DID YOU GET THIS???

So firstly, many apologies for not posting in a while. I’ve been fairly busy, but not so busy I couldn’t find time to post on here every once in a while. My B.

But guess what! NASA accepted our Microgravity Proposal and we get to test it at the NASA Base in Houston this June! SICK!

So let’s backtrack. At the beginning of the school year before it was so cold you couldnt walk outside and there was ice hidden under snow (although I’ve heard other places have gotten more) Sandra and I joined UBAIAA. UB’s chapter of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. And as one of the projects, we worked on a proposal to send to NASA’s Microgravity Missions. We spent a whole heck of a lot of time on this project, and even though we worked hard none of us had faith that we’d get in and it kind of went forgotten. I didnt even think much of it yesterday when they were to announce winners. Until, I got a text message while studying for my Calc final.

It was from the captain of the Micro team and it read “Just got the call from NASA. We’re going to Texas!” And I’m of course shocked, and reply “Really?” to which to this day he hasn’t responded to. But no sooner is that message sent than does Sandra leave her classroom and run up to me holding out her phone going, “Did you get this???” That’s when we knew it couldn’t be just some not very funny joke, if we both got the message. So, that was that. Our proposal actually got accepted. Awesome! Imagine what that’ll look like on a resume. Sure, the trip is going to be a blast, and actually being on the “Vomit Comet” to test it will be even cooler. But how many people can say they worked with NASA. I mean, really! There’s a reason why it’s spelt NASA and not nasa, because it’s EXCITING!

But, what the heck was our proposal about, right? Well, to be honest, I did not work on the technical stuff. And neither did Sandra, so don’t ask her either. But essentially, it’s a way to test an attitude determination system for satellites flying in formation. Basically, its a computer program using lights that can send information between satellites telling them where they are, and what direction they’re facing. And it should be AWESOME. This is like, the first time they’ve been accepted in ten years or so.

WEEEE!

-Tom-

I don’t make friends…

So, believe it or not, I’m a very shy person. I’m not so good at the whole, makin’ friends thing. I’m quiet to begin with, and the beard and metal t-shirts kind of make me unapproachable it seems. So, if I’m not talking to them, and they are afraid to talk to me, it’s hard to make friends. But, you kinda need friends in a new place. Well, let me restate that. You don’t need friends, but they’re sure nice to have. So I figured that, well, something has got to give. And that’s when I found out, that I am just not made to make friends. At all.

On Sunday I suppouse it was, we had a floor meeting. I was told I didn’t have to go by the RA, so I wasn’t jumping up to get ready. I didn’t really want to go, because I thought it would just be going over obvious rules and doing bogus icebreaker games. But most importantly, I didn’t want to go because I didn’t know where we had to go. So my plan? Hope one of my suitemates return in time to show me the way. So I sat in my room and waited, and waited. And then finally one of them came back, and he was getting ready, so I was just waiting for the chance to go with him. I thought when he was ready he’d casually remind me, “Hey, there’s a floor meeting. Wanna come?” And I would laugh and say “Oh, those things are so lame. But yeah, I’ll go with you. Just let me grab my shoes.”

Instead, he walks out the door, goes to lock it, and then comes back to my room and says “Dude, you know there’s a floor meeting right now, right? You coming, or are you going to skip it and think you’re some badass?”

…Yeah, that sure backfired. So, with my quick thinking, I look at the clock in my best attempt to be surprised and go “Oh shoot! Yeah! I totally forgot about that thing! Can you wait for me? I don’t want to be late. Thanks for reminding me, man!” When really I’m thinking “Ouch.” Friend attempt 1, Tom gets completely owned.

But it’s not just that one time. We now fast forward to Tuesday.

Before my first Physics lecture, I found my classroom early, as I was unsure I’d remember where it was. Finding a 200 hundred person lecture hall is actually easier than you’d think, and outside of it there was a wall with stools and a table where you can sit and wait for the class to begin, with your laptop or homework or whatever. I see a nice looking fellow, and sit beside him. We exchange hellos, and he’s pleasant enough. I feel that at best, I’ve found someone who I would not mind sitting next to in the class, and all is well. After we jokingly confirm we made it to the right place, I take out my Physics binder to look over the material that may be covered for that day.

Now, let me explain my Physics binder so you can understand this next part. My Physics binder is just that – a binder. It’s a red, three-clamp, generic brand poly-something-or-other binder. It looks like a binder, it has papers like a binder, and in every way, shape and form… it’s a binder. Inside of the Physics binder, and this is why it received it’s name, is my Physics book’s pages. My book came to me used, and for some reason, it came as just pages. The book is there in it’s entirety, it’s just not bound, and the pages are hole punched. And with this book, came laminated cheat-sheets, little reference guides for formulas and definitions. I put all of these papers in the binder, as any sane person would. I take out this binder, though, open it up, and he glances over and immediately sees what apparently looks just  like his book, and he FLIPS OUT and rips the binder out of my hands to examine it. To him, this binder does not look like a binder. To him, I received a special edition version of the Physics book and he is MAD and he is mad at ME.

