AX Adventure of Luck: Day 0 (Right at Home!!!)
Posted by 55Cyanides, Jul 14 2009, 09:00 AM in Anime Expo 2009
Sorry for the late reply, I just actually came back from a sudden 2-3 day trip to Kentucky; after 6 days of an awesome trip to Los Angeles and various sites in California, I only had a day break before I embarked on 3 hour drive to Louisville and stayed there. But now I'm back and I'm ready to start on the 2nd post of my...nay, OUR adventurous trip to the Anime Convention, or AX. Let's go!
In our last episode, our hero, 55Cyanides was waiting at the Indianapolis International Airport for 5 hours. There, he was in awe with the art that cost about $4 million dollars, which resulted in people freaking out over the 'attacking jellyfish'. Also, he was devoid of the sweet tasty heaven also known as CINNABONS and was taught a different dialect of English (CONCOURSE instead of TERMINAL. Also, IRONY MOMENT #1). Lastly, he engaged in a torture game, otherwise known as SUDOKU; a grid of nine 3x3 squares, the thinking and the strategy consumed our hero in a humiliating defeat, like someone stepping onto a trap card in an insane battle in Yu-Gi-Oh for the win (Sorry Kaiba-boy)
Just moments before the take-off, our hero realizes that he didn't have possession of his ATM CARD, a potential $490 that would be helpful. Instead, he only has $65 to spend, which he needs to save another $15 for the checked baggage on the trip back. So technically, $50 to spend. On a weird happenstance, he met someone he calls GEE GIRL, in which they might cross paths someday. As he went into the airplane, he stopped in North Carolina, and then went to Los Angeles. The trip lasted about 9 hours, where the latter half was 6 hours; for those 6 hours, he had to endure a romance scene right next to him where You Got Mail, Serendipity, High Frequency, Notting Hill, and other movies would kill to have that scene.
Landing in Los Angeles, he met MM=Happiness and Ryuk0tsu, two members of this RPG party. He told them of his predicament; you know, the 'I know I promised to pay you $300 for the trip but guess what? I forgot it' predicament. They took it pretty relaxed and agreed to visit a Chase Bank. But first, time to get settle some business first. With 55Cyanides, MM=Happiness and Ryuk0tsu finally meeting for the first time, what is going to happen on Day 0? Is 55Cyanides going to find his ATM Card? Is MM=Happiness and Ryuk0tsu going to like 55Cyanides' company? Is Day 0 going go off without a hitch?!!
It was 11:50 am and I finally got my raggedy luggage from the Claim area. One day, I will have the guts to ride on those carousel things because it'll be a great way to train for amusement park rides (yeah, I'm pretty scare of even the tiniest of rides, such as the Tea Cup that spin round and round). After giving the game plan of the day, the first thing that was on top of the list was get MM=Happiness and Ryuk0tsu checked out in the hotel.
Even though it was the first time I met the two (they are siblings), they were very chill. MM=Happiness was the older sister, sporting light brown hair and fashion that said she was well-aware of the hot weather of California; Ryuk0tsu was the younger brother, sporting dyed brown hair in a style that emulated the cool character of any anime and fashion that was up to date. Me? I was like the stranger in a Spaghetti Western movie that entered a new town, my bags over my shoulders and a sweatshirt unzipped, revealing my undershirt and muscular frame; according to many, you call that the infamous 55Cyanides’ HOBO style. Both were pleasant and easy to talk to, which made me at ease to engage in conversation with them without the fear of getting mace in my face; trust me, you don’t want that. With only minutes, it felt like we’ve been friends for a long time, both laughing at my weird/energetic sense of humor and my hand motions when I talk.
