Yeah, there'd probably be more stuff to do in San Francisco, like going to Japantown.

Speaking of which, has anyone seen Scandal stuff there? I need to feed my new addiction.

I personally picked SF for Japantown. Not too sure if there's any special SCANDAL places, but there's anime stores, That's my reason for wanting to go there, but hey its Japantown, there's probably something SCANDAL related.

for anyone in the LA area who's free tonight, we're going to be hitting up Shin-Sen Gumi in little tokyo at around 9.

sorry it's a bit last minute, but just let me know if you'd like to come for more details

I might be going to Japantown this Saturday, so I'll report back on any Scandal stuff I find. I'll also scout out potential hangout places for a Bay Area meetup.

Edit: Guess I'm not going. I'll try to go some time during winter break, which is from mid-December to mid-January.

Everyone... I'm a beer battered shrimp and I finally have a break til next month... HA!

@Geo: Well as for my trip, I think I might end up flying up to Washington because the flight specials are at $59 one-way, so it's 50/50 if I can drop by SF... Heh, actually if I pick a 1-stop flight on my way up, then I can probably hang out for a bit, but expect me around Dec 15-19 if I do so happen to do that...

Or if this sounds good to everyone, I can also arrange for a cheap rental through my work and we can all roadtrip up to SF... From there I can fly out to WA at whatever time and arrange another rental for everyone to come back down to SoCal?

Just be warned though, we can listen to SCANDAL yes, but I need to listen to Heavy Metal on long trips...

@Geo: Ah, well to update on that trip I mentioned above, I had to take a direct flight up to Portland because of an itinerary change, but nonetheless I'm down to hit up the Bay in January or February... "I haven't drank with my cousin since last month, so definitely I'll be up there sooner or later... HA HA!"

So until then, that's what's on my plate...

I went to Japantown today. I searched pretty hard, but the only Scandal-related item I found was a Bleach OP/ED collection that had Shoujo S, on the CD shelf Kinokuniya's downstairs manga section. There was plenty of merchandise for AKB48, SMAP, Ayumi, etc., such as CDs and live DVDs, but nothing for Scandal...

I might be heading to CA around mid-December, I would like to know what kind of weather I should expect and where would be a good place to stay (will be there 2 or 3 weeks)

@Nathaniel
It depends on what part of California you are coming to. Southern California(or the places near the boarder to be more specific) are cold but sunny on most days right now(about 60F-75F degrees during the day, 30F-50F degrees overnight). As for rain, we have gotten some but I don't know about the following weeks. Normally we don't get much rain, but this year has been different.

The San Francisco Bay Area is a little cooler than Southern California and with some more rain, but mostly the same. Highs during the day are 50 to 65 F (10 to 20 C), and low at night are 40 to 50 F (5 to 10 C), sometimes dropping toward 30 F (0 C). Rain comes every few weeks, but snow only falls high in the mountains.

As for places to stay, that depends on whether you're going to Northern or Southern California. Generally though, it'll be more expensive to stay in a big city hotel than to stay in a smaller suburban hotel and commute to the city.

yes, california is a large area, you'll have to nail down a specific city or area for anyone of us to give you helpful tips.

i looked it up just now and i got these figures. california is about 160,000 mi² (424,000 km²) in overall size... in comparison, singapore is about 250 mi² (650 km²). los angeles city itself nearly double singapore in size at about 500 mi² (1300 km²).

so you can imagine that more details are needed about your trip to give you any meaningful help.

I'm not in Singapore currently, but what I'm looking for is an urbanized area, preferably to do some shopping, I need to go to a Kinokuniya, cause there's none where I'm at... and it has been months since I've been to a Kinokuniya.

Other than that I want to relax away from the brutal cold of Winter, so yeah...

Here's a page of Kinokuniya locations in the U.S. San Jose is in the San Francisco Bay Area, and Costa Mesa is (sort of) near L.A.