“WHAT THE &*%$ IS THIS?!?! HOW’D YOU &^$#IN’ GET THIS &^$^IN’ THING?!?! OH MAN &^$# ME! I’M SO SCREWED! HOW’D YOU GET THIS &%$*IN’ BOOK?!?!? WHY DO YOU HAVE ALL THESE FORMULAS WITH YOURS?!”

“Uh… it’s just… my book… put in a binder….”

“THIS THING IS &$%^IN’ RIDICULOUS! I DIDN’T GET THIS ^&#&! WHY DID YOU GET IT AND I DIDN’T? I’M THE ONE WHO &%$&IN’ NEEDS THESE THINGS!”

“I… just… I just bought what the online order form told me to…”

“*&$# ME, MAN! I GOT THE WRONG *%$#IN’ THING! YOU *&#&IN’ SUCK, DUDE. I’M SO GONNA FAIL, NOW. I SHOULD HAVE GOT THIS ^$#*IN’ BOOK AND NOT MY PIECE OF &$@# ONE! UGH!”

At which point, the binder is thrown back to me, and he returns to his laptop with a loud huff. My response? I quickly gather my things, and slowly slip out of my chair to find somewhere else to sit. Friend attempt 2, failure. And this guy’s in two of my three classes. I see him every day. And he still thinks we’re friends, I think.

Then today, I’m waiting in my calculus class, when Friend attempt 3 begins. Across the room, I hear a kid talking about the Physics homework due tomorrow, and explaining his frustrations to another kid in the class. Because I’m in the same class, as I concluded because I recognized one of the problems he was discussing, I listened in. I had a little difficulty with the work, too, but I got a couple of the problems so maybe I could help. So, he’s talking and talking, and as I had done the homework just a couple of hours prior to the class, the problems were fresh in my mind… but they weren’t fresh in his. He’s telling the guy about one problem he didn’t get, and about how you need to take the weight of one atom of coal (you should all laugh at this), and then get it’s volume, and goes on and on, not even getting the problem at all. So finally, I speak up, and I explain to him how I did it. Just voiced my opinion, how I thought it should be done. I might have even ended it with the words “Or that’s how I did it, but I don’t really know for sure.”

The kid thinks on it, and then instead of saying “Yeah, maybe. I don’t know either.” or a “Thanks, dude. I might try that.” or even a (and this is a longshot) ”Hey, let’s collaborate after class and be buddies. Maybe we’ll figure it out then.”, he says “No, I don’t think so. The problem actually said you have to…” and then continues to talk about the problem wrongly. He knew the numbers that were in the problem, but he didn’t know what he was doing. So I just shrugged my shoulders and went back to sitting quietly. Because now this kid was not saying he was doing the problem wrong, he was saying the book was wrong. When he clearly didn’t know what he was doing. After class, this kid followed me and continued to jam his ignorance and (dare I say) stupidity down my throat until I finally turned to enter a building he was not headed for. He was wrong, I knew he was wrong, he should have known he was wrong, but he didn’t. And it was actually the opposite, he was convinced he was doing it right, and followed me to vent on how the book and website are both “&&$&in’ retarded.” Friend attempt 3, fail.

And after, I realized that I just had to laugh. Because, I’m trying to make friends. Sure I am. But I just seem to attract very strange people. Or people react strangely to me, or it’s just more effects of my horrible luck. I don’t know, but for the rest of the day after that third strike, I just had to laugh. Because I am not capable of making friends. At all.

-Tom-

The first impression.

So, I’ve been at college for seven days now. And I’ve had three days of classes, so far. Here are the lists I’ve been coming up with about UB, and living on my own, in general.

I love:
The smell of Tide laundry detergent.
Lounging in the lounge with no shoes.
That the bathroom is right across the hall.
That I know the people down the hall.
The way our bathroom always smells fruity.
That I get along well with my roommate.
That my RA is just awesome, and majoring in Aerospace/Mechanical engineering.
That my engineering professor seems like a great guy.
The six different languages I hear a day.
That I haven’t even been to everywhere on campus to eat.
That people will stop by if I leave the door open.
That I can find my classes.
Knowing the way to the dining hall.
Being able to read at breakfast.
Having facebook time in between classes.
Meeting nice people in my classes.
Eating lunch and dinner with Tom.
Being able to see Tom every day.
Having Calc at 8 in the morning.
The cold/warm weather.
Whistling at anyone outside my window.
Yogurt or cereal at 8pm.
Having to go up and down only one flight of stairs.
Having free time to do what I want, and study where I want.
That the shower is so warm and nice.
That my World Civ TA seems really cool.
That my Chem proffessor seems to care.

