Supermeow!

EDIT, 4/6/11: Updated charities to receive donation monies.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything to the blog, but I’ve got a pretty fair excuse, albeit a sad one. In January, my grandfather hurt himself by slipping on the icy driveway after a bad snowstorm, and one thing led to another, and while he was in a rehab center recovering from his broken leg, he came down with pneumonia. He was moved to the hospital, but he didn’t recover. On February 25, my grandfather died at age 97. I miss him a lot: my grandfather wasn’t the most affectionate man, but he loved us all very much and showed it in his own way.

The past couple of months have taken a lot out of me, and as such, I didn’t ever finish my comic, unfortunately. I didn’t want to give up on the idea of having an artists’ alley table at Anime Boston, so I’ve been working on other things. I can only guess that this is some sort of psychological response to the trauma of losing my grandpa who always seemed so indestructable, but recently I’ve become re-enamored with Sailor Moon. If you’ve known me for a while, you may know that my first foray into web design/development was via a Sailor Pluto fan site. I’ve been churning out designs for buttons to sell at my booth. The proceeds are going to go to a combination of charities, among them the American Red Cross Architecture for Humanity, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society of Greater New England, and I’m now adding a third charity.

When my mother had my grandpa’s financials out the other day, I saw that he’d donated some money to a charity benefiting children of Chernobyl. For as horrible and tragic as the tsunami in Japan was and continues to be, there are so many other horrible things that have happened in our modern world that people continue to suffer from, and there are still a lot of people in Ukraine who are suffering quite a bit… not just from the devastating nuclear accident that happened 25 years ago, but from economic problems, political corruption, and more. My grandfather, even though he came here after World War II and is an American citizen, still loved the homeland a lot and did a lot of stuff to help people in the village he came from. I don’t really want his philanthropic spirit to have died with him. I’m going to do a little more research on the group that he donated to, and if they look good, they will be the third charity – I’m thinking that all monies made from the sale of the 20 matryoshka buttons I have will go to one of the Children of Chernobyl charities United Ukrainian American Relief Committee

If people can be inspired to do good by buying some Sailor Moon fanart buttons, there’s no reason not to do it. Having rewatched some Sailor Moon episodes recently, I was struck by some of the enduring messages in the show (a show for little kids, made to sell toys to kids!) about friendship, seeing the good in people, caring about the world you live in and your place in it, etc. etc. etc. Oh, dear, there are some episodes that I can’t watch without a lot of tears falling. Sailor Moon, you’ve made me want to help people! It is important to me, in that way, to do what I can to help out people in Japan, as I’ve got to say that, as I’ve said before, a lot of the important stuff that’s happened to me in life can be traced right back to love of a Japanese doll.

For as many crappy things that happen to us in our lives, for as much heartbreak and disappointment we experience, all we can ever do is try not to lose hope and remember that that the bad times don’t last. While I miss my grandpa, and I’m worried about my father’s impending heart surgery (that’s a whole other story) and about my mother, and I also really worry just about every time I read or watch the news that it seems like people are really doing their best to not try and work together for a peaceful coexistence, you can’t lose hope. It’s silly to lose it. Anyhow, as I was saying, thinking about this and then watching all of the “light of hope” crap in Sailor Moon Sailor Stars recently… baaaaw!!!

Anyhow, let me get to my point: I’m going to be selling all manner of buttons at Anime Boston 2011 this year. You’ll be able to find me and two different six-packs of buttons plus some other loose buttons in the Artists’ Alley. I’ll be in Row M, spot 15ab. I’m going to be there on Friday and Saturday, but not Sunday. The six-packs of buttons are going to be $7, with all profits going to one of the two (or three) charities listed above (I will have decided by showtime what to do). If I have any leftovers, I’m planning to sell them here. If I sell out of button six-packs, I’m planning to have some other packs  made of some of the bad guys. I’d like to make a six-pack of Sailor Starlights + Chibi Chibi + TBD 6th Button, too.

The highlighted buttons are ones that are being made/sold. The others are ones that I could maybe make in the future.

I will have a few other buttons, too, including the ones that would have been sold along with my comic book. Out of context, it might be a little weird. I’m bringing 30 of them along – I hope they sell.