I bought a cell phone.
The world has ended.
No updates because of the insane workload that hit me right after my return. Yes, I'm that busy. I don't really have time to think right now.
This cell phone thing is really just something to make Otakon a LOT easier, as people will actually be able to find me now. That would have come very much in handy before and during AX.
Yes, I finished the ADV project I had been working on, and ended up jumping right into another. Surprisingly, I actually got THE project I've been asking for. ^^
Yeah, I got back last night, pretty much on schedule, and actually arriving at the correct terminal this time. I was planning on writing about everything that had happened since Saturday night, but I needed to partially unpack/sleep, and now I need to run some errands and go to work, as I just found out I have a 5-10 shift today. Oops.
So, update will come along at some point. The gallery is finalized, though - and there are pictures of the stuff I bought at the end. For the clueless - there are no photos of my immediate family in the AX gallery.
And no, I never made it to AI. Oops.
Back in the hotel again... actually, have been for a while, since there really wasn't much to do today o.O
Once again I'm forgetting details about what I did today - probably the lack of sleep doing that x_x The day started with us unsuccessfully trying to wake up in time to get to the Pioneer panel - though we didn't get there until late, it seems Heat Guy J had run over anyways. I did ask my question about Sugar specials - of course, no news on that. We stayed through the Pioneer music panel, then I went over to the exhibition hall.
Keys-oneechan was in line waiting for an aBe autograph, as was Jessica, farther back in the line... and a Kajiura autograph line would be starting soon. I attempted to see if the booth had gotten a copy of GateKeepers 21 vol.2 with pencilboard - they still didn't have one. -_- I joined onee-chan, and Jason (wolve) and Lucan (Kazara) that had gathered there too. I lost Lauren at some point, and just ended up leaving with Jason and Lucan. Merli joined us at some point on the way, but wolve and I went off in the other direction to try to get into the Kajiura panel. This doesn't happen - the line was far too long, and it was decided that we would both attempt to get her autograph the next morning, abusing our badges to get into the exhibition hall early as it would be in the Pioneer booth.
We ended up rejoining Lucan and Merli, then walking to Carl's Jr, where I pretty much get the same thing I ordered last time (basically the equivalent of a double Whopper at BK), and this time got the criss cut fries, too ^^; We walked back to the convention center, chatting a bit with Cthulhu27 on the way about translation job opportunities. Lucan goes elsewhere while we catch the tail end of the FUNimation panel, and the ADV industry panel starts.
Of course, not much in the way of announcements, as most of the announcements had been tackled during the previous panel. One more was pulled out of Matt by dlw's Jedi Mind Trick, though. ^^; After the panel wrapped up, I returned to the exhibitor's hall once again - and notice Jessica, Thomas, and Bunly all in the Kajiura line. I was tempted to join them in their spot in the line, but didn't, opting to go back to the line - that didn't exist. ^^; The line had been closed, so no autograph for me today after all. The autographs went fast, too - Jessica and the others got theirs done in a matter of minutes.
Jessica and I went back to the hotel, and I spotted another Kajiura autograph line - though this one required tickets from the panel that we didn't go to. =P I DDRed for a little bit - in the morning, I had dumped all my edit data onto my memcard, so I tried out an edit... while still wearing slippers. And, I happened to pick bakudan. And forgot to 1.5 it. Yeah... x_X Anyways, I did a random all singles set, then I did a 3 song doubles set, consisting of roulette (not sure which song it was), A oni, and CSFIL -speed- 1.5 hidden dark. My PA sucks, as usual, especially while wearing slippers. I head up after that, hoping to shower before the Synch-Point panel, but Jessica and Lauren were there waiting for housekeeping to kick them out ^^;
After Lauren took care of some flight business, I called up Hui-Ping - she gets back to me, and I go to meet up with her at the Animatrix showing. I end up leaving shortly after to check out the Synch-Point panel, which apparently almost none of the press was present for ^^; (The only significant announcement was DiGi Charat manga, anyways.) I did get to talk to Saki for a little bit, though. ^^;
Went back to the Animatrix showing, and watched what was left with Hui-Ping. She leaves after that, though. I go back to the Marriott, and see Lauren, Jessica, Merli, Richard, and Jeff sitting in the area of floor at the part closest to the convention center. Amazingly, that was the first time I had seen Richard for the entire con. Merli and Richard leave, and a few hours later, I do the same. I go to the Pizza Hut to watch more incompetence while waiting a ridiculously long time for my medium Supreme pizza. Bleh.
