Blurs of the Tired Eyes

Girls of the Wild's Wallpaper 2

2012-01-26T09:05:00.003-05:00

Subject: Girls of the Wild's
Date: January 24, 2012
Format: JPEG
Size: 1280 x 800 || 1024 x 768 || 1600 x 1200
1600 x 1000

Here's another wallpaper made from copy and pasting. This one was actually finished right after the first one. A friend of mine suggested displaying the images of the girls in a dynamic form where every other image is higher than the ones next to them or with their images in a staircase-like arrangement. I'll being trying out their suggestions when I get more images and time to work on it.

If you're interested in the Korean webtoon Girls of the Wild's, you can check it out on their naver page here or on Webtoon Live.

Girls of the Wild's Wallpaper 1

2012-01-25T09:05:00.000-05:00

Subject: Girls of the Wild's
Date: January 24, 2012
Format: JPEG
Size: 1366 x 768

Urk. I wanted a wallpaper of this webtoon, so I copied and pasted a few images together. Some parts of the images I copied and pasted had odd pixels in it. I tried to fix it, but it would look even more awkward. I didn't want to spend too much time on it either. If I don't get complaints about making a wallpaper for fan purposes, then I may receive complaints about the quality of the image. I'm still sharing it though. If I went searching for wallpapers of Girls of the Wild's, I'm sure someone else will be searching for one too.

If you're interested in the Korean webtoon Girls of the Wild's, you can check it out on their naver page here or on Webtoon Live.

Scheduled 2012 Con Time

2012-01-24T23:29:00.006-05:00

I feel like I'm missing out on many of Toronto's anime and comic-related events. There are so many of them!

It turns out there was a mini convention in Waterloo this last weekend. It's called Emiko's Mini Convention. Website: http://www.go2emc.ca. I didn't even know about it until today. The programming looks neat.

Here is a short list of major events I plan to go this year:

Toronto Comic Con and Toronto Anime Con will be held on March 10 - 11 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. The entry fee for one day is $20. I will be going on the Sunday. Hopefully it's not as crowded as a Saturday would be. I may miss out on some great cosplays though.

The Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF) will be held on May 5 - 6 at the Toronto Reference Library. Entry fee: free! Seeing how TCAF garnered some attention via the web and certain news outlets last year, it may be even more crowded there this year. I'll be running around the library during Sunday morning or whenever there's a sub-event I want to go to. Autograph sessions, FTW! I'm definitely looking forward to this event.

Anime North is on May 25 - 27 at the Toronto Congress Center. I'll be hanging out around the area on the days my friends plan to go. Will be wearing a disguise to this event.

Fan Expo Toronto will be held on August 23^rd to the 26 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. I'm hoping to go on the Thursday, Friday, or Sunday. I still haven't decided. I know the ticket's going to cost more than a good filling lunch. I like the variety of genres this convention covers.

That's all I have for now. In other news, Happy lunar new year!

Anime North 2012: Registration

2012-01-09T09:30:00.000-05:00

Anime North is implementing their attendance cap this year. Being the cheap anime fan I am, I plan to help a fellow con-goer by not registering this year and simply hang out around the convention's free zones. Free zones are where the convention staff and volunteers don't check for convention badges to access an area. This means that access to certain panels and events will be restricted.

What I will do when I'm there? Bother the con-goers, as usual.

"May I take your picture?"

As for Toronto Comic Con and Toronto Anime Con on March 10 and 11, I'll have to wait and review my workload. Chances are, I'm not attending. I'm a bit pressured to attend though, since I missed last December's Toronto Anime Con.

Geocities is still alive?

2012-01-08T10:35:00.000-05:00

I thought they died. I had a Yahoo! Geocities site before a blogger and the site is still there. I just can't access it anymore: http://www.geocities.ws/lost_wings_lost/.

At least I left it looking simple. I want to remove it because I feel somewhat embarrassed by its contents. I guess I should accept the fact that it'll be there for... ever?

Re-use It: Bread Clips

2012-01-07T20:35:00.002-05:00

My mother recently sent me an email on neat ways to reuse some commonly disposed items like egg cartons and small boxes. Bread clips were among the list of disposed items.

If you're living in the Greater Toronto Area and you frequently buy milk and bread by the bag, you may find yourself throwing out one or two bread clips on a weekly basis. Bread clips are the small plastic tags that are used to close milk and bread bags and provide an expiration date. The expiration date would be on one side while the other side is blank.

The email my mother sent me suggested reusing old bread clips as a label for power cords and plugs. After collecting a few bread clips, I tagged power plugs connected power strips around the house. Thanks to the blank side of the bread clip, I could label the tags with the name of the electric device and their corresponding power cord.

So don't throw out your bread tags! They're really helpful.

It is now 2012

2012-01-02T20:49:00.007-05:00

Before I go on about how much I'm looking forward to this new year in this coming week, I will list three winter break highlights from last year (which was less than 2 weeks ago).

1. Cleaning my room

I like to clean my room because the stuff I encounter in my room all carry memories. I hide many of my old stuff in boxes and drawers, so I rarely see them. While cleaning dust in my room and making space for a new bookshelf, I found a whole stack of Shonen Jump and Shojo Beat magazines. There was also a small Beyblade and sample PC games CDs. I'm never throwing these things out.

2. Fat pigeon in TTC's Bathurst station

I was in TTC's Bathurst station with a friend and saw a big pigeon. Big pigeon is big.

3. Lego Pokémon

Who's that pokémon?

I know there are Pokémon Lego sets, but I find using normal Lego to make Pokémon much more exciting. My family and I visited the Lego store at Fairview mall on boxing day and bought [literally] a cup of Lego. I got to make a bulbasaur, an ivysaur, and a lapras.

Thanks to the holidays, I found old and new things to do. I plan to finish an old story I've been working on for the past few years and I was introduced to Yugioh star-shipping. I also want to try out this excel-sheet-based landscape pollution modelling activity I found in an old environment workbook, Learning Landscape Ecology.

Millennium Tinny Rod

2011-12-09T21:24:00.004-05:00

To Millennium Tinny Rod: I love your sense of humor.

http://millenniumtinnyrod.tumblr.com/post/13803923085/i-just-bought-three-winged-kuribohs-on-ebay

_{Image source: http://millenniumtinnyrod.tumblr.com/post/13803923085/i-just-bought-three-winged-kuribohs-on-ebay}

Holy Malls! (Literally)

2011-12-08T22:03:00.006-05:00

I'm currently working on a paper that mixes systems thinking and consumerism. I'm looking at leverage points to alter people's retail consumer behavior. While looking through a list of materials concerning consumerism in my university's library database, I found a documentary called "Malls R Us". I signed it out and now that I've watched it, I don't think I can view malls the same way again.

Trailer of the documentary Malls R Us:

Malls are like churches: a sacred refuge to people and they help people find themselves. Retail and consumerism have power over people. What would you do if all the malls you frequent all died? Mourn. I know I would. Well... until the next mall opens. ... Okay, I rarely visit malls, but I still enjoy spending time walking around in one. Okay, that depends too. I enjoy spending time in malls when store workers aren't giving me glares or the pursing of the lips (like that woman from Michael Kors).

_{The pursing of the lips}
If I had to choose between visiting a mall or a street full of shops, I'd choose the street shops. I like malls, but there's something about street shops that feel unique, personal, and charming.

_{Image source: satisfythecrave.tumblr.com.}

It's December already?!

2011-12-03T22:26:00.005-05:00

Examinations time!!

It's already December and I haven't finished most of my essays. I'm expecting a few take-home exams soon too. This is bad. I have a tendency to procrastinate because procrastination pays now--hard work pays later.

Also, I believe I forgot to share pictures of a monarch butterfly I passed on my way home on November 1. The only camera I had with me was the one on the ipod 4. Either the camera on the phone takes pictures with terrible quality or my hands shake much more than I thought. FYI: I carry a picture that distinguishes a monarch from a viceroy, and I confirmed it was a monarch.

Click to view the pictures in a larger size:

Sword Makers

2011-11-20T15:27:00.004-05:00

LikeCOOL recently brought attention to a video on sword making in Japan. Living in this era where technology is advanced and with weaponry that could cause disastrous effects in one click of a button made me forget about checking out the state of traditional craftsmanship such as sword making.

Handmade Portraits: The Sword Maker from Etsy on Vimeo.

The Battle Against NOEZ

2011-11-12T15:32:00.010-05:00

It turns out there has been conflicts going on for months between NOEZ, the people behind MangaFox, and the countless people whose hard work they take (like those from scanlation groups)--well, some of them. MangaFox disregards people's requests to remove their hardwork, or more well known as scanned and translated manga, and profits from advertisements placed around the site. NOEZ also sells counterfeit anime goods online on their other few websites. They have a few websites similar to MangaFox too.

The people whose work NOEZ uses don't do scanlations for money. Of all the scanlators and scanlation groups I know, most of them don't make money off of the manga they clean and translate. The ones that do make money probably put all their earnings towards hosting their website or servers.

I don't know much about what scanlation groups have to go through or do. I just download their manga and read. I wanted to give a few people a heads up on this news I recently found because if I were a scanlator, I'd want people to know about it.

More [reliable] information can be found at these sites:

http://www.fanaticnetworks.com/forums/topic/7463-the-tale-behind-mangafox/

http://www.batoto.net/forums/topic/2091-mangafox-how-noez-does-business/

http://omaris-sister.blogspot.com/2011/09/please-boycott-mangafox.html

http://foolrulez.org/blog/2011/06/mangafox-sucks-readers-say-scanlators-are-greedy/

October 30: 2011 Toronto Miyavi Concert

2011-11-03T19:07:00.004-04:00

I won a place on the guest list for October 30's Miyavi concert under J-Rock North Promotions, so I attended the event with Pavanjit. We met up at the entrance of Pheonix Concert Hall in the morning and watched as the line grew longer. I recognized a few people from last year's Miyavi concert, which was pretty cool.

The doors opened at 8 PM, but I wasn't allowed in because the people at the ticket office didn't receive J-Rock North's guest list. Representatives from J-Rock North dealt with the problem and eventually got us all in.

The stage was much closer to the audience this time and fans could actually touch Miyavi. The crowd was more wild than the concert from last year, so I kind of feared for my life while standing right next to the stage. The most fun part of the concert was when some of the fans were trying to have a conversation with Miyavi. It took awhile before we got on with the show, and I know it bothered people because someone from the back told the people in the front to stop trying to talk with him (or something along that line). The most scary parts of the concert was near the end of the show: when Miyavi was giving low-fives to his fans and when Bobo tossed his drum sticks into the crowd. I was pushed to the edge of the stage and onto the floor when Miyavi was giving the fives and almost tackled while two fans were fighting over the drum sticks. It was awesome.

