A Bunch of Updates--Then I'm Off to Tucson!

Hey everyone! I've just spent a great deal of time catching up my blog on all the fun events of the summer so far. I hope you'll take the time to read them and comment! First of all, there's one for June 2 when I met David Archuleta, then there's my account of Adam Lambert's glamazing GlamNation concert on June 22, then there's an entry about the Pride Parade on June 27, and finally one about the incredible Japanese play I saw on July 8 called Musashi!

I have had my share of fun events this summer. But all the while, I was attending summer classes at Hunter until July 13. Those two classes, US History and Literature, kept me surprisingly busy. If you're wondering what I did for July 4, I didn't really do anything. I watched an Independence Day special on TV and maybe did some homework. The parentals were out of town on their own little shindig. I haven't been able to get together with any of my few friends this summer yet. I've been rather lonely. But this is not a negativity blog so we will bypass that issue here! I've been regularly checking out some great DVDs from the public library, so that's been enjoyable. I've watched some Japanese film classics, some anime, and some modern American movies as well.

Tomorrow (July 21) I'm leaving town to go visit Tucson again! I'm so excited to see my friends and family. I'll be there for about a month apparently, so I should have some good times with them. I probably won't be able to update the bloggity boo for a while because of this trip. So please catch up on reading whatever entries you haven't read yet, and leave yummy comments for me to read when I return to cyberland. Thank you! Peace and love to all.

GLBT Pride 2010

This entry actually written July 20, 2010

On July 19, I headed to the "Summer Stage" in Central Park to check out this year's Pride Rally. I watched the performances of a couple musicians and comedians, but then grew bored because I didn't have a friend with me. Overall though, the Rally looked to be a much bigger deal than it was last year. Except that this year they didn't have Dustin Lance Black as a speaker. So, you know.

June 27 was the day of the biggest Pride Week event: the Pride March! This year, I decided to actually march in the parade instead of watching it, joining some of my friends in the Hunter College Queer Student Union group. There were only seven of us, despite that there are many more people that frequent the QSU and should have been there! Oh well. Quality over quantity, right? We gathered at around 11:30 AM in our groups assigned area, and a little after noon, it was our turn to join the procession on Fifth Avenue. Our march stretched from 39th Street down to 9th Street, where we turned and walked another several blocks, passing Sheridan Square and ending around Greenwich Street. Phew! That was a long walk for me! It was fun looking out at the people lined up who were watching the parade, and checking out all the cute guys amongst them. Must have been about fifty boys I wanted. GAH.

Anyways, after our march was over, the parade actually continued for a few more hours--it's quite long. But when our march was up, our group of friends sort of walked around aimlessly, and we couldn't agree on where to go next to party or whatever. I had about enough walking, and I was freaking exhausted from the march (and from waking up early), so I gave up and headed home. Too bad it took me forever to get to the 1 Train subway station because I had to go up to the 14th Street Station after finding out the one at Christopher Street was closed! That meant even more walking. Lordy, I was tired. But all in all, marching in the parade was a fun experience, and something very important to me. It's important for the gay community to come together and show our pride in the face of the homophobic world we live in that treats us like lower lifeforms. And it's very important to me. I want dignity, I want respect for my true self, I want equality, and I want the right to marry someone I truly love. And I want these things for everyone.

Adam Lambert's GlamNation Tour

Photos in this entry are not mine. Obviously.

This entry actually written July 19 & 20, 2010

After months of anticipation, the day of June 22, 2010 arrived: the day of Adam Lambert's GlamNation Tour concert in New York City. I bought my tickets on May 1, and the time since had actually flown by so quickly, that I almost felt it had come too soon. I didn't feel ready. I think that's because I knew that this--the most memorable concert experience of my life, the concert tour of my favorite singer in the entire world--would be over before I even knew what hit me. And then what?

But it's not like I was going to complain that the day had come so soon. It was a Tuesday, which meant I had my summer classes until about 3:00 PM, so I couldn't go to the Nokia Theater to line up early--since the show, unfortunately was General Admission, as in standing room only. But I had been communicating with my friend Liz, who I met at Adam's mini-concert that I won tickets for back in January, and she said she could show up early to save our spot in line. So she went to line up with a couple of her friends around lunchtime I think, and it turns out there were already tons of people lined up! This doesn't surprise me that much, even though it's insane, because Adam Lambert fans are particularly intense. We heard that in fact some seriously dedicated Glamberts had actually started lining up the night before at about 9:00, and had slept on the freaking sidewalk!

