The last of the AX feeling is leaving me. I’m taking it easy as July winds down and getting into the grove of my normal routine outside work and with family and friends. Yesterday, I went to the gym and took it slow and steady. I keep the schedule for the next three gym visits. I go to the gym on Thursday and Friday nights.
I wake up early in the mornings to read and during the evenings after dinner, I do computer work including working on my webpage, update my ININ Blog, and learn Crystal Reports. I started the early morning and after dinner routine in June. First, though, I did computer work in the morning and read after dinner which didn’t work. I switched to read in the morning and computer in the evening and it works successfully.
The Innovating Common Knowledge Blogs are coming back, too XD I’m aware the last Blogs were all Anime Expo 2006. That’s O.K. My Blogs are open ended and anything goes. And there are a few who reads my Blogs and I’m sure they enjoy my Innovating Common Knowledge Blog entries. Thanks to the few ^__^ who reads my Blogs.
Let’s see what else I’m taking it easy to get stuff done and doing my outside activities. I mentioned gym, morning reading, evening computer, . . . hmmm. Stocks research. I must get back to stock research. Pretty soon when the stock market crash and real estate market crash, there are going to be bargains $-) When I eat breakfast and dinner on workdays, I read articles I print on the web and from my emails. For lunch, I bring my laptop to work and watch anime.
For the weekends, it’s anything goes. My weekends are when I finish anything I need to finish. Essentially, it’s the time I think about what I can do to spice up my boring life. *Hee, hee*
Side note: I forgot to mention a couple of stuff from my AX Blogs. I correct them ASAP and mention the additional AX activities on future Blog entries. Sorry for those I forgot to mention :-(
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Resume? I don't need a resume. Here is my resume: Innovator. I'm available to innovate for hire.
Friday, July 21, 2006
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
2006 Anime Expo Epilogue
AX'06 Epilogue
I experienced an emotion I never experienced in a long, long time. The happy emotion. Throughout the con, I was happy. Happy, happy, happy. Big smiles, big smiles, big smiles. I met new people, I hang around with my friends, I experienced lots of firsts, and I made any situation or event that was good much better and any situation or event that was bad good—making lemonade from lemons.
When the Boston Red Sox won the 2004 World Series, the team reversed the curse—the Curse of the Bambino. My curse, and maybe for some anime congoers, is every odd year anime cons are good and every even year anime cons are bad. 2006 is an even year and AX'06 is my all time favorite. AX'06 was so great I can't think of any future cons to beat AX'06.
However, another way of thinking about anime cons is how the congoer makes the most out of an anime con . . . the one moment or one event from a bad con to a good con and vice versa. If the congoer goes to an anime con just to shop at the dealer's room and watch videos, then he or she is wasting their time. Anime cons are not for people to hang out alone. The number one reason anime fans attend anime cons is to meet new people. If the congoer must cosplay to meet new people, then do it. The number one reason cosplayers cosplay is to meet new people. If the congoer must attend a panel, a dance, start a gathering, and/or attend a gathering to meet people, do it. These moments or events make or break a congoer's anime con experience. Say out of every ten people you meet, two of them kept in touch with you and hang out with you, then kudos to you. You made two new friends.
If your AX'06 turned out terrible, I'm sorry. Now is the time to think what happened at AX'06 made your con experience terrible. What can you do next year for AX'07 to be a good con? Think about the possible solutions and work on them. You have one year to make AX'06 a con to forget. On the other hand, if AX'06 turned out excellent, congrats. Think about how to make AX'07 better than AX'06 and do something.
I'm glad I went to AX'06. The CLAMP visit, CLAMP cosplay gathering, mini FMA gathering, best ever cosplays, hanging out with all my friends, meeting new people, and experiences new firsts. AX'06 is another example of living life to the fullest without regrets. Thank you for reading my AX'06 Blog.
AX'06 Notes
Here are some notes for the 2006 Anime Expo Convention at the Anaheim Convention Center July 1, 2006 to July 4, 2006 in Anaheim, California.
--The website for the Risembool Rangers and Vic Mignogna official fan club are http://www.risemboolrangers.com and http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vic_fans.
--Matt, I email you soon to send me the suggested links for the digital photo tips. Thanks for your help and expertise at the Artist Alley. I really appreciate it.
--I took 1,525 pictures. 98% are cosplay pics. I took many multiple cosplays pics. My estimate number of cosplay pics for my Innovate Infinitely 2006 Anime Expo Anime Page website is between 550 and 600.
--I was two numbers ahead on the CLAMP autograph lottery. My number was 0196112 and the closest winner was 0196110.
--Anime Expo 2006 is my eighth Anime Expo con.
--Bring a deck of cards to pass time.
--Bring a sketchbook and/or notebook. Great way to collect contact information and write down anything worth noting.
--I took pictures at the Fate/Stay Night, CLAMP, Rozen Maiden, Paradise Kiss, Ah! My Goddess, Trigun, and Gothic Lolita Tea Party gatherings.
--Visit http://comics.ign.com to view my Syaoran cosplay. Click on July 4th, the fourth day of the con.
--I want to thank the photographers who took my cosplay pics. And it was a pleasure posing with a few congers who wanted a pic with me.
--The weather was too damn hot for cosplayers especially with three layers of clothing @__@
--The weekend before AX, I went to Office Depot and purchased a small clipboard to write down the names of the cosplayers I took. Never happened. On July 5, I exchanged the small clipboard for six notebooks.
--There was a particular cosplayer for which I took a picture of her three times because she wore three different cosplays. She brought five cosplays. I should have made it fun by being aggressive such that if I take all five of her cosplays, I ask her out on a date :X
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Resume? I don't need a resume. Here is my resume: Innovator. I'm available to innovate for hire.
I experienced an emotion I never experienced in a long, long time. The happy emotion. Throughout the con, I was happy. Happy, happy, happy. Big smiles, big smiles, big smiles. I met new people, I hang around with my friends, I experienced lots of firsts, and I made any situation or event that was good much better and any situation or event that was bad good—making lemonade from lemons.
When the Boston Red Sox won the 2004 World Series, the team reversed the curse—the Curse of the Bambino. My curse, and maybe for some anime congoers, is every odd year anime cons are good and every even year anime cons are bad. 2006 is an even year and AX'06 is my all time favorite. AX'06 was so great I can't think of any future cons to beat AX'06.
However, another way of thinking about anime cons is how the congoer makes the most out of an anime con . . . the one moment or one event from a bad con to a good con and vice versa. If the congoer goes to an anime con just to shop at the dealer's room and watch videos, then he or she is wasting their time. Anime cons are not for people to hang out alone. The number one reason anime fans attend anime cons is to meet new people. If the congoer must cosplay to meet new people, then do it. The number one reason cosplayers cosplay is to meet new people. If the congoer must attend a panel, a dance, start a gathering, and/or attend a gathering to meet people, do it. These moments or events make or break a congoer's anime con experience. Say out of every ten people you meet, two of them kept in touch with you and hang out with you, then kudos to you. You made two new friends.
If your AX'06 turned out terrible, I'm sorry. Now is the time to think what happened at AX'06 made your con experience terrible. What can you do next year for AX'07 to be a good con? Think about the possible solutions and work on them. You have one year to make AX'06 a con to forget. On the other hand, if AX'06 turned out excellent, congrats. Think about how to make AX'07 better than AX'06 and do something.
I'm glad I went to AX'06. The CLAMP visit, CLAMP cosplay gathering, mini FMA gathering, best ever cosplays, hanging out with all my friends, meeting new people, and experiences new firsts. AX'06 is another example of living life to the fullest without regrets. Thank you for reading my AX'06 Blog.
AX'06 Notes
Here are some notes for the 2006 Anime Expo Convention at the Anaheim Convention Center July 1, 2006 to July 4, 2006 in Anaheim, California.
--The website for the Risembool Rangers and Vic Mignogna official fan club are http://www.risemboolrangers.com and http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vic_fans.
--Matt, I email you soon to send me the suggested links for the digital photo tips. Thanks for your help and expertise at the Artist Alley. I really appreciate it.
--I took 1,525 pictures. 98% are cosplay pics. I took many multiple cosplays pics. My estimate number of cosplay pics for my Innovate Infinitely 2006 Anime Expo Anime Page website is between 550 and 600.
--I was two numbers ahead on the CLAMP autograph lottery. My number was 0196112 and the closest winner was 0196110.
--Anime Expo 2006 is my eighth Anime Expo con.
--Bring a deck of cards to pass time.
--Bring a sketchbook and/or notebook. Great way to collect contact information and write down anything worth noting.
--I took pictures at the Fate/Stay Night, CLAMP, Rozen Maiden, Paradise Kiss, Ah! My Goddess, Trigun, and Gothic Lolita Tea Party gatherings.
--Visit http://comics.ign.com to view my Syaoran cosplay. Click on July 4th, the fourth day of the con.
--I want to thank the photographers who took my cosplay pics. And it was a pleasure posing with a few congers who wanted a pic with me.
--The weather was too damn hot for cosplayers especially with three layers of clothing @__@
--The weekend before AX, I went to Office Depot and purchased a small clipboard to write down the names of the cosplayers I took. Never happened. On July 5, I exchanged the small clipboard for six notebooks.
--There was a particular cosplayer for which I took a picture of her three times because she wore three different cosplays. She brought five cosplays. I should have made it fun by being aggressive such that if I take all five of her cosplays, I ask her out on a date :X
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Resume? I don't need a resume. Here is my resume: Innovator. I'm available to innovate for hire.
Sunday, July 16, 2006
2006 Anime Expo Day Four
AX'06 Day Four: The Con Both Went By Both Slow And Fast
I woke up at 8:00 A.M. Tuesday. Priscilla and Erin walked back to their hotel room. I thank them for their company and I enjoyed being with them and their friends. I showered and pack up my belongings. I left the hotel room at 9:00 A.M. cosplaying as Syaoran and taking a long shot at getting an autograph from Seiji Mizushima, director of the FMA series and movie. The reason for the long show was because the autographs started at 9:00 A.M. I arrived in line at 9:20 A.M. and the line was very long. Obviously, people lined up really, really early. At 9:35 A.M. when I reached to the third floor and outside main events room, I got word Mizushima was no longer signing autographs. Oh, well. I expected no success since I arrived late. It was worth a try.
I walked downstairs to the courtyard and took more cosplay pics. There was a Trigun cosplay gathering and took pictures of the gathering. At 11:00 A.M., Lisu, DLZ, and Ryu came to my room and we put our belongings in the trunk. Ryu borrowed my Syaoran cosplay boots for a cosplay gathering and he left quickly. At 11:40 A.M., Lisu, DLZ, and I walked back to the con. We saw two Rozen Maiden cosplays and immediately stopped them for cosplay pics. We separated at the courtyard. As I walked to the Hilton gift shop, I met HanyaanFaery again and her friend and both had another cosplays. She has a ton of cosplays, everyone. I took her picture which I'm happy to do. At 12:30 P.M., I purchased a quick lunch of a Snickers candy bar, cashews, and bottle water at the Hilton gift shop.
