Random Notes (2010/02/01)
This is probably the quietest I've been on LJ in a long time. So let's get through some odds and ends, shall we?
Life in General
Work's been pretty normal. I'm shifting off of one long term task and moving into another. The good news is that this task has a long term completion timeframe, something like through the end of the year or such. Which means at least for the short term, I'm feeling pretty comfortable about things here.
Home life... has been pretty abnormal the last couple of months. Those who know me more personally probably have been more in the loop about what's going on. I'm not really going to talk about it here publicly. I'm just going to say it's been throwing a heck of a lot of monkeywrenches in my life.
For those who think "gee, isn't this about the time Jason normally says something about a Super Bowl party", unfortunately, because of the last point, the answer is that I'm passing on hosting a party this year. I'm kind of sad about this, too, because I've been playing host for quite a few years now, and I've always been happy to have a day to have friends over and it gives me one of those rare opportunities to cook.
Had a pretty crazy weekend. Went to Newbury Park Saturday morning to go to Otaku Rehab's Pre-Event Potluck. For those who don't know, Otaku Rehab is supposed to be a future one day gathering, but right now is running some smaller events to get the word out, and probably also to get a sense of what it'll take to run something like that. It's from the folks running MikomiCon (now called MikomiCore). They have an interesting vision to try to organize the Ventura County folks into a more cohesive community. And based on a reasonable turnout, the idea actually seems to have some merit to it. So it'll be interesting to watch what happens there.
After that, it was off to Dana Point for birthday dinner times for onyx_. 2 1/4 hour drive of DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM. Which was a lot of fun as well, and it's always good hanging around with friends.
And Sunday was insanity travelling up to Mt. Baldy with talonomega, Amy, kamuishirou1999, lifftchi, chase_the_bunny and super_no_1 to go frolic in snow. And go tobogganing like silly people on a broken toboggan (which I managed to avoid doing :P). And there are stupid videos from my camera that I'm going to have to go transcode and upload somewhere for blackmail times stupid human tricks times.
Upcoming Events and Trips
Katsucon... Crap, that's in under two weeks, isn't it. And the long-range weather forecast for the area apparently calls for relatively chilly weather for Katsucon at the moment. Though I think it's fairly survivable weather at least. Just need to go either find or replace my gloves. But more importantly, I haven't even thought through my planning. So let's start with that: is there anything I need to see, shoots I need to do, people I need to talk to while I'm out there? I can think of a few people I need to meet up with and have dinner/drinks with for sure. I'm wondering what else I need to do. I mean besides figure out what the hell I'm going to do about Day 0, of course.
Cherry blossoms... I did some picture taking last weekend. I actually have some park sample pics ready from that, but I'll make that post later, mostly because I've been lazy and haven't made a proper 2010 banner yet.
Damnit, still need to plan more for Hawaii. >_< I'll get that figured out, I swear. By some random chance, besides kyubikitsy, is there going to be anyone else I'll know over at Kawaii-Kon?
I think I need to stick a shoot in there somewhere. But when and where, I don't know.
So. Cal. Spring Cosplay Gathering - Date and location have been announced, for those not staying attentive. Mark your calendars for Saturday, May 8th at Craig Regional Park in Fullerton. For those attending Costume-Con out in Wisconsin, unfortunately, this date will collide with that. But other than that, it looks like there aren't any other major event collisions with that date. Note that in a change from last year, due to problems dealing with onsite registrations, you need to pre-pay/pre-register in advance to attend the gathering this year. So go ahead and Register Online Now. I'm sure that their staff will put on a fine event again this year as they have in the past.
Fanime. I'm hoping I make a little bit more of a dent in my backlog by then. I'll have a better idea once I see any guest lists, but for the most part, I think I'm going to fall back a bit and go with scheduling shoots for Fanime, something I haven't done in a while. I'll let folks know how I'm breaking that down when that time gets closer. This is probably the last time I'll schedule shoots for conventions on a strict basis. I definitely favor being more free-flowing about things, but I think I need to give myself a chance to get it out of my system.
