Home again!

We are home now, after a lovely ferry ride (alas, no killer whale pods to see this year). The staff on board was very friendly. Thanks to the extra day in bed, I was stable enough in health to make the trip back. thanks Cheryl for the lovely time in your bed. Errr..I mean in a good way (wait, that sounds worse).

It was unusual to be out so much every day, and it was great and exhausting at the same time. I saw the sunshine, and looked for rainbows after the rain. Linda did a great job driving as well as being a caregiver. It is a little sad that the adventure is over, as we went to Olive Garden, and talked to artists, saw the AMV contest and Cosplay chess.

We did shopping too….for FOOD. We brought back all the wonders the US has to offer: half price candy the day after Easter (I got a mix bag from Herseys for $1.85, and a bag of mini jelly beans for 89 cents), cheese, fresh salsa, flavors of soda that we don’t have like Mountain dew with raspberry, or Squirt and Ruby Red Squirt (buy two get two free). It took two trips and a collapse on the floor and an ‘almost’ trip in the ambulance as they already called 911, but I got five panties. I am not sure why Victoria secret puts a low ceiling and THREE heat lamps in the wheelchair change room, but it is the experience of a rotisserie chicken. Linda got two tops for work, and two slacks, all on sale. I got a new sleep shirt and top also. Yes, clothing sales and clearances. I know this probably isn’t what you expected when we went but we took most of a day off from Sakura-con as we have not had new clothes, particularly work clothes for Linda in 17 months (Linda has Safari Panties, and one with fish on them - I have boring ones that have in bold letters on the back - 'Let's Get Going' ???? - they fit and were comfortable). So no stacks of anime, though a few manga (hey, at five new manga for $20, when they are $16 per manga books, I will go for that).

Linda even managed to bring home ice cream (thanks to my ice packs I sleep on, and a thermal bag). It is spumoni ice cream, and we can’t get it in Canada, and haven’t had it for about 10 years. Woot!

A nap now and rest and then I can download pictures and blog the rest of the trip. For those who want pictures of us or me, Linda has a camera as well, though she was not keen to download, crop, resize in photoshop, then upload and write a narrative from 4:00 am to 5:40 a.m. like I was. Odd that, I even told her there was a strong demand that she sleep less and blog more. She did this rolling of her eyeballs and didn’t say anything at all. What that meant, you will have to ask her.

The one thing I did not get out of the list was socks, and one of the three went ‘blah-splat’ this trip. And yet I got a gift of socks from two people. Huzzah, triple the socks!

Sleep now, to dream, to lie still and have more pain meds.

Sakura-Con 2011 Day 1: Crossdress Cosplay, Furry and Jo Chen

I was able to go to about half the time I attended last year at Sakura-con. The long days meant that I often was just unable to get back out of bed after a nap. But what I did go and see, I tried to enjoy and maximize to the fullest (and still managed to spend to the fullest…odd that). With Sakura-con being a fun fest for fans of all types and ages, often I did not know what character they played as it could be from games, anime, manga, film, Japanese unreleased manga, or products. For example, I don’t know what her costume represents except “YES!” and “Go Pink” (and a desire to take her for a drink).

Sakura-con has a full venue for the kids as well, and many parents brought children who were dressed in cosplay (including a 10 girl with a blood splattered apron and a giant knife/syringe tool – I hope that is a game?). Here is a young girl who was playing Edward from Full Metal Alchemist.
Crossdressed, or Cross Cosplay was very high among females this year, including at the Cosplay Chess. About 20-30% of females in Cosplay were portraying male characters, like Ginko, the spiritual wandering doctor of Mushishi (in manga and anime here). Mushishi are the spiritual aspects of nature, like the river, or mountain god, or man of the living spirits, as seen in the Ghibli Film Spirited Away (the white figures). Ginko, who has only one eye, and a hairstyle to hide this, cures maladies where humans and mushishi intermix with a poor outcome. This girl had not just his clothes, backpack and haircut but his cigarette too. While here is a furry game character, part animal, which I think is from Final Fantasy (oh, here comes the wrath on getting it wrong). I admire her dedication to the nails.

There were the ‘idol’ and ‘moe’ type girls, who come together to make the heart, which is familiar with intro’s on the Japan photo machines.But there were also crowds of Sweet lolitas. This year had a higher number of lolita’s because h.nauto, the designer of my wheelchair backpack had a stall where they sold western sized clothing (huzzah, we can be taller than 5’2”) and promoted the all girl visual kei band Exist stance. But more on that next blog.

I went to a large storefront which in the exhibitor list was ‘Man in a Dress’. I could find nothing on them online and I wondered if this was for the males cross crossplaying as females (only 1-3% this year, sadly). But I found a ‘sweet lolita’ dress shoppe. The worker there explained that the clothes were for girls but the designer and creator of each was male and tried on each style first so they ending up naming it ‘Man in a dress’. At this point the creator came by and verified that yes, he was the ‘Man in a Dress’. As it happened, there was a group of six sweet lolita’s walking by and I asked a couple to pose, this pair, with matching heights (thanks to 5 inch heels) and bows, one bio male and one female.
A last costume were these two girls, one who was dressed as Ceil from Black Butler (a very popular choice for girls doing cosplay) and the other is the classmate of ‘Zero’ in Code Geass (for females in Wheelchair the sister of ‘Zero’ is in a wheelchair, as is a character in To Hearts).
I had brought the manga of Jo Chen to Sakura-con for signing. Two volumes titled The Other Side of the Mirror, is a series I enjoy and recommend. I had emailed her to ask for her to hold her art book for me, but she was too busy the weeks before to check and answer me. But she still had some of the limited edition art books from her blog, which come with a limited edition postcard. I wanted to get the artbook as she is off for so many cons this year including Comic-con that I knew they would go quickly. I had several long conversations with her about how she broke into drawing for D.C., Marvel and the mainstream US comics (she drew Buffy 8, Runaways and more) which I will write about in a future blog. It was hard to catch her as she was also promoting her drawn doujinshi of boy love and between signings and panels, she was away a few times every day.

5:00 am and time to head to bed for the AMV contest tomorrow!

Off to Sakura-con, er morn

Sooooo Sleepy. Fatigued between fevers, seizures and over-enthusiastic night workers who whisk my pillow away letting my head go bump-bump-bump down the ice below. And thus it goes at 3:00 am, at 5:00 am, at 7:00 am, and at 8:00 am. Beth wonders if there is a better way to turn over her pillow, and almost thinks of it before the bump-bump-bump knocks it out of her head. But we are off to Sakura-con, as the blossoms are out, and picture filled blogs soon, as I have clothes to wear (bonus!), am ready for going to the masque dance (double bonus) and we have enough gummy bears to last the journey.

