One Potato Two

Oops, I haven't posted in a while.
I recently finished a project that I'm not sure if I can talk about, and currently working on a different project that I'm also not sure if I can talk about.

I'm also working on Code Geass novel #3 and Shugo Chara #9.


I'm also preparing for Anime Expo 2009.
This year I am working for Company G, who has two Guests of Honor.
So I am also busy watching Gurren Lagann.

I'm not officially translating for the GoH's, but I will be hanging out with them.
I'm mostly there to take care of the CEO.

So, yeah, I've been pretty busy.
I'm also still working on getting my wrist nice and healed.
And honestly, that takes up a good chunk of my day.

I hope I can update again before AX, but if not...see you all at AX!

A friend works at Company SE, and he happened to work on the FF7 ACC blu-ray.
So we decided to have a viewing party, since I had just gotten a new TV.

I wasn't really watching because I'm not a FF fan.
(And I had to finish Shugo Chara #8).
It was very pretty to look at, though.


But at the end, we discovered that my friend wasn't credited...

How sad!!


Anyway, please check it out.

I went to E3 to see my video game industry friends.

First I went to see my new friend named R I just made at Fanime.
He was working at the Company NB booth.

I'm looking forward to their We Cheer! 2 game coming this October.



I later went to go see my friend M at the Company SE booth.

Sorry, I didn't take any pictures here.
It's because they had nothing about Dragon Quest.


Oh, I got to check out a little bit of the new Left 4 Dead 2 they just announced.
I also got a poster.

Nothing really special happened.

We closed our booth early and rested in the hotel.
Watched Lakers play horribly.

For dinner I went out with the GAINAX people since I hardly talked to them throughout the weekend.

We went to a Thai restaurant.

We ordered the food to be "spicy."
I guess the Japanese people were expecting "spicy" in a Japanese sense.
They got "Thai spicy."


And with that, Fanime 2009 was officially over.

The person I took a picture of cosplaying as Amu yesterday came by the booth to get my "autograph."
I really disagree ruining someone's book, but she insisted...

We took pictures together.

I went to see part of the Gurren documentary.
It was funny.

There was a Q&A panel afterward, but I didn't stay for the whole thing.


GAINAX staff and Yamaga-san.


At night, I went to the Yamaga-san party (formerly called "Meet GAINAX Party") to eat.
I forgot to take pictures, but the food was sad.
Especially for me who was expecting food like last year's party.

There were cheese pizza, corn dogs, popcorn, Cracker Jacks, and brownies.


At the end of the party I met up with Reuben Langdon, one of the Fanime guests.
I met him like 2 years ago? and haven't seen him since, so it was cool.

We were talking about his auction/charity thing (winning bidder got to play Street Fighter against him and get a recorded message on voice mail) and he offered to record something for my voice mail too.

So if you know my cell phone number and get the "busy" recording, you can hear Ken Masters.

I took a bunch of pictures today.
Saw many Amu-chan's from Shugo Chara!




With Yaya.


With Nadeshiko?




The boy is not a friend of this girl, but he wanted to be in the picture, I guess.
I didn't see many Amulet Hearts or any other shapes.


Later that night I went to the Left 4 Dead tournament to look for new friends.
I had so much fun, but only ended up with one friend so far.

This day I went to Company V to visit my friend.
This is the view of the building.



I got a brief tour, and then we went to lunch.

Then I headed back to Fanime.

I saw my friend J, formerly of Company BEI and now working for video game Company S.
I told him I was playing one of their games, and he was actually part of the project.
Not the video game but the anime version of it.

I also saw my friend H from video game Company A.
They were promoting a new title coming out in June.

I guess that's it for Day 1.

This year I was attending Fanime as a dealer, so I drove up with fellow boothmate D.
Since I am injured, he did most of the work.

After we finished setting up we went to our friend B's art show closing party.

Here are some pictures.






My friend F, a graphic designer at Company V, showed up later too.



After the show we went to a cafe to catch up.
We mostly talked about the things and people in the industry.

Oops, I was going to write this for Mother's Day, but my wrist has been acting up.

I was going to introduce some manga that my mother reads/likes.

She doesn't read much manga, which is odd, considering how much manga she's been around, but here they are:

Jaja-uma Grooming Up!
by Masami Yuuki


My mother likes horse racing...so this is an obvious choice.
It's about a guy who travels to Hokkaido and decides to quit high school to live at a horse-breeding ranch.
It follows a span of 4 years of him, the people around him, and the horses as they grow.

What I like also about this manga is that the horses are drawn so cute!
I used to HATE going to the race tracks when I was a kid, when only my father was into it.
I hated the smell of the horse poo.

