San Diego Trip - Day 10

10:15
Pokemon was on at 8:00, barely stayed awake to watch it.  Dozed awake to another show, and got up.  Oh, but wait, they suddenly decided that they want to leave at 10:50.  So I'd just finished going to the toilet, and hadn't packed.  So I'm throwing all my crap in my bag, and they're constantly calling me and say, "oh we're leaving and we've had breakfast, so you'd better hurry."  To say the least, I was super-pissed off.
13:00
We go to Las Americas Premium Outlets, and there's nothing really there.  They had Neiman Marcus, but there's no way I'm paying $50 for a plain grey tank top. Apparently TT wanted to go clothes shopping.  So I wandered around for 1 1/2 hrs, trying to stay out of the sun.  The Bath and Bodyworks didn't have the Wexler Acne Spot cream either.  TT was late showing up for IHOP. I had the Ham dinner, and AB and MT decided to share 3 dishes.  Which they couldn't quite finish, so I had their pancakes.  TT had pancakes leftover too, but I was too full.
15:00
Got to airport in plenty of time, and security was a breeze.  Actually it's kinda weird how fast it was.  No patdown, swabbing of bags or anything really.  We did beat the crowd for security though.
02:00 July 31, 2010
Finally got home.  AB's dad picked us up.  There was an issue w/ the luggage carousels, so the luggage from 3-4 flights came on the carousel that was still under construction.  Thanks YEG, great impression.  So tired, but still took a shower and got my artwork out of my hockey bag.  No damage.  Guess it was a good thing I spent the $10 to buy the Mylar shell and backing board.

San Diego Trip - Day 9

9:00
Since Pho Express opens at 9, we decided to meet at 9.  Again, they weren't ready.  After waiting in their room for a while, I said I needed to go to CVS to get cough drops.  I was also out of my Charmin Ultra Soft TP since I was getting a flu/cold.  But I was so hungry by then, I had breakkie at the terrace too.  By the time I got back, it looked like they just got ready.  Talked to front desk, and they told me it'd take 3-4 hrs to take the transit to the Wildlife Animal Park, but it's about a 45 min drive.  After TT and AB whined about how if I'd planned properly, they'd know whether they'd need to rent a car or take a taxi, we took a taxi.  MT was running out of cash, so he didn't want to go even though we had prepaid tickets. Then TT and AB were saying they were tired and didn't really want to go either.  Eventually we all went, but then the cabbie wasn't sure where to go and had to look at the map. AB said he drove like a maniac, but I was sleeping b/c I was so tired. TT and AB decided to buy a hat there, of course I brought one b/c I knew we'd be outside, and it's San Diego so their average weather was sunny and hot.  Not quite as well laid out as the Zoo, and too many confusing paths that doubled back on each other or looped in crazy ways.  The map and signs weren't as helpful.  Saw almost all the animals.  The elephants are soooo cute.  They had quite a few baby elephants there, and I could've watched them for hours.  Took taxi back.
20:00
Just sitting in my room watching History and Discovery Channel.  They wanted to take a break before going for dinner.  So I'm eating popcorn.
20:30
They finally decided to get moving.  Oh gee, the store they want to go to is out of business, and the mall closes in 25 min.  Sheesh, at least we went to the sushi place I'd been eyeing.  Anyways, I was bugging them on when we'd get up and stuff.  TT said he wanted to go to some outlet mall in the suburbs, and AB said he'd just get up whenever he woke up sans alarm clock, around 10:30.  So I'm like ok, well I'll just sleep until I don't feel like crashing.  Was so tired that I didn't even start packing my stuff up b/c I figured I'd be up before they were. 

Gearing up for SDCC

One day before I leave for SDCC.  Since I'm not the one who's booked everything, I'm a little worrisome that things will be missing.  Not overly impressed by the tour operator.  Doesn't seem to be on top of things since I'm sure I reminded him about check-in/out times.  Anyways, theoretically it should be awesome. I've had my period, so I don't have to worry about it like at AX.  I have a vague idea of what panels I want to see, just have to develop Madrox's power to do it...I know what we're doing afterwards...and I've got my list of stuff, so I should be okay to be packed.  But I don't know if it's old age or what, but I'm just so worried about things. 
Work let me have today off, because I was getting so stressed that I could only sleep about 2 hrs at a time, so I was getting really snappy and forgetful at work.  I guess that's the good thing about working for your friends.  They know you're usually not crazy.  Otherwise I'd be off work at 17:00 and then have to be up at 02:00 Wednesday morning for the taxi.  Now I actually have time to type and go thru my comics.
Speaking of comics, finally put most of them away in boxes, and more importantly read some of them.  Now I have a vague idea of what Nation X, Necrosha X, 2nd Coming and Doom War is about.  I may have bought X-Men Legacy and Black Panther, but I only really kept up with X-Factor.  And that was just kept up.  I fell behind in the last few issues.  Still have to read thru all the Hellblazers, but I'm not collecting that as single issues anymore.  When you have a year (or 2) worth of backlog, might as well do trades.  Doom War was quite good, although a little irritated that Shuri's just brash and violent.  Sometimes has good flashes of insight, but not anywhere near genius-level intelligence.  Maybe slightly above average...and that might be generous.  I hope they write her with more depth, other than being the jealous sister or hawkish leader.  I do like the politics in Panther, it's a bit more relatable for me now with the new writer.  Quite exciting, especially when you basically see parallels with Obama. 
Should go back to packing. And transferring new music to my Murasaki. Also planning on doing some cleaning so that I should be pretty tired by 7:00ish and maybe get some sleep.

General Malaise and Calgary Expo 2010

I've been feeling kinda down in the last few weeks.  I'd been really tired and headachy, and I thought it was mostly because I was working so much.  But it turned out that I'd gotten the flu.  The sick bug had been circling thru our unit for the last month.  So I was super-shivery on April 22, and worked half day on Friday and then went home.  And dug thru my comic book boxes looking for things for people to sign.

On Saturday at 9, we left for Calgary.  I'm not sure if I reminded them that it was happening, or that they just weren't sure if I was interested in going again.  But I had to go this year, b/c Leonard Nimoy and Brent Spiner were going to be there.  My 2 favourite ST characters!  How could I miss it?!  So W got the tickets, I searched for a hotel, and A drove.  Of course, A was lazy and just wanted to book the Expo hotels, but they were charging $120-127/night.  He said he wanted to walk to the Expo.  Which is pointless since we can't check in until the afternoon, and we'd have to check out in the morning.  So why would we bother walking.  After I found a few more hotels that were close by, he might've figured that out, so he said it didn't really matter on the distance then.  So I found one for $89/night with $10 breakfast coupon. That took me about 4-5 days to do all that hotel searching. Anyways, they did say the Sandman hotel was pretty nice, so that's good. But it snowed loonies on Saturday night, and my jacket's no longer water-resistant.  I was so soaked.  Edit (7/20/10): Did a video recording of the room I was in.  Was watching Criminals Minds at the time, b/c A&E have a marathon every night it seems.  Anyways, it wasn't an episode I'd seen, but I have the DVDs so it's okay. I was on the 12th fl, and in the corner of my room, where I could've gotten a 180 degree outside view, they put a column in the middle.  But the column is hollowed where it goes to the window b/c the curtains continue back there.  So you could hide a body or evidence, ala Criminal Minds.  So when I was examining my room, the room looked nice, but bathroom wasn't quite so.  A bit of gunk in the bathtub, floor tiles weren't even, peeling wallpaper.  But fine for one night.

Anyways, W said he had to be out all Friday night so he wanted to leave later.  I, of course, knew the line-ups would be crazy, for both the entry wristband and Nimoy.  But W kept saying there'd be no line-up b/c we'd already bought the tickets.  Guess who was right?! 

Anyways, didn't make it into the main hall for Nimoy's panel, but got into the overflow hall.  Which meant we got to see him on video...once they turned on the video.  Was not the same.  Since we couldn't add our boos to the idiots who tried to shake his hand or have him read their script.  But it's so sad he's going to retire.  Anyways, he was there for both days, and I was lining up to get his autograph on Sunday, but he didn't feel well so I lined up for nothing.  But a very lovely gentleman.