I take the pizza up to the room, and watch the end of Terminator 2 and the beginning of Twins with Bunly before everyone else showed up (Thomas showed up a little after midnight shortly, then left again to do a Carl's Jr. food run, then in another half hour he got back, and the rest came shortly after). Yes, that sentence probably doesn't resemble proper English. I'm getting tired. I need to sleep if I want to be up as early as I want to wake up in order to actually get a Kajiura autograph. Lauren's call to the airline is on hold for another hour giving us faint music and ridiculous ads every few minutes. Nyaaaaaa.
This is probably my last update in CA, as we are checking out tomorrow morning, and I do not have internet access from my aunt's. (I'm probably not going to be staying at Irvine again, either.) I guess I'll probably just see you all when I get back home. (As usual, I uploaded today's pics to the gallery... all 10 of them. Yeah, I really did do nothing of importance today.)
Big day today. Let's see if I actually remember everything that happened...
We started the day trying to get up in time to get to the TOKYOPOP panel. It takes some prodding to get Lauren to actually wake up and stay up ^^; (Yes, plenty of stuff was announced - if you really want to read up on the news that came from the panels, read AnimeOnDVD.com. (Endorsed plug.) Lauren answers one of the trivia questions correctly, and wins a copy of GateKeepers manga vol.2. Before that, they were giving out the non-yaoi version of Gravitation - non-yaoi because the pages were all blank =P
Before Media Blasters got underway, I left to go to the exhibition hall (aka dealers room) to grab a copy of Yuki Kajiura's CD. I also end up picking up a lain soundtrack that also happened to be there. ^^; I'll hold off on the domestic Sweets for now, though. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to ask for a copy of GateKeepers 21 vol.2 with a pencilboard -_-
Lauren met up with me as I was on my way back to find her, and we ended up going back to the exhibition hall to kill time before ADV. As we entered the room to catch the panel, GONZO was finishing up by giving prizes away in the form of a gigantic game of rock, paper, scissors. o.O ADV's DVD-R presentation is interesting, as usual (and it seems just about every company copied them, having either a DVD-R or PowerPoint presentation for AX)... still no announcement for Saikano, PitaTen, or Tutu animes...
Bandai was up after that... they were lazy, and popped in the DVD that had been running in their exhibition hall booth the entire weekend. So, since the video had been running the entire time, we naturally knew all that the 10 or so minute presentation had already. As usual, we bring up CLAMP campus, and find out that Bandai doesn't even own the DVD rights to it - and a rep confirms that said rights are up for grabs. One of the trivia question was somewhat directed at dlw, asking what show Bandai grabbed from under ADV's paws... in return, dlw publically returns a pair of panties.
Nope, can't remember what happened. Lauren tells me that we went to the exhibition hall, then we went back to the room to ponder the food situation.
