This is mainly for my Chicago/midwestern con people.  By a show of hands, how many of you are interested in going to Chicago Comic Con for free?  Yes, free!  How?  Well, this year is the first that ACen and Comic Con are working together in a bit of cross fandom pollination.  ACen will be hosting a cosplay contest at Comic Con this year and the con chair has asked me to wrangle up some judges.  This is where you come in.  I need 3 of you that are ABSOLUTELY SURE that you can make it to the con to judge!  Anyone interested?  You have until Friday to respond here, drop me a line here, e-mail (it's in my profile info), whatever.  The 3 of you that I pick (at random) are guaranteed free badges for the weekend and probably some swag as well!  It should go without saying that you must know your shit about stitching a costume or two together!  If you think you know anyone around the area that might be interested, have 'em add me here and send 'em this way.

Also, I'm generally a slow adapter to useless, bandwagony, popular networking.  As such I have FINALLY decided to sign up for Facebook so I don't have to listen to people piss and moan about me not being there anymore!  Search my FULL name, Jayson Clarkson as there are a shitton of dudes named Jayson on Facebook, and add away.  Later!

You know that premium dog food they sell?  The kind that's all juicy and covered in gravy with bits of vegetables that looks really good, almost good enough to eat?  Yeah... Sometimes the easiest way to get someone to do something is to simply dare them to.  It worked on me, and it wasn't all that bad!  I've had food made for humans that tasted far worse.  Of course this is discounting the bugs, weird sea things, paper, staples, old food, etc. that I've ingested. 

And I PROMISE I will update with an ACen post soon... I think.

Tags: food, writer's block

The hell if I remember who my first friend on LJ was.  I had another LJ, frenziedfury , that I created for the sole purpose of commenting on friends' LJ's.  I never made a single post to that one.  I don't think I even filled out profile info for it.  I followed that pattern for about 3 years before I finally decided to make an actual active LJ.  Why I didn't just stick with the frenziedfury LJ is anyone's guess, but this one is here to stay.  Oh yeah... post about ACen and what not forthcoming!

Tags: first friend, lj birthday, writer's block

As it stands my train to Chicago leaves in 10 hours. You think I'm finished packing yet? Psh. I haven't even finished washing the stuff I need to pack, much less given any thought to actually packing it! And I still have shit I need to do in the morning (get hair done, find new phone charger, deposit a check, pay a bill, etc.) before I leave! Fuck year procrastination! WHY CAN'T I FIND MY TOOTHBRUSH?!?

Also, 856-870-5022 is how you'll find me this weekend!

FINALLY somewhat kinda sorta ready to head home!  Booked my travel TODAY thanks to U.S. Airways' site being remarkably anal about how you enter your address online to confirm a reservation!  Actually... I'm taking a train since U.S. Airways' dickery caused me to miss out on the fare I wanted!  Assholes.  Still gotta try and sneak in an appointment to get my hair done, new memory card for camera, some clothes, er... fuck.  I'm sure I'll remember it all Monday night when I finally start to pack for a train that leaves Tuesday afternoon!

I'm heading out of Philly at 1 in the afternoon, arriving in Chicago at a quarter to 9 in the morning in Wednesday.  Long trip, yes, but I'm a hardened road warrior, plus I love train rides.  Once I get there... yeah.  Head up to the Hyatt, drop my shit off, then go gallavanting around my home city.  FUCK I CANNOT WAIT!!!  Definitely more excited than I was when I posted this emo faggotry last year.  I'm really looking forward to having a good time this year.  Helping run the Green Room, presumably judging the Masquerade again (if not I'm murdering the Masq. director since he have me his word I would be), parties, friends, parties, and just being back home!

For my east coast people on my friend list, how many of you guys are going this year?  I know paulioshi , rymel , and animeangel are going.  Anyone else?  Sarah?  Steve?  Carlo?  I still find it funny how we all live in the same or neighboring state, yet only see each other like... 3 times out of the year.  Hilarious. 

FUCK I CAN'T EVEN ARTICULATE HOW PUMPED I AM FOR THIS!!!  Even if it weren't for ACen, I'll be back in my hometown where I BELONG!  See you all there!

