Sayonara 2006.

I didn't really have a very merry Christmas. It was fine, but nothing special from my point of view. Maybe the spirit of the season had just lost its effect on me with age. Maybe my own hang-ups from the past several months have prevented me from enjoying myself. Or maybe I'm just a big evil jerk and I don't deserve to be happy right now. I don't know. It's over now so there's no point in complaining.

Every year around this time I reflect on what the previous year was like and what I expect the new year. I'm usually fairly disappointed with the year gone by, but full of optimism for what lies ahead. Well, 2006 was pretty much the worst year ever. It sucked. It completely sucked. The few good things that happened didn't seem to amount to very much, and the past 6 months were completely consumed by a seemingly never ending barrage of bad events. Yes, I did get a job, and that's good. But jobs and money and all the things that money can buy are not enough to change my outlook on things right now. The only really good thing that happened was the I finally took Japanese class, so that is something I will be focusing on.

So, all things considered, I don't know if I'm going to have a happy new year. I guess I really just wish that I was somewhere else today. So, where to from here? Do I look at 2007 in an optimistic fashion? I don't think I can do that right now. But it would take something really bad for 2007 to be worse than 2006. So, I'm just going to believe that 2007 is going to suck too, and then perhaps be pleasantly surprised if it doesn't. This much I can say for sure: 2007 has one pissed off and determined ninja to deal with right here.

The only thing I am really happy about is that this terrible year is over. Good riddance.

Sayonara.

Humbug.

So, it's Christmas time. I suppose that I should be all excited like everyone else seems to be.

But, I'm not. I hate Christmas music, I'm bored, I don't sleep well, I'm not really going anywhere or doing anything special, and I'm generally in a grumpy, non-festive mood. It is highly unlikely that anything short of a Christmas miracle is going to be changing that.

Not really sure what else to say. Much of the past six months has been neither easy nor fun. I've got a lot on my mind and it's been weighing everything else down pretty heavily. It sucks that it has had to last until now, but there isn't really much I can do about it except keep on moving forward. I'm not going to let how I feel about everything be a downer to everyone else, so I hope everyone who is celebrating has a great Christmas. As for me, I'm not expecting much. Maybe I'll be surprised, but I'm not really counting on it. But that doesn't matter because it's not really about me anyway.

Maybe I'm just getting old.

I have pretty much nothing of any interest going on for the next 2 weeks, and that is including New Years. So, I am open to invitations. You can take that as a hint if you want. Unless anybody has a better idea, the current plan is to wallow in my own misery and wish I was somewhere else. Sounds like a good time!

Sayonara.

Dino-Might.

Along with the new Transformers Classics line, Hasbro is also releasing a bunch more Minicons. These Minicons are all brand new, not recolours from Armada or anything like that. The packaging unfortunately makes no mention of the term "Minicon", but make no mistake, they work exactly the same as previous Minicons and plug into compatible larger Transformers. While we're still getting more cars and trucks and the sorts of things we've come to expect Minicons to transform into, we're also getting beasts! This is pretty cool. The first wave has hit Canada, and during a sale last week I picked up the set that appealed to me the most: Dinosaurs!



I ask you, what is better than little dinosaurs? Little dinosaurs that transform into little robots! The robot modes are actually pretty bizarre looking, and I'd rather keep them in their beast forms, but I think it's neat that they are experimenting with these tiny guys. They add some variety while still fitting in well with the rest of the Minicons.



"Ok, buddy, we can take this guy! I'll go high and you go low!"
"Yeah right! He's got freakin' Dinosaurs on his legs! FORGET IT!"

In other news, the full trailer for next summer's Transformers movie is now online. This movie really seems to be coming together! I'm impressed. It looks awesome. Maybe not as awesome as having little robot dinosaurs on your legs, but still pretty good.

Sayonara.

Wiiless in Toronto.

So, the word got around at some point earlier this week that the local Best Buy was going to be getting a shipment of Nintendo Wiis for sale this morning. I went to scope out what the situation was going to be like at around 12:30 a.m., just so see if there was a line. There, in fact, was already a line, with some people who had been there since 7 p.m. Thursday. A sign was outside the entrance that said they had received 15 Wii units and 8 Playstation 3s. So, I decided to stick around for awhile to see what would happen. The crowd was well organized with a list of the 15 people who were going to get a Wii for sure, crossing off the names of people who left and didn't come back after too long. By the time it was firmly established that the people who were there were not going to leave, I was #16 on the list, meaning I was going to walk home empty handed. Ouch.

Someone in the line, who was pretty much just a scalper, asked me a couple times if I wanted to buy his spot in line for $100. I would have paid maybe up to $50 or $60 tops, but it's not worth that much to me. So I kept waiting on the off chance that someone would have to drop out of the line for one reason or another, but at about 3:30 a.m. I called it a night. No Wii for Ninja today.

