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The one thing about receiving my mother’s life insurance policy plus the enforced quarantine due to the Coronavirus pandemic is that all of this free time has enabled me to get in touch with my doll interests once again. The chronic stress over finding work and finances have really impacted my ability to enjoy the things that I really like.
I had even thought about selling off some or all of my doll collection in order to raise some cash. But then I looked on eBay and I found that Asian ball jointed dolls aren’t worth as much second-hand as they used to be 10 or 15 years ago. Part of the reason is due to the faltering economy since dolls are a luxury and not really something that you need to survive. Another reason is because there have been so many Asian doll companies that have come up over the years that there is a glut of dolls on the market. I’ve seen the 60 cm sized dolls on Amazon for $100.
I’m kind of glad I didn’t begin selling off my collection because I’ve been photographing some of my dolls and I’m starting to appreciate them once again. I have a small three-inch Boboie Sunny who has a tiny unicorn horn bump on his forehead. He has the default faceup that was done in the factory and the wig and eyes that came with the doll. I hand sewed the tiny outfit because he originally came nude. (Yes, he is anatomically correct.) Here are some recent photos of my tiny Boboie Sunny doll that I shot.
The one thing about this enforced stay-at-home order in an effort to flatten the curve of the Coronavirus pandemic is that I did things that in other years I would have never considered doing.
Each year there is an online art thing where the entire month of June is dubbed Junicorn. The idea is to show off unicorn images between June 1-30. It runs concurrent with Pride Month and I’ve seen overlap between the two in the form of unicorns and rainbows.
Even though I’ve done a variety of unicorn-related things in the past (such as my 1990s online animated The Unicorn With An Attitude series), I’ve never took part in the annual Junicorn before. I was teaching myself how to use TikTok but, due to that platform’s one-minute maximum length, there aren’t too many Unicorn With An Attitude episodes I can actually release on that platform. I also wasn’t up for doing a new unicorn drawing every day because I’m currently decluttering my home and I just don’t want any distractions at the moment.
I decided to just show off the unicorn things I currently own on TikTok. A few times a week I shot short video footage of what I had then uploaded it on TikTok. I didn’t do it every day because I didn’t have enough unicorn stuff that I could film every day. Besides, filming a new video every day is very time-consuming and I really don’t have the time or stamina necessary to make daily videos. (This is why I haven’t taken up daily vlogging, unlike the many YouTube stars who do just that.)
I began the month where I made videos featuring atypical unicorns, starting with a tiny rubber unicorn duck. Then I showed off my tiny Bobobie Sunny doll because he has a tiny unicorn bump in the middle of his forehead. I showed off my Monster High Neightman Rot doll because he’s the son of a zombie and a unicorn (which is a pretty interesting combination). I also showed off my Hairdorables Willow doll from the first series because she wears a unicorn headband.
Once I exhausted all of the atypical unicorns I own, I started to focus on the more traditional depictions of a unicorn. I started with my Fingerlings Gigi the Unicorn robot toy. From there I showed off this electronic unicorn head keyring that I purchased from the Spirit of Halloween store last fall. (The keyring part has since broken off but the electronic head still works.)
I moved on to the Funko Pops figurines based on My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, which I collected for a while until financial struggles forced me to stop buying them. I showed off the Great and Powerful Trixie, DJ Pon-3 (a.k.a. Vinyl Scratch), and Lyra Heartstrings. (I have other My Little Pony Funko Pops but they are either Earth or Pegasus ponies.)
From there I moved on to these unicorn themed toys that I purchased from Target recently. They are from Spin Master and they are called Uni-Verse. They are blind box packages that are shaped like emoji clouds. You dip the cloud into water where the cloud melts away, revealing tiny wrapped packages. You unwrap each package, which reveals a card featuring the name of the unicorn you got, the unicorn itself, a tiny non-unicorn friend, and accessories.
I ended up purchasing four of the cloud-shaped packages where I filmed each cloud melting away in water. I got Glamerin’ Cameryn, Moo Moo Molly, Dilly Dolly Dotty, and Sunburst Sydney.
I also decided to make a TikTok video featuring this gouache painting that I did when I took an art class back in the 1990s. It’s currently hanging on my living room wall but I have never got around to writing any blog posts about it until now. The assignment was to do a series of smaller paintings on the same subject where we not only had to emulate the style of a famous artist but also try to morph the paintings from one style to another. And we had to do it using black and white paint. I did a unicorn where I morphed from the style of Joan Miró to Vincent Van Gogh. (I have more to tell about the making of this piece but I’ll have to write about it in a later blog post.)
I finally finished Junicorn off with me modeling a unicorn face mask that I purchased from the annual Greenbelt Green Man Festival about 10 or 15 years ago. It was back when I was still married because these masks were pretty pricey. This mask is made from leather and it is high quality. I consider it to be so artistic that I have this mask hanging on my living room wall when I’m not wearing it (which is most of the time). The 2020 Greenbelt Green Man Festival was cancelled due to the Coronavirus pandemic so I had a chance to wear it, even if it was for only 15 seconds.
I got a lot of views on all of my Junicorn videos (with the My Little Pony and Spin Master Uni-Verse figurines being the most popular) along with plenty of likes, which was pretty cool. Doing these Junicorn videos was a way for me to have some fun since I’m home alone most of the time due to the pandemic.
I don’t know if I’ll do anything like this next June or not. It depends on whether I have purchased new unicorn things for me to show off or if I have created some unicorn art that I want to share online.
I recently compiled my TikTok videos into one longer video and uploaded that one on YouTube, which you can see below.
Since today is New Year’s Day, which ushers in a brand new year, I’d thought I would write about what I recently did for myself on Christmas Day.
I haven’t opened a wrapped gift on Christmas Day since 2011. It was three months after I underwent hip surgery. For my birthday on December 15 my husband surprised me with a new iPod Touch. Ten days later on Christmas Day, I opened a wrapped gift and found that he gave me a new iPad. With a new iPod Touch and a new iPad, I felt really blessed to have two new Apple devices on top of my ability to walk slowly improving after my hip surgery.
It all came crashing down just three days later when my husband came home from work, announced that he was moving out, then ran out the door before I could even respond. My iPad stopped working altogether just three years later. My iPod Touch still works even though it has older software (I can’t install the newest version of the iOS software because the hardware is now considered old).
Over the last several years, before my marriage fell apart, my mother would send me a $200 check for my birthday and a $200 check for Christmas but that was it for gifts. (She also used to send my husband checks as birthday and Christmas presents until he left me.) At least I could treat myself to a nice meal or some nice clothes for myself. The checks stopped in 2016 when my mother’s health deteriorated (she’s currently struggling with multiple sclerosis and it’s gotten to the point where I can only talk to her on the phone for no more than 2 or 3 minutes because she gets tired).
After my marriage ended I usually went to my support group’s annual post-Christmas party where we have a white elephant gift exchange. If it weren’t for that, I wouldn’t even get a wrapped gift.
There were times when I miss getting a wrapped gift that i would open and I would be surprised with what I got. I finally decided to rectify that situation.
For the past few years there have been the rise in popularity of blind boxes which housed some kind of a collectible item. One can find them in comic book stores, Target, Five Below, Walmart, and other similar stores. Two years ago I purchased a cheap blind blister package that had a Hatsune Miku keychain inside. The outer pack showed photos of six possible designs that I could get and I didn’t know which one I got until after I brought it home and opened it. I only purchased one keychain because I wasn’t very comfortable with the idea of possibly getting a duplicate because I couldn’t see what I was really purchasing until after I purchased it.
I used to collect Wacky Packages as a kid and they were in blind packages. The difference was that Wacky Packages were basically flat stickers. If you ended up getting a duplicate it was no big deal. You could trade it with a friend but if you couldn’t find any friends willing to trade with you, you could always use that duplicate as a sticker. I remember plastering my notebooks and other items with my duplicate Wacky Packages stickers. When it came time to clear out my childhood home after my mother decided to sell it, I found an old 45 r.p.m. record case that had a Wacky Packages sticker on the bottom for Neveready Batteries (a parody of Eveready Batteries).
But 3D objects in blind packages were another matter. If you ended up with a duplicate 3D object, chances are that you will have a harder time with getting rid of it. Most stores will not accept returns for purchasing a duplicate. You could sell it on eBay but you may or may not get anyone willing to buy it. If you’re lucky enough to have a fellow collector willing to trade with you, you might unload your duplicate that way. Or you could wrap it and give it to someone as a birthday or Christmas present. Or even donate it to Goodwill or the Salvation Army.
Yet I could see the allure of buying a blind package an opening it on Christmas as a substitute for opening a wrapped present. There weren’t too many blind packages that really excited me enough to consider doing this until I learned of a new line of dolls that were released by Just Play a few months ago called Hairdorables. Hairdorables are a series of small dolls with huge amounts of hair that is as big as they are. Not only did the dolls skin and hair come in a variety of colors but I found their faces to be totally cute—complete with impish smiles. Each doll and her accessories comes in a blind box where you don’t know which doll you get until after you buy it and take it home.
The dolls were released in August but, for some reason, the local Target in my area didn’t start getting them until mid-December. Meanwhile I kept on reading about these dolls online until I finally saw the boxes in real life. I purchased a Hairdorables box from Target on Christmas Eve. (The local mall was far less crowded on Christmas Eve this year than in previous years.)
I brought the package home and waited until the following day to open it. Here’s the Christmas tree along with the box still in its plastic Target bag.
Here is what the package looks like. As you can see, you literally don’t know which doll you’ve actually purchased until after you open the box.
The back of the box shows a list of 36 possible dolls that could be in that box.
