Otakon 2006 was really fun!  J & I left around 4pm on Saturday since we were really tired.

FMA (inside the Dealer's room)

Bleach cosplay gathering.  There were a lot more people than shown in this picture.  It was hard getting everyone into the shot.  Basically imagine about 3-5 times as many people as you see here, and you'll get an idea of how many Bleach cosplayers there were.

#12 Captain Mayuri - awesome cosplayer!

Link

Kankuro,Temari, and Gaara

Self-expalantory!  Naruto fillers suck!

You could pick one out of 12 badges.  Here are badges #1-6.

badges #7-12.

Saw this awesome Gai-sensei with Tsunade-sama outside at the pre-registration line.

The crowd inside the convention center.

I thought I had at least two extra boxes of checks.  Turns out that yes, they're new, but they're from before my bank got bought out from another bank, so those checks are useless.  So now I can't pay my bills (some of them can't be paid online).  Great.  However, I got creative and found a site that allows you to order custom checks.  I uploaded an image of Bleach (a manga that also has a currently running anime)... now I can be proud of my checks!  I had polar bears, lions, and penguins on my old checks.  Not that there's anything wrong with that; the purchase of those checks helped the WWF.  I'm more passionate about manga and anime.

I have two cats.  One is a little fat, and is a lap cat.  However, she goes psycho sometimes and attacks me for no reason.  I have two tooth marks near my knee right now which are kind of sore to touch. My other cat is slim, likes to drink water from the faucet, and won't sit in your lap at all.  He's like a dog because he likes to jump really high and play fetch.  His problem?  He can't go in the litter box... he goes slightly outside and makes my house smell. I wish I had a dog.

I really wasn't thinking of going, but for some reason, I want to attend Otakon 2006, in Baltimore, MD.  It's one of the biggest anime & manga conventions in the nation.  The funny thing (at least to me) is that I used to live about 15 minutes from Baltimore and I didn't know this convention existed.  Anyway, I'm looking forward to attending.  There should be a lot of people dressed up and lots of good entertainment. 

Vegas was awesome, and I'd definitely go back.  It seems like it's more friendly to beginner gamblers than AC is.  Many casinos have free tutorials on blackjack, craps, poker, etc.  Also, most of the hotels have free shows and try to outdo each other in terms of elegance, at least IMHO.  However, the downtown area is not as glamarous from what I've read.  Even though Joanne and I were there for 9 days, we didn't have time to see everything.

I've sorted through the pics and chose some that I thought were interesting.  I still have 4-5 MiniDV (camcorder) tapes I have to sort through and edit!  My computer's not powerful enough, so I bought some more RAM... hopefully it's enough, or I might get a Mac.

Ok, enough blabber; on to the pictures!

This is where we stayed: Treasure Island, or as it's commonly called: TI. They have a free show at night, called "Sirens of TI."  It's also where Cirque du Soleil, Mystere, is shown.

A picture of the ceiling at the Venetian (or maybe Paris?) hotel.

What do you think this is?  A statue, or a real person? When I first saw it, I thought it was a statue, until his eyes started moving. If you guessed person, you're right!

A free show at the Rio Casino/hotel.

Here are 16 soft-drinks from around the world, called "tastes of the world."  You can get this tray for only $7 at the Coca-cola store.  My favorite was the light-green colored one, which is "smart apple" from China.

M&M World.

One of the entrances to the Luxor hotel/casino.

The lobby ceiling of the beautiful hotel, Bellagio.

The nightly water fountain show at Bellagio.

A view from the Hoover Dam observation deck.

Shaq & I. 

Dolphins at Siegfried and Roy's Secret Garden.

Me riding the X Scream at the top of the Stratosphere hotel/casino.  This ride basically dangles you at the edge of the hotel!

The Excalibur hotel/casino.

The New York New York hotel/casino, which has a roller coaster on the outside.  The ride was pretty good, and it even snaps your photo!

I realize I haven't blogged for a while. I simply feel that my life is too boring to blog about.

Joanne and I are going on vacation tomorrow.  We're going to Vegas for about nine days and eight nights.  I don't really care for gambling, but I'll probably play some blackjack.  We're mainly going for the shows. I worry that all they have there is buffet style food, but I've read that there are some nice restaurants as well.

