My sister had a wedding a weekend of a con. I was only a guest and she was being a huge bridezilla to all of us though. She kept singling me out and blaming me for every little bad thing that was happening. So out of rage I told her I wasn't going and blew her wedding off to go to the con with my friends.
I don't regret a thing, later I apologized for skipping her wedding, and she apologized for acting horrible towards me. We're fine now.

So my brother, who I'm not too close but not too distant with, recently proposed to his girlfriend. He's now asked my mom to throw an engagement party for them to finalize things (we're Taiwanese, so our definition of engagement party may be different from the traditional western idea of it). That's all fine and dandy: except they're in Taiwan. My mom and I are in the States. If we wanna go to this engagement party before round-trip tickets skyrocket for the summer, we'd have to go in May.
That's cool. Except I planned on going to Acen in May. All year. I'm the leader of my room, and I'd hate to drop out on my roommates so last minute. Plus I already paid my share of the room.

So I'm stuck. I can't choose. On one hand, it'd be a great bonding experience, I think. On the other...it's an engagement party, not a wedding. I probably won't miss much, right? My mom keeps guilt tripping me though...

Anyone ever had a similar experience? Which one would you choose if you were me?

>>4367911
ACen.... because I'm going too.

>>4367911
Greentext to make the story short:
>Brother proposed to gf in Taiwan
>Wants my mom and I to throw an engagement party. In Taiwan
>We're in the States
>Flight tickets cost more in June than May
>Acen is in May
>Acen or brother's engagement party
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF.

For next year's Fanime (not this year), my cousin is getting married on Saturday. I plan to go to Fanime minus that day. My fam bam is important to me - both immediate and extended.

>>4367911
How important is an engagement party in Taiwan? Since you said the western idea is different, we'd need to know that.

>>4367929
Actually I dunno much about engagement parties, either Taiwanese or Western lmao. I've attended weddings, but never really engagement parties.
Anyway my mom is making it sound really important and won't stop guilt-tripping me about it. I would imagine it's important, but it pales in comparison to weddings, right? I don't get why I can't just attend the wedding.

I don't have one, but an ex-friend of mine skipped her father's funeral to go to AX.

>>4367940
Well if you don't know, this is what I would do personally:
I'd ask the brother. Is this really important to him not your mother. Your mother will always think of parties and stuff as big since it's a celebratory thing. Since it's more about your brother than your mom, his opinion matters more.

Then go from there. If he said it was important, then I'd skip the con. But that's just me. You could also explain the situation while talking to your brother.

If I were you I would just go to Acen.
I would understand you not wanting to miss a wedding,
but an engagement party? Really? I didn't know that people even had those (or at least made them seem important).

tl;dr: GO TO ACEN. FUCK FAMILY, THEY SCREW YOU OVER IN THE END ANYWAY.

My cousin and I planned to go to AX this year. It'll be our first con and we were super excited. We paid for our tickets and room already way in advance.

Except a few weeks ago, I was notified that there was going to be a great animation course over the summer where you work with professionals in the industry. It's two weeks long (and really brutal), but I get the same credit as if I had taken a class for an entire semester.
Those two weeks run into the con.

I'm still not sure which to choose. It's not that I care so much about ax, but that I just feel awful towards my cousin since we already shelled out a lot of money, and she was really looking forward to go. She doesn't want to go without me either, so, even more guilt.

>>4367954
Is that why she's an ex-friend now? Lol.
>>4367956
Thanks anon! I'll ask him. I'm afraid he'll pull one of those say-the-opposite-of-what-I-really-meant things though. I think he knows it's important to me, but we'll see!
>>4367967
Lol someone's bitter.

Not sure if I should call it major event, but my birthday tends to fall on this certain con.

It was the day of my birthday and I'm already at the con, this was also the time I couldn't drive myself around. I was looking forward to watching the cosplay event and doing stuff afterward. My dad ends up calling me a few hours right before the event and told me to get home and come have dinner with the family at my favorite fancy steak house. As much as I love my steaks, I was really looking forward to this convention and tried to explain to him that I wanted to stay and do stuff there. My dad yells at me and tells me to leave anyway, I begrudgingly agree saying I would take my time.

