Being as how I am still alive after Glass City Con III , one might suspect that this year's anime convention for which I boldly lead into the flame coated in a protective layer of gasoline has less taxing upon my withering body. This is true only in the sense I declined to play host of a month-long viral partying in my husk as I did last year, allowing me to escape the con with only my mental health in decline. Despite the lack of disease taking its toll on me, when all of the evidenced is stacked up against the convention’s actions against me this year, we have a solid conviction: this con is guilty of attempted murder.

Perhaps the viral oblivion I was spiraling in last time shielded me from certain harsh realities (so I am told), and last year was just as tough, but I suspect this theory is a white elk. The general sense of fatigue sprinkled with failures was visible in the faces of the convention staff. It was obvious that everyone worked harder than ever, though the fruit was not as sweet.

That isn't to say the convention wasn't technically successful. With  over 1,600 attendees (up from 1,100 last time), more than 65 vendors and artists, more guests, and expanded content, Glass City Con III was by and large a success story. The issues that popped up, most of which were out of our hand but not out of the minds of the fickle con-goer, laid heavily on the convention’s legacy.

Technical problems, including a big one wherein the room in which Year 200X and the Rave were held decided it did not want to be darkened, devastating the Rave especially, crept in. Minor hiccups, like mutant laptops provided by panelists which did not like our technology, screening room amps deciding the best time to become deceased was in the middle of the con, and vendors who suddenly required electrical even though it was never requested (or promised), were all par for the con course. The biggest technical hiccup was the cloning facility which was supposed to multiply me so I could attend to the many aspects of the con was overtaken and destroyed in a suicide attack by my clones, who would rather go down in the flaming cloning facility which sprung them rather than work and anime convention. I can't put the blame on them.

There were other issues  which I am not privileged to record in the written word, for the din it would arouse is not something I care to endure. Let me just say there is a wisdom about meeting your heroes that applies and leave it at that.

Currently, I am at a crossroad of whether or not I will continue being a part of this convention. As if I had a choice, as the convention staff has roped me into Glass City Con 4, though I refuse to run it in the traditional sense. I believe anime conventions, Glass City Con in particular, are worthwhile and amazing things, with dedicated, hard-working people bringing their passion into a spectacular display of human triumph. Glass City Con is also an anchor around my neck, pulling me under the sea of my professional and personal life. Thinking back to all of the attempts this con made on my marriage, job, and health, I cannot claim enthusiasm of associating with it again.

I also don’t get to update Pocky Box, though this might be the Hope left in the box.

But that is a matter for that Chris and now it is time for Pocky Box Chris to take over. For a change of pace, we do have some content for you. First off, you may notice the menu has changed slightly. I figured it’s been nearly seven years since I started the site, so it was time to change up the information section a bit. Gone are is the nefarious Rules page, which is just about useless in the face of the selectively-illiterate Internet. Our Staff page has been updated and everything else has been combined into a handy FAQ format. Or maybe NAQ (Never-Asked Question) is more accurate.

But on to the actual content! While I intended this update to be more fun in the sense we wouldn’t just be talking just about religion and politics, if I waited until I finished the fun content, we would update sometime in 2017. So let’s just go with what we have. I promise something more fun next time, possibly involving ninjas of a reptilian persuasion.

While the current president has lost a lot of points lately, fishing out political shenanigans overall just isn’t as easy in the Obama Sea  as when we traveled the Bush Puddle, but a state-level abomination known as Senate Bill 5 (now Issue 2 for the voters) ruffled my quills, or keyboard, I suppose, into action. If you don't think your local government has enough power to destroy a country, read on.

Selmek, who has since found comfortable employment with the Augusta Verge, begins what we hope is a sizable series of Bible commentary which may one day be wrapped together into a book: Lucifer’s Gospel.  Be sure to check back next time (which will be in 2011!) for part two.