As Summer Fades

It's been busy the last week or so, even apart from storyboarding - Anita and Tim wrapped up their last performance of the season, and have moved on to booking Swazzle's holiday show. Anita re-injured her knee on a recent break with her family in Las Vegas, so we need to check with the doctor and see how severe the damage is. Her knee had been steadly improving for a while, so this is a bit of setback.

Last weekend, I went to the toy show in San Jose with my buddies Bob, Bill and Jerome. It was a small show again, but still very good, so everyone had fun. Jerome had never been to a toy show before, and I was worried that it wouldn't be enjoyable enough for non-addicts. Fortunately, that wasn't the case!

I picked up some of the new Cars die-cast releases, mainly because the local stores were pulling all of the cars off the shelves due to the lead-paint scare (that's happily not persisting, but it didn't instill me with a lot of confidence that I'd be able to find the new ones). If you've been keeping an eye on my Flickr site, you already know that I finally found the Abominable Snowplow, Bob Cutlass and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (and an extra for my dad). They weren't cheap, but I've got them now. Of course, they'll show up in stores at Christmastime for $3.00 each, and I'll bang my head against the wall then. Must... have... more... patience...

I also picked up a few Funkovision sets from a guy I'd seen there before - he always has Funko stuff for a little less than retail (plus I don't have to pay shipping), so I snapped 'em up! I found the Dick Dastardly & Muttley set, the Peter Pottamus & So-So set, and the Yosemite Sam & Dragon set for my dad as well(he loves those cartoons). The TV set packages are awesome, but I'm not even sure I'll keep one of them - they're serious space gobblers.

I weakened further and bought an old Yogi Bear plush from the late fifties. I don't think I'll beat that price, so I don't have any buyer's remorse about it.

Yesterday I had my first "Happy Beaver" toy sale at work. There were two competing events, so between those and work, I was limited to about fifty minutes. I sold eleven in that amount of time, so I was very pleased! Scott Morse is going to sell his new sketchbook at work sometime soon, so I'll probably try again at that point, when the event schedule is less crowded.

Last night, Ken Mitchroney, his wife Beth, Anita and I hit the Oakland Coliseum for Anita's first local ballgame. I go to basebally games so rarely that I knew no one would believe the I went (hence Ken's cel phone photo)! The weather was great (I didn't need a jacket all night), the game was a good one for the unconverted - quick innings, some great plays, some awful ones, a couple of home runs, and loads of fireworks - one of the best pyro shows I've ever seen (even compared to Disneyland), with a spectacular view of everything! Thanks, Ken!

PS - When I returned home, I had a package waiting for me! I had sent John Landis one of my figures (I thought he'd like one, since it feels a little like an old M-G-M cartoon character), and in gratitude, he sent me a thank you gift - a Blues Brothers card, a DVD of one of his favorite movies, and both sets of the Killer Panda Monster Theater toys! Cool! So I nerded out big time over that.