Current Music: One Last Visit - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Soundtrack

Or is it week? All my friends swore up and down that the sale was only for today. Two Best Buy associates (btw, I'm making this post from the second Best Buy on my trip today) say it lasts the week. The whole week? SCORE... sort of. I thought myself smart by heading to the Best Buy nearest me around 11:30 or so. Yeah, shows how smart I is. As one fellow gamer there put it "Man, you'd think Jesus came back the way this place was crowded earlier!".

Unfortunately, I was hit with the triple whammy of most everything I wanted not being included on the sale, everything else was already sold, and the remaining merch was meh. Still managed to score a Collector's Edition of Quantum of Solace (score because I've had a raging fanboy hardon for the Bond series for years), Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga and Lego Indiana Jones. Not a bad haul. I may try one more store (Deptford, NJ), unless gmrgirlx and yesod want to be total sweethearts and scout the Deptford Best Buy for Soul Calibur IV, Devil May Cry 4 and Lost Planet!   Please?  Pretty purty please with chocolate peanut butter sauce on top?

Anyone else parttake of this special Holiday/week/however long?  Post with your hauls!

Current Music: ambiet Best Buy demo TV chatter

Yeah, only a week and a half or so after I get back from Tekkoshocon. No report, no interesting quotes, no pics, nothing... until now! I'll just keep this brief. Saw folks, had fun, did stuff, got laughed at, Mudkips had fun. How much fun did mudkips have?





Yeah. Mudkips got dem panties at Tekkoshocon!

Also, I CAN DRINK CAFFEINE AGAIN! HA!!! LENT AIN'T GOT NOTHIN ON ME!!! Yeah, I know I'm late, but me. I. Jayson D. Clarkson of Chicago, Illinois gave up drinking caffeine for 40 days, plus the Sundays, all the way until Easter. Small wonder that I was snorting lines of Starbucks and shooting up Dunkin Donuts, not to mention I've slept 4 hours in the last 2 days and feel fantastic. Go me.

Current Location: Somewhere over the rainbow
Current Mood: I got the shakes!
Current Music: Some crackhead arguing with a teenager

It reads...

couger1516
Resident Evil 5

OptimusCliff
Resident Evil 5

PixelFashion
Resident Evil 5

SeanKWD
Resident Evil 5

uRnObEtTeR
Resident Evil 5

You would think the game just came out!

Granted I walk no particular religious path, I have a marked interest in the practice of the 40 day sacrificial period. Only problem is finding something I'd want to do without each year. I've already tried trivial stuff like "being a slob" or "not eating candy" and other menial vices, but I'm starting to run out of ideas. Internet and gaming are out of the question (I'd just as soon cut my hair), can't give up sex (wouldn't that require me to actually start at some point?), and I enjoy exercise too much, so what would that leave me me with? This year, I opted for caffeine. Wouldn't be a problem if I didn't drink litres of caffeinated beverages daily. I do this as a test of my own self discipline, to see if my mental training can override my physical vices. Last time I tried it withdrawl headaches brought me down, but now... fuck. I feel MISERABLE. Returning to daily meditation should help... I hope. Haven't faltered yet, but damnit Easter seems so far away!

Current Mood: GAH JUST ONE DROP OF CAFFEINE!
Current Music: Police sirens

Seriously. All I've seen on the news or heard from people all day is incessant whining about these few inches of dust somehow amount to a "snowstorm" and "it'll be one to remember". My ass. There hasn't been anything that could be called respectable winter weather out here since that epic blizzard of '96 (which may have been the ONLY time I enjoyed living in New Jersey)! I mean... schools EVERYWHERE are closing, business are shut down, and they may decide to puss out and make driving a ticketable offense like they did i n'96.

It's not even that cold outside! I'm sitting here barefoot with a wifebeater and sweats on, window wide open, and I feel fine! Gotta be that hardy midwestern upbrining! Seriously, people! Shut up, buck up, and ENJOY what might be winter's last hurrah! You know... I think I'll go make some snow angels now!

Current Mood: Actually, I'm kinda warm!
Current Music: Still Alive - Mirror's Edge Soundtrack

 Literally posting from the mall after picking it up!  Time to do some thangs, baby!  (stares directly at taiki and chico_chan )  Even though I know she will NEVER read this, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOMMY!!!