>mfw I get home to a dark and empty house
>my family went ahead to my favorite restaurant >without me
>on my birthday
>sitting alone and missing my con

I did regret it... but at least my parents made it up to me the next day by bringing me to the restaurant. Although my lunch was bittersweet because I still felt horrible after the night before.

>>4367990
>>4367973
O wow, that's some tough shit right there.

>> cousin I barely talk to (like, not even on holidays) plans wedding for Friday of SDCCI
>>asks me to be bridesmaid (for bride who I have never met)
>>overwhelming sense of family obligation dictates I go
>>miss the spotlight on my Favorite Author day
>>drive back to San Diego from Vegas after wedding in middle of the night because I'm running a masquerade skit and have to be there early Saturday morning
>>cousin doesn't even bother thanking me/spending time with me at all, even after I spend $200 on the worlds most hideous fluffy pink bridesmaid monstrosity dress

Yeah, fuck that. I'm still mad about that, mostly because of the lack of appreciation for missing something I consider important to go to his wedding. Yeah, there's more important stuff in his life, but a thank you card for the presents&time is not out of the question.
Oh, and his bride decided last minute to cancel the hair stylist for the bridesmaid, so an hour before the wedding we got to search out a convenience store to buy emergency bobby pins and shit.

But I'd still probably pick the family thing over the convention. Sorry, but even the most fabu convention isn't really worth causing bad blood with family.

>>4367911
I wouldn't go personally. You mentioned you're not super close with your brother, its an engagement party (I could understand HAVING to go to the wedding) and they're making you traverse the globe for that?

Yeah no. Send them a nice card and be on your happy way to acen.

>>4368012
Pffft
I'm so glad my mom doesn't like my dad's side of the family at all. If something like this were to happen and one of my HUNDRED cousins asked me to attend their wedding even though none of them speak to me, like, ever, I'd still be good to go.

(All the cousins I have are on my dad's side. Mother was an only child and my dad had like 8 siblings wtf)

I skipped my best friend's high school graduation party because I was at a con. I did tell her in advance that I'd be unable to go and I'd get her a gift, but what I didn't expect was running into a bunch of other friends on said party day at the con. They had all been invited to the party too, and despite my warnings a couple days before they decided to drive down to the con that one day. I felt super bad they did that and to make it worse she kind of forgot I was at the convention the whole weekend and texted me that day asking what time I'd be over.

Luckily there wasn't any drama (it was a really big party with friends and family anyway) and she liked the necklace I got for her.

>>4367973
Wow anon, I really feel for you! Although it really sounds like a cool course to do, you've already invested money and time for the con. And it's like you said, the course is gonna be way brutal.

I guess it would really depend how important it is for you to get that credit that fast or working with those professionals. If it's a once of a lifetime thing, it changes everything, but I'm assuming it's not. You can hopefully have other chances finding another course like that.

Back in like 2005 or 06 my then good friend came back from germany and decided to have a ceremony for the marriage he had 6 months prior before he shipped out. They had it on a friday, the same friday of Akon that year. I had already bought my badge. I was going to ditch their wedding because my friend and I had grown apart, but I got guilt tripped into it. I went to the wedding, got up at 5am the next day (with a whopping 2 hours of sleep) and drove 4 hours to Dallas.

When I got there I discovered my rooming situation was terrible, but by the time I was ready to sleep I was so exhausted I just passed out. It was probably the dumbest thing I've ever done.

Last year I had to choose between going to Katsucon or a free trip to Italy to visit my dad.

I spent a week in Rome with no regrets.

Well... not sure this one counts, but I had a choice between ACen and Wrestlemania 22 (held in Chicago that year.) I picked ACen. I regret not going to the PPV at the Allstate Arena.

