Catching up, Part 3

(Amazing ... not only do I get spam via e-mail, but now it seems I get it through the comments section of my blog ... fan-fucking-tastic!)

2 points to make before I get to the next topic:

• Please take a moment to stop and give thanks for all that you have. I always believe that I am very blessed to have the family and friends that I do. I am also extremely lucky in that I live in Tampa, Florida and I was able to escape the wrath of 4 hurricanes last year. Seeing the images of the devastation and continuing hardships due to Hurricane Katrina puts things in perspective, especially on how lucky most of us really are.
• This is nowhere near as heavy a topic as the last point, but I forgot to mention this in my last post. While we were waiting for Lake Texarkana Gamera to start at Metrocon, X and I started talking to some of the other people in the room. One young lady asked us what I thought was a pretty interesting question. Interesting in that if I was asked the question again, I would answer totally differently. I think she asked us why we had gone to Metrocon, or more generally why we liked anime. I can't even remember what I said at the time, but to answer that now I would say that it's to keep myself young (as if I'm really that old ...). What I mean is, now that I have a home, job, various bills and payments due, etc., I find that my time is mainly being spent trying to be responsible and act like the adult I'm supposed to be. Watching anime (and to a lesser extent playing video games) lets me escape from all my worldly pressures and lets me simply be a kid enjoying life.

U.S. Open 2005

After attending Metrocon, I felt a great renewal in my interest towards martial arts. This was fortunate, since the very next weekend was the U.S Open of Karate/World Martial Arts Championships. X was the first one to ever tell me about this annually held event. He went to it once back when we were in college, and he always talks about some of the impressive demonstrations and matches he saw. So last year we decided to go check it out and we had such a great time that we pretty much plan on going every year now. So, this year it was held at the Coronado Springs Resort Hotel and Convention Center in Walt Disney World. The tournament happens over two days (in this case on July 1 & 2) with martial artists coming from all over to compete in numerous events. The tournament is spread around multiple ballrooms in the resort, so X and I spent the first day going all over watching various competitions. I remember watching the individual competition for men's and women's traditional weapons, musical/extreme weapons, musical/extreme forms, and ISKA/USBA breaking. On Saturday, we spent almost all day in one ballroom watching the ISKA World Breaking Competition which was taped and will be televised on ESPN2 (sometime ...). I have to admit that this may be the coolest event for me to watch. Shit, who doesn't want to watch people break things? I want to speak more on this, but I'm honestly losing track of everything that happened. Unfortunately, that's what happens when I wait too long to write about something (and it doesn't help that I have the worst memory of anyone I know).

Another update will come shortly.

Catching up, Part 2

(Sorry, meant to have this up a lot earlier than today.)

Metrocon 2005

So from June 24 - 26, X and I decided to go to Metrocon, an anime convention held annually here in Tampa. This was their third year of existence, but their first year holding the festivities at the Tampa Convention Center. I haven't gone to many conventions, but I've always had a lot of fun at the few I have attended. I usually treat it like a vacation, and it's always nice to surround yourself with people that share your interests. I probably won't go describing the convention too much, as I'm not really sure many of you are interested (but if you are, just post a comment; I can always write about the con in a later post). I will say that for being at an anime convention for two days, I didn't actually watch much anime while there. It's funny, but we mainly spent our time in the dealer's room, watching Lake Texarkana Gamera, and walking the Path of the Samurai.

The dealer's room was pretty cool. Besides there being plenty of vendors selling anime and anime-related merchandise, there was also a vendor selling replica weapons, a couple of costume shops (cosplayers ... mmm ... ), and various other stalls.

Lake Texarkana Gamera ... how to explain this? Well, best thing to say is that it was maybe one of the greatest movies I have ever seen. Mr. John Swasey, voice actor/director for ADV Films, was the director for the dub of Gamera: Attack of Legion. I don't honestly remember the whole story, but after dubbing the movie some of the people involved with the English dub got it in their heads that they should make another dub of the movie. But this time, they should dub almost all the parts (they left the main female lead alone) as if the characters are from rural East Texas. I do not know if words can do this justice. This may quite possibly be the funniest thing I've ever seen. If you ever get the chance, rent or check out the Gamera Limited Edition Boxed Set. You have to get the boxed set, as the stand-alone version of Gamera: Attack of Legion does not have the full dub of Lake Texarkana Gamera. But the you'll find it is well worth it to find this edition.