We ended up driving out to grab food at Carl's Jr. Pretty good for fast food - and finally, a fast food burger I can still eat. ^^; We headed back and went directly to the line for the Yuki Kajiura concert - which went across the entire 3rd floor and outside onto an outdoor roof area. Luckily, we made it to the line to catch a spot with shade. Surprisingly, the entire line gets dumped into the concert room when they start the seating. The concert starts - and it was a pretty damn good show. There was an amusing moment where Kajiura leaked a big .hack//SIGN spoiler several times, and she was shushed by the audience before she did it a third time ^^; That was cute ^^;;;
After Kajiura, we headed out, and spotted a rabite descending the stairs below us - it's Keys-oneechan ^^; We end up chasing her all the way to the desks in the middle of the Marriott. I stay to talk with her for quite a while - Lauren goes back to the room, and wolve and Lizz show up at some point. There was also an amazingly cute Meryl cosplayer (with a child badge), which made Lizz state that she can't cosplay her anymore, as she couldn't compete with the cuteness ^^;
After that, I headed up to the room, where Lauren is once again playing Soul Calibur II ^^; We end up getting dinner down at the hotel restaurant (deciding against room service), where Thomas and I each get a New York sirloin, and Lauren got a grilled swordfish (which she proclaims "suteki"). Thomas takes the entire bill on his own, generously ^^;
After dinner, I go over to the Hilton to check on ducky and the others. Only ducky and Yan are there - DrForester and carpy arrive later to go to sleep. I'll let the pictures in the gallery speak for themselves as to what went on in there =P
As I headed back, I finally decided to play a game of DDR... for the absolutely ridiculous price of $1.50 for 3 songs. x_X Naturally, I play a doubles set, so that was $3 right down the drain. I picked Random All difficult nonstop, and got through Hold on Me, Higher -next morning mix-, 1998, then fail Xenon from being completely unable to hear the music -_- At least I got over 3 songs from it. I went back up to the hotel room, and started writing this entry. ^^;
And now, Lauren has started playing Soul Calibur II again.
Unexpectedly, our hotel offers broadband internet and free long-distance calls for a flat rate of $10/night. Lauren and Jessica's two friends decided to cover this cost, so now I am typing this up on one of their laptops (and preparing the first batch of AX photos to go up on the gallery... though most of them are just from various spots in California =P)...
Yesterday, as usual, didn't go exactly to plan - we did get to The Block at Orange (as I discovered that was its full name) - which is basically a mall with no roof. Pretty nice place, except I had forgotten my sunglasses in the car... x_x Walked around various stores, etc... we left around 4:35 ( as the timestamp on the gallery photo says ^^; ), and headed over back to Cerritos to drop off some stuff and pick up my AX registration paper. We then went over to the Hilton to do the registration line...
... for well over two hours. x_x Hui-Ping waited in the horrendously long line (which wrapped around the long hallway, then all around a room dedicated to line queuing, then the actual room with the registration terminals). I was bounced back and forth trying to get my Industry pass - first, the people told me that I needed to wait in line, then another person told me I could go right in, then the first person went to ask about my paper, then several minutes later returned to tell me to go to Con Ops to ask them... which happens to be all the way in the convention center. x_x I ended up getting somewhat lost in the convention center, as the way to the mezzanine was complicated by retarded stairwell design, and the elevators weren't working. Got into Con Ops, scooted next door, got a written notice from Ruby Wang to give to registration that I should have been let into the registration room in the first place, ran all the way back to the Hilton, scooted into the registration room...
... and continue the bouncing act, being sent to opposite corners of the room with no one knowing where I should be. I think I spent a good 20 minutes waiting for various people to walk around to where I was standing (with the poor girl at the terminal having no idea what to do with my papers), but I finally got the pass, then proceeded to rejoin Hui-Ping in the line. As she had to wait in the previously stated long-line (though she had just made it out of the hallway), it took us another two or so hours to make it back into the registration room. I got a photo of the registration lady that I was tied up with (she's the one in the black top), and we finally made it out - I did a quick stop at the Marriott to figure out where I would be meeting with Lauren and Jessica, then we headed to eat dinner, as it was now 9pm (and obviously, we wouldn't make it all the way up to Rowland Heights to go to AI). Grabbed a quick cheap dinner, and Hui-Ping dropped me off at my aunt's before heading back to Irvine.
I spent the night basically setting up a home theatre system, as they had purchased a Kenwood boxed set of speakers/receiver/5 DVD changer, and they had also purchased a karaoke DVD deck and a wireless mic system. Simple wiring job, really - but it seemed to be over the heads of my aunts and uncles. ^^; I had also called Lauren to set up the meeting time and place. So, I crashed.
Got up at around 9am to shower, go to the factory, eat a small breakfast, and get dropped off at the Marriott to meet up with Lauren and Jessica, who were both delayed a little bit. I did finally meet up with Lauren, who managed to show up shortly after I had left the meeting place to find a phone to call her with ^^; We got the room, and Jessica and her friends came in shortly after. We tried to set up the PS2 - as usual, there were plastic braces preventing any guest input going into the TV. So, using my small luggage lock keys, I unscrewed the wall plate, which revealed some kind of signal splitter - apparently, an input and output. Fearing that disconnecting our input would affect other rooms in our floor, we didn't do anything to the splitter, and we headed over to registration after trying to break the plastic braces unsuccessfully. ^^; The line was a LOT shorter and went much faster - we were in and out in less than probably 20 minutes. We went to CPM, heard them announce they had Narue no Sekai (woo, another new season anime I haven't had the time to watch), waited for the AnimeOnDVD.com panel, and walked off with most of that group to the dealer's room after that. Just as planned, I captured Kazara's pores with a 1600x1200 capture (I had forgotten to set it to max resolution) =P
After the dealer's room closed, we headed back up to the hotel, where we finished tampering with the wall outlet. I just decided to unplug the input anyways, and I would just put it back if the hotel finds something wrong. ^^; We played some of the Saikano adventure game (*cough*dating sim*cough*), then some Soul Calibur II, CCS Tetris (after eating poorly cooked Pizza Hut from the in-hotel establishment), then more SC2. Jessica's two friends left to go back to Burbank to pick up supplies and laptops/router so we could have a nice little LAN thing going here.
That's about it... Lauren and Jessica played SC2 for some two or more hours, and Lauren went to practice mode on her own after Jessica stopped playing... the laptops and other supplies got here, so I started writing this update and uploading gallery pictures instead of sleeping... ^^; I need to be up for more panels tomorrow, and I've been lacking proper sleep since I've gotten here, so I should get as much sleep as a can ^^;;
Well, as I said, the gallery is updated, with pretty much what I've been describing in this entry, and some interesting cosplays I saw. Take a look, though chances are most of the AoD people already have ^^;
(This entry is in Pacific time. =P)
Well, yeah... things definitely haven't happened according to plan...
We left my house yesterday, tried to go to the bank but I had conveniently forgotten the check I had to deposit, so we had to forget about the check and just go to the airport... and hit traffic. The flight was at 6pm - we made it to the airport drop-off at like 4:40, I checked in, did the whole security thing, and made it to the gate at 5:02 - 18 minutes before boarding. So, I got there in 18 minutes to spare ^^;
Random note - if you fly United Airlines on a 747, there's a Japanese music audio track. Being July 1st, they were playing the July tracklist, but they hadn't put out the July magazine so I had no idea what they were playing. The June tracklist seemed better anyways =P
Got to the airport, where mysteriously we were sent to a terminal normally used by Continental Airlines. o.O Took a while to reclaim my baggage, and a horribly deformed bar of white chocolate that I had forgotten to remove from there ^^; Walked outside, happened to see my aunt, and waited for the van to pull around and everyone to gather before leaving.
At my aunt's house, unexpectedly, there is no internet access whatsoever - so I was completely out of contact, and resorted to placing long distance calls ^^;;; Tried Jessica first, but her phone was going right to voice mail, so it must have been turned off. Luckily, I was able to get through to Lauren, but it didn't look like we were able to form any kind of plan for Wednesday (today, now).
After I got off the phone, Hui-Ping came over, and it was decided that I would stay with her and her roommates over at Irvine. I didn't really want to stay over at my aunt's house, with no one except my aunts and uncles and my grandpa. ^^; So, this was better. We got there at about 3am, and I pretty much went to sleep shortly after that, since everyone else was asleep anyways.
Today, I got up around 10:30, took a shower, etc... we ended up not going to the hotel like I had kinda wanted... I'll see them tomorrow, anyways =P We went to CPK to eat, after talking for a while and taking random digicam shots ^^; I don't have my cable or card reader right now so I can't upload anything yet, though.
