Post Chicago Blues

I came back from Chicago a few days ago. I was only gone five days but it was the best five days I've had in a year, since I was there in 2017. Coming back home, being here a couple days, I'm really feeling that post Chicago blues. Let me explain. 

1) Food
The food in Chicago is way better than the food out here in LA, or in my case, the Valley. Chicago seems to have less chains, the food is cheaper, and the food just tastes way better. I'm actually pretty depressed about this because I've realized all the places I eat at here with my friends are either fast food, or way overpriced decent food. Its a lose-lose! 

2) Music venues
LA has its share of great music venues, that's true. However, they are all overpriced in comparison to the gigs I went to in Chicago. The jazz gig cost me $12. The blues gig only $7. Not only would a bar in LA charge that much (probably more actually) but they would also have a one or two drink minimum. At both clubs/bars I went to in Chicago none of them had drink minimums. Music events are better over there. Not only that but I think for the kind of music that I like and play, Chicago would be a much better city. Jazz, classical, modern classical, etc.

3) Weather 
The weather in Chicago is cold, that's for sure. However, sometimes the cold is good. The always summer weather of LA gets tiring, and you lose a certain movement of the Earth here in the Valley. Like every year is the same, every day is the same, every hour is the same, its a sort of labored continuity, driven by the fact that everyday is completely identical. This almost made me lose my grounding when I first moved here, when I didn't write or play music, instead I became absorbed into the 'bio-mass' of California culture-video games, technology, movies, rock and roll, night life, and a retail job.

4) People 
People in LA are fake. Like really, really, really fake. Not only that but they can be real stuck-up assholes, guys and gals, I've met them personally on musically levels or when I help out customers at work. The thing about Chicago is that its hard to be fake and a cunt. Everyone can spot you out a mile away and call you out on your bullshit. In LA everyone preens themselves as an artist, musician, businessman, manger, etc but when it comes to their actual jobs its often not what we expect (usually lame, boring, or they don't get enough respect, etc), or they turn out to have a shitty personality. Not saying everyone in LA is like this but a lot of them are. Hell, even my brother's academic roommates were nicer, more intelligent, and interesting than most of the college students I've come to meet in LA. There's something about the Midwest, the people are a lot more wholesome, and they'll take time out of their day to help you or speak with you. Midwestern hospitality! 

5) Cost of living
The cost of living in Chicago is much cheaper than LA. You can rent a room for as low as $500. Sure it won't be a palace and you might have to share with roommates but it beats the $1500 one room apartment price here in the Valley. At one point I was thinking about moving out of my dad's place but it ended up not working out because it was still too expensive between three people. I think my cost would've been something like $800, which is too much. 

6) Scenic Historical City
We spent two or three days downtown Chicago just checking places out. You can spend a lot of time just walking down the streets and enjoying the scenic historical city. Its one of the most well known cities in the world, and for good reason.

7) Trains and buses 
The trains and buses in Chicago are great. Sure, the buses might be extremely full at times, and the trains too in the morning commute, but they are reliable, so reliable in fact that you don't even need a car. This is perfect for me because I don't drive and don't own a car. The trains are fast, even the buses are fast. Its great. 

Jotting all this down is a little depressing because I see all that I'm missing now that I'm back in the Valley. However, the good news is that I'm planning on moving to Chicago in about a year or so, when I can go back to visit, and find a place. In the meantime I'm going to continue with creative pursuits and working, as well as further my education in the classics and philosophy. In the end it will be very sad because I'll be leaving behind my vast network that I've created here since 2013. I have a lot of very good friends and although my job is a lowly retail job, it has also helped me to make friends, musical associates, and afford to buy things. It will be sad when I leave but I will also be glad in a way, to start a new life in the windy city. 

Anime Expo Day Three

So I went to Anime Exp yesterday for Day 3, the final day of the event. I was kind of dreading it at first and I was even planning on not going. However, my friends really wanted me to go so I bought my ticket. Getting the pass turned out to be a hassle because I had to take the bus downtown LA super early in the morning on Friday (also called Day 0). But even that wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. It was fun just cracking jokes all morning on the bus with my friends. Now onto the event itself...

I wasn't really too sure what to expect other than a bunch of weebs in cosplay and hot cosplay girls. The best thing I can say about the event was that there was a lot of hot girls everywhere wearing skimpy cosplay outfits. There was a lot of t and a at that convention. It was pretty good. But that's pretty much where the good ends for me. I'll explain further.

So we get in, walk around, and start looking at merch. I actually ended up not buying anything because I didn't see anything that was cool enough or worthy to buy. But that's besides the point. So I see a Reaper cosplay (from Overwatch) with pies instead of shot guns in his hands and nearby I spot a Blizzard merch stand! I love Blizzard so this should be cool right? I look at this awesome D.Va statue model for like 15 seconds and this employee there comes up to me and tells me I can't look at it any longer unless I buy something of worth at least $8. Talk about a fucking rip off. You mean I gotta pay just to look at Blizzard merch? That was too much. Of course I didn't pay for that but man that kinda put a bad taste in my mouth considering that I've been supporting Blizzard for years. This blog is a testament to that. They're really grubby when it comes to money.

After that we chilled at this bar/lounge area and it was probably the coolest place there. There was a live rock band and they were playing anime/gaming songs. The guitarist was great but there were three female lead singers and their voices just clashed so hard on every note. It was like listening to three annoying women singing the Pokemon theme (it literally was that). However, I'd like to give that band credit because the guitarist, bassist, and drummer were all great players. I could tell in their tone. That was fun.

