So, I will be texting you tomorrow with my Crimbo spam. But the others who I don't have cell phone numbers for:

Merry Crimbo!

( Click Here For The Crimbo Duds! )

[20:04] jekkachan: I pooped a perfectly preserved kernel of corn today.

Discuss.

So, this morning, I was browsing AnimeNewsNetwork, when I saw this: "DreamWorks to Make 3D Live-Action Ghost in the Shell: Steven Spielberg calls Shirow's cyber-police manga "one of my favorite stories"

Ghost In The Shell? A Live-Action movie? All I can really hope is that this goes through. We got Speed Racer goin', so this might get to have a great extra impact on the anime industry. And they might get the Neon Genesis Evangelion and Akira movie off the ground as well. We can only dream!

So, the other day, I was reading the "Hey, Answerman!" column of the AnimeNewsNetwork. I see the question he asked fans from last week and scrolled down through the answers. As I scrolled, I saw one name that I scrolled passed and did a double-take. I couldn't believe my eyes, but yes, it was real. The person I saw was none other than our own Sarah Hodge-Wetherbe.

Okay, so I'm extremely late with this post, so sue me. Just leave me with enough money, so I can spend it at Anime Boston this week. Uh... moving along now...

On Sunday, March 9th, 2008, I went to Jamaica Plain, MA, to Showa Women's University for a cultural festival held by 126 Japanese junior high school girls flown in from Japan. I was invited to this event by Jeff, who is the Secretary and Assistant Director of Operations at Anime Boston 2008.

Of course, we enjoyed ourselves and had fun. The school is beautiful and they managed to do some nice recreations to it, such as a lovely garden with sakura trees (but they weren't blossoming yet) and a pond with koi in it or a room for the Japanese tea ceremony. Very, very pretty, I though. There were lots of gifts and prizes being handed out by the girls. There were interactive stuff as well, such as taiko drumming, calligraphy writing, or games like a volleyball-type game using a paper balloon. I played with one of the schoolgirls, hitting the paper balloon back and forth. I've played badminton as a kid and a slight bit in high school, so I'm very good at rallying. But, when the paper balloon starts flying around and I hit the schoolgirl in the face with the paper balloon by accident... uh... well... Let's just move along with the story now, shall we? We wandered around some more. I watched Jeff fail at hopscotch and totally fail at using chopsticks. And we horrendously failed at calligraphy, writing our kanji-fied names.

So, overall, Jeff and I enjoyed ourselves. At the end of the event, we got to see some karate, heard the piano played by schoolgirls, and was finished off with a song from all 126 Japanese junior high school girls.

We then went for food at Papa Gino's. ...Which I haven't been to in years. Then... I went home. Hooray!

Pictures are here!

As the subject says, it was one gloomy birthday, alright. I suppose we can start with the bad news and move to the good.
Bad new: Around 5:00 PM EST, I enter the living room and kitchen and my mom tells me that my eldest sister had a miscarriage. ...Yeeeah, I was very much bummed after that. It also sort of reinforced my birthday curse. Apparently, people die the day before, on, and the day after my birthday. Odd how it is car-related accidents, too. Jacob (a student Joey and I know for a couple of months during our Senior year), 17th, day before my birthday. Dale Earnhardt, Sr. (he somehow randomly ties into my point here), on my birthday. And Steven/Revenant, from KoL, 19th, the day after my birthday, one year ago. As for the miscarriage, my sister called while my brother-in-law was driving home from the hospital or doctor's office. Does that count? Still, the issue annoys and irks me.

Good news: I had ice cream cake from Carvel. For breakfast (being around 1:00 or 2:00 PM for me... Ahem.) Then rice porridge after. Note, please don't do what I just did. You'll feel sick after and it's not good for your health. My brother bought me a 4 GB mp3 player from Best Buy. That was kind of him. Let's see... what else...? Oh! I got the awesome Dave/EyeSpeculum to sing "Happy Birthday" to me over KoL Radio. That was certainly awesome.

In other random news, I now know what is wrong with my PS2. Apparently, the laser/lens was screwed and couldn't read my disc. The laser can read all the other games I had, but not this one specific game. It was annoying, and with desperation (or completely annoyance, I can't remember), I opened up my PS2. I tried opening it without screwing with the VOID sticker on it, but I peeled it and it has VOID all over the sticker now. Which is completely cool. But, I opened the PS2, took a Q-tip, dipped it in some awesome isopropyl rubbing alcohol, and gently cleaned the lens with it. Then dried it with the other side of the Q-tip. Now, it works perfectly. It probably would have been better for me to buy those DVD Lens Cleaners, but I sort of got lazy. And it was in the middle of the night. Heh. Wait... now that I think about it... I opened it my damned PS2 at 3:00 AM. And I had school in a few hours, too. Note: I am an idiot.