I’m not crazy about:
All of my professors.
World Civ. at 10 am.
World Civ… at all.
The way old books have that armpitty smell.
The way cereal doesn’t really like to come out of those tubey things they put it in.
Laundry taking FOREVER to do (seriously 2-3 hours).
Hearing the city outside my window.
The broken fire alarm that went off three times within a four-hour period yesterday.
How they don’t always tell you what books/supplies you need before-hand.
Having to wait in a 30-minute line that spans the entire bookstore to get said supplies at a ridiculously jacked-up price.
Rooms so small that literally all of the seats are taken.
Having to watch my shows online (though I’m glad they’re available there!).
Having to walk a mile to get to Tom.
Having to leave Ellicott before it gets dark.
Being intimidated by the libraries.
How Tim Horton’s coffee tastes like mud. It’s seriously mud.
How I am comfortable here.

Thoughts for the road, though! I’m off to see how boring they can make Beauty and the Brain the first day! At least, I think that’s what I’m taking… we’ll find out soon! Have a great day, people. Support your local college kid, send her food and money! I’m outtie.

-Sandra-

Buffawo!

HI! It’s been so long, we’re very sorry. We’ve been so very very busy! For those of you that don’t know (and if you don’t know this, then how the bleep did you get to our blog, stalker), we’re in Buffalo! Except, this time we’re not on vacation. It’s called college this time! And we’re supposed to actually live here (at least our fridges are bigger and the toilets flush well)! We’ve been here since Thursday, and it’s been an adventure so far.

So, here’s the deal. Tom has a single room, in a suite, and his suities are very nice, and pretty cool. Sandra has a double (allll the way across campus), and her roommate (Esther, as some of you know), is awesome. The bathrooms are awkward but tolerable. It’s colder here, and it rained today, but the place is really nice (if confusing), and it’s fun so far.

Story time!

This one time, Tom was leaving Sandra’s room, got all turned around on the stairs, and left out of the back door instead of the front. He ended up in Canada, and the police called his mom, who called Sandra and asked her to pick him up, and she had to drive all the way to Canada with an expired passport, and then she had to sneak across the border, and meet him at the top of his hole that he had dug out of jail with a spoon, and then she had to drive alllll the way back to Ellicott to drop him off, and then all the way back to Governors to her own bed.

This other time, Sandra and Tom met up with TJ, because he’s basically awesome, and went to find all their classes. As they were strolling through Knox, Sandra felt something on her head, thinking her hair was messed up, or a leaf had fallen on her, she absentmindedly swept at it. Unfortunately it was a bee, and she quickly pulled her hand back, discovering that she had been stung on the pad of the pointer finger of her right hand! (Normally at this point, we would completely fabricate the story and dramatize it until it was unbelievable, but due to the sensitive nature of the issue, we regret that we were unable to do this.) She was immediately asked if she was allergic, to which she responded “I don’t know, I’ve never been stung before”. This was a scary time for all. Luckily, she had a semi-cold drink to ice her hand with, and Tom bought a cold water from a machine, so that they could quickly finish their walk while she cooled her hand. We’re happy to report that Sandra is so far not allergic to bees, and that the ice packs that were packed did come in handy, as did the freezy pops. (And now she’s typing this, so the sting is wearing off (finally!)).

Never order Dominos in New York, by the way. Okay, so we can’t speak for anywhere except the one place near campus. But seriously, no online ordering, really? And, not to bash anybody, but, if your English isn’t clear, please try to speak slowly to someone who’s speaking to you in English. That goes for any language, really. If you want them to understand your accented second language, speak slowly. Anyway! The guy wasn’t very observant when he delivered, and then was frazzled afterward, but that was okay. Their pasta is great, we found out, but the crunch cake just isn’t worth it. Sure, it tastes fantastic, and free is fine! But pay $2 for a little piece of chocolate smaller than a grape? Noooot going to happen. Sorry, cheapo Buffalo Dominos. We miss you, awesome Chula Vista Dominos.

Also! Never drive to Buffalo in a white car. They die. Tom’s parents’ van’s engine’s battery’s life’s level’s guage fell completely when they tried to leave. It was scary! Sandra had to give them a jump with her truck, and thankfully they made it to Syracuse, although the car was being quite sketchy on the way there. With a new battery, it is reportedly ready to go.  More at 11…. okay, probably no more until Monday. Sorry folks, but that’s all she wrote! TTFN, y’all (coming soon, the RAs of Erie County!)!