The experience was quite interesting though. The people in line were all very friendly, and there were all sorts of folks waiting there. In addition to the usual batch of gamers and scalpers, there were a few parents, one pregnant woman, and one guy with a British accent who had just gotten off a flight from Montreal and went straight to the mall without explaining to his family why he didn't go straight home. We had some fun conversations out in the cold air. Everyone was very helpful, offering snacks and picking things up for others. I kind of would have liked to have stayed in the line just because it was kind of fun, but there was really no point in staying if I wasn't going to take home a Wii. When I left, some people were nice enough to offer to give me a phone call in the unlikely event that a spot would open up, which was a very cool thing to do. But, like most of the other things that have been going on for me over the past several months, it didn't work out.

So, I am still wanting for Wii, but not badly enough to pay scalper prices for one. I will continue to use my patience.

Funny thing is that when I had left the line, there were still a few PS3s left unspoken for! Heh!

Sayonara.

People are Still Funny.

Somebody named "Stupidsamurai122" recently tried to sign up to my message board. This is amusing, not only because of how this person has chosen to refer to themselves as stupid in his user name (saving us all the trouble of letting him know, I guess), but also because of how stupid this person really is based on all of the other information he filled out. This is really funny stuff!

For his bio, Stupidsamurai122 wrote "I hate Dylan". Wow, it is so awesome that someone hates me so much that he has decided to use this hatred to define his entire existence in his biography! He doesn't have any other interests except hating me! That's powerful stuff, and I am sick enough to enjoy it. And his favorite quote is "Dylan is Gay!", which is just such an inspiring quote to live one's life by. Best of all is that under gender, Stupidsamurai122 put "Male", and yet under occupation he wrote "Your mom". Not sure how that is supposed to work! Now, I am all for equal rights and all that, but you can't be a mom if you're a dude! That is just the funniest thing I have read in several days.

I must wonder, could this Stupidsamurai122 actually be samurai_blade_60, the very same Stupid Samurai from my Stupid People HATE Ninjatron article? That would be so awesome. But regardless of who it is, I obviously did not approve his message board account, so I guess we'll never know.

Sorry Stupidsamurai122, but as much as I would like to destroy someone right now (and believe me, I would REALLY like to destroy someone!), I just don't have the time or the patience to play your little games right now. You'll have to try harder to get under my skin. Right now I am laughing too much to feel insulted.

"Your mom"... Ha ha!

Sayonara.

Day of the Ninja 2006!

Today is the day! The greatest day of the year! The day that celebrates the most awesome people to ever walk upon the surface of this planet! The Day of the Ninja!

So, watch some ninja movies, wear a ninja mask, and celebrate this momentous occasion by and telling the important ninjas in your life just how much they mean to you. If you don't, they'll get revenge!



Sayonara.

Convention and Japanese Class Wrap-up.

The anime convention yesterday was nothing special. But, I wasn't really expecting anything special, so I can't say that I'm disappointed. It was pretty well attended considering the time of year. I went there mainly to check out the dealer room for some deals, and potentially take in a few events and anime screenings. I ended up doing all of the above. I bought the Giant Robo OVA box set on DVD, which is a series that is, if the hype from its fans is to be believed, one of the greatest things ever made in all of the Earth's history. I also bought 6 volumes of the Cyborg 009 manga, which is a nice score for an old-school fan like me. I hope that those movie rumors from a little while back come to pass, because after reading the first volume, I can totally see an awesome movie being made here without changing very much. In addition to making purchases, I sat in on a "You know you're Otaku when..." game, where contestants had to guess the names of characters or series based on an image. It was really hard, and I didn't know very many answers, so I guess my Otaku-hood is questionable by modern standards. To end things off, I went to the theater room and watched the DragonBall Z movie "Wrath of the Dragon". One might say that things must have been pretty boring if I was resorting to watching Dragonball Z to pass the time, but it was actually pretty good! Other than that, I just sat around, talked to a friend, and didn't do very much. Things got a little bit more exciting when it ended, though. On the ride home, the bus got a flat tire, and there was an adventurous half-hour wait for another bus to come help us. Amazing.

Today was my last Japanese lesson for the year. As with all the other lessons, I really enjoyed it. I'm already looking forward to the next level, which starts towards the end of January. As a present for my sensei, I gave a a DVD I burned of the Black Jack Special, since she said last week that he was her favorite character. I was really happy to do that. At the end of class, all of the students got certificates, which were pretty much just fill-in-the-blank templates run through a printer to put out names on them. We were all impressed anyway. I'm going to have to keep practicing my Japanese, because I really like it, and I see myself using the language a lot in the future.

Sayonara.