After I got out of class, I rushed home to grab something to eat and then get glammed-up. I did my make-up with some extra thick black eyeliner. I wore my tightest skinny jeans and one of my favorite black tees with a colorful graphic; some studded black leather fingerless gloves for that distinctive Glambert touch; a bunch of bracelets including my Planet Fierce wristbands to further reveal my fanboyness; and of course my black leather boots! I was glam-rock-on-a-budget and ready to make my appearance and Adam's concert.

I think it was around 5:40 PM or so when I found Liz and the other girls in line. It was nice to meet a few friends of hers and thus make new friends of my own. Our place in line was in front of some clothing stores on 7th avenue, all the way around the corner from the entrance side of the

Nokia Theater. The line was now extending down the block farther than I could even tell where it ended. It probably stretched across two blocks! So after a couple hours of waiting, the line started moving. We all readied our tickets and entered the Nokia Theater a little after 7:00 PM, making our way down the stairs and through the lower lobby of the building, where there was a bar outside the actual theater, and across from that was a booth thing with Adam Lambert merchandise for sale.

When we got inside the theater, we were happy to find that we could get quite close to the stage despite how many people were ahead of us. After some waiting, the concert began to uproarious applause with Allison Iraheta opening the show, performing songs from her album Just Like You. I adore Allison, her voice, and her music, so it was a delight that have here open the show. She sang with passion and moved with quirky energy, making faces, tossing her arms about, and strutting around the stage with an intensity surpassing that of her performances American Idol. Her band rocked; they made her songs rock harder than on her CD. Next up after Allison's set was rocker Orianthi. She did a longer set than Allison, performing songs from her album Believe. I'm not really familiar with her music, but I totally enjoyed her set of rock songs. Orianthi is a seriously fantastic guitarist above all else.

After Orianthi, they set the stage for Adam, and for some reason made us wait an excruciating length of time before he started. I didn't time the wait, but some said it was nearly 50 minutes! That's simply not okay for any kind of concert to leave fans standing there like that. The speakers played background music to kill time during the wait, and as the audience grew impatient, we started to boo every song that came on. We don't want this shit, we want Adam F***ing Lambert! My feet were seriously hurting, and I wondered if the pay-off would even make me forget this rather upsetting and painful waiting period. Well, it did.

I knew what to expect, frankly, because I had watched a few of his GlamNation concerts on YouTube. But I also knew that nothing could compare to the live experience. The lights dimmed, and there he emerged before a backdrop of a moonlit night sky. The first act consisted of songs about seduction and the flame of love and lust, with Adam's songs "Voodoo," "Down the Rabbit Hole," his [in]famous cover of "Ring of Fire" (which I adore), and then "Fever." This was probably my favorite portion of the concert, although I can't really decide. The visuals for "Voodoo" are fantastic, with crazy images projected on the backdrop, Adam donning a spooky "glam-hatter" costume, and his back-up dancers dressed like voodoo minions. Adam then strips of his hat and coat for "Fire" and "Fever." We got some memorable "Adommy" (Adam + Tommy, his bassist) action during "Fever" for just a tease of boy-on-boy action, getting us Glamberts riled up--one of the highlights of the concert. Hell yes!

The second act of the show is about sudden heartbreak, and pulling through the pain and picking yourself up. Adam wailed gloriously through the incredible "Sleepwalker," and brought the volume down for acoustic renditions of "Whataya Want From Me," "Soaked," and the triumphant "Aftermath," which was a singularly beautiful vocal.

Then the third act pumps it back up in a celebration of love and self, with electro-rock numbers "Sure Fire Winners," "Strut," "Music Again" and his current single "If I Had You." That marks the end of the official set, but as we all hoped, Adam treated us to an encore, with his killer renditions of "Mad World" and "Whole Lotta Love." The band played with a New Age-y acoustic rock vibe for these songs. His band, by the way, is fantastic and I love them! Monte Pittman, the lead guitarist, is especially impressive with his solos in "Sleepwalker" and "Music Again."

Adam was on fire that night. He performed with passion, emotional dynamism, and (as usual) vocal agility. His voice is a truly remarkable instrument, soaring across multiple octaves and shape shifting according to the tone of each song. He can sing with theatrical tenderness, with soulful embellishment, with pop flamboyance, or with a hard edge that rivals the glam rock gods of the past. He went through several costume changes, each complementing the mood of the songs as well as the overall arc of his concert. One of my favorite pieces is the striking studded and striped jacket with coattails he wears for "Strut" and "Music Again." "Strut" is definitely one of my favorites to watch him perform with his back-up dancers. And "Soaked" was almost operatic with the beauty of Adam's vibrato. For the whole concert, it was difficult to take everything in; besides Adam himself, there were his great back-up dancers in their sexy costumes, his band rockin' out, the colorful video projections as a backdrop, and the spectacular laser light show coming from two laser projectors (my favorite visual element, besides Adam himself of course). And...