Here’s a close-up of that box where you can see the Hairdorables available in a variety of hair and skin colors.
One of the side panels of the box tells the story of Hairdorables.
The story goes like this:
Hello influencers!
It’s your time to SHINE!
Meet Noah and the #Hairdorables!
Noah is a super sweet girl with a talent for styling hair. When she posted her front braid tutorial for fun, she never imagined it would go viral!
Since then, Noah has loads of inspiring friends who love to share their passions, so when she asked them to contribute to her channel, they all yelled out a resounding YAAAAAS! Check out the Hairdorables channel on YouTube!
They are dolls for the Internet age that are packaged in such a way as to make filming an unboxing doll video very easy. I chose to shoot a series of still photos instead of making an unboxing video because there are already so many unboxing Hairdorables videos out there and I wasn’t in the mood to make a new video. You open the box a certain way, starting with the yellow pull tab at the top of the box.
Once I pulled down the pull tab I found that the box reveals two compartments that you pull slightly apart.
As you pull the compartments apart you see that there’s a piece of paper in the middle being flanked by the two compartments where the doll and her accessories are held. Basically you are instructed to open the box in a certain order where you open the side containing the doll last. It’s designed to build up suspense to the ultimate surprise—which doll you received.
As for the paper in the middle, one side has a promo drawing of the Hairdorables.
The other side has a checklist of all of the Hairdorables dolls that are available in its first series (while implying that there will be a second series along with more subsequent series).
I didn’t look too closely at the checklist because I’ve read other people’s accounts about unboxing the Hairdorables and I learned that if you study the checklist too much, you will figure out which doll you received while you’re unboxing the accessories. I really wanted the whole experience to be a surprise so I only glanced at it quickly.
I also want to take the time to say that even though the Hairdorables checklist (which you can view online here) says that there are 36 dolls to collect, it doesn’t mean that there are 36 different characters. There are actually 12 different characters with each character having three different variations where each variation will wear a different outfit and have different accessories.
Getting back to the box, once I removed the checklist I found that there is actually a little backdrop where you can pose your Hairdorable doll. I like the idea of reusing the box for play since it would generate less trash than a typical doll box.
The box instructed me to open the left compartment of the box first. The compartment have four smaller sections that are in exact numbered order.
I opened the door marked with the number one and I got a small plastic bin with a top wrapper that had this pun: “Hair we go!”
I got a pink hair comb and a tiny square of tiny stickers.
So I opened the door marked with the number 2 and got a bin with this pun, “You go curl!”
I got a pair of winged sneakers (which looked really intriguing because it reminded me of the winged sandals of the god known as Hermes or Mercury in the Greco-Roman myths) and another sticker.
The stickers could be peeled then folded in half in order to create a tiny smartphone for the doll.
The idea was pretty neat in theory but it turned out to be impractical in reality after I unboxed the doll because her hands were unable to hold the tiny smartphone.
It was time to open the door that was marked with number 3. I got a bin with this message: “[heart] UR Style!”
I got a pair of white angel wings along with another sticker featuring two of the Hairdorables dolls and the hashtag #BraidsRule.
Then it was time for me to open the door with the number 4. I got the bin with this pun: “Sheer Genius.”
I got another sticker with two of the dolls and the hashtag #VacayAllDay. But it was the hairband that really thrilled me. It’s a mint green hairband with a unicorn horn! It brought back memories of when I unsuccessfully tried to market myself with my 1990s Unicorn With An Attitude animation series. I was also intrigued because I once read a series of books by Anne McCaffrey and Margaret Ball about the adventures of Acorna, a humanoid girl born with a unicorn horn.
After opening the first four compartments it was time to unbox the doll herself.
I opened the door and I got another plastic bin.
Removing the plastic bin reveals more box graphics that suggests a clothes closet.
The bin wrapper had yet another pun: “Let’s see what’s in hair!”
Here is my new doll as she was packaged in that bin as shown from the front and back.
I removed the doll from the bin and found that there was also a small card that reveals which doll I received. One side of the card mentions that her name is Willow, her favorite color is mint green, and her motto is “Style is a state of mind!” The other side shows a cute drawing of Willow.
Once I removed the doll from her bin I put on her winged sneakers, angel wings, and unicorn hairband. Willow has an oversized head on a small, thin body. Here is my new Willow doll placed against her backdrop. I found that the doll can’t stand on her own but I could lean her against the backdrop to make it look like she’s standing. I ended up having to use the flash for the next two photos because the area was a bit too dark (even though I had turned on all the lights on the Christmas tree and opened the blinds on a nearby window to let natural light in).
After that last photo I decided to move everything outdoors. It was sunny outside but the temperatures were in the low 40s. At least I could take better photos of the doll and her background. According to the checklist I got the Willow Wings variation doll and it’s also supposed to be her signature look. (I learned that the dolls designated to be “signature looks” tend to be more common to find than the other variants.)
Willow is incredibly cute with a very impish smile. Her brown skin and pastel rainbow color scheme kind of reminds me of the Studio Mucci Instagram account. Of course her unicorn headband is to die for!
Willow is among the smaller dolls I’ve purchased. Here is how she stands against the 1/6 scale dolls. In this photo she is flanked by Clawdeen Wolf of Monster High and Barbie. As you can see, Willow looks like a toddler compared to those dolls.
Willow and the other Hairdorables are definitely 1/12 scale dolls. Here is how she stands against my other tiny dolls. From left to right: Dollcena Disney Hawaiian Harmonies, Little Pullip Alice Fanatica, Willow, and a Bobobie Sunny Asian ball-jointed doll.
Willow has a mass of long hair that reaches to her feet. I’ve dealt with doll hair over the years but I have to say that her hair is the softest doll hair I’ve ever felt. I really love her pastel highlights that make her hair resemble cotton candy.
I really loved the doll that I received even though getting a unicorn girl was definitely the luck of the draw. The most controversial part of Hairdorables is the fact that you literally don’t know which doll you’ll get while the package costs nearly $13 per box. (Most blind box packages cost anywhere from $3-8 depending on the size of the item inside.) I’ve read reviews online from parents who purchased multiple Hairdorables boxes for their children only to get duplicates.
I’ll admit that I’m still pretty ambivalent about blind boxes in general. While it was fun finding out which doll I got, I had also only purchased just one box. If I had purchased two or more boxes and I ended up getting an exact duplicate, I don’t think I would have been as enamored with the concept. I think just limiting yourself to only one box is the best way to get maximum enjoyment from opening a blind box.
While there are other blind boxes who put codes on their packages that hint at what’s inside (such as the Lego Minifigs blind packages), so far Just Play has not released any hints on how people can avoid inadvertently purchasing duplicate dolls.
I’ve read about some people saying that the best way of telling the boxes apart is to weigh them. Apparently different boxes have different accessories so it affects the weights. Then you somehow sneak a scale into the store and weigh each box to discover which doll that box may have. This method only works if you have purchased at least three or four Hairdorables boxes (while hoping and praying that you didn’t purchase any duplicates) so you can weigh them at home and write down the weight of each doll box with a certain doll inside. Then you would take your scale and list to the store, weigh each box, and compare that weight with what you have on your list. The big problem with that method is that not everyone can afford to use this method, especially since the boxes cost $13 a pop. On top of that, you would have to carry a scale into a store and weigh each box while hoping that a store employee doesn’t decide to confront you while you are doing it.
There is an alternate method is to see the imprinted lot number that’s located next to the bar code of the box.
Next peek at the back of the box to see what the background looks like. You may need to use a flashlight or use the flashlight that’s on your smartphone for this step.
The theory is that if the lot number and background matches, chances are that it’s a duplicate doll and you shouldn’t buy it. This video from the Up and Play YouTube channel demonstrates both the scale and the peeking at the background methods.
There is one major limitation with the idea that a different background means a different doll: That theory doesn’t always work. This blog post on the Toy Box Philosopher site mentions buying two Hairdorables packages with the same background but with different dolls and accessories.
I had thought about testing that idea out by buying a second Hairdorables box, which I would open on Little Christmas (January 6). I was thinking about replicating my childhood when my family used to celebrate that holiday by refilling the stocking with candy, small toys, and practical items (such as a pair of socks or underwear). Some years I would get a small package while other years I only got my stocking refilled.
But then I decided to ditch that idea when I learned that the second series of Hairdorables will be officially released later this month. I decided to just wait for the second series and bypass the dilemma of whether to buy a second Hairdorables Series 1 box and risk getting a duplicate doll. I just only hope that the Target store in my area can get the new dolls much sooner than the four months it took before that store even received its first shipment of the Series 1 Hairdorables.
The YouTube channel My Froggy Stuff managed to received advance copies of the new Series 2 dolls and made this video.
Based on the video, it looks like the biggest improvement is that this new series of dolls will each come with a doll stand. That is a great idea since my own doll can’t really stand on her own. Like the previous series, the new Series 2 doll boxes will also have backgrounds that can be used for displaying the dolls or playing with them.
Like I wrote earlier, I think it’s a good idea to have the boxes double as a display area for the dolls. The only disadvantage is that the boxes tend to take up space, especially if you own more than two dolls and you don’t have much space in your home. I found this tutorial on the American Girl Outsider blog on how to break down the backdrop so it won’t take up as much space in your home. You’ll need to scroll down to the bottom of that blog post in order to get to the tutorial.
I have to admit that it was pretty fun to once again unwrap something that I didn’t know what was inside until after I finished opening the box.
To learn more about Hairdorables you can either check out the official site or you can visit this site that was set up by a fan called the Absolute Hairdorables Wiki.
