After four years of trying to make it down to ComicCon, I finally made it. (Thank God..)

The trek started with the usual frenzied packing three days before the convention, making sure that I had everything, especially the instructions on how to get down to the place. I didn;t make the 12 hour trip in one day. I stopped in Santa Barbara, and stayed over night with my cousin. And the next day I finished the journey down to San Diego. (I was planning on taking 101 to I-5, but when I came to the 'San Diego Freeway, I took it, figuring I would hit I-5. When signs were showing places I wasn't prepared for, I thought I was lost. But I wasn't.)

Finally arriving in San Diego, it didn't take too long for me to find the hotel I was staying at. The Ramada Inn, ten blocks from the convention center. The hotel was a turn of the century renovation, with closet sized elevators that you had to manually open, and me with all that stuff I carry. And the actual room was no larger than my own bedroom at home. They didn't have a way of accepting checks, so I had to walk five blocks to the nearest BofA to cash a check.

But I am glad to say that the convention went along incredibly well. I was surprised by the size of the building and how close everything was put together. Accept for the isles running the length of the floor, there was barely enough room to linger around.

The first day was mostly just roaming around aimlessly to see what there was to see.

A couple of weeks before, I went to one of the comic stores I haunt, and found out that Trace Beaulieu was doing a comic with EVENT, and I hoped that he would be there. AND HE WAS!! I showed him my parody picture of MST-3Kombat (See poster section), and he just loved the concept and signed it and was hysterical over the other MST-3K parodies I did. Plus, he loved the costume I was wearing during the convention.

Then I went around, taking pictures of people. Especially the SHI model who was there for posing. There were a couple of people there who were not having their pictures taken unless you shelled out five dollars. And since I only had five dollars a day to spend, that wasn't acceptable. I think some of these people forgot that most fans don't have a Trump-like bank account.

And I must mention one poorly thought out situation. Tia Carrerea was there, as part of the CRUSADE pavilion, and she was to sign autographs on Saturday. But the crowd around the booth was soo dense, that they moved her to an autograph line at the far end of the hall, put her in the shortest line that they had, and when I got there, they said that the line was closed to everyone. But that didn't stop a herd of fans from mulling over the area

I made some contacts with other comic publishers (Doubt I'll be getting work from them.), Plus got a few pictures of myself taken. Especially my METALHAWK costume (From the Japanese TRANSFORMERS MASTERFORCE series, which was never released in the U.S. (Tv series or toy.)) There was a guy from Japan who took my picture, and one with me and SHI, I wrote to him asking what issue I was going to be in, and how I could get one, and he sent me an issue, free and clear, and my picture was the second largest. (The first largest is a red headed Mexican girl in a snake skin bikini.) And just this last week, I found out that I was pictured in ASH#4 from EVENT. (Now if only I could get some cash from this...) And to my dismay, Frank Conniff was there on Saturday, I guess it was a big surprise, and me without my posters.

On Saturday, the Masquerade, I dressed as OPTIMUS PRIME. I was hoping to win some of the prize money that they were doing, but it just wasn't ment to be. Although the costume was a big smash, my presentation had the luster of sandpaper. I entered the stage after my character was announced and I stepped into view, everyone was cheering and whistling, and I couldn't hear the emcees read off my script, so I had no way of knowing what I was doing. But everyone was complimenting me on the costume. Next year, I am going for laughs.

Although I didn't attend all the panels I wanted, but I am pleased to say that I did make a favorable impression with most of the people there.

The only real damper for me was when I was leaving the hotel, and after I had paid for everything in advance, I found that I still owed $12.00, which was not mentioned anywhere in the conversation I had with the clerk when I arrived on Wendsday.

But for this coming ComicCon, I am getting together with some other associates of mine and we are getting a suite, and holing a party room to show off our products. Hope to see you there.