Guess what? there are a TON of conventions in california.. that IS what you mean by 'bay area' right?
of course, the one that's right in San Fran is the Yaoi-con *shudders* but there's one in San Jose called
Fanime.. and yeah.. umm..
there's one in Long Beach/Anaheim called
Anime Expo (HUGE convention though.. not for the faint of heart)..
and there's a con.. like.. in Ventura I THINK.. called AniMagic.. I might dig around a bit to see if I can find any info..
THere really are a lot of cons out there.. assuming the worst is never fun! ;)
OOooooNe more thing!
P-chan.. you RAWK! ;)