Previous in This Series
Last week I mentioned that I’ve been going through some old files on my computer hard drive and I found the original rough drafts of my old Artomatic blog posts from previous years. (There was a time when Artomatic gave everyone who participated their own blogging account. For Artomatic this year, I had to step up and volunteer to be a blogger before I received my own blogging account.) It’s pretty appropriate to share some of these posts here since Artomatic is going on until next month.
While I visited a few previous Artomatics, the first time I actually participated was in 2007. I enjoyed that experience so much that when Artomatic was announced again in 2008, I jumped at the chance to participate in it again.
2008 was a momentous year for me for reasons other than Artomatic. I was born with a dislocated left hip and, as some old baby photos have documented, I was placed in a body cast for several months. My left hip joints snapped into place, the cast was removed, and I learned how to walk like an average child soon afterwards. I sprained the same left hip in a roller skating accident when I was 12 but I managed to recuperate and I walked like a regular person again. All that changed by late 2007 when I began to walk with a limp. As time went on, I had a harder time walking and by the time of Artomatic 2008, I had to use a cane to get around.
Despite my hip problems, I wanted to participate in Artomatic and I did so. That year I decided to focus mostly on photography, with the exception of this Peep Floyd diorama that I originally did for The Washington Post‘s annual Peeps diorama contest but it failed to make even Honorable Mention. Here is the original online catalogue that I put up to promote my exhibition space.
Here are just a few selected posts I made in my Artomatic account’s blog that year as archived on my hard drive. (That blog has long since been deleted since Artomatic tends to totally revamp its website whenever a new Artomatic event is announced.)
I’m Participating in Artomatic 2008, March 27, 2008
I’ve finally finished with registration. This year I’m going to emphasize my photography more mainly because I’ve been more successful at that than doing strictly drawing and painting.
Now my next task is to sift through my vast trove of digital photos to pick out the right ones to display. I am quite a shutterbug. I’m glad for the invention of digital cameras because I still remember the pain of running out of film and I had to choose between shelling out more money for film (then have to shell out more money to get them processed) or quit my picture taking for the day. I have a monumental task ahead of me so I’m going to sign off now.
Latest Stuff About Me, April 18, 2008
Last Saturday I went to the Artomatic orientation where I picked out my site. I’ll be located on the 7th floor, NE Quadrant, Area C4. I know it sounds like gobbledygook now but I’m sure it’ll become more apparent once the show opens and the maps/brochures are printed. For the time being, I’ll just say that my wall space is located right next to the men’s restroom on the 7th floor.
My Exhibit for This Year, May 8, 2008
I know that some of you who are familiar with my exhibit at last year’s Artomatic will be wondering if I’m doing anything different. Well, the answer is yes. I’m going to describe the difference between this year’s exhibit and last year’s.
Last year I had a variety of different media ranging from digital photographs to drawings to paintings. I even had a couple of dolls I customized myself that were on display in small glass cases that were mounted on the wall.
This year I’m focusing exclusively on digital photographs. That’s mainly because I wanted artwork that was more transportable than my larger art pieces. All of my photographs are either 8″ x 10″ or 5″ x 7″. Keeping the photos at those two sizes made frame shopping really easy for me since those two are standard sizes. On top of that, I’ve had people tell me that my biggest strength is in photography so I decided to highlight that some more.
The biggest challenge I had was whittling down the hundreds of digital photographs that I have on my hard disk to just 32 photos. (Sixteen of them are 8″ x 10″ while the rest are 5″ x 7″.) Then I had the additional challenge of printing since, as experienced digital photographers and computer graphics artists know, what is seen on the computer screen doesn’t mean that the print version will turn out the same. But I managed to get everything done in time for the opening tomorrow night.
I’m also pricing my photos at $10 for the 8″ x 10″ and $6 for the 5″ x 7″. I know my pricing methods may become controversial but there’s a method to my madness. If you’ve been reading a newspaper or watching any of the cable news channel, you’ll know that this country is in an economic crisis due to rising gas costs, higher food prices, and the subprime mortgage crisis. I really don’t think that people are in the mood to shell out $100 or higher for a piece of art no matter how much they love it because of the economy.
I also had an epiphany around the end of last year’s Artomatic. I got someone who wanted to buy one of my drawings but she wanted to know how much it would cost if I would remove it from the frame. Since I didn’t have any other serious buyers of my artwork last year, I told her that I would take $25 off my drawing. So I sold it to her and took home an empty frame.
This year I scoured the local big box retailers looking for the lowest frame prices. A.C. Moore had the best prices with many frames being sold for $3 and $4 and with some going for as low as $2. What’s more, the frames still looked pretty decent despite the low prices. Then I went to Staples where I bought a pack of satin-finish photographic paper for $35. I calculated each sheet as costing around sixty cents per sheet, which isn’t bad.
I even have a catchy ad phrase that I put on a sign in my area: “Affordable Artwork for Uncertain Economic Times”.
What’s more, since I have my photos on a hard drive, I can easily print multiple copies so if one person buys one of my photos and someone else wants that same photo, I can print and frame another copy and sell it to that other person.
I will have a small table next to my photos where I will have a guestbook for you to sign and a digital frame that will rotate digital photos of some of my other works of art like my drawings, paintings, sculptures, and crafts. I purchased this digital frame at Target and I love it because I can display more of my art than the space that’s alloted to me.
I will also have a diorama displayed on that table called Peep Floyd. I originally created this diorama for The Washington Post’s second annual Peeps contest but it didn’t make the final cut among the judges. I was disappointed but my husband was even more heartbroken than I was. (He felt that I was robbed.) So I decided to give my little diorama a second chance by displaying it with my artwork. I’m even putting it up for sale for only $5 (which is about how much money I spent making it in the first place). What’s even amusing is that there will be a display of the winning Peeps dioramas on the 10th floor while my display will be on the 7th floor. So if people decided to start on the first floor and work their way up, chances are that they will see my own diorama first before they see the winners on the 10th floor. Ha! Ha! Ha!
Last year I printed three photo zines that I sold on the honor system where people can put money in a box if they wanted one or more of my zines. I did it mainly as a promotional item, even if it was a pain to print multiple copies for the duration of Artomatic. (The fact that I was using a 10-year-old Epson color printer didn’t help matters much.) I thought that I would get some sort of opportunities from the zines after Artomatic in the long run so I toughed out the time spent printing, collating, and stapling the zines. I also gritted my teeth as I spent lots of money on printer ink since those zines did use up tons of ink. Even though the zines sold pretty well (some people did leave money in the box), nothing ever came of those zines after Artomatic ended. No one contacted me saying, “Hey I liked your zines and photos and I want to do some work with you.”
Basically it really wasn’t worth the time or money spent making and distributing the zines so I’m not going to do any more this year. I know that some of you will be disappointed but that’s the way things go.
The biggest change from last year to this year is myself. Yes, I am a year older but my health has gone down a bit. I have an old injury in my left hip that was repaired a long time ago but I’ve now developed osteoarthritis in it. Last year I was able to walk normally most of the time (although I did limp if I overextended myself by doing too much walking or other physical work). This year I’m walking with a limp and I use a walking stick whenever I have to walk around outside for any great distances. I’ve consulted an orthopedic specialist and he’s recommending that I undergo a hip replacement, especially since my left leg is now a little bit shorter than my right leg, thanks to the osteoarthritis.
But, before I undergo the surgery, I have to lose weight and do exercises to strengthen my hip. As a result, I’m still able to participate in Artomatic since I won’t be able to undergo the surgery until July at the earliest.
Having osteoarthritis is a bit of a bummer. I get more physically tired than before, partially because of having to take prescription version of ibuprofen (which has drowsiness as a side effect) and partially because it’s just more physically taxing to limp around. My current condition was a major factor in my decision to focus on smaller photographs than my larger canvases since the photos are easier to cart around than a big canvas. Since I decided to eliminate the zines, I will find Artomatic less taxing than last year.
I will be at the opening tomorrow night with my husband. This weekend I will be working as a vendor at the Greenbelt Green Man Festival in Greenbelt, Maryland. I will have a packed schedule.
I’m Doing Pretty Well at Artomatic This Year, May 26, 2008
So far I had someone who wanted six copies of my “Shalom Y’all” photo because she wanted to give them away to her Jewish friends. I also have one other person who may be potentially interested in purchasing something from me but I haven’t heard back from him.
So far I took part in a drawing workshop on Opening Night and I’ve also worked one shift so far. (It happened to be on the same night as the “Meet the Artists Night” so I couldn’t be at my area, with the exception of a brief break that I took around 8 p.m.) Right now I’m typing this entry from a hotel room in Charleston, South Carolina but I intend to participate in more Artomatic events once I return.
I happened to be in Charleston at the same time as their annual Piccolo Spoleto Festival—an art-filled festival that includes special exhibitions at area art galleries, special theatre shows, special musical concerts, and a crafts fair. I intend to check out the crafts fair at least. I also intend to visit the City Market, which is filled with stalls of people hawking food items and various types of crafts. It’s also where a local African-American group of people known as the Gullahs sell their speciality craft–making baskets, vases, flowers, and other items out of sweetgrass.
Well, anyway, see ya later!
My Artomatic Videos, June 2, 2008
This year I’ve been doing more at Artomatic than just showing my artwork and attending a few events. I’ve also been taking photographs and shooting video. I haven’t decided what I’ll do with the photos yet but I’ve already edited and uploaded three short video clips on my YouTube account.
All three videos are of the firedancing troupe known as Flights of Fire. I shot this during the second hour of their show on May 16. (I missed the first hour because I was finishing up the last hour of my own volunteer shift during that time.) I was pretty exhausted after working my five-hour volunteer shift so I basically went outside, sat down, and unwind a bit by watching the group perform the rest of their show. I happened to have my videocamera with me so I filmed them as they did their various fire tricks to some lively dance music.
