I'm trapped at work until 8 pm, and blogger is one of the few sites I that's not blocked. What does that mean? BLOG POST! I'm trying to get myself on a weekly schedule: Mondays: Small Website Update No more letting lots of little things pile up and making big updates, now little updates every week. I've actually been doing this for a while, but keep forgetting to post about it on the main page. Tuesdays: Post *something* on my message board Seems silly to make this an item, but I find myself readning and nodding along to a lot of things and thinking about responding, but then don't. I've got a great group of people posting, and I want to keep it going. Wednesday: Compile written bits of fanfiction I've gotten into the habit of writing little bits of stories to myself on my lunchbreak via email. On Wed I compile 'em together to see what I've got. Thursday: Do some business. New button design, makes some buttons, track down cons to go to. Something so It's not so last minute all the time! Friday: Goof off and read manga. Everyone needs a goof off day! Saturday: Write Fanfiction or new stuff... I'm thinking of switching this to blog maybe. Sunday: Chat with the girls. Sundays id RosettaStone Cafe chat day. I've missed the last two. :_: I try to make this whenever possible!

I'm in Africa! If that's not a reason to blog I don't know what is. ^_^ I'm going to completely ignore that I went to a very fun convention in Pittsburgh (Tekkoshocon 06) that I never blogged about and move right on into this trip. In Africa! So, you might as yourself, why is resident geek/otaku convention addict Merrow in Africa? And where in Africa? Africa is a pretty big continent. Right now I am in Cotonou, Benin. I am visting my best friend who has been working for the US Embassy for the past year. Its been a long time coming (almost 2 years of saving up!) but I finally stepped on the plane April 30th. Let's begin this blog with the actual trip to get to Benin... 'cause half the fun (horror) of any vacation is getting there! The plan was, I was to fly from NY to Boston, then from Boston to Paris and then Paris to Cotonou. At Boston I was supposed to meet up with Shelly, my friend here in Benin, who'd been visiting home and was now returning. Benin is a French speaking West African country. I don't speak French besides the obvious, Bonjour, Au Revoir and Crossaint. Shelly does speak French, so you can see how this could make things a lot easier. The first snag hit at Boston. There is always a snag. I picked up my luggage (I had an extra suitcase full of food and other things Shelly and her husband had bought stateside and wanted to return with.) I then had to find gate e, where I could check onto the flight for France. I thought I was lucky when I found out it was only a Five minute walk outside. It got in line and there were a lot of people. I started to get nervous because my flight was at 5:30 and it was already almost 4. Someone from Air France started coming around asking when our flights were. I said 5:30 and as one almost the whole line stepped back to let me pass. When I got up to the counter they told me that the flight was closed!! It had been for about 15-20 minutes! I did the only logical thing a person could to at that moment. I burst into tears. I had no idea how to get in touch with Shelly and let her know what was going on. She was supposed to be up at the gate waiting for me. If I missed this flight, I faced the prospect of having to get to Benin all on my own. Now it wasn't the thought of flying to France that scared me, or flying from France to Benin. It was what happens when I get to Beinin? I can't speak the language, I wouldn't have any of the local currency (Shelly was going to change my money when I got there) and I had way to contact her when I got there. Luckily they explained to me that I wouldn't miss my connecting flight to Cotonou and would be able to meet up with my friend in Paris before I had a complete meltdown. I didn't stop crying though, because it was making people work faster. ^_^ I started out with one woman helping me and ended up with about 4 because people kept passing and going "She's crying, why is she crying?" They promised to let Shelly know where I was and that I'd meet up with her in France. As I got my new tickets and checked my bag, I got a call on my cell from Shelly panicking about where I was. I explained the whole thing and found out why I'd been locked out of the flight I paid for a month previous. Air Italia had apparently canceled flights for 2 days, without telling any of their passengers! They were all being re-routed onto Air France, which is why my seat was given up to someone else. Her flight hadn't boarded yet, so we talked about how upsetting it was that we'd be seperated for the 6 hour flight to Paris and how she was envious that I'd be spending time in Boston while she had to sit alone at the Charles De Gault Airport, which is much more boring. Then it came time for her to board her plane. At the gate they told her the message they'd promised to pass on and then asked her if she'd like to take the later flight with me! They even sat us together. All that panic and tears for nothing! Well... I like to think that it helped us get to sit together, but who knows. The flight itself was pretty uneventful. I read the bulk of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, watched the Chronicles of Narnia, and ate bad airplane food. We arrived in the morning at the Charles De Gualt airport, the only part of Paris I saw. Here is me, shopping in Paris: I think I'll stop this blog entry with that excellent photo of myself, sleep deprived, rumpled and being silly. Tomorrow I'll talk about my arrival in Benin and some of the things I've seen here so far.

