I'm baaaaaaaack!

Erm...So, I didn't know how to approach this journal, but then I decided that since I ShoZu'd the entire event thanks to my phone, I might as well use those to tell my tale. :*) Alright. Our adventure begins when I'm at my home getting ready to go with my nifty fedora:

 

If I'm going to something big like that, I thought that promoting Buzznet would be a pretty good thing to do, so I did. : )

Now, this photo was taken in Fort Garland, about 30 minutes from my house. Not sure why I took this, but I did, and you all commented on it! I like that you all like my haircut too. Vanessa, I swear that I was so close to getting his autograph, but I didn't actually get it. Next time, though... ;) An hour and a half later, I arrived at my aunt's house, only to be greeted by this:

After explaining how horrible a habit it is, I informed my family that I wouldn't stay with them unless there was no smoking that night. The obliged, and we had couple hours in the morning. We danced in the street, laughed about everything imaginable and I pulled out my trademark weapon of choice:

 

Unfortunately, the lollipop broek off, so I decided to eat it as my midnight snack/treat. It tasted delightfully sweet. : ) Cut to a couple hours later:

On the road to the very annoying Denver International Airport. It isn't very bad, but there were so many turns that we took that we didn't have to. That is what you get for jumping the gun. :P

After going for about 30 minutes trying to find out where I'm supposed to go and what I'm supposed to do, I finally found out where it was I was to retrieve my ticket.  I got it with no problems and walked through security, which can only be explained as a complete nightmare.  It was so ridiculous; I even had to take off my socks!  I was like, "Uhmmm..." during the 20 minutes I was stuck there, but afterwards, I felt pretty into the trip.  I was disgustingly tired, due to the lack of sleep from the night before, so here in this photo:

I'm tapping into my inner happiness to push it into my cameraphone.  And hey, it looks like it worked!  : )

My gate was probably the easiest thing to find when I got passed security, and I sat down for about an hour or so before the plane showed up.

 

The gates at Denver International are so cute and cozy.  They all have large windows that allow you to see the planes from where you are sitting.  I decided to make good use of those windows and I took some photos of the Frontier planes that were next to one another:

 

 

My plane was the one in the second photo.  I rode the Dolphin plane with Frontier Airlines, and the cool part was that the flight crew would say, "Ride The Dolphin" when anyone walked on board.  Seriously, I never laughed so stupidly in my life about that one.

I got to my window seat and right next to me sat an elderly woman who seemed more than eager to share her life with me.  I avoided eye contact as long as I could, but as soon as the captain announced it was time to take off, I looked over and she decided to open up.  She told me her life story and the stories of her son and daughter who are going to grow up and make a name for themselves.  I kept trying to drown her out, but a man behind me was snoring extremely loudly making the task all the more difficult.  Needless to say, no sleep was had on the ride.  Well, not by me.

Getting off of airplanes is the easiest thing to do in the world.  There are arrows pointing to either "baggage claim" or "exit" and I got out of there within about 3 minutes upon arriving to San Diego.  Unluckily for me, the restrooms are located at the very end of the exits, so I made haste and booked it towards the men's room.  Here I am:

 

Yes, Vero, that is a "The Hush Sound" hoodie and I wouldn't mind if you stole it from me sometime.  It was a very odd restroom, but it was really cool to see that there was a baby changing station inside.  I can't say that I've seen too many of those in my time either, artistspin.  I walked out of the airport scratch-free and tripped right out the front door.  I blame so many things for it, but the real reason was probably sheer clumsiness.  ;)

I took a shuttle from Terminal 2 to Terminal 1 and kept calling and calling to see if I could get Misery on the phone.  As soon as I did, I did a little fanboy "eeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!" thing in my head.  As soon as I got off the phone with her, I kept saying, "OMG! I'm going to meet Misery!" over and over and over again.  (Seriously, when I say I am a nerd, expect nothing more.)  We agreed to meet at the Comic-Con grounds so I decided to take a hefty walk around the harbor to the Convention center.