But now I'm more aware about horse racing...I don't know if that's a good thing, but...


Atashi'nchi
Eiko Kera



The first time my sister and I read this, we laughed so hard because the mother in the manga acts so much like our own mother.
This manga is presented in equal-sized panels that go down.
They look like 4-koma but there's no punchline at the 4th panel, but a chapter goes for about 3 pages.
The story is about everyday life of a family.
It's all in color and very cute.


Seigi no Mikata
Chiaki Hijiri


This is about a pretty evil, selfish lady (the older sister of the main character) whose evil comments or acts end up saving other people.
This was made into a live-action drama series (Japanese dorama), which is why my mother showed interest.

My mother and sister say that the evil sister is a little bit like me.
Hmm...

Is anyone going to Fanime?



Please let me know or call me during the con :D


Some work updates:

I'm working on Lelouch #5 (almost done!) and Princess Resurrection #8.
There is a new android in #8.
This one doesn't just say "Hooba," but "Hoooooobaaaaaaa."

Hee hee hee.

Today I will talk about the physical therapy I do at home, since I've been getting questions from my friends.

I do a number of things over the course of the day.

Contrast bath therapy:
I prepare two tubs, filling one with hot/warm water (usually I make it too hot...I burned myself once), and the other with ice cold water.

It looks like this.


I put the cold water in the blue tub for easy reference.
The hot water pot is placed next to the pink tub so I can add more hot water when it gets cooler.

I dunk my whole forearm in the pink tub for 2-3 minutes, then dunk it in the blue tub for a minute.
And I repeat the process for 15 minutes.
I use a timer to keep track of the time.
I used to do nothing and just stand there, but lately I've been playing DS or reading manga with my left hand.

Sometimes the cat comes around and wonders what I am doing.


After 15 minutes, I wipe down and massage my forearm.
My main injury is in the carpal tunnel and the TFCC area, but my elbow's been affected so I treat the entire area.

I massage using a gel called Sombra.


Best thing ever.
Before I got this I used Biofreeze.

After a thorough massage I do stretches, then some strengthening exercises using a dumbbell, a tape gun, and a rubber band.
(Not all together).

Then I ice the area for 10 minutes.

And that ends my morning therapy.

After the Sombra wears off I put a topical gel called Voltaren on the swollen area.
I have to keep this on my wrist for an hour before I wash it off, so I try to pass the time by watching TV.

I do another contrast bath therapy in the afternoon, followed by a massage.

Then I do another contrast bath therapy at night + massage + strengthening (if I feel no pain).
This will be followed by another Voltaren application.

I do various stretches throughout the day, especially when I am watching TV or on the computer.


Before I go to sleep I apply more Sombra on my wrist and do the final stretches for the day, then wear a wrist brace to sleep.

I think this just about covers my home edition of therapy.
It takes a good amount of my time each day, but it's worth it...I hope.
I'll talk about the stuff I do at my therapist's office next time.

Oops, I haven't posted for a while again.
I've been focusing on my hand therapy and trying to type less.
And it's so hot I really don't want to wear a headset to use Dragon.
I guess I should get a microphone...

Anyway.

It's only April, but I guess people are getting ready for Anime Expo 2009.
I got an email asking if I can work for a certain client, so I will be attending this year.
I can't say which company yet (I've worked with them before, though), since the Guest of Honor hasn't been announced.
I guess AX is still finalizing the details or something.

I am not working at Fanime this year but I will be going to see my NorCal friends.

Other than that, I'm currently working on Nunnally 2, Lelouch 5, and got new manga today.
(Not announced yet...I think).

My editor at Company BEI emailed me how he was about to send three books to me:

Nightmare of Nunnally #2
Lelouch manga #5
Code Geass novel #3

He was able to send me Nunnally, but had to wait a few days for the other two because he accidentally "drowned it in coffee."
He said to not worry because he had multiple copies.

For a moment, I thought it was because he had injured his left hand and was only using one hand.
But he said that he was a big clutz and had nothing to do with his hand.

Anyway, I got the other two books yesterday.
I was flipping through Lelouch #5 when...



I noticed that the last few pages were crinkly.


I looked at the bottom and sure enough, it was brown.

I guess the extra copies weren't completely safe.



Lelouch manga #5 has a bonus manga at the end featuring a story about when Lelouch, Suzaku, and Nunnally are younger.
It's a nice story to read along with Novel 0.
Please buy both and support my work!


P.S. "Code Brown" is sort of from Monsters vs Aliens, in case no one notices...