Today was a good day, Hamtaro.

Yes, I was marginally grumpier than yesterday, but I sincerely doubted anyone would notice. And Bruce said that, considering how miserable a bastard I felt, I was remarkably nice all morning.

I had some terrific conversations with folks in the AM, and by the time the Yuri Panel rolled around in the PM, we were down to the last few books. So, that put me in a goodish mood.

So the high point of the day was when I devloped a new game for the vendors – cosplay bingo. I’m going to create game cards and we mark off when we see old standards and wildcards. It’ll help pass the time. :-) We saw all the usual standards we look for (I got bingo at about 2 PM) and our wildcard was awesome – Hamburglar.

The Yuri Panel was pleasant. The room was mostly full, but people dribbled in and out, as they do when we end up talking about good yuri and not the stuff they like. lol

I spoke to Media Blasters during the day, and they gave me permission to formally announce their licensing of Simoun. :-) So, really, it’s official. No joke. I am going to do my damndest to see that Yuri fandumb is served well when it is released. Some of the MB ladies suggested a Simoun cosplay contest at Yuricon’s 2007 “Yurisai” event…I think that would be spectacular, don’t you? THIS is how awesome MB is – when people came up to them today to ask about Simoun, they said – “Go to the Yuri Panel.” Is that not utterly awesome?

(As an aside, I also had a chat with Geneon about Marimite. I know that they have nothing to confirm or deny about it, but that wasn’t the point of my chat. Let me just say that, *should* they ever license it, I feel slightly more comfortable that Yuri fandom will not be ignored. And incidentally, Sean, I met your friend Drew. I’m not sure he was as happy about that as I was. LOL)

After the panel we stuck around long enough to get rid of the last few books and say good bye to all our pals in the Hall, because tomorrow, we become tourists. We’re off to the art museum and other site-seeing things.

We ended the day with an overpriced, mediocre meal, but surrounded by good company, and after I watched a kung-fu vampire flick (starring Peter Cushing!), I’ve retired to my room to write this post. Now I am going to talk to my wife, because I’ve barely seen her for two days. :-)

Thanks once again to the folks at ACen for their hospitality! They will be getting a thank you note, for sure. :-) Thanks also to the folks who came to the table and to the Yuri Panel – it was great talking with you, seriously. Thanks to Donna, Serge and Bruce for everything and special thanks to Pern, Nic and Pat for drinks, snacks and bad movies. And, of course, super special hugs to my wife, who protected our table from Hamburglars while we were out talking about Yuri.

If I’m not wiped flat tomorrow, I’ll try to review something. :-) Oh, and total at-con purchases for me? Two sandwiches. How sad is that? lol

Lots of good at ACen, lots of wtf. :-)

The people were a real surprise. In general, the level of social function is realy high. I say, “Hi how are you?” and in return, I get, “Fine, thanks, how are you?” from a large portion of the congoing population. Haven’t once had to explain how that works to anyone. lol And the staff, while exhaustingly intense and often useless, have been, to a person, very polite and glad to help. :-)

Friday morning, the Exhibitor’s Hall opened at an ungodly hour. I did not arrive until a more godly one. In the first few hours, we were visted by many fans of this blog and of Yuricon and folks on the Yuricon Mailing List, and I want to say that meeting you all really made me happy. So hi to everyone who dropped by! (I’d list names, but if I forget anyone I’d feel bad, so you’ll just have to imagine me naming you, specifically.)

The day passed pretty quickly for being in a cave. We sat around chatting, ID’ing costumes, the usual. Met Shinz from #otenba, and have to say, he’s a fine young man – if you’re on the chan and looking for a cute guy, talk to him!

For dinner, my group joined Nic, Pat and Pern for pizza and bad movies. Then we all went to the shoujoai.com fan panel, where itanshi did a nice job of enacting a real-life version of the forums there. He asked what series people liked, people chatted about them and generally had some fun.

We went back to bad movies pretty much the rest of the night, since the line for Anime Hell was aptly named. I recommend Switchblade Sisters if you like pulp novels. Because it was definitely a live-action pulp novel.

The goal today is to sell out of books after (or before) the Yuri Panel (4PM in LAX room in the Hyatt) and take tomorrow off completely and all go to the Art Institute, which the wife said was absolutely fabulous.

So all that was good.

After they all started watching Jem and the Holograms I went back to my room and waited for 3 hours or so for everyone to shut the hell up, and stop running around, so I could get some sleep. Today the Exhibitor’s Hall opens even *earlier*. I’ll be late again. And grumpier than yesterday.

The Bad. Never, ever, in all my many years of bad travel karma have I stayed in a hotel where the people were that that persistently loud for that long. Every door in the hotel slams, and no one thinks to not slam them – even at 4AM. The walls and even the ceilings are paper thin and every sound is like you’re in the the other room. We both got little sleep, and what there was of it was not good.

BTW, this hotel bites. The Hyatt Regency O’Hare. DON’T stay here. They charge for internet access – you can’t use the refrigerator. It’s wired, so if you even pick something up from it, you get charged. Isn’t that absurd? Go across the street to the Doubletree, or down the road further – the Holiday Inn Select sounds *amazing*. Large screen HDTV. Free intertubes. Microwave, fridge. That sounds much more inviting.

So anyway, today Yuri Panel and hopefully tomorrow, touristy stuff. See you at 4PM. :-)

If you are planning on attending Anime Central in Rosemont, IL on May 11-13 at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare and Convention Center, please join myself, and Yuricon Staffers Katie, Bruce and Serge for the Yuri panel!

The Yuri Panel will be at 4PM on Saturday, May 12. At the moment, it is scheduled for the LAX room. But check the schedule that day for any changes in time or location. This panel is for ALL ages. Not just 18+, as I prefer to do with all the Yuri panels I run. (We talk about anime and manga…not sex or politics.)

Yuricon and ALC Publishing will have a table in the Exhibitor’s Hall, as well, where you can get our newest all-yuri anthology “Yuri Monogatari 4” and other 100% Yuri from ALC!

We hope you’ll all drop by the table, pick up some great Yuri, and we’ll see you at the panel!