Wait. Why am I bothering to try to describe all of this wonderfulness to you? You can watch almost the entire concert in the YouTube Playlist I've compiled and embedded below! Thanks to the great fans who recorded video and uploaded their clips on YouTube! Check it out! Click the gray arrows on either side of the frame to move to the next song or back to the previous song.

I was incredibly exhausted after the concert, so I didn't hang around much. I had an incredible time. My only complaints are that the wait for Adam was way too long, and his set was too short. But everything else was all I could hope for! Wow. Adam Lambert's first solo concert tour! I am so happy that I got to experience it for myself. This was one of the greatest nights ever!

One Year Anniversary! And Some Updates

Hello, my dear readers! (Who am I kidding? How many of you are there, like three tops?) It is now June 2010, which marks the one year anniversary since I started this blog, which means it also marks the one year anniversary since I moved to New York City! Wow. I cannot believe I've lived here for a whole year. The time has gone by so fast. In "celebration" of one year of my blog, I've changed the layout (as you might have noticed) using Blogger's new designing tools! Isn't it lovely? Thank goodness they updated those template options, because the old ones were so boring. My new cityscape background gives it a nice New York-y theme, don't you think?

The past few months have been busy and somewhat distressing because of school stuff, so I didn't get around to write about more April and May stuff until just last night. But I placed the entries neatly under their proper dates to keep everything in order. That's the way I like to do things. So be sure to catch up on the entries for May 31, May 8, and April 11! Oh, and if you haven't watched those few Vlogs I recorded, do that too. I had previously thought I'd be doing more videos, but to make a long story short, I've just been having too much trouble working out the technical stuff. Plus, I think text entries are easier for me (or my three readers) to refer to than video ones--like if I happen to be looking for the record of such-and-such event, it's easier to just look for it in text rather than watching a video. So, I think I best stick to mostly text. And photos, of course! Pretty pictures are always a good thing.

Anyways, I survived my second semester of college at Hunter, but only barely. I've now started two classes in the summer session, either because I'm freaking insane or because my mother basically ordered me to. I'm taking two Gen Ed courses, Literature and US History, but they're okay so far. In my free time, I've been watching anime and movies that I check out from the public library, which serves as a nice expense-free substitute for Blockbuster. On the weekends, I've also spent mucho time video chatting with Nick on Skype. That's been fun!

The upcoming week has some excitement in store. I've got my ticket for Adam Lambert's GlamNation Tour concert on Tuesday, June 22! I've been looking forward to this for months, so that's been keeping me going. The YouTube videos I've seen of his show are glamtastic! For me, this man is the greatest thing since sliced bread. He is the incredibly talented and sparkly gay performing artist that I've been needing all my life. It's important for us gays to have our icons. I'm so excited about his official concert tour! Oh, and coincidentally enough, this upcoming week is also Gay Pride Week here in New York! So I'll tell you all about that stuff maybe next week or sometime after! In the meantime, enjoy Adam's music video for his latest single "If I Had You":

Spring Break Vlog (March 29 - April 5)

**UPDATED 6/19/10: The audio is now in sync with the picture in the video, but it cuts off about 10 seconds at the end.**

In this video blog, I tell you about the fun and relaxing things I did during my spring break (March 29 - April 5): checking out Greenwich Village with Luis, the potluck at the QSU, and hanging out with Shirley and Shovana.

March Fun Times: Part 1 (Vlog)

This is officially my first video blog! In this edition, I tell you about the fun times I had in March when my buddy Mike came to New York for a brief visit. Thanks for watching/listening!

Related Link: The Secret of Kells

Sean's Vlog for March (Part 1)

Sean MySpace Video

February Fun Times

Again, it's actually April at the time I'm typing this, but I like to keep my posts listed under their proper months.

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Wednesday, February 3:

After my morning class, I headed over to the Queer Student Union (which I didn't really know existed before) to check out their open house thing. I had seen a flyer hanging in a hallway, and I thought it would be a good place to finally start making more friends. The open house consisted of a gathering of a fairly small group of people, and we all introduced ourselves. We then went over the calendar of scheduled activities for this semester at the QSU. So this pretty much marked the beginning of my social life at Hunter College. Good stuff.

