Sometimes it's really strange how things work out. And sometimes you've just got to be awed at all the things your mind does in the background. Take today for instance...

(Warning: The following long story is not made short.)

Today I went for the last day of a tiny little anime convention that is trying to get up on its feet in Richmond, Virginia. To be honest, I was only going for the dealer's room because there are a couple of rare items I'm looking for and you just never know when they're going to show up. Item number one was a Sephiroth UFO catcher plushie doll. Item number two was one of the nice pre-made statues of previously mentioned hot FF7 bishounen.

So Shannon and I went around the dealers room once to just see what everyone had, then we did the second sweep. No Sephiroth stuff, although I picked up a copy of The Black Mages. It's a group that takes Final Fantasy battle music and gives it a rock and roll edge. I also asked for music recommendations based on some other things I had heard and was directed towards a Castlevania soundtrack. Haven't listened to the Castlevania one yet, but the Black Mages really grows on you. I wasn't so sure about it at first but now I love it. Besides these soundtracks I also picked up some stupid little stuff, like a Utena rose crest pin and a pair of Fruits Basket pins. (Yuki and Kyo in animal form. Very cute.) There was also a laminated trading card of Shigure. I affectionately call it my "perv-pass." It's presence in my pocket will help me become a novelist. But moving on...

On the third sweep, I noticed one of the vendors had a photo-album. A quick peek inside revealed.... CELS! But crappy cels that I just couldn't shake the feeling I had seen before. I ended up pawing through some pencil boards and stuff (looking for more Fruits Basket things to be honest) at the same booth when I noticed some Final Fantasy jewelry sets behind the counter. For some reason it brought to mind another item I had been wanting for a while... a Shinra Electric Company money clip. I had originally learned about the Shinra money clip (and Shinra cufflinks) from looking through the merchandise showcase at the SquareSoft website. I had only actually ever seen one available for sale on some American-based anime website. Apparently it's a really rare and limited edition item. Comes in a wooden box and everything. I knew it was going to be a stretch, but I asked the woman if she had one. She said she actually did have one, but she hadn't brought it with her. She did, however, tell me how nice of an item it was.

It was too bad she didn't have it with her. Because you know, Shinra company rocks. President Rufus and the Turks are way too cool. They're also completely about greed, so what better way to express it then with a fancy money clip.

Shannon later pointed out to me that I really should have gotten the dealer's information if I was that interested in getting one. Of course she was right, but it was definitely too late by then. When I got home I wanted to see if I could find that website that had had one. I knew it was one of the many anime dealer websites listed at Cels.org, because they also carried a really limited selection of crappy cels. And you know what? They were the exact same selection of crappy cels I saw at the convention today. That's where I started feeling really impressed with the human brain. It recognized crappy cels from series I don't care about and accessed the website history in the browser of my mind.

I bought the clip.