:D

Of SeaWorms and Buses

It all seems so far away now, but Monday was our SeaWorld day. We woke up and had the rest of our banana nut muffins for breakfast. We had to package the sword and robe up to be shipped out, we packed light for SeaWorld, got our bathing suits on, and we were off! We trolleyed our way over to the UPS store near one of the trolley stations and walked in. There was a line of 60 people in front of us and only one man working! Okay, so really it was about 10 people, but they all had big packages like us, and there was only one guy working. It took us more than an hour to get out of there, finally.

Next we ventured to Horton Plaza, thinking we would get a nice big bowl of frozen yogurt. Wrong! The girl that works at Tutti Frutti wasn’t there! :’( Even though we were told she would be! So, we opted instead to awkwardly walk by with tears in our eyes, and over to the hot dog on a stick place. Tom had a hot dog on a stick and Sandra had cheese on a stick. Cheese on a stick is basically greasy grilled cheese on a stick, and a hot dog on a stick is just a corn dog. But, it was really good, especially with their lemonade. After that, we trolleyed to Old Town, finally ready to begin our SeaWorld experience even though we were running late. We discovered at some point along this journey that we left our tickets in our hotel, but since we were running late already, and the tickets were questionable, we decided instead to buy them when we got there. And we were off to Old Town!

Once we got to Old Town, we had to transfer to a bus. Here’s where the problems come in. We were supposed to take Bus 9 there and then Bus 8 back. Well, in our flustered state, we got on Bus 8. We only realized this after we had passed SeaWorld signs and had started our cheap tour of Mission Bay. Sandra began to break down, and we were flustered with what to do next. Thankfully, though, Bus 8 did stop at SeaWorld, it just took extra time because it was near the end of the route. Bus 9 stops at the beginning of the route, and it would have been easier, but at least we got there! At 1:00, we were safely at the SeaWorld gates.

While purchasing tickets, Tom was asked if he would like the military discount (I guess he looks like he’s in the service? Second time this trip!). Then we went to SeaWorm! The End! …Just kidding. So first we went to see the penguins, and boy are they cute! Did you know that all 17 species of penguins live in the Southern Hemisphere? Cool, right? Literally. After the penguins, we decided to see the other arctic animals they had. We got in line for something they called the Wild Arctic Adventure. It said something about moving vehicles, and we just figured it was some kind of tour. But it was a ride! A really cool ride at that. They pretend that you’re on a helicopter ride in the arctic, and they provide cool facts about the copter while you’re waiting in line. And then we got to explore the “base camp”, which had all the actual animal habitats. It was really awesome. We saw beluga whales, polar bears, a walrus, it was great.

We tried to spend a little time with the dolphins, but feedings were over and the excursion was a ridiculous price. So, we wandered. We went to see some of the rescued manatees, and man those things are huge! No wonder they call them sea cows. After that, we happened upon the shark exhibit. For those of you that don’t know, at SeaWorld they have a shark tube! You stand on a moving walkway, and the sharks swim all around you, it’s very cool. We actually ended up going back at the end of the night just to see it again : ).

Next we wandered over to the flamingos! It was 50 cents for a handful of food, and that went a long way. At first, Sandra bought food to feed them, with Tom claiming he didn’t want any. But, when we found a nice spot on the bridge and a nice flamingo named Frank, he was soon throwing food as well. Frank would look up waiting, and they were very cool to see : ). Too bad the stupid duckies kept trying to take their food! We then decided to check out the other ride.

Shipwreck Rapids was a ride we stood in line for for an hour. They say you get soaked, and you know, you don’t really believe them cause it’s just a little rafting ride. Yeahhhhh… They mean it. It’s not just to get you to go on it, you really do get wet. So, without towels, and hoping our belongings wouldn’t die, we went on, got wet, and sloshed over to find some overpriced food. Tom had a brisket meal and Sandra had ribs. The food was amazing, but at $2.50 for an 8 oz bottle of milk, we just had water that we had brought with us.

After dinner, we headed to the dolphin show because we were at SeaWorld and you have to go to the animal shows! And because Sandra’s silly, she had us sit riiiiiight down in the front row. Yeahhh… We didn’t learn our lesson on Shipwreck Rapids. So to start things off, as we waited for the show, the director of the exhibit sang us some songs with guitar accompaniment! That was pretty fun, and then we got to sing a song called “The Splash Zone” where each section had a word to sing, we got to yell “H2O!” and our section was the loudest by a lot he said. Even louder than the ones who had to yell “Wet!” or “Oh my hair!” But then after they brought out a family that won some contest to be special trainers for the day, a mom, a dad and their little boy. They got to sit on this special little stage off on the side of the water, and they all got to introduce themselves on a microphone for the crowd. But the funny thing was, after the mom said her name she went to sit back down and missed the bench! Hahaha, it was pretty funny. She was apparently a very clumsy woman.