Just a tad bit late on this, but internet service is down AGAIN and I'll happily give that up instead of such trivialities such as rent and electricity!  Eh, such is life, but work should be picking up again soon and restored internet access along with it.  Other than that, I ain't dead!  On with the con report!

I had a really good time at the con this year!  I mean... every year I've gone (except for '05, which was epic) I've enjoyed myself, but I usually had to make a concentrated effort to do so via finding friends and parties and what not, but this year?  The con itself seemed much improved.  From a staffer's point of view, this had to be the best Ohayocon since... shit, ever.  Reg wasn't the clusterfuck it was back in 2006, Security was better (if only because I joined!), no major incidents during the "rave" on Saturday (thought Friday night was a different story), a lot of things just seemed... better.  Granted Panels were kinda screwed from what I heard, I have no real major complaints.  Well, there is the used condom in the elevator, breaking up an escalating confrontation between a couple, 16 hour shifts, missing out on some friends' panels, and not seeingwasurenaikara .  

The wins outweigh the losses, however.  Saw more people than I thought I'd see there, likepure_nell_alpha , ran into old friends i haven't seen since 2006, still scored free breakfast from the Drury, somehow winding up with a double room to myself AGAIN, partying with the security staff, midwestern miscreant mayhem, scoring a "Just because I'm me" discount at the bar and getting my drinks for free, and to top it all off... THE ELEVATORS LASTED THE WEEKEND!!!  Those of you reading this that have been to Ohayocons past know that at least 1 elevator always fails during the weekend.  Yeah... the start of the con hopping year went off alright for me.  Next stop, Katsucon!  Speaking of which,wildhorseranma , how are you getting down there and does our previous arrangement for the room still stand?  Ring me (I'll send you an LJ message and we'll talk.

Starting something new this year.  I'll be including choice quotes overheard at every con I hit throughout the year!

( List a go-go! )

Oh yeah, I almost forgot!  In what can only be described as the deal of the century, I just scored a near mint 80G PS3, extra controller, and 4 games for only $350.  Go me!  So yeah, any PS3 owners on here?  Go on and add a fella!  I JUST registered another account on PSN under the name Hunky_no_Jutsu.  If any of you bother with Home, I'll see you on later.  Ditto if you happen to play/own Madden '09, The Bigs, Juiced 2, or the first Resistance game.  Later!

Current Mood: geeky

 Flight confirmed (presumably, U.S. Airways hasn't e-mailed my confirmation), room taken care of, ditto on grub, money's ready, locks retwisted, liver's prepped, I'm pretty much set for Thursday.  Something else I'm missing... oh yeah.

I need to do laundry and pack.  Eh, plenty of time for that on Wednesday night!  I better be seeing a LOT of you fuckers (i.e. midwestern miscreants and others of ill repute!) there!

Current Mood: amused

Just... wow.  Fuck you December, fuck you holiday season!  Back home in Chicago:  snow.  Upstate Jersey/New York: snow.  Right here outside of Philadelphia?  IT'S 60 FUCKING DEGREES RIGHT NOW!!!  This is NOT proper winter weather!  Dreaming of a white Christmas?  That's about all you can do in this neck of the woods since it NEVER snows out here.  I ALMOST envy my brother right now as he's made it to Illinois for Christmas.  I say almost because his girlfriend's uncle, while under the influence, got himself killed in an accident... in addition to the passenger of the vehicle he hit and the driver who probably won't make it.  Ho.  Ho.  Ho.  By the gods I wish I could so SOMETHING tomorrow, but apparently someone's birthday tomorrow necessitates the closing of just about everything.  Yay.

Current Mood: thirsty
Current Music: Sukwinder Singh - Chaiyya Chaiyya

Well, I know Waterbending is heightened on full moons!  Waterbenders strut your stuff tonight!

