The end....

So ya summer is now almost over for me and will be returning to the old grind of school in one week. You know its hard to believe that summer is now basically gone. There was allot that I had wanted to do this summer but never got around to doing it. The most notable of this was getting the house clean. Granted this didn’t get done because no one else seemed to give a shit about cleaning, or they were in another country. I did however manage to move a desk that I had been planning to do for a while and got that area somewhat clean but here is still a large amount of cleaning that needs to be done. Another thing that I had wanted to do over the summer is get through more model kits then I did. The main reason that this didn’t happen was because my airbrush was telling me that she was going, but ultimately she went and died on me. The only upside to this sad story is that I will be getting a new airbrush at the end of the week so my painting trouble should be gone.

As far as stuff that did get done this summer was mainly summer school. I took a total of four classes, two at Palomar and two at Mira Costa. The two at Palomar, advance Photoshop and basic swimming were the classes that I liked the most. The ones at Mira Costa weren’t as great, mainly because the professor was having troubles at home so i think that caused my grades to slip a little. I did however learn some pretty nifty tricks to use in word and PowerPoint so i guess it all evens out in the end. Any way that was what sucked up a good six weeks of the summer, and took me right to the end of con season.

So first up was Anime Expo up in Long Beach this year. This was the first year that I decided to go all 4 days to AX, and I am glad I did as I had a blast. So the first day I drove up with Kyle and Angelia, as they were the only ones going and not staying up there. So we get up there after making fairly good time and are greeted by this sight for the line:
So we wait in this line for three hours, as they had originally told us that that line was for everything and that they split us into pre-reg and non-pre-reg when we got inside. Well it turns out there was a line just for pre-reg people and so when we did find this line everything started to move along nicely. We did however meet up with the group that was staying up there, they somehow managed to alive latter then we did. So when we finally get done in the line it is now about 2 so I have already missed all of the panels that I had wanted to go to so I decided to spend the rest of the day just lurking the exhibit hall and seeing what stuff I want to buy. This AX was also the first year that I brought a camera with me so here are some of the pics I got from day one:




So that was it for day one, day two started much earlier as I didn’t have to go to swim class as it was the weekend. So the next day I did manage to get to the panels I wanted to go to, most notable the model building panel and the Gundam panel. Now at the Gundam panel for one thing I got to see a trailer for Gundam OO which could be great or could be another Gundam Wing. What I did find interesting about it was that it was going to be set in our timeline, that is, it is set in the mid 2300s AD. So right now I am wait and see on how good this series will be. They did however show us something so evil, so vile I just have to inflict it upon you. Day two had even more cosplayers then day one did so here are some of the great ones that I found:




Then we have the ONE clone trooper TO RULE THEM ALL!!!!!





As for this next pic all I have to say about it is THIS IS ANIME EXPO!!!!!!!!
So that was the end of day two. Day three, Sunday was in some way the hottest day if I recall so staying cool was one of the big factors. Now again I went to the last model panel and I also went to a panel on doing screen tones in Photoshop which was very informative. The only complaint I had with that problem was that it was cattle car seating, that is we were packed in there like cattle so there was no personal space. Any way got some more cosplayers on film that day:








So that was the end of day three. Monday was the fourth and final day. Now I got up there more or less about the same time I had gotten up there the previous two day even though I had to go to class, which personally surprised me. I used this day mainly for shopping as there weren’t any panels that I wanted to go see. I did however go over and checkout the art show which had some very nicely done pieces. A couple of which I personally like so much they have kind of inspired me on a model diorama that I am thinking of doing now. Granted this wont be entered in next years AX art show as I don’t even have the kit yet, but maybe the year after next or something. Any way got some more cosplayers from Monday:





So that was it for Anime Expo, overall I would have to say that it was a pretty good con. My two biggest complaints with the con were that the buildings were not all connected, that is that you had to literally walk about a city block to get from the building where they had the registration to where you went to get into the convention. My other complaint was that it was in Long Beach instead of Anaheim. Since it was further away I could not go to any of the late night programming, such as the masquerade, AMV contest, etc. Now next year it is tentatively scheduled to be in LA. If it does stay there then I am going to have to look into some way of staying in LA. So I am personally hoping that my sister gets accepted and goes to UCLA for college. If she does and she rooms with Adora, then I have a place to crash the is semi nearish to the convention center so I will be able to both not have to commute, but also go to all the stuff I want to see.