Hunting For Bargains
At 1:00 P.M., I went to the Dealer's room to hunt for bargains. Of course, I took more cosplay pics. I also got a Syaoran cosplay picture taken by ign.com. The last I checked, I’m on their website. I visited most of the booths and I couldn’t find anything which interested me. Around 2:20 P.M., I participated in a Full Metal Alchemist Collector Card Game demonstration. The game was easy to learn. It took time for me to memorize the rules and familiarize myself with the cards and symbols if I got into the game. The demonstration ended around 2:45 P.M. I got a free booster pack for participating. Not bad. At 2:50 P.M., I walked at the Del Rey booth and they were giving away free manga. Each person got two free manga. Wow! I got xxxHolic Volume 3 and Volume 4 worth a total of $20.00. The dealer's room closed at 3:00 P.M. I walked around the con and found Lisu, DLZ, and Megumi hanging out inside the con. At 3:30 P.M., I went to the Charity Auction which sucked. There were two or three items that generated bids in the thousands of dollars. I hope next year is better.
After the auction was over, I walked to the Marriott where everyone was hanging out. Everyone was at Lisu's room. When I arrived at Lisu's floor, I saw Ryu. Ryu said everyone was sleeping. At 5:30 P.M., we headed to the Marriott lobby to hang out. We talked about the AX in general and we both agreed the con was great. Ryu had fun volunteering for Funimation. He had to work for three hours on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. He received a free t-shirt and got a contact person. Also, he got free admission to AX'06. Later on, Lisu and Megumi arrived. Then Bart Boy came over. And then DLZ. We all talked about the con. Lisu and Megumi shared stories from the Hyde concert. They went two times. Bart Boy and I talked about the cosplay gatherings for which most of them sucked including Naruto, Bleach, and FMA. CLAMP was the best cosplay gathering because it was a good turnout and organized. I went to the Marriott Starbucks to purchase snacks. I purchased a bag of potato chips, bottle water, and a Twix candy bar. The store didn’t accept my Starbucks gift card. What gives, man? So I had to pay with my credit card. Blah!
At 6:30 P.M., Bart Boy took off. Lisu, DLZ, Megumi, Ryu, and I stuck around the lobby and talked about random stuff and kept each other laughing. Around 6:45 P.M., we went to dinner at Carl's Jr. Megumi had plans at 8:30 P.M. back at the Marriott. Plenty of time. We walked back to where the car was parked at The Anabella and drove to Carl's Jr. After we ate, we drove Megumi back to the Marriott. At 8:30 P.M., we got gas at the Chevron station on Katella Avenue. Then we started the drive back home.
Going Home
During the drive back on Interstate 5, we saw fireworks and listened to Ryu's anime music mix CDs. Traffic was light throughout the Los Angeles area. After we passed Magic Mountain, it was 90 MPH driving thereafter. At 11:30 P.M., we stopped for gas and snacks at the Chevron station in Coalinga. At the gas station, we saw a racing car which I forgot the name of the racing car and two other cars driving with the racing car. The people in the three cars were AX congoers and lived in the Bay Area. Ryu recognized one of them because he is a Fanime Con staff. Before went left, I went to the trunk and got my laptop. Lisu watched a few episodes of Fate/Stay Night on my laptop.
The two stops before my home were Watsonville where Lisu and DLZ lived and Hayward where Ryu lived. The first stop was in Watsonville. I drove on the west side of Highway 152 for the first time. The first part was driving in Gilroy. The city was quiet and pretty much deserted during the early, early morning. After driving through the city, I drove on the hills which were not bad. I didn’t a Gilroy Police car. When we arrived in Watsonville, it, too, was like Gilroy which was quiet and pretty much deserted during the early, early morning. The last time I went to Watsonville was in 1986. Lisu and DLZ’s neighborhood reminded me of Santa Barbara.
The second stop was Hayward. I drove on Highway 1 and Highway 17. Ryu went through my classical rock CDs and we listened to Aerosmith’s Greatest Hits. The last time I was on Highway 1 in the Santa Cruz County was in 1986 and the last time I was on Highway 17 was in 2001. The drive was a breeze. No cars. And I took advantage of driving on the dotted white line when making the freeway turns. Yes, I drove really safe. Safe, safe, safe.
Ryu and I stopped in Campbell to switch drivers. Ryu drove the rest of the way on Highway 17 and Interstate 880. We arrived in Hayward. I copied some files from Ryu’s hard drive. Ryu’s got all his stuff in and I drove back to San Jose both tired and happy. I have never been this happy since, gee, I don't know when. I arrived home at 4:00 A.M. Wednesday. I brought my stuff in, took a shower, brushed me teeth, and went to sleep. Oyasumi (-,-)
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Resume? I don't need a resume. Here is my resume: Innovator. I'm available to innovate for hire.
I woke up at 8:00 A.M. Tuesday. Priscilla and Erin walked back to their hotel room. I thank them for their company and I enjoyed being with them and their friends. I showered and pack up my belongings. I left the hotel room at 9:00 A.M. cosplaying as Syaoran and taking a long shot at getting an autograph from Seiji Mizushima, director of the FMA series and movie. The reason for the long show was because the autographs started at 9:00 A.M. I arrived in line at 9:20 A.M. and the line was very long. Obviously, people lined up really, really early. At 9:35 A.M. when I reached to the third floor and outside main events room, I got word Mizushima was no longer signing autographs. Oh, well. I expected no success since I arrived late. It was worth a try.
I walked downstairs to the courtyard and took more cosplay pics. There was a Trigun cosplay gathering and took pictures of the gathering. At 11:00 A.M., Lisu, DLZ, and Ryu came to my room and we put our belongings in the trunk. Ryu borrowed my Syaoran cosplay boots for a cosplay gathering and he left quickly. At 11:40 A.M., Lisu, DLZ, and I walked back to the con. We saw two Rozen Maiden cosplays and immediately stopped them for cosplay pics. We separated at the courtyard. As I walked to the Hilton gift shop, I met HanyaanFaery again and her friend and both had another cosplays. She has a ton of cosplays, everyone. I took her picture which I'm happy to do. At 12:30 P.M., I purchased a quick lunch of a Snickers candy bar, cashews, and bottle water at the Hilton gift shop.
Hunting For Bargains
At 1:00 P.M., I went to the Dealer's room to hunt for bargains. Of course, I took more cosplay pics. I also got a Syaoran cosplay picture taken by ign.com. The last I checked, I’m on their website. I visited most of the booths and I couldn’t find anything which interested me. Around 2:20 P.M., I participated in a Full Metal Alchemist Collector Card Game demonstration. The game was easy to learn. It took time for me to memorize the rules and familiarize myself with the cards and symbols if I got into the game. The demonstration ended around 2:45 P.M. I got a free booster pack for participating. Not bad. At 2:50 P.M., I walked at the Del Rey booth and they were giving away free manga. Each person got two free manga. Wow! I got xxxHolic Volume 3 and Volume 4 worth a total of $20.00. The dealer's room closed at 3:00 P.M. I walked around the con and found Lisu, DLZ, and Megumi hanging out inside the con. At 3:30 P.M., I went to the Charity Auction which sucked. There were two or three items that generated bids in the thousands of dollars. I hope next year is better.
After the auction was over, I walked to the Marriott where everyone was hanging out. Everyone was at Lisu's room. When I arrived at Lisu's floor, I saw Ryu. Ryu said everyone was sleeping. At 5:30 P.M., we headed to the Marriott lobby to hang out. We talked about the AX in general and we both agreed the con was great. Ryu had fun volunteering for Funimation. He had to work for three hours on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. He received a free t-shirt and got a contact person. Also, he got free admission to AX'06. Later on, Lisu and Megumi arrived. Then Bart Boy came over. And then DLZ. We all talked about the con. Lisu and Megumi shared stories from the Hyde concert. They went two times. Bart Boy and I talked about the cosplay gatherings for which most of them sucked including Naruto, Bleach, and FMA. CLAMP was the best cosplay gathering because it was a good turnout and organized. I went to the Marriott Starbucks to purchase snacks. I purchased a bag of potato chips, bottle water, and a Twix candy bar. The store didn’t accept my Starbucks gift card. What gives, man? So I had to pay with my credit card. Blah!
At 6:30 P.M., Bart Boy took off. Lisu, DLZ, Megumi, Ryu, and I stuck around the lobby and talked about random stuff and kept each other laughing. Around 6:45 P.M., we went to dinner at Carl's Jr. Megumi had plans at 8:30 P.M. back at the Marriott. Plenty of time. We walked back to where the car was parked at The Anabella and drove to Carl's Jr. After we ate, we drove Megumi back to the Marriott. At 8:30 P.M., we got gas at the Chevron station on Katella Avenue. Then we started the drive back home.
Going Home
During the drive back on Interstate 5, we saw fireworks and listened to Ryu's anime music mix CDs. Traffic was light throughout the Los Angeles area. After we passed Magic Mountain, it was 90 MPH driving thereafter. At 11:30 P.M., we stopped for gas and snacks at the Chevron station in Coalinga. At the gas station, we saw a racing car which I forgot the name of the racing car and two other cars driving with the racing car. The people in the three cars were AX congoers and lived in the Bay Area. Ryu recognized one of them because he is a Fanime Con staff. Before went left, I went to the trunk and got my laptop. Lisu watched a few episodes of Fate/Stay Night on my laptop.
The two stops before my home were Watsonville where Lisu and DLZ lived and Hayward where Ryu lived. The first stop was in Watsonville. I drove on the west side of Highway 152 for the first time. The first part was driving in Gilroy. The city was quiet and pretty much deserted during the early, early morning. After driving through the city, I drove on the hills which were not bad. I didn’t a Gilroy Police car. When we arrived in Watsonville, it, too, was like Gilroy which was quiet and pretty much deserted during the early, early morning. The last time I went to Watsonville was in 1986. Lisu and DLZ’s neighborhood reminded me of Santa Barbara.
The second stop was Hayward. I drove on Highway 1 and Highway 17. Ryu went through my classical rock CDs and we listened to Aerosmith’s Greatest Hits. The last time I was on Highway 1 in the Santa Cruz County was in 1986 and the last time I was on Highway 17 was in 2001. The drive was a breeze. No cars. And I took advantage of driving on the dotted white line when making the freeway turns. Yes, I drove really safe. Safe, safe, safe.
Ryu and I stopped in Campbell to switch drivers. Ryu drove the rest of the way on Highway 17 and Interstate 880. We arrived in Hayward. I copied some files from Ryu’s hard drive. Ryu’s got all his stuff in and I drove back to San Jose both tired and happy. I have never been this happy since, gee, I don't know when. I arrived home at 4:00 A.M. Wednesday. I brought my stuff in, took a shower, brushed me teeth, and went to sleep. Oyasumi (-,-)
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Resume? I don't need a resume. Here is my resume: Innovator. I'm available to innovate for hire.
Friday, July 14, 2006
2006 Anime Expo Day Three
AX'06 Day Three: Full of Full Metal Alchemist (FMA)
I woke up at 7:30 A.M. Monday, took a shower, and ate breakfast. Today's planned events are the FMA movie and taking more cosplay pics. I walked to the convention center cosplaying as Edward Elric at 9:00 A.M. I brought my laptop for FMA movie line. After taking cosplay pics between the hotel and Hall D, the location of the FMA line, I lined up around 9:20 A.M.