I don't scream or jump around when I go to shows. Did I have fun, though? Yes. I love Miyavi's new look and even though he seems more serious than he used to be, his guitar playing is still as great as ever.

October 23: Canzine Toronto

2011-11-02T11:22:00.006-04:00

My friend Siena introduced me to Canzine Toronto by Broken Pencil and asked if I wanted to table with her. Wanting to experience the excitement of a zine fair for years, I answered yes. Siena named our group "Amazingly Good-Looking Cat" and thus began our first experience with a zine fair.

After weeks of preparation, the day finally arrived. The building Canzine was held at looked like a nicely renovated old church. We set up our table in the morning and tended to the table throughout the day. There were three main rooms throughout the building filled with artists at their table and a food bar in the basement.

I noticed I was scaring some people away with my stares, so I asked Siena to hold the front-lines. Siena, you're such an adorable sweetie.

There were many different styles of art from illustrations to crafts and more. I was impressed by the number of people tabling and their artworks too--most looked like they were in their late teens to early thirties (ah, youth). It was a grand mash of styles and colours: simply inspiring.

There were contests and presentations held throughout the day, but I feel like checking them out. I spent most of my time daydreaming and staring into space at the table.

At the end of the day, we quickly packed up our things, put away our chairs, and left. There were still a lot of people shuffling about the building at the time.

Will I ever attend another zine fair? We'll see, we'll see.

October 15: Occupy Toronto

2011-11-01T23:32:00.005-04:00

Ariana, Jenny, and I went to check out Occupy Toronto on October 15th. We're avid of memes and phenomena related to the Internet, so the thought of witnessing an Occupy in the flesh was exciting. We read stories on Occupy Wallstreet and wondered how such an event would be like in Toronto.

It was cold in the morning, but it didn't stop people from showing up. There weren't as many people as I expected at Occupy Toronto--I was hoping for a whole two blocks of people (my expectations were high). The weird thing I noticed was that most of the occupy folks were on one side of the street--which can be seen in the attached photo above--while many photographers and the one guy yelling "bull shit" were on the other.

The roads on the block were off limits to the occupiers to let traffic run for awhile in the morning, but then it was closed for the occupiers to move around at around 11 AM. People started selling newspapers and subscriptions and giving out fliers. The newspapers and subscriptions had information on Occupy, but much of the information from the fliers covered topics from corporate greed to animal abuse and wages to missing persons. The purpose of Occupy Toronto started to get confusing when someone took out a megaphone and proceeded to talk about how his sister suffered a life of hardship and died working in an environment where she was mistreated. I understand how people may want to take advantage of the Occupy movement to pass out fliers, but the person's story on his sister didn't seem to match with the Occupy movement in New York. We later figured that the Occupy movement in Toronto was going to be different from the one in New York.

After having brunch, we walked to St. James Park where the occupiers were setting up camp. I was in awe when I experienced the human microphone: it was impressive when the message got across the crowd of people. Signs were everywhere around the park, and they covered as many topics as the morning fliers did. I could understand how all the things people were protesting about are related, but I wasn't sure if they could explain what the whole Occupy Toronto was about. Heck, not even I could explain it in a short 1-minute speech at the time. If I tried, I'd probably have the bull shit guy on my case. Maybe that one line, "it's about social and economic inequality," would do.

I'm late with this blog entry, but I hope that the occupiers are doing fine right now. The weather's getting cold, and winter is approaching.

Last Day, Next 7 Days

2011-10-27T23:00:00.009-04:00

It was my last day volunteering for the Toronto Zoo's Rouge Park road ecology survey. I'm going to miss those 3-hour morning walks around the park. Turns out the park has a good population of leopard frogs. Though I've picked up more than 500 dead frogs off the road over the last 6 months, at least they're doing better than the snakes and snapping turtles. There are many animals in the park that cannot be found in the city or the suburban area I live in, so it was quite refreshing. Will have to visit the park once in awhile.

Now to tackle my midterms and reports.

I regret wasting 20 hours on a mask I didn't want to do in the first place. I don't even know how I ended up promising that person a mask. I could have used those hours to study and work on assignments... and now I'm late with my study schedule. I guess I'll be getting only an hour of sleep per day in the next 7 days. Everything is my fault: I should stop worrying about causing another person to want to commit suicide. Time to put up a mean wall again.

I will be uploading a few pictures I took at Rouge Park in this album by November 5:

Rouge Park

Environmental Studies at York University: Year 2

2011-10-08T21:58:00.002-04:00

Year 2: 2009-2010

After receiving a number of C's in my last year's report card, I felt ashamed of myself and wanted to drop out of school. I didn't want to leave all the money I spent in first year to be in vain though, so I decided to stay in school to see if I could improve my learning and writing on my own.

I became an executive of YAMA, which took up most of my time. I joined the archery club, but I didn't show up to the practices often.

My grades and work initiative improved a little. I still left a most of assignments to the last minute though, which caused huge amount of stress on my organs. There were a lot of assignments and reading logs to do! Year 2 was when I received my first A, but also my lowest final grade: a D+ (I was never suited for administrative studies). My GPA didn't improve by the end of the year, which was disappointing, but I learned a lot about how the government, economy, and various societies affect the environment from the second year environmental studies fundamental courses.

Year 2.5: Summer 2010

I took two summer ecology courses that had field trips around Toronto every week. It was a great experience, because we had the chance to do hands-on work. The courses were inspiring and it brought light to the subject of environmental studies. It was sad how they were only a month long.

After the summer term ended, I was sent to British Columbia to work in a restaurant. I took note of restaurant operations and how their impact to the environment could be reduced. I left British Columbia right before the start of my third year.

Environmental Studies at York University: Year 1

2011-10-05T19:33:00.000-04:00

In the last 3 years, I've grown to appreciate the environmental studies program at York University and enjoy what I learn in the variety of interdisciplinary courses. It's hard to believe I was frustrated with the program when I first started it.

This post will be one of three mementos of my last 3 years in environmental studies and at York University. I will also share a bit of information on what I'm studying in fourth year. My experiences with university clubs and residence will be included.

Year 1: 2008-2009

Most of my courses were under the faculty of environmental studies. Some common themes in each of those courses were environmental disasters, human contributions to climate change, consumerism, social issues in small and large communities, and the division of power between subject x and y. They were enough to make one feel depressed because the lessons always gave a 'people won't do anything that would actually benefit the environment if it means sacrificing a little wealth' vibe. One of my courses was a geography course which taught history and discourse. It was a little more enlightening than the environmental courses.

I thought that passing my classes was enough to make me happy but I learned it did not. The level of work and writing was much higher than I expected, so I struggled a lot. I used to be great with presentations in high school, but I screwed up group presentations with a sudden stage fright. After receiving a zero on an oral exam, one of my professors suggested I may have a learning disability and I should get help from one of the school's learning services. I didn't go because I believed I could improve my learning capabilities on my own.

I lived on residence in my first year, but I spent most of my time sleeping and hanging out with fellow residence friends. We would stay up until the next morning watching the food network, drinking, or talking about something related to anime, manga, or gaming. My parents called me almost every day in the first few months but gave up after I stopped picking up the phone. They used to give me surprise visits on Fridays to take me home and even sent their friends to pick me up a few times. I told them I wanted to stay at residence on weekends, but they insisted that I wanted to go home. What was the point of pressuring me into living on residence and spending that $7,000? At least I got to meet great people there and I had enough time to explore the whole campus.

I checked out a few clubs on campus throughout the year. I submitted a few comics and attended general meetings of the campus' newspaper group Excalibur, sat through a few of the astronomy club's awesome weekly activities, and eventually joined Yama anime and manga association. One of the members from YAMA showed a fellow first year and I around the campus's underground pathways. He didn't tell us that people usually get raped there until he led us to a sketchy tunnel. (I learned the next year that there's a worse rape tunnel somewhere else on campus.) The groups took a lot of my time every week because of their long meetings, but I don't regret taking the time to participate in their activities.

Throughout the year, I had a habit of falling asleep everywhere. I slept through my classes [in the front row], slept in random common rooms around campus, slept in cafeterias, and even while walking to classes. The bad part was that I wasn't aware I fell asleep until I woke up. I took a blood test during a doctor's appointment halfway into my second term and learned that I had iron deficiency anemia. I asked the doctor if I had to eat more food with iron in it, but she suggested I take supplements instead. I had to take iron tablets everyday after that but I still felt tired. (I feel much better now so the tablets must have worked.)

What I didn't like most about my first year was the long strike: it lasted from the beginning of November until the end of January. I spent most of my strike days looking for news on York University, reading comics and novels, and sleeping at home instead of finishing all my readings and assignments.

Year 1.5: Summer 2009

I wanted to experience summer school back in high school, but I never got the chance to because I had to take care of my younger sister. I figured I could try it out in university and maybe pick up the habit to do assignments ahead of time. The summer term was shorter because of the strike, so everything in the course was crammed. There wasn't that much resting time between assignments, but I didn't mind. My habits of keeping things to the last day continued though.

I think the only bad thing that happened that summer was spraining my ankle and having to use crutches. I sprained my ankle after jumping off a curb and landing on my ankle. It was painful.

Nuit Blache 2011

2011-10-02T16:23:00.013-04:00

There's probably a bunch of blog posts on the Internet today (or will be sometime during the rest of the week) on last night's Nuit Blanche. Here are a few blurry shots I took last night.

Taken at city hall, an image of the lights.

Taken at the same place at city hall.

There were protests going on around downtown Toronto.

People were crowded around these two caution tape walls.

Stacks of wooden boards, colored at the end.

A robot that is suppose to be able to identify people's faces. There's a monitor off the robot's red area that shows people the robot's vision.

I kept around Younge and Dundas, so I didn't see much. The projects I did see were interesting though. I left Toronto by 10 PM.

Dreams V

2011-10-01T06:00:00.001-04:00

I once had a dream of a zombie apocalypse. I was riding my bicycle to a place unknown and stopped when I spotted a person lying on the street. I watched them from a distance and thought they were dead until the body started to crawl towards my bicycle. I freaked out and tried to get away from the body as quickly as I could.

Dreams IV

2011-09-24T06:00:00.000-04:00

I once had a dream where I could levitate and touch clouds.

Fancy Cats 3

2011-09-17T17:21:00.000-04:00

Dreams III

2011-09-17T06:00:00.000-04:00

I once had a dream where I was walking in a line with many people through an old open forest. Everyone wore white clothing. I was a child and I did not know where we were walking to.

Fancy Cats 2

2011-09-13T09:05:00.000-04:00

WVRST

2011-09-12T09:05:00.000-04:00

Every 5 or 6 weeks, a group of old high school friends and I go out to eat. We usually pick our eateries by looking through restaurant listings online and making a list of places that interest us. Last Friday, we visited WVRST for dinner because we wanted to try their sausages and beer.

