2015 in his house, where I've been for the past three weeks helping to take care of him, but the reason I bring this up is because, as you might imagine, this cast a bit of a pall over my con experience. Nonetheless, after talking to the girls and Dave and Chris, I decided I was still going to go. Why? Well, for one thing, Grandpa had *just* been diagnosed, so there was nothing to be done, and very little we even knew.

The day of departure was very much like every other: get up, get dressed in traveling clothes (read: items that are comfortable to drive in, as well as able to be removed easily without messing up my hair), get my hair done at the hair salon in my neighborhood, then load the pre-packed suitcase in the car of my trunk and drive on down. I was mildly concerned for two reasons: one, this would be the first time I would be driving down to Baltimore by myself, and two, the weird "graying out" I had experienced on the trip to AnimeNEXT the month before. But as to the first, I had driven about as far by myself for Avian Firefly's bachelorette party and bridal shower, and as for the second, I had done some research online, and while no one seems to be able to agree what causes it, I'm not the only person who has experienced these effects, so I took a few precautions and resolved to be doubly careful. I was all right, although I did feel it happen a few times on the way down, and I would have made good time if it hadn't been for two HUGE gridlocks of traffic I encountered, not counting the usual mess getting out of New York City. Que sera, sera. These things happen. Nevertheless, I got down to Baltimore by mid-afternoon, and checked into the Lord Baltimore, changed into my costume, did my makeup, and contacted OPIB plus the mens to see where they were.

Since it was such a beautiful day out (honestly, I've been really lucky as far as weather with every single Otakon so far--now watch as I jinx it), we decided to just shoot outdoors, across the street from the convention center. This was also the first year that Otakon decided to try mailing out badges, so rather than wait for hours on line upon arrival, I had gotten mine sent to my house (although that opened up a whole new area of worry, making sure I had remembered to pack it.) So there was nothing to stop us at all from finding a grassy patch in front of The Shops at Bank of America and just diving right in.

Being with Aki Reinii, Avian Firefly, Lady Terentia, Dave, Chris, Andy, and even Austin and Peter (who I had met at Otakon 2012, so I can't say I know them well yet--but I look forward to getting to know them better!) was a bit of a balm for my poor little overtaxed heart and mind; I didn't feel much like smiling at first, but as the day (and weekend) wore on, I did feel, if not well, then better. I had brought along the cosplay decadebook I mentioned in my AnimeNEXT report, and the girls had a good time browsing the photos while I asked them to sign. Terentia and I made sure our DSes were on so our Miis could meet again, and we tried hard to give Dave our best on the other side of his camera.

Once we were done with our Fruit Maids shoot, Dave headed off to his next appointment, and the rest of us decided to try to catch the Sailor Moon meetup on the third floor terrace. Reinii stayed with us for a little bit, but then left with Andy, Austin, and Peter to change into her evening costume. Not long after she left, Teren, Avi, and I ran into Lionel Lum! It's always wonderful to see his friendly face.

I always have such a good time at these meetups, especially these days when Sailor Moon Crystal seems to have re-ignited everybody's love for our favorite lunar goddess. If you had told me back in 2001 that some day I'd get to meet about a hundred Sailor Moon cosplayers at once, I might have exploded. As it was, between not feeling quite up to par, and there being just SO many cosplayers, I limited myself to photographing people who were cosplaying either secondary characters, or alternate forms of the senshi. I still had quite a few to choose from!

After the Sailor Moon meetup was over, I texted Doc and managed to find him in one of his brief and rare pockets of free time during the convention, so he made his way over to meet us. And this is where the first evidence of my being not quite right in the head turned up: I had been sure, absolutely sure, that I had made plans to have dinner with Doc on Friday night, leaving me free to go to the group dinner Dave always arranges on Saturday night this year. Somehow, I had gotten my signals crossed--Doc had made reservations for us Saturday night, leaving me with no plans at all for Friday! Bollucks. Well, one thing at a time--since he had the time now, we decided to wander the convention together--and since Doc had gotten to see a mutual friend of ours in New York on one of my weekends away and I had pouted more than a little childishly about that, he set about rectifying matters.

Making our way through the back hallways of the convention center, which I had never seen before, we made our way to the Photosuite, and the next thing I knew, the most beautiful Swellow gijinka walked through the door. It was Jez! He had just finished up some judging for the hallway costume contest. I hadn't seen Jez since Katsucon 2008--goodness, it's been seven years! That's pretty crazy. I really can't get over how amazing his costumes really are--I mean, I *know* how hard he works on them, and how detail oriented he is, and that he's spent years honing his craft...but STILL. Saying these things, knowing these things, and then seeing the evidence in person is two entirely seperate different things. Plus, I'm sorry, but he's just so gorgeous. I threw my arms around him and left them there for far longer than I probably should have while we caught up for a bit.

Both Doc and Jez had duties to resume, so I said goodnight for them and looked for what to do next. Linwood had caught up with our group by this point, and he and Chris took pity on me, and we decided to go out for dinner together. Linwood suggested Fugu at first, but since that's where Doc had reservations for the next day, we decided to try Nando's Peri-Peri instead, a wings place whose hook is that you can try as many different dipping sauces as you like. I love restaurants with any degree of interactivity, so we trekked the half mile to Baltimore's Little Italy--I had never been there before, I hadn't even known Baltimore *had* a Little Italy--to try it out. It was worth the walk!

It had gotten late by the time we finished dinner, so the boys walked me back to my hotel room, and joined me for a quick nightcap in the hotel bar. I had my usual scotch, Chris had a Roy Rogers (and I am *very* disappointed in myself that I'm such an old Western fan, and I hadn't even known there was a drink named after The King of Cowboys), and Linwood had a beer. I stuck to one drink, though--as usual, we had a full schedule planned for the next day!

Manga-style Sailor Moon!

Yuichiro!

Ikuku!

Tamaki poses with the Sailor Senshi

JEZ-E-ROTH!

And I love him. :)

The Ngmaster at work.

Art imitating life.

Mars is making THE stupidest face in the reference photo.

But we do strive for accuracy.

Me, Linwood, and Avi

Me and Doc

Me in mah comfy shoes.

Hey, YOU try wearing kitten heels all day!

Avi had the same idea.

But Jez's makeup? Still on point.