Tags: full moon, superstitions, writer's block

Or 29 years old, whichever way you wanna slice it!  As per usual, I really didn't celebrate it, though something on par with last year would've been damned cool (wildhorseranma and animeangel will know what I'm talking about!).  Didn't really score anything aside from free drinks and food at my building's pub, but that's not so bad.  I damn sure ain't gonna sneeze at free food!  I did, however, get a wonderful message from Livejournal stating that my paid account time expired as of this morning, so if anyone wants to help out their boy Jay...  Still hard to believe that I'm now beating the hell out of 30.  Already got a few gray hairs growing in, but fuck that noise!  If you truly are only as old as you feel, then I'm (illegally) hoisting a glass in honor of my 17th birthday and many more on top of that one!  And now for some quick er... shoutouts?  Points of order?  Whatever...  Oh yeah, that's what I wanted to mention!  Persona 4 for the PS2 just came out TODAY!  Anyone who scores that for me will have a shameless mantool at their disposal!

alexjay :  Happy Birthday, old chap!  It was a great pleasure meeting you at Philcon!  I knew you had to be good people when our first conversation revolved around how to best prepare mythical species for dining!   I still say Jamaican jerked phoenix and orc rinds are top notch eatin'!

animeangel :  Much congrats on your impending fune... I mean wedding!  Really, I'm happier than I can ever hope to express.   You deserve this.

bardicwench :  Thanks again for the rose and BOOOO for going to Chicago WITHOUT ME!

gmrgirlx /yesod :  I have a copy of the third Futurama movie, no one to watch it with, and the ENTIRE week off work.  Either of you ladies up for some biting of shiny metal asses and random inane chit-chat?  Drop me a line either way.

itsallmishegoss :  Pleasure seeing you AGAIN at Philcon.  I met a ton of great people and got turned on to a lot of interesting things at the con and I owe it all to you!  Curvy Jewish gals do ineed rock, you most of all!  Thanks for the birthday message!

ramothhe : Now that I have regular internet access again, I've been working on the gofer refunds.  Should be done with all of those, and have it in to you, by the end of the week.

Current Mood: 1 year shy of 30
Current Music: Common - Universal Mind Control

 Philcon last weekend.  Met awesome people, hung out with awesome people, drank a lot, bought cool shit, made new friends and have been all but press-ganged into going to Costumecon by/with gmrgirlx  and yesod .

10 year high school reunion was this past weekend.  Again, hung out with awesome people (even the fuckers I didn't like in high school), finally told one gal that I had a thing for her after 14 years of silence, drank a LOT, stumbled home, yay.

29th birthday is next Tuesday.  Paid time expires!  BAI MOAR ELJAY TEIM FOAR MEEEEEEE!!!!

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So yeah... Both my internet access AND my phone are kaput right now!  I'm not even sure if my phone can take incoming calls anymore so for those of you that DO have my number, it may or may not be useless now.

Philcon HOOOOOO! this Friday.  Definitely looking forward to seeing yesod and gmrgirlx again, along with anyone else representing Zenkaikon!

Some disgusting, scandalous-ass tampon stain that lives in my building stole my fucking underwear.  Yes, my underwear.  Left my blanket, left all of my white stuff, even my favorite hoodie, but they took my fucking UNDERWEAR?!  SERIOUSLY, WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?  WHY WOULD YOU LEAVE PERFECTLY GOOD SHIT IN THE COMMUNAL LAUNDRY ROOM AND TAKE MY GODDAMN BOXER BRIEFS, YOU FAGGOT?!?!  GGGGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!

So yeah, that's it from me for now.  Not sure when I'll be able to hop back on.

Okay.  This may take a while as I've been drinking ALL day, as many of you have seen so far with my horrible typing.

I didn't actually head to the polls to vote today.  I voted via absentee ballot weeks ago.  I'm still in Michigan after attending Youmacon and I knew I'd still be here on election night, thus the absentee ballot.  I really wanted to represent for my candidate so I requested a ballot from my HOME state of Illinois rather than the dump I live now, New Jersey.  As my preferred candidate was from Illinois, and a man I helped by voting for him when he first ran for the Senate, I wanted my vote to be cast a citizen of my home state.

In the midst of crying, drinking, celebrating, texting, e-mailing, LJ posting and what not, I still managed to find the wherewithall to call my mother to see how she was doing.  She, too, voted for President-elect Obama (and she's a native Chicagoan as well)... sort of.  When she went to vote, she let my baby sister press the button for her!  My adopted sister, all of 20 months old, voted for our next President, and can say she kinda sorta voted for the first black man to sit in the Oval Office. 

