And so another month has gone by and October has rolled in quicker than I expected. But before we look forward to what this month has in store for us, or me at least, Let's have a look back at what happened last September.

September was a pretty busy month at the office with it being the last month of the fiscal year. Some of the bosses decided to pay us a visit and hold a meeting with which to prepare for the incoming fiscal year which starts this month of October. So, yeah.. we were quite literally chained to our desks. And I had to make the most out of every bit of time I had to myself to salvage what little scrap of sanity I am clinging on to.

To start things off, I got Gail to finally do her cosplay thingy, albeit it's a rather simple one, it's cosplay nonetheless. YAY!! We got traipse around Cos-mania, with me as the usual, Otarii-man Vader, with Mikuru, and her as Jill Valentine. You can see the rest of the post here. Yeah, I be nuts that way. Also got to go to a book fair with another friend who apparently was apparently as much as a kid as I was in some sense. Though my initial intention was to catch a seminar on how to build costumes, particularly for all intents to be a fully pledged member of the local detachment of the 501st, I missed the said seminar. Ah yes, for the second year in a row, I also got to catch the Singapore Formula 1 GP. Unlike last year where I had grandstand tickets, I only got me walkabout tickets this year as I thought I'd just take in the atmosphere and pretty much explore the grounds. Unlike last year where I watched alone, I had my supe and friend, Emrys, along with his lovely fiance, CJ, who I hope I had not traumatized after seeing me gorge down 15 or so sticks of satay in one sitting. We didn't get to take much pics but I have to say I had more fun.

Expenses.. ah yes.. it wasn't any less cheaper considering the splruging I've been doing in the recent months. There's the usual books, games and figurines. Ah, I got me my first gizmo by Apple, an 8gb iPood touch( Yes i meant to type it that way). Thanks to my dad, who despite my decision to not get much, if any, for myself while at Singapore, he saw me eyeballing it while browsing at an iStudio and told me to go get it. I would have preferred if I got me an F2.8 17-55mm lens for my camera, but that'd be asking too much for my hobbies.

Speaking of hobbies, yes.. I got me another Dollfie Dream. My third musume, Ishimaru Kusagawa Sasara from the anime, and visual novel To Heart 2. Why a third one you may ask? Let's just say that I'm trying to get the base body variants currently available; which for me would to tally up to 5. Volks Inc, the people who make them Dollfie Dreams, have 3 base body types, one is the DD Base Body II, which initially had 2 uh.. cup size variants, an M(medium) bust which as I was told is comparable to a C cup and an L bust which is pretty much, well you get the idea. They also recently announced an S bust, which is more, uh humanly comparable to normal bust sizes. That makes 3. Sasara here, is a different sculpt altogether, so to speak. She's a "DDDy" or Dollfie Dream Dynamite body. and as you can see, they're just not humanly possible and are only bound by the laws of physics in the Japanese 2 dimensional world, which is practically non-existent or a completely different book. Now that's 4 Dollfie Dreams. The last one would be the MDD or the Mini Dollfie Dream. They are the child body variants of the Dollfie dreams or as the folks over at Dannychoo.com refer to, "Loli" variants. There aren't much of them going around aside from the standard Character Image models which come out once in a blue moon, other wise most of them are customs. This here very lovely [link] custom made MDD Aisaka Taiga was made by the talented Chun who her self has 2 other DD's while also making her own DD clothes.

Rounding out September, the Philippines, in particular the General Metro Manila Area, was battered by the onslaught of Typhoon Ondoy. Large parts of the metropolis were submerged by flash floods caused by the impending and relentless pouring of rain, some areas as high as 3 stories. I, for one, wasn't home as it happened while I was in Singapore. I feel both fortunate and helpless as all I could do was pray for the safety and well being of my friends and family who were braving the tragedy. And just as the city was recovering, with the entry of October, another typhoon, Pepeng, was poised to hit us. thankfully my humble metropolis which I call home has been spared. However, Northern Provinces were not so fortunate. For those of you reading this, regardless of your faith and religious beliefs, I ask for you to pray for those who were affected by this calamity which bore down on my humbled country. If you could donate, countless charities and organizations have relief efforts are awaiting your stretched hands.

Well that's pretty much what happened for the month of September. Oh, and it was someone's birthday as well.

