Under the blue sky…

So I managed to catch 2 out of 3 DJ sets of Gareth Emery here in Socal. I technically could have attended the one in San Diego but the drive was a bit too far and I don’t have that much money to spend. XD

Mr. Emery is amazing as always. Another good set at Avec. I’m pretty sure he knows me by face now so when his set at Avec ended, I was trying to reach him through the crowd and he saw me. He signaled at me and wee… I hugged him, got a personalized autograph and a picture. Told him I’ll see him Saturday and he exchanged the same words.

Now Saturday. Oh my god… that night was FUCKING EPIC. 4 hour set by Gareth Emery! He kept the whole night rocking! At no point was the even bored. I wish my feet didn’t give so I can dance all night! I can’t even describe how amazing it was and I’m sure Gareth was amazed himself haha… At the end he signed autographs and then came over by where I was to say hello and sign more autographs. I gave him my silver sharpie that I didn’t ask for back. At one point the bouncers were pushing people away after he signed many autographs and had a million picture taken. I had to get my moment before the bouncers didn’t allow any more contact. Gareth signaled at me a bit earlier but I said I could wait. I wanted a longer moment. I didn’t but I still got a great picture with him.

I was truly amazed by the set at Circus and it kind of makes me think if I could accomplish the same feat. Lots of practice and heart me thinks! Gareth Emery for #1!

As always, I’m behind on my blogging. I always want to blog about the neat things I buy or the cool things I do but I just never get around to it. Still better late than never.

Last week I finally got my new laptop that I preordered off Amazon.com. Amazon.com is my favorite shopping website. If Amazon.com has what I’m looking for, you can bet I’m buying off Amazon. For the last 3 weeks I’ve been getting package for myself. I am expecting 1 more until my hiatus at least that’s what I think.

So anyways I first preordered the Asus UL30vt-X1. The UL30vt is the newest edition to the Asus laptop line and with a friend’s recommendation I ordered it. The same friend told me a few days later about the next release off the UL30vt line, UL30vt-A1. The -A1 comes with an additional 1 year global warranty and a larger battery capacity for a small price increase. Since my -X1 didn’t ship, I canceled it and ordered the -A1. The laptop wasn’t expected to ship until the 2nd week of January so holding off was quite a pain since I did all my normal computing on a laptop. Since my friend ordered his before mines he got his shipping notice before I did. I only later find out he cancels it as well! He canceled it because at CES Asus displayed the UL30jt! The jt has an overclocked processor, bigger harddrive, and a better video card. Now we can’t be Asus buddies but hey he’s the one without a laptop now, not me.

This laptop is very nice. It’s widescreen like my previous HP but its slight over an inch bigger which is a definite plus. The LCD is also very bright and the dual graphics card allows for optimized battery consumption. This baby can technically run for 12 hours straight on battery with the appropriate settings. Only downfall for me is the lack of an optical drive. It’s cool because I ordered one off Amazon.com. This isn’t much else I can say about it. It does my normal computing and I’m not hardcore like those other geeks when it comes down to review the laptop. It’s sturdy, I like the keyboard, the multi-touch mouse area is a bit sensitive but other than that, this laptop comes with a good price. And of course I can run my games on it.

About a week ago my bF had a dream that we were one of the 3rd place winners for an event hosted by the Gareth Emery team. The event consisted of tickets being given away for attendence to Gareth Emery’s first RAIN Nightclub gig in Las Vegas. 1st place being a nice package and 3rd place was a pair of VIP tickets. Winners were announced last week but I wasn’t selected, neither was the bif or the sis. I whined to Gareth over Twitter that it was rigged so I didn’t win. He just lol’d and I mentioned I’ll be going anyways! So I bought General Admissions for literally an 18 hour trip to Vegas. No sleep!

A week later, today, I randomly woke up at 6:30AM-ish today. I had a bit of trouble going back to sleep but I eventually did. I official woke again at about 11:30 and logged onto the Interwebs to check my email. There it was. A congratulatory email for me winning 3rd place in the Gareth Emery competition. Did I miss my name the first time in the winner announcement? I contained my excitement just in case it was a fluke so I replied to the email to make sure it was legit. With a reply an hour or so later, it was legit. I got a pair of VIP tickets to Rain!!!! Excited as I could be my next issue was returning the GA tickets I already bought. Luckily we got that resolved easily with the loss of only $5 due to the non-refundable service fee.