Edit (7/20/10):  Trying to free up space on my camera so reviewing what's on there, and there was one of me chatting of what happened b/c I was too tired to write.  Totally forgot I went to the X-Men panel with Len Wein and Chris Claremont.  Funnily, a lot of the people I saw in Calgary are also at SDCC this year, so it's pretty cool I get to really meet them in Calgary.  The panel was very good, very casual since they took mostly questions.  There was a different level of respect shown to Leonard Nimoy than to Len and Chris. 

Brent Spiner is hilarious.  He's such a good speaker, has a great sense of humour and knows how to handle the crowd very well.  I got his autograph, but I'm just so shy.  It's probably b/c I don't want to say the same thing that they've heard hundreds of times, so I just end up saying nothing at all except "Thank you so much for coming up here." Edit (7/20/2010) here's my shot.  I can't seem to get my pics sharp even though I have auto-focus.

Also got a few more Beast commissions.  I'm a bit disappointed by Jill Thompson...even though I shouldn't be since he isn't her character, and she couldn't quite remember what he looked like, so she probably had to look him up.  But it costed $100.  Which I guess I shouldn't moan about, since she's an established artist.  But the best deal was Chris Giarrusso.  He didn't charge anything for a headshot, and only $10 for a full body.  So of course I wanted the full body, and I would've paid $40 since chibi-Beast was soooooo adorable!!!!  Such an great job.  I'll have to scan it and put it up at work.  See if M still thinks Beast is ugly.  Anyways, ended up talking with colourist Laurie Smith and George Freeman about comic books and the change from working in analog (it seems funny to call colouring by hand that) to digital.  The order of work's changed, and so now the artists just pray it looks decent.  I'd wanted to go back to get him to do a sketch for me, but I couldn't find their table again!  And I was criss-crossing the floor b/c I vaguely remembered where they were. Edit (7/20/2010): Here's some of the commissions:

Anyways, got a Greg Horn print of pinball Iron Man for my brother.  And then I spent 2 hours looking at the frames in Michael's b/c my sister-in-law didn't want a black matte frame.  Cripes, that is what 80% of frames.  Finally found one that was faux dark-wood in 12x18 size.  Otherwise I'd be spending $40 on the freaking frame, which would be almost 2x more than the print.  Instead with all the coupons and sale, it was a decent price.  Was also going to pick up frames for the commissions, but then they'd just be sitting in a stack anyways, so got a scrapbook album instead, 3 for $15.  I'd been kinda wanting to keep all the stuff I'd pick up anyways...so might as well.  Now, if only I had the time to put them together, sort thru my photos, and post them.

Speaking of which, I hadn't read the latest Facebook policy but according to CNET, aside from FB never deleting anything you've put up, everything also belongs to them. Which makes me not want to post anything on there. Which really sucks.  So I've been avoiding FB for a while.  Also didn't help that one of my favourite apps changed their look so I can't figure out how anything works anymore.

Not sure if that's contributed to my downfunk, probably has.  Also did my taxes.  B/c my dad makes too much income (according to my bro who's doing both their taxes), I can't claim him as a dependant or get caregiver expenses.  So stupid.  Also lost about $1700 b/c  the pension buyback went against my RRSP limit.  So not happy.


Met up with S and L to see Kick-Ass.  Very good movie.  I felt guilty at laughing at certain parts b/c death shouldn't be that funny. Even if I have a black humour, seeing someone explode from being microwaved is pretty gross.  It was also Free Comic Book day, so I picked up a lotta stuff.  My store was giving away a lot of overstock too, so I got 4 magazines and 3 mangas.  Lovely haul.  That made me happy.

But anyways, still very tired and headachy.  Just very blah.  Losing interest in a lot of things, and just wanting to get distracted.  At least I got an Internet connection on my NDS again.  Just have to be sitting at City Hall or in the middle of the Square to get it.  Nothing weird about that.

Work/Play trip - Day 7

9:00
Aaaaaahhh!!!  I don't know why I'm so slow getting dressed and stuff.  Went down to breakfast at 8:30, which was supposed to be the time I was supposed to be finished eating so I could finish packing.  So I asked for a doggie bag, but they don't have any plastic utensils, so I grabbed 4 muffins, 2 French toast and 3 sausages.  Figured I'd use the coffee stirrers as chopsticks.  And I fogot my water and fruit cups.  Crap!!!  So hungry.  Greyhound stations looks as dingy as the one at home. Murasaki's down to 1 bar.  Crap, can't even listen to it while waiting to board.

13:00
Found the hotel, except the clerk tells me that there was a problem with the room so it's not ready and they booked me at another one. In another hotel!  Oh, and it's just a 15 minute walk away.  So after I finally get her to print a map and not rattle off some general directions, it's a block from the Greyhound station.  Which means I have to walk all the way back the way I came.  Great.  But apparently I'll have a "good room".  But she doesn't even know the name of this good hotel.  So I finally find it, and it's still under reservations.  And my room's up 2 flights of narrow stairs.  And the first room still had a faint smell of paint, so I ask for a different room which is bigger and has a sitting area.  But I should've looked at the bathroom size b/c it's tiny.  The shower is directly behind the door, and that's pretty much the size of it.  I can't have both elbows out w/o smashing them. And when I went to meet H, I forgot my camera, and I have to ring to be let back in, which takes 15 minutes for someone to answer the door.  I think I can guess that no one else's staying there.

23:00
We spent the day walking up the Chinatown, down to Old Port and back.  Found a ton of yaoi, so my backpack was heavy all day.  I bought so much that I filled out the membership card, but totally forgot to give it to H so she can pick me up a free book when something comes in.  D'oh!!!! ( Oct 3/10: now H doesn't live there anymore and I don't know when I'll ever get back to Montreal.  Double D'oh!!).  H has no money so we can't go into anything with admission.  Other than hockey stuff, doesn't seem to be much Montreal-specific souvenirs.  Ate at Frites Alors! which had a TinTin theme.  Wonder if they had gotten the copyright for using them. Food was pretty good, but H pointed out that I acted like an American with the waitress when she brought me a Pepsi. (I hate Pepsi).  So I tipped her really well and paid for H's meal. Saw the National Film Board cinema and it was pretty cool.  B/c it was after 17:00, we got a free hour, and got to select from 10,000 films in their catalog.  Great cheap entertainment, got to sit down in comfy chairs and lots of amazing films.  Brainwasters was disturbing, but I have to see the full poem of the "Erl-king" by Goethe.  The short was amazingly done.
After we went back to my hotel to chat.   And make plans for tomorrow.  There's no hairdryer and no floor mat in the bathroom.  No cup for brushing teeth either.  Missing a lot of stuff actually, and of course I only notice this when I'm in my pjs, so there's no way I'm opening the door for possibly non-existant night service that may or may not have toiletries.  Considering their shampoo/conditioner was in packettes, eh no. Guessing there's no amenities. And as predicted, I kept hitting the temperature control with my elbow when I was washing my hair, and there wasn't really any shelf for me to put the shampoo, conditioner, body wash I brought.  Gaahh!  And someone started smoking, so I opened the window and kept the heat up.  So tired, but we're meeting at 9:30 for breakky.

Work/Play trip - Day 6

Midnight
Woke up to find my Murasaki only @ 1/2 battery.  Guess putting it on speaker full blast didn't help. At least the room is cooled from leaving the window open all night.  And that weird smell is gone too.  I now look at the jet tub with suspicion. Seems like we haven't covered all the stuff that they wanted, w/ people starting to leave @ 11:30 a.m.  Staffing is not sinking in for me.  I'll have to play with it more, but it seems illogical w/ how you attach someone.  Well at least the Intelligence manager is now a FSWEP student.  Ha ha ha.