Wednesday, February 10:

This was the first Snow Day of the semester. I cannot explain how happy this day made me (especially since it would mean I would not have to go to school for 6 six days, what with my having Thursdays off, and that following Friday and next Monday being scheduled holidays at Hunter). Although, it would have been nice if Hunter had posted the news that class was cancelled before I went to the school, only to discover that the place was deserted. Anyways, the snow was beautiful, covering the city and the parks in a white blanket. After I got some more sleep, Mom and went out to Riverside Park to enjoy the snow. We built a snowman by the 91st street garden. I don't know how long it had been since I made a snowman, or even played in the snow. Well, actually, it was probably about 11 years.

Thursday, February 11:

I went to the Valentines Party at the QSU! I had some fun conversation, ate some pizza, met a bunch of new friends, and danced the night away. Lady Gaga is always the music highlight. I think I can get used to this party thing. As long as it doesn't get too insane, haha. But I think these people have just the right amount of crazy. I like them!

Friday, February 26:

Snow Day number 2! Hell yeah. Mom and I went out to Riverside again to enjoy the snow. We made some snowballs and generally just strolled about leisurely, taking in all the gorgeous whiteness that surrounded us. I took lots of pictures this times. Pretty!

I took videos too!

Saturday, February 27:

I'm pretty sure it was on this day, but I'm not 100% positive. My parents took me to see a play on Broadway called Present Laughter, written by the great Noel Coward. It starred Victor Garber in the lead role, who has starred in many film, TV, and stage roles. I'll paste the basic plot summary from Wikipedia.org so I don't have to come up with my own:

• "The plot follows a few days in the life of the successful and self-obsessed actor Garry Essendine as he prepares to travel for a touring commitment in Africa. Amid a series of events bordering on farce, Garry has to deal with women who want to seduce him, placate both his long-suffering secretary and his estranged wife, cope with a crazed young playwright, and overcome his fear of his own approaching fortieth birthday and, by implication, his impending mid-life crisis. The story was described by Coward as 'a series of semi-autobiographical pyrotechnics'."

Basically, the play was hilarious. All the actors were fantastic. We loved it! What more can I say? We were sitting in the very back row but it wasn't bad at all since the theater was smaller.

Okay, I guess that's pretty much it for February!

January Fun Times

It's actually April now at the time I'm typing this entry, so I'm going way back to January to just briefly tell you about the other fun things I did during winter break after coming home from Tucson. There's not really an excuse for my going so long without updating my bloggity, except that I fail at time management.

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Sunday, January 17:

I was finally able to get out of bed and go to church like a good Unitarian-Universalist (haha). Afterwards, I also finally decided to check out the Metro Anime Club at their monthly meeting in the underground level of Maui Tacos. Basically it's a group of adults of various ages who get together and watch anime for several hours every month. Yeah, pretty freaking awesome if you ask me. So, I got to see a couple episodes of Skip Beat, Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad, Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, and some other stuff I can't remember. We were also paid a visit by local cosplay singer Reni, who I saw last year at the NY Anime Festival. She's pretty cute. I really went to the meeting hoping to make a friend, which luckily I did: a lovely girl named Amelia close to my age. Most of the other people seemed older than me, so at first I felt sort of awkward and I didn't think I'd be able to make friends, but then Amelia walked in and she struck me as the sort of person I'd like to talk to. We agreed it would be cool to hang out sometime. So I was glad I decided to take a chance and go to the meeting.

Tuesday, January 19:

I went to the LGBT Community Center (just "The Center" for short) to check out their open house/orientation thing, but ended up being a little disappointed. Some of the organizations and groups that meet there were handing out pamphlets and talking to visitors, but that was kind of it. I was hoping it would be something more structured and orientation-like. I did talk to a few of the reps and got some information on groups, though. Too bad most of them meet in the evenings in the middle of the week, when I have class. That's not too helpful. Oh well. This Tuesday wasn't too disappointing anyways, because on my trip to the Center, I discovered a fantastic donut place called The Donut Pub. Plus, Adam Lambert was on Oprah earlier that day. Word.

Friday, January 22:

I met up with Shirley and Shovana at Kinokuniya Books and we went all over town checking out anime-related stores, including Book-Off, Image Anime, Forbidden Planet, and Toy Tokyo. We also had a good dinner at a Japanese place near St. Marks, looked at manga at Barnes and Noble, and later ate some delicious donuts at the Donut Pub. Good times were had all around. I didn't get to buy anything except a gorgeous yaoi manga called Wild Rock. Bishies running around in loin cloths? Yes, please. Ahem, moving on.