Oh, and as a side note, I keep saying that maybe I'll write in smaller chunks and try to post more frequently, both here and with my fanfictions... Yeah, that doesn't work for me. Once I sit down to write, I write... a lot. I hope to write more often, but I think people are just going to have to deal with me writing lots every once and a while instead of a lot of little posts.

A couple of updates in my life: (The short version) 1) I'm down to 1 job again. No more manga discount (sob). 2) My convention year has started again, so I still have no free time 3) I've been to one con already and have lots more planned for the year. 4) They're having a mini-con within WALKING distance of my house! 5) I'm going to Africa. For realz. 6) I want just one day without pain. Please. Now into a little detail (ie, the long version). 1) isn't such a big deal, I have like 2 months worth of manga that I still haven't read yet, so I don't think I'll be missing the manga discount too much. (And besides, Waldenbooks/Borders has started up a new rewards program...sweet!)I've actually been making an effort to read what I buy in a more timely manner. I'd decided a while ago that I wasn't going to buy any more until I read what I have. Instead of that working out to mean that I don't actually buy more, it's been working out to "I have to read it faster so I can keep buying." I've been trying to relax more because I've been feeling very stressed, so it's actually worked out well. I *force* myself to have at least 1 hour a day to just sit back and read, and I do feel a lot better for it. 2) Gah... I'm meant to never have free time again, that's what I've decided... but that's okay because I'm having fun. Or at least that's what I tell myself. It seemed like the week I stopped working for Waldenbooks I started prepping for Katsucon. But I feel bad at the same time because there are things I want to do, like update fanfics, or update this site or Redbutterfly, or play with my new dolls that keep getting shunted to the side because I have to make buttons or make plans or whatever. So I'm trying to manage my time better, I've been working on my fanfics at work, between tasks and emailing the bits to myself to assemble later one. It's worked pretty well, I have a massive update building for Spotted! The only problem is I can't work on the one that needs an update the worst, Belated Gift, because it's defintely not work safe. I'm going to have to a make time to work on stuff like that at home... 3)I went to Katsucon '06. There is always drama involved w/ Katsucon, more so than any other con I go to. Sometimes it's me drama (all my fault, ie the year I got sick and my car got totaled), some times it's the con's drama (the year they over-sold the artist alley and didn't notify people.) And sometimes it's not all about me. This year the drama was Mindy's, the girl who nicely shared both her hotel room and table with me. Now, I've been pretty lucky con-wise. Most people I know who actively go to cons are familiar with "Con Drama." I've managed to avoid it for the most part. Usually con drama happens between roommates or groups of friends who decide that a convention is the PERFECT place to dump a girlfriend/boyfriend, dig up an old argument with a friend, or generally decide to act like an asshat. Then everyone splits up into groups and ends up feuding and sniping at eachother all during the con, or talking about who's feuding and sniping instead of having fun. This was my first real experience with that kind "Con Drama." Mindy sells "Kitty Kits", cat ears and tail sets for quick cosplay. She had let another couple share her table and room at AnimeUSA, now that same couple was back, and selling "Kit Kat Customs" basically rip off versions of Mindy's tails and ears. (They'd gone as far as to buy a pair from her at AnimeUSA and the pattern was suspiciously close.) Now according to Mindy they had asked if they could sell ears and tails and she said, fine as long as it's not at a con she's at. So all weekend long it was a he-said-she-said between the two of them with them bad mouthing Mindy to customers and Mindy getting upset and blah-blah-blah. I can understand that was a very upsetting situation for Mindy. I just