They came to Los Angeles a day earlier before me and they got a lot of stuff done, well okay one but an [b]IMPORTANT ONE; they were able to rent a car, which we'll be able to use to visit place such as the Convention Center for the next 5 days. Actually, I'm very excited to see what our car is going to be. But before I go over what it is, here's some food for thought that might help:
Renting Cars: Under 25 years old??? I'm not sure if you guys know, but there's some sort of significance of turning 25: when you hit this age, renting cars is pretty much a cinch. Now there's some places that actually rent to people under 25, but usually those are placed in areas that have a busy airport (Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, Orlando, etc.). Those places who allowed under 25 years old to rent, mostly the age minimum is 21 but some places are 18; however, there's a catch in that you have to pay a $10-$25 a day surcharge. However if you're lucky and done your research, they ARE some places where you could rent a car being u-25 AND not pay for the surcharge; MM=Happiness and Ryuk0tsu exactly just did that.
For those who's going to be in the Los Angeles for a period of time, under 25 years old, and need a method of transportation, try going to Black & White Car Rental Black and White Official Website. It's been voted the best car rental company in Los Angeles by Los Angeles Magazine (go figure)! Here, you can rent cars that oozes epic reputation, such as: Lamborginis, Ferraris, Bentleys, Porsches, and much more! With the age requirement of 21 and no insane surcharges, this is the place to rent from. With a car selection of that caliber, I'm excited to figure what my party and I are going to roll in to AX! This is how stoked I was about the car:
From Los Angeles International Airport, it was just a 5 minute walk to their hotel, the Marriott Inn. Immediately stepping onto the hot ground of the steel jungle, I can already see the major difference from my two hometowns: the quiet college town of West Lafayette, Indiana and the quaint suburb of Southfield, Michigan. I felt like I was carrying the sun while trying to make sure I wasn't going to get trampled by the shrew of California drivers (don't get me started on them quite yet...). Palm trees decorated the city, seeing about 5-10 on both sides every 50 feet when I realize we walked inside this lavish hotel.
From initial conversations (probably to make sure that I wasn't THAT much of a weirdo), MM=Happiness and Ryuk0tsu's first day in Los Angeles wasn't a good one; apparently, the Marriott Inn charged an extra $50 on the credit card for reasons that still goes through my hair: because they used a credit card, they added $50 as a safety deposit and will pay them back AS SOON AS THE TRANSACTION IS DEEMED SATISFACTORY. Like me, both were working on a tight budget and this 'safety deposit' is putting a Donkey Kong Wrench into the works. No worries, I'll just use my money to help with the...oh wait never mind. On top of that, every little detail seemed to be usable IF you pay; they brought a LAPtop to make sure things wouldn't be boring (assuming for internet surfing and checking Hello!Online for updates) but in this hotel, you had to pay JUST to use the Wi-Fi. Thank god I'm not going to stay in this hotel!
Anyway, besides these 'minor' details, the hotel itself is pretty serious business; the moment you walk inside, you are greeted with a lavishly decorated lobby, built with marble that makes you think you were in Ancient Greece (minus the toga). Continuing to the counter to check out, I first noticed that the lobby was full of Flight Attendants, all of them female and of Asian ethnicity; I'm thinking about 20 attendants. Across from the counter was a small space for the travelers: there were 2 computers available to use to check and print of one's flight tickets AND there was 3 big LED screens that listed all of LAX's departures of the day. I was being amused like a 5 year-old kid attending the Panda Exhibit at the local zoo when my party told me they already checked out and it was time to head on out to the Convention Center.
Walking back to the steel desert, my palms were sweating and my heart was racing. Sure, I was carrying my two bags all this time but I was more thinking about the sweet ride we were representing. Was it going to be a F1 McLaren? A tricked out Escalade? My mind was racing while my feet was on cruise control, following my party around. The parking lot was COMPLETELY full, all containing luxurious cars that many would kill to get. First thought that crossed my mind: "Work for any airline. You'll be king!" My second thought didn't exist because all of the sudden, we all stopped. Only though I had a quick initial glance, I dropped my bags and my knees buckled. It couldn't be, have my eyes deceived me? Looking at the wonder in front of me, the only thing that screamed from my brain was: "I'm so excited!!!"
