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2002-10-14 17:09:48
Sugoicon is sounding better and better,
If grayplague happens to read this: About how many entries did you get this year? I am expecting a good contest :)
The technical award is a con judge vote, but I wonder...is the rest of the contest audience vote? It's almost embarassing I had never been to Sugoicon before, what with it being so close and all.
I just can't wait to see my new video play and get an audience reaction. I used Kimagure Orange Road and although it looks as good as my source, it's still an older anime. Like, almost as old as some visitors to this site! (about 15 years old) I am worried that since it looks older it may be dismissed more so than say, my Samurai girl AMV I am starting which is practically brand spanking new anime.
We'll see I guess :) C'mon Friday, get here!!! -
only time huh...
2002-08-26 04:23:16
My grandma died last Friday morning. She is really the only person I have had close to me die. I have been to funerals before but I have always felt detached because I wasn't a large part of that person's life.
It's different now I guess. I am 23 and I haven't cried but I have felt rather sad of course. Mostly because of how strained my mother's relationship with her was. I asked for her to tell my grandma she forgave her...but she didn't get around to it before my grandma went.
My family is very religious and fully believe the bible version of afterlife. I am atheist..well frankly I don't believe in god. But my grandma did. Some bad things went on in my family before I was ever born and my mom was strong willed and stubborn. My grandma was very sensitive and stubborn. They both took everything in and held it there for years.
That was a bad combination because NO one ever said they were sorry for anything. I have never heard them ever say they were sorry to each other..ever. My mom acted somewhat differently with us (her children) but it was difficult for her to change that much.
Luckily 2 of my 3 siblings are like me. Non religious and sensible. I don't care if that offends someone since it's my opinion as every religious person I know is very unreasonable when it comes to being open minded. I have 2 sisters, 1 older than me. The other two are sister and brother and both younger. They are much more understanding about everything and we actually have conversations. Not screaming matches like my mother and her siblings.My older sister chose to act like my grandparents and my aunt, uncle and mother. It's very unfortunate I think. Understanding means the world to a hurt heart. Especially when the chance for forgiveness can come and go and you can miss the chance..forever. That was the case here.
...my grandma fully believed she was going to suffer for her sins and she was crying the night she was going to die. Their lives were hard but it didn't have to be as bad as it is because "I'm sorry" can never come too late. Both of them could have stood to say it, and I really think it would have eased my grandma's pain.
Some how she knew she would die...I would have liked to have asked her what she felt or thinking, but she has had a trech in for 4 months. No speaking...But I knew before she felt that she was going to hell and I feel so bad for her she was thinking that and crying :( She had a bad life and was so scared at the end. That is what bothers me most.
I think people make what they can of life when here and there is no afterlife. So what really matters is what happens here and now. I hope to live my life this way at least, believing that what makes life worth living is what you do for yourself and others. Heaven can be found only on earth and only for the short while known as life. People are responsible for people even if an indiviual cannot completely control their fate or what others do to them. At least we have each other while we are here. We are born alone and die alone. Caring about something while you can is the only thing that makes a difference in the end.
If only she hadn't been so scared...her death itself doesn't bother me but having her that way hurt me a lot...still does...and I am sure I will feel it even more when I see her tomorrow....the funeral is Tuesday...
I haven't been online lately, and thus my videos are offline since I am many miles from my apartment.
'night
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Entry ONE from my Otakon trip
2002-08-06 00:37:05
Thursday 25 and Friday 26 July 2002 Misty and Kevin's Excellent Adventure
Thursday 25
August 25 a little past midnight-
Leave for Baltimore with bttws (Kevin) for Otakon. We start out going north to Interstate 70. This road happens to end in Baltimore itself. Makes it easy to not get lost. Last year we met with construction. This year is no different. Things run smooth until we get out of Ohio and into West V. Then the big hills start and my puny 16 Valve engine whines about the mountain driving.
Still, the tunnels are always fun to drive
Friday 26
3:20 am -
We are now in Pennsylvania, having passed thourgh Wheeling West Virginia and lots of puny towns that 70 overlooks. We stop for gas and we go to the local Walmart. It's the only thing open and we forgot to bring sunscreen. In Ohio, sunscreen is just not that important in everyday life and I am not a tanning person. A farmer's tan is about all I ever have.
And since we now planned on going to the beach in Ocean City we needed some. A wonderful thing about Pennsylvania is they they don't have sales tax on clothing. ^_^ I took advantage of that and bought a tank top for the vacation. I fell asleep for a little while after this. Kevin gets onto the toll road part of 70 and we get a lesson on how fast semi trucks go when they know that there are no cops around. It amazes me that a semi truck driver was not the first person credited with breaking the sound barrier.