Then they let the dad feed and talk to the dolphins, and that was cool, too. Apparently to get a dolphin to talk, all you do is make guns with your hands and shake them up and down. But that was pretty cool! Then, they had a special job for little Colan. They had him go stand on the edge of the water where they were sitting, and then on the count of three he was to jump off in to the water, and the dolphin would catch him and bring him back up to the surface! (Editor’s Note: Sandra says they were some kind of performing whales, but I don’t recall.) So then, 1! 2! 3! And Colan went to jump, but the trainer next to him and the one behind him holding his shirt both pulled him back. Silly Colan, they were just joking. That would be too dangerous.

But they let him pet the dolphins anyway and get his picture taken with them. His parents went up on to this bridge to take the picture of him with the dolphins, and when the director went to get out the camera for the picture, he accidently knocked his mom over the edge and in to the pool! That clumsy woman then started flailing about in the water as the trainers tried to calm her down, but she wasn’t having any of it. “Don’t start swimming, the dolphins will chase you!” So, of course she swam, and of course the dolphin gave chase, and then it came up behind her and pushed her through the waves! And that’s when we all knew it was a perfectly executed stunt, because the dolphin pushed her through the water with ease, and then she jumped off and swam back over to the ledge to large cheers from the crowd.

It was a great show, except for the fact that we were drenched, multiple times, and freezing. Not to mention, but dolphins live in salt water, and that’s just awkward. Sandra’s camera apparently doesn’t take well to salt water, and the screen went all funky, but thank goodness the pictures came out fine. Since we were wet with salt water already, we decided to rinse off by going on the last ride, the “Journey to Atlantis”. Now, this isn’t like your normal SeaWorld ride. This is a roller coaster. And Tom doesn’t really like roller coasters, he’s not necessarily afraid of them, but he’s not a fan – especially ones with loops and thankfully this one didn’t have any. But it still had corkscrews and an elevator! And plenty of splashing! It was actually pretty fun. If we weren’t freezing and didn’t have to wait for another hour, we would have gone on again.

After our freezingly fun ride, we made our way over to find a seat for the Shamu Rocks show. We were cold cold cold, so we decided to order a brownie ala mode funnel cake, and eat it while we waited for Shamu. We also bought a sweet Shamu towel, to warm up with, and we were ready for the show! The Shamu rocks show was awesome! They were selling glowsticks (light sabers) that people were waving, and it was just getting dark to where the lit up screen was making sweet designs in the water. SeaWorld has three killer whales that do the show, and really, you just have to be there, it’s incredible. These animals are truly huge and truly amazing. We contemplated what it would actually take to be an animal trainer.

After the show, we scooted out, and made our way back to the shark tunnel. On the way, we found the sting ray bay and got to touch the rays there. Tom was scared at first, but after a little convincing finally touched the slimy, soft, squishy rays. Tom figured he would get stung and die (RIP Steve Irwin), but SeaWorld takes the barbs off the tails so that they’re harmless. And although we had to soap up our hands real well to get the fish smell off, we were perfectly fine.

After sharking again, we took an adventure to the sea turtles. We saw some other cool fish on the way, and it was a neat adventure. The sea turtle habitat isn’t lit, but they’re still really awesome animals, and we marveled for quite a few minutes before heading to the gift shop on our way out. We went through a few gift shops during the day, but the only place that stood out was the glass blowers booth. We got to see him actually molding glass whale tails, it was awesome. So, after picking up all our gifts, we headed to our bus stop discovering we missed our bus by only minutes. We waited patiently on the bench, watching the fireworks from Seaworld. Soon we were back at the trolley stop, having our tickets checked for the first time all week, and then we were headed to the hotel to pack and sleep. In the morning, we rolled out of bed, and discovered the food district that was a 4 minute walk away this whole time. We had a nice Dennys breakfast (aren’t you proud, dad?) and were soon in a taxi on our way to the San Diego aeropuerto.

I left my heart in San – Di -Eggo!

Okay, everyone, here’s the deal. We’re sitting in an airport blogging. Due to packing and Seaworm adventures yesterday, we were not able to blog, and we apologize. We alsp apologize for not really being able to blog right now due to the fact that our flight will be boarding very soon. We would like to say these few things before we leave our hearts in San Diego.
-Trolleys are fun! But buses aren’t.
-Seaworld is amazing! But bring lots of towels.
-New York needs more of these restaurants! Specifically Tutti Frutti.
-Phones and cameras don’t get along with water! Especially if it’s salty.
-We had a lot of fun! We love this place and we’re sad to leave.
-Denny’s is a staple! It’s nice to know you can always get that same Grand Slam.
-PETITION FOR JAMBA JUICE IN BUFFALO!
-Hopefully we’ll bring some of this fantastic weather home! Just not the clouds from yesterday.

