Friday, March 30, 2001
Today was the first day of Fanime2001 and I'd been looking foward to it since Fanime had ended the year before!
Unfortunately, my financial situation didn't allow for me to rent a room at the Westin hotel where the con was being
held, so I decided I'd have to commute back and forth from Hayward, CA each day.

BIG MISTAKE! I ended up getting to the con MUCH later than I had wanted to. Public transportation is NOT the
way to get there unless you want to miss half the con! I had to take the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) to Fremont
and then planned to take the Santa Clara VTA bus #141 that goes to Great America (because it's right next to the
convention center). But then I found out that bus only runs on weekends, so according to a brochure I had, I'd have
to take the #180 and then transfer to the #20.
Well, to be sure, when I got on the bus I asked the driver about it and he said the #20 had been abolished and we'd
have to take this bus and then transfer to the #33 and then transfer to the light rail and that would take us to Great
America. Well, we did just that, but it ended up taking a really long time -- we got to the con finally around 2:30PM!

My advice for people travelling from the bay area: Unless you don't have a car, can't get a ride and have no other
options left, DON'T DO WHAT I DID! It really is worth the extra money to rent a room at the hotel. You end up
missing all the activities and anime videos being shown in the early morning and late at night.

Saturday, March 31, 2001
Not having a room also cost me the masquerade -- I got to the con around 11AM on Saturday
and I was told all the tickets were gone shortly after they started handing them out. I'm hoping
to get my hands on a copy of the video at least though. Maybe I can even post clips from it on this site!?

Other than those two set backs, I really enjoyed myself at the convention. I still got to watch a lot of new anime that
I had wanted to see. I particularly enjoyed the episodes of "Ayashi No Ceres" (since I'm a huge Fushigi Yuugi fan
and have been wanting to see some of this series ever since I heard about the manga).
I saw some really impressive cosplayers!!! (Although I was disappointed to see how the number of people NOT
cosplaying heavily outweighed the people that were.) I was quite flattered at the number of people that asked
to take my photo on Saturday (I was dressed as Myu-Super Sailor Mars that day). [Although I will never wear
those red heeled shoes again -- my feet were very red and sore from them. =/ ]

There were so many people here today!!! The lines to get into the dealer's room was incredibly long for
almost the whole day. At least it was a good opportunity to get some photos!

There was also some beautiful artwork in the art showroom. If I had known you just bring your artwork with you
to the con (I thought you had to submit it ahead of time), I would have brought the cels I have made. At least I
know for next year.. I'll make sure to prepare some things to bring along!
If you're reading this and interested in fanart, I do have some of my art up here, even some fanart-cels for
sale: MY ARTWORK

Sunday, April 1, 2001
The final day of the con -- there were a LOT LESS people here today.. I think a lot of people had to check out
of the hotel by late morning perhaps. (And once again, I didn't arrive until around noon.) The dealers' room
didn't stay open very late, so I went in there to make a few more purchases!

After that I went to sit in on the World of Anime panel. World of Anime is a public access
anime review show based out of San Francisco. It's run by a group of really friendly otaku and although I don't
often get to attend their meetings because of my hectic college schedule, I hope in the future I can become a
more active member! Be sure to go check out their site and watch their show!

Well, after that I walked around a bit more, changed out of costume, and then headed back home -- and I was already
thinking about what costumes I should wear at the next Fanime con! I'll be posting my photos up as soon as they're
developed -- and if you see yourself on my site, let me know, and I will happily add your name and a link to your
E-mail address below the photo!

Hope to see some of you at the Cherry Blossom Festival / Costume Parade here in San Francisco at the end of April! LATERZ!