>>4368062
hnnng free trip to Italy sounds awesome. See if it was visiting a country for fun like that, I'd probably go hands down. But I just dunno...

>>4368079
Do you think you would've regretted not going to Acen if you went to Wrestlemania instead?

>Planning wedding, pick date (June 4th)
>Find hall for reception.
>Hall is booked that weekend, we decide to go look for a different spot
>Fiance's mom decides to book hall the weekend before without telling us
>MFW, our wedding would be the same weekend as FANIME, thus meaning over half our friends would not be able to attend the wedding.

Thankfully we decided to push our wedding to next year in March. So it doesn't conflict with any major cons and gives friends plenty of warning ahead of time. I really don't think she meant any harm, but still a wtf moment.

>>4368040
Yeah, I know. I can't stand the thought of letting that money go to waste.
I'm not sure if I'll be able to have to opportunity to do it again though. It's part of a Summer Arts program, and they rotate the courses they offer every year. They get people out of state coming over for these things. By sheer miracle, it's being held right here in the city I live in, too, so I wouldn't have to pay for housing or anything. But yeah, it is brutal; like 12-14 hours a day, every day including weekends, kind of brutal.

My cousin says she has my back and supports whatever I do, which is sweet but I also kind of think she's just saying that to be a bro, you know?
For now I'm just going to apply for the course, and if I manage to get in, with a scholarship (70% of applicants get a scholarship), I'll go. If I don't get in, then the con plans are still on.
I'm nervous as fuck.

>>4368123
>mfw con beats wedding

haven't had to choose so far....but if it were between a con and a family wedding....i'd pick the con. every family wedding i've been to has been tacky as shit, boring, and totally cookie-cutter. plus i'm not close to most of my cousins at all.

at least at the con i don't get given the 5th degree by my uber catholic family and can get wasted with my friends in peace.

>>4368141
Well considering the fact that most friends are already booked, planned, etc... I don't think it's fair on such short notice to suddenly have to tell them.

"Hey guys, are wedding got moved to the same weekend as fanime! So it's either you cancel your con plans that you've already booked, bought badges for, etc...., or miss our wedding!"

I ain't that selfish.

I've missed a couple of Easters because Sakura Con tends to hit Easter weekend for some godforsaken reason.
My family isn't really into anymore since all the little kids have grown up and we don't celebrate it as a religious holiday. (So it was all about the eggs)
The first time it happened I had a tiny amount of guilt but now it's pretty whatever. *shrug*

This weekend. Sakuracon. My cousin's wedding is on Saturday in Poulsbo, a nice long drive+ferry ride away from Seattle. Apart from the fact that I like my cousin and don't want to miss her wedding, I promised I'd go before I realized what weekend it was (seriously who has a wedding Easter weekend?).

Anyway I'll be at con Thursday and Friday, spend Saturday afternoon-evening at the wedding and get back to the con late Saturday night. At least, that's the plan.

>>4368184
That's actually really weird to have a wedding on easter weekend. Was it like hard to find a priest?

>Missed last year's easter weekend for Sakuracon, made it home for dinner
>Am going to miss this year's entire easter for Sakuracon, including dinner
>Skipped out on prom to go to my first con with my boyfriend. NO REGRETS, we took mock cosplay prom photos and everything

the only thing that I'm worried about is this gigantic work related conference that I MUST attend to keep my license to practice. It's once a year, and it's always missed Sakuracon by a week or two, but I live in fear that one day...

>>4368184
good luck with that anon!

>>4368184
Poulsbo isn't far away though. It's about a 2 hour commute if you take the seattle/bainbridge island ferry and then drive down, and is a hour and a half away if you drive around.

Dragon*Con

A congoing (and staff member) friend knew DragonCon weekend is the SAME weekend every year. We already have our rooms, tix, plane tix, ect nearly a year in advance. (That is the way D*con planning rolls)

She says she's thinking of having her wedding late summer. We warn her that Labor day is a bad idea as most of her buds will be out of town.

She has wedding labor day weekend. We don't attend. Told you so.
We're all still friends though. Both of them totally understood since we warned them.