This first clip is a general highlights reel as I focused on the troupe’s most spectacular firedancing tricks:
The second clip is a very sexy and erotic routine that is performed in its entirety:
The third clip is the grand finale that is also performed in its entirety. Imagine a bunch of people dancing and swinging flaming torches at the same time and you’ll get something like this:
Two More Artomatic Videos For You to View, June 5, 2008
I shot two more videos at Artomatic that I’ve uploaded to my YouTube account. The first one is the Peeps artist reception that was held on May 31, 2008.
The second one is the first-ever Artomatic 500 cardboard car race, which is just as hilarious as it sounds.
Enjoy!
A Posting From Artomatic, June 13, 2008
I’ve just finished the third required volunteer shift over an hour ago and I’m waiting for this workshop on “Urban R & D: Developing a Community Research and Design Lab” to begin in a few minutes. Actually volunteering wasn’t too bad despite my totally arthritic hip (which has given me a bad limp in recent months and has definitely put a crimp on my mobility) because I was given desk jobs. (I worked the front desk on the first floor the first two times and I worked the fourth floor this final time today.)
Last night I attended the Artists’ Social. I met someone whom I had volunteered with on a previous shift and I also met up with other people whom I had met at other Artomatic events. What was cool was that I sold two of my photographs to someone who loved by two robot photos (one of the Toyota Partner Robot and the other of the Honda Asimo—both taken at a Japanese cultural festival at the Kennedy Center a few months ago).
I’m looking forward to attending Artomatic tomorrow night–they are having the first-ever Art in Fashion show, which is supposed to have fire as the theme. From the way this event is being hyped, it sounds like Project Runway on steroids.
Well, anyway, I gotta wrap this entry up and head off to tonight’s workshop.
More Artomatic Videos, June 21, 2008
I shot and posted a few more videos at Artomatic before it ended last Sunday but I’ve only gotten around to blogging about it now.
First is a video of my own exhibit, which was displayed on the 7th floor next to the men’s bathroom.
Next is a video of a couple of interactive exhibits that were done by other artists.
I previously videotaped the Peeps artist reception where I spoke with prolific Peeps diorama artist Carl Cordell. At the time he was working on a fourth diorama, “The Day The Earth Stood Peeped”, that wasn’t ready in time for the reception. I kept on going to the Peeps area for the next few weeks but the diorama didn’t make its appearance until last Saturday, the day before the last day of Artomatic. I made a short video highlighting that diorama.
I did a three-part video about the Art in Fashion show, which was the closing event of Artomatic. (It was held the night before Artomatic’s final day.) It highlighted fashions created by fashion designers in the Baltimore-Washington, DC area. I had fun attending this because I’m such a fan of Project Runway and I had never seen a fashion show in person before.
After the fashion show ended, there was a big party that included all kinds of activities. I videotaped some of it but I was running out of battery power by that point so I didn’t film as much as I wanted to. But it should give you an idea of what it was like. (Some parts of this video are definitely NSFW because it includes scenes of body painting on partially or fully nude bodies.)
Well, anyway, that’s it for the Artomatic videos.
Visiting the Artomatic Site for the Last Time, June 21, 2008
I had successfully sold yet another photo to someone and he and I agreed to meet at the Artomatic site today. After the transaction was made and he took his newly-purchased photo with him, I took down my exhibit. I felt wistful as I did it but, as the old saying goes, all good things must come to an end.
Goodbye For Now, June 23, 2008
Now that Artomatic is over and I’ve picked up my artwork from the site, it’s time for me to say goodbye to this blog until the next time I decide to participate in an Artomatic.
Three months after I wrote that last farewell Artomatic post, I underwent a hip replacement followed by physical therapy that lasted until well into 2009. In early 2011 I suffered two falls within a week that knocked my hip replacement out of alignment so I had to undergo hip revision surgery followed by more physical therapy. Right now my hip is doing fine. <knock wood!>
Next in This Series
The night before the start of the first day of Otakon I took a plastic grocery shopping bag and reused it in order to pack a few extra things to bring to Otakon with me. I had heard of various meetups that were taking place and I decided to pack a variety of small items just in case I happened to run into a meetup already in progress. The items were a mix of tiny Asian ball-jointed dolls, My Little Pony figurines, and a couple of Japanese-imported Arpakasso plushies I purchased at previous anime conventions. The below photo shows what I brought. The figure in the foreground is Derpy Hooves. In the back are (from left to right) a small pink Arpakasso plushie, Rainbow Dash, Orient Doll Ji, Soul Doll Kimmy, Soom Mini-Gem Uyoo, Bobobie Sunny, and a larger light beige Arpakasso plushie.
I didn’t get any opportunities to open the bag on the first day but on the second day I found one meetup where I could display what I had brought.
Anyway, I had every intention of checking out this panel titled "Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland’s Effect on Anime & Manga" even though it was scheduled to start at 9 a.m. (which meant I would’ve had to get up really early for the commute to Baltimore). But then I woke up in the middle of the night with total muscular pain throughout my whole body. I tried shifting around in bed but it was no use. I finally had to get up and take some ibuprofen before the pain finally stopped. As a result, I overslept so I not only missed that panel but also another panel that was scheduled for 10: 15 a.m. that I wanted to go to titled "Nintendo: Entertaining Since 1889." I was so tired and stiff that it took me a while to get my body into gear so I could do something simple as to take a hot shower (which helped loosen my tight muscles). I also decided to put on some compression socks that I originally purchased when I underwent my hip replacement back in 2008 and I suffered from edema in the immediate aftermath of that surgery.
I arrived at the North Linthicum light rail station where I saw these cosplayers.
By the time I arrived in Baltimore I managed to miss the scheduled 1 p.m. showing of a video that I really wanted to see titled Beijing Punk. I managed to get into the Baltimore Convention Center through the front doors because the line of people waiting to register and get their badges was way smaller than the last two days.
Once I got in I went up to the 400 level of the Baltimore Convention Center where I found one of the many Asian ball-jointed meetups that were being held throughout Otakon weekend and they were all organized through the Den of Angels forum. I’ll admit that I had my trepidations about attending because I still remember this bizarre incident from last year when, at the first meetup I attended on the first day of Otakon 2012, these two women came up to me, claimed that I had posted a photo I took of a bag that belonged to one of them on my own Kim’s World of Art website five years earlier, asked me to remove that photo, then walked quickly away before I had a chance to ask them any questions (like "Do I know you?" or "What photo are you referring to?"). While the other doll meetups I attended last year were all free of similar weirdness, I was still unnerved by that incident.
Fortunately the meetup I attended on the second day of Otakon 2013 was free of such weirdness and everyone present were pretty nice and friendly. I also got a chance to take a lot of photos of gorgeous dolls while I took my own dolls out of the plastic grocery bag and displayed them in public.
Fortunately the meetup I attended on the second day of Otakon 2013 was free of such weirdness and everyone present were pretty nice and friendly. What was cool was the willingness of one meetup participant to help another meetup participant re-string her doll after her doll literally fell apart during transit. (That’s why some of the photos include doll parts.) I also got a chance to take a lot of photos of gorgeous dolls while I took my own dolls out of the plastic grocery bag and displayed them in public.
It turned out that the 400 level terrace was a very popular place to hold meetups so there were usually many of them going on at the same time. In addition to the Asian ball-jointed doll meetup, there were also meetups for Star Trek,…
Dr. Who,…
and furries.
In addition to the meetups, a group of cosplayers (including one dressed as Santa Claus) were playing cards in the same area.
When the Asian ball-jointed doll meetup began to break up, I headed down to the lower levels. I wanted to visit the Artists Alley but I found the best way to reach it is through the Dealers Room, where I took this photo, which is a bit on the NSFW side.
I didn’t spend much time in the Dealers Room because I really wanted to visit the Artists Alley and I didn’t get a chance to do so yesterday because my feet grew very tired and sore after all that walking in the Dealers Room. I finally made it to the Artists Alley, where I ran into someone cosplaying as Luke Skywalker standing next to R2-D2.
The Artists Alley focused on aspiring artists and crafters who sold a variety of handmade items including drawings, jewelry, plushies, hats, lolita dresses, and self-published zines.
While I was in the Artists Alley, I looked in on the progress of this giant work of art that Eric Maruscak of Pepper Ink was working on throughout Otakon.
I wanted to go to Video Gaming room but it became a challenge to do so because the security would block off certain stairs or escalators in the name of crowd control. I found that walking around outside then going back inside the Baltimore Convention Center was the quickest way of going to the Video Gaming room. While I was outside, I took a photo of the bleachers that were recently set up in advance of the upcoming Grand Prix of Baltimore, which will be held on Labor Day weekend.
I managed to re-enter the Baltimore Convention Center where I found these cosplayers.
After much maneuvering around the security’s maze-like crowd control efforts, I finally made it to the Video Gaming room.
There were a variety of video games that were all on Free Play. However getting to a video game console was difficult because nearly all of them were occupied with small lines forming behind the current players.
The one video game I was able to reach wasn’t working and one of the Otakon staff told me that he thinks that someone had beaten the game and the game became inoperable as a result. One interesting tidbit about this busted game: it used a vintage pre-Wii Nintendo controller. (I’ll admit that I didn’t realize I was holding the controller upside down until a few days after Otakon ended.)
