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It was a comfortable experience in familiar surroundings, back in the hotel where both Katsucon and Nekocon began. The hotel and fans continued their happy relationship, with fans proving to be the best-behaved enthusiasts on the circuit. But they may have been the unluckiest; several got banged up and one person had an asthma attack in the halls. That problem brought into action a fan, a trained EMT, who had planned just to hang out and have fun over the weekend, but was pressed into action.

NekoCon volunteers may work too hard. We were told on Saturday afternoon that con chair Tom Cardwell had been put to bed and was taking a nap for a couple of hours. After hearing that, the author walked down the hall...and spotted Cardwell walking in the opposite direction, carrying a big box.

Call this event "Pizza-Con." From the number of pizza deliveries seen moving through the lobby and up the hotel's elevator (as many as ten boxes of pizza at once), someone made a lot of money from NekoCon. Pizza companies are advised to heavily advertise at the next East Coast anime convention.

We heard that the hotel seemed pleased with the mild-mannered crowd (well, maybe they weren't so mild for a couple of hours on Saturday night). Certainly the group was a lot easier to deal with, we were told, than the typical collection of middle-aged professionals. And some of those professionals apparently were in another part of Virginia Beach for a convention. The taxi driver who took the author to the airport complained about how a person attending that convention was bitterly angry when the driver couldn't get a credit card payment right away because the billing system failed on Sunday morning.

The author was anxious to see if the military action against terrorist bases in Afghanistan would have any impact on the convention. Long before Virginia Beach was a home away from home for anime fans, it was next door to Norfolk, a naval center since the days when ships were built from wood, tar and canvas. Many of the ships that sailed for the Indian Ocean were based at Norfolk, as was the U.S.S. Cole, which was attacked in 2000 in what then seemed like the ultimate, unimaginable act. A memorial to the sailors who were killed in the bombing of the Cole was dedicated in Norfolk, two weeks before NekoCon.

During the opening ceremonies, convention vice-chair Larry Drews and fan Rob Lantz remembered the people who were lost in the attack. Roaming the halls as a NekoCon volunteer, Katsucon chair Keith Mayfield often had a sad look on his face as he remembered the friends he lost in the attack on the Pentagon, where he works.

Some people had to follow a higher calling and miss the convention, as witnessed by this message the author received five days before NekoCon from convention volunteer Larry Wise: "I am being recalled to active by the Navy. May all of you keep safe. Unfortunately, this means I will miss Neko-Con and Midwest FurFest this year, but I hope to make it back for Ohayocon and Anthrocon next year. I will keep you all in my prayers that you may be safe here. May I exemplify bushido and do what is right over the next year (or however long they keep me)."

Should the author really mention the unusual experience he had during the Mari IIjima concert? All right...he watched and took pictures from a downstage right seat, then got up and tried to move inconspicuously to the other side of the hall. It didn't work; Iijima said "Goodbye, Kevin" from the stage. The author, who should have figured that his bulk would make him visible, sheepishly circled across the back of the hall to take more pictures.

Then there was the author's unsuccessful attempt to fall into the hotel pool. It came during the cosplayers' group photo shoot on Saturday afternoon. The groups were positions so the author could get a good shot if he stood at the edge of the pool. The author kept telling himself "Don't fall in the pool." And then he turned to his left and nearly fell in. The author apologizes to the person whose head he hit as he flailed around and regained his balance.

The author might as well mention that he served again as a costume contest judge, after the convention's first choice decided to spend the weekend on a family trip. (She's a lot prettier than the author.) It was easy to do: sit on the floor to get out of the way of the guys with the video cameras, take a picture of two of each entry, wait for the judging paper to be handed to you, circle a number and wait for the next entry. The only odd part came when the judges retired to their room to decide. We pulled the trophies out of their box - and found there was one trophy too many.

At the same time that Nekocon was being held, the Big Apple Anime Fest was underway. For those who wonder why the author chose the Virginia convention rather than the new high-profile event in New York (and there were a lot of people who asked), rest assured that he wasn't frightened to go to the city that suffered the Sept. 11 attacks. The only fear came from the author's wallet, which couldn't afford the prices first announced for the headquarters hotel for the Big Apple event. Originally, room rates at the headquarters hotel were set at $300 per night, nearly four times the NekoCon rate. So the author booked a flight to Virginia Beach, after which the Big Apple room rate was cut to $130 per night - but it was too late (and too expensive) to switch the flight booking.

Sadly, some people were afraid to go to New York. One of the author's cosplaying friends said she wouldn't go to the Big Apple event, and one of the guests of honor wrote on her web site that she was scared and wanted to get out of the trip. From the author's point of view, it was more dangerous to go to Norfolk because the naval bases would be a more likely target.

The New York event just happened to come during the Yankees-Diamondbacks World Series opener. That's not the first time that an anime convention has come in a Series city. The second Anime Weekend Atlanta, in 1996, came one week after the Braves were in the Series, which the Braves dropped to...the Yankees.

The author also heard some interesting tidbits about the sudden schedule change for Otakon, which had been announced for the last weekend of August of 2002 but was moved up to the last weekend of July. Word was that another organization wanted Otakon's dates for the Baltimore Convention Center, and the city-owned center made Otakon an offer they couldn't refuse and the dates were changed. It was a great offer, we heard, and Otakon will get to use the entire convention center in 2002. They'll need it if their attendance again jumps over 10,000 next year, which is likely unless the economy gets really, really bad.

As for NekoCon's attendance: it was tricky to tell. The halls looked jammed on Saturday afternoon and we heard that the line for the costume contest ran from one end of the hotel to the other. But a few minutes after the contest was over, the halls seemed to be empty...probably because most people ran for the room parties. The author missed what was described as the best party of the night because he had to wrap up as much of the site as possible before catching a little sleep, packing and racing for the flight home on Sunday morning (yes, the author again had to miss a convention's final day).

And should the author mention that animator Scott Frazier, known as the "princess of Canada," had a new dress, complete with shiny red pumps?