Xmas! Present Galore!

I say present 'cause I only got one :> but it's all good.

For Xmas, I got the MXL 990 USB Condenser Microphone with a standard pop screen. I'd been looking at it for a while, and I read some good reviews, so I asked for it.

It really is good, but it gave me a bit of trouble starting up. Once I downloaded the right drivers though, it was pretty much the quality I expected it to be. I imagine I'd have truly professional quality when I go to record in the music room at college.

So here's some pics. Hopefully I can get some awesome stuff out with that mic soon too.

First day of finals week, I'm already dead [tired]

I think my story actually stats last night. I stayed up until almost 4:00 AM trying to finish my final English paper, as that was part of the requirement for the in-class final.

So eventually, I finished and went to sleep, being sure I set my alarm early enough. Unfortunately, I was so tired that I slept through the alarm. I woke up at 7:57 AM. A mere 4 hours of sleep. Oh, and my final was at 8:00 AM in a building I didn't have time to find beforehand.

It's a beautiful December, the sky is full of gray melancholic clouds. It's pouring freezing rain outside, and I was in such a rush that I had nothing put a pair of pants and a t-shirt on. I picked up the papers I had prepared for the final and ran like I was in the Olympics.

No breakfast, minimal clothes that were accepted by society, barely any sleep, and the pressure of an English final.

I arrived barely in time, so I didn't disrupt too much. I got in there and tried to write my paper. Being dead tired, I strung together only whatever thoughts came to mind and got out of there as fast as I could. I took maybe an hour and a half out of the three hours we were allotted and just booked it.

At least I know I won't have to deal with that again for a little while.

I came back to the entrance of my building to realize that earlier, I was in such a rush that I had forgotten my cell phone and my room key. I couldn't call my roommate and ask him to open the door for me, nor could I open the door myself.

I sat there in a beautiful rain for a good amount of time, just looking up at the sky and watching the water fall.

Eventually, I was let in by a fellow building resident. Now I'm here posting this entry.

This was only the first day of finals week, but I'm hoping I can prepare myself better after this. I'm so crashing. I acknowledge that most of this is probably my own fault, but that doesn't stop me from complaining :>

You know, ironically, my final paper and exam were on the topic of suicide. Just thought I'd point that out.

Huaaaa! Kaz SSAF Get!

So, the new Pangya update came out, and with it, the release of the Kaz SSAF set. I decided to try luck. I hate gambling with premium points, but I thought it might be worth it.

I was right.

I was scratching a buncha tickets, it looked pretty hopeless, but I wasn't expecting much, so I wasn't bothered.

And then...

What's this!?!?! I've only got 30-something tickets left, and this...The box says Kaz on it!

Booyah! I did it! I waited all this time, and I finally won the Kaz SSAF!

Check me out! Holy crap! Now, I can't wait for Kaz's dragon to come out.

I haven't played Pangya is so long, and I probably will keep the slow pace. I haven't played any of the event, I'm not going to bother anymore, but Pangya will be great every once in a while.

Free Red Bull?!?!

So, we were walking back from dinner when we were stopped. It was two girls, pretty young looking, probably our age, driving around in a buggie with a huge red bull can on top. They asked if we wanted red bull. I was a little skeptical, wondering what the catch was, but there was none, they just handed us the cans and went off to the next group. Maybe they were advertising or something. Nonetheless, it was pretty cool.

Right as we were leaving, the car that was waiting to pass started to follow the red bull car. The driver was shouting "Hey! Red Bull! Wait! Stop!" chasing the car down. It was pretty funny, I guess you had to be there. Too bad I didn't have my camera.

I wonder why we were stopped. Maybe it was because I was wearing my cloak. The groups behind and ahead of us didn't seem to have any red bull. Interesting thing to speculate about. My cloak has gained me a bit of attention around campus, I'm surprised my teachers haven't commented yet. Whatever.

So, that was my 'interesting story of the night'. Now I have to think of an interesting story for English class tomorrow.

Blue Angels and Golden Knights

So, I went to see the MCAS Miramar air show last night. I missed most of the day show, so it was the twilight showing that we attended. It was pretty awesome. We arrived just in time to see the golden knights parachute troop. Fun stuff.

The fireworks show was pretty spectacular, probably more so than the 4th of July.

Seeing the hornet fly around was really cool too. You could feel it's speed.

And then there was the wall of fire. Quite literally a wall made of fire. That was intense, we could feel the heat from where we were standing.

So, maybe I'll have a video and photos up soon.



