Convention Entropy: A Slow Spin into Denial

With Katsucon Twenty behind me, I feel like I’ve had the same conversation afterwards for the past decade. “Am I going next year?” The answer always ends up being yes immediately. Why would I say no? Anime conventions are different experiences for different people. For most people, it’s probably the only time in the year they escape their otherwise mundane worlds to enjoy their hobby among others who speak their language. For others, it might just be the same thing they already do in a bigger space. I’ve quipped a number of times that conventions are really the same thing every year. So why do I keep going? Why not just stop?

I don’t usually like to get into personal wah-wah shit in this blog, but some context may be required to frame the post here. You’ll know when.

Katsucon Double-X

It’s ANIMU CON time for me again, the only convention I really attend a year anymore that isn’t PAX, and even then, I work as convention staff each year. Because honestly, attending conventions as an attendee got boring after the second or third Otakon I went to long ago. For someone like me, who isn’t…

Katsucon 19

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Ten years ago, I took a trip to Crystal City Virginia to participate in my third anime convention ever, Katsucon. In it’s ninth year, I tripped down with friends from the IRC network I was frequently on and knew many folks from, stayed with them at the hotel, and spent the weekend hanging out with other folks from there, and the artist of the webcomic Megatokyo (before my tolerance for it dried up). I wound up stuck in the hotel for two additional days due to the blizzard of 2003 in the area that kept us from leaving, but spawned the most interesting weekend I’ve ever had. That year, a friend of mine, then head of Art Show, an exhibit that showcases artwork by artists to be bid upon and sold, if I wanted to come back next year and help run the show. I said yes.

What was I thinking? =D