WVRST was an interesting experience for me from the moment I stepped foot in its hall. There were two long rows of tables and benches, a snazzy bar at the far wall, and a busy open kitchen perpendicular from the tables. Beside the wall of windows opposite from the kitchen were high tables and chairs. It felt like a fancy cafeteria!

My friends and I chose a table to sit at and a runner came over to drop off the menu. He told us that we order food at the kitchen counter. After reading through the menu, I ordered a Kranjska with caramelized onions and Sauerkraut and a glass bottled Coke. Beer had to be ordered at the bar. My friends and I each received numbers so that the runners know where to drop off our orders.

While waiting for our food to arrive, I noticed most of the lighting were just light bulbs on strands of wires (like Christmas lights). The washrooms were also hidden behind a long, shiny-looking, and red brick wall with the word WVRST over it.

After a little wait, the food arrived. My friends and I didn't speak much while we were eating. We were all busy with our delicious sausages (... that sounds so wrong). The duck fries didn't taste different from regular fries, aside from being softer. My friends commented on how the beer was great: it had no funny aftertaste. We stayed for another half-an-hour after finishing our food and left when we noticed a fair number of people waiting for seats.

Dreams II

2011-09-10T06:00:00.001-04:00

I once had a dream where I was sleeping in a large room with mirrors as the walls. There was nothing in the room except me. There was no way in and no way out. All was silent and when I spoke, no voice was heard.

Fancy Cats 1

2011-09-08T19:28:00.001-04:00

Presto: the Toronto Transit Card

2011-09-05T09:05:00.008-04:00

Over the summer, York Region Transit set up booths around York Region selling discounted Presto cards. The full cost of a Presto card is $25. Six of the 25 goes to paying for the card itself while the rest goes into the card for transit use.

I read the week before last week's Markham Economist and Sun and saw an article about how a group of people wanted a refund on their Presto card because its registration and set up was mafan. Though my sister and I also went through the trouble of activating it and setting it up, we kept our cards.

My sister and I each bought a Presto card at a YRT Presto event in Vaughan Mills this summer. The laptops at the event that were meant for people to register their cards weren't working, so we went back home. We registered our cards online at www.presto.ca, but learned that the cards are defaulted to charge users the regular adult price. My sister wanted her card to charge student transit prices for YRT, so we went to YRT's Richmond Hill office [which is inside the York Region building] to get it set up. We had to wait in line before being attended to, but we didn't mind the wait. It only took 5 minutes for the lady at the office to set up the card. I recently received my GO transit student ID, but I have no idea where I can get my Presto card set up for Go student pricing. I will try the YRT Richmond Hill office first, then the nearest GO stations.

Presto's website said that the card's activation has to be completed by using it 7 days after activating it. I used my card when boarding a YRT bus within the 7 days after activating it, but my sister did not. She freaked out for awhile and complained about how stupid it was that Presto cards had to be activated again by using it when she didn't need to use it. She waited 3 weeks before using her card and it still worked!

Compared to Hong Kong's octopus transit card that takes less than 10 minutes to set up and activate, yeah, Presto is annoying. ... I also think Presto cards look ugly compared to the octopus cards, but I love using transit cards. You can keep them at the end of your wallet and scan your wallet. (Just make sure no one steals your wallet.) How cool is that?

[September 10, 2011]

I transferred buses using the Presto card for the first time today. I was charged the appropriate fare after scanning the Presto card on the first bus. The Presto machine displayed the amount it charged and the remaining time (1-hour and 59-minutes) I had left to ride the bus [like a paper transfer]. When I scanned my Presto card on the second bus, the machine showed that I was charged $0.00 and that I had 40-minutes left.

I like how I don't have to worry about losing my paper transfer.

[September 14, 2011]

It seems that if you stick to a certain route within the YRT's area, there aren't that many problems with the Presto card. I met a lady at the bus stop the other day that said she used her Presto card on the (2) Denison bus. She asked for a transcript to get on the northbound Warden TTC bus but the bus driver denied her one. When she arrived at Denison and Warden, she found out that the TTC bus did not have a Presto machine, so she had to walk.

[September 17, 2011]

I learned last year that York Region Transit and GO Transit have a system together where you can pay 50 cents for rides to and from GO transit stations on the YRT. My first time transferring from a GO bus to a YRT bus during the Presto era was a few days ago. I paid fifty cents and asked the bus driver for a transfer. He hit a touch screen next to him with a finger and I waited for him to hand over a transfer paper. No paper. It felt like the driver was ignoring me because he didn't say anything or show eye contact. I noticed that the old area where a stack of transfer papers sat was empty, so I accepted the fact that maybe he just didn't have any transfers. I took a seat and prepared for a 30-minute walk home.

As I was sitting in the bus the next day, a lady walked into the bus, inserted her ticket, and asked for a transfer. The bus driver hit the touch screen next to him and out came a paper from behind the screen. It was a transfer paper! When the bus stopped at a red light, the driver got out of his seat and put in a new roll of paper behind the screen. Since I've been using the Presto card, I haven't asked for transfers and people who enter the bus after me haven't asked for one either. I guess the transfer machine from the day before ran out of paper, because I certainly did not see anything come out from behind the touch screen.

[November 24, 2011]

YRT and viva in my area have been on strike for awhile now, so I decided not to add money to the card. I still haven't tried adding money to the card at the Go station... I'll do that when the strike's over [and if they decide to continue using the card].

Dreams I

2011-09-03T06:00:00.001-04:00

I once had a dream of a library in a forest's opening with wooden shelves that sheltered its books from the sunlight and rain. Most of the plants were above the ground and trees because it often flooded in the area. An old man took care of the library and guarded it from people who wanted to be rid of it.

Fan Expo 2011: Friday

2011-08-31T19:40:00.003-04:00

Fan Expo started at 10 AM on Friday, but Oie Lin, Carlton, and I arrived at the convention center around 4:00 PM. What I like about arriving [super] late to a convention is that there is no line-up to get in. It was hard to find the box office though because it was moved to a location that could hold a large population of people in a line. Signs around the convention center that gave arrow directions to the box office led my friends and I to a long descending tunnel. It was a bit sketchy in a it's-a-zombie-apocalypse-time kind of way.

_{A sign!}

_{The long tunnel to the ticket booths.}

_{The entry way next to the box office.}

_{What I got from the box office and entry way.}

_{First glance of the show room.}

There weren't as many people as I expected at the convention, but then again, it was Friday and it was almost dinner time. Most people who attend Fan Expo every year probably go on Saturday too.

Many of the booths in the main attraction room had interesting displays. The Real Steel movie display area held three models of its robot characters. There was also a Lego Hagrid and a Lego Optimus Prime. Ubisoft had a display wall of Rabbits and Assassin’s Creed figures. One booth had the original model of Abin Sur from the Green Lantern movie and another had My Little Pony toys. There were many awe-inducing things to see.

_{3D street art outside the South building.}

A man who went by the name of Dr. Phil was offering cinnamon-smelling medicine. His name tag said he was a synthetic digestion analyst.

_{Dr. Phil--Synthetic Digestion Analyst}

There were many different waste bins around the convention center. I had to wonder what people did with the waste that doesn't go in any of those bins.

We met up with Gurjit and her gang later, but our time was cut short due to a "Please do not touch" sign under the Harry Potter "It All Ends" poster board.

At some point I started asking cosplayers for pictures and to do poses for me. It was mostly pointing at a sign. (Excuse me for taking blurry pictures: my hand tends to shake these days.)

_{This cosplayer seemed a little confused about my request for a "life's good" pose.}

_{Bronies unite!}

_{Suki from Avatar: The Last Airbender}

_{Anthony as Inuyasha}

I love the Lego table that was open to anyone who wanted to play with Lego. It was really small though. I was glad that there weren't many people around the time we were there, otherwise there would have been a big crowd around it and we wouldn't have had the chance to play.

_{I like to build upside down pyramids with Lego.}

Outside of the showroom was a table with touch screen monitors where people could enter a contest/draw. (The monitor looks so nice! Don't you just want to grab it and take it home?)

Out in the hallway there was a gorgeous red carpet and background screen. A few Fan Expo staff/volunteers were stationed next to it surveying people (well, they did with my friends and I) and offering people help with taking pictures.

And so...

That's all I have for Fan Expo 2011. Thank you for reading!

Fan Expo 2011 Picasa album:

Fan Expo 2011

Fan Expo 2011 anyone? II

2011-08-22T23:02:00.003-04:00

Change of plans: I will not be going to Fan Expo on Thursday, but on Friday instead. Will be lining up to get my ticket at 3 PM.

Broken Recycle Bin? No Problem.

2011-08-22T21:38:00.000-04:00

There are many things I like about Markham, and its recycling depots are one of them.

My family's blue bin often goes missing and a new one (in a different shade of blue) usually turns up at our driveway after a recycling pick-up day. The ones that appear at our driveway are beaten up and old, but they're usually still in a usable condition. Usually.

One afternoon, we found a new recycling bin sitting on our driveway and it had a large crack in it. It didn't look like it could handle the mass amount of newspaper we weekly dispose of, but we used it anyway. My father didn't want to buy a new recycling bin, because it didn't seem worth the $8 to buy a new one with the guarantee that it will go missing. That recycling bin stayed with us for weeks.

How does a broken recycling bin relate to the recycling depots in Markham? Well. My family and I have these monthly trips to the depot where we dispose of styrofoam, batteries, and large cardboard boxes. We knew that the depot sold blue bins and after a few weeks with the cracked bin, my father decided that it was time to buy a new one. He walked up to one of the workers and jokingly asked if he could trade in his broken bin for a new one. Surprisingly, the worker answered yes. The worker kindly gave us instructions on how to receive a new blue bin. We had to bring in the cracked bin, fill in a paper with our address, sign the paper, and --woo hoo!-- here's your new blue bin. My father immediately drove home and back to the recycling depot.

I later searched the Town of Markham's website for information on their blue bin swap, and it's there under Blue Box Recycling. So if you live in Markham and have a broken or cracked Markham recycle bin, bring it to the nearest recycling depot and trade it in for a new one.

Peacocking Anime Conventions

2011-08-18T09:05:00.007-04:00

I was watching cosplay videos on YouTube when I found a video of this year's Otakon. Watch it and be amazed.

It's called Peacocking. Originally performed by VunderBraCosplay of YouTube, it is a convention activity where you ask someone if you can take a picture with them and as you and the target pose for the picture, you suddenly dance or give them pelvic thrusts. When you have a compilation of videos where you've peacocked people, mute the audio and put on Katy Perry's Peacock. You've peacockd the convention.

Will peacocking become a new convention sensation? We'll have to wait and see what happens in the next year, because VunderBraCosplay released their first peacocking video late June this year.