Path of the Samurai ... this was an awesome experience. Basically, a local dojo came to the convention to show people the ways of Japanese swordsmanship. Sensei Mike Femal came to explain the basic tenets of the samurai, and to demonstrate the style of swordmanship that he teaches here in the bay area, Toyama Ryu Batto Jutsu. I found this interesting for two reasons. First, because I have always been interested in the sword arts. Secondly, I studied Edo Yagyu Shinkage-ryu Heiho for some time last year (before multiple hurricanes, laziness, and some personal issues caused me to stop), and I was very interested in seeing where the two styles differed. The classes that were taught went extremely well. They had something like 70-80 people sign up to participate, and X and I lent a hand in their preparations and instructions. We spent a lot of time speaking to the instructors from the dojo. I think we ended up spending 4 hours in this one activity. I want to express my deepest thanks to Sensei Femal and his students for putting on such great demonstrations and classes. That helped to get me energized for my next outing ...

Catching up, Part 1

A lot of things have been going on for me these last 3 weeks, so my updates have been nonexistant. I feel like I finally have some time to play catch-up, so let's begin.

Father's Day Weekend

For Father's Day weekend, I traveled up to New Albany, OH with my parents to visit my sister and her family. Besides it being Father's Day that Sunday, it was also going to be my niece's birthday on Monday so we decided to celebrate her birthday that weekend. My niece, Amanda, was turning 4 years old and I have not seen her in quite a few months. I also had not seen my nephew, Miles, in a long while either so I was really looking forward to this trip.

I won't go into too much detail, but let me say I had a really great time visiting my relatives. Amanda is absolutely adorable, and she loves to talk and run around. She loves her Grandma and Grandpa, and she shows lots of affection for me too. That's incredible to me, because when she was younger she was very shy around me and did not come up to me or give me hugs much. But ever since she turned 3, it's been a different story. But it wasn't just her. Just a few years ago I would not have been comfortable around little kids. I really didn't know how to play with them or relate to them well. But I think I've gotten much better, and I feel more natural when I'm around young-ins. Maybe it just means I'm turning into an old man ... Anyway, I had a lot of fun playing with Amanda all weekend and Miles did not fuss and was generally a happy baby the entire time.

Seeing the way my Mom and Dad interacted with my sister and her family, especially Amanda and Miles, really made me appreciate them. I am very lucky to have two wonderful parents who love and support me no matter what. I remember all the times they have been there for me. Even now, when I am pretty much considered an adult they still support me with my finances and troubles. And they do this all because they want to give their children every opportunity to live a happy life. I can only hope that when I eventually marry and start my own family I can be the type of husband and father I see in my Dad. Unfortunately, I think my future as a father will look something more like this.

COBRA!!!!

Gonzo Studios producing the art for a new G.I. Joe series?! Please be good, please for the love of God be good! ...

Some more random items to share

I'm still working on a couple of posts that should be up shortly, most likely in the next couple of days. I'm in the middle of a busy month, but that is providing me with some material and ideas for new posts. Anyway, keep an eye out since I plan on updating often. For now, however ...

http://www.damnfunnypictures.com/html/Carolina-News-Owned.html

Grandfather kills leopard with his hands - I have to link to Fark.com, without which I would never have found this story (alright, Jason found this story but he wouldn't have seen it if it wasn't for Fark)

Edit (23:16 EST, 06/23/2005): The first link to the "Carolina News Owned" story will cause a couple of popups, so be warned. Also, I just attempted to view the story again and although it is still up I could not access any of the pictures, which were the real treats. I'll see if I can find them elsewhere. -Dracos

Edit (09:34 EST, 06/24/2005): And when I look at the Carolina story from work, the pictures come up fine. So give it a try anyway, if you haven't yet. -Dracos

Wait for it ...

Just wanted to write a quick note. I am working on a post for the end of this weekend. Might be a little bit different than what I usually say, but I hope people at least find it interesting. I'm heading out to the airport in a few minutes. I'm joining my family in going up to Ohio to visit my sister and her family. It is also my niece's birthday, so it should be a fun time. Have a good Father's Day this weekend, and I hope everyone is doing well.

