scribbles

They Call Me the Seeker, I Been Searchin' Low and High

Friday. I finally got a chance to try out Hahn's Hibachi in Jack London Square. I originally thought it was a Japanese restaurant, but it turns out that it's Korean BBQ. I had a yummy shrimp platter and my friend had the beef--she had a bit of trouble finishing hers though! Also, they give you Korean melon gum at the end of the meal. Tasty. :)

Satuday. My father's side of the family got together in Daly City for a sort of family reunion. It turns out that one of my cousins is also a student at SFSU. Also, one of my uncles, Maurice, used to cycle competitively in the area; he pointed out some fun facts while we were watching Armstrong win his fourth Tour de France. Real fun guy.

Sunday. The San Francisco Symphony held a free concert in the park; members of the Voltron Crew, myself included, picnic'ed a bit there (it was crowded!) with wine, crackers, cheese, and a baquette. They played Rhapsody in Blue, whee! We moved on to throwing a frisbee that looks like a yarmulke--well, that is, until we lost it in the shrubberies. We then strolled over to the Gelato Classico Italian where I ordered a cup of Honey Lavender ice cream: I wasn't sure what to expect, and I got what I expected. :) Then we proceeded to Park Chow where I had the best freakin' lasagna that I've ever had the honor of tasting.

Monday. I took my morning jog: now that I don't have class, I've got time to run again! Also, I've been meaning to re-establish myself at a local coffee shop; when I was still a Berkelanian, I was a regular at Espresso Experience. Well, today, I paid my first visit to Cafe Di Bartolo (OK, I really thought it was Jenny's Cafe earlier, poo!), right next-door to Walden Pond: friendly service, and I found out that the owner is a fan of Sinatra. After my book and latte (and my friend passing by who called me a Bohemian), I headed over to the Montclair golf course's driving range (erg, the swing on my 5 wood wasn't looking too good). And tonight, I met with friends at Danville Bowl; the place was nice except the computer scoring the games was completely out of whack, and I noticed that they didn't spray the shoes with anything after we gave them back--hmm!

Any Friend of Janie's is a Friend of Mine

It finally came to pass that I experienced American Beauty, the film an acquaintance named Dan at Pitzer remarked about to me while I sat on a hammock on one fine sunny day, saying, "Ivan, you should watch American Beauty. I think you'll really like it." Meanwhile, I was thinking, "This guy hardly knows me; how does he know I'll like it so much?" I liked it; and it reminded me of Fight Club.

Also, some of the Voltron Crew recently joined forces to battle the evil powers of The Tree with the use of an Association Football (aka Soccer) sphere on the Berkeley campus grounds. Working in concert with The Tree was a stealthy foe known as The Sprinkler. And now, it seems there's to be some classy cultural Voltron action this weekend! Yum!

Dancin' Through on Twenty-Two

It seems like some of you know of this day's little special secret; and from the looks of things, you folks are expecting an update on the site about it!

Well, I awoke with my usual flair of a shower followed by scrambled eggs and toast with orange juice. The sun was out, and the sky was blue, so I took a stroll around the neighborhood before heading off to class to take a midterm. :)

At that point, I was feeling especially adventurous, so I went and got a haircut. In the words of Murakami: "If you don't have anything better to do, go to the barber" (Dance Dance Dance). So now, my hair is rather short.

Oh, and also I had Japanese for dinner. Mmm, sushi!

A Hole in One, or Two, or Three...

So, Tuesday I had my first (half) game of golf in a long time. We'd played the first eight holes at Tilden, and then visibility just shot down to oblivion: the fog was thick, and the sun was pretty much down. I guess I didn't play too badly. :P

And Wednesday night, the A's were giving out points (literally) left and right to the Angel's. I got three $1 hot dogs, though!

Speaking of hand-outs, CDR's stereo has been gaffled! Taken was the old-school raggedy Alpine stereo, two used $5.99 Blink182 albums, used John Lee Hooker's Best of Friends CD (I hope that whoever has it now really enjoys it, because I think Hooker has a unique flavor of blues guitar that's quite good and quite unappreciated), and the emergency $2 toll money.