Also, in regards to Fanime, there's a fun plan in the works. Not going to talk about it now, but probably soon.
Random Things
In case you're wondering why Marisa for the icon. Besides the obvious ("Why NOT Marisa?"), I'm like happy excited because the Marisa nendo I ordered should be coming in soon. *___*
And then promptly added the Sakuya nendoroid to my set of pre-orders along with the Marisa figma. Which means my wallet is going to be raped by a billion and a half figures this year. DX I think I have to go back and take a look at just how many figures I'm trying to take on. But right now, I think I have too many reservations or something. And don't remind me that there's still at least one more B*RS figure, B*RS nendo, and Alter's Selvaria figure that I have a good chance of wanting to put on my list. I should NEVER have started on figure collecting. This was a bad idea. DX I'm obviously never going to reach the levels of lionboogy's or kawaiiaya's collections. But I'm still starting to get a bit overreaching here.
Oh yeah, I guess I have one of those Formspring things. In case you get bored to death and somehow wanted to know what I think of fattastik's new hairstyle or something (SPOILER ALERT: I like it. :P).
Since just before Christmas, I've been fooling around with a Panasonic GF1 as my replacement compact. A number of the shots I've been posting have been from this camera rather than my usual 5D. So far, I think it's safe to say that I'm having a really good time with it. It really is a fun camera.
A note from the NIST. This year and every year going forward, due to the downturn in the economy and new budgeting constraints, the government has decided that it can no longer afford to have 365 days in a normal non-leap year. As a result, a decision has been made to alter the calendar. Therefore, from here forward, the NIST has decreed that the day after February 24th is now designated as February 26th, rather than how it has been designated previously. The decision has also been made that anyone with a birthday on the day that has been designated to be dropped will be allowed to remain at their current age in perpetuity, and not have to start worrying about turning into an even older fart every year. In addition, said individuals will be allowed to collect double-gifting on Christmas instead.
Yeah, no, I can't think of anything clever for here. Anyone want to pick something?
Life in General
Work's been pretty normal. I'm shifting off of one long term task and moving into another. The good news is that this task has a long term completion timeframe, something like through the end of the year or such. Which means at least for the short term, I'm feeling pretty comfortable about things here.
Home life... has been pretty abnormal the last couple of months. Those who know me more personally probably have been more in the loop about what's going on. I'm not really going to talk about it here publicly. I'm just going to say it's been throwing a heck of a lot of monkeywrenches in my life.
For those who think "gee, isn't this about the time Jason normally says something about a Super Bowl party", unfortunately, because of the last point, the answer is that I'm passing on hosting a party this year. I'm kind of sad about this, too, because I've been playing host for quite a few years now, and I've always been happy to have a day to have friends over and it gives me one of those rare opportunities to cook.
Had a pretty crazy weekend. Went to Newbury Park Saturday morning to go to Otaku Rehab's Pre-Event Potluck. For those who don't know, Otaku Rehab is supposed to be a future one day gathering, but right now is running some smaller events to get the word out, and probably also to get a sense of what it'll take to run something like that. It's from the folks running MikomiCon (now called MikomiCore). They have an interesting vision to try to organize the Ventura County folks into a more cohesive community. And based on a reasonable turnout, the idea actually seems to have some merit to it. So it'll be interesting to watch what happens there.
After that, it was off to Dana Point for birthday dinner times for onyx_. 2 1/4 hour drive of DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM. Which was a lot of fun as well, and it's always good hanging around with friends.
And Sunday was insanity travelling up to Mt. Baldy with talonomega, Amy, kamuishirou1999, lifftchi, chase_the_bunny and super_no_1 to go frolic in snow. And go tobogganing like silly people on a broken toboggan (which I managed to avoid doing :P). And there are stupid videos from my camera that I'm going to have to go transcode and upload somewhere for blackmail times stupid human tricks times.