Between Seaworms and Superheroes, we had a great time. Be home soon, everybody!

-¡Tom and Sandra, cambria y fuera!-

Picture of the day 7!

SEAWORM!

 

This is Shamu (obviously) at Seaworld. Their show was awesome, and there were actually three killer whales!

(Sorry for not posting earlier, but as you can see from the darkness of the picture, we were there very late, had to catch a bus and a trolley back to the hotel, and then had to pack and collapse. Not to mention, we were already all tired out from all the other adventuring you will soon read about!)

Byeeeee!

Today was our last day at Comic Con :’( It’s so sad! But, yeah, last day. So, we got up extremely early, and ended up leaving late : ). Although, we did manage to talk to the front desk about our toilet troubles, and to check out the “continental breakfast” for the first time. Okay, so, the continental breakfast was orange juice, coffee, muffins, or pre-packaged danish, but it was free, so, Tom and I grabbed some for the road. As always, we timed our trolley pretty poorly, and ended up waiting around for it. When we did get on, it was crowded, as usual. And, then we got all the way to the Convention Center only to realize we forgot Tom’s book confirmation! And, today being the last day, we had no choice but to trek back to the hotel to get it! Yayyy…. not.

So, back at the hotel, we discovered that maintenance had fixed our toilet, or so we thought at the time (now it has graciously backed up again at the most inconvenient of times, and the maintenance staff apparently only works at select daytime hours). We found the confirmation easily enough and were back at the Convention Center by ten. Tom’s book was fairly easy to procure, and then we had to examine the line, or lack thereof, at room 32B, where there was to be a Harry Potter panel at 2. Now, anticipating that this would be a popular panel, Tom and I agreed to arrive early, probably even for the panel before it, even though ball-jointed dolls didn’t sound interesting to either of us.

For lack of things to do, Tom and I ended up catching half of a web-comic panel, which was fairly entertaining, and being stuck for the two-hour ball-jointed doll panel. In my excitement for Harry Potter, I had insisted we settle in a front seat early, and boy was that a mistake. I thought dolls couldn’t be too bad, and you know, when they started by setting them up for display, I was intrigued by the dolls themselves, they were interesting to look at. I don’t mind dolls, and I figured I might learn something about caring for my own dolls (I swear I have one very pretty porcelain doll and a few softer plastic ones and that’s it). So, I didn’t mind it, at first, I was even a little interested.

My interest faded when I found the panel was only about these super expensive ($300 is apparently cheap), kind of creepy little dolls, and that the panel was no panel at all, but only a lecture about these dolls, and I was surrounded by scary collecting women (there weren’t really many men) who all seemed to have pms at the same time, and I was afraid they might bite my head off if I touched one of their precious dolls, because I wasn’t part of the cult, erm, club. You know, I don’t mind doll collecting, seems like a nice hobby, and the outfits are kind of cool. But the environment this “panel” created was hostile, plus, the fact that you can pop the eyes out really creeps me out. Still, I would’ve liked to have heard more about the topic from the actual panelists (they seemed like interesting people who could tell me interesting things about these dolls) rather then have had to sit through that hour and a half lecture by a scary woman obsessed with dolls. Really, okay topic, badly executed. Although, I did learn that if I ever would buy a ball-jointed doll, it would be a tiny (the tiniest) dressed as a little fairy : ).

So anyway! Next was the Harry Potter panel, which was not what I was expecting, but definitely fulfilling. There were a multitude of panelists; a professor, a website manager, an art dealer, and others. The host was this funny little guy who looked like Matthew Broderick, and they talked about the HP fanbase, where the books fit in in classic literature, the evolution of story-telling in our society, how big businesses like WB relate to fans, among other things. It was extremely interesting to me. Plus, at the very beginning, we got to hear some lady singing wizard rock with her guitar! : ) That was entertaining.

After the HP panel, Tom and I wandered the floor looking for gifts and such for two hours before the hall closed. We picked up something for Schembari and Marcus specifically, just because, and I got Craig a nice little birthday present I think he’ll enjoy. Tom had been set on finding a nice Thor action figure or statue, but they were hard to come by and expensive. The one action figure we found was apparently not worth the $25 the guy was asking, and when I knocked him down to $20 (I have sweet bargaining skills… <.< … >.>… ), Tom still shook his head. I was running out of ideas, before noticing that we were steps away from 1232, with 15 minutes left of the Con. For once, one of my ideas worked!

For those of you that weren’t there, booth 1232 is where Cyanide and Happiness was. That’s where I got the plushie I have now deemed Frank, and where I went back to get it signed. If you have not heard of C&H, visit explosm.net/comics and check it out (except for you, Moms and Aunts, we’re not sure you gals would appreciate the humor). Anyway, point being, they were doing free sketches, and Rob was free. So, I marched right up to him and demanded a sketch that had to do with vikings. And thus, Tom has an awesome exclusive full-paper-sized viking sketch, done and signed by famed Rob of C&H. : ) Sweeeet.