Beware the most exhausting and terrifying word: Vacation.

While "Waiting to Happen": Reading Recommendation of the week

Onward! Today I caught up on sleep, and slept in for the first time in several years. I hear that this is common with an increase in pain medication as the fatigue builds up when the pain brings me awake. Also, due to being weak from a long series of seizures on Friday (I think?), where Linda found me fallen on the floor in the study and having seizures. I continued having many more which made the weekend, my ‘rest from the hospital time’ instead a ‘strange bruises and exhaustion from seizures’ time. Also in the final weeks of life, a person sleeps more, but I have decided to go with the ‘fatigue’ theory, and decide that after several years of 'go, go, go', one day of sleeping in is okay, particularly as I couldn’t get up (I was supposed to go to boxing, but was unable).

It feels like life is waiting to happen. My body simply doesn’t have the stamina to cut corners or push myself anymore. Things take how long they take, whether that is 40 minutes to pee, or an hour to eat a meal. And I need to sleep eight full hours and have a 2 hour nap. If I don’t, I simply can’t get up. Plus, cutting corners means my heart fails for the last six hours of the day. I do not recommend this.

In order to have enough energy to keep my heart beating in a way that does not tax or stress my other body functions, I can only do one thing a day. And even then, I can accidentally go over. It is hard to relax.

Saturday I matched postcards, but was unable to stamp them because of some sort of fatigue which occurred (my memory is blurry due to seizures from around then). So I will work on them this week. Did you know that with Linda and Cheryl’s help I did 220 postcards in March? This means more than 6,000 individual postcards have been posted. Many postcards sent this month were from readers who sent in the best (and lest I get attached, out they go again), some were museum quality ones I got from an estate, and some were saved to send and beat back the grey ‘blah’ which exists between winter and before the arrival of spring.
Linda and I have been working on an ebay auction of some of the manga sets as well as Region 2 and 4 DVD’s which will start in auction on Thursday. I hope this will help provide some emergency funds for after April and help me get some supplies in Seattle (as due to a special 'grant a wish', I am going to Sakura-Con, as much as that is possible for me). Though I am still waiting for my celebrity make-a-wish, which was a baby oil massage by Angelina Jolie OR giving corporal punishment to the head of Ex-Gay ministries. I don’t know why he won’t, as it is for a poor dying nun (well, I’ve sex cosplayed a nun), and I’m calling it ‘reparative therapy’. Until then, saving for the Seattle supply run of shopping.Due to a year and a half economizing, there are many things which are needed:

a) haircut – I have my hair in braids all the time due to tangles as I had my hair cut last for last year’s Sakura-con
b) panties – down to three pair, and two are the kind which one is advised not to end up in the hospital in (Go go Victoria Secret!).
c) Socks – two pair, these two pair are gifts from the last time I asked if anyone would make socks for me. I have tried to make them last as long as possible, as I don’t want to have to ask again, but I really, badly need a few new pairs of socks
d) Melon and Lumina soda: this is japanese flavors of soda available at KK, a Japanese store in Seattle. I also get the stickers I send on postcards there.
e) Toothbrushes: something good to have after a year. My bristles are all flat...odd that.f) Sleepshirts – I have three sleepshirts, which are two years old, so I am needing some more, as when I combine hand shaking, neuropathy and food and you can imagine the problems over time.
g) Summer tops – The Edema isn’t going away, so I need a few new tops which are comfortable but also 'cool' saying stuff like: ‘Halfway in the grave, and if you piss me off, I’ll take you with me!’ or ‘Zombie Busker: Brains much appreciated’ ("Zombie Grad Student: REALLY need more brains")
h) Olive Garden: Linda loves the Olive Garden, which is on the way to Sakura-con, and I want to treat her to the lunch buffet ($7.99). She does a LOT for me, so a favorite lunch in a strange and foreign land (Tacoma?) seems a start to the thank you's.
i) Earrings: I seem to have 12 of one earring in a set, where the others have gone off to, I don’t know, I think emo boys keep sneaking into my house and taking them (girls would take both earrings, right?).
j) Hair Conditioner: I have ‘baby fine’ hair due to the Autoimmune disease so I have to use a specific conditioner good for baby fine, with tangles and delicate hair (I make this last by using it once a week and then braiding).
k) Old Navy: Linda has already been working at her part time job for the conservation, weddings and concerts at the Saint Anne’s Academy, which requires her to have some new professional tops, best picked up at Old Navy in Seattle for $5-$12.
l) Red Vines: Sometime during my seizures, I suddenly twigged to needing Red Vine liquorice. Since I don’t get hungry, I assume that the portion where my like of Red Vines lies in my brain got zapped, turning on the idea of a ‘good taste’, though I taste very little at all.
m) Haribo: from the gummy bears, to the balckberry and raspberry gummies, I love the Haribo products, and they are ‘fat free’. And work well as if I don’t eat every few hours a little, I get low blood sugar, also, sugar helps me boost my blood pressure at times when I can’t take another heart pill or caffine.

So, that is part of my big shopping trip, which I am raising funds for by selling DVD’s of military, crime and series from Amazon UK, as well as some rare complete manga sets I have been keeping for reading. There will also be some Graphic Novels, if there is time to prep to sell them, yaoi, action, Viz Signature line.

My reading recommendation this week is Chew: Taster's Choice, which won not only best indie graphic novel for 2008-2009 but also every significant award out there from the Eisner to the Harvey’s. I typically don’t recommend US graphic novels because they aren’t tightly written, mind blowingly good, like this one. The two authors decided to not go the commercial route but write again and again, books until one got published that was so good it immediately went on the New York Times Best Seller list. On Amazon, it has an ‘intro’ price, and is part of the 4 books for the price of 3 offers and can combine with regular fiction, manga or graphic novels, so if you want to try something humorously different with your spring/summer reading, pick up volume 1 of Chew for $7.50. (for those who want some other graphic novels on the 4 books for 3 offer, the Victorian True Crime series might tempt, like The Borden Tragedy: 1892 (Treasury of Victorian Murder (Graphic Novels)))

The tale Chew is of an alternate USA, where SARS spread, making chicken illegal, and poultry the hottest illegal drug out there, with ‘Speakeasy’s’ where chicken can be eaten, and new crime bosses who control the golden nuggets of the east side. And our hero, Tony Chu, works vice, who left drugs for the big bosses, the chicken smugglers. Tony’s brother is a famous chef, who went loco on his TV show one day, ranting about chicken conspiracies, while his partner John believes that all bosses who shout too much are due to pent up mano-a-mano sexual tension (a theory which comes up in stake outs, and John’s bed). Thow in the F.D.A. (now more powerful than homeland security), a Russian Telescope, Arctic Vampires, and a one sided crush between Tony the Cipopath (he connects psychically to what he eats…including victims or perps) and a newspaper food reviewer who can make people taste the food she writes about and you’ve touched the first dozen pages. It’s that tight, well written, and doesn’t say what a picture can tell and vice versa.

