(Sorry for the Homestar Runner quote. I couldn't 
help myself.)

One of the major problems that I faced when I 
first started getting into cels was the simple 
fact that I was still in high school and had no 
job. The first two cels I ever got were presents 
from a friend who spoiled me rotten; they 
weren't anything breath-taking, but I loved them 
all the same and to this day wouldn't part with 
them if they were worth millions. 

Through my hobby I met so many nice people.

At Anime Boston '04 I got to meet up with the 
majority of those nice people and had a 
blast. :) The cel meeting was silly and fun, and 
it was super neat to see everyone's beautiful 
cels in person. A group of us went to Hard Rock 
Cafe for dinner afterwards and just couldn't 
stop cracking up. x) I don't remember exactly 
what we talked about, but I -do- remember the 
creepy angel picture by the bathrooms and loudly 
sharing Space Balls quotes on the walk back to 
the hotel. I still to this day am wondering why 
there was a condom left in the room the cel 
gathering was held in. o_o What the heck were 
they doing in there?!

I also fondly remember Otakon of '03. There was 
no official cel meeting that year, so I got the 
oh-so-bright idea of setting one up myself. 
Yaten helped me, but sadly trying to find a time 
that was good for everyone who wanted to come 
was impossible, and so there only ended up being 
about five of us. Since there were so few people 
I held the meeting in my hotel room; we all 
basically sat on one of the beds and took turns 
showing and talking about each of our cels. My 
brother was attempting to nap in the other bed, 
and at some point had had enough and left-- we 
were all so busy having fun we didn't even 
notice he'd left! Heheh.