I havent been to a con since 2020 and even though things opened up a lot this year, I didnt go to pretty much any. I was at Fanime every year without fail since like 1998? (The final year it was at foothill college, anyhow, with a $5 weekend badge!) But just being in thickly crowded places just made me nervous. My family caught covid the first time in jan of 2021, before the vaccines and everything and almost all of us were in the hospital. We caught a second round of it pretty much the same time this year, jan of 2023 and while having the vaccines and everything made the experience way less traumatic and scary (no hospital visits, just feeling junky for 2 weeks), I definitely do not want to get sick again, covid, flu or otherwise. And we miss the con scene a lot. I dont do new cosplays as much or as elaborate anymore; I stick to ones Ive done before or easy ones. I miss the panel my husband and I used to do at Fanime (Robot Armageddon). We might do Carrier Con in 2024 and are maybe doing Fanime again but its so up in the air when mask and vaccination requirements arent required. Its been kinda lonely with the FOMO of cons this year.