As a late birthday present, Joanne got me the camcorder of my dreams: the Sony HDR-HC1, rated as camcorderinfo.com's 2005 camcorder of the year.  It records in true 1080i! (For those that don't know, that implies HD.)  It truly is a great "prosumer" camcorder that offers a lot of manual control, which is a must if you want to get good results, instead of relying on a point-and-shoot camera.  I won't bore you any more with the details, but it's really fun learning how to make the most of this poweful camera.

I recorded her graduation today, and although I have steady hands with still photography, I can't keep a steady hand with a camcorder. Or maybe it's just that everything I've read always recommended to get a tripod, and its gotten to my head that I won't be able to stablilize the camcorder without one.

 After the graduation, we went to Dave and Buster's to eat and play.  I was on fire today at both versions of basketball (the "short" one and the "real", 10-ft style one.)  Later, a hispanic guy gave me some tickets, and then was acting foolish by giving me one of those handshakes that people into hip-hop like to give and a "manly" hug.  I like to think I have a sense of humor, but I really didn't appreciate that.  I might even interpret that as him seeing me as an Asian guy and thinking I'm some kind of easy target/wuss.  Anyway, I'll try not to be so gullible next time.  When we left, it was raining really hard.  Most people were going about 25 MPH on the beltway.  Luckily, I'll be leaving this rain-soaked area for somewhere nicer.

So, what are we gonna do in Vegas?  Mostly shows (Cirque du Soleil).  I don't know what else; I'll see when I get there!

Joanne bought the HK version of the DVD about 1-2 months ago, but I finally sat down to watch it today.  I thought it was really old, but it turns out it's going to come out in the US this August.  Supposedly, it's Jet Li's last film, according to many websites.

Here's a good review of it, but I think it pretty much spoils it, contrary to the author of the article: Fearless Review at LoveHKfilm

I thought it was a pretty good movie, even though I'm not very fluent in Cantonese.  I really enjoy the films where Jet Li portrays a historical figure.  I may see the movie again when it comes to theaters in the US, just to read the subtitles.

edit: I'm just the messenger!  I don't know if it's really his last film, but that's what many websites are saying.  Blame them if this isn't true!

I really don't have anything to blog about these days.  I don't know, I'm probably too stressed out with the deadlines I have at work.

However, I did remember an event worth blogging about.   It was about 1-2 weeks ago. I was microwaving a Weight Watchers frozen dinner for lunch.  The microwave oven is located outside of my office and I have to open two doors to leave.  So, after my lunch was "nuked", I proceeded to head back to my cubicle and opened the first door. I held the lunch in my left hand, and was about to open the second door, when the lunch slipped out of my hand (since I had it balanced on the box it came in), hit the wall, and splattered on my shirt and pants. 

I was more embarassed about the mess in between the two doors than the food I was wearing.  I tried to clean it up as best as I could, but the rice was too hard to pick up. After that, I cleaned up in the restroom, but my clothes reeked of sauce, so I had to go home to change. 

I have never made this kind of mess except perhaps when I was a baby.  Food won this time, but it won't win again!

Is this video supposed to be funny?  What's the big deal? It's a video of a bunch of cars, going the speed limit on the highway, holding up traffic.  I really don't see how that's funny.  People in Northern VA will hold up both lanes, going slower than the speed limit, like 20 MPH when it's 50 MPH.  Talk about getting mad if you're stuck behind them!  However, I've gotten so used to it that it's not a big deal anymore.

My friend did something even crazier than those guys, if you can even call their "prank" crazy.  We were on the highway, he got in the left lane, and started going 20 mph in a 55.  He put on ski mask, and was bobbing his head, like he was listening to some music.  I immediately sunk down in my seat to avoid being seen.  Now if I had a video of that, that would be funny!

Anyway, I found that link from the comments on reddit.com, from something that I found hilarous.
Judge for yourself: Best Buy Prank

When I was in Flushing/Queens a few weeks ago, I heard some cantonese hip-hop in one of those "urban vinyl" (designer street toys) stores.  I've tried looking everywhere for it, but couldn't find it.  Is it a local radio station, something from XM radio, or ????