For those who enjoy a well crafted non-linear narrative, I recommend finding Lost At Seain your library or from Amazon. It is from Oni press, and is written by the author of the Scott Pilgrim books (or movie if you saw that instead about defeating the ‘evil ex’s’). Lost at Sea is about THAT road trip, the place and space in life, when you are with people, who seem to be bonding, or buddies and you aren’t. Indeed, you are lost at sea and only going because you don’t want to arrive. The book has a non-linear story telling that stays with you, and gives name to that emotion you feel at the end of the day, when you avoid the conclusion that lying in bed offers. It is stark, clean, engaging, and is read with pathos, seeing your emotions or life acted out in the pages of another’s hand.

A thanks to many people over the last three months. To let you know: If you use the Amazon links embedded in the post or wishlist link up on the right, Amazon gives me a gift certificate in 90-110 days with a total of couple percent of total purchase ($14 for example). This month, the first I got a certificate, that meant I got a graphic novel at the end of the month (4 days ago). Thank you everyone very much, I will pass it on as a gift when it arrives and is read. When you use the link, whether it is a gift for me or others, or shopping for you, anything you get from Amazon (for you, for others) for 30 minutes after using the link is credited a couple cents to the future gift card. I only have the Amazon link as I buy from Amazon, they have free shipping, I send Amazon gifts, buy with gift certificates and they have excellent customer service and returns. And this way, you can 'give' a gift to Linda or I if you chose simply by buying through here, or not.

Films and DVD’s next time. I just watched the BBC Sherlock and have a keen desire to a) avoid London traffic and b) see if I can get ‘acute thinking’ with nicotine patches.

Burning, I have Jack Bauer in my brain and Sakura-con

‘Burning’ is what I call it when I have a fever, and am too tired to be able to see but in small bursts, sometimes a couple minutes at a time in one eye. The fever, the nausea and the fatigue combine to create a combo which makes the ‘now’ a hazy space trip and the past and future one of little to no information mixed with fear.

Sometimes the fear is all the time, overwhelming in waves, I am scared of everything from my oxygen concentrator failing to being overdrawn in paypal and not being able to understand a calculator enough to figure that out. Then it abates, and I watch T.V. if the eys works, or if not, I stare out. Sometimes I try to read but that goes poorly as my lucid dreaming while I drift off turns a manga into a surreal experience, where figures in the manga come out and are fighting around me in the bathroom. This is not what you want while taking a pee, having zombies from Undead Highschool attacking you.

Good news to pass on. Amazon is having a DVD sale: Fringe, Big Bang, Chuck, and Supernatural as well as Moonlighting (on my wishlist, oddly enough!). Supernatural: The Complete Fourth Season is $14.95 for example. Which is pretty good.

I used to think I watched Supernatural or Chuck or Burn Notice because I liked the ‘Horror Story Movie of the Week’, which I do. But also I like Sam and Dean in Supernatural (I also like it when, in the last season, they end up attending a convention of THEM, where girls have written slash fiction about ‘forbidden love between brothers: tough on the monsters, tender in the motel room’ – the look on Dean’s face was priceless!). I get tired of people that make my skin crawl as the protagonists, the people I am supposed to care about. Sam is good, Dean is funny, and they want to do the right thing (when odd purple prose doesn’t get in their way). I gave up on TV shows on DVD like: Heroes, series 24, Glee, Shield, Tutors, House, Grey’s Anatomy, Lost and Battlestar because I found the Dexter, the sociopath, had more interesting and more rigorous morals than the ‘beautiful people’ of Hollywood TV.

As for doing right, I don’t know when the last person in Heroes or Lost actually did anything good or Heroic (was it when the cheerleader saved the person in the burning train, the second or third episode of season 1?). Because I don't have a TV, I watch DVD's but I didn’t want these people in my apartment much less in my head, like Jack from 24 who seems to need to torture someone every hour on the hour, or those shows where our medical system is seen to be full of doctors who sleep with everyone, work with ex’s, and spend more time worrying about what others think about them than whether they should see a patient.

Human Target, which is also on sale, has a guy who saves the day AND the buildings (usually), not wander around with gossip like LOST. The truth is, I have more in common with The Corner, the HBO emmy award winning series (also on sale), which preceded The Wire, with many of the same characters, than with the ‘beautiful land’ of regular TV where everyone is blackmailed by everyone else while sleeping with their relatives. In The Corner, drug addicts are just that, drug addicts, and selling drugs will get you killed, but what else is there to do, what way is up and out when even the city officials are corrupt. Oh, Homicide Life on the Street season 1 and 2 is on sale as well. It is a TV series based on the book, Murder: life on the streets where the writer who embedded himself for a couple years before the idea of embedding came up. It is real, and it is people getting by, the friend whose faults you know, the guy/gal you know when to tell them to shut up, and they know when you mean it and it doesn’t mean anything.

Why does this matter? Well, because when I am ‘Burning’, like now, these people are all in my head, and I dream them, I lucid dream them, I have dreams while awake, and my fear overwhelms me. And I’d rather be with Sam and Dean and scared, than the world of 24 or Glee where everyone lies, schemes, is working for someone else and has second agendas.

It is hard to read, and to move, I ache, and my ligaments tighten and spasm, or pull so my big toe is going backwards. And because this is all I know for so many days, I don’t know what is anything anymore. This is my now, this is my past, this is what I remember, and I don't know if it gets better. I hope it does. I know that I am trying to get to Sakura-con: Room is books but I need to get the Tickers for Linda and I, and the cost of renewing my passport (since the US now is a gated community). I don’t really think beyond that. I have been down and out for a while, cutting sleep to try and make appointments I think until I can’t do anything at all, and yet every day, another doctor’s appointment or other appointment to get dressed, washed, hair done, the whole 90 minute package, just to leave, and arrive back exhausted. I went too far, and I lay there for a day and night, unable to move before I could come here, write this. Because I guess this is how things are right now. Terrified and paranoid gets so it finishes what exhaustion started. I lie and twitch and quiver and shriek, when I can, and just roll my eyes in terror when I can’t.

