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!?!
AX Adventure of Luck: Day -1 (The Mood of the Adventure Starts WHERE!?!??!)
Posted by 55Cyanides, Jul 8 2009, 09:37 AM in Anime Expo 2009
I came back home from California last night at midnight (Indiana) and I was fortunate enough to have the strength/spirit to read up on many of the awesome members' blogs on the experience of AX. It brought smiles to my face to read that many had the same joyful experience as I had but also it saddened me to hear many also had some painful experiences. Like others, I too want to share my experiences, starting with what I call Day -1, the day where the mood of the trip was beginning.
It was 11:00 pm on June 30th, Monday, when my friend (Codenamed Smitty) picked me up from my apartment and took me to the Indianapolis INTERNATIONAL Airport. It was a calm and cool night, which was a relief since the last few days were hot and humid. If I remember correctly, I was up since 3:00 pm, which may not mean much but you'll understand later on. It was about an hour drive, and if you know me, interesting conversations happened. First of all, this is actually a NEW airport, about 1-2 years old; also apparently, they are now started to fly to Canada and Mexico, which is why I bolded the word INTERNATIONAL.
Midnight, I made it to my *terminal* but had to wait for a blistering 5 hours; my flight doesn't leave at 5:30 am and I'm at least compassionate enough to ask my friend to drop me at a reasonable time, as opposed to 3 am. Also a weird thing I noticed, they call it CONCOURSES and not TERMINALS. Anyway, I noticed how clean and lavish this place looked. According to the in-flight magazine I read 6 days later, Indianapolis International Airport spent about $4 million dollars of art decoration. Like these jellyfish things in the ceiling; no joke, I saw a passenger arriving from his flight and he started screaming out loud "OMG, ATTACKING JELLY FISH. SAVE ME!!!" It was funny, not cause what he said, but that he said it in front of a group of 30 waiting families, some of them waiting for a flight and sleeping. 
I was thirsty and the only thing that was open was a Starbucks; jeez, you see these things EVERYWHERE. At around 2 am, I spent about $5 on 1 liter of FIJI water; oh that's not all, I actually only drank about $1.50 worth of water and when I moved my seat to a more comfortable area, I left it and the cleaning workers threw it away. Anyway, I was bored (how normal of me) and started taking pics of the lobby, which was full of closed shops of the day: McDonalds, Harley Davidson, Brookstone, etc. I was disappointed though they didn't have a CINNABONS. I'm sorry but you cannot call yourself an airport and/or mall unless you have a CINNABONS. Then again, I'm glad they didn't have it, other wise I would've spent about $150 for a cinnamon roll the size of a tear drop. 
As I was chilling in this pseudo-waiting area where about 20-30 people were waiting/sleeping/reading for their next flights, I noticed the newspaper in front of this IKEA-esque desk in front of me. All I wanted was the comics and boy, was I satisfied. It was entertaining and I felt content of my daily reading when I noticed there was some games; SUDOKU was the one that grabbed my attention. I never got into this puzzle game, but I heard about this from SOOO many people, so I said to myself 'why the hell not?' I had another 2 hours to kill. Apparently, there nine 3x3 grids, where you need to put the numbers 1-9 in the box without repeating in the grid; also, the number may not repeat in the the respective column AND row. God, after an hour of this, I was reminded why I don't usually use my brain; CAUSE IT HURTS. Look, I was once kinda happy looking...to now a totally brain dead guy. True story yo.
As 4:30 hit, I noticed some people were already lining up in the US AIRWAYS check-in kiosk. Now before I go any further, I'll remind you readers that the last time I've went flying in an airplane was about 12 years ago. So I'm basically new to flight procedures but spent the last night reading up on it. Luckily, I got my confirmation code online and I would just go to the counter to swap and the what not. Closer and closer to 5:30, the line got bigger and bigger, full of travelers ready to go. About 5th in line, I sat on my luggage (see pic below for reference) and busted out my pink JPOP piano book, to write the notation down for future playing. I also had printed off piano sheets, which were actually KPOP, more specifically SNSD's Gee. I thought nothing of it when all of the sudden I heard a girl right behind say to her mom:
"AHHH!! SNSD!!! IT'S GEE!!!!!" Casually, I looked up, tilting my head up, my glasses below my eyes. I said cooly: "Ah, you listen to them?" She looked at me (in this case, look down) and nodded her head. I smiled and nodded back: "Awesome..." For future reference, I'll name her as GEE GIRL, cause you MIGHT see her again in my adventures in AX.
Finally, the check-in office was open and soon I was up. Now the first thing the taken me aback was EVERYTHING was TECHNOLOGY. I was expecting to talk to one of the counter people, show them my printed airline ticket, check my bag (which I had to pay $15 for), and be on my way. But instead, there was this machine which was touch scree where you can do everything yourself, kinda like a self-check out lane at the supermarket. Great. Touch screen, check. Type in confirmation code, check. Checking 1 bag, gotcha. Swipe in credit card to pay. Swipe in credit to pay. Um....SWIPE IN CREDIT CARD TO PAY.
I kid you not, with about 30 people behind me looking, I spent about 2-3 minutes checking my wallet when the thought finally hit my head: "WHERE THE HELL IS YOUR DEBIT CARD". My mind was in a blur; I was currently in that state where I was asking myself "Did I forget to bring it? Or DID YOU LOSE IT?". For those minutes, I kept looking: my pockets, my bags, my wallet, nothing. After, I asked one of the counter people if I could pay in cash (since I withdrawed $80 before I left) and I was lucky that I could.
Getting my check baggage into their security belt, I started walking toward CONCOURSE B where I went to the security checkpoint. Luckily, I read about this checkpoint and their procedures the day before, otherwise I would've been in a whole bunch of trouble. First, I gave the first officer my boarding pass and my driver's license, which he spent about 2 minutes on checking. He looked at the driver's license, then he looked at me...looked at the ID, looked at me. Looked at the ID...gave it back to me...THEN LOOKED AT ME. Giving the okay to the next point, I came up to the X-Ray machine where it took me about a minute to get everything prepared. Empty my pockets, took my flip flops off, my phone/camera charger into the basket and took of my sweater as I walked toward the this big machine which looked like I was being decontaminated.
After the whole ordeal, I finally made it to my gate where my mind was still blurred about where was the whereabouts of my card. Best case scenario: it's somewhere lost in my baggage and I'll find it when I land in California. Worst case scenario: it was stolen in the 5 hours I was at the airport and my account will be from $500 to YOU HAVE NOTHING in .7 seconds. I'll find out when I hit California but first, NORTH CAROLINA.
Now I'm not sure about you guys, but flying at 5:30 am is a beauty. As I looked out the window, I felt like the plane was the meat of a sandwich; below was thick and supple clouds while I saw some wispy clouds above us. I had a comical feeling of being in an Nintendo game with the cloud stage and that I was Kirby, using my sucking power to get over 9000. To get a better explanation, melt about 5-7 marshmallows and put them together. When it becomes one, that's what the clouds below look like.
Anyway, from North Carolina, I only had to wait about 45 minutes before it departed for California. A few things before I go on; first of all, I was surprised with how they organized passengers with this ZONE system. Because I do nothing BUT play games, I was thinking that the ZONE was a specific part of the plane but instead, it's kinda like the priority of who gets on first. Basically ZONE 4 (which I was) gets last dibs on going onto the plane. Second of all, the magazines on the airplane is a MIXED BAG. The first magazine was this catalog to SKY MALL, which had a bunch of items that was good and also wacky. If you have the time, check out skymall.com to check out the products; on a side note, how many times will I see that corny ROSETTA STONE ad. The one that has the tagline: "He was a hardworking farmboy. She was an Italian supermodel. He had only one chance to impress her. LEARN ITALIAN." 
From North Carolina to California was about 6 hours and I thought it was best to get some rest. And I was close to getting that goal achieved until the two passengers next to me decided to act out some romance movie with Julia Roberts or something. I kid you not, for the next 6 hours, I had to listen to these two talk about their lives: their past, their family, their jobs, their love life, and zany stories to keep each other company. I tell you, no matter how GOOD the in-flight magazine is, a POWERLUNG product and 15 ways of getting fit while traveling GETS OLD. When the plane landed around 11:00 am Cali Time (trip took about 7.5 hours), I thought it was over...until the middle-aged man pulled the best/funniest/worst pick up line.
