Author Archives: dpkworldwide

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About dpkworldwide

Native Californian, water rabbit, aries, lover of travel, trains, history, music, wrestling, anime, minimalism, stoicism, objectivism and things Japanese.

Anime Vegas, Day 1

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Today was opening day for Anime Vegas and it was a lot of fun—I had a great time. But first, some other topics:

My Gambling Story: I don’t really gamble much at all—it’s too lame. But I brought $18.00 of quarters from my change drawer to use (my usual M.O.). I put them in a video poker machine last night and won—$14.25. Typical. I spent a buck or two of that today on stuff, but put the rest in another video poker machine tonight and won—$8.00. Good thing I don’t take this seriously or have the addiction…

Anyway, last night I went to pickup my badge at the new venue (Renaissance Hotel next to the Convention Center) and it’s really nice. I was prepared for a long wait, but it was only 15 minutes. I then made a slight mistake in choosing to eat dinner at The Outback Steakhouse on the strip—the food was great, but i’d forgotten just what a hellacious, crowded, annoying ZOO the Vegas strip can be, especially on a holiday weekend. And don’t even get me started on Las Vegas DRIVERS—the worst I’ve seen anywhere, and I lived in Italy for 2 years…

So then that brings us to today. I attended the Funimation panel first thing and made absolutely certain to publicly thank Funimation and told them they were the only anime company I trust anymore. I also asked about BIG WINDUP, and they said with the volume of shows they’re working on right now, they’re not sure yet when it’ll actually get dubbed and released—probably next year. Just after it started, VA Todd Haberkorn came in and sat next to me too—nice guy.

The rest of the day was mostly spent perusing the (slightly overcrowded) dealers’ room, waiting in line to talk with the various VA guests and get their autographs, and watching a few new anime episodes (I think I liked .hack/Roots, and Maburaho looked cute but I’m not sure. Lucky Star also looked fun, but I’m even less sure about it…).

But the BIGGEST thing I attended was an absolutely PACKED panel room where they World-Premiered the first three dubbed episodes of Ouran High School Host Club, one of my favorites and hotly anticipated show. I thought the cast and performances they gave—at least in the first 3—was outstanding. I KNOW it’s going to turn out to be a surprisingly big hit for Funimation, and deservedly so. It always makes me feel really happy when I can DELETE fansubs and BUY the real thing. In fact, as penance I’ll be buying 2 copies: one for me and one to give to a friend!

Stayed until after 7:00 to talk to Colleen Clinkenbeard and Caitlin Glass (and get their autographs, of course), then back to my hotel and my first real food since breakfast: the $2.99 soup & half sandwich special. At least I can afford to eat on my meager gambling winnings…

In Vegas, Baby!

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So I’m sitting here in my surprisingly nice and comfy hotel room at the Vegas Club hotel in the OLD part of Vegas. I drove up here today to attend the Anime Vegas convention this weekend, which is sort of of my new annual tradition (kind of pushing it since this is merely my third time). I came the first time in 2006 since I’d missed the usual Anime cons while I was in Japan, and so the same happened this year. The drive was fast and uneventful (even though my cruise control was set at a mere 5 mph over) and I got here in about 4 hours.

But first, the Victoria update:

She’s getting stronger and a bit brighter, but still is pretty skinny, bony and you can tell she doesn’t feel her usual self. I took her for a checkup yesterday, and the doctor found she was anemic, gave her a shot of iron and—get this— has me giving her Epogen! That seemed to pep her up a bit—she spent time with me, laying on my lap, being more sociable, etc. whereas she’d mostly been sleeping in the bedroom by herself. The doctor also insisted that I board her there this weekend while I’m gone and they will see she gets her meds and try to fatten her up a bit before I pick her up Tuesday morning. Max gets to fend for himself (and by himself) but my Mom & Dad are going to check on him Saturday.