So, to finish off our Con, we wandered aimlessly, said goodbye to a doorman, took sad pictures, and left. Horton Plaza cured our sadness by having an awesome food joint called Steak Escape that included subs, salads, and wings. They even grilled the meat right in front of you, it was like subway only twelve times better! Really good food. We also stopped by the arcade in Horton Plaza, and lost every game we played. The trolley home was delayed four times, but an adorable little baby across from us was entertainment enough. And now we’re back in our snug hotel bed, with our smelly backed-up toilet, awaiting our adventure to Sea World tomorrow! Good night all!

-Sandra-

Picture of the Day 6!

Goodbyeeeee!

We don’t wanna leave, but all good things must come to an end. It sure was fun, though!!

All gone!

Sadly, today was the last day of Comic Con. I don’t want it to be over but sadly it is. It was too much fun! I mostly just wish there was more time for it. We didn’t get to see everything on the exhibit floor, or get in to all the panels we wanted but it was still fun what we did get to do. We got a ton of free stuff, a few neat gifts and plenty of exclusive things not to mention the awesome memories! So all in all, despite long lines, crazy crowds and too little time Comic Con was an incredible experience. But the San Diego trip isn’t over yet!

So yesterday, I didn’t blog because I was completely exhausted. I’d been getting up early every morning for a while because of excitement, and going to bed late and it finally caught up with me and I crashed no later than 10 and didn’t want to get up at 8 this morning. I didn’t do anything tiring yesterday, it was a good day. We saw a lot of panels, so much of it was sitting, but I was still very tired. What did we see, you ask? We got in to Ballroom 20 first thing in the morning, probably the second biggest hall in the convention center, and stayed there throughout the morning. We got in to a panel on Chuck which Sandra and I hadn’t heard of, but afterwards definitely wanted to watch. Then we saw a panel on Family Guy which was very funny. They showed a clip from a new Star Wars episode, and talked about script ideas for upcoming episodes. Despite Cleveland leaving for The Cleveland Show, it looked to me like they were going to keep everything the same which is great. Next there was a panel for The Cleveland Show, and I still have very mixed feelings about this show. The intro is incredibly catchy, and just by typing that I’ve begun to sing it.

“My name is Cleveland Brown, and I am here to say…”

The clips were… different. It’s not Family Guy, nor should it be, but it’s a similar kind of humor. I don’t know who it’s geared for or what it’s purpose is but they said Fox has already bought two seasons of it, so maybe I’m missing the memo. Some of the jokes were good, others just made me feel sad. But all in all, that was a fun panel, too. Next were two panels about two shows Matt Groening is a part of – Futurama and Family Guy. Did you know it’s pronounced “Grain-ing” and not “Grow-ning”? Some guy behind us didn’t know and when he shouted out the wrong pronunciation he got a mouthful from some lady sitting in front of us. The coolest part of the two panels though, we almost missed. Matt “Grain-ing” was awarded a Guiness Book of World Records award for helming the longest running sitcom ever in The Simpsons. They nearly forgot to do it at the end, but it was neat to see it, and to be there for that event.

After, we walked down to the floor and chanced by a booth that does some INCREDIBLE sculptures, called Kotobukiya out of Japan, and they were doing a trivia contest for prizes. They asked the audience for trivia category ideas, and they didn’t like my idea of “Direct to DVD movies”, and instead went with Harry Potter. And wouldn’t ya know it, when they asked the question Sandra knew the answer, and won a prize! She got some silly little anime sculpture that actually looks pretty cool. I was proud. And then later, they had on these really funny comics, in a show called Comics and Comics. They were pretty funny, and you can see them on their real show Comics onComics online. They even had a proffesional comedian with them, and I can’t remember her name, but apparently she was more famous then the rest of the guys! And sadly, less funny too. Weird how life works like that, right? Anyway, after that they had more trivia, and Sandra and I were waiting for this one. It was for a one-of-a-kind Iron Man statue. You know, this really nice movie version scaled statue, that probably retails at like 250 bucks. All you had to do was answer some comic book trivia to get it. Only, I didn’t realize they would get right to the big prize. I thought “Oh, I’ll raise my hand when they’re going to do the Iron Man statue, because I doubt they’d bring me up twice!” So I waited. And they called people up. And it was for the statue. And I was very sad. Especially when they asked the question. Do you know who receives their powers from the Crimson Gem of Cytorrak? No?

I did.

Juggernaut does, everyone. Juggernaut gets his power from that crimson gem. I knew the answer, but didn’t know the rules. So no statue for me. Again, I was very sad. I did however, catch a signed poster for “Give ‘em Hell, Malone!” that was kinda fun.

