Conclusions of Variety A Personal Blog on my happenings and thoughts

JapanPosted by cczernia on May 25th, 2010

I sit here recovering from jet lag after Stephanie and I went to Japan last week. We left on Monday morning flying out of LAX and arrived in Japan around 3pm. I immediately fell asleep when arrived at our hotel, The Shinigawa Prince Hotel, due to travel, jet lag, and not sleeping at all the night before but instead playing video games and watching King of the Hill thinking I could sleep on the plane. This did not happen as every time my head fell forward I woke up.

On Wednesday (having lost a day due to space warps) we got up around 4am, got some breakfast (curry) and hiked up to Tokyo Tower. From there we walked around the Imperial Palace. We then arrived on the Edo Museum and got caught up on our Tokyo history.

On Thursday we took a tour of Mt Fuji. It was raining that day so I was kind of bummed but as we headed up the mountain we got over the clouds and rain to a spectacular view of Mt. Fuji. After the mountain we head to Hakone for lunch and then took a cable car up to the volcanic geysers and ate eggs that had been boiled and blacked in the geyser. We also took a misty boat ride on Lake Ashi which the boat had a silly pirate theme and would play what can only be described as pixie music when we arrived at a port (A lot of places in Tokyo had strange children’s music playing in the background.)  We finally took a bullet train back to our hotel.

Friday we continued our hiking of Tokyo first with the Sengakuji Buddhist temple where a bunch of samurai committed seppuku there. From there we went to the photography museum. Navigating Tokyo can be difficult as they don’t really have street names and we never figured out what they do use. When trying to get to the photography museum we were staying at a map a guy tried to help give us direction using his phone. He figured there was no one way to explain it to a couple of clueless foreigners so he walked us to the museum. I was amazed.

The museum was fun with original photographs of samurai during the meiji era. After we had a great Japanese lunch and then head over to Akihabara, the technology area of Tokyo. We walked up and down the street and peaked into a pachinko parlor and a grouping of Radioshack booths. I wasn’t satisfied when we finished so decided to check out the two multistory buildings of videogame/anime stuff. The first few stories were of the Sega store  had those game where you try and grab prizes with a clumsy crane. Prizes included all kinds of anime stuff including pillows shaped like anime girls where the poops were finely shaped. The next stories was an arcade with all kinds of video games.

I wanted to visit the other building because it had an anime cafe which I thought meant coffee and anime. We got pressed into visiting the third floor by a woman in a skimpy maid outfit. When we got to the third floor five women in skimpy maid outfoots all turned toward the door and said konichiwa. Stephanie firmly said, “no” and we continued our way up. The anime cafe turned out to be a place to check out the internet, grab a soda and read anime for an hourly fee.

All these places had a creepy vibe like an adult bookstore… I still kind of want to see what the anime maids were all about though.

On Saturday we went to the Shinto Shrine Asakusa and did some shopping, and watched a monkey dance. From there we went to the top of the Asahi building for some beer and city viewing. We then took a boat down the river to Odaiba, a popular location for the Japanese to shop.

Sunday it was raining but we took out the umbrellas and headed out to Shibuya (popular shopping area, think Time Square) and walked up to a park where there was a little festival. We tried some horrible fruit called durian that tasted like onion. We then went to the Meiji Temple where we alked around the gardens. We relaxed at the hotel for awhile and then went to Tokyo Dome to watch the Giants play the Buffaloes. Japanese baseball was a lot of fun as the crowds got excited and would chant and sing.

After all that we made it back now recovering and jet lagged.

Hyphen-Con VIPosted by cczernia on April 27th, 2010

Strawberry Shortcake Post Apoc

Last weekend was the sixth annual hyphen-con. Hyphen-con (aka rpg-san-diego-games-day) is a games day that me and a group of friends started when we were trying to create a gaming con. This years was great and I got to play Post Apoc Strawberry Shortcake (as in the children’s cartoon). I also got to play the Dresden Files rpg. Both games were a lot of fun but for the first time we decided to do boardgames on Sunday so I also got to play Pandemic and Robo-Rally. It was possibly the best Hyphen-con yet.

