Being strong not only in my mind, but also physically made my way through. I had to be willing to let my body sweat and make my clothes wet as not only I anxiously await to get to the other side of the country, but also carrying my heavy loads of bags. Carrying a school backpack full of textbooks from home to the bus stop and then to school may be the worst case scenario. In spite of my small body, I still had the strength to carry more than just a weight of a school backpack full of books, a suitcase which fortunately had wheels, a duffel bag, and my travel backpack. I had to trek with them throughout this exile, including when I trekked a few blocks up the hill from the bus stop to the train station.

Most importantly of all, knowing the French language was a plus. Knowing French allowed me to communicate with my French friends on my cell phone, speak to the train agent and bus driver, and the best of all, STRANGERS!

Having an understanding of the country’s national transportation system such as airplanes and trains and geography also saved my life and of course, money!! While I was in Trets where the farm was located, I certainly knew that Marseilles was the closet major city where I could catch a train or an airplane. Knowing that purchasing an airfare was going to be WAAAAAY more expensive than a train ticket at the last minute, I sure did opt to take the train. An airfare from Marseilles to Bayonne would have cost me 600 euros whereas the train ticket only cost me 78 euros.

While the volunteer program,hermes belts, Volunteer for Peace, was a huge disappointment as I dreamed to make a difference in a foreign country and instead, I was just simply a Cinderella who was living under the roof of a wicked leader, I still have a meaningful moral of this trip. The first thing that I can sum up is that travelers, regardless of any kinds of trip, must be courageous and never afraid to come across barriers in a strange land. To make very last minute plans does not need to be costly even if safety is concerned. As someone who grew up in a city where public transportation is rarely used and has viewed public transportation as a dangerous commute, figuring out how to take the bus to the train station was a complete new and a ticklish situation for me. I was close to taking a taxi instead of bus, but due to the high cost of taxis in France and the weak dollar against the euros, the price of taking buses was too unbeatable to try – 5 euros. It was also a great way to experience a new and different lifestyle. As many parents say to their children, “Strangers are bad people. Don’t talk to strangers!”, sometimes we have to excuse their comments in order to save our life. Because I didn’t understand the bus system too well, I asked two high school students how to get to the train station, and they gave me the best directions. Without them, I would have emptied out my wallet by taking a cab or gotten lost in middle of another city! Then, on the train, when I couldn’t hear the announcer, I asked the other people surrounding me what the announcer just said. If I didn’t ask, I would have gotten off in Toulouse not realizing that I missed the second train and was supposed to stay on the train to head to Bordeaux, I would probably have stayed in Toulouse for several more hours or stayed over night!

Finally, the hardest part of the trip was not knowing what event was going to happen next. I had absolutely no idea how many buses I was going to take, what time I was going to catch a train or even if I could catch a train on the same day, which friends with whom I was going to stay during the next following days, and what problems I could encounter along the way. My stomach certainly did have butterflies throughout this ordeal, but at least I remained optimist that I was going to eventually reach the finishing point. While this trip was a hard ordeal to go through, it was an adventure full of lessons that cannot be forgotten. This story will certainly be told to new travelers and to my children, if I have some one day.

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Since getting home, around 4 in the morning, I haven?t had the chance to really look through all the stuff I got, so I really can?t say which was the best book from the show. But as of right now, it might have to be The Sky #3 from Jay Sayers. Personally, I can’t get enough interplanetary humor.

- Day one was spent checking out the goods, so day two was spent actually picking stuff up, though this year it was a pretty big problem. First off, the fact is that there?s always simply too much cool stuff to be found. But also, most of the money I had saved up for the show was spent just days prior on a brand new PS2. I was not looking forward to the PStwo, so once when I came across the older unit, and brand new, I knew it was my possibly last chance to get one (the older ones are impossible to find thanks to a shortage that?s been going on all year). Plus with some of the stuff I saw I really couldn?t remember if I already had it or, and if so, if I wanted to get an extra for myself, or maybe as a gift.