Upcoming Events and Trips
Katsucon... Crap, that's in under two weeks, isn't it. And the long-range weather forecast for the area apparently calls for relatively chilly weather for Katsucon at the moment. Though I think it's fairly survivable weather at least. Just need to go either find or replace my gloves. But more importantly, I haven't even thought through my planning. So let's start with that: is there anything I need to see, shoots I need to do, people I need to talk to while I'm out there? I can think of a few people I need to meet up with and have dinner/drinks with for sure. I'm wondering what else I need to do. I mean besides figure out what the hell I'm going to do about Day 0, of course.
Cherry blossoms... I did some picture taking last weekend. I actually have some park sample pics ready from that, but I'll make that post later, mostly because I've been lazy and haven't made a proper 2010 banner yet.
Damnit, still need to plan more for Hawaii. >_< I'll get that figured out, I swear. By some random chance, besides kyubikitsy, is there going to be anyone else I'll know over at Kawaii-Kon?
I think I need to stick a shoot in there somewhere. But when and where, I don't know.
So. Cal. Spring Cosplay Gathering - Date and location have been announced, for those not staying attentive. Mark your calendars for Saturday, May 8th at Craig Regional Park in Fullerton. For those attending Costume-Con out in Wisconsin, unfortunately, this date will collide with that. But other than that, it looks like there aren't any other major event collisions with that date. Note that in a change from last year, due to problems dealing with onsite registrations, you need to pre-pay/pre-register in advance to attend the gathering this year. So go ahead and Register Online Now. I'm sure that their staff will put on a fine event again this year as they have in the past.
Fanime. I'm hoping I make a little bit more of a dent in my backlog by then. I'll have a better idea once I see any guest lists, but for the most part, I think I'm going to fall back a bit and go with scheduling shoots for Fanime, something I haven't done in a while. I'll let folks know how I'm breaking that down when that time gets closer. This is probably the last time I'll schedule shoots for conventions on a strict basis. I definitely favor being more free-flowing about things, but I think I need to give myself a chance to get it out of my system.
Also, in regards to Fanime, there's a fun plan in the works. Not going to talk about it now, but probably soon.
Random Things
In case you're wondering why Marisa for the icon. Besides the obvious ("Why NOT Marisa?"), I'm like happy excited because the Marisa nendo I ordered should be coming in soon. *___*
And then promptly added the Sakuya nendoroid to my set of pre-orders along with the Marisa figma. Which means my wallet is going to be raped by a billion and a half figures this year. DX I think I have to go back and take a look at just how many figures I'm trying to take on. But right now, I think I have too many reservations or something. And don't remind me that there's still at least one more B*RS figure, B*RS nendo, and Alter's Selvaria figure that I have a good chance of wanting to put on my list. I should NEVER have started on figure collecting. This was a bad idea. DX I'm obviously never going to reach the levels of lionboogy's or kawaiiaya's collections. But I'm still starting to get a bit overreaching here.
Oh yeah, I guess I have one of those Formspring things. In case you get bored to death and somehow wanted to know what I think of fattastik's new hairstyle or something (SPOILER ALERT: I like it. :P).
Since just before Christmas, I've been fooling around with a Panasonic GF1 as my replacement compact. A number of the shots I've been posting have been from this camera rather than my usual 5D. So far, I think it's safe to say that I'm having a really good time with it. It really is a fun camera.
A note from the NIST. This year and every year going forward, due to the downturn in the economy and new budgeting constraints, the government has decided that it can no longer afford to have 365 days in a normal non-leap year. As a result, a decision has been made to alter the calendar. Therefore, from here forward, the NIST has decreed that the day after February 24th is now designated as February 26th, rather than how it has been designated previously. The decision has also been made that anyone with a birthday on the day that has been designated to be dropped will be allowed to remain at their current age in perpetuity, and not have to start worrying about turning into an even older fart every year. In addition, said individuals will be allowed to collect double-gifting on Christmas instead.
Yeah, no, I can't think of anything clever for here. Anyone want to pick something?