I managed to try my hand at one of the pachinko machines because they were less crowded (I had never used one before and I couldn’t find instructions in English on how to play one so I just shot the metal balls at random and I have no idea if I did well or not) but that was the extent of my hands-on experience. The proceeds from the pachinko machines went to a charity called AbleGamers and I was given three free unopened packs of Magic the Gathering cards as a "thank you" gift for paying to play pachinko.
There were smaller less-known video game companies who were showing demos of their latest video game.
Even though it was the Video Gaming room, there were plenty of card games and board games as well. The non-electronic games were just as crowded and popular as the video games.
There were plenty of cosplayers in the Video Gaming room.
After a while I left the Video Gaming room and just took pictures of cosplayers in the hallways and outside the Baltimore Convention Center.
After my earlier failed attempts at attending workshops and panels, I finally managed to get to one scheduled Otakon event but I had to really go through all kinds of obstacles to get there. I saw the English-dubbed version of this feature-length anime titled Wolf Children. I hadn’t originally planned on seeing that movie until I saw a description about it in the programming booklet while I was eating the dinner that I had brought with me while sitting in one of the comfy chairs in the hallway. I thought the plot of the movie sounded interesting. On top of it, when I pre-registered a couple of days ago I had a choice of a variety of designs for my badge (most of which were anime scenes) and I picked this one design because I thought it looked really cute. When I looked at my badge and saw "Wolf Children" on it, I thought it would be really cool to see the movie behind my Otakon badge.
I know that crowd control can be a challenge for a really big convention like Otakon but there were times when I questioned some of their methods of crowd control. The event I wanted to get to was held in a room that was located on the lower floor of the convention center and I was on the floor directly above that room. Normally one could take either the escalators, the steps, or the nearby elevator to get to the lower floor. I had no argument with reserving all of the elevators only for people with major disabilities. But access to the steps and the escalators was also closed off. In order to get to the lower floor, I had to exit the building, walk around the building from the outside until I hit the front doors that led to the lower floor, then re-enter the building. I have no idea why people had to leave the building in order to get to the lower floor.
Once I got to the lower floor there was this scrum of people that I had to literally push my way through in order to get into another line so I could get into the theater showing the film that I wanted to check out because the synopsis intrigued me. In this case the term "line" could be used very loosely. It was almost like you had to pick a large group at random then endure more waits as the security alternated between letting each group get into a more organized line that led to the doors where the movie was being shown. There were so many people trying to get in that the movie ended up starting a half an hour later than originally scheduled. At least the room was very large so there were plenty of seats for a giant crowd like the one that I was a part of.
The movie was worth the wait. It’s got a similar "human female student meets fellow male student who’s a supernatural creature" story to Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series except I thought that Wolf Children was way better than Twilight. The main female character, Hana, faces (and eventually overcomes) all kinds of obstacles that would’ve brought Bella Swan to a total nervous breakdown. The animation is incredibly beautiful and the story was very well written. I saw the dubbed version and I thought that the dubs were done very well. It’s too bad that a film like Wolf Children doesn’t get a wider theater distribution because I think that movie would definitely hold its own against the likes of any Pixar film.
Since the movie started a half an hour late, I ended up arriving at this workshop that I wanted to check out late. I wasn’t sure if I was going to get in at all because over the last few Otakons, the conventional wisdom is that if you want to guarantee of even getting inside the door, you should arrive at least a half-an-hour early. If you want to guarantee of getting inside the door and getting a seat, you should arrive at least 45 minutes-1 hour before the start. But, amazingly, I was able to get inside and get a seat with no trouble at all. The workshop was titled "Introduction to Deleter Neopiko2 Marker" and it was a hands-on demonstration of the Japanese-made Neopiko2 markers that many artists use when creating manga. I was very impressed with the quality of the markers and I felt that they were way superior to Sharpies. (FYI, in case you were wondering, I didn’t do that drawing below. It was originally a black and white photocopied drawing and I only colored it with Neopiko2 markers.)
After the workshop ended I did a little walking around the Baltimore Convention Center. For once I was actually at an anime convention past sundown and I noticed that one of the hallways of the Baltimore Convention Center was bathed in this really pretty blue light that reflected on all the people walking down it.
While there were a few late night panels and events that intrigued me, I was totally exhausted. The good news was that the compression socks I wore the entire day helped my feet alot and I was able to physically last longer on my feet than the day before. However, even with the compression socks I had hit a point where I couldn’t take Otakon any more so I decided to leave. As I was on my way out the door I took this one last photo of Otakon’s second day.
After spending a full day at Katsucon the day before, I woke up totally tired and sore. I was so fatigued that I had a hard time moving. There were times when I began to think that maybe I’m starting to get too old for anime conventions. I also remembered that for several days before Katsucon I spent long hours trying to finish the tote bag that I submitted to the Katsucon Art Show and I think all that work coupled with a physically grueling first day at the con took a physical toll on me.
So I spent the morning at home. I ended up eating the lunch I had originally intended to bring with me to Katsucon. Afterwards I decided to head out when I found mail in the mailbox. I got yet another reminder of the crumbling state of my marriage—I got a letter from my husband’s lawyer. I didn’t open it that day because I didn’t need to be bummed out before I got to Katsucon. (I opened the letter a day after the convention ended and it was basically a letter verifying that I received the divorce petition from a process server. Blech!)
I didn’t arrive at Katsucon until after 3 p.m. As I was walking from the parking garage I saw this sign from one of the many bars and restaurants that dot National Harbor.
When I entered the front lobby of the Gaylord Hotel and Convention Center I walked past the hotel restaurant that had been temporarily converted into a Maid Cafe. I never checked that one out because the line of people waiting to get in was very long.
The check-in desk in the hotel lobby featured someone cosplaying as a robot that gained lots of attention from other people waiting to check into their rooms.
I saw the Asian ball-jointed doll meetup, which started at 2 p.m., was already in progress. I dropped off my tiny dolls then ran to the nearest women’s restroom because I needed to use the toilet after making the commute from my home to National Harbor. Once I emerged from the stall, I found this bottle marked "Vampire Blood" next to the sink where I washed my hands.
I managed to rejoin my dolls at the doll meetup, which was just starting to break up by the time I arrived. I still managed to get a lot of photos of gorgeous dolls (there were more of them than the previous day’s meetup). Someone also brought some homebaked gingerbread, which was very delicious. (I’m sorry I was never able to learn who baked the gingerbread because I would’ve complimented the baker.)
After the meetup ended I walked towards the Art Show and I found no bids on my handpainted tote bag. Then I walked around both the Artists’ Alley and the Merchants’ Room where I took some more photos that I wasn’t able to take on the first day due to low battery power in my cellphone. (This time I made damned sure that my smartphone was fully charged before I arrived at Katsucon.)
The biggest guest star at Katsucon was the Japanese pop band known as The Sound Bee HD. I missed out on seeing this band perform in concert mainly because the concert started after 10 p.m. and I grew too exhausted to attend a couple of hours before the concert. The group had a table set up in the Artists’ Alley and members of the band were there to greet fans, sell copies of their CDs, and sign autographs.
Both rooms had a variety of things available for purchase that one can’t find at a Wal-Mart or Target.
I went to an anime convention and a Twister game broke out.
The next few photos are scenes from the World Cosplay Summit semi-finals that was held at Katsucon. I never knew that cosplay was a serious international competition like the Olympics or the Miss Universe Pageant. Basically the winners of the semi-finals went on to the finals (which will be held during another anime convention). Whoever won the finals would represent the United States at the World Cosplay Summit in Japan later this year.
There were plenty of cosplayers who didn’t take part in the World Cosplay Summit semi-finals and they could be found walking the hallways throughout Katsucon, such as these Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
This person dressed up as a futuristic robot version of Hello Kitty.
This guy wore a plushie on his head like it’s a hat in the Merchants’ Room.
Since Katsucon took place soon after Lunar New Year, a group of people came carrying a Chinese dragon.
This cosplayer posed for professional photographers.
Are they Anonymous? Are they cosplaying as V from "V is For Vendetta"? Or are they simply Guy Fawkes fans? In any case they were at Katsucon 2013.
After I walked around the convention for a while, I chilled out in one of the video rooms watching the anime series Fate/Stay Night. I first became familiar with this series when I was at Otakon last summer and I purchased this kit that’s based on one of the characters named Saber Lily. (I’ll admit that I haven’t worked any more on that kit since last September. I need to take it out again and work on it.) I downloaded the fansubbed manga version and it’s pretty entertaining. While the anime version is okay, I probably won’t be buying the DVD version because I personally preferred the manga version. The manga went into more details about the relationship between the characters while the anime version was mostly swordfights and it grew tedious after a while.
The one workshop panel I attended that day was one called "Kickstarter 101 With Obsidian & Dern." It was a fascinating view on the process of getting your work financed via Kickstarter.com. I took the workshop because I had a fantasy of getting a project funded via Kickstarter but after taking that workshop I learned that you really need to have a detailed production plan in order to have it work for you.
After that panel I grew very tired again so I drove home. I began to notice that my stamina for three-day anime conventions isn’t as strong as it used to. It’s another sign of getting older, I guess. <Sigh!> I’m sure that I’ll get to the point where even attending a convention for even a half-day will tire me out but I hope that doesn’t happen for several decades. <LOL!> At least driving home was easy compared with the previous night’s frightening commute (where I had to deal with both heavy rain and crazy drivers).
I had gone to the Katsucon anime convention in the past but it must have been at least five years since I attended the last one. (I remembered I attended the last one when it was still held in downtown Washington, DC instead of its current home in National Harbor, Maryland.)