- It was suggested by Dave and I pose as him and Todd as John if Teen Boat won, but they stuck around for the awards instead of going home, which was good cuz they won! So congrats to them. Though I do agree with Todd that we should have gone anyways and started a fight. It would have been a really awesome.

- Dinner that evening was at the Tastee Diner, which was notorious for it?s rude service, but the last time I went, everyone was friendly, so there were fears things had changed. So it was awesome to hear our waiter get impatient with Todd who was too busy fucking around to hear that this drink was ready (?Alright pal, stay alert.?). I won?t bother with the details, but at a certain point I wanted to ask the waiter if the thought in Demolition Man, regarding the fake, suspended animation Sly Stallone, also had a penis, but I really didn?t want a punch in the face.

- The first day ended with dinner at a burrito place, though the best thing I ate that night was some garlic bread. The highlight of the meal for everyone (there was almost 20 of use eating outside) was watching various folks go into the sex shop next door, like the nerd and hot lady couple (she was obviously a prostitute) and some guy with a penis hat.

Move 8 / Todd / top row, left square: Yet another thrilling movie scene, this one from one of the Ewoks movies.

At this point, Todd declared me winner by default since he could no further, though to make it official, I should have drawn in the last square a scene from Gremlins 2 as I originally planned (something with the sexy Gremlin).

? And here?s how the game went?

Move 3 / me / center row, middle square: A real incident in which some guy who was trimming the hedges at the World?s Fair in Canada (Expo 86) had his head over a rollercoaster rail and couldn?t hear the train coming (he had his headphones on), wad decapitated, and had his head fly over half a mile to land on the roof of the China pavilion (where my family and I were having lunch right next door).

Move 2 / Todd / center row, left square: A scene from Clash of the Titans, with Zeus setting the Kraken loose.

- The last day was pretty low key. Finished up with all my key purchases, said some goodbyes,Replica Purses, and helped MK at her table for the rest of the show. Afterwards we watched Back to the Future in Todd and Toby?s room (Travis Nichols and was there and he kept on pointing out flaws in it?s time travel logic, but in a funny, and not annoying, way). Then it was dinner at Subway where Todd though he spotted Mitch Pileggi (Skinner from the X-Files), and finally the Ignatz award ceremony.

- Also at the show was BB&PPINC which again had uber cute shirts for sale. Unfortunately there weren?t any new ones available (perhaps there were but were sold out; their stuff was super popular). And again, I got to chat with the really nice French girl who?s behind it all. Did I mention that one of the best things about small press cons are the multiple of cute girls?

- Speaking of, my very first stop was to visit Dave and the rest of the Cryptic Press crew at their table where the newest Teen Boat was for sale. The book was also nominated for an Ignatz in the category of best debut book, and I was given a VOTE BOAT button to help spread the word.

- I also met Alexander Danner, the editor of the Graphic Novel Review, who besides being super friendly, also (as Dave pointed out) looks like we could be related. Anyway, we swapped stories related to our childhood encounters with firemen.

- Later in the night, I caught the first episode of the new season of SNL (not nearly enough Riggle was to be seen) at Todd?s room, went down to the lobby and hung out with Andy Runton) where we went over the marketing possibilities for his character Owly (I?m sorry, but Owly sausages sounds good to me), ran into Farel who was again drunk, then Sarah Varon who told me about a party, which I later checked out. Caught up with Heidi MacDonald (didn?t know she was such a fan of Diablo 2) until it was past 4 in the morning and time to go to bed.

- Afterwards, I hung out at the lobby of the hotel like everyone else to drink and mingle. Almost every single person was exhausted from staying up all night drawing, stapling, and driving, so folks were just plain out of it. Farel was found super loaded and he wanted me to go to Baltimore with him and check out some strip clubs, but I passed (though I almost wanted to go just to watch him make an ass out of himself in front of strippers). Plus our mainly display of affection annoyed some (as Farel embraced me and swung around, we did hit some people). The rest of the evening was spent chatting with MK and her friend Robin in my hotel room (plus we watched the last bit of Cabin Fever).

