A Visit and a Car accident

Back in February, right after Valentine's Day,  ladyofshadowpaid us one of her frequent visits.  We had a grand time - movies were watched, things were discussed and much laughter ensued.  We had discussed her coming out and staying for the summer to get a jumpstart on her writing in a quieter/more soothing environment.  Little did we know that she would be back so soon - we thought she would be coming back at the end of April or even May.  Disaster struck on her return trip home.

While travelling through Canada home to New York,  ladyofshadow  met with some unexpected weather in the form of severe snow squalls.  Her car was apparently tagged from behind and sent her into a van and then spinning into a semi trailer.  Since she was closer to our side of the border than New York, she called Writer and I from the scene.  We took down directions from a helpful volunteer fireman who was sitting with her while waiting for the ambulance and jumped into our car for a two our travel to the hospital.  

On our way through Canada, we meet with very little trouble until we got passed Sarnia and into the Wyoming/Plympton area.  The snow was just incredible.  It got so bad that the police funneled us off of the 402 and closed it down. We saw many an accident that night.  When we finally made it to the hospital, it was snowing like mad with winds in excess of 20 - 30 mph.  

Fortunately,  ladyofshadow  was alright, suffering from a moderately fractured 7th rib and a mighty scare.  After being released from the hospital and having gotten directions to Sarnia from the nurse's station, we set out on the backroads through the blizzard.  Yes, it was probably crazy and could have landed us in the ditch with no help for hours, but I figured, "hey, I am a route driver, I do this kind of driving in the winter for a living!  I can make it...no sweat".  What should have taken us about an hour and a half to get home turned out to be THREE and a half hours.  I was fighting with the steering wheel all the way and visibility was iffy as the winds whipped across the open expanse of fields.  Like a miracle, when we hit Sarnia....the snow just stopped.  Literally nothing and very little wind.  We have come to believe that Sarnia made a pact with the devil or they live in a vortex or something.  The rest of the way home was smooth sailing (driving). Oh yea, I have mad driving skillz!

We rested up for a few days after, taking care of ladyofshadow's rib and playing the weather until we could go to Canada again.  We chose a cleared day with much sun and little wind.  Loaded up with plastic garbage bags, we went to clean out whatever was left unharmed from lady's car.  

Once we arrived at the towing station, we were faced with the clear destruction of the vehicle.  She is very lucky that she walked away from the accident with only a fractured rib!  We were stunned.  Below is a picture of the vehicle in all it's smashed glory:




Her front bumper is that thing sticking out through the driver's side window.  Most of that trip was very uneventful.  

Then it was back home to deal with healing up and insurance claims....and prepare for  mana_katana  to arrive on March 3 for spring break and ManaCon 2007.

ManaCon 2007

Note:  this was a free convention thrown for friends.  We did not make any profit off of this convention.  Everything you see in the photos were gifts.

We spent a good few weeks throughout February brainstorming and getting supplies ready for ManaCon.  This is the part that is going to get picture intensive.

We made Con badges...you can see my little list of things to do for the con in this picture too:



We also made t-shirts:



And the con booklet:

Front page:



Next pages (these two included the welcome and con guidelines, as well as cosplay-type rules...you know, "no firearms" that sort of thing):



Next pages (had a couple "ads", plus con guests - guiltyredand Omi from HopeForlorn.net - and the events.  Okay so me and Writer were the guests, sue us.  ^_^)



Next Pages (more advertising...guiltyred found this really lewd looking picture of Pocky and of course had to pair it with the picture of Yohji, also mentioned here - the Dealer's Room Artist's Alley and the Con Suite which was our kitchen)

 

next pages (the mentions of panels and a spot for notes)



next page ( a place for autographs and an in-joke)



Back of the con book (acknowledgements and an "ad"):



We set up the Dealer's Room.  It was full of Pocky and Ramune, plus some homemade anime music CDs, some pins, a couple PL Nunn doujinshi and bookmarks.:

  

Artist's alley was packed with as much art as I could print off.  

  

Then the con was underway.  There was much browsing of Artist's Alley:



And the Dealer's Room...many goodies to be had!



Wiley helped:



We had events such as an AMV contest and a little viewing of anime.  We played madlibs with some of guiltyred's fiction...which was just hysterical...and we had much fun with the reading of:  The Romance Paperback Version of Whom Gods Destroy and the Mary Sue Versions of Coming Home and Standing Outside the Fire.  Also a big thanks goes out to kasra_c ...the AMV's you sent were a huge hit...and I recognized some old favorites!  Thank you!  *hugs*

We also had several good rounds of pictionary.  We made up pictionary cards based on anime/Japanese related things....



