Things I’ll remember from 2007:

- The New England Patriots choking hard in the AFC Championship and Tom Brady walking off the field, refusing to congratulate the Colts like a man. Of course, that’s ancient history now that they’re 16-0… but I’m still pulling for another choke in the playoffs.

- Punch an’ Pie starting in February. Though, I had no idea where that webcomic was going in the beginning, it’s actually starting to go somewhere, now.

- Getting fired from Shopping.com and then getting hired by Yahoo in the span of two weeks.

- Starting a crap fantasy league, and then having most everyone ignore it. That sucked.

- Turning 31.

- Taking Julia to her first AX ever in July, but the lead up of force feeding her anime was awesome, too. It’s too bad she’s not going in 2008. For that matter, my going is still up in the air.

- Restarting Dorama Night. Now, if only people would actually show up…

- The Year of the Facebook: Getting hooked on it and amassing a friends list to match my LJ one. Hey, wait a minute…

- Todd packing up and leaving for Sacramento.

- Another losing season for the guys in orange and black. But hey… my Tribe seemed to be showing signs of life.

- Starting the Repository.

- Quitting Yahoo and joining the team at Teneros, all in the span of 28 hours.

- Taking a piano class at San Jose City.

- Starting up a new tabletop RPG group with friends.

- The Awful Toshiba Debacle.

- Extricating myself from Livejournal, once and for all, and moving myself to a better, free, and ad-free Wordpress blog.

- Having an awesome time at Ani-Magic, and hoping they’ll bring it back for 2008. Because if they do, I’m so there.

- Autobots Assemble!

- Winning NaNoWriMo for the third year in a row.

- Experiencing the on-call rotation for the first time.

- Building the USS Excelsior.

- Doing Holidailies again, and actually sticking with it for 33 posts!

- Spending New Year’s Eve in Anaheim with my wife, and having a lot of fun.

So there’s 2007, by the bullet points. I’ll start talking about 2008 soon.

Current Mood: awake

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First, I want to say goodbye to 2007. I don’t do New Year’s resolutions. I do those on my birthday, because that’s really when my New Year begins. This year, I didn’t make any, because I accomplished pretty much everything I wanted to do before I turned thirty-one. For 2008, though, I would love to finish writing my novel and short story series… and maybe sell them someplace and do that for a living. I think I could be really good at writing.

Second, more stuff from Anaheim! We began our day late. We went to Tiffy’s! Those of you who’ve gone to AX with me know how awesome Tiffy’s is. Well, Julia got indoctrinated into the Tiffy’s coolness because we had our brunch there. We both ordered the chicken fried steak, and yes, Todd, I thought of you. Man, I miss the gang sometimes… and I miss AX being in Anaheim even more. All the memories I have of all those years spent wandering around the convention/hotel row, and driving around to the various places we’ve been, I just miss that kind of fun. However, there’s also something to be said for spending some quality time with the wife, and somehow I don’t think having everyone here would be conducive to that one bit. The good news is, we have some more pictures for you!

We went to Downtown Disney shortly before all the NYE hoopla began. This is a shot of the sign near the hotel entrance, right next to the ESPNZone (obviously to the right). We ate there and the food was awesome. Started with some chicken tenders, then we both had classic burgers with that addictive chipotle mayo. I love chipotle mayo. The fries were good, and Julia had a sour margarita that cost nine bucks, so I made her drink it all. Tap, they had mojitos! Julia took a shot of me pointing to the drink menu. That’s when I texted you that you should have come with us. Anyway, upstairs, they had this Dave & Buster’s like arcade, but with all sports games only (of course). I played air hockey, where Julia kicked my ass; basketball, where I kicked hers; hockey, where a cardboard goalie blocked most of my shots; and a driving game, where it’s clear to me why my wife has no license.

More tomorrow!