"I'm sorry but I couldn't help noticed...that YOU..have a powerful vocabulary." I KID YOU NOT. Word for word, exact quote. And the middle-aged lady was giggling and into it. I swear, this is something straight out of either a comedy movie or a romance movie; oh he didn't stop, he continued: "The way you say your words, it's mesmerizing: 'When the CEO saw me at the cafeteria, he BECKONED me...' It's beautiful!" As the lady was getting into this, the guy took out something small; it was a card.
"NOW this is my VERY SPECIAL CARD...DON'T LOSE IT..." he said, as I glanced at it; when he said the words SPECIAL, I thought it would be something like this bad boy:
But instead, it was a normal business card: white background, black text. It was special all right. But man, the lady...she was SOOO ENTHRALLED. I could hear her quiver and held the card like it was a the most important thing in her life. Her voice, which was kinda husky, was now a whispering school girl: "..oh..ohh..oh my...I'll EMAIL YOU...I PROMISE..." It was pretty entertaining, at the expense that was I getting raccoon eyes.
Anyway, getting off the flight, I was meeting one of my friends and a member of this forum, MM=HAPPINESS; she was with her brother and I told her to meet me at the baggage claim area. As I was getting ready to get my baggage, I called one of my best friends and roommate; I told him about my debit card and he was checking it in the last place I thought. I remembered it quite clearly; I was wearing my gym pants because I came from the gym and I just went to the bank to withdraw $80 (now $65). It's only logical that it's there.
"Hey 55Cyanides...sorry, it's not in your pants and it's not in your room, I just checked..." A feeling of hopelessness washed over me when I heard that as I pictured some lucky guy having my debit card and buying tons of Morning Musume swag with it. I noticed MM=Happiness and her brother just entered my area, as I looked at the situation: I have only $65 with me and to help with the trip, I owed them about $300 to help with the car rental and the hotel. Gathering my senses, I gave them a nice greeting, since it's the first time I've seen them personally and said:
"Hey if you have time, can we go to a Chase bank?"
They agreed, right after we get our pre-registration stuff done at AX. I mean it's only about 11:30 and preregistration starts at 3:30 pm, what's the worst that could happen? Find out on the next episode of: AX ADVENTURE OF LUCK!!! Day Zero: Right at home!!!
Thanks for reading guys; all of this stuff happened in only the first 12 hours of my trip, that's why I added Day -1. Wait until you see the rest of the days. Days 1 through 4 will have video. Will post in about...later tonight. Peace!!
Also, if you're interested in seeing the rest of the photos (I have 200 in total), contact me. I'll send you a facebook link for you to see, since I have a limit of how many images I can post per post. Thank you. Feel free to comment. Peaces!
Los Angeles, prepared to get Forklifted
Posted by 55Cyanides, Jun 30 2009, 09:02 AM in 2008 Blog 2.0 2/22/009 UPDATE!!!
Hey hey hey, 55 here! It's been a while and I guess I can start off by saying: I'm heading to the airport in 17-24 hours from now, to go to Los Angeles for...yes...the Anime Convention. What's going to happen? Who knows? Random fun!
However, I do know that Morning Musume is going to be there AND that I'm going to put two check marks in my "Achievement List" if you may: 1st time going to a Convention AND 1st time going to a concert. So I think it's safe to assume that I'm stoked to say the least.
Anyway, it's been a slow 55Cyanides summer if you ask me; not much blogging around and the whole what-not. But I've been pretty productive; productive to the point that I've been working (semi-hard) on not one, not two, not three, BUT FOUR movie projects for the summer on absolute random fun.
Backstory: this whole year, I made a lot of friends who were international students at Purdue and unfortunately that they've gone back to their respected countries. As a tribute to them, I'm attempting to make fun movies with themes involving our Purdue Campus, so they'll remember the fun and good times they enjoyed.
Right now, the first movie is probably about 40% done, getting enviromental shots done. The theme is Physical Activity at Purdue and the shooting style of the movie is something emulating an action anime/movie. In other words, it's going to be tons of fun, since I'm experimenting with many new techniques, such as inputting special effects and using people in my movies besides myself.
As I bid adieu, here's some simple clips I'm going to input in the movie. If you want, figure what I'm going to use these as! Peace out yo, 55 out!
私の膝を怪我した時に。。。 (When my knee was injured)
Posted by 55Cyanides, Apr 30 2009, 06:40 AM in Essays
(Final Draft for the Semester. I like to thank Sakurai-Sensei for being an awesome teacher and helping me with this, and my fellow classmates)
よく、母と父は「ノエルさんは気概な人ですよ。」と言いました。始めは、両親がどうしていったのか私に分からなかった。私は不運な人なので、両親は褒めれば、私はとても嬉しくなると思ったようでした。しかしながら、二年前に、膝を怪我した時、両親の言ったことが分かりました。皆様、この作文をお読みいただけませんか。膝を怪我するのがとても痛いことを皆様に私教えて上げます。
二００七年一月八日に、体育館に行って、バスケットボールをしていました。間もなく、友達の膝にぶつけられて、私は膝を折ってしまった。スポーツ万能な人なのに、歩けないで、友達に病院に連れて言ってもらった。後で、医者は「すぐに、手術をしなければなりません！」といった。でも、お金がないので、私は五ヶ月間も待ってたんです。手術をした後で、医者は「すみませんが、膝が直るまで、一年も歩きにくくなって、スポーツをすることが出来ません。」と言って、その上で、入院費は高いので、一年も大学を落ちました。
二年後に、よく理学療法をして、もう今では気分はずっといいです。家族と全員友達のサポートで、今は歩きやすいです。皆様、膝の手術をすれば、大丈夫なので、諦めないで！諦めれば、落ち込んで、歩くことが出来なくなるでしょう。また、誰でも膝の手術をするのを知れば、手伝ってくれます。皆様のサポートのおかけで、もっと膝を直すようにします。有難う。
Mom and Dad often say: "Noel, you are a strong-spirited person." At first, I never understood why my parents said that. I thought because I was an unlucky person and if they praised me, I would become very happy. However, 2 years ago, when I injured my knee, I understood what my parents said. Everyone, please read this essay. I want to teach you about how painful it is to have a knee injury.
January 8, 2007, I went to the Co-Rec and was playing basketball. Before long, my friend's knee hit me and my knee broke. Even though I'm athletic, I couldn't walk and my friend help take me to the hospital. After that, the doctor said: "You have to have surgery immediately!" However, because I didn't have money, I had to wait for 5 months! After the surgery, the doctor said: "I'm sorry but until your knee is healed, it will be hard to walk for a year AND you can't play any sports. In addition, because the hospital fees was very expensive, I had to drop out of college for a year.
Two years later, I often did physical therapy and I am now feeling much better. Because of my family and all of my friends' support, walking is much easier now. Everybody, if you have a knee injury, it is ok, never give up! If you give up, you'll become depressed and you'll probably won't walk. Also, if you know anybody that has a knee injury, please help them. Thanks to everyone's support, their knee will be better fixed. Thank you
Weekly Things of 2/22/09 x Birth of Forklift
Posted by 55Cyanides, Feb 23 2009, 12:38 AM in Weekly Things 2/22/2009 UPDATE
Song of the Day
Kara - Honey (Korean, Pop, 3:10-ish)
What an awesome song. I love KARA and their songs are catchy like: Rock U, Pretty Girl, What is this, and now Honey. Now this isn't the first Korean Girl Group I've listened to recently (SNSD and Wondergirls, whom I love as well) but this song, I've been on a listening/watching fest since the beginning of this month. They have great competition ahead of them, but I hope they do well with thie song. It's awesome yo..
