#same with the hop pics the main issue is the bad lighting

[faunandfloraas]

can someone on the skz team please learn any basic photo editing skills so the pictures dont always look blown out, lacking contrast and unfinished. like i thought this was a picture a fan took of a poster, not the official pics

[twatkcox]

[The Keihancarl Diaries: June 2-3, 2018]

All right, this is going to be an awesome weekend! And best of all, it's right near my place.

Of course, there are some things I wanted to do first before proceeding to the main part of a really awesome weekend, the Pinoy Otaku Festival: Ai 2018.

To be honest, I'm still nervous about going to an otaku event all by myself, just like the last time. Being the shy, introverted person I was, I somehow managed to check most of the event happenings as well as missing some of them.

June 2nd

I decided on my favorite black fleece coat, my brown polo shirt, black fingerless gloves, and a pair of red socks. As much as I wanted to wear an anime shirt to an otaku event, I resist the urge since I'm not really keen on wearing all-black like the last time (all of my anime shirts are in black).

I left home early, but I decided to come to the otaku event later. For the next few hours, I’m dealing with a light to moderate rainfall, but luckily I didn't get wet.

Anyway, let's start with the usual mall-hopping fare and a sip of caramel frappe at my favorite milk tea shop in Lagro. I'll definitely need to calm down first since I tend to get overexcited at the thought of going to an otaku event for the second time.

I arrived at Fairview Terraces at exactly 2:00 PM. By the time I got there, a panel discussion Anime vs. Manga vs. Visual Novel vs. Light Novel is about to start. The panelists are asked about the first anime series they watched, as well as the first manga series/visual novel/light novel they read. They discussed the pros and cons of manga series adapted into anime and debating whether an anime adaptation is better than the original manga and vice versa (if I recall correctly).

There was a cute intermission number with OO-kun and Chu Chu, plus highlights of some upcoming anime shows on Animax (POF: Ai 2018’s official media partner), some performances and other intermission numbers, another panel discussion May Forever Ba Sa Cosplay (English: Is There Love In Cosplay) and a game show Anime Game Challenge. As for the latter, there were groups of contestants who answer the questions from three categories: guessing the anime character, what title of an anime theme song being played, and guessing who's the seiyū (Japanese voice actors) of the characters featured in a series of different anime clips.

There was also a singing game show The Otaku Singing Bee and another panel discussion about the issues within the cosplay community (Issues In Coscom).

The Otaku Singing Bee features the theme songs from old anime shows like DNAngel, Yu Yu Hakusho (Ghost Fighter), Fushigi Yuugi, Inuyasha, and Full Metal Alchemist.

For the first part of the game show, the contestants must rearrange the words that appear on the screen, that is actually part of the lyrics that will follow soon afterward. The second part of the game show, they must guess the missing part of the song's lyrics. One guy really nailed the last part of Ghost Fighter's theme song, too bad I never got to record it on video. It was really fun, and some of the audience/event-goers couldn't resist singing the lyrics to the opening theme songs, even if they are about to sing the correct answer.

As for the latter, the panel discussion tackles about the issues cosplayers faced in the industry, like bullying/cyberbullying and crab mentality within the cosplay community.

There was the announcement of those who will advance to the final round, and the first day of POF: Ai 2018 is over. I managed to upload some of the pics and videos, including selfies with some of the cosplayers.

June 3rd

Same outfit, but with a yellow shirt and striped white/black/yellow socks. I arrived at around 2:00 PM, around the same time as yesterday.

The second day of the event had singing competitions, cosplay competitions and the battle of the bands, with some performances, games, stand-up comedy, auctions, and panel discussions. I did have some additional selfies with the cosplayers too, some of the pics are uploaded to the event's FB page as comments to the cosplayers' posts.

I did catch Who Wants To Be An Otaku, an anime-oriented quiz game, and the panel discussion on seiyūs or Japanese voice actors. There’s also the Cosplay Idol Finals, but I didn’t get to see much of it since I decided to take some time off from the event for a nice stroll in the adjacent malls and check out some of the shops as well. I then head back to the activity center an hour and a half later.

It was already 6:00 PM and I'm starting to feel hungry so I immediately head to Yoshinoya at the mall's second level. I decided on a beef and mushroom bowl, which actually tasted like corned beef with mushrooms. It was okay. Cosplay Xtra already started by the time I head back to the activity center.

I then decided to have a sip of fruit tea. Come to think of it, CoCo already has branches in SM Fairview and Fairview Terraces a long time ago, but I've yet to try out their drinks. And so I did, and I had a Passion Fruit Tea Burst. I have to wait for about 20-30 minutes before my drink is served since the line was pretty long and there were a lot of drinks to be served to the waiting customers.