So here's the video, in all of it's low quality glory :D

Pangya: Arin's Wings :D

The Ventus Mission event ended, and I didn't get to finish. I probably would have won a feather anyway .-.

With the update comes Arin's Wings! Hooray! Screenshot below.

That's what's happening in the world of Pangya. Okay, back to school time

End of Welcome Week: Block Party!

So, after all of the classes today, my roommates and I went out to the block party. It was pretty chill, there wasn't too much dancing or anything going on, though there was a lot of smoking.

So, here are a few pictures from said party.

A few of the booths offering food.

My roommates and I, picture taken by me.

Dancing banana, selling bananas.

Some random Korean BBQ pitchman. He was actually pretty good.

Our mascot, Scotty the Bear, walking around. (This is a nice shot)

It's nighttime. My roommate decided to take a picture of me. The picture sucks

A picture of the HUB, Highlander Union Building I think. Not really relevant.

So that was the first week of my college life. One down, a lot more to go.

Welcome Week Day 1: Maz Jobrani

Gosh, my camera sucks, or maybe it's just my hand. All of the pictures came out blurry as all hell, so I don't have much to show off.

So we had a Freshman Convocation, where we met our Dean and stuff. He's actually a really chill guy. Once the meeting was over, he stripped off his chancellor outfit and we danced and did the wave. I think we've got an awesome school.

Then, we went to see Maz Jobrani, a comedian. He was pretty good, his stuff was relevant and interesting, he certainly engaged the audience.

I really feel welcome, I think it's going to be a good year. Classes start on Thursday I think, I'll be ready for that. I hope the dean was right when he said that the years will just wiz by, 'cause I already can't wait to be done (not in the bad way, I'm excited about school, but I'm excited about what's beyond that too).

Blurry as all hell picture!!!

A new life begins

I have moved into my college dorm room, and am blogging from here. It's not too bad, it's pretty cozy. Here are more pictures.

Here is my one of my roommates, John. He's playing around with his gundam models

My closet. Not much to say about that.
One corner of the room, Nick's computer and TV.
Another view of the room.
My bed. It's not really made.
My 'mates' beds.

So that's it. Hopefully this'll be a good year. Can't wait to see what the year has in store for me.

Got my license + Pangya!

I passed my driving test :D I can now drive myself around. The test wasn't too hard, though now I'm exhausted. Maybe it's 'cause I woke up too early. Not much to say about that.

In other news, NtreevUS has started a new Pangya event, the Ventus missions. This will be a nice chance to win some awesome super rare clubsets. I wish they were giving away the wings instead of feathers, but I won't complain too much.

Unfortunately, I've got to get moving, so I won't be able to play Pangya. I'll just take this time to enjoy home while I can, then it's off into the real world!

Finally reached Amateur E!

For those who play Pangya, you'd know, Amateur E isn't exactly the easiest level to get to. I've been anticipating this, since now I can wear practically every available equipment :D I immediately blew 250K on Arin equips once I got there. Totally worth it.

Of course, it doesn't stop here :> Gotta keep it up if I really wanna go pro

Last days of Summer at La Jolla Beach

So, the end of summer approaches, but it's fun. Spent the day at La Jolla beach. The water is so clear and pretty, and strong. I got tossed around so much I actually hurt my ankle. Sucks, I became physically inable to go snorkeling later that day, but it was still fun. The view was nice, the air was fresh, and the water was fun. I spent a lot of my time in a little cove, that was nice.

Here's a picture of me, enjoy :D

Shopping in LA

So, went up to LA yesterday to do some shopping. Got some comforters in preparation for college.

Alright, so on the way up, we stopped by a rest stop. You could have lived here if you had enough money. Vending machines sold food, snacks, sewing kits, toothbrushes, toothpaste, pain killers, bandages, and condoms. Yep. Condoms. That doesn't really sound like a good idea, buying condoms at a rest stop, but who knows...

So then we passed through Little Tokyo on our way up. It was neat. didn't really see too much though.

We went through a lot of shops while up in LA. Get some ice cream. Didn't buy anything though. We stopped by a pet shop, just because there were a lot of cute animals. The lovebirds were so adorable. There was a nice, really big parrot too.

Then we crashed a little at our cousin's new house. An awesome two story house with a balcony. We socialized, played with cousins, the likes. I've got a place to stay while I'm up in Riverside too :D

Then we went home. Arrived home at 1. Slept. Woke up. Blogged.