Someone needs to Peacock FanExpo.

More CC Messages

2011-08-11T09:00:00.006-04:00

I was on my way to a doctor's appointment when I saw this message on the post box. It looks like the artist that left a message at Steeles and Kennedy visited this part of Scarborough.

The mail box at Steeles and Warden also had the same message. I wonder if there are more of these out there?

Yeti

2011-08-08T09:00:00.000-04:00

I was searching for images of yeti crabs on Google when I stumbled upon a blog about Yeti: ilovetheyeti.blogspot.com.

I looked through the blog and it has some interesting images of Yeti. The blog has images of Yeti in cartoons, advertisements, fan art, logos, and whatever you can think of.

Miyavi concert in Toronto 2011

2011-08-07T22:03:00.006-04:00

News of a Miyavi concert in Toronto has been floating around between friends for a few weeks now. Miyavi's [What's my Name Tour] will be visiting Toronto and will be held at the Phoenix Concert Theatre in the downtown area this year on October 30. Pre-sale tickets (which required a password) were sold since July and tickets have been on sale since the beginning of August.

J-Rock North Promotions Inc. released a short article on the event on their website and even Eventful, an MTV partner according to their website, took note of it.

I wonder... will a larger number of Japan's pop or rock musicians visit Canada for tours in the next 3 years? I guess I will have to follow J-Rock NPI's website and wait to find out.

Fan Expo 2011 anyone?

2011-08-06T09:00:00.006-04:00

>> Fan Expo
>> Thursday, August 25^th, 2011
>> 4 PM - 9 PM

I'm not sure what I'll be doing other than walking around looking at merchandise and taking pictures of people. We'll see, we'll see.

I wonder if it will be crowded on Thursday.

-edit-
I will be at Fan Expo on Friday instead of Thursday.

Anime North 2011: From the Pod

2011-08-04T22:10:00.005-04:00

On the Saturday of Anime North, my camera ran out of batteries. I used my iPod Touch as a back-up and forgot about using it the day after.

_{It's the Black Rock Shooter photoshoot!
Can you spot Sachie?}

_{I forgot what this lady was cosplaying as.
She was entered in the masquerade.}

_{Hetalia photoshoot!}

_{Hetalia again.}

_{Tim Hortons calling for more supplies because of AN?}

_{Switch Girl!
Check out the manga if you like Shojo.
I wanted to get a picture of her whole costume, but I was already standing against a wall and she was already posing. I have to admit: she did a great job with the costume.}

Night it up!

2011-07-17T21:21:00.007-04:00

Aside from all the east Asians present, you know you're at an East Asian festival when you walk into a parking lot with tents set up and the strong scent of stinky tofu. Like the Taste of Asia Festival that was held at Kennedy Road and Steeles Avenue, Night it up! is an annual East Asian festival where people can have a taste of Asian street food. There are also functions like basketball tournaments and music concerts at these events.

This year, Night it up! was held at the Markham Civic Centre at Highway 7 and Warden Avenue on July 15th and 16th. They closed the parking lot to the civic centre, so people had to park their vehicles at the nearby plaza and neighborhoods.

I visited the festival yesterday around 6 PM and was surprised to see the many lonely finished pineapple drinks sitting around the place. There was even a pokémon card lying in a flower bed!

There were mostly young Asian couples at the time I arrived, but more families walked onto the festival grounds later in the night.

A highlight of my experience at Night it up! was getting to see a bit of smoke coming out of a metal garbage bin. I've seen a wooden garbage can on fire at a cemetery before, but not at a festival. I alerted the fire and emergency services booth and learned that we're suppose to call 9-1-1 in situations where smoke is coming out of a garbage bin. The burned item was taken care of and I continued with my journey around the festival grounds.

What I disliked about the festival was all the garbage people left lying around and the ground becoming blackened. It looked like people treated flower beds as garbage beds and the ground around the tents turned from a light gray to smokey dark gray. Since most of the people who were at the festival were East Asian, I have to say... gosh, are the majority of East Asians who visited the festival ever so filthy.

There was an area where people left paintings. It was refreshing, but I couldn't help noticing the two or three paintings of sad or frustrated looking black children with a desert-like background. I felt a great sense of sadness and disappointment while looking at those two or three paintings. I mean, they're great paintings (though the brush work was a bit sloppy in my opinion) that seem to promote awareness of famine experienced by black people in Africa (?), but does it target the real issue? I mean the real issue where climate change has a direct effect with famine and poverty around the world, but many of the booths at the festival are releasing clouds of C02 (and other compounds) into the air, most people are driving to the festival, and a lot of food is being wasted in the garbage bins and the ground. ... I guess it does target the issue in a way.

Here's one of the sillier paintings displayed.

I'm still trying to decipher its meaning...

In conclusion, Night it up! was stinky tofu. Seriously, I'm still trying to get the smell of stinky tofu off of me.

Images can be found in the Asian Festivals
around Toronto photo album:

Asian Festivals around Toronto

Mr. Raindrop

2011-07-11T09:05:00.001-04:00

Have you ever listened to the song "Mr. Raindrop" by amplified? The song was used as an ending for an anime called Gintama. Two of the members of amplified played another version of the song in May this year and uploaded it to YouTube.

Gintama's second ending:

May 31, 2011:

What I found while cleaning my room 3

2011-07-05T20:20:00.007-04:00

_{SD Gundam Force!}
I was reorganizing shelves in my room and found SD Gundam Force figurines. I forgot I had them. Each figurine was in a box and their boxes were in a larger box at the back of one of my shelves. I also found a few empty DS boxes.

_{Pikachu and Totoro toys}
I found acrylic paint! I don't know how old most of them are. There was a swan looking thing sitting on the top of one of my shelves. I think it was used as a flower pot at one point. It used to be my cousin's (I think) until they moved to Shanghai, China many years ago.

_{Acrylic paint}

_{Home-made swan... thing}

I had to compost the onion that was growing in my room. It was growing some form of fuzzy fungus on its underside.

Canada Day

2011-07-04T16:01:00.013-04:00

I usually stay at home on Canada Day (July 1^st), but this year a group of friends and I were interested in the Guinness World Record layer cake challenge at a festival that was held at Harbourfront Centre.

_{The cake in the afternoon}
We took the public transit to Harbourfront and noticed that there were a lot of people out on Canada day in downtown Toronto. Some of the information booths at Harbourfront were giving away free Canada flag pins and paper flags, so we grabbed a few of those. After checking out the cake's progress, we walked around the area for a few hours.

Later in the day we went back to see the cake. Some of it was sprawled on the floor while the rest of it was being given out for free. We grabbed a small piece of the cake and ate a bit of it. It didn't taste good: there was no taste!

We were curious as to whether they broke a record or not. According to an article on the festival's website, they did.

Tiger and Bunny

2011-06-15T22:24:00.004-04:00

Tiger and Bunny: a new anime about super heroes that compete in a popularity contest as they fight crime in the city. I first found out about Tiger and Bunny through people's artwork on Deviant Art. The casual outfits of Tiger and Barnaby are what caught my interest. They're jazzy! I want a nice hat and vest like Tiger and Barnaby's jacket is hot (not to mention his hair). Their hero suits look cool too. Heck, all the heroes' suits look good!

I've watched three episodes of the anime so far. I'll watch the other episodes after the DVD is released in Canada (if it ever gets released). It took me awhile to get used to the thought of a hero competition in the anime; I found it ridiculous in the beginning. I accepted the concept by the second or third episode only because Barnaby's hair is gorgeous, Tiger's strong sense of heroism, Blue Rose' Pepsi NEX ad, Fire Emblem, and Origami Cyclone's appearances. ... I'm also curious about the storyline.

Images have been linked to their source. Just click on 'em to get there.

Toronto Music Garden

2011-06-14T22:24:00.004-04:00

I have a group of friends I call 'Teahousers'. I gave them that name because we used to hang out at bubble tea cafés every time we met up in the two years after high school graduation. We usually have a get-together every 6 weeks and between those weeks we plan for the next meeting. During our last meeting, we visited the Grindhouse to try out kangaroo burgers. On the same day, we walked to the Toronto Music Garden at Queens Quay. There weren't any functions in the garden that day and it was raining in the morning.

View Larger Map

"Treeline catering" was painted on the walkway along Queens Quay. I searched the words on Google's search engine and the first website on the list was treeline-events.com.

I was surprised to find a fancy birdhouse at Queens Quay near the Music Garden. It was standing in the middle of a fenced area, so I couldn't get a close look at it.

It took us awhile to find the garden because we were distracted by boats. (We were hoping to see one that looks like a pirate ship.) We knew where the garden was a little later because of a sign. The plants in the music garden looked almost too perfect: it was eerie yet beautiful. Most of the pathways were spirals, which was neat. The spiral pathways made plants like the maple trees and low lying flower buds noticeable. What I liked most about the garden were the textures and colours of the plants. There was even fungi!

_{The welcome sign facing south}

After walking around the garden, we walked to Ann Tindal Park and there was a black-crowned night heron. My friends and I didn't know what the bird was called until we asked a passerby that stopped to look at the bird.

For more pictures, visit this album:

Toronto Music Garden

Daria

2011-06-10T09:05:00.005-04:00

I was on YouTube last month watching anime music videos when a Daria video showed up on the recommended videos list. I don't know how Daria is connected to any anime music videos unless they used its theme song, but it was there.

Daria is an animated series that used to air on YTV (if I remember correctly). The series is about a high school girl named Daria who is an outcast in her suburban town and often finds it hard to fit in because of her analytic perspectives on the people around her.

Seeing Daria on YouTube made me want to watch the whole series again. I searched for the DVD set on the website of major DVD distribution companies and found that HMV was selling the complete series of Daria. I bought the box set and watched it. I later learned that the box set also contained both of Daria's movies (bonus!).

I grew up watching a few episodes of Daria, but I never really understood it back in the day. After watching the box set and movies, I caught on the sarcastic remarks that some of the characters used to make.

If you ever have the time and money to spend, I suggest watching the series if you don't mind shows with all talk and no action. My younger sister enjoyed the sarcastic remarks, but she couldn't sit through all the episodes. (It's probably because she has little patience.)

For a more detailed description of Daria the animated series, visit Wikipedia.

Shift in Weather Patterns?

2011-06-09T21:05:00.009-04:00

I was watching a horror movie with my family yesterday when a thunder storm hit. There was lightning and hail. Small drops of ice were pelting at the window behind us.

It's the second week of June in Toronto, Canada and there have already been about 3 thunder storms in the last 2 weeks. I don't recall any thunder storms in June in the last 4 years. It's a bit strange to me, but I guess it's normal.

With all the human activities around the world releasing and changing chemical and physical properties in the overall environment, there's bound to be a shift in the atmosphere's patterns. By human activities I mean factories, running vehicles, chemical products, landfills, construction, restaurants, and, well, I guess almost everything. There are always leftovers in everything that people do: like leaving footprints behind after walking through mud.

