I had a wonderful time in San Francisco.

[godma, godnevvie, Scanner, Carolyn]

So here we are in front of Scanner and Carolyn's place with their beautiful roses.     John, who also stays there, is taking this photo. We were just on our way to dinner at Seto (I think^^). While waiting for the rest of the party to arrive (and because the guys had more important matters to attend to, like check out Scanner's new VAIO ^__^), Carolyn and I looked thru the Korean mart with it's thirty different types of kimchee in gallon jars.     We made our way over to the Japanese restaurant to find quite a number of the party already there. Apologies:I'm afraid I've forgotten most of the names of the people there even tho John valiantly put up with my repeated queries of who's who. (Yeah, I forgot them as the next few were introduced.^_^;;)     I know Taka and Kirstin were diagonally across from me, three tables away. Then there was Jen and Aaron (newlyweds! :) and Albert (whose wedding photos Scanner showed me: Apricot!) who were trying to teach me how to get to North Beach. Thanks! :) ...and this is John! Pomru!  :)

[Gilles Poitras, Carl Horn, Nikkou, Hans Raillard]

Restaurant on the Bridge     Sunday morning found us at Mervyn's. I forgot to bring.... pyjamas.^^   (Of cos nothing quite top the time I went for a two week trip without a single stitch of underwear except for what I had on...) I marveled at how cool Lionel was about it all, "You need to get pyjamas? OK! We'll go to Mervyn's." And that was that. :)     Sunday afternoon was the day I got to meet some of the Bay Area people I've gotten to know online. Sadly some couldn't make it: Dani-chan was away at work, Jason Thompson was bringing his sister around, Kiyoshi Okuma had things to take care of before going to Otakon. (Yes, not everyone could go on vacation before Otakon. ^_^;)     Gilles Poitras, taller than I recalled^^, was the one who originally suggested the meeting place, and very pleasant it was. You can see me beaming away, aside from the excitement of finally meeting people I'd known online for a long time, I was quite ebullient to receive a Mononoke Trixie pin from Hans ("Your favourite Trixie! She has her hands out as if to say "Hug me!"" :D) and a bouquet of red-rimmed yellow roses from Carl.     That's my favourite colour for roses, but I suspect Carl probably chose them because they showed up so well against his shirt. ^_^   He also presented me with a copy of Eagle, but I insisted on paying for APK's doujinshi, "Under The Influence". (Not a good idea to open it next to the glass window with strangers walking by. ^_^;;) Carl gave me a very generous discount! :)

[Amy, Kirstin, Carl, Shawn, Kenny and EJ, Taka]

The Young Southerners     Well.. I'll be surprised if any of them are older than I, and they were south of where I was sitting.  :) I certainly was glad to see Amy and Kirstin. ^_^ We talked a little about Hong Kong. (You all should come over! ^_^) There is the socially-adept Carl Horn making his way round the room. Shawn is with his brother's friend, Kenny, and his brother, EJ, sitting down. I hope they weren't too bored! :) Then one can see Taka, very thoughtfully holding up the menu which showed the name of the restaurant! :D     We did have a nice mix of people there that afternoon- from the young ones like Gilles :), to the younger ones like EJ and Kenny. Most of us had driven into the City, with some handling almost two-hour drives. Hans and Shawn had been working together on projects for quite a few months, but that was the first time they had met in person. I had asked Shawn if he'd bring up one of his VCDs for me, and he also gave me the "White Radish Hyperguide". (Shawn, you'll be glad to know it works on my iMac. I know I am! I liked it more than I thought I would! :D)

[Hans Raillard, Lionel Lum, Shiraishi Saya, Fred Schodt, Gilles Poitras]

Christmas in July.     Warm and friendly. Bright red poinsettias. Presents on the window ledge. (Guess what that box actually is!  :)   This photo gives me such a rose-tinted kind of feeling. (No, I will not title it "Shiny, Happy People." *bap!*)     At this table sits one of the most romantic people in the world. Shiraishi Saya from Kyoto Bunkyo University interviewed some of us as part of her research for her latest paper. She asked me about online romances. (Did she ask any of you guys?) Fred Schodt had very kindly contributed two guestpick articles for Anipike in the infancy of the column. I kept sneaking glances at him from two tables away because I couldn't believe how goodlooking he was. Maybe fans who have a predominant interest in manga over anime have the edge in good looks.. hmm...     Between Hans and Saya is the person who has made this trip very special for me, Lionel "*Don't* do that!! YOU'RE EMBARASSING ME!!" Lum. Thanks Lionel. ^_^   Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? Lionel does, and he'll tell you too. *grin*     See the upturned hat, which I'm afraid we later commandeered for our own nefarious purpose... but it survived! As did it's owner's kitchen which some of us lurked over to for mayhem and cha.. oh wait.. *dinner*, that's it! Thanks for washing up, Gilles! ^__^

[Kenny, Shawn, EJ, David Gaxiola, Hans Raillard]

Guys on the Web     Hong Kong and Singapore didn't have public access to the internet till about 1995 (that I remember..^^;) So while the world wide web was still a place where I was afraid to hit the wrong button somewhere, Shawn, David and Hans had already been quite comfortable inhabitants. David Gaxiola's site was one of the first that I came across. I think the first thing I said when I saw him was, "HU-UUH!! YOU'RE SOOOO YOUNG!!!!" and then next, "So you're David..... how do you say your name?"^^;;;; (I also couldn't say 'Gilles' correctly till after Otakon when I realised the "Gi" was the same as in "Gigi". It's more boring now then when I'd pronounced it a different way each time I had to call him. ^_^)     Somehow, it's stuck in my memory that Shawn's website has always looked somewhat the way it does now, going through incarnations with a dark blue or black background.. but I know Han's has stayed the same for a long, looong while. Except that he's changed it recently. ^_^   It looks very good, as always, but I miss the old site. It was one of the few that I identified with, with it's pale grey, pink and blue shades. Then of cos, there was that cute little pink-haired girl! :)

When I grow up I want a namecard like this too.

This page created on a Macintosh, started off with PhotoPage by John A. Vink.
-Le Nikkou Index
September '00