We've all had those moments when your internet 
crashed just as you were about to place an 
order, or you were a few minutes late to an 
update and missed that wishlist cel...

But what about the times when fate stepped in 
and helped you get the cel you never thought you 
would find, against all odds?

As a music-lover, I had been looking for a shot 
of Sailormoon’s Michiru with her violin for 
years.  Then one day, when I came home from 
university classes and pulled up Keep-Track, I 
found a fabulous SM update at Hobby Shop K with 
the exact cel I had been looking for.  The 
problem: I was over 12 hours late.  Back in 
those days, HSK would come up with awesome cels, 
but if you were a second late, you were out of 
luck!  I had placed orders within 8 minutes of 
previous updates, and had still missed out.

So I placed the order with only the tiniest 
shred of hope (which was borne only out of 
complete desperation).  I never thought I would 
actually get it, and moped around because I KNEW 
I had missed it.  But the next day, I got the 
confirmation e-mail.  I couldn’t believe it.  
And Naoki even said that she had been flooded 
with orders for that cel. 

I was so excited that I actually saved the 
small, fuzzy image as my desktop background, and 
only took it off when the cel arrived and I 
could replace it with a better scan.  I didn’t 
know why Naoki had accepted my order, until a 
week later when one of my friends pointed out 
the e-mail anomaly.  The time on my computer had 
somehow gotten off, and was set for a time that 
was actually about 18 hours earlier!  And 
strangely enough, it affected the time stamped 
on all my outgoing e-mails.  So even though I 
was insanely late, my e-mail must have appeared 
as though it had been sent before any of the 
others…probably even before the update!

I still feel slightly guilty when I think about 
the other guys who were probably on time with 
their orders, but then, I suppose it’s all part 
of cel karma.  There are lots of other cels from 
this sequence floating around now (another of 
which I purchased later), and other wishlist 
cels have come and gone, but I still love this 
one.  I really think it will always hold a 
special place in my collection.   

I’d love to hear some of the stories you guys 
have…the surprises that just made your day (or 
month, or year, whatever the case may be).  So 
tell all!  And don’t forget to share your lucky 
find!