I don’t feel it was a coincidence I won the tickets but that might just be hopeful wishing. Either way, a big thank you to Gareth Emery and Andrew for making this happen. Seeing my favorite DJ three times in less than a year!

So it was Christmas day. Not like I’m big on the holidays or it actually means anything but commercially, it was Christmas day. I’m staying with my bF at his place and in the morning I wanted to use my laptop. I turn it on like I normally do for the last 22 months but this time Windows doesn’t boot. Okay, it’s cool it’s happened before. Forced Shut Down and I attempted again. Windows did not boot again. The LED lights are on, I hear the fan and hard-drive running but nothing on my screen.

The bF did a little research and found a thread with users who have the exact same laptop and are experiencing the same issue I’m having. Apparently, the GPU on the TouchSmart tx2000 dislodges when it gets too hot. The gpu is soldered on instead of pinned. There were discussions on how to fix the dislodged gpu it but there is no permanent fix. HP has refused to acknowledge the issue. Other users have had this problem surface after 17 months of usage. It took me 22 months probably due to the usage of a laptop cooler.

I’m going to be getting a new laptop now and selling my TouchSmart to whoever knows how to fix it. The bF forbade me from getting another HP and that is exactly what I am doing. Sorry HP, I’ve been a customer for years but you have definitely lost me here. So here’s a blog post dedicated to you.

This past Saturday (10.10.2009) Gareth Emery spin’d at Vanguard in Hollywood. Of course I was in attendance because I adore Gareth Emery. Gareth and I are also Twitter buddies. Hah… I know I make it sound like we best friends or something but it’s cool to me. He replies to my questions and comments to him occasionally and was cool enough to answer my question to his set time. 11:45PM to 2AM he replied. Perfect in my opinion and he agreed too.

I first attended my first Gareth Emery gig at the Ministry of Sound in July. I was already a fan and planned on seeing him already but he tweeted at me (I forgot why) noting I should go as well. After his set then I camped the DJ booth. Just waiting on the stairs to snag a p1x when the security guard was nice enough to let me in the booth. :0 I stood there waiting earnestly with my camera, snagged a picture, chatted with him, and hugged him many times. I mentioned to him then my Twitter name and he recognized me. It was a start of an awesome… fan/DJ relationship.

So back to Vanguard. I arrived with my boyfriend, Eric, and my sister. I had already bought tickets through will call and thinking it would just be the three of us my sister runs into her friends! Whack I’d say. The tickets were also blank with no writing or indication Gareth was spinning that night. Eric and I took it as a little hopeful sign meaning we were going to get his autograph on it. We go inside and Kristina Sky is spinning. I find a comfy spot close enough to the stage so when I can easily paparazzi style some pictures of Gareth when he comes onto the stage. They layout of Vanguard changed once more since the last time I saw it. The DJ booth was bigger and I felt there was more space to everything. I wonder if they rearranged the tables or maybe I’ve just gone on too crowded of nights. [cough] Armin [cough] Ferry [cough]. Gareth appears at 12AM-ish and the crowd cheers! Of course I did!

I danced to the entire length of his set along with my biF. I had this most amazing feeling while being there. My boyfriend was behind me and Gareth was in front of my eyes. It felt so good to share a moment I tend to only keep to myself with somebody I love.

Anyways! Gareth kept the crowd roaring all the night. Highs and lows– he really got our energy up and it was such an indescribable feeling. He took us on a journey and one that would end to bring in Menno de Jong.

After Gareth Emery’s set I immediately started to look for him around the DJ booth. He started to stand by the booth’s stairs and I waved too him. I think he noticed me as he comes down the stairs I asked for his autograph and he told me he couldn’t do it just yet because the security was being “dicks”. I laughed. Him and security guard camped near the booth but at a corner of the club. This guy was hogging Gareth even when I noticed Gareth was trying to let him go. Lol. I had to be more aggressive to I ninja’d in after the guy moved off. I told him he had another amazing set like I experienced in London and he said he found it much more enjoyable in Los Angeles. Eric helped me snap a picture and I asked for his autograph earlier. He asked if I wanted something special on it and I told him just my name is fine. He wrote more than just my name. “Keep Twittering” and autographed my ticket. I thanked him again and hugged him one last time. He said to me “See you soon”. I stepped off and ecstatically jumped up and down with Eric. Mission accomplished! Best part of all, Gareth recognized me as that nut from Twitter and London… haha.

