Stuff your suitcase with video game spoils

(tags game, travel, U.S., anime, purchase)

When I visited the States for a week, the only game related things on my mind were to give a Nintendo DS to my sister and find a StarCraft game. I succeeded in both, but there were bonus missions:

I bought the StarCraft for regular price at a military base store. It was the regular (wide) box "Battle Chest" set. It turns out there was another type of box set that I confirmed at Walmart, with the same contents I think but its not big enough to hold the fold out "tech-progress" poster. Then I managed to go to a rarely travelled GameStop and I found the blowout sale an #insertcredit member told me about: SC: BC for $9.99. I bought another copy. So I have two legit CD-keys now. I can play guilt free.

There's a US/Canada region PlayStation 2 in the picture, right? I wasn't planning on getting a PS2 but I couldn't stop the madness. My sister uttered the fatal words: "You don't pay sales tax at the base." $129.00 without CA San Diego tax rate 7.75%? Uh, its not heavy so let's do it. Along side that I saw Jak X: Combat Racing for only $20.00 so... Right beside it was the Xbox version of Unreal Championship 2: Liandri Conflict for only $20.00 so... And I went to the GameStops (3 or 4 different ones, multiple times), and found some cheap US/C region only games like Robotech, so...

(Did you know airline check-in baggage limits are falling from 70 lbs to 50 lbs (22kgs)? If you buy games mostly and not books, you should be in no danger, right?)

edit: moved the "How to sell a pre-order" part to a seperate post

Back from USA (I could forgo Japan?!?)

(tags travel, purchase, anime, manga, food)

I'm back from the USA, and despite my "letting go" stance I couldn't quite escape the anime and games purchasing. More about that later (pictures please).

I was surprised at how most of the anime I wanted was now freely purchasable at stores like Suncoast and Fry's Electronics (in spite of the translation and licensing time delay). I was also surprised at how big the manga section was getting. Even one of my favorite all time manga stories, Kiseiju (寄生獣), is finally being translated into English as Parasyte. Perhaps I could deal with the time-lag (Japan to U.S.) now.

The things I miss about the States are pretty simplistic: Mexican food (with lard), Filipino snacks, (pop) country music. I got enough tastes of my favorite foods to last me until the next time I go. In fact, I ordered food without intending to eat them all or take them home, which is strange for this plate-finisher here. For (pop) country music, I bought one of those celebrity gossip magazines going home. No mention of Trisha Yearwood, but I saw her on Wheel of Fortune on the TV while I was there, go figure.

When I got back home, my desktop PC was frozen and inoperative. I suspect the Japan summer will be spent replacing parts due to heat failure. I already have to take out one hard disk with "SMART status: BAD". I got some stuff that will make me use the computer more, ha ha.

Finally, I lived without reading feeds or Famitsu for a week. I dread clicking those 100+ post feeds, ugh it's like work. The Leah Dizon PR machine finally attacks Famitsu for cover page damage and now I know she's photoshopped. Still I may purchase her second foray into J-pop. Heck even my J-lang sensei said she sounded pretty good for the first single.

Letting go

(tags travel, game, hardware, anime, DVD region 1)

I am going back to the States on a unplanned trip and the theme is "letting go".

I decided to give my sister some gaming things: a Love and Berry DS Lite. What, my Love and Berry DS Lite? No, another one that I bought from Sofmap new. I didn't post about it back then because I was embarassed. Anyway, since I know she doesn't go buying games at all, I'll give her Electroplankton and Elite Beat Agents. The truth is that I haven't played the latter games for more than 15 minutes. I hope that the quick (music) gaming will appeal to her.

Also she mentioned she wanted to get Robotech DVDs which was a bit of a shock so I'm going to give her my incomplete set (7 part set first released on 2002) which is missing the first part of the Second Generation. I think she wants it because of the "Perfect" soundtrack I "lent" her.

No big loss right?

Yeah.

Don't drink the local water

(tags travel, Tokyo, failure)

Um, there's something strange with the water in Tokyo. In any case my ear felt weird and I felt a little down. This was after I enjoyed an immersive bath at the hotel. What, do they get the water directly from Ochanomizu river?

Where to begin: Donut run 2007/05

(tags travel, Tokyo, snack)

OMG, the last two days felt more like a real vacation than the first seven days (of my nine day Golden Week). FFXII:RW? It doesn't compare at all. I have so much hobby blog post ideas but I don't have enough time. So lets start with an easy one:

After finishing the Ichigo Masimaro voice actor event (帰ってきた「苺ましまろでショー」in豊島公会堂イベント), I went to the first and only Krispy Kreme donut shop in Japan, located south of the Shinjuku station. Even though it was about 9 PM on a Sunday night, there was a 40 minute wait to get into the store.

Actually, I've only had a Krispy Kreme donut once, when I was in San Diego. I was planning to buy a dozen for the trip back home to Kobe. But! While I was in line, the store attendant gave me a free glazed donut. It tasted pretty good, and there was no doubt I would blaze through a whole box. But after I finished the donut just at the threshold of the building, I decided I didn't need to buy donuts. So I left the line still licking my glazed lips, content with just the memory.