Long-Awaited Update, AnimeNEXT and News

Daaaaaaaaaaaayum I've been lazy/busy/forgetful/tired and haven't updated in FOREVER. This weekend was AnimeNEXT in Somerset, NJ. This was my first time driving that far, but everything went off without a hitch. We took 95 to 287 to avoid tolls and stopped at Friendly's in West Haven, CT for food and got to the hotel in about 6 hours. The ride back was going even smoother - we didn't make any stops and were flying through New Jersey and ConnectiCut - until we hit tons of roadwork in RI and MA. The return trip ended up taking about 6 hours too but it was at least an easy route - long but at least there weren't a lot of changeovers to other highways.
I've never been particularly fond of AnimeNEXT. It's not set up very well. 2 years ago when it was still in Secaucus it was horribly set up. That was the year that the Artist Alley was in a parking garage. The Somerset location does a slightly better job but it's too spread out. Last year it was in the Garden State Exhibit Center and the Doubletree Hotel, which wasn't a big deal because there was a handy covered walkway connecting the Doubletree and the Exhibit Center. But this year they added locations in the Holiday Inn and a training center across the street. It was too spread out. With Inyx in charge of the Artist Alley this year, the Artist Alley was better set up than last year. We ended up commandeering the entire corner since she was staff, so we had the staff table, 2 tables for our displays and then Sin's table for her studio. I can't believe I forgot to take pictures. It was impressive. Another beef with AnimeNEXT is there isn't much for quality panels or workshops. They don't get the best guests. They did have Greg Ayres this year, who is a very notable voice actor, but they usually don't get anyone bigger than that. The panels are usually lame. The only ones that are of any merit are the Bento and Sake panels but you have to sign up way in advance because they fill out so fast. The Adult Swim Revolution panel happens every year and it's great for Adult Swim fans who want to hear about new shows, see previews, find out what's been cancelled, what's coming back, what's on hiatus and just bitch about crappy shows and praise awesome shows. The panel is a mix of awesome and lame-ass bullshit. I've gone to it every year I've done AnimeNEXT - which is only 3 years, but so far it's progressively gone downhill. This year's panel went from talking about new seasons and new series to bitching about Family Guy and American Dad, and they barely talked about the new shows or any original Adult Swim content. Last year had a lot more information and the year before had free swag and I won a Murderface button by being able to correctly answer what Adult Swim's first time slot was. (I beat someone dressed as Space Ghost, that's epic)
But I think AnimeNEXT should've been renamed PokeCon this year as like, 85% of con-goers were cosplaying Pokemon, Pokemon trainers or Teams Rocket, Magma or Aqua. And everyone had PokeWalkers from the new DS games (mine took a nasty trip through the washer and no longer works, but Wig and Xaqu got plenty of items and Watts). Wig got lots of great pictures. I didn't get as many. I usually just take pics of the cosplays I like and if I got a picture of it at one con I usually don't take subsequent pictures unless the person did an exceptional job and it's extremely accurate or it's some clever twist on the normal character design.
Anyway, the Artist Alley wasn't nearly as busy as Anime Boston's. We still did pretty well. A small but comfortable $650 on Friday and a much better $800 on Saturday. I don't know the Sunday numbers because Inyx stayed to go to the staff after-party and we left early, so she hadn't counted it before we left. I myself only made $76, a far cry from the $101 I made at Anime Boston but still decent for some crocheted dolls and guitar pick earrings. Someone bought 3 of my $12 amigurumi on one sale - both mushrooms and the Dragon Quest slime. The mini Brain Slugs were the star this time, trumping their full-size counterparts. I don't know how PortCon will fare, it's a much smaller and less busy convention but I think people are a little more willing to spend on handicrafts there.

In other news, I'm pregnant. It's kind of shocking. I never expected it to happen this soon. Everyone who knows me knows how badly I want a baby, though, and I'm more happy than nervous. Part of me wishes it isn't happening now, but part of me is glad I no longer have to wait. I can finally experience pregnancy and have the baby I always wanted. I was kind of getting sick of a lot of my friends and old classmates having kids before me. I felt like I was being left in the dust. Me and Wig's friends Dan and Lindsey just had their 2nd baby, and Katie and Fetus (another Sean, everyone goes by nicknames) had Seamus in January. Not only was I jealous of people having what I want and couldn't have, I was disappointed that our kids would end up being far apart in age. Now they'll be close in age and get to play together. Wig isn't happy. He's convinced he'll be a horrible father just like his father and thinks he'll end up doing something bad that'll cause me to divorce him, kill him or have him arrested. I know him better than he knows himself and I know he is too sweet, caring and too desperate to not turn out like his parents and that he'll come out fine in the end. I don't know how we're going to manage raising a child right now. I'm confident in help from my family and friends. My parents don't have money to spare but my grandparents do, and I bet some of my friends will donate some of their old baby things. I have a lot of my old baby furniture down in the basement that is still useful and of course there's the baby shower. Finding full time work is gong to be tough. Wig is still having trouble finding a job, but I think Stop n Shop will work out if he just follows through, and he's finally expressed interest in going to school to learn a trade. I wonder if he pulls the "my fiancee is pregnant I really need a job!" spiel if that'll get him a job out of sympathy. Now that I'm not doing the Census I can finally focus on applying for full-time jobs again and I'm trying for some entry-level government jobs because even if you don't have any experience if you at least have a Bachelor's degree they'll train you. My aunt also knows someone with a music teacher job opportunity on the South Shore. She's going to give him my contact info and I'm just waiting for an email or phone call with the info. I haven't told my parents yet. I'm waiting until after PortCon, because if I tell them now, they'll either forbid me to go or bitch and moan that I'm going to another convention when I should be saving money for the baby and shouldn't be traveling and doing convention-type things when I'm pregnant. Plus I don't want to stress them out like that then take off like that. I don't know how I'm going to bring it up. But I'm going to tell my mom first because she'll take it better. They're going to freak out at first because it really is too soon. I'm not too young - I'm 25, which I think is a good age to have a kid (my goal was always between 25 and 30 for my first) - but working part-time with an unemployed fiancee and we both still live at home and have less than $700 between us isn't an ideal situation for having a child. But they won't forget that they were in the same boat when they were younger than me and that their parents supported them and helped them out. It could be a lot worse. Plus once they get over the initial shock and we figure out how we're going to work this out, they'll start to gush over the fact that they'll be grandparents. My sister is going to refuse to look at me during my 2nd and 3rd trimester, though - she's weirded out by pregnant women. All in all, I'm amazingly calm right now considering the news. It's surreal though. I'm still having a hard time believing it really happened and it happened so soon. I don't even feel pregnant yet. But it must be meant to be, so something good must be coming from it somewhere down the line. I'm not too worried yet. I'm determined to find away.