I wanted to let you know that I was still alive, or alive for 1 hour a day, ‘burning’ for 10, and out of it for days at a time. But also to let you know about the Amazon DVD sale if you can use that. I live an online life, and found out by accident, so if that works for you – go for it. As for me, I need to get that Sakura-con ticket, and the weeks are running out. But I am selling what I can as I can. Where else can I go to meet someone in lesbian speed dating who got Nimoy (‘Spock’) to autograph her breast, then went and got that as a tattoo? And this year, will go to see Cosplay Chess.

BREAKING NEWS: Linda says we HAVE to buy our tickets before March 20th. However, this weeks money is going to renew passport so it arrives in time for me to go. If you want to help to get Linda's Ticket or Mine, please contact Linda at linda.mcclung at shaw.ca - What would Jack B. do? Probably grab a gun, force the way in and get pardoned by the president - I don't think that is going to work for us.

Looking at Edema, circulation problems, follow-up to pain and Sakura-con hopes

Welcome to the online Mystery Spot! Yes, houses are tilted, cars roll backwards and legs swell and drain in hours. I don’t how many have visited a ‘mystery spot’ – I have! I have! The ones with optical illusions. Sort of like a fun house except without the wobbling walkways and rolling barrels to get out. The barrel has always defeated me.

One of my first ‘funhouse’ memories was the Canadian PNE (a travelling summer fair), where I did everything really well, including the spinning optical tunnel with wind until it came to leave. There was a tumbling barrel, like a dryer, and no matter what I did, the thing just kept flipping me over, I tried to escape by reaching out in hopes of grabbing a handrail to pull myself out. But no go. There was much amusement from people waiting in line.

I go to Wales, there is a carnival faire that comes at Xmas and they have a fun house. In the UK, or in Cardiff at least, there are two amusements: one is to GO on a ride, and the other is to hang around with drunk friends and laugh at and harass people on the rides. So each ride has a crowd of about 40 people + in front of it just watching. And Linda and I decide to go on the fun house. Same thing, I am stuck in the barrel, luckily Linda pulls me free, to much laughter from crowd. I am mortified and disappear until the New Year approaches when we are approached by a guy who wants us to say hi to his girl friend on the phone...then he wants to kiss us. This random kissing thing from guys is a reason we stopped going downtown on New Years Eve. But help yourself to 'random drunk kissing' if you are in the area.

Sorry, beyond memory lane, I wanted to show you the edema, which is the pooling of blood/liquids in the arms and legs and sometimes torso. The day after the pain drain, I was on the edge with my body in shock almost constantly, shivering, and overheating at the same time. I slept most of the day woke up and my legs were like this. As you can see, one is THIN (thinner than I have seen in a long time) while the other is twice the size (with some very large and odd bruising). Later in the day, the left leg swelled back up again.

Also, the hands. This is within three to five minutes of waking up, and though the camera has ‘intellegent auto adjusting’ which is to make people’s skin and body look…well skin color: you can still see some wacky Reynaud’s in my hands and on my left hand, in the finger cuticles, you can see the purple/blue, while the right hand is pink. In reality (hard to capture on 'smart cameras'), my fingers of one hand were dark purple and the other hand was rosy pink to bright red (sometimes the hand just turns fire engine red). We use the ‘mood ring’ of the fingernails and lips to determine whether to go on oxygen. If it is pink to red, I am good, if it is purple, add oxygen, if it is blue, add more, and if it is black, um, worry a lot. Usually I wake then in an hour or two my body can’t sustain the transfer of oxygen from my lungs to my bloodstream. As you can see, even on waking, I wasn’t able to do that. Also, I had diaphragm difficulties that day (unable to swallow, unable to talk, and belches from trying to breath and breathing into the stomach instead of the lungs).

BUT, I went to sleep again and if I woke up the same I figured, “well, it has been a good run”, but I was able to not superheat, and got a bit more of endurance. I am still too weak to shower, but I am breathing, and not hallucinating quite as much: I was apparently frequently saying, “I am not an octopus, don’t make me into little balls and eat me!” (a treat at Japanese Festivals). Still, Eiki Eiki and I spent lot of quality time together in sleep mode.

While in recovery Linda has been helping me (watching episodes of 'Psych'), like here where we are playing cards.See the serious expression? That is because we are betting pocky (see it at the bottom of the picture, right next to the melon soda)! And I am out of dark pocky! But I do have Melon Soda, thanks to Cheryl picking up some in Seattle and bringing it over a while ago. I like Melon Soda.

The goodish news is that we have contacted the makers of one of my nighttime painkillers and they have faxed a sheet to one of the doctors who agreed to fill it out. Once they send it back, I get three months of compassionate medication. Which is WAY better than the 6 days of samples I have right now. So hope is on the way.

Also, thanks to some surprise donations (really, thank you!) we priced up Lyrica and the alternatives for nerve pain online. The problem is, we know the reactions to the other medications, and only Lyrica and one other can be used as a single pill for an anti-seizure medication AND a nerve pain medication. While two other popular nerve pain meds have seizures as a common side effect. Which means I would need a nerve pain pill and then two anti-seizure pills.

So a couple hours of research and options later and It turns out, eliminating the drugs I have bad side effects with, that Lyrica is the still best option. We found that the price is the same whether you get 84 of 25 mg or 300 mg pills. So we are going to order from a company we already use online (I am supposed to be 300mg+ a day). There is no generic for Lyrica (and won’t be until 2013), but the amazing display of kindness with surprise donations will cover an order for three months worth of the medication at the level I am on (plus we eliminate the $30 per month ‘filling fee’) - making it almost half price of what we pay now. So that is another week or two away, to survive, but we found six more pills, so now I am on 35% of the doctor recommended dose, which covers about 50% of my pain.

So the hope is to keep working towards a Fentynal patch, as the pharmacist says they can start at a very, very small dose and the patch can be applied even when I can’t move or the pain is so bad that I am not making sense or with diaphram problems and unable to swallow. Plus they last up to three days per patch. So, we have hope that, thanks to the kindness shown, we will have three months to work out getting the pain problem addressed with, and Linda some temp work to help income.