I remember there was a moment of summer snow last year and the year before. Snow in the summer! Here in Toronto, we usually have snow in the winter. Will there be snow this year too? I'll have to wait and see. For now, I will enjoy the passing storms and a possible swirl of wind.

The tree in my front yard fell from the base of its trunk during a windy day. The town's tree caretakers (if that's what they're called) took the tree away hours after it fell.

Anime North 2011: Part 4

2011-06-08T12:29:00.010-04:00

Sunday.

As we were heading to side entrance of the Toronto Congress Center in the morning, we caught a Gundam photoshoot. There was still a lot of cloud cover in the sky like Friday, which frustrated me. I like sunlight as my lighting!

We were still tired from the masquerade the night before. It ended late, but early on its account. The masquerade was fun to watch, so we didn't care much that we were tired.

_{The young ladies were in the masquerade the night before}

_{Team Rocket's balloon deflated.It was also at the masquerade.}

We found an underwear lying outside TCC while walking to the Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt photoshoot. Ariana commented on how Panty may have forgot it the night before. We didn't see it again later in the day.

_{The Muses from Disney's Hercules?}

_{Panty and Garterbelt! I didn't notice that the Panty cosplayer had her underwear exposed until after looking through the pictures I took at AN.}

_{Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt photoshoot}

_{Two Panty cosplayers.}

_{Durarara!! photoshoot}

We wanted to go to the My Little Pony panel, but it was full. We went to the panel next door instead: Mythology in Anime/Manga.

I didn't like how the Mythology panel room was warm and crowded, so I left. Livia and Oie Lin followed, leaving Ariana in the panel. (Sorry Ariana, but I couldn't take the warmth). We went to eat ice-cream and met up again later at TCC.

I was very impressed with the Transformers display in the entrance to the dealer's room, so I took a picture of it before my last walk around the place. I like where the free transformers goods are placed.

Livia and I were waiting for the dealer's room's 5-minutes at--yes, at--closing prices when someone put their hand on our shoulders and slowly moved it towards our rear end. We turned around and there was Pedobear! I think he was trying to grope our butts, but my backpack was covering my ass. (It felt more like someone was trying to open my bag.) A wild Barnie suddenly appeared and attacked Pedobear with a hug. Pedobear hugged Barnie and they both moved their hands slowly towards each other's asses. I didn't get a whole picture because they were right next to me and there were a few people gathered around taking a picture of the two.

Before leaving the convention, I took a two more pictures:

_{Avatar the Last Airbender cosplay!}

_{Arakawa Under the Bridge cosplay!}

The end.

I thought I would experience a different side to Anime North than the usual walk-around-and-take-pictures this year, and I did. I never went to panels as much as I did at this convention. I usually go to one per convention because I spend most of my time bothering cosplayers and taking their pictures. It was fun sitting through panels like Lolita Fashion, Hetalia, and Military Realism (which I know I forgot to mention in previous posts). The masquerade (which I covered very little) this year was the first I've ever attended: I usually leave conventions early on Saturdays. I didn't get to take many pictures, but that's okay. Being able to spend time with Ariana, Livia, Oie Lin, Jimmy, Priyanka, and Russian Michael was nice and peaceful.

Conclusion: if you plan to cosplay something that requires a mask and normal-looking clothing, keep the mask on or else you'll look like a normal passerby.

(Yes, I got lazy posting about Anime North this time. There are many holes to the posts.)

All pictures available in this album:

Anime North 2011

Anime North 2011: Part 3

2011-06-06T22:24:00.007-04:00

Saturday.

We arrived in the morning and picked up masquerade wrist bands at the Double Tree Hotel. We were going to check out the 4chan panel, but it turned out we were there too early: we learned that we lined up for the Anime North idol auditions. We decided to skip the auditions and the panel for another walk around the dealer's room.

On our way to the TCC building, we took a few pictures of cosplayers. We passed by a few impressive costumes: many that looked difficult to make and to get into. For instance, there were Ah my Goddess girls with a Sakura from Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle and a weregarurumon from Digimon. We even saw a Kamen Rider! Or at least I think it was a Kamen Rider...

_{Does anyone know what they are cosplaying from?}

_{A robocop?}

_{His character looks familiar. I will dub him Captain!}

_Wow.

_{It looks like this person dyed her own patterns on the fabric.}

After browsing through the dealer's room and artist alley, we headed to the Sailor Moon and Pokémon photoshoot.

_{Sailor Moon Photoshoot!}

_{Pokémon Photoshoot!}

_{Her character is from Hellsing, right?}

Around noon, my camera ran out of batteries. The battery icon showed that it had full batteries earlier in the day, but I guess it was just tricking me. Maybe it's getting old? Anyway, I took my last picture of the day on our way to get food. The sky looked dull, so I added a few clouds and other things in it.

_{Two Links, walking off to another adventure.}

_{To be continued and finished in Part 4.}
All pictures available in this album:

Anime North 2011

Anime North 2011: Part 2

2011-06-05T01:04:00.008-04:00

I went to all 3 days of Anime North this year. I usually just attend one day, but I must admit, you get to experience a little more of the convention if you spend more time at the panels and other organized events. My usual convention buddies weren't available or didn't make contact about going to the event. This year I was with Ariana, Livia, and Oie Lin. (Later joined by Jimmy, Priyanka, and Russian Michael.)

We waited in the pre-registration line Friday afternoon to pick-up our badges. The line went along moderately: we only waited for about half an hour. The weather was really nice too. It wasn't sunny and it looked like it wanted to rain, but nice nonetheless.

The dealer's room and artist alley were closed when we received the badge, so we decided to take pictures of cosplayers until they opened. Most people around the Toronto Congress Center (TCC) seemed busy heading to the line though, so we decided to head to Double Tree Hotel to visit a few friends and take pictures there.

_{Battle #1!}

_{Usa-chan man (or Lovely Bunny from Oresama Teacher), the ally of justice! Present!}

_{Ally of Usa-chan man!}

_{Mr. Popo!}

After visiting our friends, we walked back to TCC to see if the dealer's room was open. We took a few more pictures of cosplayers on our way there. I tried to get people to pose a certain way in a few pictures, but it didn't go well.

_{Battle #2}

_{Epic background guy and Krillin}

_Brief!

When we got to the TCC entrance for Anime North, there was a long--I mean, really long--line to enter the building. We chose to go to the dealer's room later and check out a Digimon panel instead. While waiting for the panel to start, the King of Burgers passed by. *I have to find out where the guy got the mask.*

We didn't know what to expect from a Digimon panel, but hey--it's Digimon. It didn't matter to us what was planned as long as it was enjoyable. It turns out the Digimon panel was a discussion of its many seasons. It was pretty cool.

We visited the dealer's room later and left for home around 10.

_{To be continued in part 3
*Some pictures taken by Ariana L. Rusu.}

Anime North 2011: Part 1

2011-06-02T00:54:00.005-04:00

I am editing the pictures I took at Anime North. I didn't take many good (non-blurry) pictures this year, mostly because my camera ran out of batteries on Saturday morning.

I'll leave a compilation of video clips I took at the anime convention for now.

The story of the video? Looking for people to do something I thought of getting people to do.

Anime North 2011: Registered

2011-05-15T09:00:00.000-04:00

Anime North is a big event for many frequent anime convention attendees around Toronto, but the admission price can sometimes be a turn off. You have to spend about 35 to 55 Canadian dollars on a badge: that's the price of 14-22 TTC tokens or 1-7 meals. The badge is a proof-of-purchase ticket that you must carry because there are certain areas of the convention that require you to show it before entry.

I think the admission price is totally worth it if you want to participate in the convention's programs. You get to participate in the many organized sub-events and there are interesting things you can buy from the exhibition area (the dealer's room, market and gallery).

To me, the highlights of Anime North--or any anime convention--are taking pictures of cosplayers, making them do something (that I think is) embarrassing yet amusing, and capture videos of them doing those embarrassing yet amusing things. I don't usually go to the sub-events, nor do I buy things from the exhibition area.

Last year at Anime North, I didn't register for a badge. I stayed outside of the Toronto Congress Center building for hours doing whatever activities I could think of with my friends. When we were hungry, we ate at nearby eateries. When we were sick of being out in the sun, we hung out in the hotels. At the end of the day, I spent only $25--mostly on food--instead of the $40 on a (Saturday) badge.

This year, I pre-registered for the convention because a friend of mine wanted to register for a table at the crafter's corner. He needed another person to help with the table, but to register for a table you need all parties to be pre-registered. He didn't get the table. Of course he wouldn't. If you browse through people's Deviant Art journals you would find hundreds of entries talking about getting a table for the event before the table registration date. After the date, there are journals about waiting lists. It's hard to get a table for a large event such as AN especially if you're not a very well known artist.

I am a bit upset because I spent $45 on a ticket I may not even use. At least when I'm in the badge-required areas of the convention, I'll be with friends. That's something to look forward to.

Toronto Zoo Moon Jellyfish Wallpapers

2011-05-11T23:35:00.002-04:00

To download a wallpaper, choose your desktop size then click "download" when you enter Picasa.

Subject: Toronto Zoo Moon Jellyfish 1
Date: May 9, 2011
Format: JPEG
Size: 1024 x 768 || 1280 x 800
1280 x 960 || 1280 x 1024 || 1360 x 768

Subject: Toronto Zoo Moon Jellyfish 2
Date: May 9, 2011
Format: JPEG
Size: 1024 x 768 || 1280 x 800 || 1280 x 960
1280 x 1024 || 1360 x 768

Subject: Toronto Zoo Moon Jellyfish 3
Date: May 9, 2011
Format: JPEG
Size: 1024 x 768 || 1280 x 960 || 1280 x 1024

Toronto Zoo Polar Bear Wallpaper

2011-05-11T23:26:00.002-04:00

Subject: Toronto Zoo Polar Bear
Date: May 9, 2011
Format: JPEG
Size: 1280 x 800 || 1280 x 960 || 1280 x 1024

Toronto Zoo

2011-05-10T19:45:00.011-04:00

I visited the Toronto Zoo with a few friends yesterday and it was just as exciting as it was back when I was a kid. The only difference is that there were no teachers or group leaders that had to be followed and I didn't need to bring my own lunch. The general admission ticket was $23 for an adult. It didn't seem like there were many people at the zoo. The only thing we had to line up for was for food.

The zoo didn't seem to change much from what I remember from a decade ago. It's still quite big, you have to walk a lot for the day and most of it is outdoor. It's the only zoo I've ever been to, so I can't compare it to other zoos around the world unless Ocean Park in Hong Kong counts as one. I'm glad the weather was nice and sunny, but being stuck outside walking for hours with little shade is tiring. What I didn't like about my trip to the zoo is that my spring allergies suddenly triggered in the middle of the day. I was fine in the last month, so I didn't bother to carry allergy medicine with me.