While in line, I met a couple, a family of three, and a veteran anime fan named Mike who lived in SoCal. During the wait, an AX staff was giving away free NewType Magazines and DVDs. I convinced the staffer to give me a DVD since I cosplayed as Edward. My convincing worked. I got X-Men 1.5 DVD for which I already have X-Men 1. I gave the DVD to the boyfriend and he gave me his Newtype magazine. Another AX staff gave away prizes for a trivia game. The staff walked along the line asking questions and gave prizes for correct answers. The staff used a megaphone and from time to time I turned off my laptop because the megaphone was too loud to hear the music from the AMVs on my laptop.
The FMA seating started a few minutes late. As the line moved away from Hall D to the main events on the third floor, I saw a cosplayer who played a harmonica like instrument and held a sign asking for money. There were too many cosplayers with signs. I’m not a sign fan. I rarely recognize and respond to a sign because I must behave my age. She looked at me twice. I walked towards her. I gave her $1.00 and she smiled. She said thank you twice.
Getting back to the FMA line, movement was slow. After Mike and I seated, we waited at least 45 minutes. During the wait, we talked a lot about dubbed anime and voice actors. And we watched each other's stuff while each of us went to the bathroom. I went to the bathroom and purchased a turkey sandwich, chips, and bottle water all for $9.25 $-P After I ate, I completed minor repairs on my boots. Somebody had duct tape and I asked for a piece. I thank the fan. The movie started which was dubbed great. After the movie, there was a brief panel afterwards where the audience asked a few questions on the movie to the guest of honor who worked with the movie original and dubbed.
FMA Fangirls
After the brief panel was over, I lined up for the Vic Mignogna Panel. Mignogna is the voice actor for Edward Elric dubbed. Keeping the FMA theme and no plans for the rest of the day, I choose to attend the panel. I waited in linen for approximately 45 minutes. During the wait, I played AMVs on my laptop and took cosplay pics. I met three girls, and one of them rarely watched AMVs because their father installed parental safeguards on their home PC. I gave them a copy of the best AMVs on my laptop. I also met a Dante cosplayer. *Does the My Eyes Are Watching You: two fingers pointing at my eyes and then I point at you* towards Dante. There was a Kimberely FMA cosplayer who passed out a Vic Mignogna fansite business card and she informed me after the panel there was a mini FMA gathering by the AX banner. I informed her I attend. And someone took a group shot of all Edwards. BTW, I forgot to mention I'm one of the few tall and male Edward cosplayers during the con. Most of the Edward cosplays were female and short; likewise for AX'05.
The panel started on time around 4:15 P.M. Mignogna was very popular to the audience given the screaming fangirls. I didn't mind the screaming and shouting and loudness. Its all part of the con experience. During the panel, I found a plug and charged my laptop. Mignogna told the audience that voice actors and voice actresses has lots of theater experience and voice acting anime is more difficult than American animation. For American animation, the voices are recorded first and the drawings are done afterwards. For Japanese Anime to be dubbed, the animation is already completed. The voice actors and actresses have to act to match the mouth movements.
FMA Mini Gathering
After the Mignogna panel, I went to the Hilton gift shop and purchased peanuts, Milky Way candy bar, and water around 5:15 P.M. Then I went to the FMA mini gathering. One word: redemption. The mini gathering was awesome. The girl’s friends who organized the mini gathering drew transmutation circles with caulk on the ground. Genius. Then the FMA cosplayers did their action shots. Bart Boy arrived and he contacted Eurobeat King, cosplay.com photographer, to come over. Ryu and Karisma also arrived. Two cosplay webmasters taking FMA cosplay group shots and action shots. Super awesome. They were happy to take the FMA gathering pics since the official FMA gathering was crazy. I did a few FMA action shots. One shot was a few Sloth, Wrath, and Lust cosplayers stole my watch and I was being held by two Gluttonies. Another shot was one Gulttony ate my watch and I tried to pull the watch away from him. When all FMA cosplayers gathered for the group shot, we sang 99 Bottles of Beer on the wall to time how long we stayed for the group pose. We counted from 99 to 91 which was a long time. Even I took a few mini FMA gathering pics group shots and action shots. Then, one word: Yaoi. The Kimberely FMA cosplayer kissed me for a Yaoi shot. OMG! Wow. !#%+^&+@*^!~*^%
The Kimberely FMA cosplayer invited me to join her group of friends for dinner. I agreed. Her group of friends also cosplayed from FMA. We stopped by my hotel room to drop off my laptop. One of Kimberely FMA cosplayer friends dropped off her bag. We walked to Coco's on Katella Avenue for dinner at 6:45 P.M. After we got seated I introduced myself to the Kimberely FMA cosplayer and her friends. The Kimberely FMA cosplayer's name is Priscilla and her friend who cosplayed as Envy her name is Erin. Her other friends are Amanda who cosplayed as Edward, another Amanda who also cosplayed as Edward, and a third person I forgot her name who cosplayed as Riza. There was a sixth person in Priscilla’s group who also cosplayed as Edward who unfortunately could not join us. We talked about anime, poker, relationships, favorite Studio Ghibi movie, guessing each other's ages, and lots of random stuff. There was a mother and son who attended AX'06 for one day and asked lots of questions about anime. We suggested to them that next year they attend all four days to experience in full what AX is all about. And before we ordered our food, I took a random picture of congers holding signs.
All seven of us left Coco's at 9:00 P.M. We headed to the AX rave dance which started at 9:30 P.M. For all of us, it's our first rave dance. During the walk, we got separated. The other group thought the dance was at the Hilton. They had to walk from the Hilton to the Sheraton Park Hotel where the dance was located. In the meantime, Priscilla, Erin, and I went inside the rave. We walked to the back because we didn't plan to dance. Erin left the dance floor either because she had to go to the bathroom or she went to find glowsticks. I forgot which. After 10 minutes, Priscilla and I walked outside and saw Erin outside the entrance because AX staff refused to let her in because her Envy cosplay wears no shoes.
We received information someone in the convention center was selling glowsticks. Erin and Priscilla choose to walk to the convention center and I went with them. Priscilla’s other friends hanged out in the rave dance area. We arrived at the convention center around 10:00 P.M. and we hanged around for two hours. Erin and Priscilla did lots of glomps and Priscilla was talking to a Greed and Lust cosplayers cussing each other for fun. When the Lust cosplayer said to everyone I'm staying out, I said I'm staying out also. While Priscilla and Greed were talking, Erin was getting glomps, and I found an AX staff selling glowsticks. I purchased three glowsticks for $5.00 and gave one to Priscilla and one to Erin as a souvenir they attended a rave. We then went inside the con and hang out with more glomps and the usual anime fans having fun and meeting people. Erin was asked to conduct interviews for a website. She had a blast interview anime fans. During the interview, Priscilla and I were hanging out by the info desk. We left the convention center around 11:45 P.M.
Midnight approached. We walked back to my hotel room. Erin was big time tired. She went to sleep inside the room. Priscilla and I went outside the room and we hung out together. One of the FMA cosplayers also stayed at my hotel. He was the Gluttony who ate my watch ^_^ We saw him walking outside. He and his friend wanted to go for a swim. The swimming pool closed and they tried to go to one of the big hotel’s swimming pool. We talked for a bit about the gathering and little stuff for about five minutes. Then they walked towards the bigger hotels with their swim trunks, T-shirts, and towels. At 4:00 A.M. Tuesday, we went back inside and went to sleep ;-)
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Resume? I don't need a resume. Here is my resume: Innovator. I'm available to innovate for hire.
I woke up at 7:30 A.M. Monday, took a shower, and ate breakfast. Today's planned events are the FMA movie and taking more cosplay pics. I walked to the convention center cosplaying as Edward Elric at 9:00 A.M. I brought my laptop for FMA movie line. After taking cosplay pics between the hotel and Hall D, the location of the FMA line, I lined up around 9:20 A.M.
While in line, I met a couple, a family of three, and a veteran anime fan named Mike who lived in SoCal. During the wait, an AX staff was giving away free NewType Magazines and DVDs. I convinced the staffer to give me a DVD since I cosplayed as Edward. My convincing worked. I got X-Men 1.5 DVD for which I already have X-Men 1. I gave the DVD to the boyfriend and he gave me his Newtype magazine. Another AX staff gave away prizes for a trivia game. The staff walked along the line asking questions and gave prizes for correct answers. The staff used a megaphone and from time to time I turned off my laptop because the megaphone was too loud to hear the music from the AMVs on my laptop.
The FMA seating started a few minutes late. As the line moved away from Hall D to the main events on the third floor, I saw a cosplayer who played a harmonica like instrument and held a sign asking for money. There were too many cosplayers with signs. I’m not a sign fan. I rarely recognize and respond to a sign because I must behave my age. She looked at me twice. I walked towards her. I gave her $1.00 and she smiled. She said thank you twice.
Getting back to the FMA line, movement was slow. After Mike and I seated, we waited at least 45 minutes. During the wait, we talked a lot about dubbed anime and voice actors. And we watched each other's stuff while each of us went to the bathroom. I went to the bathroom and purchased a turkey sandwich, chips, and bottle water all for $9.25 $-P After I ate, I completed minor repairs on my boots. Somebody had duct tape and I asked for a piece. I thank the fan. The movie started which was dubbed great. After the movie, there was a brief panel afterwards where the audience asked a few questions on the movie to the guest of honor who worked with the movie original and dubbed.
FMA Fangirls
After the brief panel was over, I lined up for the Vic Mignogna Panel. Mignogna is the voice actor for Edward Elric dubbed. Keeping the FMA theme and no plans for the rest of the day, I choose to attend the panel. I waited in linen for approximately 45 minutes. During the wait, I played AMVs on my laptop and took cosplay pics. I met three girls, and one of them rarely watched AMVs because their father installed parental safeguards on their home PC. I gave them a copy of the best AMVs on my laptop. I also met a Dante cosplayer. *Does the My Eyes Are Watching You: two fingers pointing at my eyes and then I point at you* towards Dante. There was a Kimberely FMA cosplayer who passed out a Vic Mignogna fansite business card and she informed me after the panel there was a mini FMA gathering by the AX banner. I informed her I attend. And someone took a group shot of all Edwards. BTW, I forgot to mention I'm one of the few tall and male Edward cosplayers during the con. Most of the Edward cosplays were female and short; likewise for AX'05.
The panel started on time around 4:15 P.M. Mignogna was very popular to the audience given the screaming fangirls. I didn't mind the screaming and shouting and loudness. Its all part of the con experience. During the panel, I found a plug and charged my laptop. Mignogna told the audience that voice actors and voice actresses has lots of theater experience and voice acting anime is more difficult than American animation. For American animation, the voices are recorded first and the drawings are done afterwards. For Japanese Anime to be dubbed, the animation is already completed. The voice actors and actresses have to act to match the mouth movements.