Saturday, January 23:

I went to "Anime Day" at Kinokuniya Books, and was joined by Amelia and Shirley. They had guest speakers and presenters, a raffle for not-so-exciting prizes, Reni the cosplay singer (she seems to pop up everywhere), and more! Actually, the whole thing ended up not being very exciting. And Amelia had to leave early. Kind of disappointing. Oh well.

Monday, January 25:

I finally got to spend some time with Ashley, who I met last semester in my Asian History course. We were going to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, only to discover that it's closed on Mondays. It was a rainy day, so our options were limited. We wandered around until we decided to eat at UNO Chicago Bar and Grill, which caught my eye because the one back home in Oro Valley had closed and I hadn't gotten to enjoy that restaurant much. We enjoyed some Chicago-style pizza and deep conversation. We then headed out and I proposed we go see the movie Me and Orson Welles, which was playing at a small Lincoln Center cinema, and we did that after popping in Best Buy for a moment. The movie was great, and it starred Zac Efron. Oh, yes...

And I think that's pretty much it for the fun times of January!

Holidays in Tucson and Utah

Hello, there. Welcome back to my blog. I'm finally publishing this post you see below. I've been working on it in increments because I hate typing for hours on end. I apologize if you're one of the many people I got to see during the holidays and I forgot to mention you here. I might come back and add more if I remember something else fun that happened. But my brain has been working hard enough trying to remember what went down and I'm sick of working on this post, haha. So, I'm not going to do the link things this time. Do any of you actually click on them, anyways? This is a bit jumbled. Enjoy.

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I got home from our trip on the 9th, but I've been putting off updating my blog because... well, because I'm just really good at procrastinating, I guess. It's been about a month since the previous post, and that was just a brief note. Sorry you didn't get to hear about December, but from what I remember, it was kind of a sucky month. I spent my days stressing out about having to study, as well as a little bit of actual studyin, haha. It felt like all I ever did was study, though. Not to mention writing papers and other homework. I think there may have been a few enjoyable excursions on occasion in December, but I can't really remember them. Oh, wait. One night, I went out with Mom and Dad to see the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center. It was pretty. But it was also freaking cold outside. Let's see... if I can remember anything else, maybe I'll let you know.

As for our trip to Tucson and Utah, I'll tell you some of the highlights. Mom flew to Tucson about a week earlier than Dad and I, because she could. Dad and I left on December 22nd (the very next day after my last final exam) and we had to wake up at like 3:30 AM to be able to make our early flight. Holy crap. Mom picked us up from the Tucson airport when we arrived, and before heading to our good ol' home in Oro Valley, we stopped by Josh's/Elaine's place for a visit. It made me so happy to see my family again! Later, we went out to eat and brought my brother Danny along. Then, when we arrived at our Oro Valley house, Danny and I put up the Christmas tree in the family room. We all had some quality family time, and later, Danny's wife Emma came by for a little and I was so happy to see her. That about sums up that first day. Wow, I'm surprised I remembered so much. Don't expect the rest of my account to be like that, haha. It won't be so chronological.

It felt good to be back in my hometown. I thought it might feel weird to go back there, with our house being nearly empty and all, but it felt like the most natural thing. I got to sleep in my old bedroom and take warm baths in my old bathroom. It was a comforting environment to be in, and just what I needed as a retreat from the emotional turmoil I have undergone during the school semester. I appreciated the quietude of Oro Valley more than ever. I enjoyed visiting my favorite stores and restaurants. Most of all, I loved spending time with my old friends.

One day before Christmas, I went out with my friend Ashly to the good ol' Foothills Mall, which is the very place she and I met. What I love about her--besides her sweet adorableness and quirky sense of humor--is that she is so easy for me to talk to. We never run out of things to giggle about together, and she's also open to some good serious conversation. So we did a little of that, and a little Christmas shopping. Well, she did some Christmas shopping, and I sort of helped, haha. It was great to spend time with her.

I first got to see my best friend Kristina on Christmas Eve Eve. I headed over to her (parent's) house in Copper Creek, rang the doorbell, and she opened the door and gave me a big hug. I gave her a Christmas present (Adam Lambert's album) and we went up to her room to chat late into the night. We caught up on a lot of things. The next week, I went over to her apartment where she's currently living with her boyfriend. We talked for a bit, had some pizza, and watched the movie Pleasantville, which was a lovely movie I thought. Our time together was all too short, but it certainly felt like old times. Hopefully I'll get to see her more next time I visit!

