* The Jen Network *

Part Four: Getting kicked out of a con is fun! or "Here's your damn porn. Bwa ha ha ha!"
		So, Friday rolls around and the convention actually opens. Man I'm hungry... wait a minnit and lemme get something to eat.... Ooookay. I had a whole page written, forgot to save, and got hit by a thunderstorm. It's all gone now!!!! Waaah! Okay. I'm gonna go get a pop....Ahhh. Now I'm over it all. OOOh! Transformers video game! I want a playstation, now. Wait... wrong page. This is ACEN. OK! So we decided we didn't want to attend the Opening Ceremonies and managed an extra hour or so of sleep followed by some delicious pancakes by Milamber! (Don't ask how we made pancakes in a room at the Hyatt) Then we headed off to the Read or Die panel (which sucked) followed by the R.O.D. autograph line where I got myself and Milamber in trouble by asking them to sign my DVDs from Hong Kong.
Sigh. Then I asked if they could sign the autograph book I'd made from images online and short bios of the guests. The guy asked what I was gonna use it for and I showed him other signatures from last year and said, personal use only. I keep them. SO he let the guests sign the book. Yeesh. I am now off autograph collecting. I mean, come on. I have a bottle of Squeeze Cheeze sitting in my fridge that's been signed by members of the Doctor Who cast. The ACEN guests signed a T-shirt for the con that was given away to a random attendee. You think THAT's not gonna get sold online? Man, I am torqued. So then we went shopping, looked at the art room, waited while Milamber stood through the entire Link panel - there wasn't room for all of us and Sarabi and I were not too interested so we glomped some more yaoi art across the hall, instead. We attended an Evening Totally Wasted With Jan Scott-Frazier. And heckled a few Gundam guys who wouldn't leave the room on time. We attended a most excellant Introduction to Japanese Language panel that really should have been broken into three panels, one each day. And not have three separate people who wanted to know how to say "my name is" and then their name. We went to Iron Guest, which was GREAT as always. We sat through a few minutes of a very disappointing "Religion and Evangelion" discussion, but there was a wonderful panel on Hentai that lasted a couple of hours. I've never even admitted to watching/reading hentai except to a few close people and here I was trying to explain to a complete stranger that rape and slave/Dom are genre types and not just power-tripping men ridiculing women. Man I loved that panel and I DO hope they have it again next year! *Hands check!* Slowly the days passed. We slept, went foraging for food at the White Hen, almost drove the people crazy in the Chinese restaurant with our incessant laughter, bought Manga, bought yaoi, watched 'Azumanga Daioh' and 'Read or Die' and 'Looney Tunes', wound ribbons into hair, ate pancakes AGAIN, lamented over the lack of 24-hour chinese take-out, fed pocky and hugs to random fanboys, avoided kissing at least one fangirl, held hands, took showers, convinced sellers we were not shoplifting, bought pencil boards, watched Music Videos, got lost while reading explicit directions, "Can we see that kiss again please?" But finally, it was six am monday morning. Time to get up. finish packing. check out. drive from the garage for the last time. wave to Vash, everyone. Bai-bai, Hyatt. "So," Maeyan asked, "you guys kept saying things about next time. You still wanna come back? You were kinda aprehensive before the con." "Yes," said Sarabi. "And next year..." Milamber groaned. "You just missed your exit. Again."
Part Four: Ha! Burned you on the porn, didn't I? Well, I'd suggest a few places but I dunno how old you are... Part Three: cosplayers cosplayers cosplayers! Part Two: Is every building in Chicago called Union Station? Part One: Well, it all started okay.