File date: 9/2/2001

Ikuni wanted to visit Melrose to buy some clothes. So we went there, hoping that the stores won't be closed for the Labor Day weekend. Unfortunately, most stores were closed for the holiday, so we strolled around looking for decent places to buy clothes. He tried on several T-shirts, however we learned that most of the clothes that fit him were for girls. After buying some clothes, we dropped by at Antonio's on Melrose to eat dinner. I hope that his first quesadilla experience was satisfactory...

File date: 9/3/2001

Ikuni told me he wanted to go to the beach so we decided to go to Venice Beach. However, the weather today was cloudy, so we postponed our visit until the afternoon. We strolled around Venice Beach even though it was chilly. We dropped by a pasta joint near the beach. Ikuhara-san especially seemed to enjoy the appetizer breads. However, this later proved to be disastrous as we couldn't manage to eat the pasta we ordered.

File date: 9/5/2001

Around midnight, I received a call from my friend KF, who tells me Ikuni needs assistance on his computer. As computer geeks on call, we head on to his place to see what was wrong. Apparently he downloaded the newest version of Netscape (shrugs) and all his image files became associated with that browser. It was only the matter of unchecking, and after a bit of fine tuning, all was well...

File date: 9/16/2001

We went to a nearby US Federal Building on the wake of the national tragedy to mourn those that had perished and to support the heroes that continue to search for survivors in this horrible event. Ikuhara-san paid his respects with a moment of silence before the numerous American flags at half-staff.

File date: 9/22/2001

Out of the blue, we decided to take a trip to Las Vegas. Since this being my last weekend before UCLA begins (ToT), Ikuni agreed for his first-ever long range road trip (though this was nothing compared to going to Vancouver). We left around 1am to avoid any traffic. Ikuni was the first one to drive from Los Angeles to mid-point Barstow. Note to self: I will never doze off when Ikuni is driving! After few close call near-misses with big rig trucks in the right lane, we were able to arrive at Barstow where we took a short early morning breakfast. I recall Ikuni's remark, "This coffee is terrible." As I took control over the car we popped open the sunroof to see the spectacular stars that we do not see often. Then daylight was upon us. Ikuni was amazed the vast of nothingness surrounding the freeway.

At 7am, we finally saw Las Vegas over the horizon. We were both tired from our trip so we booked a hotel room at the Monte Carlo and dozed off for a quick power-sleep. Around 11am, Ikuni wanted to check out the pools (or the ladies...hmm?) and we rushed down to take a swim. Ikuni seemed to enjoy the pool with the current flow by saying "Now this is the type of pool for me!" While he was swimming I enjoyed a nice cocktail looking for women.

By the time noon was upon us, Ikuni noticed an advertisement for a show that amused him. I explained to him that this is an acclaimed show from New York and Chicago and it's fully compromised of visual and musical effects. The show is "The Blue Man Group," made famous by the Pentium III commercials. We bought two tickets to see it at the Mirage at 10pm. Until then, we walked around various other casinos including Paris, Bellagio, and MGM.

"Why is this place so hot!" exclaimed Ikuni. Going into air conditioned casinos and and outside into the sweltering desert conditions of Las Vegas reminded us of the tiring effects of the summer in Japan.

Later in the evening, we went to see the Blue Man Group perform. The dazzling musical effects and extremely well choreographed performaces reminded him of the experiences we've had watching Broadway shows in New York City. As for me, as an extention of an Akadot review, I would give this a definite 9.0. Ikuni especially liked how the audience was able to become involved with the show at its end. Ikuni gives this personal quote: "If you've never seen this performace, I would recommend it to everyone."

File date: 9/23/2001

While Ikuni went to sleep after watching the performance of the Blue Man Group, I quietly stepped onto the casino floor to do some late night gambling. It's not much, but I was able to win about $40, which came in handy later on.

Around 11am we checked out of the Monte Carlo and went to do some more sightseeing and shopping around Las Vegas. First we went to Caesar's Palace and rode the IMAX Atlantis Ride. Since Ikuni did not know how to equip the helmet they gave us, I helped him put on the goggles. He was taken aback by the surreal visual and audio of this ride. However, he still insisted that $10 for a 10 minute ride was too expensive. (For me, well at least it beats the overpriced rides that they have in Japan).

We then drove to the Las Vegas Hilton to visit the Star Trek convention. We thought about going in for the ride but when we learned that it would cost us $27 each, we decided that was too much after the Atlantis experience. While Ikuni was looking at the actual Star Trek costume worn by Cpt. Jane Hathaway, I took a picture with the life-sized figure of the Borg-Picard. (Yes Shizuki...we ARE men, I can hear your sigh now).

Around 3pm, we decided to take the trip back home before it got too late. Ikuni ran out of money so I took the liberty of filling up the gas for home with the $40 I won during the night. Enroute back home, we had a mini-karaoke party inside his car with the various anime music on my CD.

At 8pm we finally arrived in Los Angeles. I said farewell to Ikuni as he dropped me off. I hope his Las Vegas experience was a great one.

File date: 9/29/2001

I went to the grand opening ceremony at Omochabox's retail store in Westwood. To my surprise , Ikuni was not there yet so I became worried as the autograph session was set to begin in 15 minutes. Five minutes before the start of the event, he strolled in, much to the relief of the Omochabox staff.

To take care of Shizuki's mistake of the day, I rushed over to the Pavilions in the nearby mall to buy Ikuni's favorite drink, Dr. Pepper.

I bought a copy of "Mahoro-matic," (recently aired first episode on 10/5/2001) and got a ticket for Ikuni's autograph. Ikuni asked me what I bought, I showed him my copy of "Mahoro-matic," which he skimmed through. He especially liked the comments of the author on the back of the book.

Ikuni stepped outside and mingled with the cosplayers.