On Sunday, we spent our time wandering the Exhibit Hall.
gem and I stopped at this great Adventure Time photo-op.
We also saw someone cosplaying as a Sackboy Link.
We met Dino Andrade, a voice actor. He’s done a bunch of different voices, including some from World of Warcraft like Mimiron and, my favorite, Professor Putricide. He even said some of their lines, which was hilarious.
I’ve never seen Falling Skies, but I had to stop for this photo op too! It seemed fun.
I know this isn’t super exciting, but check out these Bebop and Rocksteady vinyl toys. I also got a free Hot in Cleveland comic book. It was actually amusing and was about the women from the show surviving a zombie outbreak.
This Dr. Horrible cosplayer told us to stay horrible. However, he was actually quite pleasant.
At the Behemoth booth, we met a couple cosplaying Pixar‘s Paperman. Amazing! It was such a good idea, and they did a terrific job.
I also saw someone cosplaying Ramona Flowers and knew I had to get a picture with her. She was with someone cosplaying as Jake from Adventure Time, so gem played and sang the Adventure Time theme song for him.
Before leaving, I bought three DIY vinyl toys. They look like little NES cartridges. I’m looking forward to customizing them.
After leaving the convention, we tried to eat at Hash House A Go Go, but the wait was so long that we passed. We ended up eating at El Zarape Mexican Restaurant, at which we’ve eaten in previous years. It was super delicious! Rolled tacos, carne asada fries, burritos, yum yum!
And that was pretty much it! I’m sad it’s over, but I’m also tired. However, I’m already looking forward to next year!
For bonus photos I didn’t include in the blog, check out my Flickr album.
We wanted to go to the Adult Swim Fun House again, which meant another line for tickets. The couple in front of me were super awesome, and I had a great time getting to know them.
They cosplayed as Leia and Han Solo. Apparently they had cosplayed as Indiana Jones and the boulder earlier (with the woman cosplaying Indiana Jones). It sounded awesome. She showed us a photo on he iPhone, but it was hard to see. Her cousin is a Master Builder at Legoland! What a cool job, eh?
Tazy Phyllipz shared photos he took at SDCC on Facebook, and I found one of them as Indiana Jones and the boulder! Awesome!
There was also a Pizza Hut sponsored TMNT Pizza Thrower. I had this toy as a kid and wanted to launch pizzas with it at Comic-Con, but I was second in line when they closed it for lunch. Oh well. I did get some free pizza courtesy of Pizza Hut though.
There was a booth promoting their 3D printers, and they had a 3D printed ukulele. gem was, as you’d expect, pretty thrilled. We asked a lot of questions, and they talked to us both about 3D printers and the ukulele. I think they got a kick out of gem having her ukulele and being so excited too.
At the Nintendo Lounge, gem and I played Phoenix Wright vs. Professor Layton. I’m looking forward to the game because I love both of those series. It’s pretty amazing that it happened at all!
I saw a beautiful Rosalina cosplay from Super Mario Galaxy, and the woman agreed to take a photo with me. She looked great!
We were craving pizza, so we ate at Pinzimini in the hotel and got some superhero-themed pizzas.
After dinner, it was back to the Adult Swim Fun House and the Meatwad Full Dome Experience. The staff remembered us again, and we chatted a bit. There was one exit to the fun house we had never used – the karaoke cage. They only let you out if you sing. We aimed for it and managed to get that exit this time. Antonio avoided it and went out the cat butt again. gem and I sang Spice Girls‘ Wannabe to get out. It was fun! We got our free t-shirts again, and the staff member with whom we became friends asked us for a favor: he wanted a t-shirt for his friend. They were out of the exact size he needed, but we still managed to get a t-shirt for him to give to her!
On our way out, we saw a mooninite! gem asked for a hug, and when she hugged it, she mentioned that she smelled good, causing the actress inside to giggle.
On the way back to the hotel, I noticed a Ska Parade t-shirt, and then I noticed that it was actually Tazy Phyllipz! Ska Parade is an Orange County-based ska radio show, and Tazy is the host. He also holds Ska Parade Lounge events once per month at the Slidebar in Fullerton. It was pretty cool to run into him, and I think he was excited to get recognized as well. We talked for a few minutes. I told him about the Aquabats show and even showed him the Martian Girl cosplay, which he enjoyed. It also turned out that he booked the bands for the OC Park Summer Concert Series, and he suggested I come on Thursday. I was already planning on it because I like GOGO 13. He dropped some hints about some other things happening that I’d enjoy too.