As a NorCal guy, I'm biased and will say that you should come to San Francisco. There are tons of world-famous landmarks, museums, etc. to check out. Plus, you have amazing views of the city and the bay.

Los Angeles has lots of things to do too, so it really depends where you're coming from and whether one city would be more convenient for you. The two cities are separated by a 7-hour drive or 1-hour flight, so keep that in mind. California is larger than Japan!

@Geo: Cali is larger than Japan, but Japan has a population of approx. 127mil compared to our 37mil... WOO!!!

I recommend that you go to the Bay Area. "I'm from San Diego, so this is unbiased... HA HA!"

Both South and North California have plenty of things to do, but transportation wise, the Bay has a better transportation system than it does down here in SoCal... You literally need a vehicle to get from point A to B if you don't want to waste precious time on traveling down south, but the Bay has a subway/railway system that runs around the city without hassle, so there is the best bet if you want to be independent at times during your vacation...

The Bay has a lot of hipster-urban influences, so the younger crowd is pretty original to their personalities (slight droning... HA HA!)... SoCal, if you happen to stay around LA, the crowd is pretty much media driven and defensive, so you might run into the same person(ality) once, twice, thrice in the same day... HA! Just messing around dude, like everyone has mentioned, it solely depends on what you're looking to do...

How old are you by the way? 21 is the legal drinking age here in the states... HA HA!

No worries, I'm already over 21, I was thinking of getting a rental if needed.

Oh right, I forgot to mention, SoCal has Disneyland and Universal Studios. lol

KoiMoyou wrote:Oh right, I forgot to mention, SoCal has Disneyland and Universal Studios. lol

Haha, maybe he can find Dai-chan there. But yeah, SoCal has more famous amusement parks, if you're interested in that. NorCal has a Six Flags and Great America, but that's about it.

Just got my plane tickets, will be there on the 18th!

@Nathaniel....So where did you decide to go? If you come down to S. Cal let us know. It just might be a good time for a SH Disneyland trip. I'm on vacation from 12/22 so it's good timing.

@Nate: As Glenn asked, where art thou destination be? Cause if you're a heavy drinker and a party animal, there's a professional in that category to match yah! HA HA!

But hopefully you're staying longer than that weekend? I'm gone from the 14th - 19th (as mentioned above), so it's a bummer if we don't meet face to face... Depending on where you end up I mean...

Hit us up with the info when you get the chance, we'll come greet you at the airport and give you a SCANDAL Style Welcoming Parade... \m/

No plans, I'll be there for awhile, cause that is my Winter break from school, I'll let you guys know as the day approaches, Noodles has my contact no.

So I was looking through the Musician's Lounge and saw this topic. Anyone up for a jam session? I haven't been playing guitar for that long(~2 years) but I know some of SCANDAL's earlier songs and a couple of newer ones. In my case, I can't go very far(out of SD county) because i'm still having car problems and my parents won't let me go that far out(since it's technically their car. lol. )

I vote Lale as lead vocalist...

HA! We haven't all spoken about it as a group but there's been small chit chat between me, you, and Neil about jamming out for kicks... I was considering buying a junk kit and leaving it at Neil's place just so I don't have to lug around everything all the time (HA! and this is the first you're hearing about that eh Neil?) but even then that will turn into another added expense and a storage disaster in the future... bleh...

So I'm down as usual, but my schedule is dooky as always... And it looks like you're on break from school finally? Sweet!

I second that vote.
I forgot to mention, if we have too many guitarists(I think most of us here are guitarist, right?) or lack a bassist, I can just rent one.

^ You can buy that junk kit and keep it at my house.
Yup. Finals week is over! I'm on break until ~mid January-ish. So anytime between now and then is good for me.

I'm 200% down to jam, I refuse to be the vocals (even tho when im dreaming or showering my brain likes to think i'm the best vocals in the world) because I blow at it, I can play rhythm anytime ;D. When and where? Before the holidays? Maybe we can do a secret santa of some sort? :O