13:00

Went to lunch with Jane.  She seemed lonely b/c her flight doesn't leave until 19:00 and she already checked out.  Ate at the Pho restaurant again b/c it's next to the hotel.  Also could drop off all the course material and newspapers.  The drive to the Science and Technology Museum was long, and I was probably bouncing in my seat.  Good thing I got a museum map b/c it's kinda confusing, like IKEA w/o the arrows. Totally skipped past the canoes, and then went back when I was waiting for an old man to finish reading about the Titanic.  Didn't know there were so many ways to join together a canoe. Anyways, a lot of the displays were geared to kids, but it was still good. They had entire trains in there, and I tried to take a shot of one, but it involved 5 shots, and w/o a tripod or a marking line, when I tried to merge the shots together, it just looked wierd.

Actually a lot of the pics I tried to merge looked wierd.   I feel so sad I had to stand on the little kid step stool to see out the space shuttle's windows.  Took a bunch of pics of different devices and Lego display.  Spent a lot of time in the space exhibit.  I tried getting onto one of those old time bikes.  It was pretty-hard, seat-wise and agility-wise.  Took a lot of random shots, which I'm  really wishing I'd included a pic of their description plate of.  Just stuff that looked neat. Ran out of time as expected since I didn't leave the hotel until about 13:45.  Bought more gifts.  Nothing for me though.  The cool T-shirts were all in youth size.  Riding back to the hotel, I passed by a building that was for the Conference Board of Canada.  Why?!  Seems so Dilbertish.

21:00
Ate at Totoya for their all-u-can-eat sushi.  It's a bit different in that you don't order the sushi you want, but the waitress brings the trays of rolls by and you pick how many you want.  Then after you look at them all, you can request specifics for seconds/thirds etc.  So stuffed but you gotta get your $20.95 worth.  Waddled my way to the bank.  Had to get thru a bunch of people waiting for the bus.  So disgusting with people spitting on the sidewalk, dealing dope and not getting out of the way.  Thought I was going to get pickpocketted trying to get through the crowd.  Caught a cab as I walked out of the bank, so that was cool.  Finally got onto the Internet but it didn't have a USB port in the front and I forgot to charge in class. Crap.  Well, charging my phone in the room though.  Wish there was some adapter for Murasaki so I don't always have to plug it into a computer.

Work/Play trip - Day 5

13:00
Breakfast was the same stuff.  Tried the chocolate danish this time.  Not really sure what the point of getting there 15 min early.  Went into the Compensation unit, and you'd think Marilyn would stop w/ the dumb questions.  Hell no!  And then when William made a joke that a function that'd auto-calculate leave wasn't working, she picks up -my- pencil case and chucks it at him.  Highlighters fly out and Kim has to dodge out of the way.  So I hiss "Don't throw my stuff!"  Will picks up the stuff and goes to give it to Marilyn, but when he learned it was mine, he had an apologetic face.  Anyways, I'm will be so freaking glad not to sit next to her anymore.  Also disappointed that the Security field won't be used.  Like WTF?

What is this series called?

So Cecile said her niece was going to take her to the Museum of Civilization, so I asked to tag along.  But her niece doesn't get out until 17:00 and we were out by 16:00, so I was debating whether to just take the taxi to there, but I figure we could eat in the 1/2 hr.  Well the cab didn't come for 30 min, so we just took the Envirobus, then we walked to the hotel.  By now, it was almost 17:00 so I ate my bananas (as I'd finished my raisin bread at work & had some fruit sauce.  But the niece hadn't shown up by 17:40, and it turned out the niece went to the wrong hotel.  So Cecile said that she was going to meet her niece in Ottawa, and they weren't going to the museum.
Well, I call a taxi and away I went. It was free admission today (Yeah!) and the ran thru most of the permanent exhibitions.  Took a bunch of pictures of indigenous masks to use on Animal Crossing.  Yup. And took pictures of interesting clothes.  They didn't allow cameras in the special exhibits: Afghanistan, Royal Stamps (history of Canadian stamps), Northwest Company.  Which really sucks for the Afghanistan b/c it's all jewelry, pottery, carvings.  Maybe they wanted to sell their book?  But was amazing and so sad that a region w/ such a  long and beautiful history is wracked by war & the Taliban who smashed thousands of artwork.  I'm not a stamp-lover, but it was still interesting on how people developed stamps & people immediately started trying to forge or re-use them, and the govt's attempt to stop it. I just read the main text, but all the stamp examples had a clerk's handwriting that documented the attempts of creators. Spedwalked thru the NWC b/c I think I did that in history. Canada Post has a permanent exhibit. Trotted thru that one.  With 10 minutes to go, I sped thru Canadian history, got a little lost, and some looked familiar from when I went in Jr. High. Helps when you've a History degree.  With 2 minutes to go, looked up at the Canadian faces exhibit and went "Naw".  Probably would've spent only 15 minutes anyways if I had plenty of time.  Zipped thru the Boutique.  They must've thought I was crazy b/c I was whipping my head around evaluating all the merchandise w/ a glance.  They had Afghanistan jewelry, so I go Patty a wall hanging thing.  Think it's supposed to ward off the evil eye. No jewelry for me b/c didn't see any earrings.  It was a beautiful night, and if the cab wasn't coming right away, I would've check out their "Zen garden".  Didn't really see anything resembling it though.  Ate supper @ the Pho Bo Ga 777 restaurant.  I had noodle soup.  It was good.  I was the last person there, even though they close at 22:00 and it was 21:00.  Walked over to the Casino to take pictures of their Xmas decos.


22:00
Sitting in the tub w/ the bubblejet going.  My dawgs are tired.

Work/Play trip - Day 4

6:45
Didn't have a good sleep.  So tired.  Got to breakkie @ 7:30 and Becky was later than me.  But she only had toast, and I had eggs, cheese, cereal, muffin, danish, cold beef thing, tomatoes...Got everything down except for last bit of cereal by 8:02.

12:00
Such a headache, and so sleepy.  I closed my eyes thru the day.  Mostly when I finished the exercises, although also when we were navigating.  Still not thrilled w/ the recruitment module.  So much extra crap to go thru just to make a job requisition.  Oops, sorry...job opening.  Some very strange terminology. Honestly.  It feels like they're trying to make it "easier" to prevent errors but create more confusion instead.

Anyways, was trying to keep myself awake, so I opened my work email.  Aahh, so much stuff!  And then Marilyn started asking me about it, so I'm trying to explain that it's not really Outlook, but the IE creating an Outlook-like interface.  Which she didn't understand.  (Big surprise.  She asks the dumbest Qs in class).  But since she's so freaking loud, Will.i.am was waiting for us to finish. She's so annoying.  Anyways, as usual, found more L & R stuff, and my advisor confusing managers or leaving stuff behind and I'll have to clean stuff up when I get back. We finished w/ another exercise, but I just blew thru it b/c I was so annoyed w/ the email.

18:40
I took a cab to Currency museum b/c I was out by 15:40. I was going to walk to the hotel but it was raining, so I asked for a cab and swear I didn't pay in the morning. Finished it by 16:45.  Then I got turned around and went West instead of East.  I walked Sparks mall for a bit.  Popped into Zellers for Pokemon but they didn't have much except for Regigigas mini plush.  By now, I really had to use the loo so I popped into Chapters.  And yes, I got a book.  Wandered to Byward Market b/c I was hungry by now, and finally found a map post.  But still didn't make it to where I expected and one of the restaurants online wasn't on the map.  Weird.  Anyways, found that Totoyama is offering all-you-can-eat sushi on Friday for $20.  Guess where I'm going.  So I'm writing this @ Wontonmama and the lemon chicken was good.  But weird that I had to ask for rice.  Geez, it's quite Westernized in service.  And they charged me $2 for it.  *sigh*  Tom Yum Soup was good too.

20:00
Erm, why is there no CTV?  And how am I going to watch Criminal Minds?  At least I can finally see TNA.

Work/Play trip - Day 3

6:45
So do not want to wake up.  Didn't get much sleep...again.  Too warm b/c the A/C didn't work.  The others were at the restaurant at 7:00, I'm sure.  I brought raisin break, tomatoes and fruit pudding for lunch, but I still went w/ the others to the "nearby" mall.  Never would've thought of using soy sauce as salad dressing.
14:00
Moving into Staffing stuff.  It's so different from 8.0.  I don't even recognize it.  The trainer, William, went really fast too.  And then after I found a couple of mistakes on the material.  Ugh.
16:00

Went to Byward Market w/ Bhumika.  Dragged her around a bit looking for presents.  Ended up going to the National Gallery Boutique b/c the Gallery itself was closing by the time we got there.   Had dinner @ Fat Tuesdays. We weren't sure about the quality after our cutlery was dirty.  But it was delicious.  I had jambalaya.  The chicken was moist, shrimp perfectly cooked, dirty rice was yummy.
18:40
Back at the hotel.  So weird to be back so early but I'd actually gone out.  Ottawa-Gatineau is a daytime town.

Work/Play trip - Day 2

23:00
Some idiot above me started stomping around at 6:00.  And the alarm didn't really go off, so I was supposed to meet Debbie et al @ 7:15 for breakfast, but I woke up at 7:00.  Anyways still got to the course on time.

I miss People Soft, it was like it almost never left.  Seemed really straightforward, more or less.  Except there's an option to view just the record you're looking at or to see that there are more records associated with that position.  Why?!!  Just be able to see all the records instead of messing people up.
There are no eating places nearby either.  So ended up hiking with Janice to a restaurant 10+ minutes away and was late getting back b/c can't powerwalk anymore.  Well, more like keep up with her.  There's probably a reason why she was in Corporate Challenge.  So after the course, we all went to Super C to get groceries for lunch. But since I have no fridge, it ended being fruits, fruit cups and raisin bread.  The tap water here tastes like our spring run-off water.  And even the cooler water was yuck.  Had dinner with the other people who were staying at the same hotel.  Watched a lot of TV but there was no Score so no RAW.  :(

Work/Play trip - Day 1

1:30
Ugh, woke up after going to bed @ 23:00. Still thinking I haven't checked everything and I'm not sure what happened to my other pair of rechargeable AA batteries. I have 2 sets of 4 and I took a pair out of my CD player, but I don't know why since only my camera uses AA. Anyways, I got up and looked up restaurants in Byward market. I hope I can make it there. I still haven't decided which museum to go to since I'll probably only have an hour or 2 to look around. Back to bed at 2:00.

4:33
Ugh, didn't really sleep. Just closed my eyes it seems. Set my alarm for 4:45...oops, didn't turn it on though. Good thing I looked.

4:54
Oops, CD player's louder than the radio. Sooooo tired.

15:00
Got to airport on time and no problem w/ security. My seatmate turned out to work at the same building but in a different branch. He's going to Montreal for his conference. Nearly lost my Darsh. Pouch hoodies aren't secure b/c it slipped out when I was shifting in my seat. Got no sleep, but my neck is hurting from tilting to the right. Took some pics of P-chan @ Ottawa airport. It's a pretty nice airport. I had the cabbie take the scenic route, so I saw the Rideau Canal, Parliament and Byward Market. It looked farther apart on the map, but it's very walkable. There's a lot of old buildings in Ottawa but not so much in Gatineau. I went a bit crazy on the tip though b/c I was thinking of how much I gave the Edmonton cabbie so I gave him more. But my Edmonton trip was 2x longer, so yeah, it was about 40% tip. Check-in took some time since they had some issues w/ their reservation system. But apparently I go ta better suite b/c my pre-assigned one wasn't ready yet. Dumped my stuff and went to get a cab. Gaw, too tired to figure out how much change to get. And as I waited for the taxi, I wandered outside. The hotel's in a corner and kinda wierd to get into. Can't quite see where the bus stop is, although I see some come from the Lac-Leamy Casino. And I had to have the cabbie turn around b/c I forgot my camera. Went to Currency Museum b/c it's free and close to the Parliament and Byward. But the cabbie is francophone and also didn't know where it was. So I just got out and found it. It was just the next building actually. It was really interesting, and did I mention free? The exhibits were really nice and there were so many examples. Great for history geeks like me, since the history of a country is reflected in its currency. Some interesting facts: China was the first to make paper money and coins (which were based on cowrie shells & farm implements). Playing cards were used as emergeny $$ by writing values on them (fairly common occurrence actually). New France coins were rejected b/c it couldn't be used as legal tender in Old France. In 1853-1857, Canada chose to go /w the US decimal currency instead of the UK £. Armies/rebels/merchants would issue their own currency (therefore those arcade tokens are just a natural fallout), and HBC issued tokens until 1946. Newfoundland had their own curency until they joined Confederation. The whole point of issuing paper notes was to make money b/c it was likely that it wouldn't be redeemed for goods until later therefore, making it an interest-free loan. Canada started issuing coloured money in 1897, and until 1920, notes were signed by hand. Some questions that I came away with were: How do you turn beaver fur into felt? I had 2 hours and I still wans't finished reading everything, and I wasn't even examining all the coins and paper currency, or went into the Collection room. It was so dark by 5, and I walked to Parliament. There were a lot of poeple taking pictures too. The bulding look really dirty and that it had been thru a fire too. There were parts that were under scaffolding. Did more walking and there are statues and plaques everywhere. Could use some lighting in some areas. What I thought was te entrance to the subway or a bomb shelter was just a pedestrian underpass. Very pedestrian friendly.

By the time I got to Byward Market, the stalls were closing up, so I went to a restaurant instead. Found the Fish Market, and I swear when I saw their menu online, I was going to get the fish & chips. But their "Choose your meal" had an awesome appetizer and dessert for $15 more. Yes, I took pictures. The escargot was sooooo good. I thnk the basil bun was for soaking up the garlic butter and wine. The mushrooms were a bit burnt(no it really broke off as charcoal) but it still tasted so good after it soaked in the sauce for a bit. The fish was lovely. I'm not sure how gweilo eat whole fish, but I ate it the way I'm used to. Didn't take a picture of the bumbleberry pie b/c the top crust broke. But it was a delicious mix of sweet & tart. A bunch of francophones sat next to me and gave the waitress some attitude b/c she didn't know much French, so I gave her a 20% tip. Wandered some more after. But by 7, the area was dead. I thought it'd be like Whyte, but no way. Tons of restaurants. I didn't know we had a monument to peacekeepers. The bells were ringing when I took a pic of the Notre Dame Basilica. I hope more things are open on the weekdays.

20:17
Back at the hotel after finding a taxi stop. So tired, but I feel like I should be doing more stuff like going online downstairs. Just realized I forgot to bring the DS Browser. D'oh! Oh, Mythbusters!

21:39
Debbie called. We're meeting at 7:15 for breakfast and then to the building. The jet tub/shower is quite different. Not quite the time of the month to be trying it out though.

22:00
It's so freaking hot after the shower, and I can't get the A/C to work. So I'm down to my panties and using ice to cool off. I love Mythbusters, it's another episode I haven't seen! Just writing while I'm watching Discovery Channel. I heart Discovery Channel.

00:00
Gotta stop flipping channels. Criminal Minds is on, and the one where Derek's abused past is revealed. Mmmm, Shemar Moore.

Baggage Issues again

So United's delayed my bags again. And their website doesn't work. I checked on it all day, and was still the same "Our representatives are processing your file. At this time we do not have any new information to share. Most of our delayed bags are located and returned within the first 24 hours. We will contact you as soon as your baggage is available and ready to be returned. We thank you for your patience." Just peachy, and I know there were several flights from Denver today (since I had plenty of opportunity to look at the board). So I called them just now, and their IVR is so freaking annoying. I'm like yelling at it, b/c if you don't talk loud it ignores you. And it asks me to say my last name. Well not everyone's last name is Smith, so it seemd to think Jose Pedro was correct. Piece of sh!t. Agent said that the bag's in Edmonton, but they don't know when it'll be delivered, but I can put a note on the door for where they can safedrop it. Right, I'm going to tell them to put a hockey bag at my door for 8 hrs, or open the garage for them. What a bunch of retards. At least at the hotel, there's the bellhop. And my stupid dad's like "oh I have to go out." To where?! You do f\/ck all every day, and you can't plant your ass for my luggage?!?! Pisses me off so much. Wonder if I can call in late tomorrow to work. It'll be like "yeah, sorry, but I'm going to have to stay at home until my luggage is delivered b/c my retired dad who does nothing all day decided that he just needs to go out today."

