Tom, Jeff, Sky, Anthony and I left Seattle at 6:30 am Thursday morning, and
arrived in Dallas/Ft. Worth airport at 12:30 pm.  Since the Hyatt DFW is
right at the airport, getting to the hotel was simplicity itself.  Then we
crashed.

It's hot in Texas, especially if you're from the Northwest.  We've stayed
inside the hotels mostly.  I mean, it's only June.  God alone knows what
we'd do if it were the middle of summer... spontaneously combust or
something.

In the evening we went looking for food, and found it in the west wing of
the hotel (which involves walking down the longest skybridge in the world --
at least it seemed that way).  The portions were huge -- but what else would
you expect in Texas?

I watched some anime late Thursday night -- Hamelin the Violinist, which
pits good guys named after classical instruments ("Princess Flute" "Oboe")
against evil demons named after rock instruments ("Lord Drum" "Guitar").  It
was a little odd, but allowed the producers to toss in their favorite pieces
of classical music during big battles.  Aside from Hamelin, who produces
magical music with his massive violin, we have his friend who travels the
land with a baby grand piano strapped to his back (I'm not making this up).

In the morning I watched some of Legend of the Galactic Heros, which is
plot-heavy and detail-heavy but interesting.  We ate breakfast in the east
wing, and then wandered around until the dealer's room opened, whereupon we
all spent money.  ^_^  My haul included art books for Card Captor Sakura,
NukuNuku, Mononoko Himi, Ranma 1/2, and Galaxy Frauline Yuna.  I also picked
up a tee shirt of Battle Angel Alita (Gally of Gunmm), and two copies of
Hardware Wars (one to give to a friend as a surprise).  In general, I
collect manga, but I usually don't find anything new at conventions, so
that's not something I'm likely to spend money on.  As for anime... I rarely
buy video tapes since they're not a very permenant medium, and laser discs
are becoming harder and harder to find... DVD is on it's way in but I don't
have a player just yet.  So I normally rent anime rather than buy it.  Art
books, however, I buy.  ^_^

We looked at some of the dojinshi, which all involve your favorite anime
characters having hot sex with each other.  I didn't buy any, thanks.  ^_^;
I also bought a poster to hang up at work.  Anyway, it's only Friday and I
think I've already spent over $200.00, which is probably most of my budget.

I was really looking forward to the fanfic author's meeting, Friday in the
bar at around 8:00 pm.  My friends Sky and Jeff and Anthony were looking
forward to it too, although of the three, only Jeff has published any fan
fiction on the FFML.  We tried to check out Cowboy Bebop first, at 8:00 pm
(supposedly), but they were still showing City Hunter the movie (translated
by A.D. Vision!!!)  When that was over, we were told that Cowboy Bebop had
been moved back to 10:00 pm. and Eat-Man would be showing next.  (joy --
not.)

We went to the only bar in the hotel.  It was about 8:30 pm, and we all sort
of thought the fan fiction group would be hanging around a while.  There was
only one group of people in the bar, and when I asked one of them if it was
the FFML group, he said no.  So I don't know if he was lying to me, or if
the group had met somewhere else or moved to some other location, or what.
In any case, we were pretty disappointed.

I'll be attending the fan fiction panel tomorrow, but I did that last summer
at Anime Expo and didn't get the chance to meet a single fan fiction author.
I don't want that to happen again... I'd like to get to know a few people
after coming all the way to Texas from Seattle.  I suspect we'll be hitting
some of the room parties, those are always the best places to get to know
others.  A panel isn't really the place to do it.

Right now Jeff's working on his laptop and listening to Tom Smith.  Jeff's a
real filker fan.  He's also bought everything Nuku Nuku related in sight
that he doesn't already own, with the exception of the book that I bought.
He's jealous.  ^_^  But Sky's picked up a few things that make me jealous,
including an art book for Kenji Tsuruta called "Hydrogen".  He's the author
of Spirit of Wonder, and is an exceptional artist.  I want one!!  So does
Tom.

Sky's sitting on the bed trying to draw a picture of the principal from
Futaba Kun-Change.  Assuming he manages to finish it (he's not feeling too
inspired at the moment) he's going to give it to the creator, Hiroshi Aro.
He's also working on a Tenchi songfic/filk to the tune of 500 Miles.  ^_^
Anthony's drawing -- he's an artist, after all.  I'm avoiding working on my
fanfics.  ^_^;

That's all for now.  Oh, here's three overheard phrases from the con:

"Obviously _you_ use straws, because you've got one in your drink."

"I'm smoking crack, right?"

"So you're saying it would be better to pack it full of saltwater taffy?"

Miko