FMA Mini Gathering
After the Mignogna panel, I went to the Hilton gift shop and purchased peanuts, Milky Way candy bar, and water around 5:15 P.M. Then I went to the FMA mini gathering. One word: redemption. The mini gathering was awesome. The girl’s friends who organized the mini gathering drew transmutation circles with caulk on the ground. Genius. Then the FMA cosplayers did their action shots. Bart Boy arrived and he contacted Eurobeat King, cosplay.com photographer, to come over. Ryu and Karisma also arrived. Two cosplay webmasters taking FMA cosplay group shots and action shots. Super awesome. They were happy to take the FMA gathering pics since the official FMA gathering was crazy. I did a few FMA action shots. One shot was a few Sloth, Wrath, and Lust cosplayers stole my watch and I was being held by two Gluttonies. Another shot was one Gulttony ate my watch and I tried to pull the watch away from him. When all FMA cosplayers gathered for the group shot, we sang 99 Bottles of Beer on the wall to time how long we stayed for the group pose. We counted from 99 to 91 which was a long time. Even I took a few mini FMA gathering pics group shots and action shots. Then, one word: Yaoi. The Kimberely FMA cosplayer kissed me for a Yaoi shot. OMG! Wow. !#%+^&+@*^!~*^%
The Kimberely FMA cosplayer invited me to join her group of friends for dinner. I agreed. Her group of friends also cosplayed from FMA. We stopped by my hotel room to drop off my laptop. One of Kimberely FMA cosplayer friends dropped off her bag. We walked to Coco's on Katella Avenue for dinner at 6:45 P.M. After we got seated I introduced myself to the Kimberely FMA cosplayer and her friends. The Kimberely FMA cosplayer's name is Priscilla and her friend who cosplayed as Envy her name is Erin. Her other friends are Amanda who cosplayed as Edward, another Amanda who also cosplayed as Edward, and a third person I forgot her name who cosplayed as Riza. There was a sixth person in Priscilla’s group who also cosplayed as Edward who unfortunately could not join us. We talked about anime, poker, relationships, favorite Studio Ghibi movie, guessing each other's ages, and lots of random stuff. There was a mother and son who attended AX'06 for one day and asked lots of questions about anime. We suggested to them that next year they attend all four days to experience in full what AX is all about. And before we ordered our food, I took a random picture of congers holding signs.
All seven of us left Coco's at 9:00 P.M. We headed to the AX rave dance which started at 9:30 P.M. For all of us, it's our first rave dance. During the walk, we got separated. The other group thought the dance was at the Hilton. They had to walk from the Hilton to the Sheraton Park Hotel where the dance was located. In the meantime, Priscilla, Erin, and I went inside the rave. We walked to the back because we didn't plan to dance. Erin left the dance floor either because she had to go to the bathroom or she went to find glowsticks. I forgot which. After 10 minutes, Priscilla and I walked outside and saw Erin outside the entrance because AX staff refused to let her in because her Envy cosplay wears no shoes.
We received information someone in the convention center was selling glowsticks. Erin and Priscilla choose to walk to the convention center and I went with them. Priscilla’s other friends hanged out in the rave dance area. We arrived at the convention center around 10:00 P.M. and we hanged around for two hours. Erin and Priscilla did lots of glomps and Priscilla was talking to a Greed and Lust cosplayers cussing each other for fun. When the Lust cosplayer said to everyone I'm staying out, I said I'm staying out also. While Priscilla and Greed were talking, Erin was getting glomps, and I found an AX staff selling glowsticks. I purchased three glowsticks for $5.00 and gave one to Priscilla and one to Erin as a souvenir they attended a rave. We then went inside the con and hang out with more glomps and the usual anime fans having fun and meeting people. Erin was asked to conduct interviews for a website. She had a blast interview anime fans. During the interview, Priscilla and I were hanging out by the info desk. We left the convention center around 11:45 P.M.
Midnight approached. We walked back to my hotel room. Erin was big time tired. She went to sleep inside the room. Priscilla and I went outside the room and we hung out together. One of the FMA cosplayers also stayed at my hotel. He was the Gluttony who ate my watch ^_^ We saw him walking outside. He and his friend wanted to go for a swim. The swimming pool closed and they tried to go to one of the big hotel’s swimming pool. We talked for a bit about the gathering and little stuff for about five minutes. Then they walked towards the bigger hotels with their swim trunks, T-shirts, and towels. At 4:00 A.M. Tuesday, we went back inside and went to sleep ;-)
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Resume? I don't need a resume. Here is my resume: Innovator. I'm available to innovate for hire.
Thursday, July 13, 2006
2006 Anime Expo Day Two
AX'06 Day Two: More Gatherings . . . Gatherings Are Good
I woke up at 7:30 A.M. Sunday using the Snooze function. I ate breakfast and got ready to cosplay as Edward Elric from Full Metal Alchemist. I arrived at the convention center around 8:45 A.M. My priority for the rest of the con was to take as many cosplay pics to make up for the first day. OMFG! I think I overdid myself. I practically stopped every cosplay within 3 feet from me and taking two pictures if the picture on Auto setting came out terrible. I saw Lisu and Megumi at 9:00 A.M. They planned to attend the Hyde concert in Hollywood later in the evening. After talking to Lisu and Megumi, I walked along the line to the Dealer's Room and took cosplay pics. At 9:30 A.M., I took a cosplay pic with Saber from Fate/Stay Night. Saber rocks.
At 10:00 A.M., I saw Matt roaming around. Matt staffed at Japantown Anime Faire 3 and is a college student. We met at Fanime Con 2005. Matt and I walked around the con and headed to the Artist Alley. The Artist Alley was really tight to walk around, and only half of the artists were there in the early morning, yet there were congers trying to move around the tiny area. We were trying to find April who has her own artist website, www.greyscalestudios.net. Matt also gave me tips on digital photography. Then we went to the Dealers Room at 10:45 A.M. Hey, Matt, want to buy one of those faith books we saw? *Hee, hee* Matt introduced me to Tom and Victoria aka Traveling Valentine. Tom and Victoria were in a documentary at Fanime Con 2006 and usually cosplay as Lupin and Fujiko. The next stop was the Anime Selects booth because Anime Selects scheduled an interview with Man-Faye. I have pics and I post on my 2006 Anime Expo cosplay pics soon. Man-Faye was interviewed and gave a speech on the Freedom of Expression and mentioned JFK and how they apply to male crossplayers. After the interview, he tossed free t-shirts, and anyone with the t-shirt could get it autograph by Man-Faye. Matt and I separated 12:30 P.M. because he had a gathering at 1:00 P.M. Between now and 2:15 P.M., I took a ton of cosplay pics. My last booth to visit was Tea Club. The artist of Tea Club was my brother's best friend in high school. I purchased her first manga Volume 1. Good luck. I can't wait to read it.
It's All Gatherings
At 2:15 P.M., I went to the Hilton to meet with my Fanime Con friends. KyraEnsui, Ryu, DLZ, Otakuya, Jyun, Karisma, Karisma's sister, and I walked from the Hilton to IHOP. Lisu came by to say Hi because he had other plans including the Hyde concert. When we got seated, we saw a Maes Hughes cosplayer and his girlfriend. Their names are Mindy and Bradley. We exchanged email addresses and cell phone numbers for a possible get together later. And I took a picture of them. Unfortunately, we never got together. When we ordered our food, there was an oddball moment. When Jyun requested a substitute for soup, the waitress immediately said "No!" We were stunned. Then she corrected herself and said the substitute was O.K. After the waitress walked away, we talked about it for little bit laughing it off. We also talked about cosplay gatherings, our impressions of AX'06 so far, our schedules and plans for the rest of the con, and lots and lots of random stuff. The food arrived late around 3:20 P.M. The Rozen Maiden gathering was at 4:00 P.M. Ryu needed to borrow my glasses. After I got my usual Two Egg sampler which sausage, hash browns, and toast, I took my lunch take out, left $15.00 on the table, and went back to my hotel to get my glasses.
The Rozen Maiden 4:00 P.M. gathering started on time. Ryu made it and I lend him my glasses. The gathering was small; unfortunately, many Rozen Maiden cosplayers I saw throughout the con were missing. Regardless, there were some great shots. Ryu and I separated at 4:20 P.M. I took a few more cosplayers and went back to the hotel to take a shower and rest for the Full Metal Alchemist (FMA) gathering at 7:00 P.M.
Let The Craziness Begin
I arrived at the courtyard at 6:30 P.M. I took more cosplay pics. As 7:00 P.M. approached, I was told the gathering was located at the cul-de-sac next to the AX banner. I then walked around the courtyard and found a few more FMA cosplayers and told them to meet at the cul-de-sac. How did the FMA gathering went? One word: crazy. We moved to the Hall E entrance which has a stairway area to accompany the massive FMA cosplayers. More craziness. During the FMA cosplay gathering, I saw Silver_Unicorn and Audioventchick. Silver_Unicorn thought about going to masquerade dance. She chose not to go. And I gave Audioventchick a CD of her Rose cosplays from Cherry Blossom 2006 and Fanime Con 2006. Audioventchick, I forgot to take a picture of you at AX. Sorry.
I left the gathering at 7:20 P.M. I called Becky if she wanted to go to the masquerade dance. She couldn’t because she was attending a panel. No problem. On my way to the dance, I went to the Hilton gift shop and purchased water. I was thirsty. I arrived at the masquerade dance and it was really hot inside. I was sweating and there was some dancing. Not a lot going on. The dance was a no go. Fortunately, Becky went to the panel.
I walked back to the courtyard and then I saw HanyaanFaery. I took her cosplay picture. She cosplayed as a pirate of some sort. Not sure. I need to check out her cosplaylab.com to correctly identify her cosplay. Walking back to the cul-de-sac at 7:55 P.M. and hanging around there, I saw Ryu walking around. I walked to him and asked if he was doing anything. He said he was free. We choose to eat dinner at Carl's Jr. We walked back to the car and drove to Carl's Jr. The time was around 8:45 P.M. and the line at Carl's Jr. was long and stretched outside. We then choose to go to Jack In The Box. At Jack In The Box, I ordered a two Jumbo Jacks and a small coke. We talked about our futures, relationships, goals, and lots of random stuff. After we ate, we went to Wal-Mart to purchase batteries for Ryu's digital camera. Wal-Mart was about a ten minute drive from the con.
We arrived back at my hotel where we parked the car. We walked to the dance for which it was the rave dance. We went inside the wave dance where I met glowstick expert Protocol7 for the first time. Ryu was having lots of fun. Unfortunately, I'm not into dancing. The last time I danced with a girl was my 8th grade graduation. The AX'06 rave was the first rave I attended. Ryu wanted to put his stuff back in his hotel room and come back to the rave. Ryu and I left the dance and separated. I arrived back at the hotel, took a shower, backed up my cosplay pics on my laptop, ate two oranges, planned Monday's events, and watched HBO's Taxi Confessions. The cosplay pics I took today were much better and I felt better I'm going to post some really great cosplay pics on my Innovate Infinitely web site Anime Page. I went to bed around 2:00 A.M.
