music: Coldplay - Trouble

I found all my old mp3s last night so I was just wallowing in nostalgia. It was absolute bliss. CJ decided to surprise me by showing up at my work and freaking me out b/c I wasn't expecting it and also because I was worried that I'd get in trouble for having people come over. I wasn't working on a project, anyway. We went to the Gallery to talk to Rennet about our cell phone problem which was that it kept going straight to voicemail. Of course, it was just a porting issue, the phones worked once we got home. Then we looked for manga at Waldenbooks (no Hikago 2 yet!) and went to Gamestop where I spent $80 on all the Ranma DVDs I found. I can't wait to get Warcraft 3 Battle Chest for my birthday *glee* We roamed around Chinatown looking for cellphone accessories but didn't find any worth getting, aside from a mirror and jewelry at Trendy World (they were watching Love Hina there, how "trendy"). Got Chinese food after and watched a Ranma DVD. I really need to finish watching the rest of my movies.

music: Plastic Tree - Irogoto

Friday, I stopped by the cell phone booth in the Gallery, near Suncoast to check out their phones. I ended up signing a plan and on Sunday, everyone in the house had a cellphone. Of course, the port is taking a lot longer than I thought it would so my phone is only for 'Emergency calls'. All the kids in the house got Samsung E316s, which are camera phones with Internet (mMode, free for the first month, $7.99 after), messaging, and all that other fun stuff. The games on it really suck, though. I got flack for the lack of Bluetooth, but hey, it was only a $180 phone. I currently have no need for Bluetooth and don't see why I have to pay an extra hundred for an Ericsson. Two of my co-workers have top of the line phones, one is an NEC that has very good Internet, although it's pretty long compared to mine. Another has the Motorola V600, which is fully loaded and retails for about $350. I ended up running into Jane and her friend Rosen coming out of GameStop and we walked back to check out the phones. Then we walked back to GameStop to help me pick out a game. I wanted a PC game, but after like an hour, I walked out with Astro Boy Omega Factor.

Saturday, I arrived to work, got my breakfast as usual, and spent most of the day playing Astro Boy, reading MegaTokyo, and playing with my cellphone. I left early, though, because I was sick and tired of being there. Oh, I went to Wendy's for dinner, that is where I will eat every day from now on, if I get fast food (dollar menu = <3 ).

Sunday, I called Rennet and said we'd be at the Gallery, but it wouldn't be open until noon, so my dad took us to Deptford Mall were we ate Chinese food and looked for manga while my dad got his massage. We didn't buy anything, just walked around looking at bonsai plants and hermit crabs. The fam were supposed to go up to Glenside for some swimming and BBQ and whatnot but ended up not going. I took the bus home (and found bus fare on the ground, woot) and messed with the Internet for a bit, then watched Secret Window which was a bit cliche, but still an okay movie.

Well, today's Monday and hopefully CJ and I will go find some phone accessories after work.

music: Kanye West - Jesus Walks

Yay, my boy from way back when stopped by work. That was the best thing that happened that day. I know Marcos loved my car just as much as my dad did. I remember how we used to just hang in the back and talk about how we wanted to trick out our cars (before I crashed mine) and video games and shit. Now he rolls in a 91 Honda Civic hatchback. My boy is doing well. :D I went to go looking for video games after I left Catalyst. Actually, I walked around Center City, using my new obscure way of going places, walked through a park on Arch (wtf? Didn't know there was a park there...). Then I bought some Chinese food at the Bourse. I normally get sushi, but it's just not filling. I love it, I just love fish. I should pick up nigiri but WTF it is so expensive! Anyway, I wanted to get Neverwinter Nights, Warcraft, or Astro Boy: Omega Factor. I downloaded a demo of Neverwinter Nights when I got home last night. It lags really bad on my laptop. I need to give it more practice before I think of getting the Gold Edition. So far, my money's on Omega Factor. I need to find the GBA first, though. Oh, one of my other friends, Chris, lent me his Playlist magazine to read. I ran across an ad for a company that fixes iPods. So far, it seriously looks like hoax/scam, but I'm going to give them a call. Maybe there is hope for my 2 busted iPods! I mean, they even buy them! Watched New York Minute last night, too. Fucking sucked. I didn't mind their other movies, but in this one.... fucking Simple Plan! What the fuck, man? CJ cut my hair again. I looked like L'arc's Tetsu. Fscking hawt.

music: Melt-Banana - I HATe It!

I was looking at my old entries and look what I found from May 18, 2003:

"Oh yeah, I saw a new Archos 20GB Jukebox in the paper. It can play MPEG4 videos! I don't know if all the music videos I have are MPEG4, but I know that a 20GB can fit a few movies in it as well since most of the DVD quality are 600MB or so. Unfortunately you will need to convert them to MPEG and that's something I don't know how to do yet."

