I like to be there when I can. Or… not.

Ladies and gentlemen, behold my roots.

Needless to say, I’m really looking forward to TGS, if only because it’s so very far away from where I grew up. It will be nice to spend time in a city where civic fortunes are determined not by City Hall-approved destruction of the barrier between church and state but rather by giant lizards who rampage in order to provide a vital allegory for the arrogance of man. Or something.

Anyway, I’m just about ready for next week’s trip — although I still need to get some travellers cheques, and freaking LensCrafters is crafting a tragicomedy of errors with my new glasses.

This is actually a post in itself. The right lens had a small defect; upon repairing the right lens, they managed to screw up the left lens; the process of repairing the left lens damaged the right lens again; while re-correcting that screw-up, their grinder broke and shattered the lens. And now they’re out of blank lenses. AWESOME GUYS. On the plus side, they offered me 50% off my next pair of glasses out of sheer embarrassment, so next time I can be deeply inconvenienced — glasses in about a week! — for half the price.

Blind though I may be, I’ve nevertheless gathered up the essentials:

  • My Play-Yan is loaded up with Game Center CX episodes courtesy of Ray. That’s right, I’ll be watching videos of some dude playing videogames on my DS. No, shut up, it’s awesome.
  • I went ahead and grabbed one of the new iPod nanos, having sworn ages ago that the iPod mini’s aluminum construction was approx. infinitely nicer than the standard crappy plastic-and-chrome style of standard iPods. And my Shuffle was starting to get old and cranky due to daily use. Unfortunate frustration: my brilliant plan to use my new nano as a voice recorded during TGS interviews was thwarted once I discovered that microphones compatible with the new models have yet to be released. So I guess I’ll just have to make due with lots of music.
  • My Game Boy Camera is loaded up with fresh batteries. For what should be obvious reasons.
  • Fake moustache and glasses. Because I just know Brandon Sheffield is going to try to track me down and force me to join him as he shops for sleazy softcore anime porn games in Akihabara.


Then again, it’s not like I need to venture away from my current home of San Francisco to find exotic adventure. Not now that the esteemed Norton I — Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico — has returned from the dead and begun blogging his imperial decrees.

15 thoughts on “I like to be there when I can. Or… not.

  1. I’ll laugh so hard if the rain doesn’t stop.

    After all, “Sometimes He says yes, and sometimes He says no…”

  2. Dear Sir/Madam,

    It has recently come to the attention of this council that you are
    assisting in the propagation of the false claims made by the
    individual purporting to be Norton I. Know that he is mentally unstable
    and that his actions directly destabilize the interests of Americans
    and this nation. Please refrain from further contact with this person
    and cease to discuss his statements immediately.

    With the sincerest of regards,

    The Council for American Liberties

  3. I thought my hopes for a series of iPods that didn’t look like crap after 5 hours of use died with the replacement of the minis with the nano, but it looks like they’ve come to their senses with the return to the aluminum casing. There’s hope yet for the standard ones.

    And I like how they pandered to geek one-upmanship by limiting the black nano to the 8 Gig model. “I’ll just be checking the volume on my BLACK IPOD NANO. There we go.”

  4. You will make due with all right.

    With the rainfall opening act, maybe you should have said you’ll make dew.

  5. I wish I could go to Akihabara with you and “The Shef” because now that I have my PS2 modded, I’m sure I could find a lot of great, weird stuff at those stores…or heck, even Tsutaya. I’d really like to get my mitts on Vib Ripple one of these days.

  6. Will you help me go in on a MadCatz Game Boy Camera USB cable? I think I saw them going on eBay for $1000000000000.

    Anyhoo, for what it’s worth, the new glasses look awesome. Travel safely on your way to whatzitcalled. Japan.

  7. Dear Sir/Madam,

    The Council is extremely concerned for the well being of man claiming to be Norton I. As we are sure you are well aware, recent events have caused him to enter an alarming mental state. The Council has worked tirelessly to prevent such a situation, but has ultimately been unsuccessful.

    In an attempt to rectify these affairs, we are proud to announce a bold new program within our organization: The Protection Initiative. The sole tenant of this body is to protect the aforementioned individual from both physical and mental anguish. Many resources are being allocated to ensure the success of this important endeavor. Accompanying this internal philosophy shift is the release of certain documents that were previously collected for the good of the people. We believe that these documents, if engaged adequately, can help stabilize him. Time is certainly critical in this regard.

    We would greatly appreciate any discrete methods you can employ to inform others of The Protection Initiative and the release of these documents. More information can be found on The Initiative’s public message board:
    http://theprotectioninitiative.wordpress.com/

    With the sincerest of regards,

    The Council for American Liberties

  8. I love the random interconnections of the intar-web.

    So, this Norton I thing looks like it may be turning into a full-blown ARG dealy. Linking the two blogs in the post and the comments here lets one put together a message that’s otherwise in pieces. Pity I’m not in the Bay Area so I can’t really play this properly, but I left a comment in the Norton blog to help out. I presume this is only just getting started, so I’m not giving too much away to anyone.

    What I’m wondering now is, is Jeremy in on this, or are they just using the comments here as an obscure place to leave hints?

  9. “What I’m wondering now is, is Jeremy in on this, or are they just using the comments here as an obscure place to leave hints?”
    .
    Well, we’ll find out if he doesn’t acknowledge it. Or maybe he will, to throw us off. Or possibly, he wont acknowledge it because we’re especting him to, to…
    Ow, my head.

  10. That’s nothing. The local hospital in the Texas border town I hail from once had to take out an ad in the paper explaining that no, there wasn’t a baby born at the hospital that could speak clearly immediately upon exiting the womb. Please stop coming down and asking to see it. I kid you not.

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