So then, now I’m in Vegas for the weekend. This convention really is a lot of fun and so much more relaxed than the big cons. I mostly come here to socialize, see new stuff and get autographs—It’s always well attended by Funimation VAs and others. I’ll fill you in as the weekend progresses. I don’t have a lot of money at the moment, so there won’t be a whole lot of purchasing going on. One thing new this year, is that they’ve moved it “uptown” to a hotel rather than at the Cashman Center next door to the gun show. That may also mean some other new surprises—can’t wait to see what’ll be new.

Saturday Gaming Field Trip & good news on Victoria

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Yesterday, I took a trip down to Brookhurst Hobbies in Garden Grove, CA because I’d heard through the grapevine that someone from Peter Pig Miniatures would be there demoing a new set of Samurai period wargame rules.

Sure enough, Battle in the Age of Wars turned out to be a lot of fun and quite satisfying historically. I bought the rules and will be using them if and when I get my 10 mm Samurai armies painted. The most interesting thing about the game was that there’s whole pre-game “campaign” that you play before your army actually gets put out on the table. This can drastically effect a lot of things for the upcoming game—from troops that appear late, to hampering your chain-of-command to all kinds of other intrigues and inconveniences. I think that’s what made it so appealing and interesting—you really don’t know exactly how things are going to work out for you.

The game itself is very fast-playing, involving rolling bucket-loads of D6s. The mechanisms make sense, though, and it’s easy to get the hang of things and memorize how to do stuff part way through. With two complete novices and fairly normal sized armies of three wings, our turns were taking about 1/2 an hour and we finished the game in about 3 1/2. Of course, we also had the author himself refereeing for us…

I got so involved in playing the game that time flew by and I missed lunch (not that I need it…), so I treated myself to an early dinner at the only Sonic Drive-In south of Bakersfield—it was yummy!

But now to today’s big news: I brought Victoria home from kitty hospital this morning. She gained nearly 2 pounds in the two days she was there (mostly fluids from the IV bag), but she still isn’t eating. The doctor said she maybe didn’t want to there but would at home. I have to give her liquid antibiotics twice a day and will have to continue with the subcutaneous IV fluids at least once a day in the morning—kind of creepy since it means ME having stick a needle in her. The doctor also said that there seems to be both kidney and liver problems, but she didn’t elaborate yet. I’m going to take care of her this week and go back for a visit on Thursday. Hopefully she’ll be eating by then and on her way to full recovery; if not, I’m going to have to either board her or have a professional pet-sitter come visit while I’m gone to Las Vegas this weekend for the convention.

Poor Victoria

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Yesterday morning, after ignoring it for a bit too long, I finally took my female kitty Victoria to the vet. She had turned into nothing but skin and bones while I was gone, and I was trying on my own to bring her back thinking that she had just gone on a “hunger strike” because she missed me.

Well, turns out she was chronically dehydrated, has a serious bladder infection and potentially other ailments. The wonderful doctor (Dr. McFarland at The Cat Doctor and Friends, Santa Clarita) took some tests and was actually glad to see the infection because it was something treatable. She stayed overnight at the kitty hospital for treatment and recuperation and I’m on my way to see her this morning and listen to the prognosis. The initial outlook was that she does have a better-than-50% chance of recovering, but she is getting old (my cats are both 15-16). It’s kind of expensive getting her treated, but what else can I really do right at the outset? It would be sad, but if she has to be put to sleep, so be it. I guess I’ll know in a little while and be able to post news later…

Last night at The Bengal Club, we played a new WW2 air combat game, Check Your Six hosted by New Robert. It’s sort of like Blue Max with much faster, ore powerful planes (that also tend to get shot up and die a LOT quicker). I guess it was kind of fun, but it will take a lot more than that intro game before I decide. Then again, I really don’t need to get involved in yet another gaming period and rule set. In fact, as I was telling Matt as we carpooled home last night, since my focus is turning more and more to Japan, I seem to be really struggling to maintain any interest in gaming at all.

In a way that’s good: it should spur me on to even greater efforts to clean up my gamers clutter and eBay with a vengeance. I’m also going to be well and truly ready for the HMGS convention this coming November to sell big-time at the swap meet.

Random Stuff

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The problem with me blogging at home versus blogging when I was in Japan, is that my regular life isn’t really…all that interesting.