For me, I am ‘making money’ by reading manga. Yes, I am having a sort of final manga sale, which has me reading what I have so that I can sell a host of sets, many of them out of print. We will do that the end of the month, I am also selling my books at the Book and Paper show in a week. So as I say, it is what it is.

I plan and hope to go to Sakura-con this spring.Though not with the strange bulge 'down there' that so many anime girls have, which convince us that the illustrators must never really have seen females in that kind of 'having a girlfriend' way (a real one not a blow up one, says Beth, who has a body pillow on her bed with a girl in lingerie titled 'The Bridal Night') Why? Because most females don't look like they are packing for a drag king performance later (or was it the size KK breasts that defy gravity that clued us in, hard to say - but if you can place a dinner tray on your breasts stable enough to eat a three course meal, you either need breast reduction or you are an anime girl).

Because I was too sick to go to boxing this week, I need to get strong enough to go and sweat and get my circulation in action to keep me alive. Alive is good. And as someone pointed out to me, Hope is the key. To look at a future filled only with stop-gap issues where I am constantly in terrible pain until I eventually die is NOT something that I can keep doing, or something I think anyone can keep doing. For me, the mental refusal to stop, to quit, as evidenced by boxing, by trying to wheel outside 2-3 times a week and by getting out of bed every day, is critical to avoid quick deterioration. So though this MINUTE, Sakura-con looks a long way away and has a lot of things in my life to stabilize, I believe I am going to go, and with Linda and Cheryl. This year we can see the Cos-play chess!

There is now, which is important to live in, but there is also the future, and if there isn’t much hope NOW, then I need to find a future and what needs to be done to find that hope. Back to work at the ‘manga mines’

When the Man Comes Around: "At least I went out fighting…"

My mistake was in thinking that a cold or flu now would look like something I recognized. Or that the three deaths for autonomic deaths: pneumonia, heart attack and suffocation, were something that happened separately. Now I know better. And what it feels like when 'The Man Comes Around'.
I learned, barely, what chemo and other survivors already know. That when the nausea is so bad, and so long I couldn’t remember a time before it, and the aching, the pain, the weakness that the easiest thing to say, the greatest temptation is to say "No." Because there is always some new horrific and painful thing that ‘should’ be done, or ‘needs’ to be done to increase survival chances, but at night, with them changing the cloths, and a fever of 104.8 while my entire body is covered with goosebumps and shivering, that’s all it is…..a chance. For about 36 hours, or 42 hours the question of would I die or not was THE question. I was terrified, Linda was terrified and there was no hospital or team or drug or anything that would save me, I either woke up a little better or I woke up with my lungs full of liquid or I didn’t wake up at all.

"Oh I’ve had a cold/flu/bronchitis/pneumonia" people will think, but that’s from a perspective of having an immune system that works. From having reserves. "It’s not the same." Linda said, "They won’t know what it was like." Maybe, but I’ll try.

I got home and the first symptom was a slight sore throat I guess on Tuesday, the days get mixed up a bit, a little because it goes in the ‘illness blur’. I’ve worked retail and I’ve worked big venues and one year at a multiplex I got 14 colds, I have always been susceptible to infection and with all the years in retail have had over 100 colds/flues and a couple cases of bronchitis. What happens is I get a tickle, it turns into a sore throat, the throat gets worse as I sleep instead of better, I nurse it along for a few days and I ache and just as I start to feel better, whammo, head the weight of a bowling ball, as the sinus’ are filled with mucus to come out. It takes me 10 days on average.

I had a tickle and thought ‘sore throat.’ But in five hours, my whole throat was raw all the way down to the bronchial opening and the pain was….extreme, and I was unable to talk, my vocal cords were simply non-operational, even to whisper. And by the morning, my upper respiratory tubes had inflamed, mucus of congealed dead cells was coughing up or blocking breathing, my large and small bronchial tubes and lungs down to the sternum were all inflamed and swelling shut and I was on the full oxygen mask. That was the first 12 hours or so. Purple fingers, waves of weakness literally knocking me unconscious, needing to swallow something, but unable to eat, and lying there, without the strength to keep my arm from sliding off the bed. That all in the time I normally go, "I might be coming down with something." And if it is moving quickly go, "Oh dear…I might be getting a cold."

My heart beat had gone up to 120, and stayed there, awake or asleep. I had no idea how to bring it down since beta blocker didn’t work, and my pain pills would lower my respiration even lower, so feel the full lash of the storm, or hope that in the next 12 hours, my lungs get better?

When my kidney wasn’t just hurting but bulging through the skin of my back I knew it then. I had dropped extra weight, and could outline the organ, tried not to lie on it, so painful to touch. I knew that this is what it was going to look like, this time or the next, or the one after. That even if they gave me medication it would need time to work and in five to 10 hours either I would be down to one lung with the other filled with fluid and mucus or not. Multiple organ dysfunction, lungs, heart still racing at 120, so long I would have died from that if I had not exercised so regularly, liver, kidney back-up, in shock and infections running rampant over my body, pus and blood coming out.

There were those minutes or long seconds with Linda beside me on the floor as I shook in seizure after seizure, or holding my arm when I couldn’t speak but only lie there. These were the ‘I love you’s’ The goodbyes because we both knew that this was what is was. I tried to say it, and because my voice was so mangled, she couldn’t understand. So I whispered it, "At least I went out fighting…" Yeah, she told me, now sleep, sleep.

This is the way I will die unless I am lucky. And I realized and she realized that the amount of stages between my ‘building reserves’ for Sakura-Con and now might have been 60 a year ago but were more like 10 or 12 now. There just wasn’t that much left to slide, until I would hang on a thread, waiting for the slightest thing to knock me over. And then my lungs WOULD fill with fluid, or I wouldn’t convert enough oxygen, or as I did, I would stop breathing. I was weak, I was helpless, you were there. I would not have lived this week if it were not for Linda. Thank you.

I did, I do live, struggle on. Realizing that in the worst pain, the worst situation, I only have to say ‘no’ and not do those horrid thing (I was sick for a week, I still had to take dumps, all the icky bits of degenerative disabilities), I would die. Not that minute, but soon. I decided from the engorgement that the toxins were not leaving my body and the medicine I was taking was only hurting my liver more (since it required my liver to break it down). So I drank water and peed, and drank and peed and drank and peed. About once every 90 minutes. I drank gallons. Through the night, Linda helping me, too weak on my own to pee, waking from nightmares to pee. And slowly, I got to a day when I could have a shower with assistance, and this was ‘better’. People always tell me when I have a heart going like a woodpecker, and part of my face sliding that I 'look great'. I look great because a) I don't sweat and b) Any time I recover I work out to build up reserves. Or is that just something people always say?