Kara - Honey 2/22/09 HD Perf CLICK
Movie of the Day
Shinobi: Heart Under Blade (107 Minutes, Ninja Action Romance, 2005)
Based on the anime/manga called Basilisk, which is based on the novel called the Kouga Ninja Scrolls in 1958, picture it like Romeo vs Juliet...mixed with Naruto. Two Ninja Clan Leaders (one guy, one girl), a bunch of ninjas they led, they all have special powers, they all have to kill each other in a contest...oh yah. And they love each other. Awesome stuff eh? It's fun to watch and the action(power) scenes are pretty snazzy yo.
Shinobi:Heart Under Blade Trailer CLICK
Clip of the Day
Really? Seriously? Against a bear??!
I cracked up when I saw part of this (and then closed the window soon after). It makes you go "Are you kidding me?". Barrels of laughs though. Enjoy
Video Game of the Day
Gunsmoke (Arcade/Nes/Too much to list, Capcom, 1985)
Man this is a fun old-school game. It's like a western version of Raiden, that over-the-top view scroller game shooting things while avoiding everything. This game was sooo fun to play. You basically play a cowboy, and you're hunting the biggest and baddest bounties in the West. Pretty much, each stage consists of many enemies to shoot and then a boss you have to defeat.
Each boss had some sort of special skill: like one had a Winchester Rifle and he would crawl to shoot at you, in which you can't hit him until he stands up. Another boss was a knife thrower, so he kept jumping around and throwing knives. The various bosses you face are pretty awesome, and kinda makes you go huh? I didn't know NINJAS were part of the Wild West 
Anyway, I never beaten the game, I was half-way through when the Indian Chief boss ROCKED me so bad. It's that tough of a game but at the same time, such a sweet game. Check it out yo!
Gameplay of Gunsmoke CLICK
The Birth of Forklift x Weekly Things 2/22/09
Posted by 55Cyanides, Feb 22 2009, 11:34 PM in 2008 Blog 2.0 2/22/009 UPDATE!!!
As I talk to my friends that I've known for about 5+ years online, we always have a fun conversation. Recently, they gave me the nickname FORKLIFT, which amuses me. Apparently, it's a compliment to the amount of strength I've acquired for someone my stature, but I disagree yo. Anyway, let me tell you the story...of the Rise of the Forklift...
During my year 'vacation' at home, I didn't really do much, except watch tv. Now 2008, the thing to watch was the Beijing Olympics, which was the first Olympics I actually watch to most of its entirety. When one thinks of that Olympics, probably everyone thinks of Michael Phelps. However, I was more focused on something else....JUDO and WEIGHT LIFTING. Judo was awesome to watch because the technique, skill, and strength it took to have throw your opponent onto its back was mesmerizing. Watching the Weight Lifting competition, especially at the lighter weights, was like watching a demi-god show its power. It was amazing, and I couldn't wait to find a place where I can gain back the strength I've lost...
Ever since I came back to Purdue on May of 2008, I was able to access the Gym capabailities that I've missed when I was back home for a year. Ever since my 2nd semester of my freshman year, I started working out and able to expand my physical capabilities by over 9000. Literally yo...When I first started out, I was about 132 pounds but when I ended my sophomore year, I was 165 pounds. Before my knee injury, I was able to squat 315 pounds and bench 220 pounds. However, I didn't really like the path I was taking with my workouts. I guess call it the youth in me, but I didn't have a guide or any idea what I wanted to do with my workouts. Well, I guess that's why I took a year off to think about it...I mean besides the whole surgery and what not...*coughs*
Over the year break, I did a bunch of body weight exercises to maintain my strength, since after the first day of surgery, I lost 20 pounds (165 to 145). From my period at home, I was able to research many things...and one phrase stuck to my mind: POUND FOR POUND (or KILOGRAM TO KILOGRAM) strength.
Let me ask you a question? What do you consider strong? Someone benching 315 pounds? That sounds like a nice number, but what if the person lifting that weight is about 200+ pounds? Now what if the person lifting that weightwas 160 pounds? In a nutshell, POUND FOR POUND strength is finding the ratio of the lifter's weight to the weight being lifted; the higher the ratio, the better. So technically, a 200 pound person lifting 400 pounds is weaker than a 135 pound person lifting 315 pounds (Ratio of 2 < Ratio of 2.33).
When I got back to the summer, I had quite the struggle to gain back the strength I attained back in the day, but now currently, I've attained it and increased my strength. At 143 pounds, I'm able to squat 315 pounds, deadlift 340 pounds, and bench 225 pounds. I was able to do this before, but at 20 pounds heavier.
Now with my spirit burning, I've been researching more things to increase physical capabilities, which brought back to the first thing that got me active in the first place: Martial Arts. Training under 13 years of Okinawan Karate and 8 years of Filipino Martial Arts, my workouts focuses on the mindset of preparing the body to turn into steel, to dish and take blows if need be. Now of course, I'm not going to go all DIO BRANDO on someone, stopping time and dropping a steam roller on someone while I WRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY. But it sounds sweet yo.
Also, I've been working on my vertical leap cause it'll help me become a more beastly beast on the bball court; I'm not the offensive type but more of a Hanamichi from Slam Dunk. I like to get rebounds and I love the block people, especially when they're about 4-8 inches taller than me. Anyway, all the videos below were taken in the Summer of '08.
In a way, I just want to show you about how the human mind can be your greatest asset. 2 years ago, I was pretty much hit rock bottom of my physical capabilities, limping with a operated knee, and no physical activity for a whole year. All it took was little motivation to get it started and I never look back. For all of you, there's no rock bottom, just a ground for you to not fall forever. If you ever hit that point, fret not. Find your motivation, it can be anything. IDOLS, TV, ANIME, BOOKS, anything. As long it can get your imagination running...you're going to be golden...just like a Forklift yo.
<-- Squatting at 315 Pounds
<-- Deadlifting at 315 Pounds
<-- Vertical Leap Test (5'7 or 170 cm)
Daily Things of 2/14/09
Posted by 55Cyanides, Feb 15 2009, 10:37 PM in Weekly Things 2/22/2009 UPDATE
Song of the Day
Yamashita Tatsuro - JODY
You may have heard of him through the holiday song, CHRISTMAS EVE. He's quite the singer and I love the various style of genre he does with his music. In JODY, it reminds me of the BEACH BOYS or if you want a Japanese counterpart to relate to, something like TUBE. In general, this song makes you think one thing: SUMMER. Enjoy it yo!
JODY!!!!!!!!!!!!
Movie of the Day
Dragon Tiger Gate (98 Minutes, Kung-Fu Galore, 2006)
I've watched this movie during the period of 2007 when I was recovering from my knee surgery. If you like Modern Kung-Fu Movies (Like Kung Fu Hustle), this is the movie to watch. This isn't a comedy like Kung Fu Hustle, but it has a lot of pretty nice fight scenes with CG. Mind you, this is a movie version of the famous Chinese Comic (or Manhua) so don't be surprised if you go "WTF". If you have no problem suspending reality (well this IS a Kung Fu movie) and you love martial arts movies, this is one for you. ENJOY IT.
Dragon Tiger Gate Trailer
Clip of the Day
I've never been to the dentist in my life, and this vid, well...I know how it feels to go to one vicariously. Awesome yo...
Dentist
Game of the Day
Rhythm Tengoku Gold (Nintendo DS, TNX, 2008)
One of my friends from Purdue is awesome; he lent me his DS for a long period of time and allowed me to play a lot of the games he had. One of them is a japanese music game called Rhythm Tengoku Gold which was produced by TSUNKU (yes I'm not joking) and it's a wonderful piece of work. A lot of the songs with lyrics were actually song by the talents in Tsunku's Nice Girl Project, like the POSSIBLE.
In a nut shell, you're involved in many mini-games involving rhythm; the main controls involve the stylus where you: Tap, slide, scratch, or hold into rhythms. It's a fun game, try it out. And try not to throw your DS. It's pretty difficult. Below are some of the stages you can partake:
Back-Front Stage (This one KILLED ME)
the POSSIBLE stage
Soccer Time
Idol Monkey
BONUS!!! Idol Monkey in Real Concert!
Good to be Back, or Back to be Good?
Posted by 55Cyanides, Feb 15 2009, 09:36 PM in 2008 Blog 2.0 2/22/009 UPDATE!!!
