We got Freddy out of bed fairly simply Sunday morning: we threatened to leave without him. After three days of this nonsense I had HAD it. If I can pop in colored contacts, put on elaborate makeup, ridiculous costumes, and STILL be ready before he threw on pants and a shirt, he would be left to brave the New York City subway system on his own. This threat seemed to work, and we were ready in fairly short order.

Rob and Courtney looked absolutely wonderful as Roxy and Ramona from Scott Pilgrim, and while Courtney had some issues transporting her giant hammer on the train, it DID guarantee us a wide berth no matter what car we were in. Cosplay has its privileges! After about an hour we got to the convention center. Rob and Courtney wanted to check out the Anime Fest portion of the convention, so we split up for now and headed over to the Artist's Alley to see Pete's Basement again.

Since it was our last day and the boys had finished everything they had planned, and Louis hadn't really gotten to enjoy the con as an attendee and cosplayer up to this point (this was the only day he even dressed up), we decided to wander the con a bit, take photos, and see what we could see.

We finally got around to the Midtown Comics booth so we could see Hal! I used to hang out with Hal at the comic store at least once a week on my lunch break, just chatting about anything and everything, but since moving to Queens we've unfortunately seen him less and less. I wish we could spend more time with him, but at least we got to check in!

After making the usual circuit, we decided to head out to other points west, as they say. We had just left the main Exhibition Hall, when all of a sudden, Louis leant forward, shook a man's hand, and said, "Hey, Seth. Love your work." It was Seth Meyers! Louis's second Seth-named celebrity sighting! I couldn't get as upset about this one, as I only saw him after Louis had started to approach him.

Soon after, we met up with Ranma, who by the arrangement we had made back during Otakon was wearing his Luigi costume to match Louis's, and my Princess Daisy. It's been a long time since Ranma and I cosplayed "together" and we had a BALL! I should have done this costume years ago! But of course, there are so many costumes we want to do. With Ranma in our party we headed over to the other Dealer's Room I had mentioned, because as it was Sunday all of the vendors were having (or should have been, at any rate) last-day sales to get rid of some of their merchandise.

I have to admit, there wasn't much to be tempted by. I don't have a huge budget to blow in the Dealer's Room these days to begin with, and my space is even more limited than my funds. But I would have enjoyed getting SOMETHING, as a souvenir, and bonus points if it were useful as well as aesthetically pleasing. The closest I came to buying anything were these superhero tumblers, but they didn't have any of my favorite characters featured on the glasses, so I decided to be frugal and gave them a pass.

After making a fairly complete circuit of the Dealer's Room, we debated trying to check out some of the parts of the convention that were out of the main thoroughfare. There was no particular programming that Louis wanted to check out, so while we had a completely free schedule, we also didn't have the program very much in mind.

I was tempted to check out the New York Anime Festival, which while sort of a part of New York Comic Con, seem to have been kept fairly segregated and kept one floor above the main area. However, Louis and Freddy had been there when they (using their magical press passes, dammit) had gotten in a day early on Thursday, and they both assured me that I wasn't missing much.

While I normally wouldn't listen to Freddy, especially about something he doesn't know much about (and what he does know, he's biased against-I made the mistake years ago of showing him the Adolescence of Utena movie as his first ever anime-what can I say, I hadn't seen it yet myself?), I trusted Louis enough to take his advice. If the Anime portion of the con was really that depressing, I didn't want to see it.

In retrospect, I regret this decision. For one thing, it might not have been that bad. For another, I might have run into more friends of mine. But finally, if it WAS that bad, then I, as a fairly dedicated con-goer (and, I hope I don't sound too prideful to say, one who is able to write things up fairly and concisely, but if I am it is due to years of practice-ten years as of this year, in fact-rather than due to any sort of talent), should have formed some opinions as to what didn't work and what may be employed to make it better. Ah, well. Next year, I will make sure to check it out.

