[Yeah, you could say I'm in a state of mind good enough to finish telling about San Diego, but you'd be wrong. I'm just forcing it. I know I'll regret this later if I don't put down my memories, so there. New postage re: 7.18-7.20]

It almost didn't happen--I almost didn't go. But. Miraculously enough, I found myself leaving here and arriving at Auntie J and Uncle D's house in N. Hollywood late Friday night with the godfather and Je. We'd made good time--only 4 and a half hours. I got to sleep around midnight...and then woke up at 5:30 Saturday morning as the drive to San Diego would take a couple hours. That sucked a lot less than I thought it would because I fell asleep the minute we got back into the car. :D

I woke up at nine when we arrived at the convention center. The doors wouldn't open until ten, but there was a line of people stretching around the entire building, possibly around the block, and the whole sidewalk was packed with people moving to fall into line. I was able to clear a way and preserve my personal space because I had the pully-suitcase thing with all the godfather's books to get signed, and the portfolio with all the samples. We discovered this year that if we registered at Disabled Services, I'd get in free because I count as his 'attendant', so that we did. (Except...my badge really did have the word 'Attendant' on it, instead of my name. Boohoo.) Je, sadly, had to get in the longass registration line (even if he did cut) for his badge.

Once we were all registered around 10:15, the godfather and I ran to the DC Orientation. I am so, soooo happy they ditched the old portfolio review system. How it werked was, if you wanted your portfolio reviewed, you'd have to enter in a lottery, and only a certain number of people would have the chance to be reviewed. Now, they were welcoming any and all samples--provided the people had the application sheet. The samples would be turned in into a box at the DC Booth, the editors would review them that night, and post the names of people they actually wanted to see the next morning. So we went back downstairs and turned in his envelope, then fell in line at the Wizard booth to meet with this one editor for Marvel...Cebulski(?) I think his name was. His reaction to the godfather's werk was pretty typical of the rest of the editors we'd be seeing that day--something like, "hey, this is good, you're almost there, you just need to werk on..."

This is the fifth time I've gone with the godfather to a convention. The first time was two years ago. Nothing's changed, fuckdammit. Every editor has told him that he was sure to get in the business if he just pushed a tiny bit more and werked on this or that little aspect of his style. Fuck. Same shit, different year. What is that?? It's so frustrating to watch. But in comic books there's a lot more supply than there is demand, and being great doesn't cut it--you have to be phenomenal. Argh. The thought of 'it's not fair' kept running through my head the entire time we were visiting editors...[FYI: throughout the whole day, we visited DC, Marvel, Dark Horse (yup, got the bases covered on the Big 3 :D), Oni, AK comics, and Devil's Due (yeah, who the hell are the last two anyway?).] But the good thing was, every editor we went to asked for his sample copies and either exchanged business cards or told him to send more stuf in a few months. So...there is still hope.

Between editors, we took pictures with those silly costumed people, took pictures with promo statues and figures (LOTR Nazgul, big fuckin blow-up Hulk, old school Batman and Wonder Woman, Storm Troopers and Desert Troopers, etc.), and spent money. [I would have uploaded all the pics, but my doing so now causes my pc to crash. wtf??? Y'know, I have no idea. >_< ] I brought about $150, and went home with $36. o_0 Obviously, NOT GOOD!! But worth it? Maybe. I rediscovered my love for Kabuki and bought two shirts: the regular black "Kabuki" on the front with the Noh dragon on the back, and the white Control Corps' "YOU DON'T KNOW ME" shirt. I like them both very much. YOU DON'T KNOW ME...yeah. I also picked up a Red Star tank top, another tank with the BR logo--and a big t-shirt with the same thing, Love Hina vols. 10-12, Evangelion vol. 5, and Kabuki vols. 3 and 4. Oh yeah, and the soundtrack for DDR Max 6. What? It was only ten bucks.

But I have to say one of the best parts of the con was meeting Bendis. That was great. I had no idea he was there--I just happened to see him sitting behind the table...and there was no line, there was just this one guy finishing a short convo...I think I went braindead because I don't remember sounding terribly smart. I think I was babbling. (o_0 Shit.) But anyway, THAT WAS SOO COOL!! Aiiee!! Damn. Just remembering that is making me have the ekes again. He was very nice. I think he felt really flattered, which is okey. I got to take a pic with him, too...I am crossing my fingers that none of my pics got erased, but with my ghetto ass camera, you really can't tell.

After that, it was more going around and shopping and trying out the demo for the new Buffy game. We left minutes before closing time at seven, then after wandering aimlessly on a quest for parking ate dinner at this place called the Dakota grille. Then off to see Pirates of the Caribbean at 10:05, even though we were all dead tired. I liked it--Orlando Bloom was cute and everything, but he seemed a bit...spineless. I think he could've picked a better follow-up to LOTR (and you know he didn't do as much acting there as everyone says he did, but what do I know), and that Keira Knightly(sp?) chick was just your typical pretty girl as much as the bad guy was your typical scary ugly pirate...the only two things that were great were the special fx, which were damn near seamless, and Johnny Depp's performance, which was really fun. And that's what it was--a fun summer movie.

After the movie finished we headead for the..."hotel" which was fifteen minutes away from the city. Fifteen minutes...if we hadn't overshot the turn and had found the entrance into the parking lot. We ended up checking in at 1a, and I fell asleep at 2.

Sunday, 7.20'03--CONDENSED!: woke up at 8a, got to the Con at 10, left at 12, went to the hospital so Je could visit his sick uncle, hung in the lobby for a while, went back to LA to meet up with Je's friend for lunch, drove to a Barnes & Noble and hung there while Je spent quality time with his friend and a new Mac, then drove in the direction of home. Arrived at the godfather's house at midnight, after a shower fell asleep at 1:30 a. Woke up Monday at 8:30, came out of the room at 9, lounged a couple hours, and then went to watch Bad Boys 2 later that afternoon. Another fun summer movie. Finally went home and spent the rest of the night posting at RBJ.

...And that's it. I'm tired.>