Yo yo yo, don't let your eyes be deceived, it is I, 55Cyanides to claim the throne of...well nothing actually. The last REAL blog post I had was May 15, when I left for Purdue to work some odd-jobs, and I've been pretty much been at Purdue (Indiana if ya'll don't want to wiki the location) since then. Right now, I'm in 2nd Semester as a 3rd year student and I added some pretty sweet stuff to my list of stuff to um..do.
First of all, I decided to double major in MANAGEMENT and ACCOUNTING. On top of that, I also decided to double minor in FINANCE and INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS. The first semester I was back, I didn't do TOO BAD but not TOO GOOD either, having my overall GPA at a 2.8 right now. For some reason, Managerial Economics toasted me, and I think anything ECONOMICS is just like krypto to Superman; also to add, I took 19 credits hours this semester.
This semester, I'm taking 19 HOURS once again. It's actually a lot better this semester (probably cause I haven't skipped a class yet *coughs*), so take a look at my schedule yo:
JPNS 202 (4 Credit Hours): Lo and Behold, Japanese 202. If I complete this subject, I can officially say I've studied Japanese for 2 years now. For some reason, I believe I can write it and know the grammar rules IF I have time to think about it. However with this level, when it comes to on-the-spot class exercises, my brain doesn't respond quickly I would like. I was thinking of dropping this because everybody in class is pretty awesome at it, but then I wouldn't be called 55CYANIDES if I did eh?
MGMT 350 (3 Credit Hours): Ah, Intermediate Accounting. The professor here is pretty awesome, his teaching style is something I can gel with. He usually goes over the homework in class, to turn in the next class, which helps a bunch. All of the homeworks now are done to Microsoft Word, which is great since I can save it onto my Computer Account and use it to study.
MGMT 324 (3 Credit Hours): Marketing Management. The professor here actually just graduated from Carnegie Mellon, and it's his first year teaching. Despite this, he's pretty chill but usually, I just attend in class and listen. He has handouts for EVERY CLASS, which is great, but I need to start to review them. 3 C MODELS baby (for you marketing people: Company Competitor and Customers).
MGMT 305 (3 Credit Hours): Business Statistics. It's a pretty fun class, since the professor here is awesome. Good explainer of problems and right now, I'm doing good in his class (well on the 2 quizzes, a ok on the homeworks). Actually, his test is tomorrow, which I should be studying in about...soon.
MGMT 310 (3 Credit Hours): Financial Management. One of the classes I'm taking to fulfill my FINANCE Minor. This is a pretty sweet class, learning about well..FINANCE. You learn about the applications of TIME VALUE of MONEY, ANNUITIES, etc. Even though we have a formula sheet to use on the test (which I just took Thursday), if you have a financial calculator, things go SOOO much easier.
ENGL 420 (3 Credit Hours): Business English. Um...it's English....for 3 hours. What can I say? FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF that's what. In reality though, it's not a bad class. But still...FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
Anyway, that's my class schedule for this semester, which is barrels of fun. I could write more about this semester or the time period I was gone, but that's for another day. It's my first REAL day back, so I'm just going to take it slow, so you guys can SOAK IT IN. BABY, I'M BACK YO.
By the way, for those who ACTUALLY reads my blog, I'm thinking of making a minor blog design. As you know, I usually post at least 2 posts everytime I'm on here (one regarding the topic of the day, and one regarding the STUFF of the DAY). Now for you readers, I'm not sure if it's easier that I have categories to navigate, or if you just want me to put it on one blog post. If you guys can answer this, it'll be surely be appreciative. Thanks. Just PM me with your answer (if you want categories or anything on one blog post).
If this is your first time reading this, then feel free to use the categories to navigate yo. Enjoy!
Unconditional Love: Merry Christmas
Posted by 55Cyanides, Dec 27 2008, 12:56 AM in 2008 Blog 2.0 2/22/009 UPDATE!!!
25 December 2008
By: 55Cyanides
As I start writing on this Christmas Day, I look at the right-hand corner of my computer screen: 5 in the morning. Realizing I have no idea or motive for writing this piece, I might as well start something I do know, myself. My name's Noel, I'm a 3rd year student at Purdue University, and I recently turned 22 years of age. One of the most common questions I get regards about the origin of my name: Was I named Noel because I was born near Christmas (December 21st if you are actually interested). According to my pops, it's somewhat of a funny story: my middle name, which I will refer to as N., was actually supposed to be my first name. However, due to a miscommunication, my real middle name became my first name and my real first name became my middle name; as you soon will come to know, interesting and funny stories are plentiful in my life.
Since last Sunday, I have been living on Earth for 22 years. Despite how short or minuscule the number may be, I've experienced so many things up to date and feels like I've been living for more than 3 lifetimes. Now I may go into details about the many events I've gone through but that's beside the point; instead I want to talk about something more important. I'm pretty sure you have heard some of the many clichés involving life, like classics such as: “Things happen for a reason” to “We all have a choice”. I'm not here to tell you what is the right philosophy, you can pick whatever you see fit; that is the wonder of life, the ability of having opportunities come knocking, no matter how small or non-existent it may feel. Even though people who know me consider me being one of the most positive people they ever met, I was never like this before.
In my past, I used to travel a dark path to loneliness and solitude; throughout my days in middle school and high school, I would be like a wind blowing through an empty desert, never staying too long to be anybody but yet staying just enough to be a comfort for those who need it. Shutting myself from a lot of human interaction, I would find solace in something else, entertainment; day after day, I would vicariously live a life of excitement and interest through the characters in various movies, tv shows, manga and anime. The character I would identify the most was the one who portrayed the mysterious, enigmatic persona; usually having an aura of cool around them, this character archetype usually is a sidekick to the hero, having no care in the world, and pretty much life a live according to their standards. Growing up, I thought if I was like this character, I would be this awesome person who would be 'cool'. For a while, this actually worked, never revealing much of myself to people, having this mysterious personality and somewhat portraying this 'cool' personality. However, as I start grow up, a big piece of me was missing: the beautiful process of human interaction. Everyday, no matter what the events are, we go through the simple task of human interaction: it could be simply ordering your food from a waitress/waiter to an even simpler showing of greetings, interactions are all around us.
From middle to high school, I only kept the simplest of human interactions: saying hello, spoke when spoken to, and saying goodbye. As simple as it is, mentally it took a big toll on me; I would thought that entering college, life would always be the same. Maybe because I got older or maybe it was a new change of scenery, something was definite: I began to grow. No, not physically...I'm still 5'8, but instead, something better and important began to grow: my heart. With only a few days attending college, I felt a warmth relief wash all over me, like it was telling me: “Everything is going to be just fine”. I could list many different reasons why this change happened, but I'm just going to list just one...nay, two: FAMILY and FRIENDS.
As I said, maybe because I was young and naive, but I didn't notice things like I notice things now. For one, no matter how much negativity I had, how much angst I harbored, or how much anger I used to show, my family was always there for me. Common, I know, but life-saver to me. My mom was always this aggressive knight that protected her family, never taking crap from anybody and never backing down from anyone. My dad was always the quiet, laid-back person who had a lot of things to teach me: as a young kid, he taught me the secrets of Arnis, or Filipino Martial Arts, which I will one day teach to my kids; if someone asked me, I'll probably say that I'm mostly like my dad in terms of personality, while having the mentality/sense from my mom. Lastly, my brothers were there for me, whether to have someone to talk to or someone to enjoy company with; with my parents working hard everyday, both of my brothers were there to take care for me at home until I became of age. When that happened, my brothers worked hard everyday, for my benefit, for my chance at a life I never thought was possible. If you summed all of my family members up, they showed me the true meaning of UNCONDITIONAL LOVE; despite dealing with my tantrums everyday, my family stuck with me.