I called it the Scarlet Devil. To others, it's a Toyota Corolla. Don't mess though, this is one hell of car! It fit ALL 5 of our bags, had power windows, air conditioning, AND a CD player. Anyway, we all rolled out of the parking lot, WHICH WE HAD TO PAY $23 TO EXIT (belonging to the HOTEL of course), and headed to the Convention Center. MM=Happiness was the driver and her brother was the navigator, using a set of directions that was typed in a word-document. Watching the two of them worked together was pretty entertaining, and add the Morning Musume Sexy 8 Beat CD we were listening to, it was an awesome experience. Of that day, the In the 20 minutes it took us to get there, I had taken note of many things in Los Angeles that were new and/or interesting to me:
1) Jamaican Pizza Hut???
While driving on the streets, I thought I saw a Pizza Hut about a block away; it was a red building and had that familiar roof that look similar to temple. However, when MM=Happiness drove close to it, it was actually a JAMAICAN restaurant. It looked interesting but we never had to chance to check it out, we had more pressing matters to take care of. Maybe next time...
2) Jack In 'n' Out of the Box
I'm a fast food type of guy: I like eating 5 McChicken/Whopper Jr's/Double Stacks at once. However, I kept seeing two fast food restaurants that were not existent in the Midwest: In 'n' Out and Jack in the Box. I heard many things about these places and hopefully, I would have the time to eat there.
3) California Drivers 1: "YOU GO OR I'LL MAKE YOU GO"
When driving, you expect to stop at a lot of stop lights. From either personal experience or witnessing this in the 20 minutes we were driving, if the light turns green and you don't INSTANTLY go, the person behind you will NICELY let you know by honking. Thank you Californians for your kindness.
4) California Drivers 2: "I'M SORRY, YOU'RE IN MY WAY"
The highway is a great place where you can drive at high speeds at your luxury. California highway with the drivers, it's a survival. Again, from personal experience (thanks to MM=Happiness), you can have a 4-5 car length of space but if you turn on your blinker to merge, expect the car to pull a Jeff Gordon and speed up JUST to deny you that pass. That and the other cars behind.
5) Green Mean Go...ON THE HIGHWAY
On the topic of highways, I like how in my two places of residences you have a long piece of road that allows you build up speed when entering the highway. In California, they ALSO have that strip but then it hinders the driver with a stop light or sign. When it turns green, only ONE car per lane can go, and you have only about 1/4th of the strip to use the boost to get through. WTF.
6) Get Your Oranges! Get Your Oranges!
Getting off the highway, there's actually plenty of street vendors near the exits/entrances of the ramps. Selling various fruits of Oranges, Watermelons, Apples, and others, it seems pretty interesting to actually try. Now I just need to find out how much the prices are.
7) ALL ABOARD!!!
Along the way to Los Angeles from the hotel, I noticed there was another form of transportation available on the highway. It’s called the METRO RAIL or something of that variation. It looks pretty nice and I guess if you’re tired of CALIFORNIAN DRIVERS and TRAFFIC, this would be the best time to use it.
Finally, to the real deal!! At about noon, we finally made it to the Convention Center and it seems like one hell of a place outside. It's actually KISSING the Staples Center, where teams like the LA Lakers and the LA Clippers play their home games. In a matter of a few seconds, our wonderful driver (MM=Happiness) chose to go at the West Hall Entrance parking garage, which is stellar. We had the privilege of parking though...with the small price of $12. Are you kidding me? For the next 4 days, we're going to have to pay $12 each time. The life of a great fan is a tough BUT an awesome one.
After a quick stretch of the legs and getting the blood flowing through my muscles (at this time, I've been up for 21 hours straight), our party walked into the building where it's going to the best time of our lives....the Convention Center. The glass doors slide open and we follow the signs that told us where the Registration is. Even though it was Day 0, the place looks like it was ready to start: banners of Anime Expo were placed nicely in the venue, while I saw some straggling cosplayers (some pics will be coming muhahaha). Also, I noticed a lot of people in different color vests and the word staff; I'm going to see them a lot over the next 4 days.
