I was just taking a look at Little Gamers by Pontus Madsen and he was saying that we thought that he pimped our site a lot, and he did.

And then I was thinking that maybe we should take this joke to the next level and just start putting links on random words. *big shit-eating grin*

Crap! I was hoping to release a new comic this morning. I was working on Issue #29 last night but I never got the chance to color it. I could have colored it last night, but the end result would be me staying up very late and rushing through the coloring. That doesn’t sound like fun to me. I’m pretty much dead after 1am. I know I will be able to finish it tonight.

Now for some IMPORANT NEWS!!

The domain for Paradox-Lost went bye-bye, so no one can access Paradox-Lost from paradox-lost.com. Until Dave can kick some ass and get the domain back up, here are couple other sub-domains to the site.

http://paradox-lost.artdojo.net

http://paradoxlost.artdojo.net

Now I’m going to the kitchen and get some breakfast…mmmmm donuts.

So … Otakon.

Where to begin? Well, I’ll start with the people I met. There’s Dave (Paradox Lost), Nami (Seraphic Blue), Ace, Jekka, Booj, Fraggy, Massive (or Master, I realized I was unsure after he headed out on Sunday), Ian McConville and Matt Boyd (Mac Hall), Jamie Noguchi (of Udon Studios), Pontus Madsen (Little Gamers), Fred Gallagher (Megatokyo) and … man, I know there’s more, I know it. I’ll mention more if I can remember … I hope to God that all those links I wrote in work, cuz editing that will be a bitch.

So the people, the people. Dave was supremely generous, Nami was fun (slash HILARIOUS), Ace and Jekka were simply charming, Booj was the man for helping put Hawk and I up in a room, Fraggy was funny, and Massive (Master?) was quiet. Those are the people Hawk and I stayed with for the duration of the con. We sat next to Ian and Matt, but most the of the conversation passed between Hawk and the two of them, as I was sitting on the other end of the table. We met Mr. Noguchi through the clever use of rubberbands … he has a webcomic going up in some time, and believe it when I saw that we’ll be the first to drop a link to him. Mr. Madsen - believe me, he is a cool guy - real chill and laid back, gives off a generally good vibe. I wish I’d had more time to talk to him, though I did manage to exchange a last minute conversation with his friend Rich, who was also very chill. And - WTF - we met Piro. We only really got to exchange a few words with him, but he managed to drop our name at both the panels at which he was speaking, which I suppose substantiates some perceived value in this particular strip. Mr. Gallagher comes across as, simply put, a nice guy - modest, for sure. I hope that we have the opportunity to spend some time exchanging words with him in the future.

The people who we stayed with, especially Dave and Nami and Ace and Jekka, helped put the joy back in cons for me - I’ll admit that I’d been suffering from a lack of faith. Thanks a mil, guys - luv ya! ^_^

Real quick, I’d like to mention a guy named Jonathan Suh, who really brightened my day on Saturday evening. Thanks man - it was good to know that we have such enthusiastic fans.

Sales of prints went a little meh, but that’s all right … I think we got a good deal of exposure, so that was nice. Exposure or no, though, it was worth it to meet all the great people we met.

Good things about the con - the fact that it got pulled off relatively smoothly. It was impressive to see the staff hold sanity with such a huge group of people on the premises - I was told that the number of people at the con doubled since last year. Of course, some of the credit goes to the people themselves for generally being so friendly and helpful. Complaints? A few. We had a hell of a time getting to the artist’s alley … we ended up taking a staircase down, and jumping a rail to get to a different staircase that ran parallel to the first … and it took us about an hour to get to that point. Why did we have to deal with this? Because ninety percent of the staff had no idea where anything was. I know it’s a big convention center, but the staff shouldn’t have to pull out a map and then give me a rough idea of where to go to - I can do that. That actually happened, and before there’s any hard feelings (in case the girl I’m talking about actually remembers), I’d just like to say that I realize the blame doesn’t really lie with the individual staffers but rather the organization of the con as a whole. Incidentally, this girl was very sweet. ^_^ Most of our problems at the con stemmed from not being able to get places … what made matters worse was the dance - we weren’t allowed to take our bags through, so we had to make a huge detour to get to a place that was probably less than 100 feet from where we were standing. I understand that the bags aren’t really allowed, but there has to be a better way than the way it was handled; simply cordoning off a strip of floor along the wall would have worked beautifully. I suspect some of the Otakon staff might be reading this - if you’re taking offense of some sort, relax … mad props to you guys for pulling off something as gigantic and crazy as Otakon 2003.

Dave tells me we’ve been invited as official guests to Portcon next June, although I have yet to doublecheck on this … I’ll fairly certain I’ll be there, and I’ll be bringing Em. And I’ll be at Katsucon, although I’ll be going only as a con-goer - no table for me, I think. Hawk is still in limbo about Katsu, so details on that as it happens.

I met a lot of the people who frequent the Mac Hall channel with Hawk … a shout-out to you guys. ^_^

I know I’m forgetting a lot, but I’m drawing a total blank for some reason. Oh, sorry to Fraggy for his fun call gone wrong: I really did think you were someone else, and I was a bit on edge because I was going to see Em after two weeks on Sunday night. It was wearin’ on me - I missed her.

Man, I really hope I’m not forgetting anything … if I did, feel free to e-mail me - link’s above. Thanks to everyone who stopped by our table, and another thanks to everyone who bought a print - the bills gotta be paid somehow.

Dave, Nami, Ace, Jekka, Fraggy - THANKS AGAIN! I’ve got some good memories to look back on cuz of you guys - we’ll have to kick it at Katsu.

And thanks to our readers! You’re the ones who make all this possible. ^_^

I had to ink and color it since the drawing was so funny. The original sketch (below) was done by Ian on an index card.

So, yeah, Otakon, rocked pretty hard on the whole. You’ll get to hear a whole slew of praise and criticism and general opinions that you may or may not agree with - and maybe I’ll tell some stories too! But listen guys, I just got back, and I’m going to crash hard. Update will come in a day or two. Thanks for your patience! ^_^

[AIM]

Ananth: *packs*
Ananth: What’s up
Ananth: ?
Hawk: didn’t start
Ananth: Hehe, well, I’m still looking for a bag to use, so we’re about even.
Hawk: bag?
Hawk: pssssh
Hawk: stuff it in your pockets
Ananth: Hehehe.
Ananth: Hey, I’m staying with you for three days, so you better bring a change of clothes.
Ananth: Or you’re sleepin’ in the hall, my friend.
Hawk: clothes/
Hawk: ?
Hawk: what clothes
Ananth: …
Ananth: I’m going to bring you clothes, then.
Ananth: It’s a one piece.
Ananth: Some call it a BODYBAG.

AIM Thursday August 07, 2003 1:15 PM

Hawk: i’m still alive
Hawk: well i think i’m alive
Hawk: unless this heaven …which would really suck
Ananth: Yes, it’s heaven, but we can still keep in touch via the internet.
Hawk: heheh
Hawk: i think you’re in hell
Hawk: coz of dial up
Ananth: HAHA
Ananth: Fair enough
Ananth: (YOU JERK)

Leave me alone. ;_;