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Resume? I don't need a resume. Here is my resume: Innovator. I'm available to innovate for hire.
I woke up at 7:30 A.M. Sunday using the Snooze function. I ate breakfast and got ready to cosplay as Edward Elric from Full Metal Alchemist. I arrived at the convention center around 8:45 A.M. My priority for the rest of the con was to take as many cosplay pics to make up for the first day. OMFG! I think I overdid myself. I practically stopped every cosplay within 3 feet from me and taking two pictures if the picture on Auto setting came out terrible. I saw Lisu and Megumi at 9:00 A.M. They planned to attend the Hyde concert in Hollywood later in the evening. After talking to Lisu and Megumi, I walked along the line to the Dealer's Room and took cosplay pics. At 9:30 A.M., I took a cosplay pic with Saber from Fate/Stay Night. Saber rocks.
At 10:00 A.M., I saw Matt roaming around. Matt staffed at Japantown Anime Faire 3 and is a college student. We met at Fanime Con 2005. Matt and I walked around the con and headed to the Artist Alley. The Artist Alley was really tight to walk around, and only half of the artists were there in the early morning, yet there were congers trying to move around the tiny area. We were trying to find April who has her own artist website, www.greyscalestudios.net. Matt also gave me tips on digital photography. Then we went to the Dealers Room at 10:45 A.M. Hey, Matt, want to buy one of those faith books we saw? *Hee, hee* Matt introduced me to Tom and Victoria aka Traveling Valentine. Tom and Victoria were in a documentary at Fanime Con 2006 and usually cosplay as Lupin and Fujiko. The next stop was the Anime Selects booth because Anime Selects scheduled an interview with Man-Faye. I have pics and I post on my 2006 Anime Expo cosplay pics soon. Man-Faye was interviewed and gave a speech on the Freedom of Expression and mentioned JFK and how they apply to male crossplayers. After the interview, he tossed free t-shirts, and anyone with the t-shirt could get it autograph by Man-Faye. Matt and I separated 12:30 P.M. because he had a gathering at 1:00 P.M. Between now and 2:15 P.M., I took a ton of cosplay pics. My last booth to visit was Tea Club. The artist of Tea Club was my brother's best friend in high school. I purchased her first manga Volume 1. Good luck. I can't wait to read it.
It's All Gatherings
At 2:15 P.M., I went to the Hilton to meet with my Fanime Con friends. KyraEnsui, Ryu, DLZ, Otakuya, Jyun, Karisma, Karisma's sister, and I walked from the Hilton to IHOP. Lisu came by to say Hi because he had other plans including the Hyde concert. When we got seated, we saw a Maes Hughes cosplayer and his girlfriend. Their names are Mindy and Bradley. We exchanged email addresses and cell phone numbers for a possible get together later. And I took a picture of them. Unfortunately, we never got together. When we ordered our food, there was an oddball moment. When Jyun requested a substitute for soup, the waitress immediately said "No!" We were stunned. Then she corrected herself and said the substitute was O.K. After the waitress walked away, we talked about it for little bit laughing it off. We also talked about cosplay gatherings, our impressions of AX'06 so far, our schedules and plans for the rest of the con, and lots and lots of random stuff. The food arrived late around 3:20 P.M. The Rozen Maiden gathering was at 4:00 P.M. Ryu needed to borrow my glasses. After I got my usual Two Egg sampler which sausage, hash browns, and toast, I took my lunch take out, left $15.00 on the table, and went back to my hotel to get my glasses.
The Rozen Maiden 4:00 P.M. gathering started on time. Ryu made it and I lend him my glasses. The gathering was small; unfortunately, many Rozen Maiden cosplayers I saw throughout the con were missing. Regardless, there were some great shots. Ryu and I separated at 4:20 P.M. I took a few more cosplayers and went back to the hotel to take a shower and rest for the Full Metal Alchemist (FMA) gathering at 7:00 P.M.
Let The Craziness Begin
I arrived at the courtyard at 6:30 P.M. I took more cosplay pics. As 7:00 P.M. approached, I was told the gathering was located at the cul-de-sac next to the AX banner. I then walked around the courtyard and found a few more FMA cosplayers and told them to meet at the cul-de-sac. How did the FMA gathering went? One word: crazy. We moved to the Hall E entrance which has a stairway area to accompany the massive FMA cosplayers. More craziness. During the FMA cosplay gathering, I saw Silver_Unicorn and Audioventchick. Silver_Unicorn thought about going to masquerade dance. She chose not to go. And I gave Audioventchick a CD of her Rose cosplays from Cherry Blossom 2006 and Fanime Con 2006. Audioventchick, I forgot to take a picture of you at AX. Sorry.
I left the gathering at 7:20 P.M. I called Becky if she wanted to go to the masquerade dance. She couldn’t because she was attending a panel. No problem. On my way to the dance, I went to the Hilton gift shop and purchased water. I was thirsty. I arrived at the masquerade dance and it was really hot inside. I was sweating and there was some dancing. Not a lot going on. The dance was a no go. Fortunately, Becky went to the panel.
I walked back to the courtyard and then I saw HanyaanFaery. I took her cosplay picture. She cosplayed as a pirate of some sort. Not sure. I need to check out her cosplaylab.com to correctly identify her cosplay. Walking back to the cul-de-sac at 7:55 P.M. and hanging around there, I saw Ryu walking around. I walked to him and asked if he was doing anything. He said he was free. We choose to eat dinner at Carl's Jr. We walked back to the car and drove to Carl's Jr. The time was around 8:45 P.M. and the line at Carl's Jr. was long and stretched outside. We then choose to go to Jack In The Box. At Jack In The Box, I ordered a two Jumbo Jacks and a small coke. We talked about our futures, relationships, goals, and lots of random stuff. After we ate, we went to Wal-Mart to purchase batteries for Ryu's digital camera. Wal-Mart was about a ten minute drive from the con.
We arrived back at my hotel where we parked the car. We walked to the dance for which it was the rave dance. We went inside the wave dance where I met glowstick expert Protocol7 for the first time. Ryu was having lots of fun. Unfortunately, I'm not into dancing. The last time I danced with a girl was my 8th grade graduation. The AX'06 rave was the first rave I attended. Ryu wanted to put his stuff back in his hotel room and come back to the rave. Ryu and I left the dance and separated. I arrived back at the hotel, took a shower, backed up my cosplay pics on my laptop, ate two oranges, planned Monday's events, and watched HBO's Taxi Confessions. The cosplay pics I took today were much better and I felt better I'm going to post some really great cosplay pics on my Innovate Infinitely web site Anime Page. I went to bed around 2:00 A.M.
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Resume? I don't need a resume. Here is my resume: Innovator. I'm available to innovate for hire.
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
2006 Anime Expo Day One
AX'06 Day One: CLAMP, CLAMP, CLAMP
I woke up at 7:00 A.M. Saturday, ate breakfast, and got ready. The cosplay for the day is Syaoran from Tsubasa Chronicle, a production of CLAMP. I couldn't ask for anything better: CLAMP attending, CLAMP cosplay, and my Syaoran cosplay on the front cover the of program guide.
I arrived at the Convention Center at 8:20 A.M. and started taking cosplay pics. I brought my Dad’s mini color containing cold water in ice and towels to wipe my sweat. I sweat very easy. I'm heat sensitive. Hall E, the area outside the arena, and the Marriott side entrance to the convention center were under renovation. The arena part which was fenced off made my walking time to and from the con longer. For Marriott attendees, they must use the front doors or side door which added more walking time >.>
Around 10:15 A.M., I met a CLAMP cosplayer. She's from the manga Wish. We talked a little and she told me she wasn’t going to the CLAMP panel. I asked her why. She said the line was way too long. I said, "No way." After she left, I went to find the CLAMP line in Hall D. I saw the line beginning to get long. The initial plan was to line up at 12:15 P.M. because seating began at 1:15 P.M. and the CLAMP panel began at 2:15 P.M. Change of plan. Line up now. I walked back to the hotel to get my laptop and my lunch.
On my way back to the hotel, I saw Arashi. We walked back to the hotel room. At the hotel room, I got my laptop for entertainment and my lunch. Then I got more ice from the ice machine. And Arashi and I headed back to the convention center to line up for the CLAMP panel.
On the way to the line, Jyun surprised me from behind. His family was visiting the area and Jyun and his older brother Otakuya were attending AX and stayed at the Hilton. Arashi and I arrived at the CLAMP line at 11:00 A.M. We got our raffle tickets for autographs. Only 220 people were getting autographs, and the autographs were from picture boards only. I ate lunch and Arashi read a book. At 11:30 A.M., the CLAMP Wish cosplayer arrived. She joined Arashi and I. We introduced each other. The CLAMP Wish cosplayer's name is Becky. We took pictures together and took pictures of other cosplayers. She let me borrowed her portable fan because I was sweating. I turned on my laptop and we watched episodes 21-23 of Tsubasa Chronicle. She drew a picture for me and she's left handed. I admire left handed writers. Becky works full time at an office and sews. We had fun hanging out. I found out she organized the CLAMP cosplay gathering at 7:00 P.M. later today. Awesome! I'm glad Becky joined us.
The CLAMP panel started late after 3:00 P.M. Pictures and recording devices were prohibited. Press was prohibited from taking pictures. Only an official AX staff took pictures. The panel started off with a 20 minute documentary video showing all of CLAMP's works. The video was shown at AX only. After the video, the four CLAMP artists appeared on stage to begin the panel with a standing ovation welcome. Their agent or bodyguard . . . someone wearing a suit . . . was standing at the stage left background. The first part of the panel CLAMP showed pictures of their studios. Each artist told the audience with a translator their thoughts working in their studio. Then there were 12 Q&A. Some of the answers included three of them went to the same high school and the fourth was introduced from a mutual friend, one of them writes the story and the other three draws the characters, and when writing a story, they start with the ending and work backwards. After the Q&A, the audience got a preview of Tsubasa Chronicle which was licensed by Funimation. More bragging rights for me and my Syaoran cosplay. *Hee, hee* After the preview, AX had eight gift baskets to give away. Becky was eight away from one of the gift baskets. And then CLAMP exits the stage to a standing ovation. Due to technical difficulties, the audience needed to check the info desk to see who won an autograph. Initially, AX was to post the winning numbers on the big screen. I'm guessing AX didn't finish drawing the numbers in time for the post.
Ryu, who volunteered for Funimation, benefited from the late start. His shift ended at 3:00 P.M. and successfully found the CLAMP line and watched the panel from the beginning.
Rest and Regroup
I said goodbye to Becky and I meet her at the CLAMP gathering at 7:00 P.M. tonight. Arashi and I went back to the hotel room around 4:30 P.M. to rest and regroup. Back at the hotel room, I took a shower, ate a snack, and charged my laptop. Arashi gave me a button made from an artist at the artist alley. The button shows a picture of Edward Elric and says "Who Are You Callin Midget?" Thank you for the button.