6 am -
Kevin is tired so I take over driving. Once again, I am surrounded by speeders but these are only cars so I join in. I grew up in Ohio so having state troopers around every corner on a highway or interstate seemed normal. Apparently, Ohio cops are just anal about speeding and give out tickets like candy. Other states seem more....enlightened.
As I fly along at 75 miles down mountains and get passed by tons of cars I start to think, this is nice not to have to worry about staties, but then I also saw about 5 accidents along the interstate in the 4 hours I drove. That's rare in Ohio. Pros and cons I guess. I must have seemed like an old lady the way I drove.
10 am - get to the hotel The Boston Inn *finally* It starts to get cloudy and rainy...and cold. Being tired anyway, we decide to sleep a couple hours to see if the weather will pass.
12:30 am - We wake up to the same weather...sigh...but we decided we'd see the ocean anyway. Even if it was cold. We had gone to Otakon last year and never went to the atlantic and I have never seen it at all. So we get on our merry way.
We try to hurry so we can be back to have a sushi party with David and Jason but we weren't prepared to know the best way to go so...
1 PM -_-' - We get to the Bay Bridge. Such an amazing sight! The Chesapeake bay is incredible. I have been to Cedar Point 15 times. It's on Lake Erie. It's big and blue and all, but there is just something about the bay. Maybe it was just the incredible view from the bridge. It was foggy but in a good way. Like in a scottish moors way (although I am just saying that based on pictures since I have never been to europe) it made the big boats off in the distance look like ghosts. There were 3 big fishing boats. That part was just wonderful.
The bridge is about 5 miles long I think. It's twin bridges and astounding. Next time I am going to go to the tunnel bridge at the Virginia/Maryland line. It's 17 miles long. It's also one of the 7 wonders of the world. But anyway onto Ocean city and....Deleware -_-
1:15 pm - we take what looks like the fastest way on the map through Deleware...-_-'''' I am never going through Deleware when I NEED to BE somewhere again. I can't believe that half the state is a little two lane....even though it's a small state they have a LOT of cars! 0_0 We were following the signs to Ocean city there and it took way longer than it should have. Traffic jams 4 times! I am talking stand still jams. Get out and walk and you'll be there faster jams........ so how long did it take before we arrived ?
-->
4:30 PM - My god. We are finally there. We drive out to Ocean city on a Pennisula across a small body of water. I forget what the name of the bay was. The waves on that side were just like a lake. ho-hum. The strip of land ahead blanketed the bay and masked the Ocean from our view. Ocean city looked like an oasis out there across the water. And thankfully it was now warming up and getting sunny :) yay! So...where to go in this place? All we wanted to see was the Atlantic Ocean. We weren't quite sure what Ocean city was going to be like...it wasn't really the destination. But then we were in for a suprise. I have to thank David for the suggestion we see the ocean at this particular spot, it was wonderful :)
A very neat thing about Ocean city is that Interstate 50 begins right there as the only road out of the pennisula in Ocean city. That road, 50, not only goes right through Washington DC, but it goes right through the town we came from : AThens Ohio. Neat huh?
5 PM - After finding a place to park on the crowded streets we are almost giddy with anticipation. I am not dressed for swimming since it was cold when we left and I thought it would still be when we got there. That was wrong, it got warm..but alas ...I was unprepared. Not wanting to put the viewing off for changing, we take off our shoes and walk over the high sand dunes made to protect the city from high tides and lo and behold *cue angels singing* there is the biggest freaking thing I have ever seen.
The Atlantic Ocean
http://www.ococean.com/beach.HTML
We run down to the beach..and that was quite a work out. Sand is difficult to navigate. And little sea shells broken everywhere *oww* but who cares...we are at the Atlantic ocean!
I think waves on the pacific are much bigger but the ones I saw seemed big to me. I was wearing shorts so I was able to walk into the water even though I couldn't swim yet. It was so warm. The water coming up to the beach felt like 50 -60 degrees. I am sure it's colder than that furthur out.
When I stepped onto the sand, it was like a little sponge and the weight of my body pushed the sand down and squeezed the water out of it. Basically it made circles in the sand where ever I stepped ^_^ It was simply amazing to me.