How odd is it that almost exactly a year later, I buy it? There are new models out with bigger screens and such, but they're like $500. I must be stupid because again I'm having headphone/audio jack problems. I really need to stop listening to it in the rain. I'm such an idiot.

music: Melt-Banana - Disposable Weathercock

I finally finished Hikaru no Go manga and I'm hooked on it again. I hated work last night. I just didn't want to be there. I'm like this every season for the last two months. I just get sick of it. I need the money, though. I wish I could work at a library. That would be a sweet job. Internet access, sitting there reading, filing books. Such a boring job that requires little to no thinking. No worries about getting robbed or anything. My kind of job. I haven't been watching many movies, either. Last one I saw was Whale Rider, which was pretty good. I can't believe it's already Wednesday. Not like it really matters that much, but summer just came and WENT. I spent most of it working. At least I have Otakon memories. I also enjoy fall. I like the median seasons, not too cold, not too warm. Oh, and CJ, I love this track jacket. Thanks for cutting my hair last night, too. Now I really look like my Gaia avatar. Oh geez.

music: PENICILLIN - Spade King

I wish my sister had gotten the suede Adidas. The fat laces would look better on black & white suede Adidas shelltoes. Still, I've always wanted fat laces and I'll probably get a pair for my high top Adidas sneakers. I woke up early but kinda laid around listening to the news (whoa, they stole an uninsured print of Edvard Munch's Scream! ha). I didn't give myself enough time to make lunch so I'm broke and I'll have to dig into my sparse account. I hate not having any money. Not only did I destroy my checking, but my savings... horrible! CJ also forgot to give me tokens this morning (not her fault but let me blame her anyway!) but luckily the bus couldn't accept any kind of fee.

Friday, went to work, although I really wanted to go home and I was pissed and had to call CJ to convince me to NOT quit. I need the money. I was really pissed, though. I think I'm PMSing. Saturday, I worked a double which wasn't all that bad, except when people take like 3 breaks throughout the day and the only way I managed to get one was by ditching my post (which almost backfired on me). Sunday CJ and I were supposed to go to the Tea Garden but I was too damn tired and just wanted to sleep. I actually got to finish watching Azumanga Daioh and I saw Whale Rider. We also watched Conman 1999 (Andy Lau) but I fell asleep and missed the last hour or so. So now it's Monday (gah!) but at least I don't have to work at my other job. Yay.

music: Plastic Tree - Moshimoshi piano ga hajiketana

I can't believe I'm FINALLY finished reading Naked Lunch. Now I can try to read all the manga that we got from Otakon. Yesterday while surfing the Net, I discovered that people were selling the yellow bands for cancer research over eBay. For more than $1! Those things are actually giving a profit! If I wasn't such an advocate for cancer research, I'd probably be doing the same thing. My conscience gets the best of me, unfortunately. I've also been listening to too much Plastic Tree, it was an accident. I had my hard drive media files on shuffle and it locked onto it, now I'm just hooked. I'm happy it's Friday. Tomorrow I have to work all day, but maybe that night will be canceled because of showers. Sunday I hope to go to that Japanese Tea Garden. I'm sad that summer will almost be over in a few weeks. It went by waaay too fast. All I did was work. At least there was Otakon. The greatest thing to happen this summer.

music: Plastic Tree - Closet Child

I don't even remember where I left off with my story. Ehhh, I got a nice tip after work Tuesday night! It was my highest tip yet :D I think I'll go out on more shows from now on. Especially on slow nights where I only have to do one show. I didn't have to work last night, though, overstaffed I guess. Before I go to work at night, I -always- eat sushi. It makes me sad that I still can't use chopsticks correctly, even though Jane always tells me there's no -correct- way to hold them. Just hold them like the way you write. It looks awkward when I hold them. I feel embarassed even though I shouldn't be. What's important is... I'm eating sushi. I bought some CDs at AKA Music, Cornelius, P5 and Boredoms. I also searched for Dir en grey on eBay. First press of 'Gauze' sold for $66! WTF?! Is getting a first press really that important? I gotta look for more cheap albums and Plastic Tree stuff. I hate looking for J-rock music. That's CJ's job! Why don't you do it! I'll pay for it! I got an email saying I won Chemistry VCDs. I find that interesting.

music: Metric - Siamese Cities

Happy Tuesday! Tomorrow the Amish should be here. I need cold cuts bad. After work yesterday I met up with CJ on Walnut and we ate sushi at the Bellevue. I'd like to have shrimp tempura for lunch today. Then we went home and I slept and played on the net. We also watched Battle Royale 2 which sucked really bad. I didn't sleep till about 3AM.

music: The Back Horn - Sunny

Why Catholics Should Vote Republican

Sometimes I think I am the most confused and backward person in my area. First, I am not totally against abortion for purely sadistic Miike-esque reasons. Second, I am anti-abortion for Catholic and moral issues, mostly against the ridiculous partial-birth abortions. I have yet to understand the reason for killing a child that's practically born. Reading the included article didn't put forth any enlightenment to my predicament, but it was one of the only articles I was interested in when I googled 'Why should I vote Republican?'