Best news ever: I am currently watching Azumanga Daioh. And crying. From the sheer hilarity.

Apparently, I have revolved around the giant star we call the sun twenty times. I feel old now. Oy! You kids, git off mah lawn!

In other news, I just finished watching Burst Angel. That's a good enough birthday present for me. I love the entire cast. Awesome folks.

In other, other news, I managed to fix my PS2... with scotch tape. I am annoyed and extremely amused at my potential findings on the Internets. Look. And it worked, too. I couldn't believe it. I laughed. And... my PS2 has been sitting on and running (paused) from around 10:00 PM. It's now 2:00 AM. That's a lot of power and heat the thing is spurting out. I think I should not deny its awesomeness and allow my soul to be sucked back into it.

Let's see the rest of my "birthday" turns out.

It's official. I hate my PS2. That's what happens when you have the really old crapped SCPH-30001 junk generation models. Apparently, it will read some of my other games but not Disc Two of Xenosaga Episode III: Also Sprach Zarathurstra. I spent two hours trying to figure out how to get it to work, from opening my PS2 to blow dust out of it, cleaned the game (which gave the game nice streaks, instead of the beautiful untouched complexion before *sniffles*), and unplug it to let it cool down for a while. Nothing work. Two hours blown trying to get the damned game to load. I gave up and went to bed. I was really annoyed and pissed.

I'll probably be trying again to see if it will work or if it's time to upgrade to the newer crap. Also, as I just woke up about twenty minutes ago, my mom is gone, but my older brother is here. Hooray! *Rolls eyes* ...Actually, I lied. His car is parked here, but he's not at home. Strange.

I find it funny how I don't check or dote on my phone as I used to before. Well, technically, my current "phone" does not belong to me, as it used to belong to my little sister's "friend." My old phone was my Razr, but it blew up. Or rather, it was melted into. The current phone now is a weak, crappy, and cheap Nokia. It totally sucks and lags too much for my liking.

So, as I do not dote on my phone as much, I totally missed Amber's call/voice mail at 8:21 PM and Anna's text message at 8:35 PM. I received their messages when I looked at my phone around 1:00 AM (while playing Xenosaga Episode III: Alsp Sprach Zarathustra, mind you). Yeeeeah. Amber left a voice mail as I had called her yesterday. She said that she was going to be up that night and that I could call her back. But, I decided not to, since it would be hard to talk in the middle of the night with my mom sleeping in the next room over. The funny thing is, when I got to bed (around 6:00 AM), I dreamed about Amber. We were apparently doing something together, but I don't remember what. It was highly strange and quite entertaining for my mind to play with it.

So, I called her today and we talked for over an hour. We generally talked about our lives and conventions and Anime Boston. And random stuff, such as the red rings of death on the XBOX 360 or inviting me out to her place on Independence Day to teach me how to shoot bottle-rockets with my teeth. Since my birthday is on Monday and she regretted not being able to make it out here and hang out with me (which is fine, as the woman has tons of pr0n to read. Literally. She's a doujinshi owner and stocking up to make a killing at Anime Boston), she said that she would be my date for the Cerulean Ball at Anime Boston. Stop chuckling, you asshats. :oP It will be awesome to see the good ol' group again at Anime Boston. Par-tay, yo!

And now, I think I shall return to the addicting drug in my PS2 and probably spend another late night playing it. Or reading and voicing it, in my case, as these voice actors and actresses grow on me. Heh.

So, this happened about two weeks ago or so, but...


See the man in the image above? This is Vic Mignogna, a famous voice actor for Japanese animation. I've met and spent time with the guy twice.

Now, for the funny story:

I was on my way home on the T (The Boston trolley transportation system) and in front of me sat this guy. He looked like an older,  more tanned, creepier of Mr. Vic Mignogna himself. Aside from the fact that he seemed to be staring at one 20-something female and looking at me a couple times, I really did my best to hide my smile and letting go of the exploding laughter I was about to release. And... that's my story for today.

Edit: Oh yeah, I forgot awesome news. Joey is going to make it to Anime Boston. Real tough guy. It will be great to see him again. Yeeeeeeah, boy!

And yes, "It's a moose on a Jew."