Once my heart and mentality started to mature, I realized something: all of my experiences, either good or bad, are a source of wisdom. When I was young, I always had a desire to teach or help people; due to my lack of social skills and/or I just can't teach well, my desire was put on hold for a bit. However, I realized, I could use these experiences as a sort of way to help people with their problems or at least prove some sort of insight. I believe that I have many experiences that may help, ranging from: going to court, depression, homesickness, feeling out of place, amongst other common problems. I have dealt and are currently dealing with these sort of things and the best way to get help is to share with people about these experiences. Many people think that I tell these stories as a way for people to feel sorry for me, bringing myself attention and sympathy; I apologize that you all think that way and this clearly shows how much I am with my social skills. What I wanted to do are 3 things: first of all, to share a story that may aid others who have the same problem: I know it's sometimes hard to confide in people about their problems, especially when it comes to something as important as trust. Just by telling what seems like a harmless story, it may give them an indirect solution. The 2nd thing I wish to accomplish is the ability to enjoy the simple act of human interaction. The last thing, these stories are just PLAIN FUNNY, a way for people to forget their problems, and just focus on the problems of mine, a comedian if you will.
Through human interaction, I was able to meet what I consider the most treasured gift of all time: FRIENDS. They can teach you many things, they can learn many things from you, they can agree with you, they can disagree with you. Whatever they do, friends are a vital key to humanity: the ability to feel alive. We may not feel it, but communication is what makes life beautiful, vocal or non-vocal. Smiling, frowning, laughing, crying, these are just some simple actions we express everyday...simple actions that are magnified when with friends. To me, my friends are not just friends, but a source of life. I am a self-proclaimed simple man: I'm honest as I can possibly be, I laugh when I laugh, cry when I cry, pretty much what you see is what you get. I don't ask for much nor do I expect anything from anybody: being surrounded with great family and friends is more than enough. Even though I can't repay my debt to all of my family and friends for what they did for me, I'm going to do my best. I will try to help those who need are searching for help, not turning one away. To me, everyone I meet is a friend, no matter what actions they do to me. Many say to me, my personality is my greatest strength, being one of the gentlest souls ever, but also, it's a greatest weakness, being easy to take advantage of. Despite this, I will try not to change...help is help, people are people, 55 is 55l.
As I finish this “essay” (2 days after I started mind you), I just realize what I wanted to do. To give thanks to those who need it: to my family and to my friends. I can't give much things to all people I know, so hopefully this'll be a great gift to them, an homage to those who made my life better and brought a smile to my face. To my family, for being there for me and for showing me the power of UNCONDITIONAL LOVE. To my friends, for all the things they have done for me: whether it has been lending me your Nintendo DS, being a great “sister” and allowing me to help you when you needed it, to just taking time out of your day to just hang around and allowing me to feel alive. Words are words, many things can be said but very rarely one may find the true motive behind them. Just like my family and friends showed me, actions are the best way to show what they are truly feeling. For those who are reading, for Christmas...nay, for everyday, not only say THANK YOU to the ones you who dear to your life...give them a hug, give them a high five, give them a gift, anything that'll show what you truly mean. It may seem petty to the giver, but to the receiver, it may mean the whole word and the universe to them. Everyone...Thank You...Maraming Salamat....Domo Arigatou Gozaimasu. And lastly, have a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and if I don't see ya'll soon, a Happy New Years!
3 Months...no wait..lost count now = Over 9000
Posted by 55Cyanides, Oct 20 2008, 10:08 AM in 2008 Blog 2.0 2/22/009 UPDATE!!!
Oh wow...doth my eyes deceive thee not? AM I REALLY BACK? COME BACK in X AMOUNT OF SECONDS/MINUTES/HOURS/DAY/WEEKS/YEARS/EONS TO FIND OUT!!!! ON THE NEXT EPISODE OF...
The Last SEE YA LATER
Posted by 55Cyanides, May 14 2008, 11:28 AM in 2008 Blog 2.0 2/22/009 UPDATE!!!
...well until I get a new computer that is when I hit Indiana. As I wait for my ride come pick me up in..oh let's say, in a few minutes, I might as well write something as *points to the title*...My Last SEE YA LATER. It ain't a farewell, cause that's permanent. Moving to Indiana just for the summer, I will not have much internet capabilities until I steal acquire a new computer, which might be soon.
Continuing on with my last post, I actually did the last 2 rooms in one day, today. Right now, I'm operating on 4 hours of sleep, and probably will drive the 6 hour trip to Indiana. Anyway, the 2nd to worst room was the main living room, where the computer and television is. I'll just post some pictures, and let ya'll decide how bad it is:
Running out of time here, this is as much BEFORE pics as I could talk, but boy, it was pretty roflcopter. There's a reason why it's called a living room...it's a room...for us to LIVE in. My pops and I pretty much do EVERYTHING in that room: watch tv, use the computer, eat EVERYWHERE, working out, etc. Notice the table behind with all those papers on the table: that's the "dining" table. So where do we eat? Pretty much anywhere it suits us 
So anyway, after a few hours, I was able to turn this place into something a little bit more respectable:
About 2-3 hours ago, around 2-3 am, I decided to clean my room. However, due to the number of images being restricted, I'm not going to directly link the images; instead, I'm going to post another forum I'm proud to be apart of (STAGE48), and post the images there. Knock yourselves out yo!
In a nutshell, it's been fun ya'll. I love being apart of this community, though I'm probably one of the most inactive members there is. Reading ya'll posts and sharing a common interest, it brings happiness to my life and all that good stuff. Remember ya'll, this is just a SEE YA LATER. So peace out, 55Cyanides...out for a bit.
The Kitchen = Not Cooking??
Posted by 55Cyanides, May 8 2008, 06:54 AM in 2008 Blog 2.0 2/22/009 UPDATE!!!
...it's for cleaning. Well that's what it was for me today. If ya'll didn't know, I'm leaving for Indiana on the 14th of May to move into an apartment and start my full-time job for the summer. Before, I was living with my pops for a whole year and well...I pretty much destroyed the place my dad love to call HOME. It's pretty much clutter with so much stuff that you've thought that the Tasmanian Devil lived there.
Since I'm preparing to pack and gather all my thing (which is rare, preparing and what not), I've decided to clean a room of my dad's place each day. Today, I started with the kitchen, which was a hell of a feat.
I took the pleasure of taking some pics, but this happened after I started to clean:
Now you look at this and think "Wow, that's not that bad after all!". First of all, this how it looks AFTER I cleaned it Version 1. Before, the whole corner was cluttered with 2 tea pots, various of day to year old foods (like peanut butter, garlic, banana peels, onion) and the marble-esque tile was actually a cornucopia of colors decorated with dried onion/garlic stickied to the tile. Also the other reason why it was clean:
Look at the right part of the pic. I had to move a lot of the things to that side to make my job a BIT easier. And must we forget the Dungeon???
1st thing to point out: this is NOT PHOTOSHOPPED!
2nd thing: that is NOT ants/maggots. That's actually rice stuck to the oven console
3rd thing: Look at the pots. That's my dad's FINE cooking there baby!
So anyway, the first thing I tackled was get all various dishes that cluttered the kitchen and pre-wash them. From there, put them into the dishwasher and get them epictastic clean. Mission...OH YOU GOTTA BE...
...nope, not kidding. The dishwater DARES TO FLOOD ON MY WATCH. And when I mean flood, I mean FLOOD. It looks like my kitchen is some sort of nightclub having SOAP BUBBLES night. Anyway, my dad suggested (yes, he was there and was having a fun time watching me) I clean it up the old fashion way:
A bucket and a dust pan. There was sooo much soap foam that it took 2-3 bucket fulls to actually clean most of it up. The rest, I actually used to mop the floor, which (un?)fortuantely, I didn't take a picture of. Now you can't say I wasn't merciful, HA! After mopping, this what came out:
A damn fine job if you ask me. If you MUST, ABSOLUTELY KNOW what the floor look like before. Then picture the left half of the pictured cluttered with grocery bags (some empty, some with actually stuff we bought months ago and forgot about it), tons of pizza boxes/packaging, various cleaning tools (like a mop, 2 brooms, etc) at the corner, and the floor pretty much looking like an image even Picasso would cry at.
