Did I say it was going to be a long day? Well, let me tell you, I was prescient.

The morning came with good and bad news: the wife was feeling better, and I was feeling not so much. Luckily my immune system was up to the task and she was on the mend, so overall, we were both okay for the trip home. Which was good, because our plane was delayed by 5 hours.

Narita isn’t as big as it looks initially, when you have something like 9 hours to kill. :-) Oh, and it closes, I mean the airport *closes* at 10PM. Lights going off, TVs off, stores closed. Our plane began to board at 10:15 or so. I feared that if they didn’t get us off the ground soon, we’d be stuck overnight.

But off the ground we got and miracle of miracles, the car service was there to pick us up, so here I am, at home, on my comfy sofa, contemplating sleeping in my pluffy bed. But before I did that, I wanted to share a picture with you all.

This is all the stuff *I* brought home in our checked luggage, not counting all the shrine related goodies and the wife’s stuff (well, I included her Sailor Moon lockets.) This is all the stuff that, should it be lost in shipping, I’d cry. There’s novels, Drama CDs, anthologies, manga, artbooks, calendars, some key doujinshi and a whole lotta other crap. :-) Or, as the wife says, “It’s not crap, it’s good stuff.”

The prize among all of it, is the stuff I got at Fujieda Miyabi’s table at Comiket – the stuff I waited an hour to get, and when I got it, it was totally worth it. :-) There’s an artbook, a nifty bag, a calendar called “Iono-sama’s black haired girls” which is squee-worthy for the picture of Frechet (official spelling at last!) and Arata all snuggly. Squueeee! :-) And some doujinshi, including his Strawberry Panic doujinshi.

Now, I must end this narrative and dive into my pile of good stuff, wallow a bit, then crash. Before I do, let me take this opportunity to thank, from the bottom of my heart, Rica Takashima and Bruce Pregger. Not only could I not have done half what I did without you, having you there made it just that much better. :-)

Tomorrow – reviews!