While I was out of it, a couple times this week, people in positions of authority had singled me out for discrimination and dropped the phone message bomb. Singled me because I WAS weak, and because I could not fight back. They threaten my health and where I can live for the months I have left. But I will go into that later. It did make me sad, to live in a land where the heads or managers of two organizations can illegally pick on me, sure that no one will stand up against them: because we don’t. Socially we let the bullies run rampant and think to ourselves, ‘That’s a shame."

I say that because a) it is true and b) I really do have so little left to lose, I am helpless, barely able to type, often to sit up and yet, people still think I am a threat because I do say that picking on someone because they are in a wheelchair is the act of a bigot and a coward. (Next post Beth, next time! Focus!).

I started some interesting manga series from Sakura-con. When lucid that is pretty much all there is, unless the noise of construction makes you all tingly. Queens is fun, as is Pearl Pink both saucy and light and leaving me wanting to know what happens next (good writing/drawing, I think), and I recommend Bunny Drop strongly! I put those and the books and supplies Linda needs on the wishlist. Thanks to those who sent a DVD. I got well enough to watch something today with Linda. Quality or not, this is the time we have.
Oh, I will get stronger, though I expect the next while will be hard. Plus all sorts of cracks and sores have opened up as well as flesh diseases running rampant (it seems without ANY defense, they really go crazy). I did some hacking away of toenails and digging out dead flesh and opening wounds for hydrogen-peroxide (yeah, did make the room spin, but it is one of those things that gets done, or drains my body using up cells, and resources).

Now, with two cycles of memory being only sickness, I have lost all the knowledge and rituals I passed on to myself every day, every couple days. I know only how to get my email and do this. Linda says she will help me with more, learn more, from the ruins. The month is Eagle. At least on the calendar here. Linda is reading the Pop children’s books to me, she reads the S.A.S.S. books for herself off the wishlist. The Stories of Ibis, another of Viz’s signature translation are the stories of a winged android to a minority of humans in an android filled world, seven tales creating a history of here to there. Which is like the light novel Keili (a girl in a post apocalyptic world who sees zombies…with pictures! Cool) – also on the list along with Volume 1 of this Beautiful and Ugly World (I got volume 2 at the con but they didn’t have volume 1, suck! Each week, I use what money I can to get a manga so the next week, my time in bed, in the bathroom has something to look forward to - the library books are running out.

I matched some postcards before I got too weak. Some presents went out, not as many as I hoped. But I try to reply to each postcard and mail that comes in and then more. I want people to know that every kindness is important. I don’t understand life up there, where what is on TV or going out for ….dinner, movie, a game – going out at all is possible. That isn’t my life. I know I live at the bottom of a well, a nice well, but still, not your life, and so I understand the kindness of slowing down to try and understand my life. Sakura-Con created some great memories for Linda and Cheryl. Sakura-Con, for me, the memories are already gone (remember that no mid-term memory thing). But I have pictures and notes, but no, bummer, the memories did not help during the illness, nor help still. Which is why things like Fear Itself: First Season are on the wish list – 45-55 minute movies from the masters. This weeks’ money went to pay for something. I wish I knew what. Thanks to the person who gave me UK amazon gift certificates, I got Being Human Series 2 (here in 2 weeks).

I lie here, I suck oxygen, I feel like throwing up because my heart beats too fast and the medicine stopped working, I feel funny and pass out because my lungs stop working. I am getting better. Slowly. Linda didn’t say she was terrified. She hates to say that. Hates to say that there is nothing she can do and she is frightened. I want to protect her, and I can’t even protect myself. This time the dice came up "live." I'm glad.

Sakura Con 2010: goth loli cat girls, families who cosplay, the dark kings, game villains, crossplay, yaoi and panty shots

Okay, back at home and how to describe the days which were so packed with events? By the time I came home, I feel asleep and stopped breathing. Saliva dripping into my lungs started a convulsive reaction and I was choking, then sleeping for just under five hours. But was it worth it? YEAH!

Families:

Not just did we saw a lot of couples but there were various families who came and come to Sakura-con. This tiny Robin would let you hug her,

but you had to hug her plushie FIRST.

Here we are on the way to the Dazzle concert and there was a family that had dressed up as characters from Princess Tututhe anime is a ballet over the top with sugar shojo anime (you know, the ones where your dance of joy draws the evil out of the bad people so that they can change can become your friends!). The little Ballet Princess sure is a cutie though.

While this family danced at the Forever Waltz Masque Ball, the mom in cat ears and the kids in animal costumes with tails, and they were having fun, whiskers drawn on their face leaping around, literally.
Here in the exhibitors hall, I met a mother and her daughter, as you can see, a difference in style for costume, but something done together. Sakura-con requires an parent/guardian present at ALL times up to teenage when a parent/guardian must be in the building. Leaving the second concert (High and Mighty Colour), we came past a room of haggered looking parents whose teenage girls were screaming over the singer in the main concert stage. Until the teens left, the parents were drinking coffee and bemoaning kids who like Japan culture. As one girl said, “Once I turned 18, my mom said, ‘That’s it, I’m free, you can go on your own now!’”

Villains and game play:

There was a whole section of the convention center for full time game play including guitar hero (accompanied by a band) and Dance Dance revolution, where the better playing would be projected onto the big screen on the wall overhead for the couple hundred viewers. MTV was there doing casting for a reality show for teens who wanted ‘live a dream’ with a one month intensive coach, plus Microsoft was beta testing a new game platform. That really wasn’t our thing, but there were plenty of cosplaying villains, heroes, game characters and troopers. Indeed there were SO many characters in police, trooper, and other badge on shoulder costumes it became unclear if police were there, I asked one person who said, “Oh, the REAL police will let us know they are police…..I think.”

Of course Darth Vader is a popular Villain and is here getting defeated by a group of warriors from a role playing game. Previously he had been killed by a group of Sailor Scouts. I am wondering what it is like to cosplay only to be attacked and die many times a day?

The question is, after a day of creating mutated monsters and cleaning up secret operations, how DOES an Umbrella Corporation operative catch a cab home? The Umbrella Corporation is the ‘Bad’ organization from the games and now movies of Resident Evil. The Umbrella Cop makes Zombies, no matter what they try to make…ends up as Zombies. Shame that.