The walk wasn't altogether unpleasant, but the humidity was so bad that I really only focused on that bit of negativity the whole trip.  Cool thing was that I saw tons of boats and the Pacific Ocean!  Here is one of the photos I got:

 

The walk and all was going fine and dandy, and then, he came along.  I'm not sure if there was just a screw loose in his brain, but he started screaming, "OBAMA WILL KILL US ALL!" and started to chase me.  Like full blown running me down like he was a bull, and I was a huge red tomato!  He kept screaming and chasing me for a good mile or so, and I was pretty much scared to death to do anything but run.  When I finally decided to stop running, I began to see tons of signs advertising where Comic-Con was to be held and nifty arrows pointing to where I had to go from where I was at.  Those signs saved my life, and I walked along the boardwalk thinking of how to react when I met who I was going to meet from Buzznet.  I won't tell you what I decided, but the whole time, I was laughing like a fool.

After a little while, I noticed cosplayers following me.  I walked across a few streets and there was the entrance to the convention.  I pulled out my phone, pressed redial and got Misery on the phone.  She had me wait for about 10 minutes, and I saw her in a crowd.  She smiled and noticed me, and I turned around, too freaked out that I had just seen Misery.  I kept thinking, "I could go walking away right now, and this really doesn't ever have to happen," and she walked up to me and said, "Hello, John."  If there was any way for you to induce a heart attack from me, it is for me to meet you in real life, after being pals for like 9 months online, and you just greet me ever so casually.  It was perfect.

Here is us going to pick up the badges for everyone:

That moment really seals up how I felt for the rest of the trip: excited and happy.

There isn't really much to say from there.  We decided to go check out the booths at Comic-Con, spending an unusual amount of time hanging out at the Square Enix table.  It was so cool to see all of these figurines for sale:

 

 

 

 

And Jenrrray, there were so many people in love with Vincent Valentine; I think that I read that his action figure was sold out within the first 2 hours they were selling them.  They got more of them on Saturday for all of those other fangirls that just love him to bits.  ;)

This shot was taken when I let Misery know that I was leaving this place with tons of photos of her and her daughters.  Despite the fact that my finger is covering the bottom of the photo, her smile is outrageously wonderful here:

Seroiusly, I can trust Misery with my life after this trip.  SHE IS SOOOOOOOO AWESOME!

Lots of time went by, and I was going from escalator to escalator trying to find Mark and where the girls were because we split up.  Here is an escalator shot:

Here is one from the convention entrance.  I sat on a bench for a good hour talking to a woman about how cool it was, and she was absolutely fascinated by the Night Rider display that they had there.  She was awesome, and so was the view.

 

Cut to the inside: this was taken when I was in hot pursuit of finding Mark.  There was press everywhere, and this guy was actually laughing lian idiot for this segment:

His laugh was very loud and absolutely annoying.  He was very cool otherwise, and I made my way away from the area to the middle of the second floor hallway to meet up with Fayette and Yashi. 

We saw Naruto cosplayers!  These two were sweet enough to stop what they were doing for a quick photo.  And, Helen, there were TONS of people, adults and children alike, in costume.  It was terrific! 

After meeting up with Fayette and Yashi, my sleepy mind caught up to my body and this shot was taken during the VIZ Panel while I was halfway asleep.  Faye got to meet one of her idols, getting two autographs from her and a nice couple of photos, and Yashi had that upbeat happiness that she naturally exerts (seriously, that girl has got some crazy good vibes coming from her; I loved it).

After the panel led out, we met up with the storm troopers: 

I didn't ask them right then to do the robot, but I did on Saturday, Kerri, but they were called away by someone before they did it.  (I know, I was pretty bummed that they didn't too.) 