don't think that any of the parties involved really conducted themselves at 100% (but it was defintely the other people who were the asshats... they should have taken down their tails etc) But at the same time Mindy should have concentrated on just making her sales, and not on what the other people were saying... Instead we spent a lot of time calming her down and working out things like trips to Kinko's (to make signs saying "original kitty kits") and me holding down her table while she discussed the situation with people. For the most part it didn't bother me. The only thing that upset me was not being able to see the AMV contest (my one must-see thing at every con)because she'd disappeared and left me to man both tables. I didn't see a single thing of Katsucon other then the Artist Alley and the metro station. I did get to ride the metro with Samus (from Metroid) and Lady Eboshi Gazen (in battle gear w/ forest god head), and talk with some really cool artists in the Alley. I am planning to go to more conventions, here's my tentative schedule (* indicate tentative, everything else is for sure): March 25th - AnimeSyracuse (more about that below) March 31st-April 2nd - Tekkoshocon - Pittsburgh, PA May 26th-28th - Anime North - Toronto, Ontario July 1st-5th - Anime Expo - Anaheim, California September 2nd-4th - Anime Vegas* - Las Vegas, Nevada ('cause Vegas) September 22nd-24th - Anime Weekend Atlanta* - Atlanda, Georgia After September, I don't know. 4) There is an anime event happening in my hometown, not even that but within WALKING distance of my house! AnimeSyracuse, it's going from 11 am to 6 pm. They've got a great line up of movies, shows and even a world premeire Kaiju-style Monster Movie Negadon, and a sneak peak of Animation Runner Karumi 2 (directored by the of Fruits Basket and Kodomo No Omocha). They've got a couple of vendors and a special rate for cosplayers. It's only $10 in and $5 for cosplayers. You can buy tickets online at Flying Turtle Toys (one of the sponsors). I'm donating buttons to the convention, and if you register on their forums there are special buttons just for forum members, designed by member Torren. I'm very excited about having a local event! I hope it grows into something bigger and I hope to keep staying involved. 5)I'm going to visit a friend in Africa. She's been working there for a year, and I've been saving since before she left. I have the money, passport and I'm in the process of getting the immunizations, plane ticket(s), and visa. The first 2 weeks of May is when I'll be gone. It's becoming much more real now, instead of just a maybe or a probably. I'm not nervous yet, that'll happen like the week before. Everyone keeps asking what I'm going to do there. Truth is, I don't know yet, not beyond visiting with my best friend. They have internet at her house, so maybe I'll try to blog about it when I'm there. I can't promise anything though. 6)Ever since coming back from Katsucon I've been in some form of pain. I had a killer headache the moment I got off the plane, and it just got worse until by monday night it felt like the whole left side of my face was tender. By Tues I'd figured out it was because of my teeth. I made an emergency trip to the dentist and surprise, surprise, I had caveties (I always have caveties... I brush and floss and it doesn't make a difference 'cause of my stupid weak enamel). They gave me some pain killers and I made an appointment to get them fixed. After going through a weekend of hell, I had to call them back to move up the appointment because I'd gone through the pain killers, and still had like 2 weeks left until my appointment. So they fit me in, and drilled 2 teeth (while telling me I had others that also needed it but these were the 2 worst). Then for a week after that my gums hurt from all the irritation. Just as that started to fade away I started getting a sharp pain just under my eye. It seems like my sinuses are acting up now. It really hurts, I have a dr's appointment tomorrow so I'm going to bring it up then. But really, all I want is one day where something doesn't hurt! I'm such a wimp, I know there are people who are in a lot worse pain then I am, but this has been going on for like 2 months now!