So after AX finished up I mainly spent my time either working on homework or hanging out with the group. We also went and saw Transformers and Harry Potter 5. Now both of these films were very good, though I would have to say that transformers was a little better. That is because in HP 5 they cut WAY to much, which really took away form the film. Now the one thing I really like about it was who they cast for Luna, who really made that character the same way that I though of her in the book. As for hanging with the group we started two RPG campaigns, one run by Jesse and the other by Will. Jesse's was a post apocalyptic survival horror game, and Will's was Star Wars set in the time period right before Knights of the Old Republic.

A little before the next convention in the season my mom and sister came back from about 3 weeks in Europe. They had gone there with a school group, so they were able to allot of stuff that normally would have cost a fortune to do. Any way they went to Amsterdam, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, France, and Spain. On there way back they ran into some travel problems, which delayed them a day getting back. However the airline bent over backwards for them. They had to spend the night in London and were put up at the Hilton, were given free food, which more or less would have cost about $20-$30 normally. This greatly helped them as by this point everyone was sick, as some girl had came on the trip sick and it spread to everyone. This then eventually spread to me which fortunately hit me the week before Comic Con. However I was still recovering from this when Comic Con did roll around.

So we now get to Comic Con. The week before I spent mainly finishing up my summer course work and getting over my cold. So the first day of comic con I went down with Jesse for preview night, since he bought an uber pass like me. When we got there my sweet parking spot had unfortunately upped their price so it was now $10 instead of the $5 last years. Any way we head into the con and luck out and slip in through a gap in the badge pickup line. Any who we get our badges and make our way eventually into the exhibit hall. I spend most of the night checking out where stuff is and also picking up a con exclusive Rei from Evangelion decked out in CC attire. Now I did not bring my camera with me to preview night as I figured I would not need it. Any way day one rolls around and I am feeling excited to get going. So we get down there and head over to Horton plaza, for what would become a daily occurrence, of going to get coffee. So we get back and get to waiting in line to get into the exhibit hall. So we finally go in and we first head over to the wizards both to do the stuff to get the free stuff. Well I get through only some of the stuff there before its time for the first panel that I wanted to go to. So I decided it will be fine and head to my panel. The panel was on Battlestar, and mainly the music that goes with it. It also covered some of the books and such that have came out. I did manage to get a few decent shots, but since I didn’t have the flash I couldn’t get really good lighting. Any way they had one of the writers, the main composer on the series, Richard Hatch (who was one of the main stars on the original, and is back on the new one as a secondary character), and the chief science consultant on the series, which are pictured in that order below. The main reason I went to this panel was to hear stuff on the music from the series, which is extremely good, and the one song that I was hoping they would play they did and it was great and there was much rejoicing by the peasants. So after that I headed back out and spent most of the day there. That night there was a movie that Jesse wanted to see so we stayed late for that. However while that was going on I was at another panel on the history of Pixar which was very enjoyable and informative. Any way as far as cosplayers go there weren’t as many that I found, or at the very lease since I wasn’t feeling 100% I did not get as many as I did at AX. Any way here are the good ones I did get from day one:





I was surprised when I took the next picture as I had ran into a person I had known from high school, who can be seen on the right. That was it for day one of CC, the following day was the day when everyone was going. Now I offered to drive everyone, with the one condition that everyone help pay for parking. Yet the only one going with me was Jesse. Now I personally took a little offence form this. I was offering to save people allot of money, in terms of cost of parking, cost of gas, and cost of wear on you vehicle. Yet no one took it up and that’s what I don’t get. Now granted Will had wanted to get back early, so I can kinda understand why he decided to drive, even then we didn’t leave that much later then he did. Then to add further insult we got into the exhibit hall line before they did and saved them a spot in line. Did they come and take it no, and that kind of pissed me off a little. Here we are offering to help you guys out and you guys are blowing us off as if were not good enough for you. So once we got into the exhibit hall we headed to the back area and got our badges for the droid hunt the next day from the 501st Legion booth. We then did the wizards free stuff again and more or less spent most of the day in the exhibit hall. I did however take in the Stargate movies panel. Unfortunately, I’m not sure if this was because I was using the telephoto lens in low light or that I wasn’t using a tripod, or something else I only got two good shots out of the entire panel.
After this I spent more time in the exhibit hall, meeting up with most of the group for lunch. Now as the day wore on both me and Jesse started to get really tired and ultimately decided to just grab and go from the Sci-Fi Friday panel, getting the comic they were handing out and just going after that. So Friday also held some pretty good cosplaying which can be seen here:





Now on our way back we he the traffic jam from hell. So even though we left the con a little after 8, we didn’t get home till about 10-1030. So then Saturday rolled into town. Now this day was truthfully the worst day of the con in my mind. First off it was today that I kind of crashed from exhaustion. This is I spent a decent part of the afternoon napping in the car I was so tired. Not only that but we left the con really early, I believe right after the exhibit hall closed. Any way the other thing that bothered me was that all of the major panels that we wanted to see that day were placed in small rooms, and these were big name panels so the lines for them were wrapping around the top floor of the exhibit hall so we couldn’t go to any of the panels that we wanted to go to. The other thing that we missed that I had wanted to go was the masquerade, however since I knew they were doing a replay the next day it was not as big a deal to me to miss it. A nice thing that did happen that day was that they open the exhibit hall up half a hour early, which was fun. Now as for cosplay pics, I did not get as many as I would have liked, mainly because I was sick and not really in the mood. I did however get some and here is my fav from Saturday: Now I am personally glad we did decide to leave early that day as by the time that I did get back to my house I was physically exhausted. I basically got home and was sleep eating I was so tired. Now the next day, the final day of the con, we did get some additional riders, specifically Sharron, Viola, and in a surprise turn, Woodson. So any way we get down to the con and we get in line for the hall and spend a decent portion of the day down there. We did however break out of there for two panels, on from Disney covering the next Narnia movie, and covering Pixars next movie WALL-E. Now of the two WALL-E they gave us allot to look at, specifically a small segment from the movie which was pretty cool to see. The other thing that we left the hall for was the masquerade replay. After that we met back up with the gang and went home. One thing that I wished I had my camera for on the way home was to snap a pic of the group in the back who had all fallen asleep together. Any way I did make up for my lack of pic taking the day before by taking a good number of cosplay pics on sunday.




So any way that wraps up this years con season for me. I would have to say that this year was a blast. Doing the full gauntlet for both cons worried me a little at first but after doing it I could not be happier I did it. As for next year I have three major things I plan to do. One, bring a tripod with me to both cons. Sure there are not that many opportunities where its useful but when they do appear it will make the difference in terms of my pictures. Two, bring the big flash with me. This will be great for panels and in the dark exhibit hall to help improve the lighting in the pics. Third and most important, don’t go to con sick, it sucks.

With the end of the con season I really didn’t do that much. This is mainly due to the death of my beloved airbrush. I did however find a nice box to use to make a light box, if you dont know what one is Gamera Baenre has a great tutorial on making one. So for right now the only major thing on the horizon is my planed trip to south county with Adora this Friday. The tentative plan for that is: Leave my house about 10AM, get down to SDSU about 11ish. Get my books, trolley pass, some
Starbucks and leave about noon. Next, head over to mission valley to hit up boards, a anime shop I found out about at Comic Con, and Best Buy. Next We will head down to Little Italy to hit up Blick art supplies for exacto blades for the both of us, and a new Airbrush for me. Something that I am tempted to also get is some pearl-ex pigment powders to use in modeling. After this we will head back the other way on the 8 to the 805 and head up to Claremont mesa and hit up a hobby shop i know over there and the 99 cent ranch market for the almighty Pocky. Then we go home, figuring about a 4ish return time. So that will be it for my summer, it was fun while it lasted but it looks like that will be the end.

Now as for the fall semester I am currently planning on taking 5 courses, including a lab and one course I am having to retake. Now the course that I am retaking unfortunately has a 8am start time so I am going to be having to get my ass out of bed twice a week to make this class. The only up side to my schedule this semester is that I will usually be making it back to north county much earlier then I have been able to in the past two semesters. So that is a bit of a plus, as it will mean more time in the day for me, which in turn means I can work on my models some during the semester.

Now as a minor side story I found this article on cnn.com this morning, its pretty interesting both in terms of the science but in the fact that we as human beings have reached this level of technology. So check it out it is a good read.

As one last thing if you notice in the side bar I added a panel containing a wish list of resin model kits I am looking for. So if for reason some is looking for gift ideas, that is a good place to start. So any way that is finally it for now, since this blog entry has taken nearly 6 HOURS to write.