Yep.. Not more than a couple of months ago I got me by chance the opportunity to purchase Dollfie Rin from the Volks JP International Website. And all too recently, I've just adopted another one. God save me and my finances.. I have expensive hobbies.

Last July 25-28, I hopped on over for a quick trip to Hong Kong. During that said trip, I've been invited by a few HK members of Dannychoo.com for a quick meet up over at Mongkok. However due to prior commitments, I couldn't oblige them, but I did manage to do a quick stop over at Ginza Plus, one of many Otaku hot spots in Hongkong. Thought I'd pay a visit to Dollfie World to pick up some goodies for my first musume, Rin [link] . Alas, the shop keeper says that they've closed for the night and won't be open til 2pm the following day (where by then I'll be at the airport waiting for my flight home). She was kind enough to let me look around at the beautiful daughters waiting for adoption. I was thinking of picking up Asuka from Evangelion, however she was as the shop keeper mentioned, already reserved.

So I continued on walking around the closed shops browsing at their shop windows, until I came upon the only shop that was open, JR Toys. Got to meet Andy and "Mr. Ho" who were ver accommodating fellows. They let me look around their shop despite being very late in the evening (10pm closing time late). I thought I'd find some clothes and accessories from them instead something far more adorable caught my eye.

Lo and Behold, it was Dollfie Dream Asahina Mikuru [link] of Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu fame. She was released in December 2007 during Volks JP's Dollpa 18.

MongkokHere's a quick intro of my second musume, Mikuru from her Figure.FM profile for Ms. Dollfie Summer 2009 contest.

* How old is she?

Mikuru was adopted July 27 2009 but has been accompanying Coffeebugg as a figma since October 2008

* What She loves doing?

Mikuru has loved serving Coffeebugg his coffee ever since he's taught her how to use the coffee press. That and helping coffeebugg build his Gunpla.

* Favorite food - She seems to have a thing for blueberry muffins

* The first word that they said to you - "拝啓！私は、私の世話をするミクル朝比奈してください。" (Greetings! I am Mikuru Asahina, Please take good care of me.)

* Why your daughter is the fairest of them all - She's just too bloody adorable.. She's been very caring and cheery as opposed to my first daughter Rin who has been pretty much using the chain mine often to fend for her needs.

This also serves as Mikuru's formal introduction.
*more shots here in MyFlickr [link] .

Well then, that's it for tonight.. I know I haven't been blogging much but that's because there wasn't much to blog about. This Sunday however, I intend to bring Mikuru out to her first con; The Manila Comic-con, and hopefully would get to meet some local fellows from over at Dannychoo.com

Dannychoo.com had a giveaway [link] a couple of months back wherein his members were to upload photos of their room. Recently, well known figure manufacturer Kotobukiya has taken notice and thought of doing a book about it.

And so the contenders, and just about anyone else who wanted to share their rooms, have been uploading like crazy on to the Otacool website by Danny Choo. Members who wished to share were asked to answer a few questions as well, thought I'd share them with you.

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* Name (or nick name) - Mark Anthony; also known to respond to Wich, Wichi, Chico
* Age - late 20's
* How many years you have been an otaku - At least a decade but I've been introduced to Anime early on
* Nationality - Filipino (Philippines)
* Outline of your collection - Initially comprised of Gundam kits and plastic model kits of Militaria and automobiles until a fire razed my home and collection. Recently, I have a good number of poseable figures and Gashapons. A builld queue of Gundam kits and some Plastic models of cars and planes. Also have a dozen or so of PVC figures
* How much your collection cost - A safe estimate would put it in a couple of thousands of USD
* Your fave item - Difficult to say that I have 1 particular favorite item in my collection. If I had to choose one, It would have to be my Dollfie Rin Tohsaka and my MG EX-S Gundam since it was what got me into building Gunpla again.
* Your website address - [link] [link]
* Anything else you want to say. - I'm quite thankful that my family and friends for being quite open to my hobbies. Although my family has been at my neck for my spending habits i.e. being that it is excessive, I guess it's safe to say that they're thankful I put my money on that rather than taking to vices. And for the enduring question of why I, as an otaku, got in to it; there are those who get into these hobbies as a way to escape the real world for a short time. While I do tend to share the same moments, they are so to speak, my anchor to reality. That despite how old we grow and how mature we tend to think of ourselves to have become, we always look to our inner child to see that sometimes life doesn't have to be complicated in order for us to be happy, nor does happiness have to be complicated.