I don’t mean to sound like a creeper but I really adore Gareth Emery. One, I think he’s an amazing producer and DJ and two, after meeting him in London, I felt like a real connection – fan to DJ. He really engages with his fans and I’m lucky to be one of them. It’s really hard to describe right now how it makes me feel but totally not in a creeper way. Just very appreciative and thankful.

I also printed out my 2 pictures with him and framed it along with the autograph ticket. Not a creeper at all I swear.

On Saturday September 26, 2009 at The NOS Event Center I attended my first massive… my first “festival”. Mr. van Hunk joined me to see Ferry Corsten Twice In A Blue Moon The Experience. The only reason why I was attending because Ferry Corsten was putting on something more than a normal set. It was an opportunity not to be missed. :>

Eric, Mr. van Hunk and I left my place about 7ish for dinner at In-N-Out. We haven’t eaten dinner and I knew we would be out till 5AM so we had to grab some grub. We hit the road about 8ish and arrived at the I-215 N after 9. We were backed up all the way on the ramp from the exited we needed to take. I guess everybody was going to Nocturnal which they were. People were all dressed up in their rave gear — glow sticks, fishnets, half naked outfits… you name it. Those kids were ready. We didn’t park till way after 10PM after going around the whole event area since the parking areas closest to the event was filled. Walking to the event area, the children were dressed and dealing ecstasy. One girl was like “Need some x?” Mr. van Hunk politely told her no.

We finally make it inside like literally close to 11PM and I did want to check out Rank1’s set but only caught like 20 minutes of it. The event was huge with tons of people sitting around. I didn’t get to explore the whole event grounds as I didn’t really have a care for the other things that were offered.

We stayed in the open area where Ferry would come on. I listen through most of Christopher Laurence’s set and I wasn’t impressed. Honestly, he wasn’t mixing half the time. He was cheering the crowd on which is great and all but I barely saw him focusing on the mixer and decks. It seemed like he had a pre-created set for the night.

Most of the pictures I have are just of the DJs and the visuals along with some of the decor of the event. I wanted to take pictures of the children but I think the flash of my camera would have made it really obvious. One girl had pasties on and I shouted it to Mr. van Hunk so he could hear me. I think she heard me too ’cause I saw her turn to me. I wanted to get a picture of her too. :[

A little after 1AM Ferry Corsten came on. You can see the pictures I took in on my Flickr and the 2 videos I made of the night. Visually, Ferry utilized the LCD screen that was behind him to project videos themes to the songs he would play. There were even 2 live performances by Betsie Larkin who I mainly know her for singing Made of Love. All the effects were amazing in addition to the all sorts of dancers that came on stage. It was truly an experience.

At some point these 3 people stand in front of us and especially in front of me. One of the guy puts the girl on his shoulder and stands in front me. Now I can’t see. I blurted out loud “Are you fucking me?” and the other friend heard. He signaled to the guy to put the girl down and he seemly apologized and they moved on. I felt kind of bad being mean like that as everybody was just trying to have a good time but dude I’m 5′2, I can’t see over or around. _-_

Ferry concludes the show at exactly 4AM. Geez, I know I was awake till then. The 3 of us had the long walk back to our car but since we parked a good distance and I was slightly familiar with the streets we bypassed all the traffic of people leaving. We got home at 5AM as anticipated and Mr. van Hunk drove himself home.

Nocturnal Festival was an awesome to have Ferry’s special show because otherwise I wouldn’t have gone. Though it was my first massive experience and it wasn’t too bad I wouldn’t go again. The crowds of people weren’t really my thing and people high off everything they can get their hands on were strange. Though the people were nice, I’d only go back for another special show or a huge line-up I’d really like.

Talk about being lazy. Again, I haven’t updated this thing in a few months but hey better than taking 2 years to update. :}

On July 7, 2009 I took my first trip to London to sight see and see my friend of 8 years, Alex. I’m going to just summarize what I did as if I wrote in detail about the trip this post will just be a wall of text

- Enjoy food and sights in Wimbledon and Wimbledon Village.

- Literally walked all over of central London but actually it’s Westminster (West End, Mayfair, and South Bank).