The past few weeks I slacked off on doing major decluttering of my home because I decided to try participating in my first anime convention-related Art Show. (I’ve been to previous anime conventions but I’ve never submitted anything to the Art Show.) I purchased a blank canvas bag and did this two-sided painting of the Gardener Twins Souseiseki and Suiseiseki from the anime Rozen Maiden. (You can read the February 14, 2013 blog entry for more details about the painting of this bag.)
Even though I preregistered over the Internet (I was able to get a weekend pass at a discount) and it entitled me to pick up my pass the day before the convention opened, I wasn’t able to make it on Thursday because the pick-up time conflicted with my weekly support group meeting for people who are separated or divorced. (Since the meeting fell on February 14—Valentine’s Day—the group was holding an "Anti-Valentine’s Day Party" instead of the usual meeting and I really wanted to go to it.) So I woke up early and got to National Harbor as soon as possible. Luckily there was a separate line for preregistrations and it was shorter than the line for those who were purchasing passes at the door so I didn’t have to spend too much time waiting in line.
Once I picked up my pass I immediately headed to the Art Show where I entered my tote bag. I had put it in a display case but I also posted photos showing both sides of the bag since the display case could only show one side at a time. Here is what it looked like after I hung it at the Art Show.
By the time I got my pass and hung up my tote bag at the Art Show I was feeling hungry because it was around noon. In order to save as much time and money as possible, I opted to bring my own lunch, dinner, and sodas in a giant Wegman’s insulated bag from home. (The bag was pretty heavy to carry around at times until I consumed the food and drink.) So I sat in a chair in the Gaylord Hotel and Convention Center lobby and ate my lunch. I have to admit that the entire large complex was pretty fancy. Here is a shot of the Convention Center atrium.
The only major snag that first day came when I realized that I didn’t have enough battery power in my cell phone so I couldn’t issue as many Twitter tweets as I wanted. I had a car charger but it would’ve meant going to the parking garage, finding my car, starting the engine, letting it run for up to a half-an-hour while my phone recharges, then go back to the Gaylord Hotel and Convention Center. I found a Best Buy Express vending machine and I found that there was a battery recharger on sale for my cell phone. I sucked it up and charged $40 to the credit card to get that item.
So while I was eating lunch I decided to recharge the cell phone with the new battery. It worked for a while then it stopped recharging. I read the manual and found that the battery needed to be recharged and it didn’t have much juice left. The battery didn’t come with any wall adapter and I really didn’t want to pay more money at the Best Buy Express vending machine to get one so I basically dealt with a cell phone with low battery power for the entire day. As a result I ended up making tweets about the day’s events the following morning. I kept on taking photos with my cell phone until I lost battery power entirely.
Once I finished eating lunch I shopped around in the Merchants’ Room. I did mostly window shopping because I’m currently in the process of decluttering my home and I’m trying to be conservative in spending my money due to my husband suing me for divorce. There were plenty of things on sale and if you weren’t careful, you could easily go broke buying all kinds of stuff that you really don’t need to survive but they looked irresistable.
This one statue on sale made me feel old. It’s Kimberly from the early 1980’s video game Space Ace. I remember when I used to play that game in the arcades. If the statue hadn’t been out of my personal price range, I would’ve been tempted to buy it because of both the video game and the fact that she shares the same name as me. (LOL!)
The next three photos are from the most bizarre booth I saw in the Merchants’ Room. The military-style armbands promoted tolerance of same-sex relationships by using terms like Yaoi and appropriate symbols. But the hats reminded me of Nazi hats from World War II and there was even a giant swastika against a psychedelic background on display in the background. That booth had me scratching my head.
I read on the Den of Angels forum of a series of Asian ball jointed doll meetups that were going to happen during Katsucon. I was on the fence about being able to make any of those meetups so I decided to pack my smaller 1/6 and 1/12 scale dolls just in case because they are lighter and easier to carry than my larger dolls. (I’ve carried some of these larger dolls around at anime and doll conventions in the past and it turned out to be such a pain to lug them around.) I slipped these small dolls in a plastic bag then put them in the large Wegman’s insulated bag. Here are the dolls I brought with me to Katsucon from left to right: Orient Doll Ji, Soom Mini-Gem Uyoo, Soul Doll Kimmy, and Bobobie Sunny.
I arrived at the meetup right at the 2 p.m. start time. The Asian ball-jointed doll meetup went off pretty well for me with no drama. Everyone was pretty nice and I got a chance to see some gorgeous dolls. Here are the photos I took of that meetup.
After the Asian ball-jointed doll meetup I walked around and took photos of cosplayers and people carrying various plushies until my cell phone battery finally died.
Someone cosplayed as Merida from the Disney/Pixar film Brave.
This cosplayer was in a wheelchair yet was still able to rock it in this awesome looking costume.
This cosplayer in the next photo appeared as his personal fursona Azure.
Here’s Belle from the Disney film Beauty and the Beast.
Spiderman poses with a friend.
It’s a unicorn!
According to the comments and messages I got through Flickr, the woman in the next photo was cosplaying as Kougoyku Ren from the Japanese anime Magi.
The last two photos feature a total blast from my own past. Yes, it’s Gumby!
I attended my first panel at Katsucon. It was called "Publishing for the Speciality Market" and I was mildly curious about the topic since I can draw and write and it was supposed to provide tips on how to make an income off of your work. That panel was a definite eye-opener. It’s disheartening to hear that there is only one major distributor of comic books in the United States (Diamond Comics) so if your idea for a comic book gets rejected by this one publisher, you don’t really have any alternatives. As for me, I could see myself maybe doing a web comic or digital e-book in some distant future as a hobby but I found that publishing my own comic book/graphic novel to distribute myself or convince Diamond Comics to distribute to be downright daunting and scary.
Immediately after the first panel ended I attended a second panel called "Bad Anime, Bad!" That one is definitely self-explanatory. I saw clips of anime that have either a) awful animation, b) lousy dialogue, c) poor translation, or d) all of the above. I’ve seen this same panel at other anime conventions in the past and it’s amazing that the guy who runs it always gets new examples of anime so bad that it’s really hilarious.
After watching bad anime, I settled down in the Gaylord Hotel and Convention Center lobby to eat a pre-packaged dinner that I brought with me. What was funny was that I had some people sitting near me asked me where I got my dinner from and they seemed disheartened when I said "Wegman’s." (LOL!)
After dinner I managed to attend one last panel in the evening. It was called "Steampunk to Cyberpunk: A History" and it was an interesting presentation that compared the steampunk with cyberpunk sub-genres of science fiction. When that panel ended I was so exhausted that I decided to drive back home. (In order to save money I opted to commute to this convention instead of staying at any of the hotels located in National Harbor.) I had this harrowing commute because it was raining very hard and the streets were so slick that they resembled mirrors. On top of it there were crazy drivers on the road who were speeding on these very slick roads and it was a challenge to avoid accidents. At least I made it home okay.
There were a couple of early morning panels that intrigued me but I had to miss them for reasons that were closer to home. Basically my community was having its Electronics Recycling event from 9 a.m.-12 noon on Saturday morning and I had some old electronics I wanted to unload. The Electronics Recycling is only held about 3-4 times a year and I really wanted them out of my home in order to reduce clutter. On top of that, the American Rescue Workers were having their truck in my neighborhood at the same time for people to drop off old clothing and other usable items. I figured that if I had to drop off old electronics at one place, I might as well drop off some old clothes at the parked truck. (I have lost so much weight in recent months that some of my shorts are now too loose on me.) To me having a slightly less cluttered home was worth missing out on some early morning Otakon panels.
So once again, I ate breakfast, changed the food and water in Spike’s cage, dropped off the used clothes at the American Rescue Workers truck, dropped off old electronics and dead batteries at the Public Works plant, and drove off to the North Linthicum Light Rail Stop. Once I got there I encountered a large crowd. Not only were there Otakon goers at that stop there were also soccer fans as well. I learned from one of them that the English Premiere League had rented out M&T Bank Stadium (the usual home of the Baltimore Ravens football team) and there was a soccer match between Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool. With London hosting the Summer Olympics during soccer season, I guess that the English Premiere League was looking for alternate places to play so it’s sending some of its teams to the U.S. so the soccer season can continue.
So it was basically standing room only on the light rail until it reached M&T Bank Stadium then I found a seat that I was only able to sit in for just a couple of minutes since the Baltimore Convention Center stop was nearby.
Once I actually reached the BCC, I saw that there were huge crowds waiting to get into the front door. I decided on an alternate entrance. I went into the Baltimore Hilton Hotel next door then took the skybridge that connects the two buildings together. On my way to the skybridge, I saw this cosplayer dressed as a robot getting groomed by a friend in the hotel lobby.(I later learned via the Flickr comments that this person was playing a character from the anime Full Metal Alchemist.)
So I missed the two early morning panels that seemed interesting to me but I managed to reach this panel called “Japanese PVC Figures and Collecting”. I’ve seen these figures being sold at events like Otakon and the National Cherry Blossom Festival for years and I’ve taken numerous photos of them. (I’m not a collector of such items partly because of space issues and partly because many of them are so expensive.)
Once again I stood in a long line about a half an hour before the workshop started. I learned yesterday that you had to get in line at least 15 minutes before the panel started if you wanted to get in. If you arrived late, the Otakon security wouldn’t let you in at all.
I found the workshop very informative despite this woman who sat behind me. The workshop leaders showed PowerPoint slides on various PVC figures and the woman blurted out the anime character names and which anime they appeared in. At first I was amazed by her extensive knowledge of anime characters and her ability to identify who they are and where they came from. My attitude towards her changed when she interrupted the workshop leaders and asked them not to say “make available” and say “release” because the Japanese tend to use the term “release” instead of “make available” so therefore it bugs her when English speakers say “make available” instead of “release.”