I had very little time to get into the Christmas spirit in New York, so it felt like Christmas came pretty suddenly when we went to Tucson. My family had our main Christmas celebration on Christmas Eve. We had the whole family over and ate a delicious holiday-style dinner. We opened most of our presents after that. Then some of us went to Winterhaven to see the elaborate Christmas light displays in the neighborhood. They were pretty. Christmas day wasn't as exciting. Just Danny and Emma came over to visit me and my parents, and later I saw Sherlock Holmes with Mom and Dad. It was good entertainment.

One fine evening, I met up with my old friend Courey at Barnes and Noble, I think it was the first Sunday I was in Tucson. I got to meet his girlfriend, and she was very sweet. We browsed the manga section before going to see the movie Avatar, which was a highly entertaining and visually stunning movie experience with a derivative story and flat characters. Jake Sully in his Na'vi form was strangely very attractive. That's all I'll say about that movie because it's pissing me off. After the movie, we all went to good ol' Applebee's to eat and chat. Very fun times. I was glad to see Courey again. He's a very special person to me.

Another evening, I met up with my lovely friend Isabel at Keva Juice. I was excited to see her because I didn't connect with her before I moved to New York. We enjoyed some delicious smoothies, stuffed pretzels, and shared a vegan cookie (I think it was a chocolate one, because Isabel decided that their snickerdoodles weren't "snickery" enough). She and I had some good conversation and good laughs together, but she had to go home all too early. I didn't get to see her again while I was there. Sad face!

I got to see my friend Kellie, who I met when I worked at Pier 1 before, for a few hours at her apartment. We hung out, talked about stuff, she cut and styled my hair, and we watched TV. It was a fun, relaxing time. Kellie is just so cute and fun to be around, so I didn't care what we did, as long as I got to see her I was happy. She had been at work all day too and she was tired, so we just hung around at her place. Good times. And she gave me the best haircut and styling. Of course, I cannot for the life of me get my hair to look like she did it. Gah.

Me, my parents, Danny & Emma, and Emma's parents all drove up to Utah on New Year's Eve. Danny and Emma were moving to Provo because Danny transferred to BYU Provo, so helping them move was the main reason to go, but it also was an opportunity to visit family. My parents and I stayed at my grandma Jill's place while we were there. The Lamoreaux family had a surprise birthday party for Grandma Jill's 70th birthday, which took place at a rec center thingy at a little park. It was fun to see Grandma so surprised and happy, and to see my cousin Kelsey and everybody for a few hours. I wish I could have hung out with Kelsey more, but our visit was too short and all.

The best part of my brief Utah excursion was seeing my Aunt Debbie. I bought her Allison Irheta's CD for Christmas, and we listened to it together at her place. We were also excited to listen to Adam Lambert's album together! We even had a goofy little dance party in her living room while we gushed to each other about how amazing he is. One day we also watched his performance on "So You Think You Can Dance," which Aunt D had recorded on her DVR. That's one of my favorite performances of his single. Yeah, Aunt D and I are kind of addicted to Adam. We love sharing his music, rockin' out and dancing along--especially in the car! Such good times. Another night, a group of us (Grandma Valene, Mom, Dad, Debbie, and I) went out for Japanese food at Mikado restaurant. Delicious! Debbie and I ate some Japanese food the next night too actually, after we went to see Where the Wild Things Are with Uncle Aaron at a dollar theater. I love that movie. It was good to see Uncle Aaron and talk to him for a bit. That last night in Utah was special because Aunt D and I put on a mini concert in my Judd Grandparents' living room. She played the piano and I sang along. We did a bunch of songs, starting and ending with my favorite one to sing for Grandpa, "Smile" by Charles Chaplin. I made Grandpa cry with that one. How sweet is that?

Anyways, back at the ranch...

I saw my friend Crystal twice while I was in Tucson. I went over to her place both times. We played with a bunch of cute kittens that she's fostering, we caught up on life and such, we had a bite to eat, watched silly YouTubes vids, and stuff. The second time we hung out, I drove us to In N Out Burger (the only fast food place I trust), because I wanted to have some of that tasty business before returning to New York (we don't have In N Out here). It was great to see Crystal. She's always fun. We enjoy looking at gay porn together. Just kidding. ;-)

I got to hang out for a little while with my friend Jose one afternoon. It had been a while since I talked to him. We went to Starbucks, caught up a little bit on our lives, listened to music in the car, and did a quick trip to the Tucson Mall.