I’ve been trying to find work (not particularly successfully yet), do stuff on the computer, get on a regular weight loss/fitness routine and that’s kind of it. I’m still not over the post-KJapan malaise yet, though it’s not nearly as pronounced as it was two years ago. In my head I’m all for selling everything, packing up and moving there, but the “anchors” are already there and that—coupled with my general laziness—are making progress really slow and almost purely academic at this point.

Yesterday was kind of fun, though. I’d told my Mom & Dad about my new favorite restaurant (Cowboy Cantina out in Canyon Country), so they said they wanted to come out and give it a try. They did yesterday for lunch and brought Julie, Kyle and Jacob with them. Me and the boys went down to the pool and swam for a bit (believe it or not, it was the FIRST time I’ve been in my building’s pool since I moved in in December ‘06), played pool in the game room and then we all went to lunch. Afterwards, the kids played a bit on my PS3—it was fun. I told the boys that they should come and stay overnight sometime so we can work on building their train models I brought them from Japan. Maybe they can do it next week before school starts.

So other than that, my normal life slides by. Things should really change, though…

Back to Blogging

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So I’ve been home from Japan for about two-and-a-half weeks now, but haven’t posted anything online to speak of. I need to remedy that, and resolve to blog more often.

The most interesting thing that happened after my return, is that I seem to have started losing weight. I’ve lost a little every day since I’ve been home except one (that is, before last night’s food-orgy at the Rat’s Lair in lieu of wargames night—I’m still refusing to acknowledge what the scale said this morning and will only enter my weight later tonight after a bike ride, workout, and less eating…). This is a good sign (the weight loss, I mean). I really need to do something to keep it going.

The previous couple of entries I actually wrote today about earlier events. I shouldn’t do that, but there you are. I’m spending the rest of the day inside working around the house, on the computer and WILL FOR SURE get some eBay items up in my store. I rode my bike for about 45 minutes today and will go down and use the gym—for the first time since I moved in here. Gotta make up for last night’s indiscretion.

So stay tuned for better blogging (yeah right—how many times have i said THAT…)

Notary (Nope) and The Rat’s Lair

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Today was my all-day Notary Public training class out at the new College of the Canyons’ Canyon Country campus. It was something I signed up for back in May thinking it would be a good skill and certification to have in m “bag of tricks” of things I could do to generate income.

The class itself seemed pretty straightforward and though there’s a lot to know and a lot of legalese, it’s not exactly rocket science. However, after sitting through the class, learning what I needed to know and taking (and passing) the two practice exams, I decided NOT to take the exam for real. Why? Well, because when you pass (which I know I would) you have 30 days to get your equipment, post a $15,000 bond and take an oath with the county and essentially get “on the clock”.

There are two reasons that compelled me to rethink this: 1) there would be an initial outlay of nearly $1,000 for everything I need by way of equipment, supplies, bonds and insurance and that would be difficult right now, and 2) if I’m allegedly serious about leaving the country for Japan within a year, what’s the point of shelling that all out on a 4-year appointment that I’ll be leaving behind anyway?

I do still have up to two years to take the test without having to repeat the class, so it could still be a possibility. I’ll wait and see how things go with the agencies I’ve signed up with and my potential employment elsewhere.

I did get done with class early because of choosing not to take the certification exam, so Matt & I carpooled down to Crag Stevens’ house in Tarzana, a.k.a. “The Rat’s Lair” for his annual Bengal Club dinner and evening of entertaining fellowship. He fed us WAY TOO MUCH, and it turned out to be a real binge. I tried to moderate what I was eating, but it was just nuts. The final coup de grace was the oversize ice cream and chocolate dessert. I really have nobody to blame but myself, but I KNOW I’ll hate myself in the morning when I step on the scale and undoubtedly see some of my weight loss progress vanish.

Craig, though, does way too much nice stuff for us. Consequently we wanted to give him a special gift and we came up with an historic British Officer’s undress cap in a case similar to the kind the Comissariat officers wore and officially named him our Comissariat. It was pretty nice. Thanks a bunch, Craig! (Just don’t ever make me have to fall so far off the wagon again, please…)