Jesus has come, and he plays for Florida State University

Now, I hope this young man just went on a huge drinking binge and is not mentally unstable. I'd hate to be accused of poking fun at someone who is mentally unbalanced. But I do bleed Orange & Blue, so I use every opportunity I can to poke fun at FSU.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2084954

Pimpin' the band

I just thought I would pimp some of my friends' bands while I've got some space. I meant to do this at a much earlier time, but never got around to it.

Badstar - Badstar belongs in too many bands for me to count. However, here are some links to two of his group websites. And if I can find the link to his solo project, I'll post it later.

1. Midnight Bowlers League
2. Ladies of Deathrow Swimsuit Calendar
3. Tampa Has Crushed the Hopes of Us All

Garath - I have known Garath for a good part of my life, and although I've always known he has had a penchant for destruction by percussion instruments I have only recently discovered he is playing in a band of his own. I haven't gotten the chance to download and listen to any of their songs, but here's the site if you are interested.

1. Negative 8

Random thoughts ...

http://www.blogmaverick.com/entry/1234000270043583/ - I have always respected Mark Cuban. From everything I have ever read and/or heard about the man, he seems like a normal blue-collar guy despite his riches. And I admire his grasp of technolgy. So when I read stuff like this that he wrote, I only respect him more because it shows he still thinks like the common man.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8094398/ - Awesome. Just plain awesome.

http://www.daniellefisher.net/ - And on a related note, you can get more details about the above here.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8157849/ - Japan kicks ass! And soon, they will have robots that kick ass for them.


http://www.newturfers.com/mwf/attach/38/355838/BBCNEWSWorldLionMutilates42MidgetsinCambodianRing-Fight.htm - This may be the greatest faked news story I have ever read. And how do I know that it was faked ...

http://lionvs40midgets.uk-directory.com/ - ... because of this.

SCANDAL!

I had the boys from work over to my house this past Saturday for a little night of gaming. A couple of us all own EA Sports' Fight Night Round 2, and we had all been talking shit to each other about how so-and-so was going to beat so-and-so. Well, Saturday night came around and it was time to settle all the grudge matches. The main one that was brewing was between myself and my friend Jason. He and his wife (sorry Christy; I swear they'll be more girls here next time so you won't be bored) showed up about midway through the night and it was time to fight. Up until Jason had arrived, we had already had a pretty fun time fighting each other in Soulcalibur II and then we had decided to start Fight Night. I had already decimated most of my opponents in Fight Night until the time Jason arrived; in fact, so complete was the destruction of my opponents that they usually resorted to DQ'ing themselves in the fight to avoid any more public humiliation.

But now Jason was here. It was time to prove who is the best. At first, Jason was having trouble fighting me like all the rest. In his defense, he was using a pre-made character versus my created character who I had built up through the career mode. Translation: my character is stronger overall than the one he was using. Also, he was playing on the opposite side from what he is used to. For those of you who might not understand this, in Fight Night (and in some other games) the first player is always oriented on the left-side of the screen no matter how much you move the character around. So, some people get used to this and have trouble when they have to play the second-player side which would always be oriented on the right. So being the benevolent gaming god that I am, I offered Jason a chance at redemption by allowing him to choose a more even character and letting him play as the first-player. Now, you would think that my benevolence would be rewarded with a good, clean fight. Nay, good sir/madam. You would be wrong!

Somehow, Jason paid off the virtual referee! We were in the middle of a classic heavyweight fight, going 10 rounds strong! I will easily admit that Jason was hurting me with brutal haymakers, but I was landing a lot more shots on Jason each round. Though mine were weaker, the fact that I was hitting a larger percentage and amount of hits was winning me rounds with the judges. Then sometime in the middle of the 10th round, the ref stops the fight! WTF?!? What gives you the audacity to stop this match?! Bah, so what if I can't see out of one eye? I still have one good eye! And I was winning on two of the three judges cards, and was set to win by decision after the 12th round! This treasonous attempt to usurp my throne by Jason will not go unchallenged! I was never knocked out, and I will never acknowledge any win that Jason might claim he has! He paid off the ref to save him, because he knew he was never going to win this fight!

Rest in Peace, Red Dog ...

A couple of weeks ago, I was alerted to some horrible news. The Red Dog Bar & Grill had closed. A friend of mine from work, who also was the person to introduce me to this wonderful place, told me.

