Worry vs. Donuts

More highlights. Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere we go:

Money is evil thing: The dealer room has taken none of my money. Artist Alley, however, has taken 21 of my hard earned dollars. Anyone who says OEL/artists from the states can’t draw well needs to be tranquilized for the good of humanity. Death Note art is hot here - whether that sets the tone for other cons is yet to be seen.

Otakon: I’m going, is anyone else?

Friends: Seen many, made a few more. Met some very cool people while I poked my head into the “Anime Singled Out” panel. The conversation was far more interesting than the panel, which I wanted to witness just because of the unbridled chaos I thought it might give rise to. Yeah, it was cheesy.

Quote of the day: “Will you be my friend?” - Asked by a con attendee talking to Hirano Aya (voice of Suzumiya Haruhi) after he was repeatedly asked to sit down.

Whee, food: Had a fantastic dinner with some other ANN staff I see far too little of. Thanks to everyone who had to put up with my crappy jokes.

Three Dollars: I got my lunch for three dollars. I only mention this because my Frosted Mini-wheats at breakfast cost FOUR FREAKING DOLLARS. Thanks a ton, Long Beach.

Sleep: I’m gonna go get some of it. Nite nite.

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A look back at Thursday:

Translations: Did a few, worked on some interview prep, fun times were had.

Can’t get enough of those wonderful…lines: People were lining up for registration 5 hours before it began, and it wasn’t long until the line stretched all over the place. Is standing in line really that fun? Am I missing out on something?

Random cool stuff: Ran into someone from my former neighborhood near Osaka. Talking about “my old home” does make me feel a little crotchety, but it was a fun conversation regardless.

CONvergence: After this weekend, I’m pretty sure all the time I spend at CVG next weekend where I am not helping with Torchwood, I’ll be in the hot tub. I’ll need it.

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For your reading pleasure, some interesting experiences/things that make travel worthwhile:

☆ Meeting a fellow language major on the train and talking for 2 hours
☆ Having a room with a bird’s eye view of the Gaslamp Quarter after a Padres game
☆ Knowing that a long day can be ended beautifully by a cone from the ice cream shop one block from your hostel, which is open until 1AM
☆ Being able to jog along the shoreline the morning after to take in good scenery and repair whatever damage you did to yourself with the ice cream
☆ Good Phó
☆ Helping a friend break into their own house (don’t ask)
☆ Swings

All things considered, I have a lot of stuff to do… so I should get back to doing it.

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That is all.

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Quick update before I go back to catching up on work:

I’ve arrived in Santa Monica. The city is, as always, an interesting place to be. I’m staying at the HI-Santa Monica which is fantastic thus far. Since I don’t have many plans for the next week, I plan to spend my time working, enjoying the scenery, and maybe even taking in a hostel event or two.

Hotels, although nicer, are BORING. Hostels have a lot of life, there’s stuff happening all the time, and I always run into interesting people and find myself chatting about all sorts of weird stuff. I’ve always wanted to join in one of the hostel events that are always happening, but never had the time. Although I have lots of work to do, I should have an opportunity or two to join some events.

My schedule for the next few weeks, for the curious/stalkers:

Today-Saturday, 6/23: Santa Monica
6/23-6/27: San Diego
6/27-7/3: Long Beach, AnimeExpo, work, potential hilarity
7/4-not sure: Minneapolis and CONvergence

EDIT: The car was fixed. Final repair bill: $2007 and change. Apparently the repairs involved removing the entire dash of the car (steering panel, gages, stereo, everything) and fiddling with wires and switches for six hours.

I spent most of last night playing Babanuki with some random students from Japan and Italy. They forced the losers to dance. Interesting hostel experience attained.

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Quite a month we’re having here. First the computer, now the car. Methinks I’m going to have to generate $3000 magically somehow.

Before I whine about that, though, some announcements:

Many, many thanks to Jo and Lxri for visiting me in Madison. VISITORS = SWELL. Anyways, I know that this thank you is a bit late, but I figured I would post it anyways because I am really thankful for having the company.

See Ocean’s Thirteen. It was snazzy. More on that later.

You damn kids and your “expo” - I leave for California next Wednesday (6/20) and will be bumming around LA and San Diego before going to Long Beach the following Tuesday for a week of anime, interpreting, and all the other joy associated with AnimeExpo. If anyone reading this will be in LA between the 20th and 23rd or San Diego between the 24th and 26th and you want to hang out, let me know. Otherwise, I plan to spend the time before the con sipping Bubble Tea and working on ANN translations. That might not sound like bliss, but trust me - it’s not a terrible way to spend the day.
Okay, the car: (Read the article)

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World Without Wires.

As in my wireless is DEAD, making it really tough to do work. I have to connect with a cord (tough in my apartment, since I don’t want to be in the way of my roommates) or use the Library (which is on the icky summer schedule). WOE.

This, of course, brings me closer to the inevitable purchase of NEW LAPTOP. Of course, I’m still debating on what to get exactly. Matt and Eric offered me some suggestions and their advice has been invaluable, but I have yet to make a final decision. So if anyone out there has a particular model they would suggest, go for it. Unfortunately, I have to go with a high-end video card, which will raise the price.
More later. I have to go do work while I still have time.

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And so summer break begins. How each person spends theirs is a matter of preference. Me? I prefer as LOW stress as possible… so I decided on a whim to return to Minneapolis for the weekend. That, plus the other stuff I’ve been up to:

Work: Well, yeah. Gotta work, and I also picked up Kim Tal-su’s Taebaek Mountains (Taihaku Sanmyaku) as my “required” summer reading material. Looking forward to getting to that. Of course, besides Tal-su and translations, there’s stuff like:

Hanging around: Last night we had poker at House of Skark, which was the twisted, wonderful madness that it always is. Today I headed out to Grand Old Day with Mara and her roommate Sven (man of many names) to eat tasty food, admire the arts and crafts, and ponder the meaning of tomato flavored chocolate. After that, I ended up at Eric and Jessi’s place for hanging out and chatting. Good weekend^-^.

Hot Fuzz: Easily the best film I’ve seen so far this year. Just in case you were wondering, YES - it is worth full price. Go see this now. Next up: Ocean’s 13 on Friday.

My Name is Kim Sam-soon: Before leaving Madison last Friday, I met up with Melanie and Soo Young the night before to watch the next 3 episodes of the Korean TV Drama My Name is Kim Sam-soon. Does it have many of the stereotypical plot elements of Asian TV Dramas? Yes. Is it incredibly addicting? YES. The writing is smart, the acting is good, the one-liners are sharp, and the directing is top-notch. You can see where things are going… but that doesn’t keep the process of getting there from being funny and intriguing. Highly recommended.

A few road trips are also on the horizon potentially: One in July, and Vegas in August. More to come on that later…

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