Speaking of my dad, I'm surprised my fish is still alive. How hard is it to take the uneaten food out of the jar after 5 min? He used an entire month's supply of food in a week, and there's a layer of dissolving pellets at the bottom of the jar. I was wondering why Akao was resting near the top instead of the bottom. The water was soo freaking disgusting. And I gave him instructions and all the stuff that he'd need to change the water and get the pellets out. Apparently too hard for him to remember anything other than feed the fish. So usually I put half the jar water into the margarine tub, but really I can only put in 1/4 b/c it's so gross. And this was after I put in 200 mL of fresh water last night.

I hate airlines (Part 8 of LA Trip)

I can see why I didn't post all my LA ramblings at once. Gawd, my CTS is flaring up. Anyways, this would be my last entry of the trip. I'm surprised I can read most of my writing too. Funnily enough, by typing all this, it really does bring back the trip. Even adding some stuff I didn't originally write b/c it's coming back so vividly. It was amzingly fun. And next year ie. 2010, I'm going to SDCC. Whooo! BTW, how did I manage to misspell the hotel name in the previous entry when I was using their stationary to write my diary and I'm typing from that stationary right now?! Must be too tired.
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Had intermittant sleep again. Got up aro0und 8:30. We got everything packed up by 10:00, so I said we're going shopping. Picked up some salmon onigiri @ Famina's and a sandwich. Went to Jewelry District by bus and got 2 silver hoops for $30. Owner was really nice cause I would've willingly paid $20/each b/c they were so pretty. Ended up walking back to the hotel b/c now we kinda know where we're going. Which was great b/c we saw a lotta shops and went by the Central Library and the street market. P, H's friend, came to pick up H b/c she's is going to stay with her for a few days. P had some trouble getting onto Highway 10 b/c she lives in San Fernando.

14:00
We ate at an Argentinean restaurant, and then I was dropped off at the Metro station @ Universal City to get back to the hotel. My Easton bag is too heavy. It was hell lugging it thru Union Station. However, the ticket was only $4, compared to the $42 taxi cab ride that the hotel bellhop offered. So I'm on the bus now. Thank God it's got A/C. So hot and muggy here. I'm sorry Earth! Saw the Hollywood sign while riding with P. I think I like the architecture of LA the best, b/c there's lots of historical buildings. Should've taken more shots of buildings. Didn't hae my camera w/ me on our walk this morning so no pic of the X-Files movie wall. Or the Tropic Thunder walls (yes the entire side of the building) on Hotel Figueroa. Saw a Batman logo on a wall too. There's a lotta palm trees in the outlying areas, but it's like they're spaced out every 20m. Looks ugly. And the Interchanges are 5 levels high. So crazy looking. Could never drivehere. Or only drive 1 set route. No wonder why P got lost.

16:00
Okay, I'm screwed. Just realized I have no idea which airline I'm supposed to go to despite what my ticket says. Go to the US Airlines and lady said to go to United b/c they're the only ones flying to Denver from here. Which is Terminal 7. I'm at Terminal 2. Take the free shuttle bus to there and this guy starts chatting me up. His job is helping people w/ their bags for $ but doesn't ask me if I want help but just grabs my bag. I tell him "I don't have enough $$ to tip you." And he goes "Whatever you have is fine." Well I'm not going to give him $20, and I dunno if he wants $0.45 in change. Anyways, he grabs a luggage cart and when we're waiting for the elevator, he says he has to go to the washroom. I'm like "uhhh..." and then the elevator comes and they're waiting so I just grab my bag. I know it's rude, but he didn't really give me a choice. I get into line for United but there's a queue for a paper ticket, and I have an E-ticket, so I go to another line. The computer screen's asking for info, but I've never used these before so I don't know. I use the phone to get an operator, and after a super-long hold, he goes "oh, you just missed checking in by 1 minute" and tells me to get a desk agent, who are wandering btwn kiosks, to rebook me for a fee. They tell me to go to the paper tickets line and the fellow working at the podium, manages to find an agent who checks me in but I have to book it. And my bag was over 50 lbs, but they just let it thru b/c it was so late. I peel down to where she tells me, only to be faced w/ a huge lineup for security. Argh!!! They throw away my nearly-full water bottle and I book it to Gate 75, which is at the end. Only to be told that they just closed the gate. So I have to go back to Gate 70 where the customer service is. Apparently my bag made it on the flight. So they manage to give me a flight to San Fran, then to home. Which wil get me there about 6 minutes before my actual scheduled flight. Go figure. So I scour the bookstore in San Fran and no yaoi. More specifically, no Kizuna or Finders. San Fran airport is much nicer than LAX.

20:10
Oh, I need to go to the washroom. The Coke just went thru me. They gave me a can on the San Fran flight, and w/ all the stress, that's bad. I hate going to an airplane washroom. Cramped, noisy, turbulence. But I needed to. I know my bladder won't last that long. Also, I don't like these types of planes. They're cramped and the overhead compartment is tiny. I lost my Genshiken pin, and I think it's up there somewhere. I had to take off my mini-bag to get my backpack up there, and some guy was moving the bags around. I hope my Turtwig mask is okay. Haha, my Turtwig mask's eyeholes don't fit my face. Haven't figured if they're too narrow or wide. Only covers 1/2 my face. Anyways, H used it to find me b/c I wore it like a hat at AX. So on all the flights, I've had a window seat by the wing. What's w/ that? Not that I really mind, but odd. No one wants to watch the flaps?
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And that's all I'd written on the Wilshire Grand stationary. And funnily enough, even though it's been over a year, I still remember getting off the flight around midnight, feeling really gross, only to find that I have no luggage. Again. So I wait by the doors where the Air Canada people tell me (at least they knew what I was talking about when I said I had a hockey bag). Nearly fell asleep waiting. Finally filed a claim form, and then it was taxi ride back. Stumble in, go to say "Hi" to Akao, only to find some weird sludge at the bottom. I think I took a shower, and then I called my manager to say that there's no way I'm going to be working that day since I just got back and need to sleep.

It's probably b/c it's not my heritage that I'm not interested (Part 7 of LA trip)

Okay, this entry still hadn't been typed in (when I was doing that last year during the time that Internet failed). It's probably b/c I was busy trying to get things together for when my casual with DOJ ended, and complete my submission for DOE. (Oooh, it's like fortune-telling! Should I reveal what happens to me? It's like a real fortune. At first it seems like the greatest thing, then you realize there' s a nasty punchline)
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Grand Wilshire 09:00
H says my snoring was super loud and kept her up to 3. Whoops. No wonder why I was tired this morning. That and the adrenaline's wearing off. Eating dango as I write this. It got all wet b/c the melted ice soaked thru the Saran Wrap. Dango's from Fugetsudo. It's sweet but not too sweet. We're supposed to get packing tape to mail our boxes off. Then it off to the Spanish area by Union Station and then to museums. Apparently H does museums in an hour and isn't interested in science. How is that not a surprise. But how ironic (am I using it right?) that she's a Science teacher in QC.

19:00
Well, we went to IHOP again for breakfast, and then went to Union Station for El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historic Monument. Took a few pics. Then we went down to the Natural Museum and Science Centre but it was already 16:30 b/c we spent too much time at the village. H kept going into every store and looking at the same stuff again and again. So we ran thru the museum, and didn't have that great pics. The way it's laid out, there are several museums right next to each other but everything is closed except for the Rose Gardens. I took a lot of pics there. But the annoying things that this being the last full day, I still didn't fill up one SD card. So I didn't need to have the video quality so low, which would've meant that I could've taped the entire show with Seki-sama. Afterwards we went to Chinatown, which was also closed except for restaurants. It's so dirty. Just like a typical Chinatown I guess. After dinner, we went back on the Metro and found out about the LAX shuttle from Union Square. So I'll be taking that instead (save on taxi fare!) since the hotel's right next to a station.