And as adventerous as my life may be, I still like to spice things up some more with the tales of others! Just the other day, I watched Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo: kick-ass samurai film! I've begun to enter, again, into the psychotic mind of Haruki Murakami--this time, paging through his Sheepman-covered Dance Dance Dance. If I begin acting strange these next few days, Dance Dance Dance is the reason why. And what would you say can rival my great adventures? Well, amazing adventures, of course! So, I'll soon be delving into Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay!

Oh, and watch out for Chinese fish with primitive lungs: pretty soon, we'll be seeing fishmen walking around! Beware!

Sneaky, Sneaky Summer

Summer's flowin' right along now, and there's oodles to see and do! After getting back from AX, I've started to splurge back into watching some anime again. Inspired by the characters met at the show, I'm trying to get my hands on some X TV and .hack//SIGN now, and I started/finished Onegai Sensei just the other day. :)

I've finished Dawkin's Selfish Gene (OK, maybe I'm not completely done with the endnotes) and then moved on to devour The Evolution of a Warrior by Christopher Regan. I need to go to the bookstore sometime to grab some more goodies to read!

Today, I've got a meeting for a half-game of golf up at Tilden. I've only really played at the Chabot course before, but last week I hit a few at the driving range at Tilden, and I noticed its beautiful courses! Chabot is cheap, but the scenics are less than splendourous. Also, Tilden has $1 beer after 6pm. :P

And then, tomorrow, I've got a date with the A's for Dollar Wednesdays! Gooo A's!

And this weekend? Hmm, perhaps more rufferies!? :)

Anime Expo 2002

Welp, I'm back from AX; I was only able to attend two days this year due to some scheduling mishaps on my part. I wish I could still be down there right now. :(

So, what did I do and see? After registration and opening ceremony, I sped into the dealer's room. It seems like folks are beefing up their booths now. Pioneer had a big corner of the room with their Hellsing promotions. Suncoast had a great spot, complete with screen and beanbags to sit in while you watched. ADV was out flashing Robotech left and right, along with XBoxen out for people to twiddle with the new Robotech game. Oh, yes, and everyone sure got a kick out of the two perky J-girls greeting everyone passing by their booth; come to think of it, I don't even know what company they were with!

After wandering about a bit, and being denied my Puffy AmiYumi autograph (they only let people who bought CD's to get one, bastards!), I got into the panel with Ah! My Goddess folks Hiroaki Goda and Hidenori Matsubara (gooo, Gainax!). Goda's an especially spunky guy. You know, there sure are a lot of guys obsessed with Beldandy; one person I met in line was holding a $600 Beldandy cel.

I also got a chance to wander over to the Tokyopop tent with their awesome replica of Takumi's Trueno (except the wheel was on the wrong side). And I was able to meet Mamiko Noto: she has the most incredibly kawaii gestures--a really fun gal!

Well, as for the various cosplayers I got a snap at, there were the Kenshin Girls who were first in line for both the Watsuki panel and autograph session; my favorite Saito of the show (love the hair); Sanosuke with a (possibly) to-scale sword; Evangelion's Unit-01 berserking around; Vash and Wolfwood if they both had sex changes; one or two well-done sailor scouts; and then there was some strange hypnotic trancing action too.

Friday morning, I awoke early to squish in line for the Anime Music Video Contest tickets. Unforunately, there were some serious technical troubles, and after waiting outside the theater that night while watching someone strip-tease to stall time (taking off both shoes and his shirt), then joining in on chants such as "Let us in!" and "Hur-ry up!" (I'm surprised no one yelled out for the notorious chair), we were eventually let in to the theater after an hour and a half wait. Once everyone got into the theater, we continued to wait, and people started throwing paper airplanes; some of the more technically advanced ones managed to glide across the theater, causing much praise and applause. We even started doing the wave back and forth, again, cheering after each successful completion; once, Watsuki got on stage to lead us! Ah, but alas, the technical difficulties were not to be solved, and I was to end my last day of AX2002 with a bit of discontent at not being able to complete one of my favorite
events of the con.

Alas, so it is: until next year!

Oh, and I got my fair share of autographs. :)