We ended the night with duck rolls and a bacon chicken ranch pizza from The New Yorker. Delicious! While we ate, we watched Adult Swim. I guess their marketing worked. I’m not sure I’d ever seen a full episode of the Boondocks before, and it was hilarious!
We started Friday by rushing to get tickets for the Aquabats autograph session.
I was wearing my Aquabats costume (which I had to wash because of how sweaty I got at the concert). I was stopped by a couple that wanted a photo with me. It was a bit shocking to me. I ask people to take photos with me; they don’t usually ask me. Of course, I don’t usually wear a cosplay. It was pretty cool! He was cosplaying the X-men, and she was cosplaying the Fifth Element!
We got out tickets and then headed to a Star Wars Origami panel in which we learned to make lightsabers and Boba Fett’s head.
The Headless Horseman
Next we headed to Petco Park to get tickets for the Adult Swim Fun House. There was also some promotion for Sleepy Hollow, so I had to battle the Headless Horseman. While in line for tickets, we got to know some of the staff. They were very cool, and they definitely liked gem and her ukulele. That ukulele makes her friends everywhere.
Little Aquabats!
While getting in line for the Aquabats autographs, I saw these two little Aquacadets and had to get a photo with them. Adorable!
gem met a guy in line with a small guitar, so they played guitar and ukulele together and even taught each other some songs.
The Aquabats!
The MC Bat Commander complimented me on my outfit, and I told him it was of my own design. (I think he bought it!) They autographed by Anti-Negativity Helmet and Power Belt. It’s hard to see, but in this photo, they’re already signed! Super rad!
@destinedsaint (Instagram) as Little Mac
After the autograph session, we got in line to get an autograph by Bryan Lee O’Malley (Scott Pilgrim, Seconds). We ended up talking to the guy in front of us in line for a while. He was from Las Vegas, and I enjoyed talking to him quite a bit. He cosplayed as Little Mac from Punch-Out, so we had to get a photo together. I friended him on Instagram!
Here I am with Bryan Lee O’Malley and Jason Fischer!
At the Tokidoki booth, I bought a Tokidoki puzzle. I’ve had my eye on it for a while and finally caved. They also had tote bags that seemed cool. I wanted one to use for yoga. As it turned out, they were free if you spent $50, but I was spending that much. I asked if they sold the bag, and the guy said “no,” but then he said I could just have it. Yay!
Speaking of goodies, I also got a small pack of free comics – Tesla, The First Daughter, Pandora’s Blogs, and Darchon. I haven’t looked at them yet, but I will.
We had lunch at Hot Papa’s. The food was delicious, and the staff were incredibly friendly, but there were a couple mistakes. Everything was corrected eventually though.
Then it was time to go back to Petco Park. In addition to the Adult Swim Fun House, there was also the Adult Swim Meatwad Full Dome Experience. We had some scheduling problems, but luckily the staff were helpful and allowed us to change times a bit. They totally remembered gem from earlier in the day, which was cool. We started with the Meatwad Full Dome Experience. You can see a close-up of the outside above.
Inside, you sit in low seats leaning back because the whole roof of the dome is a screen.
It’s hard to explain the show, because it’s random and weird.
It was definitely cool though!
Then we entered the Fun House! For the most part, it was the same as last year. While we in line, we got to know the three guys behind us. They were from San Diego, and they were really funny. It’s great how fun it is to get to know the people near you in lines.
However, last year we exited through the… well… through the giant vagina as if we were being born. This year we crawled through a washing machine that was being humped by a robot. This was a new exit replacing the one we used last year.
We came out of a cat’s butt into a litter box.
Afterward you’re allowed to choose a t-shirt, a print, and a location for the print, and they make you a free t-shirt. While I was waiting for mine, I saw a woman who was cosplaying as the Serenity, the ship itself from Firefly/Serenity. It was pretty cool!
On our way back to the hotel, a guy asked for a song, and when gem started playing and singing, he started dancing!