- Todd and I also played tic tac toe at dinner, but instead of using Xs and Os, we first used countries, which later to simply locations (I foolishly put Cybertron in the wrong spot and Todd got the win with Never Never Land). The next game started with locations, but morphed to movie scenes?

- In addition to hanging out with old buddies, I met some new faces. Finally got to shake hands with K. Thor Johnsen, a.k.a. “Amber”. Besides having comics, he had for sale DVDs filled with wacky shit, and I?m all about wacky shit, so I got one. He seemed genuinely surprised to meet someone who?s familiar with the Turkish movie that has Spider Man vs. Captain America vs. Santos (a famous Mexican wrestler) and seemed eager for me to pass along my copy of Iranian Alf. Plus, he?s familiar with perhaps the wrongest film of all time, Karate Ruler, and just might be the only person who can help me get a copy of its sequel, Karate Lover.

- I was pretty shocked to see Farel at the show, whom I thought was still living in Europe. He had with him an Italian copy of his Pop Gun War trade, which I was told via our mutual friend Stephy, was all over Venice this summer. Farel brought along a buddy from Oklahoma, a really nice guy named Joe, and we would both bond over shared loved for death metal (you should have seen his eyes light up when he realized that I knew who the hell Cannibal Corpse was).

- The con itself was pretty much as expected: packed with awesome folks and their comics. Since I was there for the whole three days. and with no real business to conduct, the trip was for purely pleasure; the year prior I went with Jason on the behalf of our company. In fact, we were even called ?the PixelJump guys? last time by Dave.

- Afterwards MK & I hit the road. The drive back to NY/NJ normally takes about four hours, but our trip took five thanks to our hunt for a Wawa. Thankfully, we found one near Great Adventure and we both enjoyed the best chicken sandwiches known to mankind on the hood of the car. Later, she popped my bubble by saying that Cybertron, which I desperately wish was real, would probably be a horrible place to live due to the smell (I had always assumed Energon was void of any odor, but it is made from stuff like oil and other organic materials. That and she thinks the flying cars from the Back to the Future universe, which I desperately hope becomes real, would be a nightmare with all the crashes and ensuing accidental deaths. Some vision of the future?

- The kindest, most gentle cartoonist in the world, Nate Powell was present, and I finally got a chance to pick up a copy of It Disappears (which I forgot to do last time I saw him) and chatted with Paul Hornschemeier who finally had Forlorn Funnies #5 available.

- Also got the chance to speak, and hang out with, quite a few other cool people, some who I only see at shows, such as Todd Webb and Toby Craig (who had me do a sketch in his book and like a retard, I misspelled the word dreams). Joel Carrol, whom I first met at the prior year?s expo (and was absolutely amazed that I had even heard of the game Geist which he was working on at the time) was in attendance. When we met, we immediately swapped game music; I knew he wanted the soundtrack to Katamari Damacy and he had some tunes from Mr. Driller for trade.

Move 6 / Todd / top row, right square: Richard Dreyfus creating a mash potato mountain from Close Encounters.

Move 4 / Todd / bottom row, middle square: Stonehenge with Derek Smalls (from Spinal Tap) in the background.

- Afterwards we all posed for pictures and chatted one last time. Then we all had cake. When James Kochalka came up to John to congratulate him, MK and I were standing from afar and I told her how funny it was, in a recent strip of his diary comic, that he characterized himself as a balding man-child. But James overheard me talking about him, and I think he thought I was mocking him (he kept making these quick glances at me). As cool as it would be to appear in his comic, I hope he doesn?t think I?m some jerk or anything.