Following the signs like Lemmings, we finally made it to the pre-registration site. I like to thank MM=Happiness because she actually pay for my 4-day pass AND Morning Musume Concert, I think about $70. The moment we entered the place, there were 3 full lines waiting, about maybe 100-200 people in each line. I saw people bringing chilling in chairs, playing with their Nintendo DS, playing cards, checking out the newest WTF videos on YouTube via LAPtop, and other such activities to pass the time; I also had seen people doing some dances from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya complete with music; it was a spectacular site to see, groups of people literally all over the world, to come together for only a 4 day event. We were worried about the lines because they seemed to be no end to them until a staff person came up to us:
“Are you waiting for a line?” he asked us, as we nodded our heads in unison. “Then follow me!” He took us to a small line that was forming, next to the last full line, and told us to “chill here”. Realizing that the lines were actually organized into letters (we were in line D), the fear of battling other lines to be the first person to get their badges was dispelled; instead, each line had one booth that one person/group can come up to and get their information. It was 12:30 pm.
MM=Happiness, Ryuk0tsu, and I were just waiting in line, in awe with the crowd that was building up in this area. With each passing minute, our line was getting bigger until there was a need to make ANOTHER line. Besides the cosplayers in their outfits, we also noticed the amount of Morning Musume fans present at the lines; one could tell by the recognizable green shirts that was offered in Hello!Online, which MM=Happiness and Ryuk0tsu bought (none for me T_T). Actually, to the left of us was the person who was giving the shirts to those who bought them, according to MM=Happiness.
For the first couple of hours waiting in line, I noticed there were MANY Bleach and One Piece cosplayers. Also many girls had the school uniform thing going on (I guess it’s NOT that hard to put together) and some had the gothic look going on. I was surprised there was ONE Naruto cosplayer, whose bright yellow hair rivaled the burning sun of a thousand flames. However, probably the most interesting one I saw of the day was the BRAIN AGE one; all you need is a good piece of cardboard (achieved from any outdoor breakdance battle), a steady hand to cut a perfect circle, and great handwriting. How can you NOT like it???
More time has passed when another dance from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya busted ahead of us; they were actually pretty good and got lot of applause. Around this time, Ryuk0tsu utilized his +15 to environmental awareness and noticed one of the green shirts from Hello!Online ahead of us. Taking charge, he initiated the conversation and things went well from there; he wore glasses, looked clean cut, and had a friendly smile…the total opposite of my spaghetti western image. For about 30 minutes, my mouth kept moving, engaging our newly found friend in conversation to make him feel at ease. I told him all about my initial trip, about the ROMANCE LOVE STORY on the plane, losing my DEBIT CARD, and other details that would be best suited in a young adult comedy like American Pie or Road Trip; he laughed at everything, so I just met another good friend. After, we started talking about Morning Musume, the main reason us 4 came to Anime Expo; on top of that, we all belong to the same forum, the wonderful and ever-growing community of Hello!Online. He finally introduced himself.
“My name is EveningMusuko, nice to meet you” he said nicely, sticking out his hand. We all introduce ourselves, as we shook his firm handshake; he was legit business. What followed were conversations relating to Morning Musume such as ‘How did you first heard about Morning Musume?’ When I join online community sites pertaining to Morning Musume or other musicians that I enjoy listening to, I never really explain how I first came across from them OR talk about the members in a deep manner. Well, I shall now reveal how I came to Morning Musume:
Anyway, being a fan is hard, especially for a group that is currently 9 people. We would ask questions pertaining who’s your favorite member, to the point where we would add a top 3 list. MM=Happiness, Ryuk0tsu, and EveningMusuko had their answer, even though it felt like they were being interrogated. For me, it was a hard thing for me to answer, since EVERYONE is my favorite member. It was now 1:30 pm.