We met with Mike since we were in San Diego, and we had sushi and drinks at Full Moon Sushi and Kitchen Bar. Then he took us to Neighborhood, a fun bar. When they closed we headed to The Commons Bar before returning to the hotel to play Cards Against Humanity. It was great to see Mike again!
Recently, gem gave me a starter kit for Amish Friendship Bread. It’s a bag filled with some goop along with instructions that basically boil down to “mash the bag most days, add some stuff on day 6, and add more and bake on day 10.” On day 10, however, you add some ingredients, mix, create four new starter kits, and then finish preparing your bread. In this way, you keep passing it forward.
She also included a slice of her bread – blueberry bread! It was delicious.
Here I had everything I needed sitting on the table while I prepared the bread.
I decided to make apple cinnamon raisin bread. You can see the raisins pretty clearly, and the light colored chunks were diced apple.
I almost forgot to take a picture before it went in the oven.
An hour later, I had what certainly looked like bread.
I was anxious to try some because it was getting late, I was very hungry, and I had more things to do that night.
Because I was going out of town the next day, I needed to deliver the starter kits to my friends even though it was almost midnight.
I brought a starter to kit and slice of my bread to Anela first. She was nice enough to not mind me disturbing her so late. Next I drove to my mom’s. They were sleeping, so I left it hanging on their door. One kit went back to gem. My last kit I dropped off the next day at lunch at Purple Yoga for Sean, an instructor there!
This weekend I managed to get a decent amount of activities done. First, on Friday I got around to cleaning and shining my shoes. They look a lot better. Later that evening I went to gem’s to make dinner and watch a movie with her and Anela. We had some tasty curry and watched Don Jon. I’d seen it previously and really liked it, but gem and Anela hadn’t seen it.
On Saturday after yoga I went with Joe, Max, and Lenny to watch the final home game of LA KISS for the season. It was a really good game, and the last minute had a lot of action, but LA KISS lost.
I also had brunch with gem and Antonio after yoga on Sunday. I don’t see Antonio very often, so it’s nice to hang out with him (even if I’ll see him quite a bit over SDCC). We went to Haute Cakes, and I had too many hotcakes. It was a pretty good weekend.
On Sunday I went stand-up paddleboarding with Kaylin, gem, and Anela. I’d been wanting to do so for a while, and I’m glad I had the chance. It was a lot of fun and not very difficult at all really. However, my toes really wanted to grip the board! I managed to avoid falling in the water not that there’s anything wrong with that… I didn’t even hit the water when attempting L-sit practice on the board.
One house near the beach kept a bowl and dog treats outside near their gate! It was a pretty cool idea. They must be dog lovers!
After we finished stand-up paddleboarding, Kaylin had to leave, but gem, Anela, and I had lunch at Bear Flag Fish Co. Delicious as usual! Afterwards we headed down to the beach. It was a great day.
These two got scared by a ghost (or possibly thought it was bright). Who can know for sure?
Afterwards we did hot yoga at Purple Yoga because gem’s been raving about that instructor. She was right; he’s pretty great.
When I got home, I wanted to collapse, but I also wanted to eat, so I ate/collapsed.
And then gem showed up to drop off some blueberry bread she baked. It was thick, so she told me that it was basically two slices. I had already brushed, flossed, etc., but it was warm so I had to try some. And then I ate the whole thing. It’s a good thing bread doesn’t make you fat (otherwise Scott Pilgrim would be fat).
BONUS!
I did a couple other things over the weekend too. On Friday I went to ImprovCity with Jessica, and we saw Alex host. Woo! He’s a great host. On Saturday I went to the Dub with Collin and Niki and met Mimi there to watch the World Cup. Jamie tried to get by with just shaking my hand, but I wouldn’t allow it. He’s a good hugger, too!
This weekend I got together with some friends in Balboa to celebrate my friend Lorena returning home. I was late, but I managed to get there in time and have a lot of fun.
I got to hang out with Henley, who’s a great little guy. He was all smiles most of the day.
He even tried to help me take his photo! I wanted to photograph the single tear that seemed to be falling.
Andy also planned a surprise birthday party for Kaylin! It was a lot of fun. I’ve been to their place once before but only for a few minutes. It was nice to spend some time there. Kaylin’s blowing out the candles on her cake in this photo (obviously). Hopefully her wish comes true.