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We made it down here in less time than I thought. We took 101 all the way down, because I realized that we do take 5 and the reason behind that notion is that it’s usually for Anime Expo… and we always go down the same day as pre-registration. Well, you have to leave early in order to make it there in time to get your badges. Otherwise, you’re waiting along with the other late schlebs on the first day of the convention, and instead of actually enjoying the convention, you’re sitting in the sun, baking. This is not the case, here. We’re here for a vacation, not a convention, so there’s no need to rush.

It was nice, taking our time in the car. We stopped once for food, twice to stretch our legs, and no times for gas. Yeah, we made it down on one tank of gas and no one was more surprised than Julia. I, on the other hand, was pretty sure we were going to be fine. Anyway, we got in before 3:30pm (better than the 4:30pm we originally thought). The GPS crapped out before the second rest stop, and it was pretty pissed that we didn’t take 5 down. Finally, I think it gave up, because Julia said that it said, “Continue,” it a rather indignant tone. I was quick to point out that I didn’t think it had the ability to feel indignant about anything, but when I thought about it, I thought maybe she was right. It ran dry of battery a little more than half-way through the trip, so it didn’t have to worry about it, but we sure could’ve used it to tell us about LA traffic.

Before I go, I want to share some pics we’ve taken already!

These two shots are the views from our room. We specifically asked for a Disney view, and we got it. The weird thing is that while here, I feel like I need an Anime Expo and the gang with me. I love this Hilton, but it feels empty without 7 people in the room. The other weird thing is sleeping on a California King-sized bed instead of our smaller full-size at home. It’s huge! We’re looking forward to the fireworks show at 9:25pm tonight. They even provide like a little wicker couch that you can turn around and face the window so we can snuggle up and enjoy the show.

More later!

Current Mood: happy

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I finally broke down and created myself a Flickr account, which is something I thought I would never ever do. But given the fact that I have a crazy amount of pictures on my hard drive and the fear of losing all of them through a hard drive failure or some other circumstance has me a little afraid. So, I started uploading the old stuff, like all the photos I took at JTAF1 and Anime Expo earlier that same year. I’m also trying to track down all the photos I took of Anime Expo in 2000, which was the best year ever.

To the right, you will find one of my favorite photos of the Pagoda in Japantown San Francisco’s Peace Plaza. This photo ended up being on the cover of the First Annual JapanTown Anime Faire’s program guide. If you’ve got a flickr account, you can add me: http://www.flickr.com/people/ncc1701

Current Mood: geeky

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Every year in July, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation raises money through the AIDS Walk. Last year, my wife, and one of my best friends, , participated and raised about $1500+ between them for AIDS research. I thought this was a great cause and I have long donated money to AIDS research, personally. I think everyone can agree that raising money for such a cause is a good thing.

A week ago, I was chatting with a friend and he asked me when I was going to start running my own anime convention. Interestingly enough, he was the millionth person to ask me because I seem to be getting that question A LOT. I figured, hey, if people want me to run one, it seems like people want to go to it if I do. I think somehow there’s a guaranteed audience right there, but I didn’t really want to do for profit, yanno? If we were going to raise some money, I wanted the proceeds to go somewhere that needed it and so I’ve chosen to combine the idea of running an anime-related event and a donation to the AIDS Walk.

So, here is my plan:

• Hold an anime marathon in San Francisco, at the Red Vic Movie House
• Find 20 people to donate $100 each ($2000 total) in seed money to cover the venue.
• Sell the remaining 127 seats at $35 each for a 12 hour show.
• $35 times 127 people is $4,445 which would go straight to the AIDS Walk for my wife’s team.
• We’re calling it “Big Mike’s Anime Festival” on the advice of others.

The event would be held two weeks before Anime Expo on a Saturday, to help ease the cost. Plus, I think people can do $35 for charity given enough notice, and they get: 12 hours of anime with good friends, a special badge (which I’ll create), and a ‘program guide’. If we do this every year, I think we can start helping to make a difference.

Who’s with me on this?