I spent last night playing Mario Party with my sisters. I heart my sisters. I for some reason came in second after the computer. Even though I was multitasking by doing about 3 things at once (eating, surfing the net, playing video games), I was actually doing pretty well. Go me. I'll continue my Otakon story later. I should just c&p from CJ's journal, but nah. Oh, and after CJ and I got back from the Art Museum, we had a little mini-party for Jane. Lot, Tess, Aimee, Timmy, and Michael came over to wreak havoc upon our abode. We were somewhat amused by that.

music: Plastic Tree - Picaso Gokko

Happy Birthday, Jane! We took the bus to the Mutter Museum where I was sickened and fascinated by all the images and doctors instruments they had there. Lots of information on diseases and deformities. It was a freak paradise. I wish we were able to take pictures. CJ was particularly taken by Chang and Eng. We made lots of racist jokes. The 38 took forever to come around, being a Sunday and all so we weren't able to go to the Japanese Tea Garden in Fairmount Park so we walked all the way up Parkway to go to the Art Museum. Apparantly, there was some "Unity Day" fest going on where the predominantly black crowd milled around and BBQ'd to their hearts content. We speedwalked our way out of there and took the back entrance to the museum. We paid $6 because we felt cheap if we gave them anything less (ha, we should've handed them $1) and checked out their Japanese Tea Garden. It was a small exhibit but at least we did something. My favorite area is Modern & Contemporary Art. We searched for a Sushi place but it was closed. Just hit Wawa for some junk food and took the 17 home.

music: Gackt - Secret Garden

Friday night I went to work and that was forgettable. Saturday I worked the day shift because we cancelled for the evening. I mostly sat there reading Naked Lunch and playing Diablo 2: Lord of Destruction. I got home where my attempts to create a wireless network failed. At least Gaia was functional again. For a while. It's Sunday now and Gaia looks to be running nice and smooth. Reminds me, I really need to start paying off my bills for this month. My bills make me so sad. Today is also Jane's birthday! Happy Birthday, Jane! :D <3 We plan to go to the Mutter Museum and the Japanese Tea Garden today. Hopefully the weather is nice to us.

music: Plastic Tree - Mizuiro Girlfriend

The J-rock panel wasn't anything fascinating. Most of the conversation revolved around visiting Japan and how to find concerts and various live information and facts. It was amusing to spot all the elitist bitches around there. It was very annoying how people were walking in and out all the damn time. Not to mention that the panelists spoke VERY low and didn't repeat questions from audiences for others to hear. Rookies. CJ cosplayed as Hakuei, but I'm sure no one noticed. After that, we did some travelling, more pictures, then we headed back to the hotel to change for the concert. We ate some lunch first at this pizza place near the convention center then headed over to 1st Mariner Arena. Yes, there was already a small group of people waiting at around 2PM.

I thought we were going to get cancelled last night, but I ended up working. Unfortunately, I was unable to find a decent signal so no wireless connection for me. I should've checked first before agreeing to work double shift on Saturdays. I need the money, but I also really don't want to work on Saturdays. Damn Otakon and it's ability to cause me to go bankrupt! I got home, found out that Attack the Gas Station was a shitty Tai Seng copy with no Korean audio so I watched an episode of Azumangah Daioh and it was damn funny.

music: Karera Musication - Ichi the Killer Soundtrack

Continuing from where I left off... after we got to the hotel and put our stuff in our room (they let us check in early), we sprayed on temporary hair coloring. That stuff was MESSY! Whenever we made the slightest movement, all the color would flake off. It was disgusting. So we headed to the convention center, incredibly excited about the concert. We were disheartened to see a HUGE line for registration... until we learned that pre-registered members had another entrance! There wasn't even a line and we registered, headed up to the next floor to get stickered for the concert. Then we were set! It only took us less than 10 minutes! Thank god I preregistered.

I don't remember what we did next. I think we walked for a bit, took a few pictures of good cosplayers, then heard the ending to the Jpop panel and waited for the Jrock panel to go up. I'll talk more about that later.

Yesterday same ol same ol. Work was cancelled but I clocked in to help delete reservations and make phone calls. Then I went home and played around on Gaia and my guilds. soundlounge was created last night. I still need to work on the forum, though. CJ and I had a heckuva time trying to come up with a tagline. I also watched Aguirre, Wrath of God and installed my PC card wireless network card for my laptop. That took all of 3 minutes. No wireless access points in my area, though. I'll try to install the wireless network in my home tonight if we cancel. I'll do it during Gaia's downtime.

music: Peelander-Z - Peelander Anthem

Otakon was last Saturday and it rawked HARD. CJ has a detailed account in her LJ. I don't feel like going into length about it right now. Maybe later? Well, maybe a truncated, simple synopsis of the events. Too bad I can't go into all the work for the cosplay. Anyway, we left Saturday morning. CJ and I had gotten up at 5AM on the dot to get ready. Everyone else wasn't up until later, like around 6 or so. My dad drove us to the hotel. There was a hot Bentley coupe there, which CJ ended up taking a picture with prior to heading to the convention center. Okay, that's it for now. More later. Promise.