Closer and closer it got to the 3:30 pm mark of when they started taking people for pre-registration, a funny thing happen…or THINGS. As the party were conversing, I heard some funny stuff from the group ahead of us, mostly from this guy who was wearing a trench coat, a hat, and socks with shoes; I’m assuming he was cosplaying but one COULD mistaken him for being a streaker. Anyway, he was talking with his group of other cosplayers, which I only remember two girls, one who was dressed up in a school uniform with a wooden sword and another who was dressed more like an elegant gothic lolita; the two kept hanging around each other a lot and the fashion of the two reminded me of the Oshima Yuko and Tomomi Kasai’s pair duet of 禁じられた2人 (Kinjirareta Futari or A Forbidden Pair in English).
Anyway, one of the first things that struck me odd was the conversation this guy was having with his group. I kid you not, this guy was talking about the differences of the Age Legality in Japan AND Canada. All of us in our party had our eyebrows cocked and we all stopped our conversation about Morning Musume just to listen to him; I mean damn, you must be a good speaker when you have other people from a different element stop their conversation and listen to yours. Anyway, the insane knowledge this person had on Canada AND Japan’s law system was disturbing AND yet, impressive at the same time. I glanced over at his party and I swear they had that “Are you kidding me” look on their face, but yet he had their complete attention. Now, I don’t know really why he would compare Japan’s law to Canada’s but I’m thinking it’s because that some of them came from Canada: not being a complete creepy stalker but BEING AWARE OF MY SITUATION, I noticed that the girl in the school uniform and sword was carrying her passport, one of the many ways of identification used to get your ID Badge; so either she came from another country, LIKE CANADA, or that she really has an awesome passport picture. That my friends is what you call deductive reasoning…thank you Matlock.
If that wasn’t enough, about 30 minutes later, the streaker person (I don’t think he was a kid, he looked older than me AND I look old with my facial hair) was playing some Pokemon game for the Nintendo DS, I think it was Pokemon: Burnt Pizza Crust Color, when his knowledge started again. He was mentioning how there were these tricks in the game; now he just didn’t say tricks, this guy MENTIONED what were the tricks, how to get them, what you get out of them, and when to get them. With his information being so l337, he was a walking GAMEFAQS. I would ask him all about it since I never played the game AT all, but I would fear that he would OWN me by saying some trivia matter but turn it into an intellectual statement. People, if you need to know anything about Canadian/Japanese law AND how your completely annihilate your Pokemon game, try looking for a husky glasses-wearing dude with a trench coat and hat, you won’t regret it.
Our party started to get bored with about 2 hours left to go when Ryuk0tsu and I decided to volunteer ourselves to walk back to the car to get two things: LAPtop and a deck of small cards. At this time, 6 full lines were established in the area and it seems like this is how many people pre-registered. Walking out the door to the outside, the front staff stopped us; now maybe because I have bad hearing or I don’t have a great profiency of English, I was confused. He was saying something and stuck his hand out but I was like “Huh? What the hell?” Ryuk0tsu was business and stuck out his hand, as the staff person wrote an X on it. I followed suit and felt the cold black marker X’d my hand, as we continued outside.
“DAMNNNN” I shouted, noticing the line outside forming. It seemed to be like 5-6 times people outside than the waiting lines inside, and it was scorching hot. Anime Expo is serious business!!! Anyway, we went to the car and got the stuff, and went back to the doors leading to the registration area when we were stopped by Mr. Bouncer.
“WHOA WHOA WHOA NOW…” he said in this voice, trying to emulate someone who’s serious. He had this Bluetooth set on and suit on with a clipboard on; I guess this is how nightclubs work. We showed him our X’s, and gave us this look that a rabid pitbull would stop dead in its tracks. After what seems to be minutes of an epic stare down, he chewed his gum and look in an entirely different direction, confusing us on what to do. We walked back to our party, where everyone (I mean EVERYONE) was sitting down and started to bust out the cards while Ryuk0tsu was setting up the computer.