X, rotfiend and I have all gone there many times, and we got to know some of the people who had worked there. It was a fun place, with a rustic look and damn good music coming from the jukebox. Kinda small, but there was a deck out front that could accomadate quite a lot of people. Parking was shitty, but then we always parked next door in the shopping plaza anyway. The food was always great and they had a good selection of beer on tap and in bottles (who can go wrong with some Shinerbock). A lot of times, X and I would meet up there after a long day at work on a Thursday and just relax, roll some bones, and drink until we had to meet some friends later on in the evening. Oh, and did I mention that Thursday nights were Theme Nights. I don't really know how it started, and I don't really care. All I know is that I liked it! The women all seemed to enjoy it, and I'm sure their tips over the course of a Thursday evening got to be pretty nice. The bar also got a pretty good amount of people regularly coming in. It was located near Macdill Airforce base, so a lot of military came. I have personally seen players from the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Red Dog, including Vincent Lecavalier and Dave Andreychuk. When they won Lord Stanley's Cup, they even brought it there. Shit, we enjoyed going there so much that myself and two others were plotting to buy the place. Be much more fun than what we do now, that's for sure. Unfortunately, that's all over now.

I can't say it came as much of a surprise when I heard that the Red Dog was gone. Their website (luckily archived by the Wayback Machine) had been unreachable for quite a few months. From what I understand, near the end you could go there and ask for a certain beer only to be told that they didn't have any. How can a bar not have shit like Bud Light?

Well, it was fun while it lasted. Have to pick a new watering hole, I reckon. As X likes to say, I hate to watch you go, Red Dog, but I love to watch you leave.

*^@G$!

I am simply going to stop mentioning how I intend to finish this, or do that, and just fucking write.

OK, took two tests in the past week that were linked off this journal of sorts that I read now. A friend of mine from work showed this site to me after I got back from Japan, and quite frankly it is awesome. I cannot say I witnessed any of the things that Azrael mentions in his posts (except for the hidden trash can in Kyoto; wtf is up with that?), but reading about his experience kind of makes me want to go back. If you are interested in a little read, go to I am a Japanese School Teacher.

As for the tests, here were my results.

Pretty good You are 64% smarty pants!

Good work! There's more for you to learn, but you have a very good foundation to build on. You definitely have an above average level of knowledge. Also check out The Academically Hardcore Test.

My test tracked 1 variable How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 24% on Knowledge

Link: The Understand Stuff Around You Test written by backatcha on Ok Cupid

Softcore You scored 24 gunnerness!

You're a laid back student. This doesn't mean that you don't care about school, but you don't let yourself become consumed with a test or assignment, and a bad test score won't get you down. You wonder if those who work harder are actually happy with their lives or are just trying to please someone else in their lives. There are better ways to spend your time than stressing out over school. It's important to have a life outside of class. After all, that's where the real education is to be had. Also check out The Understand Stuff Around You Test.

My test tracked 1 variable How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 40% on gunnerness

Link: The Academically Hardcore Test written by backatcha on Ok Cupid

It's Updating Time!

Been a long time, hasn't it? Ok, time to fill everyone in on what's been going on the last few weeks.

1. Japan
First of all, my vacation in Japan was awesome. Despite the fact that I was sick throughout (and felt progressively worse each day), I still felt it was all well worth the effort. I met a lot of cool people that I still try to talk to when I can. I definitely plan on going again, maybe next year. I must also give props to Pop Japan Travel, the company I booked the vacation through. I felt the tour was run in a way that gave us a lot to do, but didn't compromise on our free time in the country. All of our tour guides were very helpful, knowledgeable and friendly. I definitely plan on going out to Japan with all of you again!

2. Health
On the way to Japan, it seems I caught a cold. Thai Airways did not have the air conditioner running on the plane when it was sitting in the LAX terminal, so it was hot when we got on. It stayed warm almost the entire flight (12 hours), and one thing I cannot stand is being stuck in a warm area with no place to go to cool down. Upon landing in Kansai International Airport, I already had a sore throat. As the trip proceeded, I progressively got worse and developed a cough, congestion, stuffy/runny nose and nightly fevers. Unfortunately, I am unfamiliar with Japanese OTC medicine, and neither myself nor X had thought to bring more than a small amount of medicine (neither of us expected to get sick, but then who does ...). The worst part was still to come, however. The flights home were an absolute nightmare, as the changes in pressure that I experienced during all three flights (Kansai->LAX, LAX->Houston, Houston->Tampa) gave me a full-blown sinus infection. Finally home, I was able to go to my doctor and I got medicine for 10 days. After the 10 days were up, I felt pretty good and thought I had beaten it. I was wrong. I was well for maybe 2-3 days, and then I started feeling like I had a mild sore throat. It's never gotten any worse than that, just a mild sore throat and a cough. It's annoying, but it's much better than the sinus headaches I was having right after I got home. I plan on going to my doctor again on Monday to get another prescription for antibiotics and decongestants.