Today, we're just going to spend some time around the area... going to The Block at Orange, maybe check out Arcade Infinity, do the AX pre-reg thing, then I'll end up going back to my aunt's for the night. Tomorrow, I'll be at AX and probably won't be updating unless I decide to spring for the hotel's internet service or something ^^;
I'll be leaving in a few minutes... wish me luck =P
See ya all when I get back...
Yeah. The departure time is really creeping up on me? Am I ready? Hell no. =P
I have to admit defeat - even with all the skipped nights of sleep, I have failed to complete the ADV timing before my departure. There is no way I can finish now - I do only have one more episode to go, but I can't go without sleep for much longer.
Today, woke up somewhat late as usual. I had started a vidcap before I went to bed, scheduling it for 48 minutes. I had to clip the resulting capture down because the episode turned out to only be 40 minutes long. Oops. I started another vidcap and went back to get another half-hour or so of sleep. Woke up about 7 minutes before I had to stop the vidcap, so I waited for that, then I bolted out the door to get to City Place, seeing as how at that point (4:20 pm), I was supposed to be there already. -_-
Made it there, big crowd, one of the first people I see is, surprisingly, AJ. o.O Hugs proceed, then the conversation becomes something like this:
<AJ> You never call, you never write... *pout*
<Ms. Tenicela> Yeah, you never call, you never write... *glare*
^^;
There's a token line on the machine (well, tokens, Initial D Ver.2 cards, and random other junk), but the order isn't really being followed as they are showing the reporter what they think she should see. So, I get a doubles set fairly quickly, as apparently no one else in the massive gathering had done so yet. I do mahou no tobira heavy, A oni, and CSFIL -speed- heavy... then sit down, and I dealt with hurting legs for a good 10 minutes. Yeah, I shouldn't really jump into stuff like that without properly eating, drinking, or stretching ^^;
Several people are interviewed, and later a cameraman arrived with a rather hefty-looking digital SLR to take pictures. My name was given to the reporter, but I was never interviewed or photographed (though I may appear in the background). My responses to an interview would probably be stupid, anyways =P Josh was interviewed, though, and we find we can't seem to place when he actually first played DDR. ^^;
I don't stay too long after the reporter and cameraman leave, since I still had the ADV project to do and all. I do give MAX 300 heavy double another try - and I actually fail at the last 4 or 5 steps of the mad sequence at the end - the farthest I've gotten through the song on a machine to date, but still not a pass (though I wouldn't have failed if the machine were still a MAX2). I also did Dancemania oni double for the heck of it, and actually complete Get Up 'N Move without missing anything... until the last shuffle, where I drop 3 bars all at once. ^^; Yep, from full to empty. I get a few seconds into I Believe in Miracles, but not too far having never played that on doubles before, and the pads were sticky to the point that they restricted movement. All I really wanted was to place a score on the Oni charts, anyways =P
I make it back home, shower, eat dinner, then start timing in a frenzy. Around midnight, my mom interrupts me for a good 2 or so hours to help me pack all the clothing I'm going to need. I go back to my work, and, stopping occasionally to check on IRC and get food breaks, I finish the episode. Removing the time it took to pack, I believe it took about 6 hours to make it through episode 3 - 40 minutes long, and about 360 events. Definitely much better time than it took to work on Rin Taro's nonsensical rambling.
I haven't decided what to do with episode 4 yet. I'll either burn a copy of it and take it with me to CA in the off-chance that I get that much free time to do paid work, or I'll just leave it until after my return. I do not like it at all that, despite being able to blast through episodes quickly, I still wasn't able to complete the entire project before leaving.
Well, the plan for tomorrow is, wake up in time for Patty to get here, we do something about finishing up the packing (I still need to figure out the best way to transport the PS2), check the mail and see if my check or one of my packages arrive, get dropped off at the airport, fly to CA, get picked up by my aunt, and arrive at my cousin's house (but unfortunately, she's living near campus right now so I don't get to see her right away). Nothing else is planned. I'm really hoping to be able to do something on Wednesday - ducky and raziel are arriving noon-ish then.