Ok, Strike 2 for internet in California. It wasn’t working when he was trying to set up a wireless network when I decided to give it a try; I’m Filipino, so I might have +20 to Computer Skills or whatever if I was in an MMORPG. About 1 minute later, I was this close to chucking, or for my friends’, FORKLIFTING the laptop to a different dimension. Instead, we started to bust out the cards, The game? WAR. Basically, everyone drops one card for each hand and whoever has the highest value takes everyone cards. Whoever is the last one standing wins.
We only played this game ONCE because it’s a long one and that I was getting destroyed. In a nutshell, I was the first one out within 3 minutes, followed by MM=Happiness 5-6 minutes later. It was a fierce battle between the cool Ryuk0tsu and the business EveningMusuko; now I'm not sure if he knows it but EveningMusuko was on fire in this game. Maybe he has +20 to luck but he kept getting all the good cards. Hopefully some of the luck will rub off on us when it comes time to Morning Musume. Anyway, the game never finished because it was 3:30 pm and you know what that means: TIME TO GET SOME BADGES. We all stood up and waited anxiously when we realize that short time turned into 5-10 minutes; now everybody was confused and all went back down to sitting. Only soon did we find out from a staff member that there were some computer errors and that they were currently fixing it. At this point on, we could've continue the epic match between Cool and Business but at this point, we were all 'bleh'.
Well, another 15-30 minute wait isn’t so bad, we already waited for about 4 hours in line, why the hell not? At this point, EveningMusuko told us he was going to cosplay, in which all of us was like "HUH!?!?". What could it have been? The ever happy go-lucky Vash the Stampede? The calm but yet sometimes brash Spike Spigel? The always hungry warrior Monkey D. Luffy? Naw, those were amateur characters for him; instead he went with the Bold AND the Beautiful:
With his suit and tie, EveningMusuko is going to cosplay as Eric Kamezo. Now THAT'S BUSINESS!
Anyway, we were entertained with a pseudo dance battle when this girl in line was doing a six-step. She was not bad when all of the sudden, BRAIN AGE kid comes in…no, comes RUNNING IN, stops in front of her, and starts doing some sort of pop and lock routine. Again it was not bad. Ryuk0tsu looks at the routine intensely, and I swear I saw his eye go weird like he was doing the Sharingan technique.
“Hey, I just looked at what he did…” he started to say, turning around to me. I think he was impressed with his moves. “…and I’m sorry but I can do that.” The way he said it was calm and cool-like, again, personifying the COOL ANIME character. I started to crack up when he looked at me again, all calm and cool. “What? I’m serious? It's easy, all you have to do is...” and he starts to emulate what the BRAIN AGE kid was doing. If he wanted to, Ryuk0tsu could've let loose and busted out his own dance circle, but that's what amateurs do: he was professional and just kept it very low key. PROPS. Anyway, after 20-30 minutes of extra waiting, the line started to move; it’s time to get the badges. As our party was next, I realized that there’s a station of computers to get your badges and immediately my heart sank: it reminded me of the time I was at the airport.
However, this was more straight-forward and was able to get my badge without problems. Exiting back outside, we were giving some gifts (well a keychain and program with events) and we were done….AFTER getting out concert tickets for Morning Musume. As we walked back inside, we noticed the EVENT TICKETING booth was opened and there was a line, but it wasn’t as bad. I counted about 50 people ahead of us, with one person chilling at the door that was open. The ticketing was supposed to start around 5:30 pm, so we had like an hour before it began. Score! We all walked to line up behind when BAM! TONS OF PEOPLE WERE WAITING OUTSIDE. 
“YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!!!” I shouted out loud, as my flailed out like I was a 4 year old kid; the people around us laughed, so I was satisfied. It was about 100-200 people in the line right now, when I heard someone call out my nickname from Hello!Online. I look to my side and it was the one, the only, Addicted_Azn. He’s actually a friend of mine on FACEBOOK (one of the best places to waste your time besides YouTube), so it was great to see him for the first time. Judging from the pictures on facebook, he cut his hair.After introducing him to my party, we bid farewell as we went to the back of the line, while he was chilling near the front of the outside line. More waiting. GREAT.