While going up and getting off the escalators once, we ran into a GIR cosplayer from Invader ZIM.  He was screaming out something or another, keeping us mildly entertained for the while that we saw him.  After him, we saw more cosplayers:

 

OMG!  THIS NEXT MOMENT WAS THE BEST!  So, Yashi and Faye and I were staying in the middle of the second floor near the stairs and we were telling Mark to come meet up with us.  Now, we had been there for a while and he said that he had already been by like 5 times and he didn't see us.  We were like, "Uh-uh" and told him to come around once more.  He passed right by Faye and Yashi, both of them too stunned to actually say anything.  When I got to them, they pointed and said, "Mark is right there!!"  I went chasing after him, came with a sneak from behind hug and I was so surprised to actually be greeted with a delightfully happy Mark right before my eyes!  We went from where I found him to where Yashi and Faye had set up camp for us, and we all just sat and talked in joy.  That's where this photo was taken:

 

Misery ended up meeting up with us very soon after we met up with Mark, and we had a nice little sit-down before our evening panels.  (I'm such a freaking nerd; I COULDN'T STOP SHAKING EVERY TIME WE MET UP WITH MARK!  Maybe I'm a little bit too much of a fanboy...  ;) )

We went to our evening events, mine being the Avatar The Last Airbender Panel, which was only the greatest thing ever.  Afterwards, Mark, Misery, Yashi and Faye were waiting for me to show up for the World's Worst Cartoons.  I did, and they saved a seat for me, RIGHT BETWEEN MARK AND MISERY!!  I was like, "PHOTO-OP!"  We ended up taking this photo, which Misery loves she said quite a few times, anwent on with the joyous evening activities. 

 

After the cartoons, we caught our trolley to Old Town San Diego, and called it a night.  We had to make a stop on the trolley, where we met up with a drunk man that insisted on befriending me and talking about Fayette's hat (that girl is absolutely wonderful, by the way), but after he left, the trolley came to take us away.

The trolley was half-empty, and I got to sit by Misery on the way to the hotel.

Friday night was no more.

In the morning, I woke up after having a dream about Comic-Con only to realize that I was actually in San Diego, sleeping in a room with 5 Buzznet members in it.  It was too cool for words.  The girls decided to leave at around 11 a.m. to go to a panel, and Misery and I stayed behind.  That was when I got to see the best things that I have ever seen in my life.

MiseryxChord handed me a portfolio of hers, and said, "Have fun; I'm going to take a shower."  I, in my hands and ultimate possession, had a portfolio of Misery's and inside are some of the greatest creations that could ever be made or seen by another human being.  I feel extremely honored to be able to gaze upon those works of ~dazzle~, and I seriously hope that Misery gets to painting very soon.  After she finished her shower and I found out more about her family's past, I left with a chipper attitude and with Misery leading the way to the trolley.

The ride was actually much shorter on Saturday, but still just as fun.  We made it to the convention center, only to see these people setting up for an interview: 

It would be cool to have been interviewed, Becky, but unfortunately, they were only interested in the cosplayers.  : )

Misery and I split up, her going to take photos of Gerard Way while I attempted to get into the Chuck signing.  Sadly, it was all full by the time I got there, so I decided to stop by the Pokemon booth, where I got that cool photo of the gigantic Pikachu!  IT WAS HUGE!

From there, I decided to just have fun around the booths and get some photos of some of the promotional stuff they had around...

 

Rhianna: yes, those are from that Coraline movie.  They were showing samples from the movie and are going to have some of the footage they showed at the convention online for everyone to see.  It looks really cool.  :) 

 

Jack and Sally!  :D

Toffee dolls (so eerie, they were) 

She is a doll, through and through. 

They had a really awesome comic book artist section, and above are some of the "color-customized cards" that some of the artsists were selling.  I was like "ZOMG, HOW COOL!" and I got paint on a pair of my pants.  I didn't mind at all though; you've got to be prepared for those kinds of things.  :) 

I cannot recall for the life of me who the woman on left is, but the one on the right was doing a TV interview of her, and she did a great job.  The girl on the left did the next photo: 

GO TEEN TITANS!  (SHE IS SO SKILLED!)