So, after considering all that, the boys decided to show Starr and I the autograph area, which was in a completely separate section of the con (though near where we had taken some photos with Tony the day before.) I had mixed feelings about the autograph area; on the plus side, it was HUGE! In a lot of ways it made a lot of sense to take the guests out of the craziness that is the Exhibit Hall, especially when you don't want long lines intermingling with the crowds that are trying to navigate the aisles.

On the down side, the autograph area was really pretty far out of the way; I can't imagine anyone happening across it accidentally. If you wanted to see it, you had to specifically go looking for it. And considering they had some really big name guests this year, well, I'm just surprised they stored Mark Hammill in such an out of the way place. (Though who knows? Maybe that's his preference. Maybe it was even a condition for appearing.)

While we were there, we ran into Richie again! I had known he was bringing his niece, and I was looking forward to seeing again the cute little girl I had seen last time. He had even said she was dressing up for the first time. I kept looking around for a cute kid in costume, but all I saw was this beautiful woman at his side.

HOLY CARP IT WAS HIS NIECE! Now, I know that I have a problem with correctly evaluating the passage of time. I KNOW this. But I swear by my life and my love of it, the last time I saw her, she was a toddler in a stroller. And it didn't SEEM that long ago-whenever Richie and I went to that graduation party together. But then I stopped to think about it. Louis and I have been married for two years now. And we dated a good.five years before that? Six? (See, I'm terrible with telling time.)

And come to think of it, before I dated Louis, I lived with Alex for almost a year. And we hadn't moved in together right away. And the graduation party I was thinking of had been before THAT-let's say it was an even decade. Give or take. Plenty of time for a little girl to grow up into the lovely lady in front of me. See, logically I can accept that. Emotionally, however, I lost the power of speech for, oh, a good fifteen minutes after that, wandering around the hall going, "But, but, she was in a stroller! A stroller!"

I'd like to use that as part of my reason for what I did next, although it's still not a justifiable excuse. My other reason is that *I* had seen Seth Green first, but my stupid, miserable body froze up so that Louis acted first. And I hadn't seen Seth Meyers first, and he moved too quickly for me to interact with him. As I was recovering from what felt like ten year jet lag as the kids waited on line to buy pretzels, I saw, and, Glory Be!, recognized, Felicia Day.

She was standing off to the side, talking to another actress that Louis recognized (but I didn't. That casts no aspersion on her; I don't get out much and I have TERRIBLE facial recognition skills. I probably wouldn't have recognized Felicia Day if I hadn't watched Dr. Horrible so often.) I should NOT have gone up to her, while she was away from her booth, because that's exactly why the stars have booths to begin with. I should not have interrupted her conversation (although I tried to introduce myself as politely as possible, and didn't take up any more of her time afterwards). I should NOT have asked her to take a picture with me.

Of course, I DID, and while I'm ashamed of myself now, Felicia Day was the epitome of kindness and grace, even though she would have been well within her rights to tell me to take a flying leap (and if she had, I wouldn't have begrudged her; I'm sure it would have snapped me to my senses a lot sooner.) Please don't take this as encouragement to repeat my bad manners at future conventions with other stars: they are there by a certain agreement, and there is no quicker way to sour them on the convention experience and ensure they never come back then by breaking the rules. Felicia, if you ever read this, I truly do apologize, and I've learned my lesson. (And will share it with others.)

There was very little that could follow that up, and we were all tired from our entire weekend, and wanted to spend a little time together as a family, so not long after that whole experience, we rounded up all the friends we could find, said our goodbyes, and started on our way home. Personally, I had a ball. The only thing I would change would be to get there earlier (GET UP, FREDDY) and maybe stay a little later. But I hope the kids had a good time. Who knows, maybe we'll all get press passes and you'll see us in 2012!

Whoops, someone got in the way.

Taking pictures in a crowded convention hallway is hard!

He even made Lazy Boy!

Dave and I