I also attended Kingdom-con the weekend before which is another groups attempt to start a gaming convention in San Diego. They seemed fairly successful having two room for miniature game and one room for board/card games. I talked to the guy who ran it and hope to help him included rpgs next year.

Meeting with the BrosPosted by cczernia on April 17th, 2010

All last week I got to hang out with a bunch of friends from high school/college in Las Cruces. It started with my friend Scott coming down to San Diego for Coast Card training. During a couple evenings when we were finished with work Scott and I would hang out at the Tilted Kilt (a place like Hooters only with good food and beer) or catch a movie. We got to do a lot of catching up and had a good time.

On Friday I flew out to Las Cruces and got picked up by my mom. It is my dad’s birthday next weekend so I decided to surprise him. My mom and I walked into his office and he was shocked. I spend some time with talking with my parents and then checked into my hotel.

Adam, my friend since the second grade, picked me up and we got some classic New Mexican food and then got some drinks. Adam tried a scotch and ended showering our hotels patio in puke. He instantly felt better. After we picked up Joe and went to Adam’s place to play board games.

The next day we went out to the town of Hatch and got chili cheese burgers at Sparkies. This was my first chili cheese burger and I liked it but I still have no need for green chili. After that we we went to Choas Bookstore and then Adam’s brother-in-law’s who later joined for a round of Munchkin the Boardgame.

We then grabbed dinner at El Sombrero and picked up another old friend, Shane, who I hadn’t seen in five years. We then went to the bar and finally ended up back at Adam’s to play more games. This time I started off with Zombie Cinema, a narrativist rpg, and while it was fun at first everyone quickly lost interest and we switched over to Pandemic.

Sunday was a lot of the same with New Mexican food, wondering around and games. Finally, I headed back to my parents for a great dinner of paella and Caliches frozen custard. On Monday I flew home early and went straight to work.

It was a great week and something I’ll have to do again but maybe in a different location.

Birthday BirthdayPosted by cczernia on February 15th, 2008

Hurray for birthday! I’m 32 and still going. This weekend I’ll be heading off to LA for Orccon to do two days of straight gaming.

Also, TRIO (my company) officially moved to our new office building. It is a lot bigger then both previous offices and will include a showroom and gallery. When everything is finished I’ll include pictures.

End of Wedding SeasonPosted by cczernia on May 22nd, 2007

I had three weddings to attend this year (friends Albert and Jenny, Erik and Emily, and my brother Jonathan and Sonia) and I just finished up my brother’s. I’m not a big wedding fan because I always feel uncomfortable at them. There are a ton of strangers so you tend to form in clicks and hang with the people you know and then say “hi” to the bride and groom when they pass by.

My brother’s wedding was even more overwhelming as I knew too many people and felt like I had my attention pulled in three directions. Twice I mistook someone for someone else which was embarrassing. I don’t function well with extended family in general but I was able to hold it together for this. However, it is all behind me and I don’t have to worry about such things until the next surprise family get-together.

I say all this and yet I made this post a few years ago about my friends Jonathan and Michelle when they had their wedding. I still stand by that I had the most fun at this wedding which didn’t feel like a wedding but more like a party.

7-5 7-5 SharapovaPosted by cczernia on August 7th, 2006

Yesterday Stephanie, Jonathan, Michelle, and I returned for our second Acura Classic Tennis Final. It was Maria Sharapova (4) vs Kim Clijsters (2). We had a ton of fun and it was a lot better then last year. We left earlier and had lunch at a little French place in Carlsbad and then headed to the tournament where they had a little tennis convention out front. From there we took our seats but were ready with hats, water, and sunscreen.

The tournament itself was a lot better with two top players. In the end of the first set there was an amazing rally that lasted almost a minute. Here is is described from tennis.com

“Sharapova, the 2004 Wimbledon champion, and Clijsters played one incredibly long point with Sharapova serving for the first set at 6-5. The point featured a number of outstanding shots and saves on both sides before Sharapova drove a forehand into the net. The crowd erupted into a prolonged standing ovation as both players struggled to catch their breath.“

We stayed for the doubles match which was disappointing. A blow out 6-2 6-2. However, it was made ok but my little snack of beer and ice cream dips. After the match we met up with Erik and Emily and had Thai food.