When my best friend Mike came over to my house the first time, it felt like a reunion but also felt like old times. We exchanged Christmas gifts, caught up on movie discussion, and watched an episode of an anime series he recently bought, Trinity Blood. It seems like a cool show, I'm sad we didn't get to watch any more of it while I was there. But one night we did watch some episodes of "Family Guy" along with the "Family Guy" feature Something Something Darkside for some good laughs. We also went out along with our buddy Royce (it was great to see him, as well!) to our favorite Chinese Restaurant, Linh Nam. So delicious, and inexpensive too. That's a Tucson favorite of mine. On another day, I joined Mike and Royce at Sushi Garden for a quick bite of sushi. I had just a few rolls, as I watched them enhale plate after plate of sushi goodies (they did the all-you-can-eat deal). Another day, Mike took me out to Panda Express and then to our main destination R-Galaxy, my favorite store in Tucson-- the best source of geek merchandise (comics/manga, anime, action figures, etc.). We browsed through their extensive anime rental section, excited by all the shows and movies we wish we had the time and money to watch. But maybe my favorite time with Mike came at the last minute, the night before I had to fly back home to New York. Mike had just gotten off work late, and I had to wake up early the next morning, but I decided it would be worth it to stay up and go out to spend more time with him. So he drove us to IHOP and we had a late-night meal. It was yummy, and our waiter was a super-sweet guy so that made it an oddly memorable IHOP experience. Mike and I got engaged in a deep conversation, which we continued back at my house in my room, sitting on the floor. We talked until the AM hours, so it was a good night, but needless to say I was very tired the next morning.

The flight back home to New York felt too soon. I wanted to stay a while longer and hang out with my friends. *sighs*

PS: Sorry there's no pretty pictures. My camera battery was dead and I kept forgetting to buy new ones. Plus I just didn't feel like it.

New York Anime Festival 2009

Wow! It doesn't get much better than this, my friends. This was another freakishly awesome weekend and I'm now very depressed that it's over. I went to my very first anime convention, the New York Anime Festival--a three-day extravaganza celebrating otaku culture with merchandise, panels, screenings, gaming, art, performances, and more! Needless to say, my bank account has been all but vanquished.

The fun began on Friday after school. I sort of decided to skip Math class (ssshhh, don't tell anyone!) so that I could go straight to the convention center with my friend Shirley after our Japanese Culture class was over. We spent most of our time on Friday exploring the exhibitors/dealers room (whatever you want to call it). There was everything and anything an otaku could ever ask for--manga, DVDs, toys, costumes, games, swords, and more. I had my eye out for DragonBall merchandise, of course, but as expected there was relatively little. However, there was a hell of a lot of yaoi--and yaoi fans! I saw tons of people carrying around those infamous yaoi paddles or otherwise carrying some form of expression of their love for yaoi.

I didn't actually end up buying anything on Friday, because I just wanted to scope everything out first, if you know what I mean. Anyways, that evening we also went to a great panel called "Know Your Creators" featuring two guys named Rym and Scott who spoke about important creators/directors in the anime world. It was quite educational and I've got some new anime creators and films to look into! How am I ever going to see all I need to see? Rym and Scott were a couple of very smart and very fun guys to listen to. Apparently they're regulars at anime conventions across the east coast and they host their own podcast--check out their website.

Saturday was the convention's biggest day. The place was absolutely packed to the brim. And how about all those cosplayers! There were many really great costumes, and some not so great. But good or bad, it's so fun to see otakus express their creativity with their home-made costumes of their favorite characters. I should tell you that I took relatively few photos at the con because as usual, my camera wouldn't cooperate. I could hardly get a clear picture. Plus, I was frankly having more fun just looking at all the cosplayers than taking pictures of them. Furthermore, I seriously had no idea who most of the characters were. I know very little about the more popular anime series like Naruto or Bleach. There were just a few DragonBall cosplayers that I saw, including two Gokus, two Trunks, and Android #17. I also saw just a handful of Avatar: The Last Airbender cosplayers, and that made me happy whenever I saw them.

Another fun part of the convention was the "Artists Alley," where anime fan artists were selling prints and such of their original artwork. I'm telling you, there were some truly spectacular artists there, and I could not resist buying a few pieces. I bought a cool Naruto poster by an artist named Kevin Yan--and I barely know anything about Naruto at all! But this piece is just so incredible. When I saw it, I was so struck by it that I just had to get it. I also bought a print of a painting of the twins from Ouran High School Host Club, and a small print of an Avatar piece. Back on the exhibitors floor, I got three prints from a poster vendor: a beautiful Japanese Castle in the Sky poster (which I was really excited about because I saw a pic of it on the internet and thought it was so beautiful), a Japanese Princess Mononoke poster, and a poster with a picture of the Avatar gang. While we're on the topic of the shopping I did at the con, on Saturday I got a couple of awesome DBGT figures (SS4 Goku and Vegeta by Banpresto). On Sunday I got a couple nifty mini DBZ figures at the Funimation booth... oh, and another little art print.