I am now very anxious to swim. But where to change? It takes a half hour before we are able to find a public restroom (the boardwalk and beach are miles long...only a couple hundred feet wide though) and it says "Absolutely no changing!" .....but no body was looking so I took my swimsuit in and just wore it under my clothes out *whistles*
Ahh the ocean.
It tastes like crap!
I didn't inhale on purpose, but the first time a wave pushed me over it got into my mouth. yuck! At first I was cautious since I didn't know what power a wave could have but Kevin was too eager and just ran right out there. So I was tempted further out. I was scared I admit. I don't know if sharks were that far north but I know they live in the ocean..and this was the ocean! So I was nervous....and then *something* touched me. I screamed and ran back closer to the beach.
I wasn't "scared" scared, just freaked out a bit. It was an exciting kind of fear I guess. But I like roller coasters and all so maybe I am just not smart enough to distinguish fear from fun. It was kinda the same feeling.
But I came here to swim so I was going to have to swim. I wasn't wet above my waist yet and still cutious. Waves came rushing toward me, I turned and tried to keep standing most of the time. Then came the uber wave that I knew was finally going to get me. That's the wave I mentioned before. Now that I was totally wet, why not just splash around like an idiot.
So for about a half hour I "swam" in the ocean. Not much swimming so much was floating, getting pushed over by rogue waves, riding the smooth waves and yelling every time SOMETHING touched me.
I made a sand Hamtaro before I had went into the water and when I got back someone had stepped on his poor hamster face *cries*. Sand was everywhere on me at that point and not willing to leave anytime soon. We have to call David to inform him that we can't make it at 8 pm but maybe we can do something else on Saturday night.
I didn't go back into swim after that because it was getting dark and the waves were getting more wicked. Some surfers thought this was the perfect time though. :) There were lots of kites and people having fun like us. My bathing suit was dry so I just put my clothes over it and Kevin and I decided to frequent...the Boardwalk.
Here's a live web cam of the place:
http://www.oceangallery.com/cam-big.asp
We waved to the web cam :) Maybe someone was watching at the very moment we were watching back.
For the fun of the tourists, there is a small fair type set up right there on the beach boardwalk. There is a ferris wheel, little roller coaster, a Ripley's believe it or not museum and game stands. It's a pier on the beach and hotel fronts turned into shops and food stands.
Too expensive for me...way too expensive. So I settled for just a 3 dollar custard ice cream cone. yum !
Kevin and I saw one pier that was used for tourist fishing. It cost 8 dollars for a crab bucket but you could keep your catch. Oddly enough I despise sea food other than fish fillets. So we decided just to sight see the pier instead. That cost 50 cents per person ...sheesh.....but it was very dark by now and worth an over head view of the beach. It ran straight out over the waves about 30 feet above. Nice view even at 9 PM
Tired and satisfied we decide to head back. Otakon is in the morning and we are over 150 miles away from our hotel room. (It was only 50 a night and right next to Baltimore! It was a great deal I swear ;) We decide to take RT. 50 back since it's a freeway and never touches the Deleware soil. Good choice.
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.........
2002-06-21 19:03:43
More and more I notice this community is turning into a mob mentality type of a vicious pack animals. When someone (usually a new person) unknowingly posts something obvious or a dumb question, they get laid into like there's no tomorrow.
There are no dumb questions, only dumb answers. What in the world do you gain by acting rude and childish to every new person you meet? Power? That's so imaginary it's pathetic...you're on the internet.
Although there is no need for a person who is insulted to take it seriously, it gives them a bad taste about what kind of place this is when they are attacked from the moment they say hello. Most likely, it scares away intelligent, interesting, and funny people who are just as likely to end up contributing something great as any one of the regulars here.
It's getting less entertaining to be here and more like I feel ashamed for hanging out with people who may or may not be juvenile, but who certainly act that way. -
Otakon pre-screen tapes
2002-06-20 05:44:58
I've been sworn to silence or I'll be killed if I speak about what I saw @_@
But I can say I got mine and reviewed, graded and am mailing out my evaluation form in LESS than 24 hours. well, after my nap.
There is some good stuff to look forward to at Otakon this year, as some of the videos I saw on there would look awesome on the big Otakon screen.
I am amazed at how much work the Otakon staff, Matt and Duane and all the rest are putting into this. I suspect that next year, they will just do the screening at the University and not mail out evaluation tapes but I enjoyed participating.
I don't know of any other con of their size that use an audience vote system of this much detail. Give applause for all the hard working otaku out there who work their con staff position like a full time job ^_^
JOURNAL: MistyCaldwell (Misty Caldwell)
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