23:00
Finished packing. My hockey bag is soooo heavy but not 50lbs I think...hope. Took a few pics of the babies on the bed. I think Tropius is a girl. She seems to take a shine to P-chan. Or a boy. But P-chan doesn't seem fuffled. Or...well anyways, they were really cute. Only had SD-Fushigidane w/ me to sleep tonight. So tired. Hopefully we can cram in a bit of shopping tomorrow.

Exploration, Exhaustion, and Ewwww! (Part 6 of LA Trip)

A backdated entry. That's right, if I killed my hand every night to document my trip, I'm darn-well gonna post my thoughts, even if it's been over a year since I've had them. Hah!
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Today, we’re supposed to take the Metro and hit Little Tokyo, Chinatown, Toy District and some street H said. It’s 9:00 am, I’ve been up since 8:00 and H is still snoring away. And I think I’m getting sick. Nose dripping, throat sore and my left ear is aching. We were looking at using the laundry services at the hotel but it was sooo expensive. So I just washed my underoos every night and hung my clothes up to air out. And I do use different pair of underoos each day.

10:30
Okay, so we found the nearest Metro Rail station (which was right next to the hotel) but we’ve caught the Dash. Since the Dash only runs in downtown, it’s 25 cents for the fare, which is pretty cool. We’re going to Little Tokyo and Toy District.

13:00
Okay, we’re loaded with stuff from the Toy District. Man, should’ve hit this place first before going to AX. They have a lot of knockoffs but also a lotta discontinued stuff like Powerpuff Girls. Found the Barbie PSOne controller, but don’t know if it’ll work on the PS2 though, so I only bought 1. Pinkberry Shaved Ice Green Tea is awesome. Especially when it’s 29 degrees Celsius weather, and you’ve been walking outside for about 2 hrs. (Yes, we were given the weather in Fahrenheit, but who the hell understands that system anyways?) It was green tea syrup, mochi bits, kiwi, and maybe something else? Can’t really remember. Store decor was cute too. For some reason, you weren’t allowed to take pictures in the store.

17:00
Wandering around Little Tokyo. Ate mochi ice cream, and it was good. Lotta Hello Kitty and more importantly, Pokemon stuff. Bought a whole bunch of Pokemon stuff too. The guys working the cashier had trouble with English, which was pretty interesting. Guess it shows how strong of a community it is. Half the restaurants are sushi places. We ate at a place that offered ½ price salmon dishes that day. It was awesome b/c I looooove salmon. What’s surprising is how clean LA is. There’s not that much cigarette butts or coffee cups like in Edmonton. A woman even came into Fugetsu to throw away a slurpee cup she found on the street. However I have not really attempted to use their public washrooms. The only washrooms I’ve used outside the hotel were the airport, LACC, and some restaurant washrooms. IHOP’s was pretty good. But I have this horrible recurring nightmare where I need to go to washroom, and every toilet is filthy, missing doors, plugged, or graffitied. And the LAX washrooms weren’t completely filthy, but it had that vibe that felt like deja vu. H went to use the Union Station washroom, and she said that it was nasty and there was a woman in there changing her baby on the floor. The woman had another kid in a stroller, and had paper towels strewn all across the floor. Ewwwwww!

Supermarket prices are pretty cheap too. 89 cents for 1 L of Dasani water. We were thinking of picking up stuff for breakfast, but most of it involved having a kettle of hot water, bowls, utensils. And the other stuff needed to be refrigerated. Got lost trying to get back to the hotel because we didn’t know the Dash stopped at 7:50, so we had to find Union Station. I semi-packed my bags to see how much room I had left. I should be okay. But I have a lotta yaoi to ship. Damn censorship.

Last day of AnimeExpo (Part 5 of LA Trip)

This is a backdated entry...Um, I'm actually trying to clean up my desk, and I figured I should get this posted since this was all typed up from when I had no Internet access in September. Of 2008, which was over a year ago. Anyways, the joys of online diaries!
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10:00
It’s all shopping today! Breakfast at IHOP again. Order the Red, White and Blue this time. It’s pretty good. The waiter was there again but didn’t serve us. They must love us there. We’re non-disruptive, patient and give good tips. The manager remembered us just the 2nd time we went there. Today I’m wearing simple high ponytail with the angel wings barrettes on either side of it, and my jean shortalls w/ black rib T. Gotta be comfy to shop!

14:00
Okay, break for the Deux raffle. Man, am I obnoxious now. When I couldn’t hear the guy calling the numbers, I immediately yell that to him. Well at least we can now hear in the back. And the frontliners also repeated it for us too. Anyways, didn’t win anything. Also nothing won at the Vampire D panel. That’s okay. This other guy who had tons of tickets won 3 prizes, 2 which were the same. There was a bit of grumbling when that happened. Darn, they close the Dealers Hall at 3. Shop, shop, shop!!!!


15:00
Okay, well nothing to do now except head back to the hotel and grab food. Took some pics of the convention and with P-chan being there. It was hard finding a semi-clean area to place him on. I want to get my own digital camera. I just love posing P-chan and all my plush in different ways. They’re just too cute, and expression-able. But it’s sometimes a huge challenge to capture w/ the camera what I can see w/ my eyes for angles/closeups. So I guess I would need a higher-end camera maybe. Anyways, I should’ve taken pictures on the first day of the convention b/c it was completely packed.

Got some map info from the concierge. H gets money from the ATM. Head to Macy’s Plaza for shopping. Two Latinos checked us out and commented to each other in Spanish. Apparently, I’m the cute little Chinese girl and H needs more ass. LOL. Nothing for earrings at Macy’s. It’s kinda like the Bay of the USA. Go to this Mexican Grill place that’s nearby to check out authentic Mexican food but it’s actually a fast food place. Geez, and after all that work! We’d tried to enter it on Friday and Saturday, but they were closed all the time. Anyways, we get subs at Subway b/c they’re $5 for foot-longs. Man, food’s pretty cheap down here! But as we were walking back to the hotel, we see that Wokcano was open, so we went in. Guess it’s subs for breakfast! The restaurant people give us a light ribbing about the subs. I had the Double Chicken Kung Pao. It was pretty good, and $2 for a rice bowl, $1 for green tea. But they gave us a lotta food, that H had to doggy-bag hers. But it was a fancy place so we were quite out of place. But they still treated us well.

Midnight
Finished reading “A Foreign Love Affair.” It was romantic and explicit. Yamane-sensei is soooo awesome. And so having to be shipped up. I have a huge stack of books that have questionable covers. Customs suck. Also bought a purse b/c the Champs Elysee/Nina Ricci store was selling them at 90% off. But there’s no label on the bag, so I think that’s pretty weird to be selling that kind of stuff from a hotel store. But it’s still a good bag for only $19.99. They had some NKOTB T-shirts there, but only in small. Well it’s still a good joke gift. H used the phones in the lobby to yell at Air Canada b/c it was free to call toll-free numbers. So we didn’t need to use the cellphone. But she did say that b/c she was in a public place, she watched her language and tone more. They also had a computer that you could pay to use, so H had to do that to print off the claims form for her luggage. Kinda watched Harry Potter: Order of the Phoenix. It’s okay, although H was going fan-freaky. Her and her Sirius Black. I’m like “whatever, the f/x are pretty cool”.

Shopping and scheduled events don't mix! Or Part 4 of the LA trip

Backdated entry, I'm checking my burned copies of Pokemon: Indigo League b/c I'd had been having so many problems burning DVDs that I think it's broken. However these ones are doing pretty well, so it must be the programs.

IHOP 9:00a
Well, breakfast @ IHOP. Yesterday we went there for dinner b/c it was one of the few places open. H was really protesting going there and now she likes it. And the waiter was flirting w/ me. Could it be b/c I had my low-cut tank top, my hair done up w/ the hairstick and 2 tendrils of hair framing my face? He said that he wanted to go to AX to, but couldn't. Oh well, it's a bit strange to be flirted w/ but I'm dressed up more than what I wear @ home.