Later we met up with two friends which made our party five and we went to a Dragon Ball Super panel, the only panel I went to for the event. We got there two hours early because if we didn't we wouldn't have been able to get in (too many people). So we sat down for hours just waiting and I just kept falling in and out of consciousness because I kept sleeping because it was so boring. Once the panel started I found out that the voice actors for English version Goku and Vegeta were pretty arrogant. They thought they were just the coolest guys in the room. English Beerus and Japanese Vegeta especially were very humble. Sometimes I think the creators and/or actors behind the scenes are very undeserving of the fans' love and I would say that guy that voices Goku perhaps doesn't deserve the goodwill of the fans with the way he was talking and presenting himself. It was quite troubling considering I've been watching since I was a kid but let's face it these guys aren't perfect. The panel itself was super boring because they didn't talk about anything interesting or new about the show and the Q & A was just general dumb questions from fans. There was no talk about the current events of Super, just mostly the Battle of Gods and Resurrection of Frieza. In that respect it was also a letdown.

We ate at a food truck which was actually surprisingly good. I got a grilled cheese spicy chicken sandwich with tator tots that was actually pretty good. However, it did set me back like $16 so its debatable if it was really worth it. Overall, I found the event to be just a money grubby give me your money! kind of thing with no real benefit other than to buy cool anime merch that you wouldn't be able to find anywhere else other than online. The real disappointing thing was that Blizzard charged to view their gear and I didn't get to meet any of the Overwatch voice actors. That was the main reason I wanted to go.

I think between falling asleep out of boredom and the fact that Blizzard wanted $8 just to look at their merch, I found the whole event to have been a waste of time and money. However, the convention experience (the people and the cosplays) was a lot better than I thought it would be. I really enjoyed all the Overwatch cosplays! So many Hanzos! I did find it a little weird how many guys there were dressed as girls. Apparently this is an event where you can cross dress and not be called a fairy. There was a lot of people but it never felt like it was an unmanageable amount of people so that was good. Even though it turned out to be a bad experience for me at least I can say I've been to one of the biggest conventions ever! I'd be down to go next year but I'd want to go for more days so I can spend more time to really enjoy it.

Dig the Overlord cosplay!

Little Tokyo

     Today was a great day off. My friends and I went to Little Tokyo, which is downtown LA, somewhere around there. It was the first time I've ever been there and it was a treat! The drive wasn't too bad but there was a lot of traffic going both ways. The first thing we did when we got there was eat at this place called Mr. Ramen, this tiny whole in the wall sort of restaurant with all this colorful artwork all over the walls. It was so colorful to the point that it looked tacky but my friends said that all the artwork was something new that they added to the restaurant recently.
     When it came to my meal I ended up getting the beef ramen. It had slices of shredded beef, cilantro, those vegetables that's always in pho (see through veggie), and noodles. The broth was so good! I ended up eating/drinking all of it. We ate a bunch of great snacks today. We got these things called Pocky's at a grocery store and there were all kinds of flavors. It's basically a chocolate/other flavor sweet cookie sort of snack. And then later my friends got tacoyaki, this fried bread-like ball with meat and sauce inside. Really tasty stuff. I really enjoy Japanese food as well as other aspects of Japanese culture-anime, gaming, waifus, swords, women, lol.
     We ended up walking all over the place. It was a little hot under the sun but we endured it. In terms of appearances Little Tokyo doesn't look very Japanese. It looks like a rundown area of LA. We saw plenty of homeless people, one guy even coming up to us and shouting,"Give me some money" lol. The shops we went to were all great but at same the time I thought I didn't have very much cash so I didn't buy anything substantial like a toy model or other bric a bracs. Instead I just got this cool black and red Japan rising sun head band that said kamikaze. I only hope it doesn't stand for kamikaze pilots lol. I won't be wearing it, its just something I wanted as a neat souvenir.
     The best part of the trip other than the great food was the anime/hobby shops we went to. I saw great anime model toys, waifu pillows(!), keychains, pins, anime, posters, shirts, manga, and trading cards. What really caught my eye was this Kirby (Nintendo's very own pink marshmallow) toy model. It was very detailed and if I knew I had the cash I would've definitely bought it. Oh well, maybe next time. It was a fun experience and I would definitely want to go back in the future, this time looking for things in particular that I can't find elsewhere.
     After we came back we played some smash. I've reconciled the fact that I'm going to be a Bayonetta main with a strong Zero Suit Samus secondary, sometimes even preferring to use Zss over Bayonetta in certain match-ups. For the time being I want to focus on Zss until I can master the Bayonetta 0-death combos that are so popular. I've got a tournament tomorrow at Fire and Dice, we'll see what happens. I'll probably use Zss if I feel like Bayonetta isn't as strong in whatever match-ups I get thrown into. I've been playing a lot of smash with my friends but they like playing free for all with the three of us, and that's just not going to help me in a tournament setting. We do have days where we just play 1v1's and take turns but that doesn't happen nearly enough for us to keep improving at the game. I've definitely got to get us out of playing those dumb free for alls.
     Hope you're all having a good work week. In other news I'm going on vacation next week but I'll probably still be blogging with my laptop. In addition, Pokken Tournament comes out on Friday, March 18 so I'm definitely excited for that. Wish me luck in the tournament tomorrow!