For me, this is the first time I’ve ever attended an anime convention here in the Los Angeles (LA) area other than Anime Expo. There was one time a couple years ago where we were about to go, but because lack of enthusiasm and bad experiences, we wound up doing other things. Nothing could be worse that could affect later decisions than that. But because of one bad experience doesn’t mean it will keep happening every time. I’m glad I don’t subscribe or easily swayed to such trains of thought, other wise I wouldn’t go anywhere. I’m a firm believer that past experiences could be learned from to make things better. So after the sixth iteration of Anime LA, it became one of the best winter conventions in the Fall/Winter season in Southern California.

This time around, it was just Lawrence, Samantha and I that went to Anime LA. We arrived at the LAX Marriot about 8:30. It was good that parking was very easy, albeit the $13 parking fee. But that’s to be expected because parking is a premium in LA. Again, it’s good we arrived early in the morning. Registration was a breeze. Then again, it could be because it was Saturday. Just fill out a short form and get in line. This time, Samantha was the “main” attendee while I was the “Parent in Tow.” After I paid her $30 registration fee, I attended for free. The cashier, Heidi, told me of some specific “parent” panels and parent-only areas. I was interested.

We still had about an hour and half before anything starts. We went to the lobby level to find a Starbucks. We had a little breakfast and to plan out our day. By the time 10 hit, we went to the first panel about “what to watch after watching anime.” The turnout was really small but it was interesting. The speaker introduced a few asian films that could or might be available. At least I got to see how the current Yamato CG movie was like. This is in anticipation for the live action movie coming out this December. Movies coming from asia have come a long way from before.

When the panel ended, we went to the dealers room. Argh! From the map of the hotel floor that I was looking at the other day, I thought it was large. Wrong. The dealers room was small. It didn’t take even 10 minutes to look through all the vendors. There was nothing much to see. Nothing exciting. Even though the dealers room was about the same size as the one at AniMagic that we attended a few years before, AniMagic had better merchandise.

I realized that there was an 11:00 panel that we wanted to attend on “how to run a convention.” I called Lawrence to tell him where we were. Even though we were 10 minutes late, the discussion was very valuable and informative. For a couple years, we have jokingly talked about starting a small con (convention) here in the Inland Empire, RiverCon. But after all the things I learned from this panel, we didn’t stand a chance. Even with me being the wisest (relatively) and oldest in the group, we didn’t even hit up on the other many intricate details of running a convention. If we did do such a venture, it would’ve failed in the planning stage...a fool’s errand.

It was already after we had lunch that we went to our next panel that I, myself, wanted to attend. The panel was about “parents concerns about anime and the conventions” or something like that. This panel was for parents whose kids are anime fans. It really didn’t pertain to me, being a fan myself, but I was interested to hear what other non-fan parents had to say. A lot of the discussion was mainly about parents’ trust in their child attending anime conventions and how parents could deal with it. Other topics were discussed like terminology, convention budgeting, child security and so on. I wished more parents could attend this panel. By having this panel, it showed that the people running this con cared for its young fans and took it seriously. I was truly touched myself. Too bad that other anime conventions couldn’t be like this. It’s one-of-a-kind. Being the kind of parent I am, I would let Samantha wander off by herself at this con without worrying.



By this time in the afternoon, we were killing time for the next panel that I wanted to attend about “how to make going to a con, better.” But while killing time at Artist Alley and the dealers room, I got a text from my old friend, Bill, who was on his way to meet up with us. I didn’t know how much longer, but we waited outside for him for a while. Man, it’s been too long since I last saw him. We walked around the convention area talking pictures and checking stuff out. Bill was amazed, trying to soak in everything that was going on. Yeah it’s been a while. The last anime con he went to was back in 97. We wanted to eat now, but the hotel restaurant was closed. So went to sports bar instead.

After having our late afternoon snack, we chilled for a while catching up. I think Lawrence went off to check out some other stuff. By coincidence, most of the con kind of shut down by 4 in preparation for the masquerade. There were maybe one or two panels going on, other than artist alley and the dealers room and people getting in line already. The masquerade didn’t start until 7 so we had a couple hours to kill. We weren’t in such a hurry to see the masquerade. So in that time, from time to time, we walked around the con taking pictures, hanging out at different places, checking out the sights and other things, to make it short. Luckily it was stillwarm after getting dark outside the hotel because that’s where we were most of the time, the hotel patio.