LACC 11:15a
Went there to see panel about turning Anime into Videogames, and it's cancelled. Oh well, we'll go to the Robot Chicken panel at 12:00 then. Have to exchange a DS Pokemon bag b/c I wanted the Animal Crossing one but didn't notice they put in the wrong one b/c they're both blue and I was buying like 6 other things at the same time. Yah, they exchanged it...oh but the Pokemon bag was designed better. :( Do more shopping.

LACC 1:48p
Crud, missed Robot Chicken panel. Too busy shopping and there's soooo much yaoi. Paranormal Japan panel was @ 1:00 too. *sigh* Guess we're not going to Traditional Dance either. We've barely covered 1/3 the dealer's room.

LACC 4:00p
Okay, well it's time for food. John said Bus 4 should take us by Little Tokyo, so off we go. Oh yeah, John is this guy that I met when I was waiting for shuttle at the hotel last night. I wanted to go back to see the Anime in China panel, and H didn't want to go. So while we were waiting, he started chatting me up. On afterthought, I shouldn't have told him where I worked and such. Oh well. Anyways, while we were waiting for the shuttle last night, this African-American walked into the hotel area and was angrily shouting something about how he was getting f*cked around and things like that. But when a bunch of us started looking at him, he doubled back into the area, so we quickly turned around and ignored him.

LACC 4:15p
Where the heck are we? There's nothing Japanes looking around here, although we did see the Mayan Theatre. There didn't seem to be anything Japanese looking at the Kawada Hotel, so we got off @ the Omni Hotel. Argh!! And there bwas nothing to eat around at the Watercourt except Famima's. Great. Local tells us it's a 10 walk to Little Tokyo from the Watercourt. So we decided to go back to LACC to get a map. ...Okay, we it seems we shoulda stopped @ Kawada and walked 3 blocks down. Geez.

Little Tokyo 5:00p
Alright, in outskirts of Little Tokyo. We decide to eat at a sushi place but it's $26 for the chirashi!! So I have ochazuke w/ ume(shoulda chosen something else. Getting too salty), grilled mackeral and sashimi salad instead. It's so good though. Go to Kinnokuya in the same plaza, but they have no Kizuna or Finders. When we were in the dealer's room, one of the dealer told us that Yamane-sensei wasn't happy w/ how BeBeautiful treated the Finders series so another publisher may reprint it. I hope so, her stuff is pretty explicit and soooo hot. Anyways, back to Kinnokuya, they didn't have any Angelique or KOF. There were a bunch of Pokemon books, but I didn't get any. Bags are full enough. Darn supermarket's closed already. Head back to Kawada. Took a pic of the Disney Concert Hall where the bomb in Get Smart was planted.

LACC 8:30p
Miss the L movie. Oh well. Hung around until the Advanced Para Para and realize shoulda went to the the Beginners class first. Okay, go to arcade to show H was it is. Have to shush a pack of screaming girls who think it's easier to scream across a crowded noisy room than walk over to that person. Puzzle Fighter rules. A few people were playing KOF XI, but what's the point of dropping quarters when you have it at home? Eh, no anime worth staying up late to see.

Wilshire Grand 10:00p
H is still arguing w/ Air Canada. Still has no bag.

Fireworks? What Fireworks? Part 3 of LA trip

Another backdated entry. I'm checking my burned episodes of Japanese Pokemon b/c even though I have 4 burning progs on my computer (Media Player, Windows Explorer, NTI CD/DVD Maker, Acer DVDivine), they haven't produced a decent disc. I've have a few playable episodes but then the others will be just audio or nothing. The weird part is some files will show up w/ the preview image on Windows Explorer, but won't play on my DVD/Divx player.

Wilshire Grand (7:30a)
Uggh, so tired. Need sleep but the VA panel from the Japanese students is going at 10:00a. We go to the convenience store I saw yesterday, Famima's. Buy their onigiri. Unwrapping them was a pain! The nori ripped like crazy. However it's wasn't that bad tasting. It's too bad that I can't get cashback on my Visa card. Guess I shoulda brought debit card.

LACC (10:00a)
The NECC panel was changed so it took place yesterday, so we missed it but we went to David Hayter's panel instead. It's so packed and the questions were stupid. The only stupid question that was asked of Seki-sama was whether he could be sent an item to be signed b/c the questioner wouldn't be able to make it to his autograph session. (of course the answer was No b/c that's not fair to everyone else. And I swear the questioner was the same guy who'd gotten a premium ticket and then headed back into the premium line to get another item signed. The volunteer spotted him and told him get to the back of the regular line.) Anyways, as for poor Mr. Hayter, people were asking to be his friend/drinking buddy/son or to give a shout-out to websites and crap like that. Mr. Hayter was very patient, funny and indulged their dumb requests. Really, for those stupid shout-outs, they should'a been paying him for it. Geez!! But we were too far back to get a decent picture.

LACC (3:10a)
Go to the Dealer's room. It's sooooo huge!!! We only manage to do about 1/3 of the room before my backpack is full. Accidentally let the wrong NDS bag be added to my pile. Hopefully I can exchange it. Got the blue Pikachu one when I wanted the blue Celeste one. H still hasn't gotten her luggage, so we hit Macy's b/c it's one of the few places that's open. It's like the Bay price-wise. And we harassed the clerk w/ our sarcasm and logic when she tried to push the Macy account on us. I think after working in customer service, and no longer having to keep smart aleck comments inside, any stupid questions are met w/ pent up answers. Dinner at IHOP. It's not bad, but definitely good prices. I had the Pot Roast w/ mashed potatoes and soup. They were inundated w/ con-goers. Mostly in cos play. I wore the angel clips I bought yesterday and regular clothes.

LACC (7:30p)
Back to the con. Go to the console gaming room while waiting for the June/801 panel to start. The Naruto game looks really cool. The Kyo Kusanagi cos player kicked ass w/ Kakashi. Still can't figure out how scoring works on Super Smash Brothers. Guilty Gear is sweet looking.

LACC (9:00p)
Woo hoo! I got picked in the panel raffle!! I chose the autographed postcard set. It has the autograph from Eiki Eiki (Art of Loving) and another mangaka that I don't recognize the art from. And of course a bunch of other postcards of bishonen. Awwww, so sweet! Got lots of yaoi today b/c of the Deux booth. *slobber*

Wilshire Grand (2:00a)
Okay, finished summary. Sleep. Hand dead. Oh, but we tried watching the news but hardly show anything about fireworks. So sad. Didn't hear anything either. And I was looking forward to seeing them b/c Americans are supposed to go insane w/ them on this day.

Seki-sama!!!! Or Part 2 of the trip

Have I ever mentioned how cute Seki-sama is?!! He really is. It's always hard to tell from pictures and video, and I just thought he was above-average, but wow, up close when you put it all together. *swoon* I mean his characters and voice are adorable, but he's a cutie too!!! Awwww *sigh* *blush* Yeah, he probably thought I was a freak, b/c I was well behaved up until I got about 15 ft away after getting his signature and then I couldn't contain myself and started squealing, skipping and giggling. I know I got a few looks from the other lineup. Anyways, back to what I'd written on the trip.

Wilshire Grand (7:30a)
Okay, figured it out, Floor lamp is only on when the foyer light is on. Great. Anyways, so w/ no luggage, it's wearing the same shortalls and T-shirt. Smell test okay. Head down to the hotels' gift shop to buy deodarant and painkillers. For some reason, my stomach has been killing me. H tells me that I shouldn't have drunk the tap water. Great. Or it was b/c the subs last night didn't agree w/ me. And I need to go to the washroom a lot. And I had about an hour of straight sleep and another hour of broken sleep. Augh!! And Seki-sama's going to be having his panel today!

Wilshire Grand (9:00a)
Well found out why my abdomen's been hurting. It's every female's least favourite visitor!! Gah!! And all my stuff's in the luggage! Good think I keep an emergency backup. Oh, I feel like puking and lying down at the same time.