My friends and I first checked out the Malayan Woods Pavilion at the zoo in hopes of taking pictures of butterflies. We encountered many birds instead. Maybe it's not time for butterflies yet. Most of the birds looked like colorful pigeons to me, but in different sizes. There was this one big blue bird that reminded me of chickens.

There were a lot of fish under a bridge next to the Americas Wetlands. I didn't recognize their species--I don't recognize that many fish species to begin with. What was creepy about them was that they swam to the surface of the water as soon as we walked up to the side of the bridge... and they follow you if you're visible from their angle. They are either curious fish or used to having people feed them from the bridge often. It's probably the latter. I could imagine they would follow people the same way if they ever become zombie fish in a zombie apocalypse.

What's a Canadian zoo without its polar bears? I think this picture was taken during its feeding time at 12:00 PM. It was staring at the other two bears that I left out of the photo. There were a lot of people watching them being fed, including a class of elementary school kids, a few couples, and a number of mothers with baby carts.

Giraffes! The giraffes were still in their cages (?) instead of their open area. One was eating while the other two were sucking on the gates. I was hoping they would fight with their necks swinging around like from a video I saw on YouTube, but they were busy with their activities. I looked at the ground beyond the cage and saw poo. Giraffe poo look so much smaller than I'd imagine.

_{Ring-tailed Lemurs}

Lemurs! They kept to the farther side of the cage until I opened my umbrella. It was fun to watch them.

There was a turtle displayed near the gorilla section in the African Rainforest Pavilion. It just kept still and looking towards our direction...

_{"I'm keeping my eyes on you."}

_{My friends looking at an animal that looks like a deer with powered up antlers and stripes but is not a deer.}

We went to the Australasia Pavilion and there were jellyfish! Moon jellyfish! It was hard to take pictures of them because they kept moving.

_{Moon Jellyfish}

It was easier to capture a video of the jellyfish than taking a photograph. I would have taken more videos and pictures, but my two SD cards ran out of memory space!

I will be posting desktop wallpapers of the polar bear picture and a few jellyfish pictures (maybe even one that hasn't appeared on this post yet).

The zoo was fun to visit, but I don't think I'll be going back anytime soon with my friends. We missed the sea otters, kangaroo walk, and tiger feeding. Hm... Maybe next year? We'll have to reconsider trying to look at all the animals to looking at only the animals we want to see.

Now I will end this post with a peacock in a tree. Bow down to the peacock in the tree!

Saturday at TCAF 2011

2011-05-09T23:23:00.009-04:00

I think I understand what a comic festival is. It's an overwhelmingly large art market with not only artwork, but also a lot of comics, meeting with comic artists, and panels. The biggest difference I noticed between TCAF and an anime convention is that less than 5% of the attendants were cosplaying.

When I entered the Toronto Reference Library to check out the Toronto Comics Art Festival, I was overwhelmed by the number of tables, people, and space. There were so many interesting tables set up, I didn't know where to start looking at stuff. There were two floors of tables too! (It didn't take up the whole library floor, but the atrium and a large open hall.) I've been to the Toronto Reference Library before, but construction and the mass amount of people in it make it look so much smaller and crowded. It was almost as crowded as the dealer's room at anime conventions later in the afternoon.

_{Saturday noon @ Floor 1 of TCAF 2011}
There were mostly North American and Internet-linked comics found at TCAF. Many of the artists I met traveled to Toronto just for TCAF. There were people from the U.S. and even the United Kingdom!

What surprised me was that I actually bought a lot more goods at the festival than I ever have at an anime convention. There was a great variety of comics and art styles in from different cultures. I encountered a few French comic books that I've always thought I'd never see in real life unless I traveled or ordered them off the Internet.

_{What I brought home. It's not much, but I am very happy with them.}
Conclusion: must go to the next TCAF and ohmygosh I shook hands with Usamaru Furuya! I think his wife and child were there too because a gorgeous Asian lady with a baby hanging by her chest was recording him signing books for his fans with a video camcorder. :')

Wait--You do what?

2011-04-18T09:42:00.000-04:00

In a house holding 4 people that like to stay home to watch TV and use the Internet, the various utility bills get pricey at times. To save money on utility bills, I try to use less energy and water with certain activities over the year.

The laundry dryer uses a lot of energy to dry clothing. I only use it about 6 times a year, while each of my family members use it once a week. I hang my laundry to dry along with my bedsheets each season, hoping that I can save at least $2 per year. I encourage my family members to do the same, but they like the soft feeling of clothes after it's been through the dryer.

Why do we need to take a daily shower? It's not like we get that dirty everyday. I know that by taking a shower every morning or night I can reduce the chances of getting sick or grow fungus somewhere on my body. I can also wash away dirt and pollen from my hair. But do I have to shower even though I didn't leave the house or make a mess of myself on certain days? Honestly, I don't take showers when I'm shut in my house for days and don't feel like showering. Of course, I change clothes when I do that.

On days when the sun shines bright, I keep my curtains and blinds open. That way I wouldn't need to turn on the light switch in the house. Sunlight hurts my eyes more than light from lightbulbs though, so I wear sunglasses indoors sometimes. Sunlight also makes me feel tired, so I sleep.

I remember learning from Jughead in Archie's Comics that sleeping is the ultimate way to save energy and money. It's comfortable and you don't need much when you're sleeping.

I think I could save more money if I was working day and night though. I wouldn't be losing money because I would be making it. *kekeke*

Nemu Nemu

2011-04-14T09:05:00.002-04:00

I was surfing on the net and landed on someone's LiveJournal. Their LiveJournal entries had comics about a toaster named Toasty. There was a website on the comic images, so I typed it (www.nemu-nemu.com) into my browser's URL bar.

It turns out the comic isn't about a toaster! Only those few pages were. The main characters of the comic are two [adorable] magical stuffed animal pups. With its clean lines and distinctive art style, I think I'm going to be reading about magical stuffed animal pups for a long while.

What I found in my room 4

2011-04-13T09:25:00.006-04:00

Lookie lookie at what I found in my room. A pikachu and a Transversion tag. If you press the pikachu's stomach, it makes a "pikachu" noise. It can make two different noises. I've been trying to make out the pattern they follow, but noise 1 and 2 always seem to be randomly played. Transversion Loop of New York is a fashion brand that usually makes bags and carrying accessories. I decided to keep the bag's tag because it's made of plastic.

Money!! I need 50 cents in change to take the nearest bus to the closest GO bus station. Keeping money ready-to-go on the table is pretty handy when you're in a rush. I tend to run out of change in my wallets from buying food, so I often don't have money to take the bus.

My pet rock Rocky sits in front of my computer monitor everyday. It's been sitting there long enough for dust to collect. Mwaha.

I didn't plant the onion as planned. It's still in my room. Growing. Don't mind the messy desk in the background.

The Toronto Comics Art Festival 2011

2011-04-12T10:10:00.003-04:00

Okay, so TCAF. My friend Lorena invited me to the event, but I have never been to it before. I mean--I've heard of it a few times, but I never remembered to go. I am getting most of my information from their website and so far, the event sounds exciting.

I've tagged this event as a convention, but apparently the Toronto Comics Art Festival is not a convention. According to the website, it is a festival and is unconventional. I will have to experience the event to understand the whole meaning behind that.

TCAF will be held at:

the Toronto Reference Library
789 Yonge St., Toronto, Canada

May 7th to 8th, 2011

Admission is free.

There will be guests from a variety of comic book genres and styles, including Natsume Ono (the artist behind the manga Ristorante Paradiso) and Darwyn Cooke (darwyncooke.blogspot.com). Sweet, right?

I'm really looking forward to this event.

Website: http://torontocomics.com

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Shop Spot: Sunny Ltd.

2011-04-11T09:34:00.003-04:00

Sunny Ltd. is one of the earliest shops in Pacific Mall since its opening. It's amazing how well they do business to this day. I remember they used to sell only Asian gifts and stationery, but now they sell mostly anime related merchandise. Their business card states that they sell gifts and car accessories. I'm guessing that the anime stuff they sell go under gifts.

You can find a lot of amazing anime-related things in their shop. From jewelery to clothing to mousepads, notebooks, keychains, CDs, card decks, stickers, posters, and plush dolls. Lots of plush dolls. Just a heads up: they aren't Kikiwai or Anime Xtreme.

I really need to stop spotlighting Pacific Mall shops. Okay! Next time on Shop Spotlight: some store from downtown Toronto!

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Wall's Matter

2011-04-10T01:13:00.002-04:00

One of the old shop spots I blogged about closed a few weeks ago. :( Their website is still up though.

I feel bad about blogging shop spots. Most of them have closed, but I suppose that's normal with shops in Pacific Mall.

The closed shop is Wall's Matter: link

What I found in my room 3

2011-04-10T01:02:00.004-04:00

THE ONION. It grows!

My father gave the onion water Saturday afternoon, but it still grew about 10 centimeters on its own without soil or liquid water since the last post about it. I'm thinking about planting it in the backyard in a few days. I wonder if it will still grow after planting it.

Convention Activity

2011-04-09T10:00:00.000-04:00

The Scavenger Hunt:

Make a list of cosplays you want to see at a convention and look for them! Keep track of the number of the same cosplay characters you see.

I skipped March Toronto Anime Con and the Toronto Comic Con for school work. I bought tickets to Anime North though. I have no choice but to go! (Unless I get shipped to work 13 hours seven days a week at a far away place with no escape routes again. I missed Fan Expo because of that.)

Bah!

2011-04-05T21:06:00.002-04:00

I've been sleeping less than 4 hours a day these last two weeks. The worst case was 30 minutes of sleep. The only day I got to sleep 9 hours was Friday night to Saturday morning. I didn't think writing five 18-paged essays in two weeks on time would be that challenging if I already finished research. I ended up handing them all in 3 or 4 days late. I had smaller assignments due between those essays, an examination yesterday and one assignment due today. There's one more 18-paged essay due for Friday. I guess I should have spent more time on assignments the weeks before the last 2 weeks rather than sleeping, reading comics, going to lectures, doing readings, following the news, going to social meetings, practicing archery, and bathing. Hm... but I had assignments back then too. *sighs* I miss my 10 hours of sleep time.

In those two weeks, I noticed my body changing. No, it wasn't puberty--it was worse. My nerve system seems to be messed up: my hands and legs shake when I try to stand still. They used to not do that! My eye lids feel numb, my stomach makes noises 20 hours a day, something keeps shaking inside me below my rib cage, my shoulders are scrunched up, my face's skin is breaking out with bad acne, and my chest hurts. I keep seeing things that aren't there whenever I'm able to keep my eyes open, and I can't stand steady anymore. I find myself walking down hallways and stairs like a drunk! I won't be surprised if I die in the next week while studying for exams.