She also took this photo, which I stole from her Facebook. Thanks!
Today’s the 30th anniversary of the release of Ghostbusters, so I put on my uniform and set about watching my friends defeat Gozer.
They needed my help defeating Slimer, too.
Growing up, I always really loved the Ghostbusters. I had a plastic proton pack with particle thrower, a trap that opened when I stepped on the pedal, and a PKE meter. Sometimes my grandparents would ask me to come to their house to bust some ghosts. My uncle would also mail me “ghost turds.” (Lint from his laundry.) Of course, I had lots of other toys too – action figures, the Ecto-1, the Highway Haunter (a car inhabited by a ghost in the form of a giant praying mantis), the firehouse, the containment unit, and more.
Harold Ramis played Egon, directed Groundhog Day, and wrote Ghostbusters (among many other credits). His death in February was probably the first time I felt true sorrow at a celebrity’s passing. In the first movie, I noted that Janine tells Egon she has a bad feeling and believes he’s going to die. About thirty years later, Egon’s actor is the first of the Ghostbusters’ actors to pass.
A lot of fan art flew around Reddit after his passing, and these two were my favorite. I try not to look at them at them too long because I don’t like being depressed. It’s also interesting that Venkman was originally written with John Belushi in mind, but he died before the screenplay was completed. Slimer was a nod to John Belushi. I guess in this picture, Belushi and Ramis finally get to see each other again.
The recent game has a good story that can be considered a sequel to the movies. As a game, it does contain parts that I’m sure wouldn’t have been part of a movie if the game had been a film (such as fighting the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man again), but it’s still very entertaining. I don’t know if the planned third movie’s going to be good or not, but hopefully it’s great even while taking the series in a new direction!
After Wayzgoose on Saturday, I went to Buffalo Wild Wings with some friends for Barcraft for lunch. I ate a bunch of wings, as you might expect, and brought some home with me to eat for dinner while watching the fight. Pacquiao was fighting Bradley again, and I was pretty excited to watch. I eventually learned that BWW was showing the fight, so in the evening I went again (but to a different location at least).
There was a $10 cover charge per person to watch the fight, but it was worth it. It was pretty full when we got there, but a guy had two extra seats at his table because two of his friends couldn’t make it, so we sat with them. It made watching the fight much more enjoyable. It was a pretty great fight. I think both Pacquiao and Bradley fought a bit differently. I was happy with the fighters and with the judging, which seems rare.
I ate 17 wings that day.
This afternoon I went to Kean Coffee to play Cards Against Humanity with gem, Jessica, and Erica. It was a lot of fun. We should have been doing this regularly.
I also got some sweet towels and a wetsuit from Jessica. Woo!
And then, for dinner – well, remember those wings I brought back from lunch that I was intending to eat for dinner? And then remember how I ended up going back to BWW? That means I still had more wings, so I had wings again. Ugh. No more chicken wings for a while I hope. I think 27 wings might be too much for a single weekend!
Today was Wayzgoose! I always really enjoy returning to UCI for Wayzgoose. It might be more fun now that I’ve graduated because there’s a novelty to looking around. There are campus tours, booths for all the organizations, performances, a car show, and in past years a small medieval showing (although I didn’t see any this year). While not part of the festivities, there are usually a lot of dogs on campus, which is a plus to me.
One booth didn’t seem to be setup yet, but it did have a guy playing his ukulele! gem joined him, and they played together for a little bit, teaching each other.
I had some spam musubi, lumpia, and chicken kabobs, which were all delicious. I was going to get a shawarma from the Muslim Student Union like I do every year, but I wasn’t hungry enough today. We also checked out the cars at the car show. I like looking at the Model As the best.
The medical center had a giant inflatable colon. In this photo, gem is poop.
We also ran into some Improv Revolution members inside the colon and discussed improv. It was fun!
I’m ready to begin the operation! This reminds of me of Trauma Center: Under the Knife.
We walked back to our car by passing through the courtyard between Engineering Tower and the ICS building. gem took my photo in front of Engineering Tower.
And I took one too.
gem stopped to play ukulele near Engineering Gateway too.
I still think UCI’s a really beautiful school. I can’t help but think, “I’d like to go to school here,” even though I already did.
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