Afterwards, I took a break and continued on with my quest of a pretty good kitchen. I started to use these things called CABINETS and put all the washed dishes there, to save space. Afterwards, I battled on with the POTS/PANS (which you've seen) and started to clean them. All in all, MOST were able to get back to pretty good shine except for one: my dad cooked spoiled bananas on it about 3 days ago, and the aftermath was STUCK to the pan. It felt like rubber...rubber cement, and showing this to my pops, decided to throw it away...soon. As we speak, I just took a picture of it, and boy, soaking it in hot water for many hours DOES NOT HELP!! BEWARE:
My dad's such a great cook....well anyway, I put the pots/pans in the dishwater and THIS TIME, it didn't flood/torrent onto the floor, making my day. After a long day, including rearranging and scrubbing the oven console ON TOP of cleaning,I finally made the kitchen look ALL RIGHT.
Before, the right side of the sink was cluttered with old papers, pens, packaging, all sorts of stuff that didn't belong there. Now I just put the 2 Empty Tea Pots that was sitting on the left side, collecting rust and dust. If my dad wants to, he can move other stuff in the kitchen there to his preferences.
This is the left side of sink, which is pretty well off too. I decided to put things for food there, like fruits/bread, or some utensils used for the oven like mitt gloves. Trust me, this was MUCHHH WORSE before; you couldn't literally see the tile because so much crap flooded that area.
Finally the oven console, again a pretty good job for my standards. I scrubbed most of the food sticking to the console and decided to put the sauces to the left of it, since my dad's a GREAT COOK. All in all, it was hard but fun, and it helps since this is probably what I'll be doing for my full time job in the summer.
The sad thing, this whole ordeal is JUST ONE ROOM. I got more, including the Living Room and my Room, which is MUCHHH WORSE. Expect a post from me soon....
Epictastic Bandwagon
Posted by 55Cyanides, Apr 24 2008, 05:17 AM in 2008 Blog 2.0 2/22/009 UPDATE!!!
Since the last 2 weeks ago, I've accumulated over (an estimation mind you) 1000 miles in driving; driving my bro to/from work, driving my mom to/from doctor's appointments, driving dad all over the place are factors. However, I guess half of those miles...no sorry, 3/5 of those miles happened on Tuesday, the 15th. That was when I'd embark on a journey to Indiana...Purdue University to be exact.
It's been about a whole year now since I've been out of college. Due to many circumstances, one having major surgery on the knee and staying home in Michigan to partake in physical therapy, I've been home doing absolutely nothing (getting nearly arrested and going to court twice doesn't count). The only thing worth mentioning though was being an assistant coach for my high school's tennis team.
Going through probably the lowest point in my life, the last week is when things have been going well. My mom suggested that I take a ride to Purdue, since I was accepted to the business school in becoming a returning student. When I told my old roommate about my coming up there, he suggested a plan for the summer: become his apartment roommate on campus and find a full time job. Sounds like a good idea, and my mom pretty much agrees with that, so things are going well.
Driving to Purdue, it's about 300 miles (if taken the shortcut). We left at 6:30 am and arrived at Noon. At campus, I had this on my plate: go get a replacement for my School ID go to my summer job interview, go meet with my academic advisor to settle my class for the fall, and finally meet with my roommate to see the apartment. Let's go!
When I got my wallet stolen, it had everything in it, one being my Purdue ID. On campus, a lot of things are needed for your school ID, otherwise you're done like a well-cooked steak. First of all, it enables you to eat at the dining halls (which mind you, is buffet style). 2nd of all, it allows you to enter the school's gymnasium (to get ripped and stuff). 3rd of all, you can use some of the things available at the residence hall, like renting out a DVD or borrow the key to the music room.
As I walked toward the room to get a replacement of my ID, I was stopped by a young lady. I noticed a camera right behind her and in her hands, some sort of clipboard. She asked me if I could answer a quick survey question for her on camera, which I assume was either for a class project or for the Purdue TV. I told her, while laughing, that I'm probably not the right person to ask that since the question was "Do you believe that there's intelligent design in the universe?" She smiled and said "it's ok" and that I could say I don't know as an answer.
So I agreed and she gave me the cue to answer. Straight from the top of my head, I said that I believe there was intelligent design in the universe. When she asked me why, I said because of how people in the world seem to have goals in life that could make an impact in the word. Goals such as going to college to get a better life or someone inventing a product to help the world. She smiled, said thank you, and I was off my way to complete goal 1.
As I got there, I told the lady at the counter my business. That's when I received bad news; pointing to a piece of paper taped to the counter, she said that students in the Fall '08 semester can't get their student IDs until June. I smiled and said thank you, and walked to where my mom was waiting. I told her about it but reassured her that I could get it when I'm staying in the apartment in the summer.
I told my mom the many other things I need to do; since she's been having problems with fainting, she didn't want to walk around the campus with me and wanted me to drop her to Borders Bookstore not to far away. In a few minutes, I did and went to my next goal.
One of the things that I needed to do if/when I'll get the apartment is to find a job. According to my roommate, it's about $305 per month plus a few extra bucks for cable/internet. Prior to my visitation of Purdue, my roommate got a job at a place I previously worked during my 2nd year at Purdue; it was at a Residence Hall and I held a Service Working Maintenance position. The person who hired him was the same lady who hired me, so I asked my roommate if she still remembers and if I could apply for the job. Anyway, the lady said that I could still apply for the job and resulted in having an interview.
When I got there, she met me in the lobby of the residence hall. Escorting me downstairs to her office, she asked me if I brought 2 forms of ID, which I did. She replied that I really didn't need to be here then, which basically said I got the job. For formality though, we pressed on with the 'interview', which was basically me listening to the description of the job (which is the same thing I did when I worked there) and filling out an application.
The job is full time, from 7:30 am to 3:30 pm. The main job is prepare the Residence Hall for incoming freshman in August and making it look spiffy. It pays $7.50 an hour, which is about $300 every week. After all of this, I told her that I was still interested for the job and that I basically got the job. She escorted me to the Accounting Office, which I had to fill out a LOT of forms. After having a 5 + hour drive, reading and writing was not on my list of things to do. However I got through it and went to my next goal:
In a way, I don't think there was any reason to meet with my Academic Advisor. The last time I met with him, we already settled on the classes I'll take for the rest of the semesters I'll be here at Purdue. However just for cautionary reasons, I wanted to meet with him, to make sure everything is set. Because I had classes set for the summer, I was thinking of changing that since I have different plans for the future (like study abroad or internship), so meeting face to face would be great.
When I got there, it was pretty empty and was not worried with any lines. When I signed in at the desk, I received news that my advisor has left for home sick but that another person was taking care of his appointments. When she asked me if I wanted to do that or wait for another time, I said I'll meet with the other person and proceeded to sign my name in.
Within 5 minutes, my names was called and I went to an office with a computer and what not. I told the person that I wanted to set my schedule for the Fall Semester, which she began to type my name in the computer. The records from the previous meeting was there, but she said that it needs to be changed, because some of the classes I had on there was already full.
Anyway, within 2 minutes, everything was set for the Fall and I was glad. I'm going to be taken Statistics, Managerial Accounting, Economic Policies, Management Information Systems, and JAPANESE 200. Right now I'm on the waiting list for my one business class, so I get in, I'm taking a 19 CREDIT HOURS .I said thank you, and went off to call my roommate, so he could pick me up and go to the apartment we were talking about. Anyway, here's my schedule as I set for the next event:
The main gist of the plan was find an apartment and stay in Indiana. Being stuck home for the whole year doing absolutely nothing, I overstayed my welcome and wanted to go back. My roommate felt the same way, that after going back home for a few days due to vacation, he wants to go back to Purdue.
It was a pretty snazzy place. Only 2 bedrooms, a kitchen, bathroom, and a living room, it was sweet. I told the guy I was immediately interested and that his roommate, the one that I want to rent the room from, will send me the papers when he gets back. Right now, I'm waiting for his roommate, and because I don't want to drive back there right now, he'll either fax them or scan/email them to me.
In the end, everything went well and left Purdue at 6:30 pm. We arrived home at Midnight. Anyway, to tops things off, I decided to jump on the Epictastic Bandwagon and decided to post my profile. So have fun!