- Kicked things off by meeting up with MK Reed the night before the show in Jersey. Spent the evening in her hometown by the Jersey shore in a dilapidated beach house with MK’s friend Morgan. Highlights that night includes me tracking dog shit into the house, swapping traumatizing childhood incidents (and I’m chock full of those), and drinking some chicken wine.

Move 5 / me / bottom row, left square: Tron versus the just resurrected Stark in the climactic confrontation from the 80?s classic (and which is much better than the Matrix, btw).

- Though at a certain point, and I am a bit embarrassed to admit this, I did get a bit bored of the con (I?d like to think it?s somewhat easy if it?s a small show like SPX, or if you?re not busy selling your own stuff or manning a booth) so I went back to room and watch the final top 20 in E!?s top 100 moments in SNL. Most simply did not make any sense; yeah they were funny, but to be in the top 20? At least the Will Farrell/Christopher Walken/Blue Oyster Cult cowbell sketch was number 3 or 4 or something.

EDIT: I almost forgot, you can read other (perhaps more informative) reports of the show from both Dave and Raina (Telgemeier).

Move 7 / me / top row, middle square: Staying on the Spielberg tip, the scene the aliens unearth a frozen Haley Joel Osment in A.I.

So SPX was this past weekend and there were plenty of hijinks all throughout. Here are my highlights…

- Morgan is a super crazy Jersey girl, but totally cool. Among the many nuggets of truths she enlightened me with, the most useful was her method for dealing with homeless people: ask them for money before they get the chance to say anything first. And for an added touch, say the money is for strippers. Plus it was fun watching her get into a war of words with the cranky old sandwich making woman at Wawa the next morning.

- One of the neater things that were on-hand was a machine that dispensed mini-comics for 50 cents. Almost as cool as the Long Tail Kitty comic that was sealed in a personalized envelope by Lark Pien herself, which was so nice that to this day, I still don?t want to open it.

- And I love how in almost every conversation, every single Ninja Turtle reference I made quickly became a Napoleon Dynamite reference.

- Plus I got to hang out with Katie Skelly, a good friend of MK?s that I met at this past summer?s MoCCA fest. Once again, she had an ultra cute mini comic on hand, this time illustrating some bad poetry written by teenagers from the net. Plus she had some really cute, hand made pockets that were actually condom holders. I got a green one.

Move 1 / me / center row, right square: I knew a kid who told me how in LI, he and his buddy would go to Dunkin Donuts to go through, and eat, all the donuts the place would throw out at 4 in the morning.

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Moving on, it’s been a while since I’ve passed along another massive game related post filled with links, commentary, and wacky pics. Truth be told, I’ve sorta been out of the loop, thanks to the NYAFF, and have been struggling to catch up, in light of tons of more important things on my agenda. Though here’s one link that I caught, I think it was on Kotaku: what yearbook awards would be like for a high school that was filled video characters. Much of it is pretty entertaining, and reminded me of a similar piece I did a few years back at Nickelodeon Magazine…

BTW, here we have bonus footage of me playing DDR from Dave’s birthday bash from a weeks ago. Again, everyone was extremely impressed with my Michael Flatley/River Dance approach to the game.

… I’m still quite proud of Principle Pong, who is just as creepy as I envisioned. The person responsible for the artwork, for those who were wondering, is the über talented Gary Marshall. And since I’m sharing old Nick Mag scans, here’s another super early piece of mine, also featuring Gary’s work, along with David Coulson (he’s behind the Baby Pac illustration)…

Here we have footage of me at this past ICON conducting Gamer’s Court. It’s somewhat embarrassing, and I don’t know why I’m sharing it, but I am a pretty big narcissist, so how could I not? It’s the tail end of the hour, when I was REALLY drunk, and is therefore somewhat enjoyable.

