Summer of Goodbyes

"There are things that we don't want to happen but have to accept, things we don't want to know but have to learn, and people we can't live without but have to let go." - Author Unknown

On July 1, 2011, approximately ten minutes before 11 o'clock that night, I lost my last remaining grandparent. My Grandpa, died surrounded by all of his children, most of his grandchildren, and two of his great grand children. It was probably one of the most emotional wringing events of my adult life.

He lived a full life of 95 years. I had the chance to say goodbye to Lolo and that memory does bring me comfort. A week later, we buried him with my Grandma. Now they are together.

Before we closed the casket, all the grandkids wrote him letters. April knitted him a small amigurumi rabbit. I pinned that along with all our letters on his jacket. Nate wrote Lolo a letter too but he wont tell me what he wrote down. He said he made a promise. I know better than to ask.

Three days after we buried my Grandpa, my oldest Uncle became seriously ill and was hospitalized. He hung on for almost a month but due to pre-existing health issues and his weak constitution he passed away at the end of August.

A double whammy for our small clan. We were already devastated by the loss of my Grandpa but with the death of my Uncle Bernard the devastation turned into a terrible tragedy.

Our finances stretched to the limit, a decision was made to cremate Uncle Bernard's remains and send his ashes home to his children. My Aunt went back home to the island a couple of weeks ago and had him interred in their family crypt. He is now home.

It's been a difficult summer. Which explains why I haven't been updating the blog and toy buying is at an all time low. We are quietly mourning, coping with the loss and moving on with our lives.

The holidays are coming up and it will be lonely one. Lolo was always here at my house to celebrate Christmas. He always started the feasting with a prayer.

I miss him a lot and think of him often.

A Quick Update

Well, forget about any further SDCC 2011 update. I already forgot the finer details of the Con. Just too many things have been happening in our personal life within a span of July to September.

I'll speak about it at a later time. When I am ready.

I can however, share some unfortunate news about the stray cats we take care of. We lost Lee and MomCat. Lee to injuries suffered from possibly being hit by a car. He survived but his injuries were extensive and we had no choice but to put him to sleep.

At the same time MomCat was not feeling well and after we took care of Lee, we took her to get checked up. She had feline coronavirus. Something she acquired when she was outside. She was at the last stages. I saw her x-ray. Her lungs were full of fluid. We also had no choice but to put her to sleep as she was suffering, unable to eat and breath properly.

MomCat was inside the house but she was isolated from our cats. Transmission is low but I still took Nodame, Dhani and Marley to get checked out to make sure. I need to call tomorrow to see what the test results are. Pickles is fully immunized so I didn't have to worry about him.

It's been a deadly year for our stray cat colony. Impostor Cat died due to being hit by a car, Lee may have died because of the same reason and now MomCat is gone due to her disease. We are down to three stray cats. When it used to be eleven.

All that's left is Dhani's Dad, Bree and Silver. I did see a small kitten Dhani's Dad drove away one night. Black with orange markings. Very hairy. I didn't see that kitten again.

On somewhat better news, purchases of the week has been ongoing but not as much as usually after SDCC, Nate and I stop buying toys for a while. I think it's because we do overload during Con. Plus we are more interested right now in making home improvements.

Nate's keeping busy with school and work and I am busy with work. I'll start updating again when things settle down and I've had time to think about everything.  

IPod Obsession

I have been consumed with the desire to update my IPod. Now that I've had my new tower for a while and I am no longer sharing Nate's ITunes on his laptop, I can completely customize my IPod with what I want without the clutter of someone else's music.

It's a pleasurable distraction right now. I know I haven't been blogging as much and I need to recap SDCC 2011 before I forget. A lot of things went down between July and now. Maybe I'll talk about it later.

But right now I just want to get lost in the music. Even if it's just for a little bit.

SDCC 2011 - Thursday

We were hearing rumors that pre-registration for 2012 was going to be a bitch due to it's off-site location. Because of the instant sell out for 2011 during 2010 Con, we were determined to get there early to secure out tickets. Like 6:30 AM early.

Little did we know that it was already too late.

We parked at the Hilton Garage and we did the arduous trek to the offsite to the Manchester Grand Hyatt only to walk into a line that stretched all the way back to the fucking Hilton. So technically, we almost completed a full circle.

I can tell you I was furious. So was Nate. First off, pushing myself that hard physically was exhausting. I wish I am in better shape but I am not, so it was tiring. Plus we almost made it to the door. We were approximately thirty feet from the door and we were told the allotment was gone for the day at 8:20 AM when sales start at 8 AM.