Next couple we know also knows about D*con. They plan it 2 wks after it. We attend. They say "oh geez yeah we aren't make the mistake ______ did."

I have been going to the same convention, every year, for the past four years. My friend's birthday floats around the same general time, but as the convention date moves around, it's never coincided. This past year, her birthday was on like.. Tuesday or Wednesday, and she planned to have her annual birthday weekend outing at the same time as the convention. She knew the convention was going to be held on the same weekend for a few months, and she also knew that I won tickets to attend for free, and that I had been working on a big cosplay.
Pouted that I wasn't going to go with her on her birthday and refused to entertain the idea of moving it to the next weekend.

I get it, her birthday when she wants it, but don't pout at me and get annoyed when I won't ditch my set plans and free passes.

I don't usually go to Fanime, but one of my favorite bands (LM.C) was playing last year. I was looking into if I could go, when I realized that was the weekend of my brother's wedding. We're relatively close and I was a bridesmaid, so I had no choice.
I thought about flying out directly after the wedding on Saturday night to San Jose since the concert was Sunday and the signing/Q&A were on Monday, but decided it wouldn't be worth the hassle.
Still sad I missed it (also missed LM.C in LA a few years back because I was in NY for work), but meh, not the end of the world.

>Coming home from college this weekend after not seeing family for a while, live just outside of Boston
>Easter weekend and family is religious
>Really want to go to Anime Boston, have gone every year for the past 4 years
>Family does not understand why I like anime or conventions
>Wondering if it's worth the trouble to skip out on everyone Saturday and go to the convention

Ahhh, I don't know what to do! I'm not even sure it will be worth it.

Once I had an exam.

I picked the con, failed the exam. It was a cardiology exam.

>fanime is last weekend of may
>graduation from high school is on same weekend
>is it possible to skip my own graduation

I never have had to choose between convention and other important event but I did skip school back in 2007 and 2008 to attend j-concerts.

Once, the decision was National Theatre of Scotland or Auchinawa. Chose Auchinawa and ended up getting to do both anyway, so correct decision.
For this Summer, Tokonatsu or Jazz camp. I've chosen Jazz but I wanted to go to them both equally so I'd be unhappy with either choice.

I tell everyone not to die and/or have a funeral Memorial Day weekend. Fanime is MY time.

>>4368207
That's good to know, Google Maps says using the ferry only takes an hour, is there usually a long line to get on?

>>4368202
Thanks!

>>4369982
>I wanted to go to them both equally so I'd be unhappy with either choice.

Or, you could decide to be happy with either choice, since you get to do something you want either way. Just putting that out there.

>>4368121

I probably would, but that would be because I was still new to the community and everything was like "OMG ANIMEZ and COSPLAYZ!!!". WM22 had some nice matches that night.

>>4370154
lol, true. Poor choice of words for me there, oops.

The choice was go to the con on the busiest day with the most interesting panels or go to the local "Asian Culture Fair" thing, whatever. Not really as important as a wedding or a funeral or something, but the staple that holds our family together was doing a performance or something in his honour guard unit, and it'd be his first one, and he's so proud and happy of his new hobby. I skipped the son to go to his display at the fair thing. I ended up missing all the panels that day until about 5-6PM, but the smile my grandfather had the whole time we were there was worth it.

>>4369909
I graduated a semester early in 2004, was told i didnt have to walk the line and they would mail my diploma. They never mailed it, instead 4 years later I went to the office of the high school, showed my ID and got my diploma. I dunno how it works for you thoug

I skipped highschool graduation for a convention.

Given, do to a recent misunderstanding (Left my ex-boyfriend the month before, who was pretty much the head goth at the school) I lost 95% of my friends/acquaintances/people that would generally talk to me and had a total of two people at the school that didn't believe the bullshit he spread about me.

I had them send my diploma in the mail. I don't regret anything. Apparently the only thing I missed was someone puking from heat-sickness from being out in the sun during the graduation ceremony.