Bad news. I was backing up my cosplay pics on my laptop. I noticed almost all of my earlier cosplay pics were terrible. I don't know what happened. Thank goodness I caught the problem early; otherwise, I took more bad pics including the CLAMP gathering pics. I noted the error and I'm going to take the CLAMP gatherings pics at Auto setting. What happened was I used the P setting on my Canon A610 and used ISO 400. Pictures took using ISO 400 came out grainy. I was sad and pissed off.
We left the hotel room at 6:30 P.M. and headed back to the main courtyard where other cosplayers and congers hang out. I brought my laptop just in case. The main courtyard is between the Hilton and Convention Center. Arashi headed back to the Hilton hotel to meet up with someone.
CLAMP Gathering
The CLAMP gathering was the best cosplay gathering I ever participated. It was the best of the best. It was organized. Bart Boy attended the gathering taking pictures. And I met the FMA family again from Fanime'05 and AX'05. The older daughter cosplayed as Sakura from Tsubasa Chronicle. Someone printed out a list of all CLAMP works and announced each title one by one for a series group picture shot. Everyone took their places in order. Becky was both happy and sad she was the only Wish cosplayer. Happy she got center of attention and sad there were no other Wish cosplayers. She also got a picture playing patty-cake with a big sized Mokona. How cute! The gathering lasted 35 minutes. Turnout was great. Becky and I separated as I was to eat dinner with a couple of friends.
To repeat, the CLAMP gathering was the best of the best. It was awesome XD
I ate dinner with Ryu and ip360 at IHOP around 8:15 P.M. I ordered the Two Egg sampler which sausage, hash browns, and toast and a large orange juice. It was the first time I met ip360. We talked about stuff including the con, how Ryu arrived late, talked about J-Rock, and I showed some cosplay pics on my laptop. We left IHOP and headed to the Info Desk at the convention center. Ryu, ip360, and I saw Otakuya at the main convention center area. Congoers were confusing us four as if we were AX staff. Fortunately, all four of us knew the answers to the questions. You're welcome, AX staff XD Anyways, Otakuya told us he, Jyun, and their parents were in the area. One of their relatives felt ill and they visited the relative. Otakuya and Jyun planned to stay for three days. Otakuya was happy to attend AX as an attendee because he and Jyun are Fanime Con staff.
I arrived back at the hotel room around 10:10 P.M. and relax, took another shower *hee, hee*, watched some TV, and backup my cosplay pics. I could have watched half of the Anime Music Videos because the videos started at 8:00 P.M. and lasts approximately 4 hours. I was too tired because of CLAMP and choose to go back to the hotel. Great choice. I find the winners and download the videos on the Internet afterwards. After seeing the bad pics, I choose to take two pics if the first picture at Auto Setting came out terrible. The new plan for taking cosplay pics was Auto setting first, then P setting with flash and ISO set to Auto second. I went to sleep at 2:00 A.M. with an alarm set to 7:00 A.M.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Resume? I don't need a resume. Here is my resume: Innovator. I'm available to innovate for hire.
I woke up at 7:00 A.M. Saturday, ate breakfast, and got ready. The cosplay for the day is Syaoran from Tsubasa Chronicle, a production of CLAMP. I couldn't ask for anything better: CLAMP attending, CLAMP cosplay, and my Syaoran cosplay on the front cover the of program guide.
I arrived at the Convention Center at 8:20 A.M. and started taking cosplay pics. I brought my Dad’s mini color containing cold water in ice and towels to wipe my sweat. I sweat very easy. I'm heat sensitive. Hall E, the area outside the arena, and the Marriott side entrance to the convention center were under renovation. The arena part which was fenced off made my walking time to and from the con longer. For Marriott attendees, they must use the front doors or side door which added more walking time >.>
Around 10:15 A.M., I met a CLAMP cosplayer. She's from the manga Wish. We talked a little and she told me she wasn’t going to the CLAMP panel. I asked her why. She said the line was way too long. I said, "No way." After she left, I went to find the CLAMP line in Hall D. I saw the line beginning to get long. The initial plan was to line up at 12:15 P.M. because seating began at 1:15 P.M. and the CLAMP panel began at 2:15 P.M. Change of plan. Line up now. I walked back to the hotel to get my laptop and my lunch.
On my way back to the hotel, I saw Arashi. We walked back to the hotel room. At the hotel room, I got my laptop for entertainment and my lunch. Then I got more ice from the ice machine. And Arashi and I headed back to the convention center to line up for the CLAMP panel.
On the way to the line, Jyun surprised me from behind. His family was visiting the area and Jyun and his older brother Otakuya were attending AX and stayed at the Hilton. Arashi and I arrived at the CLAMP line at 11:00 A.M. We got our raffle tickets for autographs. Only 220 people were getting autographs, and the autographs were from picture boards only. I ate lunch and Arashi read a book. At 11:30 A.M., the CLAMP Wish cosplayer arrived. She joined Arashi and I. We introduced each other. The CLAMP Wish cosplayer's name is Becky. We took pictures together and took pictures of other cosplayers. She let me borrowed her portable fan because I was sweating. I turned on my laptop and we watched episodes 21-23 of Tsubasa Chronicle. She drew a picture for me and she's left handed. I admire left handed writers. Becky works full time at an office and sews. We had fun hanging out. I found out she organized the CLAMP cosplay gathering at 7:00 P.M. later today. Awesome! I'm glad Becky joined us.
The CLAMP panel started late after 3:00 P.M. Pictures and recording devices were prohibited. Press was prohibited from taking pictures. Only an official AX staff took pictures. The panel started off with a 20 minute documentary video showing all of CLAMP's works. The video was shown at AX only. After the video, the four CLAMP artists appeared on stage to begin the panel with a standing ovation welcome. Their agent or bodyguard . . . someone wearing a suit . . . was standing at the stage left background. The first part of the panel CLAMP showed pictures of their studios. Each artist told the audience with a translator their thoughts working in their studio. Then there were 12 Q&A. Some of the answers included three of them went to the same high school and the fourth was introduced from a mutual friend, one of them writes the story and the other three draws the characters, and when writing a story, they start with the ending and work backwards. After the Q&A, the audience got a preview of Tsubasa Chronicle which was licensed by Funimation. More bragging rights for me and my Syaoran cosplay. *Hee, hee* After the preview, AX had eight gift baskets to give away. Becky was eight away from one of the gift baskets. And then CLAMP exits the stage to a standing ovation. Due to technical difficulties, the audience needed to check the info desk to see who won an autograph. Initially, AX was to post the winning numbers on the big screen. I'm guessing AX didn't finish drawing the numbers in time for the post.
Ryu, who volunteered for Funimation, benefited from the late start. His shift ended at 3:00 P.M. and successfully found the CLAMP line and watched the panel from the beginning.
Rest and Regroup
I said goodbye to Becky and I meet her at the CLAMP gathering at 7:00 P.M. tonight. Arashi and I went back to the hotel room around 4:30 P.M. to rest and regroup. Back at the hotel room, I took a shower, ate a snack, and charged my laptop. Arashi gave me a button made from an artist at the artist alley. The button shows a picture of Edward Elric and says "Who Are You Callin Midget?" Thank you for the button.
Bad news. I was backing up my cosplay pics on my laptop. I noticed almost all of my earlier cosplay pics were terrible. I don't know what happened. Thank goodness I caught the problem early; otherwise, I took more bad pics including the CLAMP gathering pics. I noted the error and I'm going to take the CLAMP gatherings pics at Auto setting. What happened was I used the P setting on my Canon A610 and used ISO 400. Pictures took using ISO 400 came out grainy. I was sad and pissed off.
We left the hotel room at 6:30 P.M. and headed back to the main courtyard where other cosplayers and congers hang out. I brought my laptop just in case. The main courtyard is between the Hilton and Convention Center. Arashi headed back to the Hilton hotel to meet up with someone.
CLAMP Gathering
The CLAMP gathering was the best cosplay gathering I ever participated. It was the best of the best. It was organized. Bart Boy attended the gathering taking pictures. And I met the FMA family again from Fanime'05 and AX'05. The older daughter cosplayed as Sakura from Tsubasa Chronicle. Someone printed out a list of all CLAMP works and announced each title one by one for a series group picture shot. Everyone took their places in order. Becky was both happy and sad she was the only Wish cosplayer. Happy she got center of attention and sad there were no other Wish cosplayers. She also got a picture playing patty-cake with a big sized Mokona. How cute! The gathering lasted 35 minutes. Turnout was great. Becky and I separated as I was to eat dinner with a couple of friends.
To repeat, the CLAMP gathering was the best of the best. It was awesome XD
I ate dinner with Ryu and ip360 at IHOP around 8:15 P.M. I ordered the Two Egg sampler which sausage, hash browns, and toast and a large orange juice. It was the first time I met ip360. We talked about stuff including the con, how Ryu arrived late, talked about J-Rock, and I showed some cosplay pics on my laptop. We left IHOP and headed to the Info Desk at the convention center. Ryu, ip360, and I saw Otakuya at the main convention center area. Congoers were confusing us four as if we were AX staff. Fortunately, all four of us knew the answers to the questions. You're welcome, AX staff XD Anyways, Otakuya told us he, Jyun, and their parents were in the area. One of their relatives felt ill and they visited the relative. Otakuya and Jyun planned to stay for three days. Otakuya was happy to attend AX as an attendee because he and Jyun are Fanime Con staff.
I arrived back at the hotel room around 10:10 P.M. and relax, took another shower *hee, hee*, watched some TV, and backup my cosplay pics. I could have watched half of the Anime Music Videos because the videos started at 8:00 P.M. and lasts approximately 4 hours. I was too tired because of CLAMP and choose to go back to the hotel. Great choice. I find the winners and download the videos on the Internet afterwards. After seeing the bad pics, I choose to take two pics if the first picture at Auto Setting came out terrible. The new plan for taking cosplay pics was Auto setting first, then P setting with flash and ISO set to Auto second. I went to sleep at 2:00 A.M. with an alarm set to 7:00 A.M.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Resume? I don't need a resume. Here is my resume: Innovator. I'm available to innovate for hire.
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
2006 Anime Expo Pre-Registration Day
AX'06 Pre-Registration Day: Beating The SoCal Traffic
I picked up the rental car on Thursday 9:30 P.M. at the San Jose Airport. My Dad helped me pick up the white Ford Taurus sedan which has 6,307 miles from Hertz. I got a free navigation system because Hertz was busy and rental cars were hard to assign. My rental car for AX'05 had 50,000+ miles. I got a 50% off coupon from my credit card company. We returned home and I took a nap. My suitcases, cosplays, laptop, and snacks were packed on Wednesday.
I left home at 11:15 P.M. to pick up Lisu and DLZ from the San Jose Dierdon Train Station. They took a train from Watsonville. I arrived at 11:30 P.M. and picked them up. I was surpised the station closed at 11:00 P.M. If I knew the closing hour, I picked them up earlier. We briefly stopped at my work place because I left my soap dish. The soap dish contains a special soap I use.
At 11:50 P.M., we ate a light midnight snack at Carrows. I ordered the Southern Fried Chicken Salad, Lisu ordered the Fish and Chips, and I think DLZ ordered the Chicken Fried Steak. Carrows was busy because the restaurant is very popular for a late night hangout.