Here we have The Dark Knight, Batman facing off against Superman ala the graphic novel, the Dark Knight. During the scripted Cosplay Chess as told to us by Jen, who shared the disabled parking stall next to us (pic of her later), the King of one side was The Dark Knight and the other King was our favorite disreputable character, Jack Sparrow! She said when one chess piece took another they would battle it out in scripted moves, like movie fighting before one conquered the other. Sounds interesting, I should try to see it, next year?

Now even our game characters need down time, but things to remember when doing a dance with Master Chief from Halo: get him to leave the frag grenades at home, also remind him that while he has an enhanced ecto-skeleton, you do not so please don’t step on/crush your foot.

Of course, once you ARE a character from a various game quest, and have to walk back to your hotel, do you stay in character or not? There were so many people in costume that the local population was having difficulty figuring out what was up. A request was forwarded to my computer from Sakura-con about how many people could not tell which were real weapons or not and how the Seattle Police Department had asked Con visitors to put away weapons when away from the Con area. So, please remember to put away your RPG, lightsaber, or other weapons while going back to the hotel for donuts.

Cheryl, Linda and I:

Well, by day two I was looking rather tired, I had not slept for more than 7 hours a day in over a week and skipped a few naps by keeping my heart going with coke (the soft drink, I tell ya, I was missing my medicinal M. down in the states!). So here I look on the morning of day 2 after bathroom duty.

I was off to get my kimono fitted at the workshop and so got a nice Hello Kitty tattoo on my neck for when I put my hair up.
At the Kimono Workshop there were professional kimono assistants to help people try on Kimono’s, of which there were many, from the ‘child’s Kimono’ with a soft obi and bow, to the harder obi but long sleeves of a young woman (march 5th is Girl’s Day in Japan – a big day for dressing up in Kimono’s). This Kimono is used for all festivals and occasions up to ‘coming of age’ day, which is the day when you get your name moved out of your family registry at 21 and the government starts your OWN name registry, meaning you are now an adult, you can adopt (have another added to your name registry), marry and do the other acts which change the history of your registry. Also there were marriage and ceremonial kimonos. The workers were very surprised that I had my own kimono from Japan and were very happy to fit me, with the obi and ties. In Japan, due to the need for the bow on the back of the obi, there are stores you can go to or stalls at festivals for having kimono’s tied for you. A recent manga has been translated about a girl who works in one of these stores (also a yaoi manga about a department store that sells kimono’s for those who like men in the men’s kimono’s). I got my Kimono tied and then Indy and I were off, to go to the sales expo (I had missed the Kendo) and another signing, then on to the two concerts of Dazzle Vision and High and Mighty Colour before the AMV contest winners show (you know, more than I do in two weeks normally).

Linda that morning had dressed up as a Cat Girl in her corset and leather pants from Torrid, they were a BIG HIT for me. She also had cat ears and Cheryl and I both complained that she just didn’t seem the same without her cat ears when she took them off that night. The previous day you will remember she was wearing her knee high boots, her pirate queen outfit and looking seductively from the elevator. The white rabbit plushie was the official plushie of Sakura-Con that year and had sold out by the end of the second day. I don’t know the total number but the count was huge, over the 16,000 of last year, and probably far over 20,000 people as most vendors were sold out, the concerts held thousands, the AMV showings held hundreds.

Cheryl had arrived as Porco Rosso from the Ghibli Film of the same name and was recognized immediately and had many, many people ask to take her picture. She chose not just a character she liked but one which suited her. For example, a lot of her body movements and gestures like the hands on the hips, are also ones of Porco Rosso from the film.

And here is the proof, that Cheryl did a Waltz out on the dance floor. Here I am, coming out of a spin with an arm high extension before we continue our dancing. It would be a waste of a good tuxedo not to dance.

Dazzle Vision is not only the number 1 pre-sale in the HMV charts but also number 2 on the Tower Records and a BIG hit band. The main singer is listed as singing lolita style melodies combined with Death Metal. That just doesn’t seem to be possible as she starts out with her very nice, “Thank you very, very much to be here, I would like to know all of you and thank you.” And then starts, in her pink lolita dress to sing, only to suddenly switch over to a screaming death voice which rips the vocal cords apart, and then switches back again. Here is an 8 second video which you can hear her doing it, and changing stances too.
It is like watching a split personality as in her Lolita singing she literally ‘skips’ in large skipping around the stage in ultra-femme, the goes into thrasher style death metal screaming, with hair flinging as shown here. I called her ‘The screaming girl’ the rest of the time and everyone knew who I meant, but it was like watching someone catch on fire and then have it go out again: mesmerizing and I don’t know HOW she goes from death metal to high melodic singing and back again dozens and dozens of times.

After the concert, we bailed on High and Mighty Colour, met up with someone from the internet who had come to meet us and went to see the ‘best of’ for the last 10 years of AMV’s for Sakura-con. Here they are, with me still in Indy (thankfully since the bass during Dazzle about knocked me out) watching AMV’s.

We started out with a Dark Knight trailer which had been remixed from Death Note, there is only a beta version on youtube, but watching it was amazing,particularly as the rating was ‘Otaku rated’ and then ‘What one man can do with unlimited hours in his basement’. Good stuff.

It started at the year 2000 and I was hoping for more…well, shojo or girls manga, but it was clear that the judges were all 40 year old guys when a Transformers AMV won EVERY other year! Plus lots of Samurai X and other older classics. There was an early one on Porco Rosso which had been done with two VCR’s in 1999.

Every couple there would be a really good one and it is quite different being in an audience of hundreds, watching on the big screen anime music videos which make fun of classic shows. There was an ‘Audition’ which had the evil God from Death Note singing Mahnama-na from the Muppet show, (“Cut! What’s Next!”) Next was Sailor Moon doing an Aria from Carmen. Like the Gong Show, she lasted only a few seconds before the next act was hustled in. AHHH, another Transformers! Only I burst out laughing when they started sing Y.M.C.A. with transformers combined to make the characters.

Here is another AMV, which is a favorite of Linda, Cheryl and I, it has not only the longest song title ever in AMV history,my favorite part (laugh out loud is ‘Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha.’ – you will have to watch to figure out what I mean).

The trailers were the best parts for me, including The Chronicles of Ghibli (ala Narnia) and this one, which is a retake of Gladiators I NEVER would have thought of, ever,and a tribute for all those parents out there with 6-10 year old boys.

