There was also a lot of sadness this year, as people I know went through some difficult health challenges. I have spent far more time in hospitals this year visiting people than I’d like. Seeing the entire hacker community rally together to sign up to donate bone marrow was amazing beyond belief.

And 2012.. NinjaPenguin will be in Africa. In May. It’s time to explore the world again.

(also… I really really love my friends.)

I got interviewed by a new site- ani.me!

Check it out here:  http://www.ani.me/zine/anime/article/13/

(original photo by swamibu)

By 2020 I want to visit all the continents and go up in space once.

In the past decade I’ve:

Found the perfect boy
Travelled to europe twice and Japan three times
Gotten paid by publishers and websites to take pictures and travel
Thrown parties that have become internet-famous
Got my 6th dan black belt in Tang Soo Do
Went to the Firefly movie premiere & the Season 4 Battlestar Galactica premiere
Got a picture taken with the president (Bush, blegh) at the White House Xmas party
Had back surgery where they fused some bones together and grew new bone over it
Got to see tons of people wearing my tshirt designs at conventions
Hung out in secret bars an partied under a freeway overpass a few times
Partied in an abandoned missile silo
Frequently visited the Magic Castle, and been to Club 33 twice
Burning Man, Tokyo DisneySeas, Love Parade SF, and the Sapporo Snow Festival
Shot lingerie models on an airplane while hanging out in a scary tall crane
Made a LuLu costume with my friend and cosplayed at a few conventions
Won an award for working on a flash video game, at Schmoocon
Appeared in some small movies, and had some art used in one
Eaten raw horse and a foie gras corn dog
Explored many hidden and abandoned places
Shot Red Carpet at the Spike TV Scream Awards twice, and the 300 DVD release
Shot two weddings and attended many weddings
Ran my own karate school
Learned to cook

In the past two decades I’ve:

Thrown punk shows and underground raves
Published (and been published) in zines, comics, and a CD-ROM
Moved around a bunch in three states (California, Texas, Colorado)
Gotten sued for $100,000 by Penguin Books
Been raided by the FBI
Got on the front page of the local newspaper (San Diego)
Been in a bunch of art shows and thrown my own
Been to San Diego ComiCon 16 times
Been to Defcon 12 times. Since Defcon 4 I’ve only missed it once (or twice?)

I kinda lapsed on the comic book publishing thing, but me and Dave are working on a photo book project together. Making this list made me realize how long it’s been since I’ve published anything (The last big thing I made was a comic book on CD-ROM in 1998). I came up with a story idea while in the woods this weekend though.

Happy New Year!

One of my favorite shows was Serial Experiments Lain, which pretty much every hacker kid who liked anime in the mid-90s watched. It’s about a girl, and it has a really twisted plotline about a place called “The Wired.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_Experiments_Lain

I actually met the guy who ran the big Lain fansite while on a random Japan trip years later, as well as the creator and producer of the show at several conventions..

Another ADV release that I enjoy greatly is Voices from a Distant Star. It’s short, but it’s touching, and its largely the work of one person. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voices_of_a_Distant_Star It shows what is possible with enough determination.. from wikipedia: “Voices of a Distant Star was written, directed and produced entirely by Makoto on his Macintosh computer. Makoto and his fiancée provided the voice acting for the working dub (A second Japanese dub was later created for the DVD release with professional voice actors). Makoto’s friend Tenmon, who had worked with Makoto at his video game company, provided the soundtrack.”

I miss being excited about anime, and loving anime. ADV really brought some of that brightness into my life. I heard Tokyopop is having a lot of problems too this week. It’ll be interesting to see what changes come about in pop culture.