I still remember the day, August 7, 2008, when I finally decided to install World of Warcraft onto my 3-year-old Apple Powerbook G4 laptop.  I’ve been resisting playing the immensely popular MMORPG, even though my boyfriend has been playing it ever since it was released in 2004, and has been asking me to play with him.

I remember that when I installed it, I told my boyfriend that I would play it until my Disgaea 3 (PS3) would arrive at the end of August.  As it turned out, my Disgaea 3 was delayed and it didn’t arrive until September.  So by the time I was supposed to stop playing WoW and start playing Disgaea 3, I was already a month into the game.

I tried to play Disgaea 3, but I kept falling asleep (not that it’s boring but sometimes things get repetitive) and so I actually went back to playing more WoW.

Now, three and a half months later, I have a level 75 (going on 76) human rogue, and I can’t stop playing World of Warcraft, and it’s taking up the majority of my time at home.  I never thought I would enjoy playing the game so much.  I even bought the new Macbook Pro, because it has the awesome high-end NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT graphics.  A lot of my friends actually also play WoW, and so I no longer have to sit through WoW conversations at dinners without any clue what they’re talking about.

Right now I’m just trying to level my character up.  At this rate, I should be at the maximum level of 80 in another week.  Then, I can start learning to play my rogue properly, using her abilities the right way and then the true game can really begin.  There’s just so much left to do in the game even when I reach 80, I’m just really looking forward to it.

I’ve never expressed politics in any of my blogs ever.  I never wanted to tell anyone how I voted, and therefore I have never in my life asked anyone how they voted, because I don’t want to know and don’t want to pass judgment or form an opinion of the person simply based on his or her political views.  At the same time, I don’t want anyone to judge me or form an opinion of me simply based on my choice of candidate or my views.

Everyone who has a right to vote is not required to disclose to anyone how they voted, and I’m 100% for that.

Having said that, even though the majority of the nation is joyous at the election of our new president and embracing the changes that our country is about to witness, showing how far we have come as a nation, we, also as a nation, have taken quite a couple of steps back.  And I felt the need to just voice a little.

Prop 102 in Arizona, Prop 8 in California, Amendment 2 in Florida, which all would amend the state constitution to specify that only marriages between one man and one woman would be recognized as valid, have passed.  This has essentially stated homosexuals as a class of citizens who cannot legally get married to gain the basic rights of a heterosexual married couple.

Arkansas’ Initiative 1, prohibiting an unmarried couple (heterosexual or homosexual) outside of a valid marriage from adopting children or from serving as foster parents, has also passed.  Gay or not, does this mean individuals who are single can still adopt children, but once you start living with your partner, then you may no longer adopt?  This again makes no sense.

The speech from the president-elect was heartfelt and gave us hope to move forward as a country.  But the passing of these propositions just show that as a people, we still have a long ways to go to create true equality for all.  Just because the world has changed too quickly, and our minds and our laws failed to keep up, doesn’t mean that those changes will never get accepted by the people.  I know it will, someday, happen.  Just like how it did yesterday.

During this time of the year, Southern California is rather chilly (in our standard) early in the morning, and often misty.  Even though I am not too much into politics and I’m not at all a “morning person” (I usually get up after 9am), I still managed to drag myself out of the bed at 6:15am and got dressed.

My polling place is a neighborhood church two blocks away with limited parking, so I decided to just walk there even though it was raining lightly.  There were just under twenty people in front of me by the time I got there at 6:40am.

This is the 2nd time I voted in my life, so I’m not yet too familiar with the whole voting process.  Polling place opened at 7am, but everything was simple and quick.  I did almost forget to return the cap of the inkavote pen thingy back to its original position.

After I voted, I got a receipt and a proud little sticker that says “I voted” on it.  The ballot receipt indicated that I was the 16th person to vote at that precinct.  Pretty cool. But no single digit.

Whether my candidate wins or not, it now depends on the rest of America.  Nonetheless, I did the right thing by going to vote.

I didn’t go treat myself a free Starbucks, a free Krispy Kreme donut, or a free Ben & Jerry ice cream, but those were some of the perks that retailers were treating voters on this Election Day 2008.

And finally… Finally, after today, no more overplayed ads on TV about the candidates and various measures, no more recorded messages on my answering machines from people trying to get votes.  Really looking forward to regular TV commercials again.

This past weekend, I drove to Las Vegas from Los Angeles.  Besides gambling, shows, and different forms of entertainment, casino buffet has got to be where tourists go to get fed.  After all, who doesn’t like to be given an unlimited amount of food to eat?

The Rio’s Carnival World Buffet, which has been absolutely my favorite place to eat at in Las Vegas’ casinos, has a great variety of food from all the cuisines of the world - shrimp cocktail, fresh salad, Chinese dimsum, Japanese sushi, prime rib, pizza, pasta, and the best was their dessert bar, all for $25 per person.  But, this time, my friends and I didn’t go there…  Instead, we went to the Wynn.  Though they have these incredibly large king crab legs that many people seem to love, overall the selection was smaller, the price was $40 per person, and the service was definitely not as good as the Rio.

Back home in Los Angeles, there are three buffet-style restaurants that I absolutely love to go to indulge myself with infinite amount of food, usually also in the company of great friends.

1. Fogo de Chão (pronounced “fo-go dèe shoun” with the “n” sound at the end) in Beverly Hills, CA.  This is absolutely meat heaven for those of us who love meat (sorry, if you’re vegetarian, but they do have a great, great salad bar), in particular, this is Brazillian style BBQ meat.  They give you this little disk that is red on one side and green on the other.  If you want meat, you flip it to green. If you don’t, then flip it to red. The servers see that you have the green side up, and they come out with skewers of 15 different types of meat at your table, and you just tell them if you want it or not. Absolute best is their Picanha - their house special sirloin.  Their lamb chop is also excellent.  You can get in for about $52 per person.  This place is extremely popular over the weekend, and if you don’t have a reservation, you can easily have to wait for an hour or more before you get seated.  Fogo de Chão has restaurants in cities such as Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, to name a few.  It is the best of its kind.

2. Spazio in Sherman Oaks, CA.  This is my favorite Sunday brunch buffet place, but they also serve lunch and dinner.  The restaurant is also famous for its live jazz music.  Their brunch menu include salad and vegetables, raw oysters, smoked salmon, sushi, roast beef, poultry, pastas, and a good variety of attractive pastries and desserts.  They can also make you eggs and omelet to your order.  Sunday brunch also includes orange juice, champagne, or mimosa.  It’s been a while since I last went, but if I remember correctly, the price per person for the Sunday brunch is about $30.

3. Koji BBQ Buffet in Torrance, CA.  This restaurant is a Korean style meat fest (yes, they have salad bar and all that too).  Basically the way it works is quite simple: Get a plate of raw and marinated meat of choice (and there is a very large selection of beef, chicken, pork, seafood), return to your table, put meat on hot grill, wait for meat to cook (and flip if necessary), consume meat, and repeat until full.  Even though I said you need to grill your own meat, the process is extremely simple, and the meat cook fast, not to mention the flavor is just so good.  There is no way to mess it up.  The restaurant also has a small selection of sushi rolls and cooked dishes.  The staff is friendly and the price is about $18 per person.

Next time you stop by the Los Angeles area, come check these places out.

BlizzCon 2008 was held on October 10-11 in Anaheim, CA. It was a place for Blizzard Entertainment to showcase its latest games franchises - Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo, to its fans, for fans to meet the developers and ask them questions, and for players to meet other players in real life outside of the game universe.

I have only started playing World of Warcraft two months ago, and as of today, I am a level 52 human rogue.  As a newbie, I am not going to go into what was discussed, and what not.  There are plenty of websites out there that covers the event minute by minute.

I don’t really understand many of the things that were covered during the Q&A panels, and I didn’t know what to look for during the Arena tournaments that were shown on the screens, but it seemed that lots of people were enjoying the convention, and the designers and developers were getting a lot of great response from the audience.

Lots of computers were set up in the halls for fans to try out the new games, Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3.  There was also this really huge statue of Kerrigan from Starcraft that was on display.

In contrast, here are some miniature figures that look pretty awesome.

Also, the line for the Blizzard store was, according to my friend, 5 hours long on Friday, but on Saturday the line was much shorter.

All in all, I think the convention was pretty awesome.  There were a lot of people dressed in costumes on Friday because there was a contest.  But because I went on Saturday only, I didn’t see too many of them.  And also because of my newbie-ness, I grew bored after 3-4 hours.  Hope you at least enjoyed my photos.

Please check out BlizzCon 2008 official website for coverage, photos, and more.

Today my boyfriend and I went to the Dodgers Stadium for the NLDS Game 3, and I witnessed perhaps one of the saddest baseball moments in my life.

My beloved Cubbies were swept by my boyfriend’s beloved Dodgers.

What cruel intimidation and smack talk by those Dodger fans…

Anyway, in this short entry, I will simply post some pictures from Dodgers Stadium, and I’ll also post a few that I took earlier this year at various baseball stadiums. All pictures were taken using my iPhone, except for the New York one.

During the national anthem on Oct 4, 2008. Dodgers Stadium, Los Angeles, CA

The whole stadium was full. Oct 4, 2008. Dodgers Stadium, Los Angeles, CA

Dodgers players congratulated each other on the field after their win. Oct 4, 2008. Dodgers Stadium, Los Angeles, CA

July 10, 2008. Wrigley Field, Chicago, IL

July 19, 2008. Yankees Stadium, Bronx, NY

Here comes “Cafe Rabu’s Menu: Today’s Special” featuring the letter D. Who could this possibly be?

D is for… the Dodgers, the National League West Champion 2008 (official site)

Welcome to another sports edition of Cafe Rabu, featuring the only team in Major League Baseball that is truly located in Los Angeles, California.

Having trailed divisional rival Arizona Diamondbacks for the majority of the year, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ season kicked into high gear after trading for Manny Ramirez from the Boston Red Sox right before the July trade deadline, then finally taking sole possession of first place in the NL West on September 6th, and never looked back.

The Dodgers clinched the division crown with four games left in the season, finishing 84-78 in 2008.  Because the NL Wild Card winner also came from the Central division, so having the worst record among the three divisional champions means that they are going to face the Central division champs, the Chicago Cubs, who has the best record in the National League this year.

And guess who got tickets to watch the Dodgers play the Cubs at home in Game 3 of the Division Series!

A little over a week ago, I went onto dodgers.com, and check for those postseason tickets, just in case Dodgers might get into the playoffs.  At the time, none of the NL teams other than the Cubs have clinched a playoff spot, so perhaps that’s why it was rather easy for me to find tickets for Dodgers’ playoff tickets.  In fact, I only had to pay $70 for a pair.  Who cares they’re like nosebleed seats.  The fact that I can see my local team get to the postseason is something special for me, plus my boyfriend is a Dodger fan, and I knew there’s a chance that the Dodgers could play the Cubs, and that’s even more special.

In any case, the Los Angeles Dodgers will start its NLDS series against the Chicago Cubs in Wrigley Field, Chicago, IL, on Wednesday 5:30pm CDT.

The Major League Baseball postseason will start on Wednesday Oct 1, 2008. The Division Series can be viewed on TBS, and the Championship Series on TBS and FOX. The World Series will be broadcast on FOX.

Check out MLB.com for more information on teams and schedule.

Here comes “Cafe Rabu’s Menu: Today’s Special” featuring the letter C.  Surprise!  Surprise!

C is for…  Chicago Cubs, the National League Central Champion 2008 (official site)

Last time the Cubs won a World Series was in 1908.  Yes, a hundred years ago.  The longest draught of any major professional sports team in North America.  But it can happen this year a century later, for real.

The Cubs just clinched the Major League Baseball’s Central division this past Saturday, and on Monday, they achieved the best record in the National League for 2008, after a 9-5 win over the New York Mets, securing home field advantage throughout the playoffs up until the World Series.

I lived in Chicagoland in 1998-2002, and it was during those years that I started watching Major League Baseball.  Being in Chicago, there were two teams to root for, but you were never to cheer for both teams.  Most of my coworkers at the time lived on the “north side”.  We went to the Cubs games quite a bit, and I became a Chicago Cubs fan.

On the Cubs team that I used to like, Kerry Wood was my favorite player. He was a rookie in 1998 and had struck out 20 Houston Astros in only his 5th big league game as a starter, tying a MLB record also held by the great Roger Clemens. This year, Wood has converted to a closer role, and to this date, he had 33 saves this season.

Not so much the lovable losers anymore, the 2008 Chicago Cubs has a very powerful line up.  Derrek Lee, Aramis Ramirez, Geovany Soto, Alfonzo Soriano, and Mark DeRosa all have 20 or more home runs this season thus far.  They also acquired Kousuke Fukudome from the Chunichi Dragons in Japan this past off-season, where he was a two-time batting champion.  So far, the Cubs ranked first in runs scored, about 50 more than the next closest team.

On the pitching side, the Cubs have ace starter Carlos Zambrano, closer-turned-starter Ryan Dempster, Rich Haden who was acquired from the Oakland A’s earlier this year, alongside Ted Lilly and Jason Marquis.  The pitching staff has allowed the 2nd least number of runs to their opponents, and has the 2nd lowest team pitching ERA.  Their run differential is +188, the highest in all of baseball.  And when you score more than your opponents can score on you, you win ballgames.

This year is also the first time in 100 years that the Cubs are going to the postseasons in back-to-back years.  Last year, though, they were swept by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the beginning round.  The last time the Cubs went to the postseasons in consecutive years was 1907-1908, with them winning in both years.  Maybe the stars will finally be aligned this year for the Cubs to win it all, finally.