I hate how my family is having financial issues too. I have to get a job as soon as possible. I was planning on taking tree planting and gardening courses this summer but my parents gave me a bad look when I told them about it.

My invisible friend keeps asking me if I can die yet. Maybe, dear. Maybe.

I should stop wasting time on blogs...

What I found in my room 2

2011-04-03T07:00:00.001-04:00

Remember the onion I mentioned being used as a stink absorber in my room? Well, I woke up one morning and noticed it had something green on it. To my surprise, a plant was growing. It's been exposed to sunlight but I never watered it or put it in soil. I guess onions don't need soil. Maybe the water in the air replaced the need for liquid water? Should I be worried about it growing?

I guess I'll let it continue growing until I feel it needs to be thrown out. It may start growing fungi on it like the onion before it.

Squirrels could take over the world 6

2011-04-02T21:18:00.005-04:00

As my parents are talking about how stupid I am to my other family members in the room next door, I shall share this picture and not do my overdue school work.

Halfway through my Wednesday lecture at school, the fire bell rang. All students had to evacuate the building. I left the building at an exit different from my fellow students and waited for the bell to end. As I was waiting, a very fat squirrel ran up the tree next to me and proceeded to eat what I believe was a cracker. It spend about 15 minutes eating the cracker, then laid down and stared in my direction with its arms under its chin (if squirrels have chins).

It wouldn't stop staring at my direction! I tried not to pay attention to it but it kept... staring. I played solitaire on my iPod for awhile until a friend of mine jumped at me, scaring both the squirrel and I. The squirrel ran away and instead of greeting my friend, I said "you scared it away!"

We had a little chat about school and Pacific Mall afterwards. The fire bell was still ringing while we were chatting.

My Name

2011-03-27T13:19:00.002-04:00

Stupid.

That's what my family calls me and tell me I am. They call me stupid more than my birth name. The next time my parents introduce me to their friends, I should correct them and say "you can call me what he/she always does--stupid."

What does listening to music on YouTube while doing research have to do with being stupid? It's not like I haven't done it before. The music I listen to doesn't bother me as much as the loud explosions in the movies they watch downstairs. I can't even visit libraries on weekends peacefully because my parents think that's stupid. They think that having no partner is stupid. Saying funny things you would do but not go through with it is stupid. Not studying accounting is stupid. My choice of going a university because they wanted me to go a university is stupid. Drinking soda is stupid. They mostly say something is stupid when it refers to me.

I'm going to jump.

If you ever meet me, please remember my name

What I found in my room

2011-03-26T11:31:00.006-04:00

I haven't cleaned my room in the last few months. I've been busy sleeping, reading, typing or going to social events around Toronto. The garbage in my room keeps piling up and my father, a man who likes the house to be at least semi-clean, said "enough is enough--your room stinks." Surprisingly, he didn't comment on the mess on the floor.

When I arrived home from school on Wednesday and walked into my room, I noticed it smelled different. The air smelled clean and clear. I put away my school bag, went down to the kitchen, and there my father asked me, "how do you like the onion? Does your room smell better?" I answered, "what onion?" I went back to my room and there was an onion across from my bed. In a candle cup.

So onions can absorb smells... ? That's neat. Now I don't have to spend more than $3 buying a can of air freshner. I stopped trusting air freshners and stuck to opening windows at one point in life. Freshners don't work very well with me--they make the house smell worse.

Another few things I found in my room: a whale eraser, a dolphin eraser, and a mini artbook by my dear friend Siena.

In the Face of Disasters

2011-03-14T20:03:00.004-04:00

Even though it seems we are at the end,
we must keep walking.

For who know what light
may be waiting ahead.

_Japan

Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt Genderbend

2011-03-10T00:20:00.013-05:00

I was searching for information on Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt (PSG) original soundtracks and found genderbend pictures of the characters. I thought to myself: "Argh! Why didn't I think of it sooner?!" There are genderbending fanart I really enjoy, such as the genderbending of the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya characters. Of course there would be PSG fans out there that would draw genderbend pictures of it! PSG has a powerpuff girls-like art style, so I was looking forward to find PSG genderbend art. Fanart drawn in the beautiful art style that randomly appears from time to time in the anime was something to look forward to too.

After surfing from website to website, I am happy with what I found. I must admit though, I only saved a few of the ones I saw. Within this post are most of the images I saved. I made sure to link the images to their source. (Click the images to go to them. There are so many more images to find!)

I was hoping there were genderbend versions of Garterbelt and there were!

I was expecting Garterbelt to look funny in genderbend form, but he looks sort of normal as a woman. Oh well. :)

Panty and Stocking would take awhile to get their weapons in genderbend form. I guess genderbend wouldn't work out with them in battle.

Here's a link to a PSG genderbend gallery @ zerochan.net

Galactic Pretty Boys

2011-03-06T23:08:00.006-05:00

So... Mechs and galactic pretty magical boys. I think I will have to check out Star Driver Kagayaki no Takuto sometime soon. After Hunter x Hunter, that is. I feel I can learn a lot about galactic pretty boys and magical boys by watching this show. Maybe.

Has anyone watched this anime yet? Does it have a good story line to it?

Image retrieved from KAHTHR-Chan's album.

Pow to the Liar!!

2011-03-03T23:38:00.004-05:00

           Someone told me I was lying about _____ today, and they were right. I am sure many people notice when I lie, but they don't tell me "you lied." It's such a rare occurance that I think I would like it when people point out I lied. Okay, maybe not--it would depend heavily on the subject I lied about.

           Most of my lies are spouted when I want to tell a bad joke about myself, something that I do or did, and when people assume something of me. For example, in elementary school my classmates used to ask people if they farted when they smell something bad. I used to always answer "no" because I feared I would be shut out from everyone even more than I already was if I answered "yes." I am sure many others have lied about not farting because almost everyone used to answer no. I say almost because there were cases where male classmates took pride in their farts and shared their glory with a few friendly laughs. Back then, cool girls didn't fart. They probably still don't. It took me awhile to figure out that I wasn't cool.

           Sometimes I tell people that I stalk people. I think I started using that joke when people commented on how I like to stalk people, but honestly, I cannot recall stalking anyone without their permission. I always happen to go the same direction or encounter familiar faces when I am on my way to somewhere. In high school I was asked if I was stalking a certain someone because I used to pop out of nowhere no matter where they were. I wasn't following them, because I only followed my friends to places around the school such as the library, cafeteria, locker area, and park. I used to take walks by myself in the far-away water playground behind the school and walk through hallways to get to specific classrooms. It's not my fault if the person was there before I was. I wouldn't stalk people I like, because I have a tendency to avoid people I like or who seem interested in what I do. As an introvert creepy coward-- if that makes sense-- I would capture or find a picture of people I like, stick with that one picture, then forget about it the next day. Telling people I stalk people is only a way of making an impression.

           I think my most common lie would be "fine" when people ask me how I am doing. I expect that they wouldn't want to hear about how I feel bad or depressed. I wouldn't want them to feel bad about asking how I am doing, and I don't like to share my major troubles with people. Answering "fine" with a smile would also mean not having to deal with people when I feel angry or miserable: it ends the chat quickly. People may notice that I lied about feeling fine, but they wouldn't suggest that I am not fine and should share my problems. It makes me smile.

I guess I enjoy telling the fine lies, ne? (Whatever that means.)

Squirrels could take over the world 5

2011-03-02T14:34:00.004-05:00

I have to finish a squirrel observation assignment tonight. It was fun having to watch squirrels for an hour once a week. I think the strangest thing I saw a squirrel do, other than running around in circles, was the one squirrel that jumped and spinned in te air. My wildlife management instructor said the squirrel may be sending a signal to other squirrels about danger. It makes sense considering I was there watching them from a short distance like a creeper.

Blogs

2011-02-28T10:01:00.003-05:00

I was reading an article on blogs today in the Globe and Mail. The article explained that more people turn to Facebook and Twitter these days rather than continue the use of their blogs. I don't have a twitter account, but I have definetely spent more time on Facebook than my blogs in the last 2 months.

qq

2011-02-08T00:12:00.001-05:00

Ha ha. I can't laugh well anymore.

Pokémon Wall

2011-01-24T00:02:00.004-05:00

Subject: Pokémon Candy Dispensers
Format: JPEG
Size: 1280 x 800

Pokémon Candy Dispensers

2011-01-23T20:44:00.009-05:00

I was in my sister's room and found Pokémon candy dispensers in a box. According to the back of each dispenser, they are a 2004 product by Nintendo and BANDAI.

Binoculars

2011-01-17T22:26:00.002-05:00

I am sad!

I've been trying to find my binoculars in my dump of a room for over 3 months. I thought I would find it by January, but there's no sign of it anymore! I'm going to throw out a lot of decade-old junk this Friday. Hopefully I'll find it then.

I'll have to break and modify some of the old furniture in my room. They're so old and broken that I don't use them for anything but store my parents, sister, and cousin's old and unwanted junk. I know that a lot of the stuff I will throw out can be recycled, but I don't think the local recycling depot and collectors can take them.

Binoculars, life is becoming boring without you!

Kawaii Morning

2011-01-07T00:24:00.002-05:00

I was going through old photographs on my PC and found an image of one of my unprofessional storyboards in residence two years ago.

The theme is waking up to a cute morning. The inspiration was MexisxReitaxchan from YouTube.

2011: The Gentleman Hat Year

2011-01-04T21:45:00.007-05:00

I now pronounce the year 2011 as the Gentleman Hat year.

The Gentleman Hat year is a year where one must wear a gentleman hat at least once a week for a day. The inspiration to the notion of the gentleman hat year is Professor Layton's phrase: "A true gentleman never removes his hat." Please be aware there are circumstances where a hat must be removed.

A gentleman hat is a hat that looks like that of a gentleman's. Feel free to dub any hat as a gentleman hat.

Note: I have never played a Professor Layton game or watched any Professor Layton animation before. I only know it through Professor Layton fans. Oh ho ho ho ho ho ho!

Conventions around Toronto

2010-12-30T23:12:00.004-05:00

I've always thought: wouldn't it be nice if there was an anime convention every month around the Greater Toronto Area? Here is a list of all usual-running conventions in and near the GTA in order of months.

