San Japan is probably my favorite convention, bar none, and this year was great! As always, I noticed a few things…

1. BEFORE – I’m guessing “Magical Universe” means there will be a lot more Sailor Moon crossplayers.
   

   #17 Yay?

2. They’re going to have to try pretty hard to top Okashicon for: “Con with the most pinks and pastels” prize.
3. Between this and Furry Fiesta 2019’s ‘Roll Fur Initiative” theme, I’m not feeling a lot of love.
4. As a nerd who’s old enough to have owned an Atari 2600, I’m not exactly the target audience, so yeah.
5. I’m getting a new fursuit and this will be my first time wearing it. It’s just the thing for MID-90 DEGREE WEATHER.
6. In addition to the usual con prep, I’m also looking for a new job and getting my house ready to be put on sale the Tuesday after. No rest for the weary! >.<
7. I guess I can’t awkwardly refer to San Japan as a ‘Comic-Con’ anymore to normies for fear of being sued by SDCC.
8. Staying at the nearby Tru by Hilton, which apparently is a more modern hotel, which means it annoys me somewhat.
9. Thing I forgot (again): Aftershave.
10. Chili’s seems to have become our San Japan Thursday dinner go-to.
11. Looks like my fursuit won’t be ready for the show. Given the temperature outside and my lack of experience, it’s likely just as well.
12. Had a funny moment with a friend when I had to remind him that he wasn’t working on Labor Day the following Monday.
13. Dave: “You can have ambience or you can have a butt-load of arcade games.” I’m glad he went with Door #2.
14. Maybe they should change the name to ‘Sign Japan.’
15. I find the lack of security on Thursday nights to be just a little concerning.
16. FRIDAY – Nothing like waking up early to go feed the meter; a small price to pay for cheap parking!
17. I was happy with my badge art until I saw the volunteer badges have the same art and now I’m less happy.
    

    #14 The signage was YUUGE!

18. Yay escalators!
19. Yay, I forgot about the escalators and took the scenic route down to Artist Alley!
20. Furst World Problems: I quit wearing my ears because the hairband kept digging into my head.
21. I got a haircut the other day so there is less hair to cushion it now.
22. The uneven lanes the Artist Alley are just a little weird.
23. No panels to run on Friday: HOW DO I HAVE FUN?
24. Retro Game Museum might be better off being called “Pong Museum.”
25. Might need to put together a video game history panel, made better because I WAS THERE FOR MOST OF IT.
26. The arcade was cool, though the sound on the music games wasn’t always loud enough.
27. You know the competition between the three(!) Chinese joints at Rivercenter Mall is crazy when someone tries to hand you a sample WHILE YOU’RE IN LINE FOR THE PLACE NEXT DOOR.
28. SATURDAY – I didn’t have enough change to feed the meter for the whole day, so I decided to live dangerously.
29. Old hotness: Annoying music over Bluetooth speaker. New hotness: Watching anime subs on your phone with the volume turned up
30. Sign of the times: Sriracha at the breakfast buffet
31. Thanks for the retweet, Dave. Be nice if your Twitter account wasn’t protected, but such is life.
32. I had an unfortunate situation with the light switches before Furry 101…maybe not for me, but the dance contest people next door likely hate me now.
33. Very happy with the turnout and participation at Furry 101 this year, thanks for the help, San Antonio furries!
34. I always have to buy a paleta from the vendor in front of the Henry B…BECAUSE REASONS
35. It never ceases to amaze me how easy it is to lose fursuiters at an anime con!
36. There seem to be more people wearing ears and tails this year, hmm.
37. Chili’s again for supper.  I’m okay with that.
38. SUNDAY – Good trend: Vendors playing 80s music
39. I’m still having difficulty finding cool stickers for my my laptop, though I did buy a chibi Bender.
40. I’m pretty much forced to stay all day thanks to having a panel scheduled at 530 PM.
41. Decision time: Carry my laptop around all day or return to my car to get it at 500 PM. I went with door #1
42. Luckily, there is less me to carry around this time so it wasn’t a big problem.
43. Dunno if anyone is going to be at “How to Panel,” but the show must go on.
44. 

    #39 Bite my shiny chibi ass!

    Maybe I’ll use the setup time to take a nap.

45. Mental note: Add a “Finish on time and clear the room” slide to the presentation because the group before me didn’t.
46. Yay, people showed up…including one person with REALLY weird questions.  Sometimes you get ‘that guy’ at a panel, and he definitely was THAT GUY.
47. Overall, the panel went well. I learned some stuff and made notes to add stuff to the presentation to make the next one even better!
48. I took one of those Lime-S rental scooters back to the car, it was pretty cool!
49. I was relieved to not find a citation on the my vehicle when I returned to it.
50. I really can’t find anything major that went wrong this year, it’s gonna be a boring post-game Con Talk episode.
51. San Japan XII: Sports?! Finally, a theme I can get behind!