Picnic at Poway

081509Poway

So, we were invited to a picnic at Poway Lake. It was nice. I met some nice people, saw some nice sights, and overall had a lot of fun.

Lunch consisted of burritos. The meal was accompanied with lots of soda, watermelon, strawberries, grapes, and sesame seed balls (they're really good).

We rented boats and went out on the lake. It was pretty great. First time rowing a boat, so it took a little while to get used to, but I did it.

The rest of the day was spent socializing and playing card games.

That was my day. Pictures and video are available.

Pangya Update 8/13/09

GB.R4.503.01 Patch Notes - Welcome To PANGYA!

They've added the card system. Joy. Unfortunately, you need premium points to buy all of the cards. In the other servers, it's possible to win the cards as treasure. Hopefully they'll implement that here later.

Feathers have been re-released. My feather items just became a little less rare. At least Lucia has a feather now. Once I get that, she'll be complete *.*

A little more server stability has been added too. Hopefully I won't d/c as much now.

That's that. Overall, not a very exciting update.

My adventure at the kad-miv (CADMV)

Alright, so we got there at like 9:30. I was totally lost. Eventually, I found the sign that said "appointments check in here". So I followed it.

I got basic stuff done, information submitted and everything. Then I went over to have my picture taken. Took a little while, the line was kinda long.

There, they handed me the test. 36 questions. I was allowed to miss 6. I took a little while to get it done. Then I handed it in and waited for my results.

Time passes slowly. I waited, not thinking about too much, just listening for my name. Nervous about whether I passed or not, I breathed heavily.

"Jonathan" they called. I walked up to the counter, my paper had some red marks on it.

You...

...

I took a breath...

...

...Passed, here's your permit.

Phew. That was pretty intimidating. Missed only 3. So now, I can start practicing in a car. This should be fun...

Onto the next big thing! College! For now, I shall crash and dream of an Axiom Modbook Pro.

Back from the 5 day absence that was Comic-Con

JonFawkes Comic-Con 2009

Puwaaaa, I got the chance to go to Comic-con all 4 days plus preview night. What a week.

Day 0: Preview Night
Preview night was alright. It already felt like a normal comic-con day, just a little more crowded than normal. It certainly gave me a preview of how big comic-con was this year compared to last. Normally all of the booths would be half set-up, but this year, everyone was ready for business. I guess it could be counted as the fifth day of comic-con.

Day 1: What do we have here?
Today was mostly exploring and shopping and stuff. I saw a buncha neat stuff, namely at the Kinokuniya booth. Light-saber chopsticks! I hung around with Kat-chan for most of the day, looking at figures and hanging around the J-list booth. Wandered around for a long time, saw a buncha stuff. Kat-chan bought a lot of games, which was cool. I didn't buy anything though.

Day 2: Lunch at Hooters!
Yeah, that's right. Didn't do too much today. The most interesting thing that happened was that I got to eat lunch at Hooters, with Alex, David, and my lovely girlfriend Kat-chan. They've got really good food, though that shouldn't be surprising. We had a good time too. Also watched some SCA fights. That was pretty cool too. I decided to cosplay this day. I went in my Kaz costume (Pangya). I didn't find any Pangya fans, though a few people stopped me to take pictures. It was all cool. Ended the day with the J-list panel with Kat-chan. That was fun.

Day 3: To buy or not to buy
I decided to buy some stuff to day. Decided. I didn't actually have enough to buy anything, but I made up my mind that I was going to buy a Shinai and an awesome indie-game called Suguri. I went to the SCA fights again, decided to participate. I got a blister popped, but it was fun (the fighting, not the blister popping). Went to the Eureka panel with Kat-chan, that was fun. Also, ate lunch with Kat-chan at an awesome seafood resturaunt.

Day 4: The final day
Bought my Shinai and game. Went to lunch at Horton Plaza with Colette, Alex, and David. It was fun. Kat-chan had to leave early, so I didn't get to spend too much time with her. Spent the last hour or so in the Anime room, then came home to now.

Over the 4 days
I spent a good amount of time in the Anime rooms. I saw a few anime that I could potentially buy. Tears to Tiara, Doujin Work, and Familiar of Zero come immediately to mind. I don't remember the other stuff I saw, but I saw plenty. It was cool.
Also, I took pictures with cosplayers (or rather, I took pictures of my friends with cosplayers). There were some damn impressive cosplayers this year.