Birth Date: December 21st of the 986th year
Birthplace: Detroit, Michigan
Blood type: A+ (The only time I'll ever get that grade)
Height: 172 cm
Hobbies: Martial Arts, Working out, Making history, Playing the Piano, Tennis, Dancing, Writing, Expanding what limits me
Special Skill: Being random, which everyone agrees is much bettter than I being...normal *shudders*
Strong Point: Being an idiot
Weak Point: well...being an idiot
Habit: Being incoherent 400% of the time
Favorite Color: Black, it gels well with my dark skin tone.
Favorite Flower: A White Rose
Disliked Thing/Thing to do: Cleaning
Scared of: Dying without having a positive impact on someone
Favorite sport: Tennis
Favorite Movie: "Once Upon a Time in the West" (Spaghetti Western, search for it in my blog)
Favorite Book: The Iliad by Homer
Favorite Word: "NOnononononono" (Start with a very high pitch voice, used for joking arguements)
Favorite Season: Winter. Not because it's my birthday or Christmas, but because it's a calming atmosphere.
Favorite Food: Triple whopper from Burger King, Pepperoni Pizza
Least Favorite Food: Only one: squid cooked by my pops
Favorite MM Song: Renai Revolution 21 (Chou chou chou ii kanji baby)
Favorite H!P Song: "100 kai no KISS" (Matsuura Aya)
Charm Point: Becoming a random idiot. You should try it sometimes, it's liberating
Final Fantasy and Stempania???
Posted by 55Cyanides, Apr 20 2008, 09:34 PM in VIDEOS
Straying away from the Korean Music this time, I decided to tackle something from Final Fantasy VII called Tifa's Theme. I have two versions: one I played at Purdue University in the Fall/Winter of 2006, and the one I played at home during the summer of 07.
The other video is actually episode 2 of a series where I review Stepmania files. I guess that's 'nuf said. Check it out! It's Lee Jung Hyun's BAN
BOO-wling (#2)
Posted by 55Cyanides, Apr 14 2008, 06:11 AM in 2008 Blog 2.0 2/22/009 UPDATE!!!
It's been about 2-3 weeks now since my last post. About some weeks ago, my dad's computer (the one I've been staying over for the 1.5 year "vacation" I'm on) got completely conked out. Short story, we're going to need a new computer and it'll be a while since it's going to happen.
Right now, I'm using my mom's computer which is technically better in terms of hardware. However, all the stuff were on my dad's computer (which thankfully, I bought an external enclosure and saved the hard drive), which makes the whole process of being online kinda slow. Account the fact I have to drive here to use it also sets my motivation of writing on the down-down.
However, I do have some good news, all of them NOT involving the whole deal of saving money by using GEICO...but that's for another topic on another day. Instead, I'm going to continue on my search for the perfect bowling place...with horrible results.
This was actually the first bowling alley I went to when I started my quest for the perfect place 2-3 months ago. I went with my dad, who was paying for everything, and went on QUARTERMANIA Wednesdays. It's not that shabby of a drive, about 15-20 minutes. Going with dad, the drive was pretty fun, engaging in conversation and what not.
What made this different from UNIVERSAL LANES and its QUARTERMANIA is that in Sterling Lanes, you actually pay in ADVANCE instead of after you're done. This could be useful, especially if you know you're not going to play until closing, and just want a few games. My dad and I bowled maybe about 8 games each, which lasted about 1.5 hours. It was fun, but first, let's nitpick!
Surprisingly out of the group of alleys I'm reviewing here today, this was by-far the best experience I had. Perhaps it was because I was with someone else to bowl, but then again, probably not. The wax on the lane was pretty good; not to slick and not to dry. The curve on the ball was fairly responsive and was mostly accurate to the place where I wanted to hit.
This wasn't a non-smoking alley, but there wasn't a lot of smoke around. One of the things I really noticed about this alley is how GIGANTIC it is. There's actually two ROWS of bowling lanes, one on each side of the walls. If I recall, there's about 60+ lanes, which is pretty wicked.
Considering the experience I had with Universal Lanes and its Quartermania deal, I was very relieved to have basically NO LINES when I got there; came in, asked for the deal, paid, and started to bowl in about 1-2 minutes of time. Very quick and efficient, just the way I like it. So did I had a problem with this place? None at all!
I had a great time and would definitely go again. This is probably a place I would take a lot of people with me, considering how many lanes they are. In the middle of the two rows of lanes is a convenient snack bar, which reminds me of the snack bars at the movie theaters.
I wouldn't go, however, if I was by myself. The main reason is probably the drive; 15-20 minutes isn't that bad, but there's another bowling alley (one I reviewed called PLUM HOLLOW) which is MUCH CLOSER and pretty much had the same experience as I had there.
Along the way, there's many food places so it's perfect to bring friends to. I believe there's a 24 hour restaurant right nearby, so after a good game of bowling, just chill and relax at the restaurant. This place is currently 2nd in my list of bowling alleys to go to!
Ah. I went to Troy Lanes about 3 weeks ago, just before my dad's computer conked out. It's a bit of a drive, leaning toward 20-30 minute drive, depending how fast and what route you take. It's in more of a luxurious area, compared to the last 4 alleys I've been to; a lot of mansion-esque neighborhoods and the like.
It's a pretty nice place to go, and have a different bowling computer system than the most I've been to, so that's a bit of fresh air...not literally. So let's segue to our next section:
Fresh air...pretty much non-existent. Entering and taking one step inside, I already noticed the smell of nicotine; on average, it takes me to walk to the counter (about perhaps, 10-20 steps) to notice the smell. Just from that point on, my experience with Troy Lanes just went downhill.
There was NO line however, which was a relief, and immediately got set for bowling. I went on a Wednesday, where I paid $7.95 to bowl unlimited for 2.5 hours; that was a bad idea. Anyway, I was set at the non-smoking section, but still the smell of nicotine lingered in the air.
Basically, the major part of my bad experience lied within the lanes: TOO DAMN SLICK. I could handle having Dry Lanes, where within a few games, I make a minor readjustment in when/where to curve. However, I never experienced anything with TOO SLICK Lanes, which it just PROPELLED my curve into overdrive. It was very, very frustrating. The two scenarios I usually had was having the bowl curve wayyyy too much from the right part of the lane (where I usually start) to the gutter on the left part, or try to readjust by not having much of a curve but gutters on the right part.
For the whole 2.5 hours, I had a major headache and wanted to shout profanity. Instead, I sprained my wrist badly and left the alley with a very steamed brain.
Shockingly, I would go here again. I would see if the experience I had last time would happen again the next time; if it does, it'll be placed LAST on my list of alleys to go to. It's vary spacious though and a place to take with friends, especially in the luxurious area it's located.
I remember a couple of years back I bowled here with a couple of friends, and it wasn't so bad. So I'll give this place another chance...just not for a while.
So yah, according to Map Quest, this is the longest drive BY FAR to any bowling alley I've visited. It's about 30-40 minute drive, so I made sure I had my Morning Musume and AKB48 mix CD on, and started to enjoy the journey. I went on a Thursday, where you can pay $8.95 to bowl 2.5 hours. However...
I COULDN'T FIND THE FRICKIN' PLACE. I followed the instructions word for word on MAP QUEST, and I was about 1 mile away from the destination. On Map Quest, it said to turn left on this particular road, and it would be at the corner. Then when I reached the road, I was met with what I call "The Circle of Death". It was a circular road, with 4..COUNT 'EM, FOUR different exits. 2 on the left, and 2 on the right. So I took the first left...
WHICH FRICKING LED ME ON A CIRCLE, AND STARTED DRIVING IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION INTENDED!!! Next thing you know, I'm on the highway to a place I never been to and now focused on driving back to a place of familiarity. For 15-20 minutes (or about 3 songs of AKB48), I drove on the highway in what I believe is the way back home. In those minutes, I said "SCREW BOWLING" and engaged to the path of freedom.
In the end, and yet many enjoyable moments of listening to my mix CD, this whole journey took about 1.5 hours. Driving there, getting lost, and then trial-error driving back home. It was, to say the least, a hell of a time.