LA Convention Center (10:30a)
Okay, registered and lined up for Seki-sama's panel... at 12:30. Some people said they wre there since 6:45a. Didn't even know the doors were open then. But the arcade's open 24 hrs, so I guess some people bring sleeping bags. We meet some locals and chat. Well more like H chatted, and I just stood there. I eat the sub from last night. Shoulda put it on ice. Stomach feeling worse. At first, there was no lineup needed, and now there is.

LACC (1:00p)
Managed to get 1st row. They said no video, but I can't help it. Put it on the lowest res to get the most out of Seki-sama's 1 hr panel. Only get 30 min of video still. He was sooooo awesome. He used his cute voice and the translator was pretty good. But the hall wasn't filled :(. Took lots of vid and pics, but shoulda taken more. Hopefuly they turned out ok. Had a lotta probs w/ the auto-focus. It was getting to the point that I'd have to shoot it at the floor then slooowly adjust it to focus on Seki-sama. Right after the panel, we headed to the hall where the signing would be. Seki-sama said that he'd be flying back next day after he saw the play "Wicked", so no open autograph session!! :(



LACC (3:30p)
Found out we were supposed to get a red ticket when we came out of the panel to get into the premier line. Those people get to go first, and they weren't finished before Seki-sama took a break. A revolt is planned in our line. It is met w/ resistance.

LACC (4:00p)
Seki-sama's back!! Didn't have to wait the hour break as expected. I have my Luva CD. Augh!! The anticipation!! Ask my new acquaintances to hold my spot while I run to the loo. Also found out some info from them about LA tourist spots.

LACC (4:30p)
It's my turn!!! OMG, I talked to him!! It was a dialogue, an exchange of words!! I said "Konnichiwa Seki-sama" and he replied w/ "Konnichiwa". I gave him the CD insert and he asked me if it was okay if he signed it in the corner. I said "Hai!" And then he reoriented it to face me when he gave it back! I was sooo freaked!!. I squeaked out "Domo arigatou!" before bowing and grabbing my camera from the volunteer. Oh squeal of moments!! He's sooo cute up front and to have the sweetest voice talk to me is a dream come true. Every time I think about it, I started to quiver. Unfortunately I forgot his present that I rewoke my CTS to make. I guess I'll just mail it to him after I complete the other characters. Yeah, and miraculously I feel much better. The curing power of Seki-sama's presence.


LACC (4:50-6:20p)
Okay, I've been searching the hall for H all this time, WTF?! Can't she stay in 1 area?!! LACC is huge w/ multiple floors. I should know, I'd been walking thru them looking for her! She left a VM on my Fido phone and it's going to cost me $1.45/min to retrieve it. The msg said that she was by this spot in the front, but I've passed by there 3 times, and she's not there. I've starving. Maybe she went back to the hotel.

Wilshire Grand (6:30p)
Nope, but my luggage arrived! Yeah!! Pulled out my pads and H called. She ran out of change. Geez!! She's like a 5yr old, wandering off when she's bored (which is like 5 minutes in 1 spot). I iron my shirt when she gets back. We go to the California Pizza Place for dinner. It's pretty nice and the waiter was good too. Nice price for food. H's fighting w/ Air Canada about her luggage. They still haven't located it.

Journal of Trip Pt 1

Well, I'm going to try and backdate my entries so that they correspond to the days I wrote them in longhand on hotel stationary. Yeah, so it should be interesting.

Morning of July 2
Was a madhouse. I was up at around 8, and did a visual check of my stuff I was taking compared to my list. Then I was trying to figure out which pages to print out for Alan's camera b/c he didn't give me the manual. Then the printer ran out of ink after 2 pages, so I was killing my hand trying to write/draw everything pertinant. The cabbie arrived at 11:00 when I was still trying to write things down, so I had to hastily shut down the computer.

Going thru Customs
It was wierd to take off my sandals. But no hand wanding even though I was wearing shortalls. The customs official asked me where I worked and what I did. Then she dinda asked how the Federal DOJ worked b/c the US DOJ has FBI and Immigration under it. I told her we didn't cover CSIS...not that I knew of.

Flight to Denver
Well I was assigned to the exit row, so I'm there w/ 3 other guys. The little Chinese girl was going to help open the emergency door. Ha ha, that must've been a sight b/c the guy next to me was huge. Anyways, he started snoring. I was also exhausted but I was waiting for the stewardess to come back to take the empty tea cup so I could put up the tray and get my music. Not to drown out his snoring, but to get me to lsleep too. And then we could be in concert with our snores. But I never got to sleep b/c the flight was getting ready to touch down. While we were waiting to get up, the aisle passenger in front of me thought the armrest moved up, so he wrenched it until it did go up, sending a metal piece flying and making a lot of noise. Then he looks around nervously and asks the other aisle passenger if that was supposed to happen. The other guy tried his and told him that he didn't think so. I helpfully ponted out the fallen metal pit, and so they picked it up and looked where it came from. I told snorer guy that maybe the airline will check to see who sat in there and charge him for it. I wonder if they would?

Flight to LA
So I'm waiting at the carousel and it's so bloody hot and muggy. I hear my name over the PA along with a few others, but it was just "mumble mumble xxx, xxx, xxx mumble mumble go to mumble". There was only 1 United person working there and she had a huge line up. I asked a security person and she directed me to the Baggage counter. Turns out that my bag is another flight & will arrive in at about 9:25. I sure didn't want to wait an hour, and I thought that it would take a while to get to my hotel and check in, so with great reservation, I decided to agree to let my bag be delivered. With the expectation that it would arrive that night. The guy at the service counter didn't know what a hockey bag was or how to spell it. Not that I thought he was dumb, just the typical American ignorance.

Getting to the hotel
Although they do give assistance with some prodding. I was going to take a cab, but I saw an airport guy sitting there by a sign about courtesy shuttles. Anways after I clarified w/ the airport guy, Now when I was inside the airport, they had a touch screen for Visitors. It was so confusing and really just about selling services, not information. And you had to rent a baggage cart! It's all about money with Americans, isn't it? Anyways, after I clarified w/ the airport guy, I headed to the red sign for shuttle buses. The first sign I saw was for "Prime Time" and it was $15 to get to the hotel and I really didn't feel like asking all the other shuttle operators their rates, so I went with them. There was already someone in there, a black-haired Asian guy. I was pretty darn sure it wasn't anyone from Japan (hint, hint on who I'm wishing it was) but I asked him if it was also his first time in LA. Turned out he'd lived in Vancouver, BC before. We started talking about why I was in LA b/c he saw my Genshiken pin. He told me how he used to watch Gatchaman when he was younger and saw Naruto a few times. He also didn't think Afro Samurai was that good. And told me to try the real Mexican food here. I'm just sad that I rushed out the shuttle and didn't have a chance to say goodbye.

Wilshire Grand (10:22 pm)
I'm exhausted. I've already called Housekeeping b/c the closet lightbulb died when I turned it on, and now the floor lamp doesn't work, even though it was working when I walked in. But I decided to turn off the floor lamp to save electricity. Ha. Anyways still waiting for front desk to tell me my bag arrived and for H to show up. My hand is dead from writing, and the knitting and crochetting from before. I so want to sleep. Can't take a shower b/c my face stuff is in the luggage!! And I thought of putting it in my backpack but I didn't want to deal w/ their stupid liquid policy. Couldn't even take my drinks w/ me b/c of it. Swear it's more so that you have ot pay the insane airport prices. $2 for Coke from the vending machine and the store was even more!!

Wilshire Grand (11:01 pm)
So I called United and after the IVR got me to some Intl agent who didn't know anything and was very rude, I got to the right dept who told me that it would be delivered tomorrow between 5:30a - 9:30am. Just freaking great!! I needed the clothes and razors (very important as I'm feeling fuzzy) Oh and the only clothes I brought w/ me on my carryon were shorts. Gaaaahh!! I have no pjs and there's no bathrobe to sleep in. All the restaurants are closed! And it turns out H's luggage is delayed too!! CauseI was hoping to borrow some clothes off her. And now the floor lamp is working again! WTF?! Looking on the back of the United claim form, says that United was supposed to provide me w/ a toiletries kit. Bastards!! Good thing the hotel was able to provide me a razor, toothbrush and toothpaste.