- Had afternoon tea at Camillia’s and The Ritz (on another day).
- Attended the free British Museum.
- Clubbed at Ministry of Sound twice.
- Clubbed a Fabric.
- Went to Camden Markets.
- Visited H&M first UK store.
- Visited Fortnum & Mason.
- “Shopped” at Harrod’s.
- Saw Windsor Castle.
- Enjoyed Hot Cocoa from Claridge’s.
- Indian food in Tooting.
- Rode the London Eye.
- Watch Harry Potter in IMAX.
- Rode The Original London Tour Bus.
- Free ride on City Tours Thames boat ride.
- Stopped in Greenwich.
- Rode the Eurostar to Paris.

In Paris, I

- Free day tour by Nic’s uncle. =^-^=
- Had a typical “Parisian” steak.
- Saw Notre Dame and its amazing flying buttresses.
- Visited Versailles.
- Walked Jardin du Luxembourg
- Walked around the Louvre courtyard.
- Walked Jardin du Tulleries and Palais des Tulleries.
- Walked down Champs-Élysées to Arc de Triomphe.
- Watched the fireworks commemorating Bastille Day and Tour Eiffel 110th birthday.
- Ate pastries from the local pâtisserie.
- Ate a Vietnamese sandwich in Chinatown.
- Lingerie shopping + more.

You can see my pictures on Flickr. I have my London pictures uploaded and have yet to upload my Paris ones. The fireworks for Bastille Day are up though!

Earlier this month E3 made its semi-glorious comeback to the Los Angeles Convention Center. It didn’t do a major transformation to the LACC but it did make its presence known with huge banners lining the convention and Square Enix with 3 FFXIII wall banners Hotel Figueroa sported. Its definitely on a larger scaled than the toned down E3 we’ve suffered for 2 years but not as glamorous as its last year in 2006.

A lot of companies weren’t there this year. Blizzard for one wasn’t but the other major ones– Sony, SOE, Nintendo, Activision, EA, XBOXLIVE, Bandai Namco, Sega, Konami etc. It definitely heavily revolved around consoles this year.

I didn’t care for it too much but it was nice to see what was available. Booth babes made a return as well since they were banned from E3 in 2006. As an industry perk and on company time, I went for 1 day. I thought I would need 2 but I only needed 1 day. I walked both the South Hall and West Hall in like less than 2 hours. I’m sure if I was more fascinated with what was there I would have taken longer. I checked out the fancy booths but not enough swag this year. Kind of a good thing since I’m a junk collector. I scored a couple of things like a Harvest Moon drawstring backpack from Natsume. They weren’t giving it out but I saw a lady hand somebody one and I went to ask. The best swag I got was a shoulder/cross chest backpack from Alienware. It was a pretty nice backpack and it had a aluminum water bottle, headphones, and a flash drive. I heard the next day Alienware claimed it was for press. If you weren’t Press or had the All-Access pass you were basically a non-important person. The companies disregard you as you present no value to them. You didn’t have access to lounges or special promos. :<

All in all I had fun at E3 and I’m sure others would have appreciated it more than I did. Too bad they don’t work for the industry. :>

During the week my routine normally consists of going to work and going home. Not too much excitement but I don’t mind it so much. On weekend it is a different story. Sometimes I wonder if I’m doing too much, which will just cause me to burn out. Heh… hasn’t been a problem yet but it does leave me not wanting to do much on Sundays when I like to relax to myself.

This was my schedule for my 3-day weekend:

Saturday
8AM – Basic Archery Instruction Program @ Pasadena Roving Archers
2PM – DJ 101 course @ Scratch DJ Academy
3:45PM – Terminator Salvation with the fr00t, Ashed one + otouto
7PMish – Tacos @ Taco King
8PM+ – Hanging out

Sunday
4PM – Drive to Nic’s
6PM – Get Beach Pizza
9PM – See Nic’s friend who drives a Nissan Skyline
10:29PM – Another movie – Night at the Museum 2
12:30AM+ – Watch Sailor Moon and talk about Europe trip in July.
3AM – Slept with Nic. <3

Monday
11AM – Woke up
12PM – Picked up donuts at King Hawaiian and had Dimsum.
1:30PM – Sunken City @ San Pedro
2PM – Redondo Beach Pier
3:30PM – Back at Nic’s to chill
4PM – Jaccuzi
5PM – Drove home