Last week at work, I learned how to make WordPress themes. Yeah, cutting-edge. Bleeding-edge, I daresay. Anyhow, I may try to apply this knowledge to this blog. That nobody reads but me. SIGH…

The things taking up the majority of my time aside from work are the Anime Boston program guide and preparing for a panel at said event in April. I’m doing some light copyediting/proofreading for the guide with my favoritest collaborator Nicole. Nicole is someone that I reckon has a potentially huge future as a designer and commentator on all things cute. For reals. She’s a crackerjack-aces graphic designer to boot, and I have learned a lot from her. It’s been fun working on the program guide with her.

The panel presentation (you know, it’s not a panel discussion in that there is anyone other than me making the presentation, but anime conventions stick to that terminology – this is really a lecture) is on the topic of science and technology as presented in the video game franchise Metal Gear Solid. I’ll talk about some of the stuff and how close/far we are from actually achieving some of the things they talk about or use (and you may be surprised to hear how plausible some of these things are). Research is going well. One neat thing that happened in the past week is my former boss publishing some recent results that directly tie into my topic matter, so it’ll be fun to get to talk about that. The technology parts dealing with stuff like electronic devices and whatnot aren’t much of a problem for me to find out about and understand (as it’s what my workplace does and finally, after 10 years, do I finally start to understand what happens there). The life-sciences aspects are trickier and I am relying on my husband, a top scientician, to help me sound somewhat credible when talking about genetics.

It’s a real live post! Really!

I work on two conventions – Anime Boston and Providence Anime Conference. I’ve worked for Anime Boston since its humble beginnings back in 2003 as a security minion, working under one of my old and dear friends, Andrea. In 2010, I am the assistant manager of Publications, working under a new and highly-respected friend, Nicole. For Providence, I am the vice chair, just re-elected to another term, and I am working with my husband and many friends. It’s a sweet gig!

For Providence, we are thinking about our future, and specifically whether or not we have one. We’ve just re-elected our executive staff, and next we talk about stuff like venues, a potential name change, and then of course finding new staff or calling back old staffers, and all the fun logistical stuff.

The Providence event is age-restricted to 21-plus only. Why? It’s a very different scene from an all-ages show. You know this to be true if you go to see bands at clubs. It’s a quite different vibe.

I’m looking forward to the future!

I ordered a bunch of stuff from Shinzi Katoh. Unfortunately, none of it is for me, but it is for other, charitable purposes. Still, I thought I’d share.

Shinzi Katoh is a zakka artist from Japan. This gentleman makes some of the loveliest and most adorable illustrations you could conceive of, and some that you probably couldn’t. I first became of this guy and his work via the world of bento. I saw some cute bento stuff with awesome artwork, wondered about it, discovered its origins. To die for!

Anyhow, here is a sample of some of the stuff that a lucky person could win from the Anime Boston charity raffle to benefit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society Central New England chapter:

But that’s not all! Oh, no! This is most of it, though, so don’t get yer hopes up! Other additions will include a cookin’ book and perhaps a couple of items to get a person started off on making their own cute lunches for on-the-go munching.