Month	Location	Name	Website
February	Guelph, Ontario	Con-G	con-g.com
"	Toronto, Ontario	Toronto ComiCon	www.hobbystar.com
March	Toronto, Ontario	Toronto Anime Con	www.hobbystar.com
April	Buffalo, New York	UBCon	ubcon.org
"	Rochester, New York	Tora-Con	toracon.rit.edu
May	Toronto, Ontario	Anime North	animenorth.com
August	Toronto, Ontario	FanExpo	www.fanexpocanada.com
"	Troy, Michigan	Godaikocon _{(Previously Anime Detroit)}	godaikocon.com
November	Ottawa, Ontario	Naru 2 U	naru2u.com
"	Toronto, Ontario	Dot Con	www.dot-con.com
December	Toronto, Ontario	Toronto Anime Con	www.hobbystar.com

I find that the best place to find out about major anime conventions is at AnimeCons.com.

DTAC 2010

2010-12-08T18:24:00.003-05:00

I have examinations during the following 3 weeks. I guess I'll have to miss another anime-related convention.

Things to do at an Anime Convention (part 2)

2010-12-04T09:00:00.000-05:00

Make all cosplayers give two thumbs up.

Get cosplayers to flip their hair in an elegant manner.

Use a pokéball and catch as many cosplayers as you can by throwing the ball somewhere near them (not at them).

Sing a song with convention people.

If there is an elevator, set up a table, a few chairs, and play a game of poker in there.

Pick an anime/manga character and try to take a picture of all cosplayers cosplaying that character in the convention.

_{Things to do at an Anime Convention (part 1)}

Favourites on Deviant Art 3

2010-12-02T10:03:00.002-05:00

that's funny by ~Pink-Politoed

maybe you aren't lost by *jyoujo

dorohedoro-3 by ~izb13

Manga Farming

2010-11-30T09:00:00.002-05:00

I was surfing the net and stumbled upon manga farming. I was amazed!

Koshi Kawachi, an artist from Japan, used the pages of old magazines and manga to grow plants with. He has a gallery of photographs on his website with pictures of the plants sprouting from manga.

It seems manga farmning requires the pages to stay moist as it's in the way of sunlight. I wonder if I should try it with the extra Shonen Jump magazine I have. I'm not sure if it's wise to grow edible vegetables with manga though. Would the ink from the pages cause the vegetable to taste funny? It may even be toxic! I guess if I want to try this manga farming I should try growing daisies.

Source: http://www.koshikawachi.com

Selling your Used English Manga

2010-11-29T09:00:00.007-05:00

You're cleaning your room and you find manga that had been lying around for some time. You haven't touched that manga after who knows when and you know that if you keep it it'll just continue sitting somewhere catching dust. A thought comes across your mind: "what if I could sell the manga and other anime-related stuff I have but don't need or want anymore?"

That's a great idea, but if you're living in a metropolis like the Greater Toronto Area, another 100 or more people are already doing that. In the past 4 years, I learned selling old anime and manga related treasures isn't as easy as it seems. You want to get the most out of selling your stuff, but a lot of people are looking for the lowest price possible-- unless it's a rare item that you're selling.

In this post, I will be discussing the steps to and what I've learned about selling used English manga in the Greater Toronto Area. Here is an outline of the steps I will be discussing:

Finding a network
Know the condition of your manga
Setting a price
Sell it

Step 1.

The first thing you should do is to find a network where you can advertise for used items. Examples of such networks are: shops that buy used stuff, classifieds in newspapers, eBay, personal websites, social networks, online classified communities, or community garage sales. I prefer to use online classified advertisement communities such as Craigslist and Kijiji because you just need to post an ad and set up a meeting with anyone who responds to the ad. Most of the people I've met offline were kind, but you still have to be careful about meeting someone you don't know offline.

Step 2.

The condition of your manga is very important when setting a price for it. When I buy used manga, I don't mind the spine being bent a bit on the edge, light fingerprints, and light-yellow pages, but other people may. If your manga has liquid damage to it (i.e. water or coffee) or has a ripped cover, it's better to set the selling price really low because there's a chance that someone else is selling the same manga in a better condition. Oxidation causes most manga pages to turn yellow. To avoid this, keep manga in a closed space like drawers and shelves. I like to put my manga in a dark place away from sunlight and heat because I'm afraid sunlight would cause the covers to lose colour and the pages yellow. I am not sure if sunlight is capable of turning pages yellow though.

Step 3.

This step is setting the price of your items. Please be aware that I use Canadian currency. If you want to sell your used English manga for $10 each, those books better be in new condition, wrapped in plastic, look untouched, and is expensive in stores. You'd have to be lucky or find someone desperate for manga to sell used manga at that price. Not even volumes of rare manga like the first published english-translated Sailor Moon series could be sold for $10 each in a casual manner. An omnibus manga is a compilation of volumes from a manga series. I am not familiar with the chances of selling a used one for $10, but it seems reasonable enough if the book isn't damaged. Considering that an omnibus is a package that carries more than one volume, you could even try to sell it for $12 or $15.

The standard price for used manga is $5 each. It's not guaranteed that it will be sold, but you'll have a better chance of selling it than at the price of $10. If you're selling a manga series, $5 per book would work best for series that have 1 to 8 volumes. For series with more than 6 volumes, it is better to sell them for less than $4 each. I have to admit though, you're more likely to sell a manga series at the price of $3 or less per volume.

Here is an image with suggested prices and my thoughts on the prices according to what I've learned about selling used English manga:

Remember: $5 is the standard price. That is where I am 75% sure that the manga will be sold. If the price is at $1 per volume, it is 99% that the book would be sold. At $12 per volume, it is 5% that the manga will be sold.

I remember trying to sell volumes 1 to 27 of Bleach for $100 ($3.70/volume) on Kijiji for half a year. I lowered the price to $60 ($2.22/volume), but I still didn't get a reply to my offer until I lowered the price to $50 ($1.85/volume). Even though the books were in new condition and I included a picture to my advertisement to prove their condition, I had to lower the price because there were other people selling more than 20 volumes of Bleach at a unit price similar to my earlier offers. I also wanted to guarantee that I will sell the series because I didn't want it lying around any longer. I think the reason why no one replied to my offer of $100 was because it was $100. The number of digits and the overall price probably seemed unpleasant to people.

As a used English manga buyer, I tend to buy smaller series because I like to avoid spending over $60 for a used manga series. I have met vendors that sold their manga where the more you buy, the less it is per unit. Vendors that do that seem to sell their manga much quicker than set prices.

Step 4.

When someone has taken an interest in your manga, lose all attachment to it. If the person asks for a lower price, sell it to them for that price (if it's reasonable). They may have found that price somewhere else and the chances of another person interested in buying may not come by if you know you're selling a series that many other people are selling. Don't expect to make a lot of money out of selling your used English manga!

_{Comments and opinions on this guide (if you would call it a guide) are greatly appreciated. I read through it a few times and it feels like a shared personal experience that is not at least 90% realistic.}

Korea

2010-11-28T20:57:00.002-05:00

North Korea, what game are you playing?

Conventions, Conventions

2010-11-28T15:09:00.002-05:00

_{This post is a follow-up to Where did TAC go?.}

A few of my friends mentioned that the dates for the next March and December Toronto Anime Con (TAC) were released a few weeks ago on Hobbystar Marketing's website. TAC's going to be on Sunday, December 12, 2010 and the weekend of March 19-20, 2011.

I didn't get the chance to attend any conventions this last summer, so I want to be there for both TACs.

Looking Back

2010-11-11T13:47:00.003-05:00

I was reading my old log on the Miyavi Concert. I thought: Gosh, I am childish. I should try to do random things with dignity, serenity, and respect in an elegant style.

I love my squirrel observations. I haven't been updating on the subject. *looks at camera*

I should manage my time better. That way I may be able to sleep more and discouver sanity. Wait. What's sanity?

November 5

2010-11-06T21:56:00.004-04:00

In Toronto, in a restaurant, at a recycling depot, in a dollar store, at a school, in the subway, and at a mall.

Favourites on deviant ART 2

2010-11-06T09:00:00.001-04:00

Domochu by ~2DChew

BAM by *Valerei

Lighthouse - ACEO by ~toadstone

Tricked or Treated?

2010-11-01T14:56:00.002-04:00

What was the weirdest thing you received while trick-or-treating?

I remember I used to visit my friend Madeline's Scarborough neighbourhood to go trick-or-treating with her. The candy there has more variety than the chips from my neighbourhood. There was always this one highly decorated house that stood out with me.

The first year Madeline, my sister, and I went trick-or-treating together we got to choose between getting candy or calculators at that house. We chose the calculators. The third year they let us choose between candy and Kraft dinner's maccaroni and cheese. We chose Kraft dinner, but it turned out they weren't serious about giving it away. I haven't visited that house on Halloween since the Kraft dinner year. I've either been busy these past Halloweens with school work or could not visit the folks there.

Hallowe'en 2010

2010-10-31T00:00:00.003-04:00

To all you trick-or-treat-ers out there, have a safe and fun Hallowe'en!

I had fun at the teahousing event at Go For Tea even though there were only 4 of us teahousers that showed up. I will be getting my picture taken with the Guy Fawkes mask on November 5th for you, Siena! I love the horns you made and wore.

Magical Boys

2010-10-28T22:38:00.001-04:00

I'm into magical people, and when Fancy Shirt showed me this video, it inspired me.

QR-Codes are Quick and Rule!

2010-10-21T21:28:00.004-04:00

I've known about QR Codes ever since I bought my first anime figurine that came with a complimentary candy. I didn't know what they were called though, I simply recognized the code like I do with a bar code. Then one day, I saw a large advertisement in the subway!

The advertisement stated it's a 2D-code. I bing searched it and with the help of wikipedia, I eventually found out that the codes are actually called QR codes. The wikipedia page linked to a website that explains what QR codes are: QRcode.com. I bing searched QR code for a code generator and the first website that came up was http://qrcode.kaywa.com. I generated this text QR code:

It's a message that only a QR code reader can decipher. Awesome!

Sheet Music

2010-10-21T21:14:00.003-04:00

I was going through my little sister's favourites in her web browser, and she had anime sheet music websites! That reminded me of the good old days when we downloaded fan-made sheet music for pianos and violins. Too bad we don't know how to play the cello, flute, and guitar.

Anime on Strings~
Ichigo's Sheet Music
josh's anime sheet music collection
Piano Squall - Sheet Music
Pianocian

Capsule PV: Episodes 1-3

2010-10-18T09:00:00.003-04:00

From: http://www.youtube.com/YasutakaNakata

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

capsule - Toukyou Kissa and 5iVESTAR

2010-10-17T15:10:00.002-04:00

I stumbled upon two animations that use capsule music on YouTube and felt like sharing. There will be a few more posted tomorrow.

Boo

2010-10-13T23:10:00.001-04:00

I want to sleep, but I need to work. Luckily, I have my anti-drug: manga.

Betta fish

2010-10-11T22:49:00.003-04:00

My betta fish, Bulky, died today. She was the first female betta fish I have ever brought to this house I live in. I think I bought her early this year. The hard part of her death is not letting her go, but deciding on what to do with the body.