We had some fun times talking to each other and other people who were waiting in line. While most of the people were there for the Morning Musume concert, others were there for the other Main Events that required tickets. In this line, I was trying to figure out a location of a Chase Bank. For the time we spent on the road, you’d expect to find banks, which we all did, except none of them were CHASE BANK. Upon talking to other people, some from California and some outta the area, they all said that they HEARD of it but never seen it. GREAT. ULTIMATE SCREWED.
What seems to be like minutes (or hours depending), we all started to get hungry, so MM=Happiness and I volunteered to go to the Food Court to get some food. First advice for anyone going to any convention, DON’T BUY THE FOOD THERE, unless you like taking your wallet and have it burnt before your eyes. Pizza that was about 2 slices was $7.75; Tony’s Pizza at Wal-Mart (A WHOLE PIZZA) is $2.50 (Trust me I know, I bought 3 of them yesterday night). Bottle of Water was $2, a better improvement of the $5 water from Starbucks; A GALLON of WATER at Wal-Mart, $.79. I didn’t get anything but MM=Happiness bought some stuff for the party, after taking out a mortgage and a loan of course.
As we were waiting, I noticed a trio of Asian girls dressed in a maid outfit walking toward our direction when they stopped in front of us with an announcement. For the first time in Anime Expo history, they were starting a Maid Café and that they were looking for customers. At the same time, Ryuk0tsu and I looked at each other, brandishing an epic smile. We asked for some fliers and they were more than happy to give it to us, showing a smile that celebrities would kill to have. Now I have two things in my mind: Morning Musume AND Maid Café.
After what seems to be like a quick hour or two, we were back inside and finally were up to the counter to get our Morning Musume tickets. We flashed our badges and were given our tickets, which our eyes almost watered when we got it. 
5 Rows from the stage? Are you kidding me? This is going to be a totally awesome concert, where we are very close to them. Nothing can hinder us!!! At this moment, I established in my head that we were like this RPG Party:
MM=Happiness, she's like the leader of the group. She's focused and tries to prepare everything in advance, such as the directions to various venues in California. Being the only driver to the rental car, she makes sure we get to the destination in time and unharmed. Working well under pressure, it takes a lot to crack her and I have yet to see her explode.
Ryuk0tsu, the calm and cool person of the group. With his stylish hair, he has a swagger about him that exemplifies confidence. With great observation skills, he looks at things and calls it how he sees it. being the navigator of the "Scarlet Devil". He currently has a gripe with Wells Fargo Bank.
EveningMusuko, the business of the group. A very nice guy with a firm handshake, he's here for only one mission: To See Morning Musume. An attentive listener, he's always a great guy to talk whether if you need help or you just want some conversation.
55Cyanides (aka Me), the clown of the group. COME ON, JUST READ MY POST. YOU SHOULD KNOW BY NOW!!!
Anyway, after getting our main stuff done for the today, we decided to head on out, as we exchanged information with EveningMusuko to chill at AX. It was 7:30 pm. Next stop, ARCADIA!!!
From Los Angeles to Arcadia was about 30-40 minutes, depending on the traffic. Basically it was in the Pasadena area and after driving through, we finally hit Arcadia and was heading into our hotel, the Residence Inn. Because I’ve written a crap load, I’ll write a review of the hotel the NEXT POST on Day 1. As we walked in to check in, we were thinking of trying to pay the bill through 2 methods: pay as much as we can with Ryuk0tsu’s credit card (since the $50 safety deposit from Marriott Inn really screwed up their tight budget) and then pay with the cash we have on us. Telling this to the counter lady, she told us that it wasn’t possible and that they only accepted Credit Cards. YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME.