The other bad part about this infection is that it makes me lethargic and so I haven't gone to the gym since I got back from Japan. I was doing real good and going to the gym 3 times/week and really working hard at getting back into shape. I'm not really that overweight, in fact, I wouldn't mind weighing what I do if it was muscle and not fat. I just hate missing this time in the gym.

3. Gaming
I have four new items to review, but that will be in the next post. I will mention each one briefly, just so you know what's been occupying my time.

• God of War: Platform - PS2.
• Fight Night Round 2: Platform - PS2 & Xbox
• Jade Empire: Platform - Xbox
• Sony Playstation Portable (PSP)

That's it for now. I hope to have the full writeup for my Japan vacation up shortly, and then I will review the above games/system. Hope everyone's doing well, and I will be updating more frequently now that I have the energy.

Not quite finished, but almost there ...

OK, you've all been very patient with me and I appreciate that. I still haven't finished writing up my experiences in Japan, but I have gone ahead and made the pictures available to view online. If you go to my website I have created links to the folders that contain pictures for each day I was there. When the writeup is posted, I will be able to provide more context for the pictures so you have a better understanding of where I went and what I did each day of the trip. So I guess this could be considered a little teaser. Enjoy!

Aargh ...

Terribly sorry for the lack of updates lately. I do expect to be posting a major update tonight on both this blog and my webpage. I will have the pictures and summary for my trip to Japan up, as well as other thoughts since I have gotten back. No promises, but that's my only real goal for tonight after work.

I'm not dead yet ...

Cold is still kicking my ass, but now that I have American medicine and God of War in my hands I believe I will pull though. The pictures from the trip have been transferred over to my webserver, but I have not posted the link yet. Need to build up a nice page for them first. Also, I have some pictures that I got from one of the guys X and I met on the trip. He was rotfiend's roommate, and a really cool kid. I want to post some of his pictures too, but I will get his permission before I do anything. Any questions about my trip will automatically be referred to this one sentence.

PJT Spring Tour 2005 was XTREME!!!

Quick update ....

I know I said would be updating everyday while I was in Japan, but obviously that's not happening. Here's the quick update.

• Long and short of it is, the plane ride got me sick. After riding in that plane for 12 hours, I came out with a sore throat. This has now developed into absolute misery. Sore throat, fever, head cold, stuffy/runny nose ... yet I push on ...
• Despite my physical ailment, the trip has been absolutely wonderful. Have met some very cool people. Seen many cool things. And, hey, it's Japan!
• Pictures will not be posted until I get back. Sorry to those who were looking forward to them, but you'll have to wait a while longer.

OK, I'd like to say more but I can no longer breathe. I fear I may not be long for this world ...

Konbanwa!

As I write this, it is currently 9:36 PM in Kansai International Airport. All I have to report at this time is that 12 hours in economy class on a 747 would not I have been much of a problem if it hadn't been about 85 fucking degrees in the cabin. I have been flying on planes for about 20 years now, and I have never been in a plane that was that hot during the flight. Despite this, Thai Airways still gets a thumbs up for free alcohol (plenty of wine, cognac, and mixed drinks) and damn good food. No pictures yet.

Disjointed thoughts ...

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

My Love for You is Like Usurper!

The Usurper You scored 52% Cardinal, 17% Monk, 29% Lady, and 78% Knight!

You have both the lust for war of the Knight and the wicked morals of the Cardinal. You are truly a dangerous one who likes power and will stop at nothing to get it. If the king dares stand in the way of your ambitions you will have no qualms about removing him from the throne and placing yourself there instead. You scored high as both the Knight and the Cardinal. You can try again to get a more precise description of either the Cardinal or the Knight, or you can be happy that you're an individual.

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 77% on Cardinal You scored higher than 4% on Monk You scored higher than 8% on Lady You scored higher than 98% on Knight

Link: The Who Would You Be in 1400 AD Test written by KnightlyKnave on Ok Cupid