As my airline so kindly reminded me via e-mail, it is exactly seven days till my flight to Singapore and AFA 09! I can’t wait to get my hands on my media pass and experience the con — and this time, not just as a run-of-the-mill attendee.

I am as excited as five year old kid with a missing Ritalin dose — but I think that’s just my daily Starbucks caffeine bomb doing the talking And although the con won’t be until next weekend and a lot of things can happen in seven days, I have this feeling in my gut that this year’s con will outshine, outsell, and outdo last year’s maiden event.

The very first con is always special, but we all have to admit that there are still kinks in the system, and hopefully that’s all worked out by the second or third outing. This year, I hope that the booth layout has been improved to take advantage of the underutilized space from last year’s event, as well as ease the congestion in the bottle-necked areas such as the dealer’s booths.

I also hope that the event programme will be paced better, to prevent instances of dead-air (sometimes as long as half an hour!) from last year’s stage events. Something as simple as a quick pop quiz to give away small prizes is great to fill in the blanks in the event flow.

Last but not least, I really hope that they pick better local bands to cover anime songs for the opening and in-between sets. Sorry to say but the Philippines’ anime cover bands were so much better than last year’s act; how they managed to get two consecutive gigs at such a large con is beyond me.

That’s about it for me shooting my mouth off — to everyone flying in from Manila, and to friends I’m hooking up with in Singapore, take care and I’ll see you guys real soon!

AFA09 will be held on the 21st and 22nd of November at Singapore’s Suntec International Convention and Exhibition Centre (Halls 403 – 404). The festival will feature special Gundam and K-on! experience zones, the First Regional Cosplay Championships, and the I Love Anisong concert.