But, wait, there’s more! When the workshop leaders were talking about one can buy PVC figures in various stores (both online and in real life), the same woman sitting behind me blurted out about how shops in Japan hates to use word “store” and prefer to use the term “shop.” Therefore she said it bugs her too when the English-speaking workshop leaders were using the term “store” instead of “shop.” Okay, whatever!
As the workshop went on, the woman’s frequent blurting out about her knowledge of PVC figures started to annoy me so much that I turned to my cellphone and made this tweet on my Twitter account.
(And in case you’re curious, that woman was not from Japan nor was she even Asian. She was a caucasian American whose first language was English, which she spoke with a Mid-Atlantic Regional American accent.)
Despite that woman, I learned a few new fascinating things about Japanese PVC figures. For example, I learned that “cast offs” refer to figures whose clothes can be removed by the owner (as compared to the clothes that are painted on the figure). The workshop leaders also displayed some real-life figures that I photographed.
Even though I thought that the PVC figures on display were totally gorgeous, I won’t be starting my own collection because, as I wrote earlier, I’m trying to both declutter my home and save my money as much as possible. But I will continue to view and enjoy them in stores and at various events in the future.
After I left the workshop I made a wonderful discovery. The good news was that the general public were allowed to use the escalators and many of them were working, which was definitely an improvement over yesterday. The bad news was that there was one major exception to that “no riding on escalators” ban being lifted—people still weren’t allowed to use the escalators located in the main entrance of the Baltimore Convention Center. Why? I don’t know. It didn’t make much sense to me.
I also made a less-than-wonderful discovery. Like the day before, I had opted to pack both lunch and dinner in this large insulated Wegmans bag along with a few bottles of soda and a large ice pack to keep everything cold. I did this in order to both save time and money. There were two downsides: 1) the bag was a bit on the heavy side and 2) sometimes you may get something leaking. For dinner I had packed this mozzarella caprese salad that I purchased from Wegmans. It was in this sealed container along with this small package of oil and vinegar salad dressing. It wasn’t until I had sat down for the PVC figures workshop that I decided to get one of the sodas out of the bag and discovered that the soda was covered in oil. I managed to run to the bathroom soon after the workshop ended, grabbed a bunch of paper towels, sat down on a bench, and proceeded to unpack the bag and inventory the damage caused by this tiny oil spill in my bag. I found that it was just a small spill and it didn’t affect the other things in my bag too much so I wiped the inside of the bag and repacked everything.
I didn’t have those kind of problems with the food that I brought with me to Otakon the day before. (For dinner the previous day I brought pasta with sun-dried tomatoes and feta cheese that I purchased pre-made from Wegman’s. It held up really well.) That’s the downside of carting your own food from home to a major event in order to save time and money from finding a restaurant that wasn’t too crowded or too expensive and paying to eat.
At least I didn’t have problems with the bagels and cream chesse that I brought with me for lunch or the blueberries that I brought for snacks both days.
In any case, I decided to walk around Otakon for a while and I took a few pictures such as this person wearing this reall cool looking Yeti costume.
I found this strange flyer posted on the wall that said “BELIEVE IN SHERLOCK” and “MORIARTY WAS REAL.” I don’t know the significance of the Sherlock Holmes reference at Otakon.
I don’t know who this person was supposed to be but that roly-poly costume was cool.
That demon costume was also pretty cool.
This is what it was like to wait in a line in the hopes of getting an autograph from someone who’s big in the anime industry. Fortunately I went through the program book and I didn’t recognize any of the big names who were going to sign autographs throughout Otakon weekend so I saved myself from having to endure a line like that.
These two wore very colorful winged costumes. I later found out via a Flickr comment that these two are Foster Cosplay and Ballard Cosplay and their wings were designed by Samm of KO Cosplay.
These were some of the literally thousands of anime DVDs on sale throughout Otakon.
This person dressed as someone that one of the Flickr commenters identfied as Chell from Portal.
This fancy-dressed couple was identified by one of the Flickr commenters as portraying Princesses Celestia and Luna.
This next photo is an excellent example of recycling. This woman took an old Dance Dance Revoution dancepad and refashioned it as a cosplay costume. The results were pretty cool.
Some of the many plushies on sale at Otakon.
This woman wearing a sexy outfit was portraying, according to the Flickr comments, Molotov Cocktease from Venture Bros.
While I was exploring the Dealers Room for the second day in a row, I purchased a few more things for myself. One of them was a very cute pink Arpakasso llama. I first heard about these ultra-cute creatures via Facebook a few months ago and I was so smitten that I actually hit the “Like” button and I shared one of the photos with my Facebook friends. The dealer who sold the Arpakasso llama gave me a short lesson on how to tell a bootleg from a genuine thing. (Basically check the hangtag to see if it says “Arpakasso” on it. If there is no hangtag attached, look at the animal’s tush tag. It should say “Arpakasso” on one side and “AMUSE” on the other. That was a good thing to learn because the other tables in the Dealers Room were selling Arpkasso knock-offs. (They looked close enough to the Arpakasso llamas but they had tags indicating a different manufacturer.)
I purchased this kit from another dealers table. If I can put together the pieces correctly, I should get something that looks like a doll or action figure that’s based on an anime character. (I’m not familiar with the character or the anime in question. I purchased it based on the very cute line art on the box cover.) I purchased it in an effort to force myself to create again. (My creativity efforts have slowed down a lot because I’ve been letting my current personal problems overwhelm me. I do have inventory to sell from my past efforts but I know I can’t rely on that forever.) I’ll write more about this kit in a later post.
I also purchased a deluxe edition of the graphic novel version of The Last Unicorn. That purchased entitled me to get the original novel writer, Peter S. Beagle to autograph. (One fun fact I learned is that Peter S. Beagle helped to write much of the content for the graphic novel version.) It wasn’t until after I left that I realized that I should’ve pulled out my smartphone and taken a photo of him signing my new book. I’ll just have to make do with these two photos that I took of him the day before.
I spent the rest of the day carrying the book in my hand rather than put it in my large Wegmans bag because I didn’t want to risk such a nice new book with a recent Peter S. Beagle autograph getting smeared with oil and vinegar salad dressing. (I was so relieved when I finally ate that salad for dinner because I didn’t have to worry about salad dressing leaking.)
I also saw something in the Dealers Room. I really can’t explain what I saw other than to say that it involes females and pole dancing. I think it’s best explained with this very short video that I shot and uploaded on YouTube.
After I left the Dealers Room, I continued with photographing cosplayers. This furry costume is supposed to be, according to a Flickr comment, Appa from Avatar: The Last Airbender.
This woman wore a cute cupcake waitress-themed outfit. (She turned her plate upside down to demonstrate how the cupcakes on her plate were actually non-edible fakes that were glued on the plate.)
About 15 minutes before the start of the next workshop I was interested in, I sat in line outside where the next workshop was going to be held. The doors didn’t open until about 10 minutes after the workshop was originally scheduled to begin. The workshop was called “Bookbinding for the Anime/Manga Enthusiast.” The next photo shows some of the supplies that were provided for each participant.
That bookbinding workshop started off interesting. (It was cool seeing how you can use one sheet of paper to make a tiny book.) But then it got goofy when the workshop leader had us take our new tiny books, draw or write something on one or two pages, pass it to the next person, draw or write some more on one or two more pages, then pass it to another person, etc. Many of the participants were rolling their eyes at having to pass the tiny book yet again. I noticed after the workshop ended that many people left the books behind. I did too. I did take the info sheet in the above photograph because of the links to online tutorials that I wanted to pursue in the future.
After that workshop I took two more photos of cosplayers like the person dressed as Shadow the Hedgehog and a group of people dressed as deadmau5.
I headed for the late Saturday afternoon Asian ball-jointed doll meetup. This one was way better than the morning one I attended the day before. More people showed up with dolls. Plus I didn’t have any strange encounters like the one that happened at that previous meetup I attended. (These two women approached me, asked me if I ran the website Kim’s World of Art. When I answered yes, one of them asked me to remove this photo of her bag from five years ago that I posted on my website because she said she felt uncomfortable with that bag picture being online. When I said “Huh?” and gave a puzzled look, they walked away before they provided any kind of information—such as the URL of where the offending photo is located. Neither of the women from that previous meetup were there at either the late Saturday afternoon meetup or the Sunday morning panel on Asian ball jointed dolls.) It was basically a laid-back experience filled with glorious eye candy. The next few photos were taken at that meetup.
When the meetup started to break up around 8 p.m. I felt so tired and sore that I decided to head back home. I did take one last photo before I left the Baltimore Convention Center. It was a person dressed in this incredibly cute mouse costume.
I timed my depature perfectly because that English Premiere League soccer match at M&T Bank Stadium had ended and the Baltimore Orioles were in the middle of playing a Saturday evening game at Camden Yards so I had no problem with finding a seat on the light rail. While I was waiting at the light rail station, this fellow Otakon attendee took one look at the Otakon badge around my neck and The Last Unicorn deluxe edition book that I still carried around in my arm (despite the fact that I had eaten my dinner and tried to wipe up as much of the inside part of the bag as possible—I still didn’t want to risk the possibility that my new autographed book could still somehow get stained with salad dressing) and said that she envied me for having that book. Then she started talking about how she attended the Funimation panel and how Funimation is going to release lots of anime and manga stuff in the U.S. over the next year while proceeding to rattle off the titles of various anime and manga that will be released in the U.S. under the Funimation banner. I nodded politely even though I didn’t attend that particular panel and I have never heard of any of those titles that she rattled off.