By 8, Bill had to go so we sent him off. We hung around for a bit and decided to catch the rest of the masquerade. It was a full house. And because of fire ordinances, they wouldn’t let us in. It wasn’t a total loss since we had no real interest to watch it. It was only to kill time since everything else shut down. There was the Rockband contest, but you know.... Anyway, there were some “other” panels later on that evening, but we could go to them because they were “blue.” So after talking the last set of pictures, we called it the day and headed home...after stopping by Frys Electronics along the way.

All in all, I had a really great impression of the con, albeit the experiences that people shared to me about this con. It was how Anime Expo used to be more than a decade ago, but better. I surely hope it doesn’t get any bigger. I would go to this con next year, this time for a couple days or all three. It’s nice since it’s close to home (relatively), inexpensive, family friendly and its still a small con. Sorry AniMagic, see you next year Anime LA.

The excursion to the LA Auto Show was somewhat unexpected. We knew and talked about it for weeks, but nothing came of it. I never made mention of it again. So when yesterday, Saturday, came along, I didn’t hear of anyone wanted to go. I wanted to just to get out of the house, so I called up Tim. Cool, we’re going. After getting ready and running a short errand at my parents, I headed off to Tim’s where we waited for Susan and Andy.

After picking up Lawrence, the usual, we were on our way. Good thing that traffic wasn’t bad westbound on the 60. We made it there in no time. Once we got there, by chance, we did the same exact thing; looking for parking, missed the parking entrance, made the wrong turn, went back around. The only difference this time, on the way back to the parking structure, the right turn lane was blocked. We went left and around LA Live back to parking.

I could say that there was nothing much to see at the Auto Show. What I wanted to see were the new concept cars. As far as the production cars, I could wait for them in upcoming commercials and on the road. But on the other hand, it was good to see them before all that. We started off at South Hall. After walking around a bit, I realized that we were taking a little too long at South Hall. By chance, our group split. One was Tim, Susan and Andy. And it was just Lawrence and I.

In order to try see everything and not dwell in one area too long, Lawrence and I decided to go to West Hall. On the way there, though the “batcave” way, we got sidetracked at the Concourse area to see the ultra high end exotic cars like Rolls Royce, Lotus and Ashton Martin.

At West Hall, I was enthralled with the Dodge Viper. Why? I don’t know myself. We were tired now. We sat at and waited for Tim’s group. It’s already about 5 now and we’ve finished three-quarters of the show. Most of West Hall was American cars. Honda and Jeep were the only ones with concept cars. There was also Smart with their line of Smart Cars. Did I mention the Dodge Viper? On the way out, Lawrence and I got separated again from everyone. We passed by the Ford section and I got my pic taken with the firetruck. They though I looked like a fireman. Yeah right! I played along. I thought that was cool. It was gay, but cool. I’ll try to download the pic from their site as soon as I can. Next was the Porche section at Petree Hall. As you would’ve guessed...Porche cars. I’m a 80s 911 man myself, but the rest of the models are okay. There are new 911 models as well as the Boxter Spyder. It was a quick tour.

Lawrence and I stepped out to get some cool night fresh air. In the distance, there was music coming from the direction of the Nokia. We went to go check it out. Once there, there was the KIIS-FM Jingle Ball going on. This was unexpected. We walked around to check out the sights, the skating ring and “the sights.” On the way back to meet up with everyone, we stopped to enjoy a couple songs at a live open concert.

By the time I called up Tim to check up what they’re doing, they were already in Kenta Hall, where all the after-market merchandise is sold. We headed there. Of all the auto show, the pimped up cars from Galpin, V-DUB and others were the best. Sure the main floors were cool. But down below is the liveliest part of the show. The only thing I would’ve liked to see is more custom and classic cars, just like the OC Auto show.

On the way home, we were hungry because we all had nothing to eat all day. Time for the Curry House. Again, just like last year...the same seats. Like last year at the Curry House, there was cutie that I couldn’t keep my eyes off. I wasn’t staring obtusely, but try to be very discreet about it. Megane! In the classic sense, too! Totally my type. Last year, there were two, but they were the gal types. So aside from friends and the most excellent food, there were the sights. Big surprise, Nijiya Market closes at 8 PM. If I knew that, I would’ve bought my winter supplies before we ate dinner. I guess no takoyaki and special curry this winter season. After all this, we dropped off Susan at her work.



While waiting for Tim to come back, Andy got a call from his buddy which invited up to join him and his girlfriend at the Mission. It’s was Tim’s call to go. So we went. It was my first time at the Mission Inn during the Christmas Season. It was totally awesome. We walked around and took pictures, went in the Mission Inn lobby, walked Main St., chick watching, watched a concert and skating ring. It was the Riverside Festival of Lights.