After I hit up some of the booths, met up with Philip Moy (creator of the Ape Escape manga), got his signature on a comic book sheet, and I found out that it was passed 3!  This depressed me because the Chuck panel was scheduled at 3, and by the time I got there, it was all full and sealed up.  It was a MAJOR bummer, but I made the best of a situation, and went picture taking of some cosplayers while looking for the infamous, Jhonen Vasquez.

Here are three pretty ladies from Comic-Con:

OMG!  This guy was sooooooooooo funny!  He had a bag full of captions that I kept freaking laughing over! 

A colorful character, indeed, Kerri.  ;)

I sat in on Ray Bradbury's panel.  I had no inside knowledge of who he was going in, but I found out that he is a great author from many years back who is making a movie called "Ray Bradbury's Chrysalis".  Go here for more info; it looks like one hell of a movie!

Now, moving onto what confused many of you: this is the SciFi Channel's Eureka panel, where the fans basically nerded out asking if and when they'd see Carter naked, to which the creators replied, "You'll get to see him in just a towel in the new season!"  That's ALL they talked about throughout the whole panel, but I didn't mind it.  They can be quite humorous.  :)

I went to look for the entourage that I was hanging with, and I did end up finding Ian.  I told him to strike a pose, and pose is just what he did.  ;') 

 

(He was a good guy, funneh too.)

This was during our picnic time, and we enjoyed our PB&J sandwiches a lot (except for Misery, who gave hers to Ian before Masquerade). 

Hee hee.  C.J.'s tail.  ;)

These photos were from Masquerade; if you REALLY want to know about it, hit me up and I'll spill my guts.  If we have no further questions, we're moving on.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, towards the end of the adventure after Masquerade, Mark met up with us and agreed to hang out with us for a little while.  This meant that he was going to bike from the convention center about 7 miles away to where our hotel was.  It was so funny; he beat us there!  Anywho, these were from before we boarded the trolley:

 

Misery on the trolley:

Isn't she a dish?  ;D

Now, this was where fun ensued.  Mark and I went about 20 minutes of looking for one another in the same area.  He compared it to the Labyrinth minus one very lusious Bowie (such a good movie).  Anyway, darktime shot:

 

Streetlamp sign:

 

So, I took Mark to the room where he layed on the bed next to Misery, and we talked about the Buzznet happenings.  I won't go to into depth about what we spoke about (because it wasn't even all that important), but it was so nice to just chill out with each other.  Now, I didn't know how awkward this photo was going to turn out, but right after I took it, Misery mentioned, "OMG! Mark and Misery...IN BED!"  HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

 

(And no Buzznet fanfiction contest to accompany this photo, JayV.  Not even if the stories would be some of the funniest stories ever written.  HAHAHAHA!)

Mark left us about half an hour after I took that photo, and he gave us all cute, little heart-felt hugs.  Umm...Kitten76, we NEED talk.  ;DDDDDDDDDD

So, I decided that since my flight left very early Sunday morning, I would just stay up for the couple hours that I had to and get out bright and early.  I woke up Misery twice for good-bye hugs and left the hotel that we were at and embarked on my way to the airport...by orange taxi.  The guy I called was super nice to me, and I was so depressed to be leaving. 

 

Got to the airport and had some food.  The hot cakes were great, and even the square eggs weren't too bad.  ;)

 

Taken after my security search.  I felt like my world was shifted to this angle after the security pass at San Diego International.  *shivers*

Right before I left, I snuck in a photo of the outside.  What you can't see:  an Italian man screaming obscenities to the truck because the truck isn't supposed to be there. 

I have so many of these kinds of photos.  I'll post 'em all someday... 

We went over safety guidelines once again, this time, they forced us to pull out our books and follow along.

The plane ride back was just chill.  I fell asleep and awoke and was like 10 minutes from landing.  I had a great time, and I get off the plane and was greeted by a huge Buffalo Bill sign: 

What a nice greeting to see when you first get to Colorado, isn't it? 