Some of the drawing challenges included: Panty shot, buttsex, WTF, Sorcerer Hunters, Fan Art, Treize, rice, pr0n, tentacle, good guys, shounen ai, Omi Tsukiyono, cherry blossoms, etc.  We were in hysterics most of the time.  I think I kept getting things that pwn me...but I didn't do so bad.

For the YAOI portion of the con (and for Mana's birthday) we made cock cupcakes.  ^_~



They were frosted by the talented ladyofshadow, who started to have a little too much fun with them after frosting the first three or four...she started to give them a bit of texture!

The choosing of the penises:





The eating of the penises:



We also had to have our fix of hentai during the con by watching the anime "Urotsukidoji".  For those of you who have never seen this...it is full of penises and references to sex...not to mention the sex and the fluids.  Oh, and the tentacle type....ahem.

Anyway, a joyous time was had by all.

After con

After the con and the departure of Mana, I spent the next week just trying to get the ground back under my feet.  While I had a great time, I did a lot of things wrong...like my food choices and stuff.  I had way to much wheat, which can make me overproduce mucus and interfere with my breathing.  I am still fighting through that stuff...the inhaler at my side and decongestants pumping through my blood.

The trip to New York

After the accident, ladyofshadow  decided to take us up on the offer to with us through the summer to work on her writing.  So we made a trip to New York to get some of the things that she would need...like her computer.  It was a straight drive for me...four and a half hours to New York and 4 1/2 hours back again.   We were on the road by 7 am and on our way through the Canadian traffic...yikes!

Writer and I met with ladyofshadow's mom and saw the puppy, then we helped her pack up her stuff.  All in all that only took an hour or so.  Then we met up with lady's boyfriend for lunch at the Olive Garden.  He is a very nice boy and Writer and I approve of him for our little padawan.  ^_~

We were on the road back to Michigan by 330 pm and home by around eight.  It was a good thing because not only did lady have to ride in the car all that time with her rib, but her monthly decided to make it's debut provideing more discomfort...not to mention bring it's friend "the headache" with it.

Home to rest?

For the next two days, it was no rest for the weary as we put together a dresser and a desk for the den to accommodate lady's things, then it was the rigging of the cable modem through to the den so that Writer and lady could be hooked in.  We've been meaning to do that for a while and finally, finally Writer now has a cable hookup!

Exercise

I am back into exercising again.  I have been averaging a 4 mile walk every day at a brisk pace of 4.5-4.7 mph.  I feel good and I have gotten into a couple shirts that I couldn't before...I have also had to belt one pair of pants, while another is getting easier for me to wear.  The diet is getting better and I am off wheat for a little while until this drainage thing clears up.  I am okay with wheat products...it's just that I can't have them in uber-abundance...which is what I did.    I am back on my water and green teas and looking forward to getting my new swimsuit this summer...because oh yeah, there is no way I will still fit in the other one!  ^_~

I haven't really noticed any chances in the scale, but I imagine that I am building so much muscle right now that it would be hard to tell.  My next measuring day will be on Sunday and, you know, I am almost looking forward to it.

A Night at the Orchestra

For Christmas, my mother gave Writer and me some tickets to the Bamboo Orchestra Japan.  So, last Saturday we went to see them perform at our local theater house.  Wow!  They were absolutely amazing.  Who know that Bamboo could produce so many different sounds.  We even learned a few things that we didn't know - the musicians actually cut the bamboo themselves, let it dry over several years and make their own instruments.  Talk about living your music!  

The unfortunate part of the evening was that I had started the monthly that day and by intermission I was feeling a bit sick.  Also I had a guy next to me the kept fidgeting...fidgeting to the point where he kept touching my leg.  Normally I wouldn't mind, but as I was already sick and hurting, Writer and I decided to bail at intermission.  So we bought a couple t-shirts and a CD and went home.  I did enjoy what I saw though and I would go again.  

Our next trip to the theater will be when we go to see the Peking Acrobats on March 30.

Anniversary

We had a low-key anniversary this year.  We did some mall walking and some shopping, then went to dinner at our favorite local dive.  We talked and talked...generally reconnected a lot and had a great time.

To date and upcoming

Well, the above has been my life to date.  Pretty hectic in spots and incredibly busy.  

Monday I will be going on the route with my mother.  She is getting ready to go on vacation and I have to get familiar with any changes in the route map.  Then the beginning of April is booked with the route.  I also have a dental visit (just a cleaning) scheduled in there somewhere.

I am also looking forward to getting all my cosplay pieces together for anime north.  I already have the wigs for Chloe and Omi...and I have the shoes I am going to wear for the Chloe cosplay...I am working on his coat though.  I still have to find some pieces for Omi's outfit, but that won't be too hard.  

And as always, I am spending a lot of time on my diet and exercise....that won't change for quite a while.  Anime North and that new bathing suit keeps me pretty motivated.  ^_~