Ug's Portrait of Pirates (part 3) arrived!

Since R and I are poor, we are only slowly building up our One Piece Portrait of Pirates series figures (made by Megahouse). R received Nico Robin (POP part 4) earlier in the week. Today, I received Portgas D. Ace (the guy) and the Justice Marine Tashigi (katana wielding chick), both of whom are from POP part 3.


My Portrait of Pirates series 3: Portgas D. Ace and Tashigi (no Nerfertari Vivi), front


POP series 3: Ace and Tashigi left side


POP series 3: Ace and Tashigi left side blurry


POP series 3: Ace and Tashigi, right side


POP series 3: Ace and Tashigi, right side, blurry


POP series 3: Ace's back


POP series 3: Ace's tattoos


POP series: Ace, Tashigi, and Nico Robin

More cookies as gifts

The chef for the privately-run dorm I live in resigned, so he will stop working this Friday. Thus to show my appreciation for his work I decided to bake him some lame-o chocolate chip cookies with R over at R's place. The end result is packaged up in red plastic wrap so you can't see how bad a job we did.


Cookies for Paxton Hall Cook

Of course our Aqualab was not to be left out. The reject cookies came into lab. R thought we ought to experiment with marshmallows on cookies, but the result of that creative addition is pictured below. They made the cookies look like fried eggs had been splattered over them.


lab cookies

More organized PVC shrine to One Piece

Lab PVC shrine to One Piece


Lab PVC shrine to One Piece, no flash


Close up of gashapon figures, flash


Picture of Nico Robin, standing statuesquely in the background

R's Portrait of Pirates: Nico Robin, arrived!

R's Portrait of Pirates: Nico Robin, w/ flash


Nico Robin, up close, upper body


Nico Robin, up close, upper body, w/ flash

More One Piece mania

Saturday I received the One Piece Battle 1 gashapon set. It contained figures of Luffy, Usopp, Sanji, Zoro, and Marine Admiral Aokiji (the ice guy).


One Piece Battle 1 gashapon figures

These figures are cool, but not as nice and detailed as the Imagination gashapon set.


Non flash pic of One Piece Battle 1 gashapon figures

One Piece Luffy in the mail

So I went to lab late on Friday due to this guy!


Luffy on my desk

I bought him on ebay for thirty something dollars after shipping. Most One Piece plushies seem to come from UFO catcher machines in Japan, and so we here in the US are One Piece collectibles deprived. The USPS delivery guy left a note on my door the day before, so this Friday I took the bus to the Patterson Goleta Post Office to pick him up. Here is Luffy, along with the One Piece Imagination gashapon set that E got me from Japan.


Plush Luffy with Strawhat Pirates Flag, along with One Piece Imagination gashapon set

Random lab happenings

I finally remembered to bring back the Yang Cheng hot sauce for MC. Yang Cheng (Yank Sing) is a Cantonese Restaurant in San Francisco famous for its dim sum that my parents used to eat at back when they lived in the Bay Area. Of course, they would go there each weekend when Yank Sing wasn't so famous and wasn't located closer to the financial district. I guess the restaurant operators improved their business sense and went for the high-toned crowd.


hot sauce to give to MC

Anyway the hot sauce available at Asian supermarkets around Californai is the same as the house-made version you get on the tables when you go to their restaurant. I prefer the non-XO version with my dumplings and noodle soups, but everytime I go to Ranch 99 or Shun Fa supermarkets around San Gabriel/LA County, the non-XO version happens to be sold-out. I've found the XO version for $6.19, and the non-XO one for $4.19 or thereabouts.


Coleus flowering

So while we were all out on break, one of the lab's coleus plants flowered and also managed to attract a ladybug. We all had no idea how the ladybug got in, since normally the window is closed, and the lab is located several floors up.


Coleus and ladybug?

Decorating the lab with E's gifts from Japan

When I came into lab I brought out the gifts E had brought me from Japan, ready to start adding my own style to the lab. So R and I assembled the One Piece pvc figures, and tried to figure out where to stick the suction cup totoro doll.