I was so upset I yelled at one of the volunteers in a fit of rage. I do regret losing my temper and yelling at strangers. It was either me yelling or Nate. If Nate had started the yelling his fist would have followed. I think he was that mad too.

Either way, I stormed off after telling them angrily that they need to organize their pre-registration better so people don't have to waste their time lining up for something that wont be attainable. The fact that I have to line up AT Con to get tickets for next year's Con is ridiculous. I remember last year we just walked up to a lineless counter and registered just like that. No problems.

I was dejected and Nate was doing his best trying to cheer me up. So the day started off really crappy and we both did not have the energy to sprint to get to the Exhibit Hall before it opened. We walked back slowly so we can recuperate our strength.

Technically, we could have bypassed all this and asked our cousin and her husband for pro passes next year. But Nate and I do not like to impose like that and we really wanted to secure our passes.

By the time we got to Gargamel, all the good stuff was gone already and I couldn't really enjoy the Con that morning. I was worried and I was trying to strategize for tomorrow. Nate kept himself occupied with good thoughts as he was preparing for PATCHWERK.

Most of the day was spent doing a quick look around the Exhibit Hall and then we found a quiet bench to sit and rest until Pushead.

We talked briefly about the shenanigans of the day but we really didn't go into it as much as Nate was really looking forward to the Pushead event and his enthusiasm started rubbing off my discontent.

When it was time for PATCHWERK, we made our way to Toy Tokyo's booth. They were already getting ready for the event and people were already gathering and discussing what could be under all this:

Pushead fans are fun to watch when it's a Pushead event. Mostly male, the cloud of testosterone floating around them can be a little bit overwhelming at times. But when they take off that black curtain and you hear them ooh'ing and ahh'ing you can see the genuine excitement from all of them and it's fun to watch.

The last Pushead event was in 2009 and Nate was so close but missed out on any HPs as his number was too far. I forgot to mention that this event is a ticketed event and there is a pecking order. This year Nate's number was much better and his chances were good to get something really nice.

Curtain comes down and we see a whole bunch of mixed parts of Captains, Pirates and limited production pieces!

When I saw the amount I was feeling a bit reassured that Nate will walk away with something he likes. Pushead events takes a long ass time as each person is given time to look over and see what they want to buy. Which to me is such a personal gesture from Pushead to his fans. I didn't mind waiting. I enjoyed seeing what people picked out.

Nate walked away with a print, PATCHWERK Pirate and a production piece. I don't have a picture of the print but we just finished taking picture of our loot and here's the two piece Nate came home with:

Nate was very happy. This was his event for SDCC and he came away with toys he was very excited about.

With this behind us, we decided to take off and have an early dinner and bedtime as we were going to have to get up at an ungodly hour to remedy our pre-registration fiasco...

SDCC 2011 - Preview Night

First off, I forgot my camera cable so be prepared for crappy cell phone pics. XD We knew that exhibitors would have first dibs. So we were prepared for that.

Of course I ran for Bwana and when I got there the items I was eying were not out. I had to be good and held back. I then went to Gargamel where Nate was already in line and the the really nice customs were picked up by the usual suspects who were kind enough to show us what they got.

I was a little disappointed that were no standard size SDCC exclusives. Lots of pockets which is probably their biggest sellers. Customs wise not as much as last year's Preview Night but they are dropping new ones each and everyday which is exciting and frustrating at the same time.

I for one am very proud of how Nate and I did. I think as the years go by we have learned to be selective with what we add to our collection. We have a fairly extensive toy collection and learning from other collectors and seeing other collections, we have learned to be discriminating with new additions. We prefer to enhance our collection vs enlarge.

So here is a pic of my haul:

I got Micro Set #1 which includes a Zagoran, Sleeping Killer and Angel Bird. Boris the Bee and RealxHead Chaos Man Next Fighter. Really happy with the Next Man as we never get a chance to get this particular head sculpt of the RxH Chaos stateside.

Nate's Preview Night Haul:

 

Pink GID Marbled Mongolion with excellent marbling, Micro Set #2 which includes the Helper, Ooze Bat and Hujili's Ghost. Super7 Shogun Storm Trooper Missile which was free with any purchase from S7 booth.

When you buy certain pocket figures from Gargamel you get a free micro. I picked up the orange ooze bat and the GID and green were gifts from David. Awesome toy karma!

Can't sleep. Too excited for tomorrow. We'll see what the new day brings us!