Time to cease believing in karma

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I had a bad day yesterday.  The irony in that statement is the fact that the day was neither good nor bad until I decided to go do a good deed, only for just about everything about it to blow up in my face and effectively make me feel that the day was now a bad one.

Seriously, from a supposedly “shouldn’t take too long” task ending up taking close to two hours of my life I’ll always feel to have been permanently wasted, which then put me into the perfect time frame to be in teeth of Atlanta’s perpetually idiotic Interstate 20-related traffic nightmare, all while it was raining; can we cut it out with the fucking rain, world?  I think we get the point that global warming or whatever weather-related scientific downfall was all our fault, and that we’re subject to spontaneous shit weather, but enough of the rain.

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The biggest diva of Total Divas

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Yes, I admit I watch Total Divas.  To some, this shouldn’t be much of a surprise, given the fact that I’ve been a fan of professional wrestling pretty much my entire life.  From the kid who used to believe that it was all real, to the smarky, kayfabe-wise adult I am now that knows the whole thing is all scripted and pre-determined, but no less enjoyable from varying other aspects.

Anyway, I knew I would end up watching Total Divas, because I’m a wrestling fan, and even though it’s a show aimed at a primarily female audience, I was pretty sure that I wasn’t going to be the only guy around who ended up watching it, because frankly, WWE Divas are pleasant on the eyes, and who wouldn’t want to see some eye candy?  Furthermore, and as full of shit as it might sound, I just like the idea of getting a glimpse of the supposed reality of the wrestling industry as well, even if it was going to come from the divas’ perspective, primarily.

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Photos: Otakon Vegas

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Otakon Vegas was somewhat of a testing ground for me, being the super-n00b novice picture taker that I am.  I’m almost naive enough to believe that simply equipping a prime lens and utilizing an external flash will yield better results, but obviously, that most certainly was not the case.  In all honesty, and as much as I hate to admit it, almost 30 pictures were deemed unusable, and not worth posting at all, for a varying reasons, and never the reason of the subject(s).

Anyway, I didn’t really take that many pictures at the convention itself, and frankly I didn’t want to drag my camera out on the Strip or during my gambling escapades, because with it’s upgraded accessories, it’s kind of a pain in the ass to lug around for anything other than appropriate picture-taking times.  Aside from taking a few pictures of some select costumers, I apparently took a ton (no pun intended) of pictures from the sumo wrestling exhibition, and on Sunday, I chauffeured tagged along on an external shoot that was outside the city limits in Red Rock to close out my picture taking endeavors.

Regardless, I hope these are somewhat enjoyed, and to the maiden crop of people whom I shared a photo card with, I hope you guys are pleased with the pictures of you guys I took.

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Thoughts about Vegas and Otakon Vegas

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I’m not entirely sure how it happened, but somewhere along the line, I caught something and I’ve been home sick for the last two days.  I do not get sick very often, so needless to say this doesn’t please me in the least bit, but there’s nothing I can really do about it.  However, it’s given me a little bit of extra time to catch up on processing some of the photos I took while out in Vegas, as well as some time to do some writing.

It’s been like two years since I was in Vegas last, and it’s safe to say that there have been quite some numerous changes since then.  One of the conversations had during the trip was about how Vegas was obviously one of the larger casualties of the last economic massacre, and it’s in little things that I think I notice that such an assessment is true.  A few years ago, casinos were extremely generous with coupon books boasting all sorts of match-play tickets, buy-one-get-one tickets, and other offers to stimulate parting money from your hand to the hands of the casinos.  Typically, these were given upon check in to hotels, or upon registering with a different player’s reward program.

Two years of inactivity and returning to Vegas used to warrant some sort of offers to help make up for money of mine they haven’t been getting but neither redeeming new cards, or checking into the hotel prompted any sort of offers of sort.  To me, it’s not a big deal, since I hardly used anything other than BOGO drinks, but the lack of offers wasn’t lost on me either.

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This guy exists and he trolled me in Vegas

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Yes I know it’s in German, but it’s not like the context can’t be derived from just watching it, or most people have already seen it and know what I’m talking about but I’m still giving visual representation.

I’m sitting at a single deck blackjack table at the Paris casino, with a beautiful girl clad in lingerie dealing me cards. The two people at the table with me are jobbing like Kaientai, but I’m faring pretty well for myself. Moments later, a Hispanic man; we’ll call him Pedro Griffin, takes third base, and our table is now four.

On the very first hand, sexy Inna is showing a 4, which means that most people typically would consider standing where they are, unless their cards are equal or less than 11, to which they would take a hit to try and get even closer to 21. A 4 showing means that the dealer has to hit no matter what they flip, and since in the game of blackjack, the player typically assumes the unseen card is always a 10, meaning with a 4, they have a 14, meaning they’re one hit away from busting and leading to a win with all players.

“HEET MEE,” says Pedro, when sexy Inna asks him what he wants to do on his turn. Pedro has a 13, and a hit puts him at risk of busting. Sexy Inna pauses with a confused look on her face, and points at her 4. The two people at the table with me groan that someone unenlightened to “the book” is at the table. And I’m staring at Pedro, pantomiming to wave it off and to stand.

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Trying something new

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Over the last two years or so, there have been more than just a few instances of where people have asked me if I had a card, so where they could get in touch with me or find out where they might be able to see/obtain the pictures that I take at conventions.  Kind of embarrassingly, I’ve always said no, because I didn’t; you’d think that since I like taking pictures of costumers, and I like opportunities to cultivate and make acquaintances, it would only make sense that I should have a card or something to share information.  But I didn’t, and after years of taking pictures, there are people who won’t see my site and subsequently themselves, and there are people that I will never speak with again.  Or something like that.

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How to use vacation days

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

All through December, I didn’t utilize a single vacation day, in spite of the seemingly good idea that you could parlay them into the weeks with holidays, and get yourself a five or six day weekend if you played your cards right.  Frankly, I didn’t see a point in using my vacation time during a period of time in which work is at its least busy.

Throughout my career, I’ve always loved working during the holidays.  During the weeks of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years, Atlanta traffic diminishes drastically, and it’s almost daresay relaxing to commute to work in the mornings.  Furthermore, anyone who works in an office environment understands that there are people whose lives have no purpose other than to use vacation time during a holiday period, because it makes them feel like sneaky geniuses when they manage to get nine straight days of no work for the cost of three vacation days during Thanksgiving.  When people disappear from the office, oftentimes so does the work.  When there is no work to be done, then it is an easy day.  Why would I want to burn my hard-earned vacation for easy days?

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