I'm not in the picture. Really, I'm not.


July 30th, 2006

This post is gonna be long, so might as well get yourself a glass of your favorite drink while you're reading this. That is... if anyone is bothering to read this blog.

This past two weeks have been nothing but a blur for me. With my cousins coming in at the same time the Comic-Con going on, everything felt like it was on Fast Foward with no slowing down. In the span of a week, I went to Comic-Con, LAX, driving all along the Pacific Coast Highway (I definately don't recommend this if you're a local), two family parties, then to Mexico (TJ to be precise), and followed up with a trip to Disneyland and California Adventure.

Much to talk about here, so I'll start with Comic-Con. Obviously with my cousin's in town, as well as all my previous blog posts, this is my big disappointment of the year. Yes, the year. Going to the Con all four days is something I do traditionally for at least the past four years. To have that broken and not only that, stuck going one day is obviously a soul breaker. I really think I would've enjoyed the week more if they came this week instead of last week. Comic-Con really sets my year, as going gets me out of the house with something I really want to do. To try to do what I normally do in four days into one, it just doesn't work. I would have taken pictures, if I had a camera. I would even take at least a picture of what I came away with this year if I had a camera now, but I don't. Oh well. Hopefully NOTHING will come up next year to hold me down for the con again. Real life sucks, I know.

The drive to LAX actually went pretty fast, considering my cousin Ron drove like a Californian. (ie. Speeding) The drive down actually was kinda boring for me since most of it involved staring at rich people areas. (ie. Laguna Beach, the beach areas of Orange County) I mean, I honestly do not watch "The Hills", "Laguna Beach", and "The O.C." nor do I really care. I really believe the lives those people live are totally different then any other local Californian's life usually is.

There were two family parties, the main one held in my house here in El Cajon, the second occurring in Paradise Hills at my auntie's house. In El Cajon, I was yet again beating my uncles down and came up $60, though I did end up missing the debauchery going on with my cousins. Including one drunk cousin who ended up a little bit too much drunk. The family parties are your typical Filipino-American parties, so I won't bother with details.

Ah Mexico. So far yet so close. Before this weekend, I have never been to Mexico. Yes, in twenty-one years of my life, I have NEVER been to Mexico even though I live a half-hour from the border. Tijuana was quite fun, though the searing sun and the boiling heat were not. The smell of TJ actually reminded me quite abit of a big city I have visited before - New York. When you can smell garbage, you know your in an area that needs a major clean-up. New York is more clean then TJ, obviously, but it has it's trashy places and heat in New York City sucks since it bounces off the streets. TJ on the other hand is just hot all around, though I counted at least about five nightclubs, three stripclubs, and a casino in the main downtown area of TJ. Mind you, this is all on one street. It really was quite amazing how many 6-8 year olds were peddling something. There is always one attacking you every twenty feet you walk. I had to add "No Gracias" to my understanding of Spanish because of them. And geez, the number of puppy eye looks I had to see were straight up astronomical. TJ did manage to steal $34 bucks from me - I bought a marble chessboard that will go along with my CLAMP chess piece collection as well as double as a checkerboard and a D&D makeshift battlefield. ( God, it's been too long since I actually properlly played D&D. >_> )

Then came Disneyland Resort. After saying goodbye to a good chunk of the family, the remaining cousins and I went up to Anahiem. Oh California Adventure. If anyone knows me from way back four years ago, or even as recent as six months ago, I ALWAYS end up angsting about my ex-girlfriend (who still to this day remains nameless in this blog, as it should be.) Heck, my first post in this blog ever was a angst post about my ex. So obviously, I still feel I let things slip away and obviously I still regret and learn from it. Anyway, for those who knew me then, our first date was in California Adventure. It was quite the experience to relive those memories as I walked around. Sure I most likely didn't show it to my cousins nor did I stop them to stop at spots where I had memories at. It was a disappointment they got rid of the place we had Dinner before, but it was a plus that they added the Haunted Hotel. There were some places they kept, obviously the places that only held meaning to the both of us (the cotton candy, the bench). I actually rode some of the rides that I didn't get on before, though it would've been cool to ride the Ferris Wheel and the Spinning Swing ride for old times sake. Oh well. To be honest, the first time I was in California Adventure I was enjoying my girlfriend. The second time around, I was enjoying California Adventure itself. Anyway, I did manage to find her Myspace, and she seems to be doing quite fine without me. I'm glad for that. So if you are her, keep happy.

After spending about five hours in California Adventure, we hopped over the border to Disneyland. We spent about two and a half hours there, and man... some things that have changed were pretty cool. Obviously with Pirates of the Carribean 2 coming out, they revamped the ride to add more Johnny Deep. ALOT more of Johnny Deep. Three times in the ride might have been a bit too much, you know? While I was in line, I was singing this to myself going along with the pirate tune:

Yo-ho, Yo-ho, We need more Johnny Deep/
And maybe some more Legolas/
And better fireworks/
Just so Disney can make more mon-on-ney - Hey!/
*repeat

It really was weird seeing Johnny Deep all over the place, including a walking actor who looks EXACTLY like him. That definately was weird. We wanted to ride Indiana Jones and Splash Mountain, but both of those were just not going to happen with 60-75 minute waits with no way to fastpass. Instead, we spent half an hour in line for the Railroad ride, and fourty-five in the Space Mountain ride. Oh god, I love what they did to Space Mountain. Before, the chain drag up the rollercoaster used to be right when you get on. They changed it now so that you take two of them, but their shorter and more flashy. The addition of plasma TVs and special effects to make it seem your entering Hyperspace is a real nice touch. The ride itself in the dark really still is just fun, especially when you have no idea what direction the ride is going. The actual ride has not changed, which is really good. The ending of the ride has been changed as well, to match the beginning of the ride. Just a side-note for those who have been around the internet abit - I saw a girl working at Disneyland (at the Penny Arcade, in fact) that looked like the splitting image of Casey of caseycam.com. She looked half-Japanese, and her nametag had "Casey" on it. Guzen dayo ne?

After Disneyland, the next day or so everyone has pretty much cleared out. And left me with a ton of Alcohol and food I can possibly eat and drink myself. So if you are a real-life friend of mine, please help me. Please.

@Work - Work is coming up this tuesday, it's gonna feel weird to go back after all that's happened this past week and a half.

@School - Yep, it's that time of the year to start worrying about it. Got to get my VA in order and then get my classes as soon as possible. Which is like, now because I forgot I had Senior standing now. I get a full two weeks on the Juniors now, which is pretty cool if I can take advantage of it (as in, get my ass in gear.) Going to be trying Japanese 111 again this year, so wish me luck with that. All my english classes that I plan to take this semester seem to be pretty fun too, so hopefully this won't be a downer semester like I had quite a time ago.

@WoW - Agchan is doing okay, she's fallen a little but she's still a Knight. Still waiting for Revelation to take her back, though obviously I don't know how much longer I really can wait. Getting guild offers everyday is pretty enticing to leave.

@Idoin - What's Idoin? It's the fantasy world I'm creating for various fantasy stories as well as various D&D campaigns I want to setup. It's much like my friend Anthony's D&D world where everything is continually going on with or without other people's involvement. Right now, it's still in it's development phase since I still have to set the race abilties correctly, their capital cities, and their leaders and such. When I finish with the prep, hopefully I can convince my friends to try it out.

Well, that's finally it. Quite a long post today, isn't it?

Mood: