I spent summer 2009 in Santa Maria, CA, the main reason/excuse being to work for a US defense contractor. There, I split an apartment with a friend who I first encountered as a fan of my first PK" Flash movies, Luke Harris. I ended up being at work for nine hours a day, so afterwords I either socialized, watched movies, or baked cup-cakes. This left in little time for any of my various projects, and as a result, the summer was not a very productive couple of months for my animation/programming hobbies (as always seems to be the case).

Luke is a big anime fan and he, along with Mike Lara-another friend I met during my stay there-had me watching a lot of anime and Steven Seagal/Action movies over the months. Luke and his friends go to the Anime Expo in Los Angeles every year, and this year I was invited along; so we all spent a long weekend in LA at the Expo/hotel.

The first thing I noticed were the swarms of nerds in "COSPLAY" outfits. Everyone I went with was also wearing said costumes, so I was then granted the responsibility of taking pictures. I received a crash course on who/what these people were posing as and what series it was from while I took the pics. Can't say that I remember much anymore...

We went down 'Artist Alley', and saw quality and a great variety of art. I decided to support an artist (and get myself a souvenir), so I eventually bought a signed artist interpretation of 'Yoko' from Gurren Lagann, by Janice Hin. I also bought a Kirby doll and some gifts for people at home. I had a fun time in CA and at AX, thanks to everyone I met: Tahnee, Bruce, Jacob, Shugo, Joe, Donna, ...and those of you who i can't remember the name of...

-Richie