It is sooooo hard to go to a Con without any money. There are all these shiny, stabby, sexy things you want to get your hands on, but you just can't do it.

The shiny was alllll the coooool stuff that was everywhere! My mental shopping list was in the hundreds of dollars from all the "Oooh. OOH!" moments I was having. A new corset is the biggest one on my list, and I think I might just consider it after we get our heads more out of water (which is coming soon, more on that later). There were T-shirts, statues, toys, comics... more crap than I can remember.

Some of the stabby came in the form of various "real folded katana" vendors. Night bought a pocketknife to replace the one that he lost. I'm sure he really wanted to cut strings with a three-foot blade, but hey, it's hard to carry one of those around with you.

The sexy, well, I guess that depends on your perspective. I may or may not have grabbed the ass of the guy dressed like Master Chief. I had my picture taken him. There were several ladies of questionable hotness roaming around the floor, and the "Here's my boobs, RIGHT HERE" outfit of the lady at the Got Steam? booth where I was strapped into my corset was a pretty good example. And of course, the lovely ~LittleCorax was there for hugs!

However, though FXShow is ostensibly a Toy and Collectible show, they've lately shifted the attention to media guests and, you got it, artists. Some of our old friends were there: Joe Pekar, Joel Carroll, Javier Lugo ~JLillustrator. Javier is working on a picture for me of Mistletoe Kiss and Bloody Bones (a friend's character). I'm QUITE excited to see the results.

While I was making out with Javier... I mean, while we were catching up, I had some new hotness wander over to show off his penciling spreads.

Guys, I tell you what (I'm looking at you, CoH collectors), this dude is smokin'. Check his stuff out at ~venom1984 and note that HE WILL DO COMMISSIONS. I know I'm planning on it as soon as my head is out of this hole and I can start living like a normal human being again.

NOW! The good news (aside from all the hotness I got to lay hands on Saturday).

I AM OFFICIALLY A STUDENT AT WESTERN GOVERNORS UNIVERSITY. I start school on May 1st. I even have a .edu email address which means I can qualify for student discounts. What this means: in a month or two, my GI Bill will be reactivated, and I will begin receiving money from the government. Thank. God. Now, a chunk will of course go to school - tuition, books and other goodies. BUT... I can get a new computer with it. I can move to a better apartment with it. I can get decent food with it. I CAN, in fact, use it to get out of debt, and that's just what I'm planning on doing.

Originally we were going to try to move to Alabama by July 1. Had it all planned out and everything. But then WGU just sort of fell into our laps, and plans had to change. Now we're looking at a nice 3-bedroom apartment that will hopefully still be available when we're able to move from this one - gotta give 60 days notice here, but the apartment there can only be held for 30 with a deposit. It's nice, it's quiet, there's a tree next to the front patio, and best of all, it's cheaper than what we're paying now, for more space. We do have to sign a lease, but it's only 7 months, ample time to get back on our feet financially speaking, and we can do a reevaluation at the end of the year and see where things stand.

I am looking forward what the lessening of stress might do for my creativity. I am looking forward to what having a little extra money in my wallet might do for my art collection And I am looking forward to sharing with all of you my good fortune, in the form of contests and fun stuff.

SO! Here's to a new leaf, a new venture, and a new Sunny.

Zhai'helleva!

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention. We met Leonard Nimoy and Jonathan Frakes (no autographs, couldn't afford an arm and a leg), Morena Baccarin and Jewel Staite. Unfortunately, pictures were also an arm and a leg and I was unable to get any good shots as I was with Adam, Lance, Ray et. al. at a previous show.

Can you tell I was more impressed with the artists than I was with the media guests?