After about 20 minutes of trying to get out of DIA, I saw the "Welcome to Denver" sign.  It was a bit odd to me, but I was  shaky and tired that I really didn't care one bit about the sign.  I just wanted to get home!  My uncle soon found me, and we went driving to Castle Rock's outlet stores, where I got some lunch at a Taco Bell.  Here was a facy chandelier from the place: 

 

And I decided to close with this sky shot:

I dunno why.  It's pretty or something.  :P

On this trip, I learned so much about myself.  I know how dumb that sounds, but I'm pretty sure I came off to everyone around me as the biggest nerd alive.  I didn't add much to conversations (I have poor social skillz), but I was always happy!  At the end of the day, I'm not cool enough, but felt so honored to be able to hang with some of the best people here on Buzznet in real life.  I cannot wait until next year's Comic-Con, where I will be going to be meeting up with Misery, Yashi and Faye for another tremendous weekend.  Thank you to everyone that tuned into my awesome weekend via Twitter and Buzznet, and I love that this is proof that I actually can meet up with you all in real life at some point in the future.  Expect me at your doorstep very soon (Ikky, Seb, Kitten, Kassady, TheSceneAvenger, xBlanksFace, Crash, Hollow, HideDontSeek, JayV: you all are next).

P.S. - Buzznet needs a booth or event panel at Comic-Con.  Seriously.  : )

♥ 

Well, well. I haven't really kept up my goal of journaling as much as I should have done so. I used to love to journal, like bad, and now, I feel like it's kind of a chore. Okay, that's not true. I really don't know how to find any time to do that while getting ready for college and my summer activities.

As many of you know, I am quite the gossip fiend. I love to gossip about 90% of everyone no matter who they are. Don't worry; all gossip that pertains to Buzznet is usually very positive stuff.

Anyway, I have recently found out that an ex of mine (yes, this is petty) has taken a few turns down the wrong roads. There are drugs involved, even educational failure. I used to think that they would grow up to be successful someday. I thought it would make me feel good to hear about their current state of hell, but in all reality, I think that I'm actually kind of saddened by it. It could just be me growing up or growing dumb, but I actually feel sympathy for the dope; the same dope that told me that I would never go anywhere with my life because I lack initiative. Since then, I think that I've always tried to get in touch with my inner initiative. There is too much splendor and brilliance in so many people, we just need our eyes opened to it to actually get anything from our insides. Our brain is there for us to use to it's fullest potential, folks. Believe it and take that knowledge with you.

The energy is there, but will you choose to use it? Let's hope so.

Moving on...Comic-Con 2008 is here! I'm following Mark (PanasonicYouth) on Twitter, and it seems like it will be such a blast! I've got quite a few things that I'll be going to go see while I am there, and I can't wait to ShoZu the whole event. In case you didn't know, I'll be hanging with MiseryxChord and her two daughters, Yashiyama and FaidTheForgotten. We're going to have a bit of a Buzznet gathering, and I'm looking forward to it so much. Expect a lot of photos with me and them. Seriously, how many times will I get to hang with Buzznet members in San Diego over the next year?! By the way, if you are going, let me know and we'll hang out! I'd love to meet you, and I promise not to cling to you the two days that I'll be there (Misery, Yashi and Fai: ignore that; I'm clinging to you three like syrup to hot cakes!). Can't wait; I leave Friday morning!

Now, one of my favorite scenes from my all-time favorite movie, 1996's Phantom starring Mr. Billy Zane, Catherine Zeta-Jones and a handful of other great actors and actresses before they became as famous as they are now.