The spoils
-Shinai
-Suguri
-Dragonica Online Archer Wallscroll (I wanted the Priest one T.T)
-various freebies

The stuff I missed
I didn't see a bunch of my friends. There was an elementary friend that contacted me on dA, but I missed his number because I didn't get online for the duration of comic-con. My bad. Also, some high-school friends were supposed to be there, but I didn't see them either. Oh well, maybe next year. Comic-con isn't exactly the place where you can decided to find someone and find them.

So that was my experience. Hope everyone else had a good time too. Time to crash.

Beach: Sand Castle Building Contest

I didn't actually build and castles, but I saw a bunch of awesome ones. Here is yet another photoblog entry, maybe I should make a tag for them.

Here's the first one we saw. It looks like a dragon stuck in a castle. Awesome.

Here's a sculpture of what I think is a Cthulhu-like thing attacking a ship. Big octopus.

Here's the ship. Nicely detailed.

Baseball stadium. It doesn't really get much more awesome.

Nope, spoke too soon. Very patriotic.

And this is just more awesome. Close ups following.

Monkies.

Otters.

Alligator.

Piggy, but this was part of a different sculpture.

This isn't a sandcastle, just one of the tents in the beach fair.

So that was my day. That wasn't all of the sculptures, there were probably hundreds. I spent most of my time in the water, that was pretty rocking. I love the beach, I want to invite my friends some time.

College Orientation...tiring

It was all cool. It was a pretty intense day.

So I had to wake up early since it's a 2 hour drive up to Riverside from here. The orientation started at 9AM, which means I had to leave my house at 7.

So, we arrived. It was first meeting the advisors. My advisor was a cool guy.

We began our tour. Mostly, it was just looking around and learning the school chants and stuff. That was for just a little later where we had a test of enthusiasm. Our team didn't win, but it was pretty intense.

I think after that was lunch. It was decent. Not much to say.

After that, we went to an event called "Playfair", which was the huge community gathering to play some team building games. It was lame at points, and fun at points. That lasted a while.

Dinner was after that. Dinner was also decent.

Then came the intense (in all seriousness) "Building Our Common Ground". The whole community got together in a "silent conversation" where we were all asked serious questions and responded by congregating. It was pretty intense, everyone was so serious, but I think it was a good experience.

After that was a performance by the theatre troop. It was aplay about college issues. It was entertaining, and sad, and funny, and overall a very good performance. Makes me want to join theatre.

Night fell (actually it came earlier) and the night events started. There were 3 rooms. One room had arts 'n' crafts and board games. There was more socializing than actual doing of arts and games. There was another room that had one Wii in it, Brawl was playing. I spent most of the night in there. I kept coming in second, extremely close matches. There was also a room hosting a dance. Another social-y event, but with dancing, and Michael Jackson music.

I went to sleep at midnight. Decently late for me.

Day two, awoke at 7AM to meet up with advisors. We had breakfast. That was also decent.

Leanred about registering for classes here. Long lecture, but helpful.

Lunch. Same deal, different meal.

A short lecture about living on campus.

Then it was time to actually register for classes. Didn't take too long once I figured it out. Also went to take pictures for IDs.

Once that was all done with, it was time to say good-byes. I have no doubt that I'll see a lot of the people that I met there again in the fall. I think College is going to be one hell of an experience.

Birthday acknowledged, party was decent :3

So, today I had my birthday party. It was pretty decent. I invited a lot of my friends over. Didn't plan much further than that though ^^; I really should have, but whatever. Thanks to everyone that could make it :)

For my birthday, I received cookies (X3 yummy! they were great), a $20 gift card for Rising Sun (yay! Manga!), a $25 Ntreev cash card (awesome! Pangya!), Mass Effect (decently awesome game), and a cordless headset for my iPod Shuffle! (OMG awesome! Been eying these for a while).

The cookies were finished really fast, but it's all good :3 I haven't had a chance to redeem my gift cards yet, and my computer got a virus somehow, so I need to wait before I install Mass Effect, but at least I can enjoy my shuffle! (I'm actually listening to my iPod with them as I blog).

All of these gifts were surprises, I'm really happy for them. Thanks to everyone.

For cake, my mom ordered a really nice chocolate chocolate with chocolate ice cream cake from Baskin Robins. It had little hershey's kisses on it, which was nice.

Activities included Brawl, Anime (Card Captor Sakura), and talking, lots of talking. At one point everyone kinda split off and did their own thing with eachother, reminded me of a school social event ^^; Everyone seemed content though, so it's all good

Finally got to give Kat-chan her Plush Hello Kitty Ice Cream, and the Hello Kitty Yan Yan snack. :3

So now I'm here. It was a decent day, and I'm so glad I got to see everyone. One person told me: "You only turn 18 once!" and while it may not have been the best celebration, I think it was okay :3 maybe my 19th or big 2-Oh will be better.