When the light rail arrived, I got on and found a seat. The woman followed me and sat next to me. She said that she grew up in Baltimore then asked me if I grew up there. I mentioned that I actually grew up in nearby Glen Burnie. (For the record, I was born in Baltimore and I lived there until I was five years old when my family opted to move to Glen Burnie. I lived there through my school years including my college freshman year—when I attended Anne Arundel Community College. At 19 I moved away when I transferred to the University of Maryland at College Park. I moved back to Glen Burnie after college graduation. I lived there for 10 months until I got married at 23 and I moved into the townhouse that my husband purchased near Washington, DC.)
Then she started to talk to me about how she’s currently writing a manga series of her own that would be set in Baltimore and involves magic and it would also involve different storylines and she even described the magical characters. She said that one of the storylines would have a magical character who lives in Glen Burnie. (I’ll admit that I personally found the concept of any kind of magical being living in Glen Burnie—known as the “auto dealership capital of Maryland” because of the numerous auto dealerships that can be found on both Ritchie Highway and Crain Highway—to be a totally laughable idea. In my high school, anyone who even acted like he or she was the slightest bit magical would’ve gotten the shit kicked out of him or her by the jocks and/or would-be juvenile delinquents in training who ran rampant in that school.)
This person talked my ears off about her manga series throughout the light rail trip. I was pretty sore and exhausted by that point and I really wasn’t in the mood to hear such a long-winded dissertation on a proposed manga series. I was relieved when the light rail finally arrived at the North Linthicum stop and I got off. Luckily for me the would-be manga writer’s ultimate destination was further south so I was able to leave her behind on the light rail.
I drove back home and spent the rest of the evening watching the Olympics on NBC.
This weekend I attended the Otakon anime convention in Baltimore for the first time in two years. I’m trying to do things to take my mind off my current personal problems and attending Otakon is another example of that. (My attendance did the trick because I was too busy walking around Otakon to notice the seven-month anniversary of my husband’s sudden walkout until after the event ended Sunday.)
Ironically the last time I attended Otakon two years ago, I did so because my husband was about to embark on a month-long business trip to Florida and Otakon happened to coincide with the first weekend that he was gone. I thought that being busy that weekend would help ease me into being away from my husband for that long. (Up until that time, there were times when my husband was away on business trips but they basically lasted no longer than a week. Of course, with this recent separation, I have been alone without my husband for the longest time ever. We’ve been apart for seven months now and I’m sure that we’ll remain apart for some time to come.) In any case, you can view my entries regarding Otakon 2010 here, here, here, and here.
I had pre-registered for this year’s Otakon about a month and a half ago. I was able to save money on convention fees plus I was able to pick my pass up the night before the convention began. Here is my badge that I wore last weekend.
I opted to drive from my home to the North Linthicum light rail stop then take the light rail until I reached the Baltimore Convention Center. I also brought a giant insulated Wegman’s bag with lunch, dinner, sodas, and snacks. I found that it was way cheaper to do things that way than to stay in an Inner Harbor-area hotel and eat in restaurants or at one of the convention center’s food stands. I also didn’t have to worry about caring for my pet hedgehog Spike while I was away because I was able to change his food and water after I ate my own breakfast before I left in the morning.
The disadvantage of carting your own food and drinks around is that the bag I carried the stuff in (along with cold packs to keep the drinks cold and prevent food from spoiling) was a bit on the heavy side and my shoulders were totally sore by the time I returned home.
Here are the dolls I carted with me throughout Otakon. I brought small dolls (the largest was only 13 inches tall) because they were lighter and easier to carry and I could easily put them away when I wasn’t at a doll meet-up. The dolls I took were—from left to right—Soom Mini-Gem Uyoo, Orient Doll Ji, Makies elf doll, Bobobie Sunny, and Soul Doll Kimmy.
While I waited for the light rail to arrive, I took this photo of my Makie doll.
The disadvantage of being a commuter to Otakon is that if I don’t arrive in time to take a certain light rail and had to take a later one, I would be late for a panel or workshop I wanted to attend. That is what happened to me. On top of that, the security people at Otakon made us pre-registered folks enter the door at the far end of the convention center instead of taking the front entrance that was located closer to where the workshop I wanted to attend was located. (The security had reserved the front entrance for the long line of people who waited until the last minute to register for Otakon.) I arrived to the workshop a half-an-hour late as a result. On top of it, I discovered that you weren’t allowed to enter the workshop late. You had to wait in a line outside and hope that you would be let in. I learned quickly that if you don’t arrive early for a workshop or panel, you just won’t get in at all.
I managed to make it to the Hangry & Angry Fashion show, where I not only arrived early but I got a decent seat. At times that fashion show was like Mardi Gras where, instead of throwing beads to the audience, the models threw tiny Hangry & Angry toys to the audience. The Hangry & Angry clothes are wild and punk. It was a pretty fun experience. Here are a few shots from that show.
After the fashion show, I took this photo of someone who actually came dressed as a soft drink that was served at a fast food restaurant, which I thought was hilarious. (After I uploaded that photo on Flickr, someone commented that the soft drink is really Grand Master Shake from Aqua Teen Hunger Force. I’ll take his/her word for it since I’ve never seen that show.)
I also found this Asian ball-jointed meet up. It was held on a Friday afternoon and there was a small group there. I took some photos of the few dolls that were there. I also had this strange encounter while I was at this meet up. These two women came up to me and one of them asked me if I ran the website Kim’s World of Art. I was amazed that anyone recognized me because I haven’t gone to any doll meet ups since the last time I went to Otakon in 2010. I answered “Yes” then one of them said that I have a photo of her bag that I posted on my site five years ago and she wanted me to remove it. Then the two of them quickly walked away before I had a chance to ask them any further questions. I have no idea who these people were and I don’t even know what image file they were referring to. If I had a URL of the image in question, then I could delete it easily. But I have so many images on my site that I wouldn’t know where to begin. On top of it, I didn’t recognize either woman nor did they give me their names.
I’m not really a regular doll meet up attendee. I did go to a several of them between 2004-2007 but then I simply cut way back because of other things that happened in my life (such as my left hip getting so bad that I couldn’t walk so I had to undergo a hip replacement in 2008). It’s just hard to accomodate anyone who suddenly comes up to me, asks me to remove a photo of a bag, then quickly walk away without giving me a name or a URL.
I was so unnerved by that encounter plus the doll meet up was so small that there were very few dolls on display where I was there. I just took the following three photos then quickly left without even showing off all of the tiny dolls I brought.
I found another group sitting around near the Asian ball-jointed doll meet up who were in another meet up of their own. They were busy trading manga volumes. Here’s a photo of some of the manga books and related publications that were available for trade.
I loved this person’s costume so much that I photographed it. According to a commenter on Flickr, this is supposed to be Kyubey from Puella Magi Madoka Magica. (I haven’t seen that particular anime.)
I walked around both the Dealers Room and Artist Alley. The next two photos are of The Last Unicorn author Peter S. Beagle who was busy signing autographs and chatting with fans.
I stopped by the Hangry & Angry booth where I took a couple of pictures (including one of my Makie doll Victoria sitting among the stuffed cats).
I looked at the prices of some of the Hangry & Angry clothes and stuffed animals. They were a bit pricey. The cheapest item I saw was $25 for a small-sized t-shirt that looked like it was made out of very thin cotton. The booth was throwing an exclusive “Hellcat Party” the following evening that would be limited only to the first 20 people who spent more than $250. With the high prices, it would be pretty easy to spend that much in one drop. I saw one person plunk out a bunch of dollar bills buying lots of stuff. She spent the minimum $250 so she was given one of the 20 passes to that party. As for me, I bought a softbound coffee table book-sized manga about the Hangry & Angry cat characters for $40. I just preferred to buy something that’s going to last me many more years than most of the clothes that were sold at Otakon this year.
Here are some more things that were on sale at Otakon.
I found it pretty ironic to find these realistic looking toy guns on sale because Otakon began on the one-week anniversary of that tragic shooting at a movie theater in Colorado.
This car was painted with comic book characters.
This artist was in the process of drawing a chalkboard mural on the ground.
After doing some shopping where I didn’t buy very much, I decided to check out this workshop called “Digital Painting Crash Course” where people sat there looking at an artist demonstrating how to do some painting effects in Adobe Photoshop. He had some CD-ROMS to give out to participants except he only made 10 CD’s in a workshop where around 100 people attended. I’ll admit that it was hard to listen to what was essentially a lecture on using Adobe Photoshop without having a computer loaded with Photoshop so I could follow along. (Most computer training courses I’ve taken in the past generally had both instruction and hands-on lab while this workshop was instruction only.)
I ended up leaving Otakon around 4 p.m. mainly because there wasn’t a lot of things I was interested in attending by that time and I was getting very exhausted so I went home.
As for the weather, the heat was in the upper 90s with high humidity. Tha Baltimore Convention Center had air conditioning but there were places in the building that were warmer than others. The warmest areas were the main hallways where the sun went through the glass window roofs. The coldest areas were the ballroom where the workshops and panels were held. The air conditioning in those rooms were so cold that there were times I wished I had a jacket with me.
One thing I noticed at Otakon so far. What’s up with the escalators? At previous Otakons it was no problem with using them. Anyone was allowed to use them. So far, this didn’t seem to be the case. During picking up the badges for those who pre-registered, we weren’t allowed to use the escalators. We all had to walk up the steps. On the first full day at Otakon, the escalators were either not working at all or they were running but security wouldn’t let anyone use them. What. The. Fuck?!?
So I spent the evening at home watching the Opening Ceremonies of the London Olympics on NBC.
Sagittarius Dolly 
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