And I know I mentioned this before, though it was somewhat buried in my New York Asian Film Festival wrap-up, so once again: I will taking my shtick over to the New York Anime Fest later this year! I’ll be moderating two panels, one on how to get a job in the video game industry, which will feature all my cool friends working in the field today, and locally, as well as one that will contrast and compare the video game scene here in America and the one in Japan. Now, perhaps I shouldn’t be admitting things, but since I’m also a loud-mouth, I must admit that I’m having a hard time finding experts to take part in that discussion, simply because those that I had slated will not be available, thanks to the Tokyo Game Show which also takes place that weekend. What wonderful timing! Anyhow, I’ll also be doing my patented top ten list, which has proven to be such a hit at ICONs past. Even to get MTV coverage, remember! And this time, I’m doing both the ten best and worst in one big shot. It goes without saying that my lists from before shall be sufficiently updated, though once can expect plenty of shots at Kingdom Hearts fans once again!

So I have a ride to Otakon! Was originally going to take the “Otakon bus”, which sounded pretty awesome when Hilary described it… at least the idea of being on a five hour long bus ride with a bunch of coplayers. Though I would imagine the ride back would be a bit on the hellish side; aside from an extra packed bus, thanks to the twenty extra pounds everyone has on them, mostly all the yaoi that was acquired at the show, I can only imagine all the tears being shed. Either from some kind of wardrobe malfunction,gucci purses, or heartbreak in general (you’d be surprised how much drama goes down at such shows, at least among teenage animu fans… any con is basically the special vacation episode of any soap opera). Anyhow, I’m hitching a ride with this guy Luke who?s been a reader of the site for many years now, and whom I’ve also had the pleasure of meeting and chitchatting with at ICONs past as well. So a road trip! Fun times are in sure to be in store. But speaking of Long Island, guess what I just recently unearthed…

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This is not limited to classical music critics.

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The situation right now is at its worst. Not only because critics are losing their jobs right and left, but because the field is being pared in so brutal a fashion. It is far worse for a city to end up with one single critic, no matter how competent or how well-positioned, than none; the only way for criticism to work is as a forum of some sort, whether it be four guys on the NYTimes or me versus Mark Swed in L.A.. This network of small dictatorships reduces the field to a lot of interlocking blather. All these blogs right now are a kind of Babel, but the small-talk guys, the guys that used to shoot off in the record stores and now have access to websites, will soon run out of steam,gucci purses, and the few worthwhile websites – Alex’s, best of all – will survive as the new source for musical intelligence. The fact that schools like USC are actually training arts critics these gloomy days is a good sign; there’s a chance that the art will survive.

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We have played at Humphrey’s since 1990 and until now we had never played our long set. In the past we always performed 2 shows in one evening and that meant that we had to keep our show to about 90 minutes including encore. We have a wonderful audience in San Diego and this year I wanted to show them the whole enchilada, which is why we are only doing one performance.

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Mark and I will do an instore at Borders in the middle of the day.

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Went to a coffee shop across from the hotel this morning to have an eye-opener (regular coffee with a shot of espresso) and noticed that there is no mention of our show on Wednesday in the Boulder Weekly, just an add for all of the shows at the Chautauqua.

Today our crew will set up the stage at the Chautauqua and we hope to get to run the show once this afternoon. My right thumb, which I stabbed with a speaker spike last week – it left a nice clean hole that was a quarter inch in diameter and a quarter inch deep – is almost healed up. It’s become a tradition for me to hurt myself within the last week before the tour. I think this is the fourth time. Do I really not want to go on the road? Is the self-imposed pressure of putting on a great show to much? I don’t know.

We drove in three rental cars from Santa Fe to Boulder yesterday. I rode in a car with Calvin and Jon,Chanel Handbags, and we asked Calvin to tell us stories about the Flamenco world in Madrid, Spain. Calvin plays Flamenco guitar in a club in Madrid, where he accompanies Flamenco dancers and singers.

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I bought a couple of these Japanese bicycle bells at Mellow Velo here in Santa Fe. They are made of brass and have a lovely sound – more like a temple bell calling to attention…

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