Feeling a bit uneasy now, we asked if there are any other hotels that could accept our method and she was more than glad to check it out. While she was calling, MM and Ryu was calling their mom to tell of their predicament, while I was left in the lobby feeling crappy: WAY TO NOT HAVE YOUR DEBIT CARD WITH YOU. When the lady came back, she gave us the news that all the hotels in the area only accept. AGAIN, YOU H AVE GOTTA BE KIDDING ME. Telling more of the problem to the mom, I started to surf the web on the computer in the lobby; at least they got free internet here.
While I was checking, Ryuk0tsu asked if he could just check his account on Wells Fargo just to gauge how much was available on the card. When checking, he let out a sign of relief and frustration when he realized he had more than enough to cover the bill of staying here for 3 days. In his recent activity, he had $50 taken out due to the safety deposit but for some unknown reason, he had about $200 added to his account for no reason. A funny moment happened afterwards when he left to pay the bill when he said: “Man, Wells Fargo is so gay” out loud. It was a normal statement when I noticed one of the patrons of the hotel heard it and look like her heart was broken. I guess she worked for Wells Fargo.
After paying everything (MM=Happiness, Ryuk0tsu, I forgot how much it cost for that so if you let me know, cool beans), we went into our ‘hotel’ room and was in awe. Like I said, I’ll describe more about the hotel in detail next time, but it was awesome. We dropped our bags and left the room to finally get some real food. It was about 9:00 pm.
We wanted to try some In’N’Out, since I heard from many of my friends in California how awesome it was. Instead, it turned out to be some sort of 15 minute drive of being lost, seeing many things; one memorable thing was a McDonalds that had a 50’s theme to it and had a slash through the M. We called it the “REBEL” McDonalds. We continued driving until we saw two things: a CHASE BANK (fricking finally) and Jack In The Box. None of us have tried it, so we decided to try it.
All I can say is WOW. Jack in the Box is AWESOME. Any place with a $1 menu is awesome possum. I bought myself 5 Deluxe Burgers, while MM and Ryu bought some meal; I offered to pay for it, which was about $15. Now I’m down to $50. Taking it to go, we all went back to our hotel room, about 10:00 pm. I did a quick workout, involving push-ups and sit-ups (hey gotta look good for Morning Musume), and ate all 5 of my burgers in a single sitting. It was about midnight when we headed to bed; the goals for tomorrow:
1)Wake up at 6:00 am
2)Go to a Chase Bank to get $$$
3)Go to the Morning Musume Question and Answer Panel
4)Maid Café(??)
5)Have fun
After writing the account of THE FIRST DAY IN LOS ANGELES, nothing can go wrong right? In the next installment, we’ll discover about the Chase Bank in Arcadia, the craziness of the first day of Anime Expo, the Morning Musume Panel, and perhaps some other tidbits you might enjoy. Stay tune for the next episode of AX ADVENTURES OF LUCK! Day 1: WE DID WHAT!?!
Comments
Addicted_Azn, Jul 14 2009, 10:32 AM
Evening Musuko, Jul 14 2009, 01:31 PM
BTW i took the metro during my time there. It's good, but you still have to do a bit of walking if you want to get anywhere.
slyph, Jul 14 2009, 03:32 PM
haha awesome post man
I learned where to go for a car next time I'm in LA, siblings work well best, and a MM CD helps everything!
OMG....
Whoa....Streaker-guy's convo STOPPED yours...impressive indeed. And his "Pokemon: Burnt Pizza Crust Color", tell me, did u like his walking GAMEFAQs?
YES! called your name out and you responded. I love seeing my name there! muhahahaha! ahh, no lie, i wish i could have chilled with you sooner man, at least on another day, you know? faauukk. >___< but yes, at the time, i was chillen in the front. >=D
yes, don't buy the food there, but unfortunately I did....twice. @o@
Daamn dude, the hotel AND credit card company just served hell as the first dish! That just sucksss uber much. =.=
YES YES YES! AGAIN, AWESOME POST! Can't wait for the next one, i had a blast reading it all.
We write SO MUCH because we CARE SO MUCH!!!