Okay, I'm not keeping my thoughts organized here, but I figure it's not worth it to treat every blog entry like an essay. Let's move on to other activities I did besides shopping for awesome anime stuffage. So, back to Saturday. After shopping, I went to see if I could join Shirley and Shovana at a Q & A Panel with none other than the creator of the anime phenomenon Gundam Yoshiyuki Tomino! Alas, I got there too late and the room was packed so they wouldn't let me in. Well, at least it's not like I'm really into Gundam, so it wasn't an enormous letdown. Later, I peeked in a screening of Galaxy Express 999 but left after a little bit to join my friends at a nearby McDonald's for a meal break. I swore I would never set foot in a McDonald's ever again, but that's where they were going and I didn't want to be left out. I got some unappetizing chicken nuggets. Remind me not to cave in again.

Anyways, after that we checked out an event called "Iron Cosplay" where the audience watched as two teams were given random raw materials to make a character costume within a 30-minute time limit. It was a slightly dissappointing show, but fun enough. Later, we got in line for the Cosplay Masquerade thingy, but I didn't want to just sit there in line, so I went off browsing/shopping again. However, I didn't make it back in line with the others in time so I got split up from them. I was shuffled into the overflow section where people could watch the show on a screen. I wasn't sure what the show was supposed to be, even after it actually began. I guess it was supposed to be cosplayers doing little skits and stuff, but I have to be honest it was just painful and embarrassing to watch and I don't get what the big deal was. I left shortly to go see a panel, featuring the same guys from the night before--Rym and Scott--this time presenting "Anime Every Fan Should See." It was another very enjoyable discussion on anime essentials.

On Sunday, upon returning to the convention center around noon, I struggled within myself as to whether I should buy more stuff. As I mentioned before, I did indeed buy more stuff. Oops. Later, my friends and I went to a panel featuring Japanese singer/voice actress Yui Makino (who was one of the guests of honor at the con) and a few American voice actors, all talking about their experience in the anime voice acting business and a few other related topics. So that was pretty neat. After that was over, we tried to get into "Funimation Sneak Peaks" (I'm a big supporter of Funimation and a fan of the wonderful anime properties they bring to America), but it was too full to get in. Damn it. Well, we pretty much just went over to the Artists Alley again to gawk at all the gorgeous anime art, so it's all good. There was always more to look at. I also went around to take a few more photos as the convention was sadly winding down. And in a flash, the fun was over.

As I mentioned, I took relatively few photos (I did, however, take a bunch of short videos which turned out to be a better way to capture my experience in snippets), but here I present to you the best of my photos in a slideshow. Click on "View All Images" below to see descriptions for each photo so you know what it's all about!

Harry Potter Night with Marlena

A week ago, I finally got to hang out with my friend Marlena, who I know from middle/high school back in Tucson. She's been living here and studying acting at NYU for a couple years now--and lovin' it. It was so much fun to socialize with someone my own age, haha! I adore Marlena, with her funny stories, her uncensored personality, and her emotional understanding (as she listened to some of my kind of lame stories). As a warm welcome to New York City, she was generous enough to treat me to a lovely dinner and dessert at the charming, popular little restaurant called Serendipity. Their famous frozen hot chocolate is to die for. After that, we checked out a nearby candy shop called Dylan's Candy Bar. It's a huge and colorful temple dedicated to all things sweet, with pricetags that will empty your wallet. It was fun just to look.

Next, Marlena and I walked to Times Square for the main feature: Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince! She got our tickets for the midnight showing ahead of time, so it was just a matter of working our way through the mob outside of the movie theater. Marlena is no push-over, so she grabbed onto my arm and pushed her way to the front doors. We got perfect seats ahead of the crowds. As for the movie itself, we both enjoyed it. In my opinion, it's at least better than Order of the Phoenix--a particularly dissappointing HP movie for me--but doesn't come close to the glory of the climactic and compelling Goblet of Fire. Anyhow, Marlena was sweet enough to escort me home after the movie so I wouldn't be scared taking the subway so late at night. That evening was probably the best time I've had in the city so far, since I got to spend it with a good friend. Thanks, Lena!