We left San Jose around 2:00 A.M. Friday. We could have left earlier; unfortunately, the service was really slow. It seems Carrows were shorthanded. We listened to classical rock CDs. I drove 90 MPH on the Interstate 5 straight away. We stopped for gas at Chevron on Wheeler Ridge before the Grapevine. Lisu and DLZ slept during some of the trip, and they snored *Hee, hee* When we arrived in the SoCal area, there was a minor bumper to bumper traffic spot near Orange County.
Arrived in Anaheim
We arrived in Anaheim around 7:00 A.M. The first stop was to check in at The Anabella hotel. (In 2005, I checked in early and my room was available.) The staff says all rooms were occupied because of Disney promoting the Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Check-in time was 4:00 P.M. Oh, well. I guess I'm checking in late. *Sighs*
Then we ate at McDonalds on Harbor Road near Interstate 5. I ordered the Sausage Biscuit with Egg combo. I forgot what Lisu and DLZ ordered. I think DLZ ordered nothing? After McDonalds, we drove around Anaheim and Garden Grove. Fireworks are legal in Garden Grove and we saw fireworks booths. We also saw a nickel arcade. Nickel arcades are where customers pay an entry fee and the arcade machines takes nickels or are free play.
Around 8:30 A.M., we went back to The Anabella hotel. The plan was to park the car at the hotel and wait at pre-registration because there was nothing else to do. I successfully got the parking pass and the plan was a go. At 8:45 A.M. we found the pre-reg line near Hall C. I was glad pre-reg was not at Hall D and Hall E, AX’05 pre-reg line. I brought my laptop and Lisu and DLZ brought their manga and drawing supplies. The line shifted a few times and where there was a plug nearby, I charged my laptop. We met a group of people and we played Mexican Bingo. (During the con, DLZ hanged out with the group of people and got contact information from one of the girls. You stud-muffin @__@)
At 11:00 A.M., the line moved to Hall C where AX staff set up the pre-reg line. We continued to play Mexican Bingo and we listened to MP3s on my laptop. After we played Mexican Bingo, the person who brought Mexican Bingo had a sketchbook and notebook. She opened the notebook and collected names and email addresses. Great idea. In the future when I’m with a group, I collect names and email addresses to keep in touch. Who knows what happens. Maybe a few in the group live close by and we can hang out. For me, I gave her my ININ business card with my name, email address, and webpage. The same person with the notebook gave me her CD containing her favorite MP3s. Arigato! There was a plug nearby and I charged my laptop several times. *Metal note: I need to buy another battery.* Around 12:15 P.M., we played Slap. Slap is a card game nobody knew how to play. Someone taught us and the game made time fly fast.
Pre-registration opened on time at 1:00 P.M. The pre-reg was the best ever. No computers were needed. The people who pre-reg got their badges in the mail. Pre-reg congers must to get the badge holders at pre-reg. The staff checked ID and gave you the badge holder. Super easy and very quick. After getting the badge holder, we walked to the end and picked up the program guide and schedule guide. The front cover of schedule guide is Sakura and Syaoran from Tsubasa Chronicle. I cosplayed as Syaoran. I got bragging rights. LOL!
Check-In Time
Lisu, DLZ, and I went to the Hilton and Marriott to check in to their hotel rooms. First, DLZ contacted one of his roommates and they already checked in. We went to the Hilton and DLZ got the key from his roommates. DLZ was ready to go. Next was Lisu's party at the Marriott. We successfully found Lisu's party at the Marriott front door. Lisu got the key and he was ready to go. (Sadly speaking, Kazuko, one of Lisu's roommates couldn't attend.) We went back to The Anabella hotel around 2:00 P.M. and got their stuff from the trunk. I got my digital camera to take cosplay pictures.
We went to Lisu's Marriott first to drop off his stuff and then we went to DLZ's Hilton next to drop off his stuff. Then Lisu, DLZ, Alan, one of DLZ's roommates, and I went to get pizza for lunch. I met KyraEnsui who is Alan's girlfriend and a Fanime Con board member. The pizza place is at the corner of Harbor Boulevard and Katella Avenue and I forgot the name. We got the pizza and went back to DLZ's room and ate pizza and watched Anime Music Videos (AMVs). BTW, I carried my laptop since pre-registration at 8:45 A.M.
At 4:15 P.M., Lisu and I left the hotel room. It was time for me to check in and settle in. I got my room which looked almost exactly the same as AX'05. The differences were the refrigerator was below the TV instead of next to the door and my room was closer to the hotel driveway entrance. I moved my stuff in the room and turned on the air condition. I realized I forgot to bring shampoo.
Around 5:00 P.M., I went to get a haircut at The Anabella's salon. The buzz-cut haircut cost me $15.00 with a 20% discount. I gave the worker the 20% discount for tip $-) After the haircut, I went to the hotel store to purchase shampoo. The store had full size shampoo bottles. I purchased a Suave shampoo bottle which was the cheapest. The lady was nice not to charge tax. Heck, $3.50 for the shampoo which probably cost $1.50 at a drug store, yeah, you could afford not to charge tax.
I went back to the hotel, took a shower, and then unpacked my essentials. I called Arashi up if she wanted to go with me to Food4Less to purchase food. I met Arashi at Fanime Con 2005 and she lives near San Diego. Arashi said yes and we headed to Food4Less around 7:00 P.M. We got food and purchased dinner for ourselves. I purchased oranges, six pack of bottle water, one gallon bottle water, french rolls, turkey and ham deli meat, donuts, four Baby Ruth and four Nestle Crunch candy bars. The cashier charged three Nestle Crunch bars. Woohoo! I saved $.25 because the Baby Ruth and Crunch candy bars are $.25 each. Yeah, whohoo!
We went back to my hotel room and ate dinner and just hanged out. I gave Arashi the chocolate donuts because I wanted only the powder donuts and plain donuts. I walked Arashi back to the Hilton around 8:30 P.M. because she was staying for free for the first night thanks to a friend. I saw Karisma and her sister hanging outside the Anaheim Convention Center. She told me Ryu, YourMyHiro and his girlfriend were late. Karisma text messaged Ryu and Ryu replied YourMyHiro was AWOL. Ryu had no clue where he and his girlfriend were. Ryu was watching Independence Day during the wait. Arashi and I separated. I went to bed around 10:00 P.M. and setting the alarm clock for 7:00 A.M. on Saturday. I was really tired I went to sleep easily.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Resume? I don't need a resume. Here is my resume: Innovator. I'm available to innovate for hire.
I picked up the rental car on Thursday 9:30 P.M. at the San Jose Airport. My Dad helped me pick up the white Ford Taurus sedan which has 6,307 miles from Hertz. I got a free navigation system because Hertz was busy and rental cars were hard to assign. My rental car for AX'05 had 50,000+ miles. I got a 50% off coupon from my credit card company. We returned home and I took a nap. My suitcases, cosplays, laptop, and snacks were packed on Wednesday.
I left home at 11:15 P.M. to pick up Lisu and DLZ from the San Jose Dierdon Train Station. They took a train from Watsonville. I arrived at 11:30 P.M. and picked them up. I was surpised the station closed at 11:00 P.M. If I knew the closing hour, I picked them up earlier. We briefly stopped at my work place because I left my soap dish. The soap dish contains a special soap I use.
At 11:50 P.M., we ate a light midnight snack at Carrows. I ordered the Southern Fried Chicken Salad, Lisu ordered the Fish and Chips, and I think DLZ ordered the Chicken Fried Steak. Carrows was busy because the restaurant is very popular for a late night hangout.
We left San Jose around 2:00 A.M. Friday. We could have left earlier; unfortunately, the service was really slow. It seems Carrows were shorthanded. We listened to classical rock CDs. I drove 90 MPH on the Interstate 5 straight away. We stopped for gas at Chevron on Wheeler Ridge before the Grapevine. Lisu and DLZ slept during some of the trip, and they snored *Hee, hee* When we arrived in the SoCal area, there was a minor bumper to bumper traffic spot near Orange County.
Arrived in Anaheim
We arrived in Anaheim around 7:00 A.M. The first stop was to check in at The Anabella hotel. (In 2005, I checked in early and my room was available.) The staff says all rooms were occupied because of Disney promoting the Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Check-in time was 4:00 P.M. Oh, well. I guess I'm checking in late. *Sighs*
Then we ate at McDonalds on Harbor Road near Interstate 5. I ordered the Sausage Biscuit with Egg combo. I forgot what Lisu and DLZ ordered. I think DLZ ordered nothing? After McDonalds, we drove around Anaheim and Garden Grove. Fireworks are legal in Garden Grove and we saw fireworks booths. We also saw a nickel arcade. Nickel arcades are where customers pay an entry fee and the arcade machines takes nickels or are free play.
Around 8:30 A.M., we went back to The Anabella hotel. The plan was to park the car at the hotel and wait at pre-registration because there was nothing else to do. I successfully got the parking pass and the plan was a go. At 8:45 A.M. we found the pre-reg line near Hall C. I was glad pre-reg was not at Hall D and Hall E, AX’05 pre-reg line. I brought my laptop and Lisu and DLZ brought their manga and drawing supplies. The line shifted a few times and where there was a plug nearby, I charged my laptop. We met a group of people and we played Mexican Bingo. (During the con, DLZ hanged out with the group of people and got contact information from one of the girls. You stud-muffin @__@)
At 11:00 A.M., the line moved to Hall C where AX staff set up the pre-reg line. We continued to play Mexican Bingo and we listened to MP3s on my laptop. After we played Mexican Bingo, the person who brought Mexican Bingo had a sketchbook and notebook. She opened the notebook and collected names and email addresses. Great idea. In the future when I’m with a group, I collect names and email addresses to keep in touch. Who knows what happens. Maybe a few in the group live close by and we can hang out. For me, I gave her my ININ business card with my name, email address, and webpage. The same person with the notebook gave me her CD containing her favorite MP3s. Arigato! There was a plug nearby and I charged my laptop several times. *Metal note: I need to buy another battery.* Around 12:15 P.M., we played Slap. Slap is a card game nobody knew how to play. Someone taught us and the game made time fly fast.
Pre-registration opened on time at 1:00 P.M. The pre-reg was the best ever. No computers were needed. The people who pre-reg got their badges in the mail. Pre-reg congers must to get the badge holders at pre-reg. The staff checked ID and gave you the badge holder. Super easy and very quick. After getting the badge holder, we walked to the end and picked up the program guide and schedule guide. The front cover of schedule guide is Sakura and Syaoran from Tsubasa Chronicle. I cosplayed as Syaoran. I got bragging rights. LOL!
Check-In Time
Lisu, DLZ, and I went to the Hilton and Marriott to check in to their hotel rooms. First, DLZ contacted one of his roommates and they already checked in. We went to the Hilton and DLZ got the key from his roommates. DLZ was ready to go. Next was Lisu's party at the Marriott. We successfully found Lisu's party at the Marriott front door. Lisu got the key and he was ready to go. (Sadly speaking, Kazuko, one of Lisu's roommates couldn't attend.) We went back to The Anabella hotel around 2:00 P.M. and got their stuff from the trunk. I got my digital camera to take cosplay pictures.