It was worth the wait, though I was wondering if the crunchy, tarty seeds from the passion fruit are edible. I eventually researched all about it, and it is indeed edible. I finished the drink inside the mall area.

And there's the final part of the event, the Battle Of The Bands. Eleven bands participated in the event, each performing a cover of their chosen anime theme song and either a cover of an OPM song or their own composition. In between the performance, there was an auction of stuffed plushies and other items while waiting for the next band to perform. By the time the eighth or ninth band was about to perform, it was already near the mall's closing time (about fifteen minutes to 10:00 PM).

Despite this, the competition continued until about a quarter past 10:00. The event finished at exactly 10:30 PM. By then, most of the mall's lights are dimmed and only a few restaurants and cafés are open. I got home at around 11:00 PM.

During the two-day event, I only bought a few souvenirs at the event (a couple of button pins on the first day, and a handmade keychain on the second day) since I don’t feel like spending too much, considering the fact that I have a limited budget for the entire weekend.

Regarding my outfit... well, there's a possibility that I might get mistaken for a cosplayer (I wish I was one of them, but...) since my outfits often include black fingerless gloves and the black fleece coat. Some cosplayers wear gauntlets and gloves as part of the [character’s] costume like in the case of Noctis Lucis Caelum of Final Fantasy XV, so there’s no surprise that wearing my black fingerless gloves alone will make them assume that I was actually one of them. A couple of guys asked if they can have a selfie with me, but I politely told them that I’m not a cosplayer... with an awkward smile, of course. Maybe I might reconsider the thought of wearing them again in my future otaku event visits.

They have the photo printing booth where you can have your photos from the event printed for free (I think you have to sign up first), though I never had any of the photos printed, which is a total shame on my part since that would serve as a wonderful remembrance of the event. Aside from that, there were stalls selling various merchandises, mostly anime-related stuff, and some food stalls as well.

There are also workshops too, one of them is the Baybayin Writing Workshop, where one can learn the ancient Filipino writing system. If you notice the unusual writing below the word Ai on the poster, that’s how the Baybayin script looks like.

The event is also helping out charities, mainly Hands Of GOD Charity Works.

That concludes the two-day otaku event, and just like the last time (POF: Danketsu 2017), it was really fun. I had a lot of selfies with the cosplayers and it was really awesome! I’m definitely looking forward to the next POF event, in a larger venue. I’m hoping for the event to be held in either Vertis Tent or The Elements at Eton Centris, but then I wouldn’t mind going as far as MOA Complex just to experience the otaku vibe.

It sure was a really awesome weekend to remember. Until next time!

All pics are taken by yours truly, Keihancarl. Most of the pics are posted to my private Instagram account, @kcox105.

[hoteles5estrellas]

August turned six months old today. My wife had planned a European backpacking trip about 2 years ago for our honeymoon. We were just about to get married but new we needed to save for a proper honeymoon.

Well August surprised us when my wife found out she was pregnant about 7 months before we were scheduled to leave. So I pushed the plane tickets back 5 months from the original date and we decided we’d just take him with us, so we did! We decided to just stay in Norway instead of country hopping, but there was a lot to see there so we were very happy with the trip.

Here he is after 23 hours of straight traveling on the way home by trains, busses and planes!

Preparation

We wanted to travel light, no checked luggage if possible. Our carry ons were pushing it but they let us take them. They were the rolling luggage with pop up handle that is iffy size for carry on. We were prepared to pay and check them but were seriously hoping to save those funds. They did not let us bring them back, they told us at the gate they had to be checked but they let us do it for free since we were that far along. Also, I think have a cute baby strapped to you gets you some favors.

We used a baby carrier, top of the line, can’t remember brand but will edit post when my wife gets home. Babies do really well in these things for extended periods of time, for the most part, I know all babies are different so take all our tips with a grain of salt.

We packed enough diapers & wipes to get there plus a couple days. Check out your destination before hand, if it’s a 1st world country diapers are fairly abundant.

We took 3 bottles, he uses a special kind that simulates the boob flow as he nurses most of the time. We do supplement with formula so we brought some formula as well, enough for 3 or 4 days. We didn’t research this well and should’ve seen what brands are available in Norway. Some babies are fickle about their formula. We were fortunate he liked what we found there just fine.

RESEARCH store hours. Norway has some odd hours for their stores and we didn’t even think about the fact we were travelling over Easter and they shut DOWN on Easter big time. For days… (google booze laws too if you want to have some drinks on your trip, Norway surprised us with the crazy nanny state alcohol laws).

All the main grocery chains there (rema 1000, kiwi, etc.) carried baby supplies.

Bring any meds you might need… we didn’t. My wife caught an awful cold towards the end of our trip and we super lucked out that neither August nor I got sick as well cause we’d have no idea what meds a baby could have and finding an open pharmacy on good Friday was a royal pain in the ass.