Waking up to Pangya Season 4 and my Birthday!

What an exciting day. I was too excited to sleep, so here I am blogging.

I'll probably play mostly Pangya today, since my party is tomorrow.

I might draw some. Chat with people. Check emails. I like getting happy birthday wishes :3

Also, it appears that it's Tesla's birthday. That's pretty cool. I want a Tesla lightbulb for my dorm, just because it'd be awesome.

I'm 18 now! That means porn and weapons! No drinking yet, but it's all good.

I should probably go eat something now.

Season 4! Pangya!

Season 4 Maintenance Announcement - Welcome To PANGYA!

It's official. They've announced Season 4 of Pangya US! :D

Season 4 opens tomorrow early morning (3AM pacific time). Just in time for my birthday too :D

With season 4 comes the new course, the new game mode, and the new character. I'm pretty psyched about it.

Hopefully community problems will be fixed too. There are still a lot of hackers and general rule-breakers, but maybe it'll be easier to control in S4.

No Pangya for 24 hours. Maybe I'll play Project Powder, or Fantasy Tennis or something. Is it me or do I have a thing for sports MMOs?

YouTube - Folding Clothes

YouTube - Folding Clothes

Aaaaah! I've watched this video like 50 times and I still can't figure it out ^^;

Amazing Japanese clothes folding technique. If one could master it, one could make laundry days much more efficient, leaving more time for games and shiz :D

I'll figure it out eventually! I think it just takes practice

Fireworks were great

My attempted at taking a picture of the fireworks.

Just messing around with my camera some more.

The fireworks were great. Pretty grand, a nice celebration.

So yeah, hope everyone had a nice 4th of July.

Now, it's a week from my birthday. Can't wait for that.

Here's the video I took from my camera BTW. Not all that great quality, but it's decent.

Happy fourth!

I'm not doing much today, but I haven't posted in a while, so whatever. Happy fourth everyone!

I'm surprised none of the MMOs I play have a July 4th celebration. Oh well, it's a good day to relax.

ぴこのスコア～楽譜集 Key Sound Selections 詳細ページ～

ぴこのスコア～楽譜集 Key Sound Selections 詳細ページ～

Awesome sheet music collection. I want to buy this book if only to learn 小さなてのひら and Gentle Jena. It looks like a nice full collection. It's a little expensive at about $40-some US dollars, but I'd totally spend that much on a book like this.

My morning

Went out this morning, and I had my camera, so I'm going to photo blog a little

First sign I saw. This sounds like one of the most unhealthy things in the world. I think this was what I smelled though, and it smelled delicious :L Yes, that's the Del Mar fairground


So we actually came to the fair grounds to attend an award ceremony or something for my mom's class. This isn't my mom's work, this was some random person's that I thought was impressive.


This is my mom's work. Best in class and first place (among a few others). Not bad


Just another impressive work


A nice fountain


A hand chair, or a chair that's a hand, whatever


My sister sitting in the hand chair


A bear playing guitar, and a little bear playing violin. You don't see that everyday.


A very nice wall of plants. I want one in my garden (when I get one)


Last, an Asian market we went to to buy lunch and snacks. Just in time for XMas XD Got sandwiches and mochi :3

So yeah, that was my morning. Pretty nice and relaxing. Didn't get to go on any of the rides, but whatever. Pretty good day nonetheless

Pangya update - Season 4 is coming!

GB.R3.435.00 Patch Notes - Welcome To PANGYA!
Season 4 is Coming!

Ntreev's doing a pretty good job at catching up to the other servers, though I'm worried about them catching up too fast.

Well, nonetheless, S4 is coming, which will be awesome. Expecting a new course and a new character. The event offers a chance to get Lucia free too.

The other update is to the "Scratchy Card" lottery system. Personally, I think this could be good and bad. You only get 1 card for every 1000 premium points (about $1 USD) you spend. This means you can't buy a lot of cards at once, but this could also mean that the rate for obtaining the rares are nice and high (that's the hope at least).

The current rares at Elven Ears for Kooh, Wedding Dress for Ceci, and SSAF set for Nuri. What a random set of rares. I don't think it's actually worth winning, and I can't get premium points to spend anyway, so I'll skip it :/ but this is pretty disappointing.

All images are from and copyright NtreevSoft