Gets me every time. ;)

For the finale, I think that I've been hit in the head with a big ball of hope. It's like going to a spa after not showering for a month (not that I would know or anything...). I've felt this way before. Many times, actually. This time is different, though. Maybe just a little bit. I feel like I'm at the end of a sitcom, going to Comic-Con and living it up before my show gets cancelled. I don't have many viewers these days, but the ones that I do have, I'll love forever. My sitcom is getting cancelled, and I don't think that I'll be able to bounce back from this. Or wait. I do. That is what I'm actually getting at. I have hope. Despite the fact that I am scared to death of being so far away from home and literally having none of my regular comforts to support me, I feel okay. I think that I know what it's like to have faith in something at this moment. I used to always have difficulty with religious beliefs because I could never really imagine the idea of someone grinding the gears of life and creating me. Right now, I can. It feels nice and scary. It's a good combination. I have obligations that I may never stick to, but I'll work as hard as I can when I can to get them done. I don't need people or looks to validate who I am. I have a million friends in my head, and you mean the world to me. I have so much confusion about so much that it has imploded into hope by the bucket loads. I'm growing up, Granny.

It's time to get going; I've got a back to pack and a weekend to get pumped for.

P.S. - Yes, the 365 vlog project will continue! I have to step up my game, thanks to all of you vloggers these days. They will be back sometime in the near future (I'll probably set one up for tomorrow night.) I love you gals and dolls.

You make dreaming worth it (e plurbus unum).

And what keeps you coming back over and over again?

Before you answer, I'd like to not have a general "because of the awesome community" answer.  Seriously, there has to be a broader or an even deeper answer to the question.

Enlighten me.

P.S. - No, there is nothing wrong.  I'm just curious.  I want to pick your brain and feed it to zombies.

So, I wake up after about 3 hours of sleep, fully refreshed.  I go to my computer, check my email, and guess what?

MISS COCO PERU EMAILED ME!

Okay, let me back up and drop some links/pictures.

There is a drag queen by the name of Ms. Coco Peru, played by a man by the name of Clinton Leupp.  Here is a picture of Clinton Leupp when he's all dolled up and ready for performance:

Pretty believeable get-up, right?

I first saw him in a movie called "Girls Will Be Girls," which is one of the best and funniest movies that I've ever seen in my life.  Definitely a top 3 favorite right there.  I can safely say that that movie put me more in touch with my sexuality than any movie has before (seriously, after being thrown out of whack with all the crap you see today, that movie is one amazing breath of fresh air).  Anyway, since then, I've seen him on an old Thanksgiving episode of "Will & Grace," a very small and hidden role in the film "To Wong Foo Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar," have seen tons of his stand-up (thank you, youtube) and found out he was in an earlier movie called "Trick," one movie that I've been trying to get a copy of for the last couple of days.  Hmm...maybe I should try ebay...?

I'm getting off-task!  Okay, so I went to Clinton Leupp's main website, MissCocoPeru.com, yesterday, went to the contact page, sent him a nice message and that was it.  I had only hoped that he would read it, not reply and make me nearly choke on the apple I ate this morning!

What I said to him exactly was:

"To either Mr. Clinton Leupp or Ms. Coco Peru:

I'd like to say that you are in true adoration by one of your younger fans.  You and your drag queen counterpart have created a miraculous career for yourself, and imagine all of the people in the world that you've helped inspire to be courageous and take a stand for themselves.  I truly do admire you in every sense.  I love that you aren't afraid to let people know who you are, and that's something that people truly fear these days.  People need to start coming out of their shells and taking a more strong attitude, something that I'll always love you for having.  Seriously, you are my favorite breath of fresh air.  Thank you for all that you've done, and I cannot wait to see what Ms. Coco Peru has in store for us next!

- John"

Here is the reply that I received back:

"Hi John,

Thank you for that wonderful email, I really appreciate the support and
that you took the time to write me. I believe that drag has been a really
healing part of my life and it has opened me up to so many things that I
would've never experienced  had I not created Coco. I am so grateful that
I "saw the light" and that people like yourself have grown to appreciate
my little take on drag and the world!

XO
Coco"

Seriously, how freaking cool is that?! 

He does stand-up in Chicago quite frequently, so you know where I'm going to be everytime he comes into town!  : )

Just thought I'd share.  It's not every day that an idol of yours sends a message your way, you know.  ; )

Much love!  Enjoy your day!