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I wrote the following entry from an airplane while coming back from the east coast. And yes, the vacation was awesome. Without further ado:
It is nice to have the window seat and to be able to look down at the clouds below. Looks like piles of mashed cotton balls. Then again at the same time, they look like marshmallow islands. And the ground looks to nothing but squares and circles. Perhaps the plane is now passing by the Midwest.
I’m not sure about the airport/airplane industry. For one, I got charged with fifteen dollars for “excessive baggage.” There is only me on the trip and each passenger is limited to only one luggage.
I brought only one luggage and I still got charged. When I came to New York, I wasn’t charged with any hidden fees. I talked to the clerk and she said that this policy was in effect a week or two ago.
And my trip to New York and back was with the same airlines, United.
And the desperation got only more visible. On a flight back to Los Angeles, which is six hours, as a passenger, I should be entitled to a dinner. Yes, they do serve dinner and they sound good according to its description. It’s just seven dollars in cash.
I could understand that the airline charges five dollars for a snack pack if someone wants more than just a bag of pretzels and a can of soda. But mandatory to pay seven dollars for dinner? Not just a free ham sandwich?
So yes, I have enjoyed my dinner with dry yet crunchy pretzels and a plasticful with ginger ale on the rocks. Splendid.
So I have arrived in the east coast a week and a day ago for a vacation. Although I have lived here before when I was two years ago, it is the first time I’m here since then (first to be recorded in my memory). And I was born in Maryland. So it feel like I’m returning to my roots.
I am staying in New Jersey with relatives and had made a few trips to New York City so far. I admire the natural green in N.J. and the many buildings laced with a zigzagging fire escape in NYC considering I lived in a suburban neighborhood with nothing but houses, cement, and manicured grass.
Although I’m still in the same country, it is strange to see the differences such as the structure of the freeway, names of gas stations, and the road signs.
If there is one thing I’ll miss when I go back home is Strands. Opened since around the 1930s, the two-story bookstore with a huge basement sells a huge variety of gently used books if not new for great prices. Some books are the same price and most of them receive 10% to 30% price cut. I was lucky when I purchased the books I read before, This Contains Graphic Language (Comics as Literature) and Good as Lily; both of them were 50% off. And I was able to get Scott McCloud’s Zot: The Complete Black and White Collection not only five dollars off, but it is a signed copy from Mr. McCloud himself (and in his signature, he also included that lightning bolt).
Another plus is that nearby where I’m staying is the local library. And it is only a seven minute walk. The library looked small from the outside, but when I went inside, it was very spacious with a open room with armchairs to sit on and read. Being allowed to use my relative’s library card, I borrowed a few books to read.
One of the books I borrowed is a graphic novel Daisy Kutter: The Last Train by Kazu Kibuishi. I am surprised that it was a lot more entertaining than I expected. In brief, a laconic, skilled former outlaw who lives in the a semi-futuristic wild west where robots existed. I loved the graphics and its movement. And did I mention the person is a she?
And while browsing in a comic book store today, I discovered a book called Bookhunters by Jason Shiga. If you love action scenes but still love to read books, this is about a special police force working for the library to recover lost books. Enough said.
I am jealous of New York City’s strong literary heritage. I wished I lived here. Then again, watching stubborn pedestrians jaywalking and the cars and taxis squeezing through the stream of pedestrians on a left turn, I like the nice, quiet suburban neighborhood.
So that is the east coast so far. And it trips me to find out that it’s still afternoon in the west while it’s evening in the east.
I do plan to soon have a set date that I’ll update (and on a capricous whim probably add other entries on other days).
My dad is a wonderful man. He wants me to enjoy myself. Seeing that my summer is jobless, he decided to take matters into his own hands.
He brought me a ticket to go to New York. I gave him my consent that I didn’t mind since I always wanted to travel to the east coast for years. But he didn’t ask me how long I would like to stay and booked me for a three-week trip.
Luckily, I have enough relatives to stay with during the long period. All of them are from my dad’s side.I feel a bit burdened that not only will I be an extra mouth to feed, but another naive yet mildly cynical tourist from California to show around the east coast.
I will be back on August 23rd and hope to have something to say about the trip. The good and hopeful things that the hero of a novel or movie learns and becomes some super-powered, unstoppable force of awesomeness. Something like that.
I always heard about this yearly event. I never thought much about it until I rediscovered my love for comics.
It was already too late to get the four-day-pass for $70 or to volunteer and get a free pass. So I got a one-day pass for Friday ($30) since, something always interesting happens on Friday.
Not only do I live only an hour and thirty minutes away from San Diego, but my brother lives there. Rather than to wake up early in the morning and face the traffic on the I-5 South, I came to his place the night before so I could leave and get to a parking lot in 15 minutes than rather one hour and forty-five minutes.
