My apologies for not updating my journal for a long while, but hey, been happily busy with a lot of stuff. First off: a con report for SakuraCon 2013

The convention was awesome this year, especially since they FINALLY did a better job of running registration (one lovely cause being that at last you can register the night before con, making there be a lot less people the next day). Staff did a better job keeping things organized, too, though of course there were still glitches (some of it from panels being cancelled, panels being planned in the wrong room, etc.). I had a wild time the first day having 2 of the photoshoots that I run being that day, as well as attending a 3rd, and thankfully it all worked out despite having a long commute between the hotel that I stayed in and the convention center (only bad thing that happened was being late to that 3rd photoshoot, but oh well). Next day was the panel for #Umbrella-Duelists, which was pretty cool and worked out smoothly, but we lost a few folks toward the end of it (sure hope it was for other reasons and not from boredom). Later that night was a prom-themed event for Homestuck fans, and I wore an interesting outfit for that (like to refer to it as "exotic dress" Nepeta since it involved a blue belly dancer sash). Sadly, due to some confusion and other weird stuff, it got cancelled in the middle of it by con staff (which was highly rude, but understandable). And though everyone were quite pissed off, they kept their cool and didn't majorly flip out over it (which was great, since we don't want more people thinking badly of Homestuck fans). Then the last day was spent enjoying a picnic, running around the exhibitors' hall and artists' alley looking for deals, meeting up with any friends I missed during the con and saying farewell to out of state/country buds who were leaving, and enjoying a growing tradition of having Easter dinner at "Dragonfish" with a bunch of friends and other con buds. Highlights of SC 2013: finally got to meet a Canadian friend of mine that I know from Gaia Online (a fellow Yu Yu Hakusho fan who rocks at cosplaying the battle-ravaged version of Kurama), had the pleasure of getting to meet Little Kuriboh (a friendly and awesome guy indeed) and got a poster of his signed (still trying to figure out how to scan that onto the comp to show everyone in #Umbrella-Duelists), and the awesomeness of my best friend (*KiteSanjuro) taking a 36 hour plane trip all the way from doing Navy stuff in Bahrain - just to make it home in time for the con (first night, anyhoo). For that I'm so glad, because I'd been missing him terribly and worrying since he'd been suffering from serious homesickness. Having him around to hang out with me during the con was just the emotional lift and confidence boost that I needed to really enjoy myself, and that night when he surprised me with being home is one I'll cherish forever for the surge of joy that I felt the moment he strongly hugged me...

As for what I've been doing since the con, I've been a busy bee with lots of amazing and wonderful cosplay events that I've been attending or am part of running. Haven't gotten any major cosplay work done yet (am saving up for them, etc.), but I've done some really nice original design stuff that I'm rather a bit proud of. Original costumes based off of one's imagination and/or around a certain theme are truly the coolest to do, and one reason I'm grateful for the existence of such groups like GasuKan, IshoCon, and Yakumei - awesome outlets for letting that creativity take form. Speaking of which, I've got a fun summer-themed Homestuck meetup and the 1 year anniversary event for Yakumei to look forward to at the end of this month, and am thrilled at the chance to come up with something neat for both of them. ^__^