Totoro, One Piece stuff

We finally ended up sticking it in the window in the lab door. But first, we had to assemble the One Piece "Gashapon" figures. The hardest one to assemble was the Zoro/Zolo one (the one with the waves and the swordsmen).


One Piece Gashapon set, assembled

They really are high quality toys. I wish we had this kind of quality collectibles in the US.


All 4 One Piece Imagination Gashapon figures

These particular figures are incredibly detailed.


Close up of One Piece Imagination Gashapon set

R likens them to miniature sculptures, fashioned in PVC.


Closeup of Nami, Zoro figures

R and I have apparently forgotten how suction cups work, since we had a hard time getting this one to stick to the lab door window. Either that or E got me one with a defective suction cup.


Totoro hanging in lab door window

Eventually, though, we perservered. Now this one serves as a silent guardian for our lab.

Amtrak Hell

First, a pretty picture of the tiles in LA Union Station.


pretty tiles at LA Union Station

Normally I'm an enthusiastic supporter of Amtrak, but today the system just broke down. I had intended to take the 7:30 am Northbound Pacific Surfliner train from LA Union Station to Goleta Station. Here's a breakdown of what happened.

7:05 am: Arrived at LA Union Station. Dropped off by P, who then made his way to work.

7:10 am: Saw schedule board and noticed that the 7:30 am Pacific Surfliner North was cancelled for some unspecified reason. Asked nearby Amtrak information center worker Number 1 when the next northbound Pacific Surfliner was. Was told that it would leave at 9:05 am.

Sat down to wait for 1+ hours.

8:30 am: Walked to schedule board again and noticed that the 9:05 am Surfliner North was cancelled as well. Went to speak to Amtrak information center worker Number 2. He said next Surfliner North was at 12:30 pm, but the next train I could take to deposit me at Goleta (1 stop north of Santa Barbara) was the Oregon Coast Starlight, leaving at 10:15 am.

8:40 am - 9:00 am: Kept going back to ask Number 2 about whether he was sure the Coast Starlight would make a stop at Goleta, since it wasn't a normally scheduled stop. He said, very authoritatively, of course, they are making all local stops just for today. Then I said, my Surfliner ticket is valid on this other line, right? I don't need a reservation, right? He said, yes, for today only.

9:47 am: Heard announcement that Coast Starlight is on Track 10B for Coach Passengers, and 10A for Sleeper Accomodation passengers. Ran toward Track 10B.

9:55 am: Waited 5 minutes for seat assignment personnel to show up.

10:00 am: Was told by seat assignment personnel very forcefully that Coast Starlight does NOT stop at Goleta, only at Santa Barbara.

10:05 am: Ran after head conductors way on the other end of the platform and ask them whether the train stops at Goleta. Was told that it does not.

10:07 am: Dejectedly ran down stairs to return to main lobby, but before that happened an Amtrak worker asked me why I wasn't getting on the train. Related the complicated story, and he told me my ticket should be valid on Coast Starlight and even though it won't stop at Goleta, I could get off at SB and take bus back to UCSB.

10:10 am: Ran back to Coast Starlight train and get on, am assigned seat 11. Some young guy puts his laptop case on the floor beside seat 12, then walks off.

10:25+ am: Train left LA Union Station and begins journey north.

10:30+ am: Ticket collector came by, looked at my ticket, and said I shouldn't have been allowed on the train. I said conductor told me it was okay. Did not bother trying to explain how everyone else said it was okay.

11:00+ am: Found out why 7:30 am and 9:05 am trains may have been cancelled without notice. Amtrak conductor tells us that we have to stop at Moorpark station for an hour and wait till Union Pacific track maintenance is finished. The maintenance is necessary due to heavy rains earlier in the week.

2:0? pm: Arrived at Amtrak Santa Barbara Station. Commenced speed-walking to Santa Barbara MTD Transit Center

2:18 pm: Arrived at the Transit Center, prayed that one of the two buses I see in front of me is the 24X, to take me to UCSB. Was lucky since it turned out the 24X was just about to leave.

2:48 pm: Arrived at my dinghy little room, exhausted and irritated.

Recycling voucher