The Major League Baseball postseason will start on Wednesday Oct 1, 2008.  The Division Series can be viewed on TBS, and the Championship Series on TBS and FOX.  The World Series will be broadcast on FOX.  Check out MLB.com for more information on teams and schedule.

The 2nd installment of “Cafe Rabu’s Menu: Today’s Special” features the
letter B on my playlist.  Who is it gonna be?

B is for…  BONNIE PINK (official site)

I was first introduced to BONNIE PINK’s music through the anime Rurouni Kenshin back in the late 90s.  The ending theme “It’s gonna rain!” was soothing and the vocalist’s voice was crisp.  It was a calm little song that has a good brass instrumental to it, which made it rather special for an anime ending song.  BONNIE’s songs to me generally have this peaceful feeling in them.

As a singer-songwriter, BONNIE PINK wrote many of her songs.  She has also worked with several international producers, including Swedish producer, Tore Johanssaon, who produced her album “evil and flowers” in 1998, “Tonight, the Night” in 2003, Mitchell Froom, who co-produced “Let go” in Los Angeles with BONNIE in 2000, to name a couple.

Recently in 2006, BONNIE PINK’s best-selling single “A Perfect Sky” has reached No. 5, as listed on the oricon charts (link).  It was the CM song for the SHISEIDO “ANESSA” product line in 2006.  BONNIE PINK also collaborated with popular rap duo “m-flo” in their “loves” series, in the highly successful single “Love Song”.  Her latest single is tied to the popular Japanese action RPG game “Tales of Vesperia” for the XBOX 360 console.  I haven’t played it but I probably will buy it since it’s also available in the US, though I’m not sure if they kept the same song.

Here are a few videos that I have been able to find on YouTube.com.  Hope you like them.

• It’s gonna rain! - 5th ending theme to the anime “Rurouni Kenshin”
• A Perfect Sky - music video of her highest ranked single to date
• m-flo loves BONNIE PINK - Love Song - live at Yokohama Arena
• 鐘を鳴らして (Ring A Bell) - BONNIE’s latest single to date, theme song to the popular XBOX 360 game “Tales of Vesperia”

Search for BONNIE PINK’s CDs on Amazon.co.jp, CD Japan, HMV.co.jp, Neowing, YesAsia.

Welcome to a new series called “Cafe Rabu’s Menu: Today’s Special” that will feature the letters from A to Z on my playlist, game list, tv list, etc…  Expect irregular series updates. I used to do this on my personal blog, but I didn’t get past “Q”.  And since I have stalled on that letter for over a year, I thought perhaps I should restart it in this J!-ENT special corner.

A is for… AYA 亜矢　(official site)

I fell in love with AYA’s style since someone in my blogging world introduced her to me around 2004-2005.  She was born in Hokkaido, Japan.  As part of a hard rock and punk girls’ band when she was in junior high, you can just imagine the type of songs that she would end up writing. Her voice might be a bit difficult to get used to at the beginning, but I think it just fits so well with all the impressive rock numbers that she made.

AYA’s debut album “Senjou no Hana” (pictured left) in 2002 was produced by the finest rock artists, including members from Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Soundgarden, etc., and has received raving reviews from Japanese rock circles. AYA plays the electric guitar in almost all her songs and during live. She also plays the bass in some of the songs on her albums.

Up until June of 2004, AYA has released 3 singles, 1 mini album, 2 full albums, and a limited release of a live single in Japan. There was also an international release of her 2nd album + the mini album in a single CD by BMG International, but that CD has been discontinued as I researched for materials to write for this post.

More recently, AYA has written a ballad called “Forever” for ANNA TSUCHIYA in her debut album “strip me?” in 2006.  During the same year, AYA has also created another ballad called “OVER NIGHT”, which was used as the ending theme of the anime “Le Chevalier D’Eon“.

Even though AYA has not released any songs in the past 2 years, I hope that secretly somewhere she is creating the songs that she likes, and will some day come to wow us in this J-rock world that truly needs more female rockers.

Here are a few videos that I have been able to find on YouTube.com.  Hope you like them.

• HANDS - AYA’s debut single, also in her first album Senjou no Hana (A FLOWER IN THE BATTLEFIELD)
• CRAZY MERMAID - from her first album Senjou no Hana (A FLOWER IN THE BATTLEFIELD
• Sentaku no Asa (Japanese version) - also from her first album. *Note: This is a live performance video on Pop Jam
• Kinjirareta Uta (FORBIDDEN SONG) - from the mini album Kinjirareta Uta (FORBIDDEN SONG)
• OVER NIGHT - from the anime Le Chevalier D’Eon

Search for AYA’s CDs on Amazon.co.jp, HMV.co.jp, Neowing, YesAsia.com.