SFO to NRT

Hello all!

I know certain people that have mastered the art of being thoughtful.
From time to time, when I least expect it, these certain people have touched me by letting me know in small subtle ways that they care about me & that I am always in their thoughts.

I am no jerk, while I do love & care about my friends & family very much I don't think I let them know enough in special ways.

For example, my cousin was out & about shopping when he came across a super deformed Darth Vader figure on clearance ($2.00 usd). Because he knew I was a gangu otaku & that I liked Star Wars he picked it up for me.
I woke up in the morning to find the toy on my nightstand waiting to greet me "ohaiyo gozaimusu Erik-kun!"!

I went about my business feeling genki 100% unable to hide the smile on my face & feeling a desire to pay my cousin's kindness forward to somebody else that was maybe having a rough morning.

The little things in life can add up!

There are many friends & family members that come to mind as I write this (Langdon & him surprising me with a birthday gift or Soto Chan with her random notes letting me know she is thinking about me) & as 2010 fast approaches I think I will try & be more thoughtful this year.

As I was researching custom fightstick videos for my own  custom project I came across this video.
A group of friends chipped in time & money to buy & customize a fightstick for a friend. They documented the process & the reveal. That is one lucky guy to have friends like that! They really did a great job & this is a much better idea than just buying a gift. everyone's heart went into making the fightstick.

A great example of being thoughtful & showing some love!

This Wednesday is the Veteran's Day holiday. Because I work for a bank I get to have the day off which is awesome.

Political bullshit aside (god knows I disagree with many of the U.S.'s foreign policies), I just want to give a shout out to all my friends & family that are in the military. Stay safe everyone!

My father was in the military, my grandfather was in the military my stepfather was in the military uncles & aunts & cousins were in the military close friends were & still are in the military.

Serving in harm's way in warzones in the middle east & in every major conflict the U.S. has been a part of since the Korean War. I have been very blessed in the fact that to date ALL of my friends & family have made it home safe.

So that being said I will be spending my veteran's day watching anime & playing video games...hey we all celebrate in different ways right?

Wow, this may be quite the departure for our blog yeah? Gomen!!!

Perhaps I got a little mushy in this post? HAHA!

I have been stuck in the house lately.

Some people know that I live at my grandmother's house. For the most part I have the house to myself as she is gone for most of the year. But recently she fell ill & had to come back to the U.S. for medical treatment.
Now that she has gotten older she really needs someone to assist her with day to day things & that's where I come in.

My cousin recently moved in & plans to stay for a few months while he saves up for a deposit to rent a home. He is rarely home because he has a full-time job, a part time job & is currently working on earning a Master's degree at University. Sooooo, I am the one that is most available to be here with grandma.

I am not complaining really.

It has really been a help financially for me since rent in the San Francisco Bay Area is astronomical as it is with most metro areas. It saves me a ton of money each month to live here at her house since it literally COSTS me $75 weekly just to travel to & from work since I have to commute & with my schedule I cannot take public transit. Also I still have approximately $20,000 left to pay on my Federal student loans. It gives me a headache to think about it.

So I am not complaining, it's just that cabin fever sets in from time to time & today was one of those days. I had not stepped out of the house since I came home on Friday afternoon from work!

I finally got a chance to step out for a bit today. I treated myself to some stuff as well which is the main reason for my post. I have made some play money selling off my Transformers collection on ebay. I use that money to fund any fun things, so that I do not dip into my paycheck at all. I really should be saving it though huh!??!

Such is the life of an Otaku.

FIrst off Fry's Electronics had another great deal for the PS3 Standard Edition Mad Catz Street Fighter IV fightstick. It was on sale this weekend for $50 which is awesome since it retails for $70. Now as I have mentioned in other blog posts the Standard Edition fightstick came with a generic joystick & buttons that cloned the better quality Sanwa Denshi parts. So upon purchasing the SE fightstick I immediately went to Lizardlick.com & ordered a replacement Sanwa Denshi joystick & Sanwa buttons in green to match Blanka on the artwork.

PS3StreetFighterIVFightStick

Then today I went to Gamestop & dug through all the old PS2 games & picked up Tekken Tag Tournament, Street Fighter Alpha Anthology & Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution. All great Japanese fighting games at great prices PLUS I had about 8 bucks left on my EDGE card along with the discount it provides for used game purchases.

Then I went to the Barnes & Noble next door & picked up Yostubato #5 & #6!!! I am a HUGE Yostubato fan & I highly recommend the manga to everyone. I cannot say enough about it, JUST GO OUT & BUY IT!
As I was browsing the manga aisle a book caught my eye & after looking at the every first panel I was sold!

The manga is called Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei. And this my friends is the very first panel.

Sayonara-zetsubou-sensei-1

OK I started this day off with lots of energy!
My plan was to get up, do 30 minutes of cardio. Mow my lawn full of weeds.
Eat, get ready then go to Hiro's store to see if they had any Mild Seven cigarettes in stock then head out to the Best Buy store the next city over to buy the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya complete dvd box set. My local Best Buy didn't have it in stock =(.

I did my cardio, ate then got stuck browsing the internet!

Then after lagging all morning I finally leave the house & drive to Hiro's grocery store & it was closed.
My craving for Japanese tobacco will have to go unsatisfied. I stopped smoking for the most part but every now & then I crave a smoke & when I do smoke I'd like a Mild Seven & not just because I love Japan but because I really do like them better. Anyways smoking is bad, I am an adult & I will deal with any consequences that arise from my occasional indulgence.

I drive 20 minutes to Best Buy & I cannot find the complete Haruhi box set although online they said they had it in stock. The guy there was totally not helpful & just said "if it's not on the shelf we don't have it!" I bugged him to double check the stock in their system & he confirmed "the computer says we have 2 in stock" but he didn't even helped me look! He wouldn't even check with the Best Buy store 3 cities over for me I had to call myself on my own keitai!

Before I left though I checked up & down all the shelves in the anime section & while I was doing that this old guy walks by me & rips the nastiest fart ever! And he continues to walk away & I'm left there in a cloud of shit smelling air!!!
I wanted to chase him down & drop kick the guy! It's one thing for me to have to smell your nasty ass but it's another thing for people in the area to think that it could've been ME that laid the egg!

I almost threw up it was that gross.

Anyways I had the Best Buy clerk 4 cities over hold the box set for me & I drove down there to pick it up.

I am happy now, Haruhi promises to be epic & I had a smoke so I'm good.

=)