Challenges

Our son has been a bit spoiled with co-sleeping. We used airbnb’s for the most part and a hotel in one location. We brought a small packable walled baby bed that folds up. In the airbnb’s we left it in the bedroom and put him to bed so we could hang out in the living area.

The first night in a new place was always the same, he took and extra hour or more to get to sleep. But after that he adjusted well. In the hotel we put him in the bathroom… was quite funny sneaking in to take a pee as quiet as possible (my wife got good at toilet gymnastics to get the right angles for no splashing).

You can’t ride in cars without a car seat, don’t even think about how you can pull that off just plan around using busses, trains and plains. And babies ride for free! At least with Norwegian Air he did, I know some international make you buy them a seat.

I’m not sure if this is normal but our boy hates when you sit down with him in the carrier, so if it’s a 20-30 minute ride you will probably be standing in the train… which brings me to this point as well, you will be walking a LOT, like a whole lot, so make sure you are physically ready for that. And take a fitbit, you’ll be crushing all your friends on it.

Planes are the obvious big & scary challenge with an infant. We made a bit of a game plan and it worked well. We had a bottle full and ready for him to take right during take off as their ears can pop and chewing on something comforting helps them a lot.

We also kept him awake from his naps before the flight. He got pretty fussy but it paid off as he slept for the majority of the flights. Also, learn to relax. People expect babies to cry, it might be annoying but it’s going to happen so just do your best to keep them quiet and comforted but don’t lose your cool if the baby goes off some. Stay focused and do what you can to calm them down. If seat belts off, get up and walk around with them. Every tends to smile at the cute baby.

The relax thing is super important. After tons of walking and traveling for hours at points, you will be exhausted… so is baby! Stay cool, do your best to just comfort the child. Focus on the child as much as possible and not your own tiredness. Once the baby is calm, it’s like a huge cloud is lifted and everything else is easy.

The HOLY SHIT Moment

My wife looked at me while we were in Bergen and said, “Huh, my throat just got scratchy out of no where.” We both blew it off as transitioning from hot humid Florida to dry cold mountain climate. But it only got worse. My wife has athletic asthma so it’s never really life threatening but if she runs for 20 minutes or so she has to have an inhaler or her throat constricts and breathing gets tough.

Well, she got bad… real bad. She was coughing like crazy and having trouble breathing just from picking up our son. We gave it a day to see if it was nothing serious but it only got worse. So the second night of it she reached a point where she was about to have a panic attack and at 11:00pm on Good Friday or maybe the night before (point is nothing was open and we knew no one) she made a trip to the E.R. in Norway.

Here’s what really makes us frustrated about the whole thing. They drew blood, listened to her lungs and kept here there for a couple hours just for the doctor to say she has the “Norwegian Cold” and time is all she needs to fix it. She can get some over the counter cough medicine for some relief and hit her inhaler once every four hours. Well she’d hit it and feel ok for about 45 mins to an hour then back to misery and trouble breathing and panic attacks, etc.

When we got back to the states she went to her doctor today and they said it was incredibly serious viral issues on top of her asthma and she needs to be having nebulizer sessions four times a day amongst some other treatments and a steroid. Very irritating how nonchalant the doctor was to her, almost making her feel stupid for even coming in. That said, they didn’t bill us a dime so that’s cool.

Deal With It

The impression we got was just to deal with it, so we did. We got on a regiment of cough drops, some weak cough syrup (the nation bans anything like mucinex completely) and a little whiskey/lemon/honey at night all topped with her inhaler once every four hours.

I was stuck with full responsibility for our son. I carried him at all times, I changed him, she still nursed though but doing anything physical at all would get her crazy winded, coughing and breathing issues. (So yea, thankfully we had some good “mom & dad” time at the beginning of the trip).

The last few days we didn’t much walking, we were very fortunate that we got to explore Oslo and Bergen a LOT before this got serious. We spent four nights in Flam near the end of our trip where everything was within 100 yards or so from the hotel. It’s a quaint mountain town with beautiful sites surrounding it, perfect for the situation.

Simply Amazing

We wouldn’t take the trip back for anything. I never knew I’d be bonding so much with my son, I feel like I know and understand him at a completely new level. He’s amazing and so is my wife. We went through heaven and hell together and we are only stronger as a family unit because of that. I highly recommend taking infants on adventures with you, just a bit more laid back adventures, but still a big time.

Here’s some family photos from the trip

Family Pics

Visiting where they filmed Hoth on our way back to Oslo at end of trip

Didn’t want to seem like blog spam so I copied here from a post on my personal blog

submitted by /u/DrLeoMarvin [link] [comments]

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