On the first day, Linda took this picture of me, while I was shopping, which seems to have been a deliberate attempt to go for a panty shot. Who would have known Linda was one of THOSE, let’s make sure she doesn’t have any cell phones on her while going up the escalators! Actually we did go later to Victoria Secret and get night shirts and scanty panties (woo hoo more confusion to the care workers!).

Yaoi, Yuri, Girls in Uniform and Cross-Play:

There were dozens to hundreds of cross dressed guys, many doing it very well, as well as cross dressed girls, or better yet, girls in uniforms! Also Yaoi couples (sometimes played by two girls) of two guys, and Yuri couples. For example here we have a Yuri/girl-girl couple only the girl in the pink dress is cosplaying Sebastian, a boy who is cross dressed in a yaoi/boy love themed series. Ah yes, welcome to Cosplay!

Day one, I hit the Media Blaster table looking for Maka Maka (sold out!) a lesbian manga, and talked to the translator who recognized me from last year and gave me a really good deal on some of the new books! Good things I went the first day as on day three, the manga was down to a few books and large sections of the table were empty.

The Yummy of the Ball was the Yaoi two male couple where one was dressed as a gothic lolita girl with skirt and underskirt, high socks with lace and long pony tail. Not only that, they were great dancers, and somehow, we kept seeming to be near them while dancing. Odd that.

On the other side of the dance was another two guy yaoi couple where one was in suit and the other was wearing a kimono, the long sleeves indicate a girl before the coming of age day. The only disappointment was that the kimono wearer had a mask with a very long nose, which is one way to keep your distance in dancing, to be sure, but where are the intimate cuddles!

The big hit from last year in shojo was K-On!, loosely based on the hit movie, Linda Linda Linda (which I blogged about before). It is about 4 girls who practice after school for a band, which plays songs written by a band member. Oddly, the member is obsessed with stationary so the songs are ‘You are the stapler in my A4 binder’ and other love songs. The best cosplayed K-On! Member was this guy. K-On! was so popular it created a whole comiket section of artists creating art from the show, much like the Tohou project (also, the best dressed cosplay members from Tohou were a group of Japanese males).

There were several buses of Japanese Con visitors who had come from Japan, the chance to see Dazzle, Ito and Trigun: the Movie early must have been a draw. The person behind me in line had their body pillow of Ito’s art to sign (the body pillows start about $100).

In the Sellers area, this woman who I THINK is the sexy heroine from the Yuri Anime, Strawberry Panic, walked by. But then again, a woman in a riding uniform with a whip, do you NEED to know what the series is, not me, I can just enjoy!
Here are three females in uniform from the slice of life, shojo anime hit that just finished in Japan, So.Ra.No.Wo.To. In the anime five girls in uniform, hold military post as the tower maidens on the edge of no man’s land, after a long forgotten war. They live in a building which has a classroom, but for these 12 and 14 year olds, along with an 16 and 19 year old, the idea of having children sit around, or that many children to just learn is hard to imagine. It is a fun, exploring type of show and here are three great cosplayers from it.

Lolita Cat Girls, Lolita Girls and Goth girls

Well, is any day complete without a Lolita cat girl? Not for me! Thankfully I found one and got her picture in the sellers hall.

Technically I think this might be a fox girl and I am sure they are from some show, but since they spoke Japanese I didn’t find out what it was. Alas. But then, there are lots and lots of people wearing costumes from games, or shows that you may not have heard of or remembered. I ran into a group of eight or nine girls who had dressed as the Villains of Sailor Moon. Okay, nothing obscure there!

This goth baroque vampire girl makes me understand the sexual attraction of vampires FAR more than a shiny one from Twilight. And she was the one who clued me in on the caps for teeth. They were too cute, even while talking, though hard to explain if you show up on Monday/Tuesday as a manager with fangs, literally!

Upstairs we ran into Jen, who had just paid $50 to get her fangs done.They take a while as they are done with real dental tools and shaped for your teeth but should last up to five years – a good investment for those who want an immediate lisp. Jen had a clot in her heart, which by the time the hospital opened her up to operate on her heart (you can see the scar on her chest), the clots had gone into three pieces, one to each of her legs and one to her brain paralyzing her left side. She is back to walking now, with braces on her legs. We noticed that the US uses a lot of braces for legs and backs, as Nene Thomas’ sister had a back problem of fused vertebrae, and used a brace. Why Canada doesn’t use orthotics as much as the USA which seems to have a policy of getting people mobile. There was a wheelchair user who worked at the convention center and had a pelivic shift crush her nerve bundle, she also had leg braces in order to be able to use the back of her chair as a walker (which it was set up to do). We also ran into two people who had fold up, or break down scooters, including a three piece scooter, no piece over 20 pounds, that goes 16 miles on a battery charge and is from Isreal. Wow, that makes Indy seem like a huge power drain.

But it was Lily who definitely wins the ‘incorporating your disability into ‘cool’’ award for her goth presentation. Lily has a $350 corset to help support her back and the two canes, these are her ‘goth’ ones along with the white hair (it is usually pink and the canes have flames) as she had hip dislocation and EDS III or EDS VII (she is being re-tested now). Her hip sockets are too shallow for her hips to slide into so she needs to canes and braces to ambulate. But she makes it look cool, really goth cool. We talked about how corsets are so helpful for wheelchair as well as back issue uses, as they help a person to sit up as well as stop things sliding. Lily had blinged up her eyepatch with a vampire bat as well as some steampunk baroque additions. I am in awe.

Here are two visiting Goth lolita with slight punk aspects. Ahh, the lovely variations within lolita. Another goth lolita with cat ears and I talked outfits and we had a lot of the same suppliers, as this year Tripp NYC from hot topic did not just corsets, but whole dresses as well, for those who have the height and body to fit them. Plushies as an add-on to the goth look is always a plus, even with the sweet lolita yaoi boy who was a furry, wearing long furry shorts and a long tail, running around in hit white furry halter top and four plushies (literally running around, that is why I don’t have a picture).

There is also this cosplay in cape and gloves from the anime Ergo Proxy (good, cyber punk). The outfit would have worked for Carnival in Venice too (New Orleans as well, I am thinking). And, for outfits which make it REALLY hard to take a cab, here is this cosplay character with wings (???? Sorry, don’t know it).

I would like to say that was all, but since I took almost 1,000 pictures, this is actually the best of the best. I hope that gives you a taste of Sakura-con, thanks for all the help and support and for meeting all the great people at the Con. Please feel free to comment and I will add what info I have.