We are now looking into going to Indian Wells tournament. Apparently the girls want to watch some mens’ tennis, of course, I could watch the girls play all day.

San Diego: 3 YearsPosted by cczernia on May 1st, 2006

It has been three years since I moved to San Diego. Needless to say this last year was much more calm then last. No breaking up, hooking up or disappearing roommates. If anything this was the year of getting my life organized including getting health insurance, going to the dentist, new glasses and an IRA. It was the year I made San Diego my home and everything started to stablize.

Last weekend I got to relax. Went and saw a play, The Cherry Orchard, on Saturday night. I was put on by SDSU theater company so there were a lot of students in the play and it reminded me a lot of a performance by NMSU. It was fun but it was done as a comedy which when I read the Cherry Orchard I didn’t see at all. The further you get into the play the less funny it becomes and the better it got. I find the humor jarring and inappropriate and it felt like a bunch of college kids goofing off.

The Match (long thing about tennis)Posted by cczernia on March 6th, 2006

On Saturday I played my first official tennis match. It was official in the since that it was scheduled. It was against the UCSD Chinese tennis club. We spent parts of the last month practicing in order to play. Of course this wasn’t traditional tennis practice but more like playing matches against other members from our group and playing with your partner in the case of doubles.

This was my case. I had a partner, Tan, who is a really cool dude. During our first practice match we did really well. During the second we did horribly. We tried working together but the second match really brought our self-esteem down.

The match was at 4pm on Saturday. I was a little nervous so went out Saturday morning and practiced some groundstrokes and serves. It didn’t help at all as I was all nerves when I arrived at the UCSD tennis courts that were really nice. Tan and I warmed up next to UCSD men’s tennis team and I suddenly felt intimidated. So, I was intimidated, nervous and confused as the people who organized the event got everyone paired off.

Tan was also affected, as we had no confidence from the beginning. We lost 0-6, 1-6. Pathetic. And it wasn’t that our opponents kicked ass, it was more that we did awful; constantly hitting the ball into the net or out and each unforced error caused havoc with our esteem.

Talking to Tan after the match he said he was having problems hitting what I call bubble balls. These are soft shots that float over the net. The first team we played during practice hit the balls with a lot more pace than the other two and we were able to handle them. I think this is a result of singles players trying to play doubles. I feel like I don’t understand doubles well at all. I know an important part is to form a bond with a partner but that is hard to form over two three matches. I wish we had talked about the bubble balls before or during the match because I realized if we attempted to return bubble balls instead of trying to put pace on the ball we would have had a much better game.

New CarPosted by cczernia on March 3rd, 2006

Well, I bought my first new car. I finally got it last Saturday after helping my friend move. It is a black, manual 2006 Scion XA. I had been waiting for 2 weeks when they told me a silver or white would be in but they then told me I’d have to wait 2 more weeks but a black one was available. Honestly, the color didn’t matter so I took it. It had one mile when I drove it off the lot.

Now it has 150 and I love it. I never really cared about cars before but ever since I started the car buying process I’ve noticed that I check out other peoples cars making note of make and model.

I love my new car. It doesn’t have much power but it is pretty small and I just parked in a spot I normally wouldn’t. It is also comfortable easy to drive and I can also have some peace of mind since it has both an alarm and lowjack. I currently on the list to both get an ipod stereo and satellite radio installed. For now, I happy listening to the radio and CD playing. And it really is the little things like being able to change the volume and stations from the stearing wheel, that is so cool.

Oh, and props to my friend Andy who got me a sporty gear shifter that looks great with the car.

Kicken PartyPosted by cczernia on February 20th, 2006

Saturday night I had a great b-day party. It was at Uno’s in Pacific Beach. Steph called ahead to let them know we would be there. We got there a little before 6 and headed upstairs to the bar. Soon after Andy showed up. It was the three of us for about 20 minutes and I started in on the beers and Andy got me a shot of the hard stuff. Everyone else showed up soon after and we headed down stairs.

We ordered a couple pizzas and I got pretty drunk. It was a lot of fun. Afterward a few of use headed down to Cheetas (the strip club) and hung out there for an hour. I went home after and watched an episode of Dr. Who which my brother gave.