In spite of our elation, my mother and I were rather disappointed that we couldn't be back in our home city for the Grant Park rally, so we're going to do the next best thing: we're planning a trip to D.C. for the Inauguration!  Perhaps I'll see some of you there.


P.S.  Given the support the WORLD showed for Obama, and the fact that he's from Chicago, this may very well help our chances for hosting the 2016 Summer Olympics!

P.P.S.  Much thanks to sincerely_jane for creating the icon I now use as my default!

Tags: ballots, polls, presidential race, u.s. election, voting, writer's block

WE REALLY DID!  I  CAN'T BELIEVE THIS IS HAPPENING!!!  I'M SERIOUSLY CRYING RIGHT NOW!!!  I NEVER THOUGHT I'D SEE THE DAY!  WE DID IT!!!  SEVERAL YEARS AGO A MAN SAID HE HAD A DREAM AND NOW THAT DREAM IS FULFILLED, THAT PROVERBIAL GLASS CEILING IS NOW NOTHING BUT DUST ON THE FLOOR TO BE BLOWN AWAY BY THE WINDS OF CHANGE!!! 



YES WE DID!  YES WE DID!  YES WE DID!

Current Mood: FUCKING CLOUD 9!!!!
Current Music: The sound of the nation celebrating!!

So I'm in Michigan at my buddy Norm's place engaging in all manner of fun!  We've got 2 computers up, Castle Crashers running on one TV, CNN on the other, every chat client in existence open and rivers of booze... which is actually quite important!

We're attempting to play something of a special drinking game!  For each electoral vote your candidate wins, you take a shot.  Given how Obama is kicking ass right now I am well on my way to becoming seriously smashed!  The downer?  You do double for every shot if your candidate loses.  Good thing I'm playing it safe and just sipping instead of taking whole shots!

P.S.  Someone call me when this is all over to make sure I'm not half conscious in a bathtub, 'kay?

I'm literally 20 minutes from departing.  I'll be in town sometime tomorrow morning.  See you kids in Michigan!  Oh yeah... GO OBAMA!!!

Or I managed to find a working computer!  I really do need to update this thing if I expect anyone to buy me more time as a birthday present on December 9th </obvious hint>.  Many sorts of happenings since I last updated.  I'll try to condense it all.

First off, thanks for those who called/commented on the accident.  Both my mother and I were fine, even though she opted to go to the hospital afterwards.  Our little fender bender was just that: a fender bender!  The other guy's vehicle no longer has a rear driver's side window or quarter panel to speak of, while we suffered only a bent fender.  Ironically, he was able to drive his vehicle off while I had to sit and wait 2 hours for a tow truck to come and rescue me.  Turns out that the front bender was bent back so far it was scraping against the front left tire, thus making the vehicle undrivable lest I risk the tire being punctured.

Travel to Youma's booked.  Can't fucking wait.  I need to see my people again! kenshinddrfreak, I arrive in Dearborn via Greyhound at 7:50 am on the 29th.  Call me and let me know if that's good for you!  Kinda bummed that I won't be able to attend MangaNEXT, but when it comes to good times in Jersey vs. good times with my folks back home in the midwest, midwest wins!  FLAWLESS VICTORY! 

Good and recovered from Zenkaikon.  Explosive growth was explosive with some fucking epic fighting game tourneys and Michelle Knotz remembering how to spell my name (she totally called me "Jayson with a Y" all weekend!).  Served as a nice warm up to the fun I know I'll have at Youma one way or another.

Erm... what else?  Shit, I know there's more!  Ah well.  If I can't remember it then it probably wasn't that important to post anyway. 

OH YEAH!!!  I know I promisedanimeangel that I'd be paying for her trip to Youma this year, but I never expected to to have to shell out for a $500 power bill!  I'm soooo sorry I couldn't do this for you, hon, but know that I'll be thinking of you on your birthday!

 

 

 

 

Current Mood: complacent
Current Music: Ambient Star Wars noise

VoicePost 265K 1:20

(no transcription available)

So Happy (in draxlin's case, belated) Birthday to draxlin and s0nified!  You two are only 22?  Fuck you're young.  I can't even remember what I did for my 22nd birthday!