I'll Laugh My Whole Way Through the Hurricanes and Fire

This year's AniZona? Best. Weekend. Of. My. Life. The sheer awesomeness of this weekend cannot be put into words. It defies explanation. If I tried, I fear this would end up reading like a high school yearbook testimonial, full of small in-jokes no one else would get.

Cosplay? Amazing. Dealer's room? Amazing. People? Amazing. Food? Amazing. I've never had a convention experience where everything just went so well. And I have to say, between my Lust cosplay and the wonderful chocomimi dressing me in EGL, I have never felt as good about my looks as I did this weekend. Seriously! A manga artist gave me a free signed picture because I was hot. I had my picture taken every five or so minutes - Rufus took it about seven different times.

And the best thing ever? anna_daae, who was cosplaying Halloween-Haruhi (and was freaking adorable in her costume!), and who actually lives in Arizona. Yes, after four long years, I have a friend who lives in the same state as me! And I met being_of_water, who is such an awesome and cool person! I really enjoyed hanging with him. And it was so, so wonderful to see zinjadu again. And she was the perfect Haruhi to my Tamaki!

I crashed last night, as I was going on maybe 10 hours of sleep in the last 72. Now I am refreshed, awake, still buzzed from con, and in a better mood than I can remember being in. It was just....amazing. AND MY BIRTHDAY PARTY! There is nothing like having a bunch of strangers come up to you and hug you and wish you happy birthday to make you feel special. Dude, I had Captain Jack and Mario himself at my birthday party. Also the MC for the con, who sang me a very special Ouran Birthday Song to the tune of Sakura Kiss. Which was caught on video. And thank you again to chocomimi and anna_daae for making the party possible! It was so, so amazing.

Alright, I need to unpack and get pictures and everything, SO BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR CON PICS!

ALSO! IF THERE IS ANYTHING I NEED TO SEE THAT WAS POSTED BETWEEN THURSDAY NIGHT AND NOW, PLEASE LINK ME!

I love you all! Don't get bacon'ed! ;)

ETA: I totally forgot the birthday round-up!

zinjadu got me the Death Note wallscroll. The one with Naomi. It is now handing over my bed in the place of honor once held by Faye. But... yes, Naomi.

chocomimi gave me an adorable little Hughes/Roy con badge - THEY HAVE ALCOHOL! Hughes is so getting Roy drunk on it! - and the most beautiful knife I have ever seen. It's gorgeous. I collect blades, and this is probably my favorite.

I also got some lovely art from people I don't know! And a dealer I'd been friendly with gave me a Cowboy Bebop and a School Rumble story image figure! Julia and Akira! Also, another dealer gave me two Bome figures for ten dollars each! Definitely an awesome birthday!

Still need to catch up on some comments!

Yesterday was awesome. I got my hair cut, I went out to dinner with my family, and my niece got me Kingdom Hearts 2! Plus the gorgeous strategy guide. I am very happy! That will probably eat my life as soon as I pick it up. I've heard nothing but amazing things about this game. I was holding off getting myself because a) con is coming up and I want money for it, and b) con is coming up and I'm using my free time to get ready. But I'm pretty much done, so I will have time to devote to KH2!

And chaneystarr! The package came yesterday! Thank you so much! I loved the little note. ;)

I'll have to make a list of the awesome fic people wrote for me later. :D Thank you again, everybody, I had an awesome birthday!

Thank you, everyone, for the warm birthday wishes! zinjadu wrote me a gut wrenching Scar-centric gen fic, which I urge you all to go read. That woman's got a brilliant grasp on Scar!

I'll respond to everything when I get back from my errands today. :D I slept in longer than I wanted to, and am running a little bit late.

Oh! And before I forget! visionshadows! Thank you so much! The package arrived and everything was wonderful!