 But then after that, we got in line for the Comic Con International 2009 Masquerade event! Like with any good thing at Comic Con, you must wait atleast one and a half hours in a line to get to it. So, we did. And it was good. Cold, but good. There were some very impressive costumes! There were about 45 (ha, ha, ha) entries, and they were all pretty impressive. Some less so than others, but some were very good. There were a few who dressed up in these huge costumes, like The Hulk or a Rock Golem, and those impressed me the most. But there were also detailed dresses and lots of Batman villains. All in all, it was a cute show with cute skits and costumes, but we couldn’t stay to see who won. It was too late and too cold, so we left and picked up a newsletter in the morning to read about it.

And then the next day that’s exactly what we did! After getting all the way to the convention center, realizing we forgot the order confirmation for my souvenir book, turning around to get said confirmation, and then returning to the convention center. And then afterrrr, we went to check out a panel on Harry Potter. But, we got there two panels early, so in addition to a Harry Potter panel I had the joy and privilege of sitting through a two hour lecture on Asian ball-jointed resin dolls! My goodness was that horrid. First of all, the dolls are creepy by themselves, and then the people that buy them make it even creepier. They treat them like children. They aren’t just careful to transport them in bubble wrap so they don’t get knicked, they have to carry them like babies when they move them around. At one point, the lady moved a doll by its feet, and then caught herself because she felt horrible about it. They can make these things in to any person they want, in fact there’s a website that custom makes celebrity doll heads so you can have whoever you want, and to top it all off they say that they spend atleast 300 bucks on one of these dolls, and say they usually plan on doubling the price for all of the dolls accessories! I was just in a weird state of amazement at this whole new level of weirdness. If you collect porcelain dolls, that’s one thing. They’re a cute gift to collect if your grandma gives you one every Christmas since you were a fetus. But to be 45 years old, sitting in your basement chatting on message boards about your collection of 70 different customized dolls and going to doll conventions where you meet up and breastfeed your dolls together it gets to be too much. I exaggerated only the breastfeeding comment. The rest is all true, I heard it in the panel. If you don’t believe me, ask Sandra.

But then after that was the Harry Potter panel, which was actually pretty interesting. They talked about the staying power of the Harry Potter literature, all of these Harry Potter fandom webmasters, and apparently I had severely underestimated the massiveness of the Harry Potter fanbase. That was kind of extreme, too. But hey, we were at Comic Con – they don’t discriminate against any group. Except Twilight. There were a lot of signs there that said Twilight ruined Comic Con, and one chubby girl was even marching up and down lines ranting about it. It was actually getting very annoying. Im not exactly pro-Twilight. I’ve never read the books, I saw the movie just to see what the hype was about. I don’t necessarily think the sparkly vampires thing is good or bad, because… seeing as vampires aren’t real, I suppouse you can create them however you’d like. Sure, they were established one way. But wasn’t that in like… the 900s? They could have changed. If anything, the Twilight haters ruined Comic Con. If you don’t support it, don’t go. Don’t draw attention to it, because then they will keep coming back. Or better yet, get in line early for the panel so all the fans cant get in. Don’t make signs that say “Scream if Twilight ruined Comic Con” because that’s only going to make the people around you mad and not have Twilight taken from the Comic Con schedules. Wow, two rants in one blog. Maybe I shouldn’t have skipped a day if this is what happens.

But, yeah! Today was the last day, and after those panels Sandra and I went around looking for deals on some swag. We didn’t find much that interested us, but we did pick up a few presents. There was just nothing that jumped out at me, or was a decent price. Although, I did find things I would like to get when they’re finally released, or things that I couldn’t get at the convention but could pick up somewhere else. And then after all of that, the convention was sadly, finally over. They had to drag me out, because I did not want to go at all. Sadly, security always wins, so I did have to leave after a while. And then after I was released from questioning over that, Sandra and I went to find some place to eat. We’ve had some great luck finding affordable, good food here. We found a nice Mexican place a few days ago called Toritos, or something like that, and we found the Dominos online ordering service and of course our favorite frozen yogurt place. And today we went to a place called Steak Escape! We thought it would be a steak house, but nope! It was actually, this is how I would describe it, a cheesesteak subway. With amazing food. I liked it a lot.

After, Sandra and I headed home and had the longest trolley ride ever. Somehow, there was an accident a stop or two after ours, so there was probably 20 minutes of delays, but we made it home. Sandra kept herself busy by making faces at some cute baby in the seat next to her. Aaaaaand, that was my day(s)! Tomorrow is Sea World, and although I’m still tired, I’m excited for that. Stay tuned for Sandra’s take and today’s picture of the day!

-Tom-