If there was one thing about comic-con I was worried about, I was concerned about parking. I avoided the thought of parking in downtown San Diego nearby the comic-con with the high possibility of it being crowded and congested and ugly. It turns out I did not need to park near to the convention center because there is a special trolley (the red line) that goes from certain stations straight to there. So I looked on the list of stations and selected to park at Mission Valley.
But my brother offered to drop me off on his way to work. We got there that morning and he dropped me off. The trolley station is right next to a huge, fancy strip mall. Anyways, at least I do not have to worry about my car being towed away or broken into while I’m away for the next eight hours.
To spare you the intricate details of my trolley ride and my encounter with a few guards from the Resident Evil video game and a character from Watchmen (perhaps I should have asked for an autograph), it turned out I couldn’t take the special trolley straight to the convention center. I took the blue line and when I got off to take the red line, I saw two trolleys packed with fellow comic-con goers. When the doors opened, an woman on the trolley laughed at us, seeing the other comic-con goers that won’t board. So in short, we had to take a different route (green line to orange line) but it also stopped at the convention center.
I had finally arrived in front of the convention center. Although it was right there, it still took five to ten minutes to wait for the traffic officer to call it clear and walk across the street. I still had to get my badge by turning in my registration paper. So I went upstairs and there were tables with numerous representatives who gave the passes. It was a fast process. I got a comic-con bag, wandered in the meeting rooms where events took place and finally went downstairs and I entered the exhibit
and it was huge and detailed.
The first booth I went to was the Vipers Comic booth where Wes (creator of You’ll Have That) was at. I selected the first two books and asked for his autograph. Very easygoing guy.
Then after that, I wandered for the next two hours, following the crowd.
I decided to grab lunch. Sure, I could have went outside of the convention center and eat something, relatively cheap. But by this time, my body was sore and I didn’t want to walk back to the convention center. So I went to a cafe stand and purchased a hot dog and a soda for $6.50. I did it because I want it to become part of my comic-con experience of being ripped off considering the soda ($2.50) was a mere 12 ounce can of Sprite, not the 20 ounces bottle. A mental note, I will bring something to eat.
After eating six dollars and fifty cents, I got in line to the event titled “An Introduction to Webcomics” with a panel of prolific webcartoonists including the creator of PVP.
I spent the rest of time searching for other comics. I was surprised that Gene Yang, creator of the graphic novel American Born Chinese, was signing at 4pm. I brought a small poster of his graphic novel and not only did he signed his name, but made a generous sketch on the back of one of the protagonists, the monkey king.
I have purchased these books at the comic-con
-You’ll Have That Vol. 1 & 2 (webcomic)
-Unshelved Vol. 1 (webcomic)
-Robot Dreams
-Making a Webcomic
I realized something. I need to start saving for the next comic-con so I can buy more comic books and other things that appeal to me without being limited by eighty-dollars. And you’re allowed to bring a backpack.
I heard a lot of people who have lots of credit cards…and possibly an accumulating debt. I only have two of them, thankfully. And a small debt.
But would it sound strange enough that I have three library cards and I use them all frequently? No wait, actually I have four including the one for my college library. Yea, that does sound strange (not to mention nerdy) but true. This comes in handy when I’m looking for a certain book and if library A doesn’t have it, then perhaps library B and if it doesn’t have it, maybe library C…you get the picture. In short, I have many more books to choose from by browsing through the shelves or the online catalog.
Libraries now welcome comic books, graphic novels, and manga to their shelves quite openly. The libraries I visit separate the comics into a specific area where other comic aficionados could easily find them. I confess perhaps 80% of my summer reading has been comics and graphic novels.
Perhaps one might think lowly of me because I only spend reading 20% “real literature.” After reading Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics and other comics that are more literary and serious, one can have a stronger appreciation for comics because of how it combines visual and literary arts into one powerful medium.
If there is one comic book I recommend to the general reading audience, it would be American Born Chinese by Gene Yang. Not only do I admire the style and subtle humor that is simple, but it proves that comics could have a strong impact as the so-called “real literature.”
And of course, as you can see on my Recommended Webcomics page, I read lots of webcomics daily and it is always nice to see the various styles and humor other than the ones from the newspaper and superhero comics.
And what’s better to stoll down the shelves and know that whatever you see you could borrow for free (except the new bestsellers that usually cost a dollar a week to rent). No fear of accumilating debt unless you return your books late. And I read and heard that unreturned books could actually affect your credit score, somehow. So be a good library citizen and return or renew the books on time.
And yes, I do need to update more often rather than monthly. I need to get in touch with my inner-blogger.
Simply D.L. 