Of course, to me, the Four Questions start with Ma nishtana ha-lailah hazeh ... . However, the meme has something a little more personal in mind! It goes like this:
 

• Leave me a comment saying "Resistance is Futile."
• I'll respond by asking you four questions so I can satisfy my curiosity
• Update your journal with the answers to the questions.
• Include this explanation in the post and offer to ask other people questions

lady_ganesh asked me:

1. Who's your favorite character to write?
   
   Has to be Gojyo from Saiyuki! I think he lets the inner me come out and play.
    
2. What's your favorite offline hobby?
   
   The Young Lady heard me ask this outloud and said it has to be reading. I'll add photography - although that goes online once I post the pix to Flickr.
    
3. Do you go to conventions? (I can't remember.) Is there one you want to go to?
   
   I do like to go to cons sometimes. I used to run tournaments at gaming cons. Now I hang out and take pictures of people in costumes. I've gone to Katsucon the last couple of years and hope to do so again in 2010.
    
4. What's your favorite fannish possession?
   
   After the actual books and manga themselves, it has to be my big print of this picture (pefectly worksafe; click on the image once you get there so you can see the whole thing properly). telophase drew/painted this for me! I won her in a charity auction, and asked for something with four mysterious shop keepers from manga/manhwa. We have this framed and hanging in the dining room.

As usual, I would deeply appreciate any help in ID'ing the characters being portrayed. redbrunja, there's a huge group of Soul Eater cosplayers!

Or just click through to view the sets on Flickr: People and Portraits (including eldanis!) and Large Groups

So the power didn't go out, the costume got made, and we went to the con (Katsucon, that would be ...). And I saw Team Sanada and their amazing group costume (which I swear I saw in a photo a second ago on Sanada's site and now it's not showing at all - God bless the WWW and caching on all levels ...), and bought too much stuff (a couple of Samurai Deeper Kyo pix and a Princess Bride "Inconceivable!" T-shirt and a Princess Bride calendar and the first six volumes of Saiyuki).

And then we misplaced the Young Lady and her friend (they conveniently missed the time for their next check-in), and so they saw Sanada & Co. in the cosplay and I didn't ... and I was so simultaneously spitting nails mad and worried about the girls that I was totally exhausted and nearly skinned them when I found them at cosplay half-time.

But I had a couple of good conversations with some old SCA folks at the art show (they were helping run it) and then caught up with Sanada at the dealers' room on Sunday and we just stood there, schmoozing like crazy, as the bargain hunters eddied about us. And maybe that was the best part.

So now I am reading Saiyuki, which is an interesting contrast with Samurai Deeper Kyo. The artwork is less conventionally attractive but I am learning to like it (and there are lots of online discussions of it - like these here - to help me learn to appreciate it), and the plot is not nearly as involved (much less politics, for one), but the emotional level is more consistently intense, which can be good for me.

I wish there were deep analyses of SDK like these Saiyuki essays!

Heh, found the Team Sanada pic - it resurfaced when I tried the link in my new journal post.

We have one of those very messy Washington D.C. winter storms coming through right now. We sit at the confluence of several climatic zones, a hop-skip-jump from the moderating waters of the Chesapeake Bay, a short drive from the low but still-significant Appalachian Mountains. The difference here between rain and colder, harder stuff is often just a few degrees Fahrenheit, a few miles on the map. Right now, it's snowing. But they're calling for an ice storm overnight.

And I've been having mild panic attacks ... what if we have an ice storm and the power goes out? For days?

I'm not just worrying about the practical stuff - the pipes freezing, how would we keep the bunnies warm - not to mention the family! No, my big issue is how the hell will I finish my costume ?!!!

See, the costume symbolizes so many things. I've been talking about it for weeks. It's my happiness at this con. It's my improved mood over the past couple of weeks. It's my new friendship online. Arrggggh!!!

So life isn't difficult enough, that I've got to do these things to myself?

The library cataloger brought Valentine's Day goodies - cookies, mini-cupcakes - to the office. I've really gotta watch that stuff. Sugar acts as a stimulant, and I'm beginning to see a pattern between blood sugar spikes and panic reactions in myself. It's much worse at night, though.