2011 Year In Review

2011 began much better than did 2010.

As been the tradition for the past few years, I attended the New Year's Day festival in Little Tokyo in Los Angeles. I plan to go again this coming New Year's.



It started out with an interview article in Metropolis magazine, Japan's number one English-language magazine, on The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan. The January issue of magazine included a cover blurb and the interview article shared two pages with singer Christina Aguilera. Metropolis is distributed throughout the Tokyo metropolitan area and is free to readers. The interview was a direct result of my trip to Japan in December 2010.

I was honored as "Officer of the Quarter" by my company in my "parachute" job as a private patrol officer.

My ad for the travel guide appeared in Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine at the beginning of the year.



Kinokuniya Bookstores' Little Tokyo store is carrying the travel guide in their travel section. Thus far, they've placed one re-order after the initial order sold out.



A new batch of publicity photos was needed to augment those taken earlier with Yuu Asakura and Ai of Tokyo. The photo session of model Miki was accomplished at a Japanese garden in the San Fernando Valley in February. After the photo shoot, I treated her to a sushi lunch at Crazy Tokyo Sushi in Tarzana.


I gave a presentation at the 2011 Monsterpalooza in April on Japanese kaiju movie location sites titled, "Scene To Seen." It was held at the Burbank Marriott Hotel and Convention Center. My daughter Amber was going to assist me there, but she was just recovering from the flu. Miki graciously agreed to fill in. I introduced her to Haruo "Mr. Godzilla" Nakajima and Shinichi Wakasa at the show. Following my presentation, we beelined it to Fuddrucker's for dinner as both of us were quite starved. The show was a success, perhaps too much so as the facility was too packed with people. Growing pains! They really need a larger facility.



Claims work slowed down during the late-spring and summer months. We found that some of our client insurers cut back on using independent adjusters to control expenses due to the still sluggish economy. Fortunately, The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan's sales helped to fill the financial void. This was despite the shock the Japanese tourist industry received from the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and Fukushima radiation fears.

Left, Haruo Nakajima and Miki at Monsterpalooza. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

In July, I reconnected with Jessica and she moved in to my apartment at the end of the month. She is a great cook and a big help with household expenses.

Sadly, the autumn months saw the passings of Steve Born, XNGH of the Peter Lebeck Chapter of E Clampus Vitus and my uncle Tony Cimarusti. I was hoping that this year would be death-free for family and friends. Also, our 16-year-old cat, Buttons, died in Amber's arms on November 8 while we were driving to the vet.

Also in November, the 1989 Mustang required having its engine rebuilt after a rod broke. Fortunately, I already had the funds needed in the bank from this year's corn crop sale. The car now runs like a champ again.

I finally joined the digital age with a new Samsung 37" television set and a Sony Blu-ray player. We are enjoying them very much! Jessica is having a grand time with the television set's timer features.

Jessica and I went to my cousin's in the Lake Elsinore area for Thanksgiving. Amber had to work, but will be able to join us there on Christmas Eve.

Already things are starting to shape up for 2012. I will have a table at the year's first Los Angeles Comic Book and Science-Fiction Convention at the Shrine Auditorium Expo Center for The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan.

This year was an improvement over 2010. Hopefully, 2012 will be an even better year and we get a new president in November.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to my readers!