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Oh and =painting-with-light has me included in his journal feature about the Holy Land, Israel.

Well, it only seemed logical to get my self a proper blog what with the amount of random stuff I've been taking pictures of and the stuff I get for myself and myself into. I have myself a Deviantart account and a Multiply page. Oh and Flickr too.

However, with the said websites I have associated myself with, there are just some things that one can't put up on any of the mentioned portals. Be it personal rants, random thoughts, ridiculously styled journalism or just your out-of-blue gimmickry.

That's where this little porta-potty in the web comes in. Aside from daily brain farts and documentation of abnormal behaviour be it induced by my addiction to caffeine or lack thereof (depending on the situation), expect to see my futile attempts in photojournalism with events, figure/movie/food/gadget reviews, or simply striking fear and confusion in civilian life as Otarii Vader, otaku salary man.

So I've started me a blog. And much like most blogs nowadays, a lot of them have come up with mascots of sorts. Be it an original character, much like Dannychoo has Mirai Suenaga, or other bloggers out there dressing up as some kook in a mask. For me though, I've opted to take on who is my biggest purchase to date with regards to my figure collecting hobby.

I'd like you all to meet Rin Tohsaka from the the Anime/visual novel series Fate Stay/Night. She's a Dollfie Dream Ball Jointed Doll by Volks Inc Japan. Stands 2 feet tall and is made out of PVC, Soft Vinyl and a skeletal frame of ABS and aluminum. Her eyes though are made of glass. Here you see her holding a Figma version of her. This is a figma. A Figma stands roughly 13-14cm., that's about the same height as the cup of your grande latte. So yeah, she's pretty huge.

I purchased her online from the Volks Int'l website on June 2 and she arrived on June 10th via EMS. She's was only available as an after event exclusive at the Volks Dolls Party 21 (Dollpa) where purchasing rights were up for lottery. Yup, you read right. You win, you only get the opportunity to purchase her, not her just yet. You still had to give up an organ or two for her. So if you have to ask, I'm still paying for her adoption fees.

Despite being rather ridiculous for a guy to have this kind of hobby, as some friends have already pointed out, my mom and one of my close friends have taken a liking to her. My said friend actually happened to drop by the day Rin arrived and she was just excited like a little kid. Practically even begged to dress her up too.

And that's that.

[link]

Think about it..

It's A Mystery

Why is it that people say they "slept like a baby" when babies wake up every two hours?

If a deaf person has to go to court, is it still called a hearing?

Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are flat?

Why do banks charge a fee on "insufficient funds" when they know there is not enough?

Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet?

Why do they use sterilized needles for death by lethal injection?

Why doesn't Tarzan have a beard?

Why does Superman stop bullets with his chest, but ducks when you throw a revolver at him?

Why do Kamikaze pilots wear helmets?

What is the speed of darkness?

Are there specially reserved parking spaces for "normal" people at the Special Olympics?

If the temperature is zero outside today and it's going to be twice as cold tomorrow, how cold will it be?

If it's true that we are here to help others, what are the others doing here?

Do married people live longer than single ones or does it only seem longer?

Do you cry under water?

How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage?

Why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in binoculars to look at things on the ground?

Did you ever stop and wonder......

Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, "I think I'll squeeze these pink dangly things here, and drink whatever comes out?"

Who was the first person to say, "See that chicken there... I'm gonna eat the next thing that comes outta it's bum."

Why do toasters always have a setting so high that could burn the toast to a horrible crisp, which no decent human being would eat?

Why is there a light in the fridge and not in the freezer?

Why do people point to their wrist when asking for the time, but don't point to their bum when they ask where the bathroom is?

Why does your Obstetrician, Gynaecologist leave the room when you get undressed if they are going to look up there anyway?

Why does Goofy stand erect while Pluto remains on all fours? They're both dogs!

If quizzes are quizzical, what are tests?

If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, then what is baby oil made from?

If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?

Why do the Alphabet song and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star have the same tune?

Stop singing and read on . . . . . .. . . . .

Do illiterate people get the full effect of Alphabet Soup?

Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog's face, he gets mad at you, but when you take him on a car ride, he sticks his head out the window?

Does pushing the elevator button more than once make it arrive faster?