....right now, I have no thoughts about this place. I don't feel like even attempting to visit this place, just for the sheer fact I might get to drive another 1 or 2 finding my way back home. Perhaps in the near future, I'll do it but right now, I like being home.
Well, there you have it, my review of 3 (well technically, 2) more bowling alleys. Started on a high note, and ended on a note of WTF-ness. Anyway, I won't be reviewing bowling alleys for a while because of the good news I would like to share ya'll next time.
So stay tune, for another edition of my post. 55Cyanides out! REESE'S PEACES YA'll!
Cornucopia 4/13/08 (#1)
Posted by 55Cyanides, Apr 11 2008, 02:52 AM in Weekly Things 2/22/2009 UPDATE
Song of the Day
DJ Taka - V (Conclusion) [TRANCE, 3 Minutes and 29 Seconds]
Ah, straying away from the Eurobeat for now and decided to go into another genre I like. If the artist sounds familiar, it's probably because you play a lot of DDR or Beatmania; a lot of his songs are used. From the Beatmania IIDX video game, DJ Taka takes a classic song and beautifully fuses it with Trance. The original song is from Vivaldi's WINTER I. Check out DJ TAKA's version!
V (Conclusion) GETS!
Movie of the Day
Legend of Black Scorpion (2006, Action/Drama, 131 Minutes) 
I rented this movie about 2-3 weeks ago, along with DRAGON TIGER GATE and NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. I like foreign movies a lot, so I decided to give this a whirl. If you like Shakespeare, especially HAMLET, this will be right up your alley.
Reading the back of the cover, it's loosely based ON Hamlet, so my interest was piqued.
The first thing I've noticed is how beautifully the movie was shot; the cinematography is excellent. If you like how HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS or CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON was filmed, in terms of the environment and what not, you'll love the setting of this movie.
Anyway, basic story is this: crown prince of the setting learns that his father, the king, died mysteriously and that his uncle is now the king and married his mother. The prince suspects foul play and wants revenge; will he achieve it at any cost?
I love the movie: the plot, the acting, the setting, and yes, also the acting sequences were stupendous. If you have the time and/or money, try watching this movie. It's a pretty good watch. The trailer link is here: check it out!
Legend of Black Scorpion (The Banquet) Trailer
CLIP OF THE DAY CLICK!
Discovering YMCK through Youtube last month, I fell in love with their music. 8 bit style somehow strikes a soft spot for me, as one who plays an instrument similar of one that creates the noise (like a synthesizer keyboard) and as one who loves video games.
As of right now, this is my favorite song from them and this PV, like most if not ALL of their PVs, are made with sprites. For some reason, the beginning intro of this song makes me want to march and start punching people in the face with a smile. It's win, I tell you it's win!
Game of the Day
The Punisher (Arcade, Capcom, 1993)
Ah, back to one of my favorite genres of video games: beat 'em ups. This time, I'm introducing a game that was brought to you by the same company that brought STREET FIGHTER II: THE PUNISHER. It's one of my all-time favorite games!
The game stars the Marvel characters, the Punisher and Nick Fury. You can't pick them outright, they are just assign to Player 1 and Player 2 respectively. It doesn't really matter though, because both have the same moves and strengths/weaknesses; if you like to wreak havoc with Nick Fury, then you have that right.
Like a lot of standard Beat-Em Ups. the system revolves 2 buttons: attack and jump. Pushing the attack button repeatedly causes your character to perform a multi-hit combo. There's a bunch of other attack moves, such as the Jump attack, and some grab moves that'll make your cringe in pain. Also, there's the emergency attack move, where you press both ATTACK and JUMP: this makes your character perform an attack that'll hit all enemies in his vicinity at the cost of a small amount of life.
2 things that makes this game a bit different from others is the weapons. Your character has a certain amount of grenades that'll surely help out clearing a room or a boss battle; also when enemies with guns start to appear, your character will automatically wield a gun and start blasting. It's fun stuff.
The length playing this game isn't too long, perhaps maybe an hour or so, but it should be a fun hour. The difficulty isn't REALLY that hard, but it shouldn't matter. This is a game to past the time and to enjoy. The one thing that I absolutely LOVE about this game: the audio. The over-exaggerated shouts/screams from the characters is funny, and it's just pure nostalgia to hear the type of sound effects used.
Anyway, check out a preview of the first 3 levels of the game! Make sure to listen to the Punisher shout within the first 20 seconds. It's roflcoptertastic
The Punisher Preview
I GOT ROBBED (Figuratively and Literally)
Posted by 55Cyanides, Apr 1 2008, 01:01 AM in 2008 Blog 2.0 2/22/009 UPDATE!!!
This has definitely been one of those weeks that's jammed pack with misfortune, none of ya'll would believe. It's something out of a comedy movie, made by the directors of SUPERBAD or GRANDMA'S BOY, and perhaps I should write script about it.
FIGURATIVELY
The main reason I haven't been on the last 1-2 weeks now on a consistent basis is because my dad's computer conked out. For the year and a half vacation (that's putting a positive spin on a horrible, horrible thing) I engaged, I stayed at my pops' house. Most, if not all, of the things I've done online were through my dad computer.
Now granted, this computer is behind the technology standards of today. 4 years ago, it would've been all right: 512 MB of RAM, 160 GB of HD, um...3.2 GHz, and all of that good stuff. Anyway, bottom line, it worked and despite giving me quite a few headaches, it got the job done.
As of last week, the comp just froze and basically conked out. It was weird because I would turn it back on, lights on and everything, but the only action it would do is blow air. There was no loading of anything and the monitor would be black. At first I thought it was hard drive failure but I just found out today it isn't since. One of the GOOD things that happened was that the enclosure I ordered came in, and I made an external Hard Drive out of...well the hard drive of the conked computer. It works and all data is preciously saved.
The leads to a couple of other things: the motherboard or the power supply. Doesn't really matter now though because my pops and I will start to order for a computer hopefully Wednesday.
LITERALLY
It all started when I woke up at 3 am on March 30th. For some reason I went to sleep early (9 pm) and I already had my duty of dropping my mom off to work at 7 am. I spent about an hour watching tv at my dad's house and then I went over to my mom's house to use the computer until she woke up at 6:00.
6:40 am, she sent me on a coffee run because she loves her coffee. I went to the Tim Hortons a mile away, bought the coffee, and went back home. It was 6:50 am. When I arrived my mom was done, and was almost ready to go. When I mean ready to go, I mean she just out of the shower and going to take her time to get dressed. About 15 minutes later she was ready, and we both head out of the car.
That's when I saw it. THE BROKEN DRIVER'S SIDE WINDOW. The front seats were ransacked, and stuff everywhere. It was a quick job, and they didn't even bother looking at the back seat or the trunk. The only thing taken? MY WALLET. Anyway, my mom offered to drive herself while I take care of the problem.
I called the police and said to come in personally to file the report, since the ignition wasn't messed up. Then I had to call my dad to tell him about it, since it was his car, and he took pretty well. Anyway, my middle brother woke up and helped me a little bit. Glass was EVERYWHERE and I just swept it into the carpet since I wanted to get the whole ordeal done.
About an hour later (minor cleaning, brother and I picking up my dad etc), I went to the police station to file a report. It was pretty quick but at the same time, very disheartening. The feeling of "slim chance of catching the guy" loomed over but still was grateful to the police officer.
Anyway, yesterday and today were spent cleaning up. Yesterday was cleaning up the glass totally and using some plastic wrap to cover the missing window. Today was cleaning up the mess that came from the contents of my wallet: I had to call my bank to tell them about my bank card being stolen, which the employees took care off quickly: they canceled and will send me a new one in about a week.
The worst one was contacting the 3 main credit bureaus about putting my credit on fraud alert. I had my social security number in my wallet and..yah. I sent a request to them today and hopefully it'll go through soon. My driver's license will need replacement as well, which I'll take care of tomorrow since I need not 2 but 3 forms of ID to make that happen.
Anyway, I'm pretty livid right now and feel like grabbing some suspicious person's throat if need be. All I can say, I can FEEL myself getting old now.
55Cyanides...out