We went to Lisu's Marriott first to drop off his stuff and then we went to DLZ's Hilton next to drop off his stuff. Then Lisu, DLZ, Alan, one of DLZ's roommates, and I went to get pizza for lunch. I met KyraEnsui who is Alan's girlfriend and a Fanime Con board member. The pizza place is at the corner of Harbor Boulevard and Katella Avenue and I forgot the name. We got the pizza and went back to DLZ's room and ate pizza and watched Anime Music Videos (AMVs). BTW, I carried my laptop since pre-registration at 8:45 A.M.
At 4:15 P.M., Lisu and I left the hotel room. It was time for me to check in and settle in. I got my room which looked almost exactly the same as AX'05. The differences were the refrigerator was below the TV instead of next to the door and my room was closer to the hotel driveway entrance. I moved my stuff in the room and turned on the air condition. I realized I forgot to bring shampoo.
Around 5:00 P.M., I went to get a haircut at The Anabella's salon. The buzz-cut haircut cost me $15.00 with a 20% discount. I gave the worker the 20% discount for tip $-) After the haircut, I went to the hotel store to purchase shampoo. The store had full size shampoo bottles. I purchased a Suave shampoo bottle which was the cheapest. The lady was nice not to charge tax. Heck, $3.50 for the shampoo which probably cost $1.50 at a drug store, yeah, you could afford not to charge tax.
I went back to the hotel, took a shower, and then unpacked my essentials. I called Arashi up if she wanted to go with me to Food4Less to purchase food. I met Arashi at Fanime Con 2005 and she lives near San Diego. Arashi said yes and we headed to Food4Less around 7:00 P.M. We got food and purchased dinner for ourselves. I purchased oranges, six pack of bottle water, one gallon bottle water, french rolls, turkey and ham deli meat, donuts, four Baby Ruth and four Nestle Crunch candy bars. The cashier charged three Nestle Crunch bars. Woohoo! I saved $.25 because the Baby Ruth and Crunch candy bars are $.25 each. Yeah, whohoo!
We went back to my hotel room and ate dinner and just hanged out. I gave Arashi the chocolate donuts because I wanted only the powder donuts and plain donuts. I walked Arashi back to the Hilton around 8:30 P.M. because she was staying for free for the first night thanks to a friend. I saw Karisma and her sister hanging outside the Anaheim Convention Center. She told me Ryu, YourMyHiro and his girlfriend were late. Karisma text messaged Ryu and Ryu replied YourMyHiro was AWOL. Ryu had no clue where he and his girlfriend were. Ryu was watching Independence Day during the wait. Arashi and I separated. I went to bed around 10:00 P.M. and setting the alarm clock for 7:00 A.M. on Saturday. I was really tired I went to sleep easily.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Resume? I don't need a resume. Here is my resume: Innovator. I'm available to innovate for hire.
Monday, July 10, 2006
2006 Anime Expo Introduction And Prologue
Introduction
Anime Expo (AX) 2006 is my all time favorite anime convention. I like to share what I did. I met new people, hung around with my friends, participated in two cosplay gatherings, attended two main events, and took lots of cosplay pics.
I got sick on July 6, two days after the convention. As of the post, I feel much better. I had a fever, headache, and a sore throat; although, my gut feeling tells me my dumb-ass co-worker gave me his sickness because he was feeling terrible. AX might not be at fault. Given the sickness, I have been behind in my things to do list.
AX'06 reversed the curse for me. Every odd year, my anime cons were good. Every even year, my anime cons were bad. 2006 is an even year and AX'06 is my all time favorite ^__^
The purchase receipts, cosplay pics, and schedule guide assisted me in remembering what I did and helped me typed the AX'06 Blog. I like to thank the staff and volunteers. Everyone did a great job!!! Thank you for reading.
AX'06 Prologue
My Fourth of July plans were open at the beginning of 2006. The uncertainty of the economy including rising interest rates, higher oil prices, and job layoffs affected me and my family. AX'06 was optional. I made The Anabella hotel reservation in December 2005 just in case. I could cancel the reservation in June if I were a no show.
Around April 2006, I pre-registered. I choose to attend AX because AX'07 is held in Long Beach. Remember 2002? The reasons why I attended AX'06 were because AX'07 is held in Long Beach and I don't want to attend, everyone in my family still have jobs and nobody got laid-off, and live the present and live the moment. No regrets. What if AX'06 was a great convention? Furthermore, CLAMP attended what might be their only U.S. appearance. I was happy CLAMP attended because my Syaoran cosplay from Tsubasa Chronicle is from CLAMP.
In May 2006, I made the car reservation. Checklist time. Hotel, pre-registration, car rental, Edward Elric and Syaoran cosplays are checked and ready.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Resume? I don't need a resume. Here is my resume: Innovator. I'm available to innovate for hire.
Anime Expo (AX) 2006 is my all time favorite anime convention. I like to share what I did. I met new people, hung around with my friends, participated in two cosplay gatherings, attended two main events, and took lots of cosplay pics.
I got sick on July 6, two days after the convention. As of the post, I feel much better. I had a fever, headache, and a sore throat; although, my gut feeling tells me my dumb-ass co-worker gave me his sickness because he was feeling terrible. AX might not be at fault. Given the sickness, I have been behind in my things to do list.
AX'06 reversed the curse for me. Every odd year, my anime cons were good. Every even year, my anime cons were bad. 2006 is an even year and AX'06 is my all time favorite ^__^
The purchase receipts, cosplay pics, and schedule guide assisted me in remembering what I did and helped me typed the AX'06 Blog. I like to thank the staff and volunteers. Everyone did a great job!!! Thank you for reading.
AX'06 Prologue
My Fourth of July plans were open at the beginning of 2006. The uncertainty of the economy including rising interest rates, higher oil prices, and job layoffs affected me and my family. AX'06 was optional. I made The Anabella hotel reservation in December 2005 just in case. I could cancel the reservation in June if I were a no show.
Around April 2006, I pre-registered. I choose to attend AX because AX'07 is held in Long Beach. Remember 2002? The reasons why I attended AX'06 were because AX'07 is held in Long Beach and I don't want to attend, everyone in my family still have jobs and nobody got laid-off, and live the present and live the moment. No regrets. What if AX'06 was a great convention? Furthermore, CLAMP attended what might be their only U.S. appearance. I was happy CLAMP attended because my Syaoran cosplay from Tsubasa Chronicle is from CLAMP.
In May 2006, I made the car reservation. Checklist time. Hotel, pre-registration, car rental, Edward Elric and Syaoran cosplays are checked and ready.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Resume? I don't need a resume. Here is my resume: Innovator. I'm available to innovate for hire.
Sunday, July 09, 2006
2006 Anime Expo Blog
Starting on Monday July 10, 2006, I’m going to post what I did at Anime Expo 2006. There are going to be seven Blog entires. The first is the Introduction and Prologue, the second is the Pre-Registration Day, the third through sixth are the days of the con, and the seventh is the Epilogue and Notes.
Today I feel much better. No more headaches, my fever is gone, I feel I have more energy, and my sore throat is going away. Yet, I’m still taking it easy. I’m probably going to start stretching out and doing sit-ups starting on Wednesday. I hope to go back to the gym starting on Thursday June 20 *__* I really want to work out again. BTW, my gym seems to be getting busier. Did my gym have a special promotion they told new members only?
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Resume? I don't need a resume. Here is my resume: Innovator. I'm available to innovate for hire.
Today I feel much better. No more headaches, my fever is gone, I feel I have more energy, and my sore throat is going away. Yet, I’m still taking it easy. I’m probably going to start stretching out and doing sit-ups starting on Wednesday. I hope to go back to the gym starting on Thursday June 20 *__* I really want to work out again. BTW, my gym seems to be getting busier. Did my gym have a special promotion they told new members only?
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Resume? I don't need a resume. Here is my resume: Innovator. I'm available to innovate for hire.
Thursday, July 06, 2006
Massive Headache And Fatigue
Currently, I don’t feel good. I’m tired and I have a headache. I don’t take any medications for my headache. I’m sure it’s fatigue from Anime Expo 2006. I’m going to take it easy tomorrow, Saturday, and Sunday. When am I going to start on the AX cosplay pics? Unfortunately, not for a while. I still have not finished the Fanime Con 2006 cosplay pics. *Sighs*
It’s almost time to leave work. I briefly checked my email accounts and replied to a few of them. When I get home, I’m going to take a nap and my Dad and I are going to return the rental car used to drive to and from San Jose and Watsonville and Hayward to drop of my friends. The car had 6,200 miles. Not bad. And I got a free navigation upgrade which was not needed. I never get lost -__-
Hopefully tomorrow, I send emails to a few new people I met at AX and visit some suggested anime websites I learned from my friends and con-goers.
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Resume? I don't need a resume. Here is my resume: Innovator. I'm available to innovate for hire.
It’s almost time to leave work. I briefly checked my email accounts and replied to a few of them. When I get home, I’m going to take a nap and my Dad and I are going to return the rental car used to drive to and from San Jose and Watsonville and Hayward to drop of my friends. The car had 6,200 miles. Not bad. And I got a free navigation upgrade which was not needed. I never get lost -__-
Hopefully tomorrow, I send emails to a few new people I met at AX and visit some suggested anime websites I learned from my friends and con-goers.
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Resume? I don't need a resume. Here is my resume: Innovator. I'm available to innovate for hire.
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Another Reverse The Curse
I just got back from Anime Expo 2006 (AX06). I had a great time. There were lots of goods and few bads. Gee, I feel really happy at the moment . . . and tired from driving back home. Never been really happy before. Gee again, how do I respond to happiness.
I want to share what I did at AX06. *Yawn* (-,-) The curse. In Star Trek, arguably all even numbered movies are good and odd numbered movies are bad. For me and my anime conventions, all odd numbered year are good and even numbered year are bad. For AX06, the curse is gone. I had a great time. I had a happy time. I’m going to submit Blog entries on what I did before, during, and after AX06.
Some of the good:
--Pre-registration was easy
--Met lots of new people and hanged out with a few of them
--CLAMP panel and CLAMP gathering both were awesome
Some of the bad:
--Too hot
--Full Metal Alchemist gathering was chaotic
--Didn’t get the Full Metal Alchemist director’s autograph
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Resume? I don't need a resume. Here is my resume: Innovator. I'm available to innovate for hire.
I want to share what I did at AX06. *Yawn* (-,-) The curse. In Star Trek, arguably all even numbered movies are good and odd numbered movies are bad. For me and my anime conventions, all odd numbered year are good and even numbered year are bad. For AX06, the curse is gone. I had a great time. I had a happy time. I’m going to submit Blog entries on what I did before, during, and after AX06.
Some of the good:
--Pre-registration was easy
--Met lots of new people and hanged out with a few of them
--CLAMP panel and CLAMP gathering both were awesome
Some of the bad:
--Too hot
--Full Metal Alchemist gathering was chaotic
--Didn’t get the Full Metal Alchemist director’s autograph
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Resume? I don't need a resume. Here is my resume: Innovator. I'm available to innovate for hire.
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