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In spite of all the horror stories about Anime Expo, I had a ton of fun. I will most likely return in 2008, 2009, 2010, and so on. Remember, it’s not all about the convention, it’s about who you go with. And my running crew rules all.

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In preparation for Anime Expo, Julia has watched:

• Bishoujou Senshi Sailormoon R: The Movie
• Aa! Megamisama (OAV)

She has yet to watch:

• Bannou Bunka Neko Musume
• Gunsmith Cats
• Mononoke Hime
• Otaku no Video

I think we need to root her on!

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Some of you did not get to see my New Year’s Resolutions on my birthday. I don’t do resolutions at the calendar new year because it’s not my new year.. it’s the calendar’s. Anyway, an update on my current resolutions for age Twenty-Nine are:

Resolutions for Age Twenty-Nine:

1) I will finish Knight Commander by summer’s end.

Not quite by summer’s end, but I finished the first draft in October.

2) I will move to Pacifica by the year’s end.

I’ve been living in the city since August, with my fiancee, .

3) I will go to Anime Expo 2005 and have fun.

Done and done.

4) I will switch jobs, either internally or externally. (sort of)

I’ve quit Walmart.com and am unemployed, so I’ve stopped working at the hell-hole altogether.
I hope everyone has a Happy New Year!

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I’m trying to get back into a better activity routine. Early yesterday, Jon called and then came over and we did a 1.5 mile walk and stretch; I think he wants me to ease back into it because right around the one mile mark, my left knee started to ache a little bit and even after stretching out my quads the pain did not go away. I don’t mind waking, but I’m eager to work on my upper body, which is where the flub bases it’s operations out of. It would be great to finally get to 250, which is way closer to my target weight than 305 is. It would also be great to not be the resident creepy ugly overweight Hispanic guy; I’ll become the resident creepy slightly overweight Hispanic guy, instead. I told Jon I’d like to reach 250 by my next birthday, and he said not only was that reachable in 12 months, but he wouldn’t be surprised if I was 225, if I worked hard enough. He also recommended I get back into the workout routine from before Anime Expo, and maybe join a gym, but…

I have to admit to being really fucking self-conscious at a gym. The last time I went to a gym to check it out, I remember that I was looking around and seeing everyone there look at me like I was a fucking cautionary tale. Normally, I don’t care, but I mean… it was a fucking gym, people. I got the hell out of there post-haste. When I was working at eBay, I used to go to the private gym there in the middle of the night, when no one else was there. I know it might be a shock to some, but recently I’ve felt like some of my seld-confidence has disappeared, and I’m trying to figure out why that is. No answers, yet, but until I get to that point again, I think I’m going to continue to just do my everyday cardio routine until I feel like I’ve gotten to a place where I can go to a gym and use weights. Todd’s brother Matt stopped by to visit, and he mentioned joining the gym down the street… I said I might be interested in joining, too, if he was going along.

In the anime world, I have moved from School Rumble and Najica to Aishiteruze Baby!, which is incredibly adorable so far. This high school playboy comes home one day to find a little girl sitting in his home’s foyer. His mother orders him to take care of her from now on, as the little girl’s mother abandoned her on their doorstep and they’ve no idea when she’ll be back, if ever. So, he spends the entire morning dealing with her and getting her to kindergarten, and the first thing he does when he gets to class is collapse in the doorway and gasp, “I’m never… having children… ever!” I died laughing. But later in the episode, they kind of get into a situation where she gets lost, and he exhibits some character in looking for her (as it was written), and I just thought the interaction was pretty cool. Especially when the little girl is digging around in his room and she finds his porn! Hilarious. After this, I’ve got Jinki: Extend to watch, so I’m hoping this goes as fast as School Rumble did.

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so please stop calling me and asking, people. I just got off the phone for the eleventh time, someone asking if I’m home… and I picked up my phone at my home number.

I got back last night at 5:30pm. It was a fun weekend, a really good experience. I love Anime Expo. More on the third, fourth, and final days of the vacation later. I just woke up.

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