I live about half a block from the main Thai area in Hollywood, so I can get delicious Thai food at 2am in the morning. Which is awesome for someone like me who keeps vampire hours most of the time. This also means I was able to walk to the Curry Festival a couple of weeks ago. Today marks the beginning of Thai New Year, known as Songkran.

I wish I had realized earlier that Songkran was coming up as the Thai holiday is celebrated with socializing, spring cleaning, and throwing water at other people. Originally, the water was apparently intended to be spiritually cleansing as it was what was used for spring cleaning the Buddha statues. The young could observe the holiday by sprinkling water which was thus blessed and perhaps lightly scented on the hands of respected elders. Today, the fun aspect of dowsing others with water is emphasized and people of all ages head outdoors to fire water guns at one another. This means one should be conscious, while dripping wet, of a sense of personal renewal.

Songkran actually runs through April 15, so there might still be time to get or make the perfect water gun. A gentleman named John Young has designed The Ultimate Water Gun (pictured) using a fire extinguisher and a motorcycle helmet.

When I was in college, I was Treasurer of the Strategic Games Club which used to play a sort of free-for-all Assassin in the tunnels underneath the school. Motorized water guns were popular, but the homemade monstrosities usually were most effective. The pesticide sprayer backpack was a particularly devastating model, although I personally lacked the upper body strength to run around with one on my back. I totally needed The Ultimate Water Gun made out of a fire extinguisher and a motorcycle helmet.

I am at least going to treat myself to a new water gun, even if I don’t start crafting or mad science work on one today. I think Thai New Year sounds way better than American New Year. I would far prefer strangers fire water cannons at me all day than expect to be entitled to tongue me at a specific time of night. It is really hot in Thailand this time of year too, so getting soaking wet is extra-refreshing. Really, I just love the idea of a traditional holiday reason to have a goofy water fight.

In the early days of American history, the founding fathers were a little fuzzy about which day of the first week in July they wanted to celebrate American independence. In 1778, General George Washington, who became the first president of the United States in 1789, saw to it that his soldiers got double rations of rum for the event. In 1776, John Adams, who became the second president of the United States in 1797, and was recently commemorated in a decent HBO miniseries, said the occasion “ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations.” Over time, the holiday has been more or less formalized and somewhat regional. Parts of the American South refused to celebrate July 4th for some time because they were pissy about losing the Civil War. Well, in a way, everyone loses a civil war, but, in this instance, I mean lost in the battle-followed-by-formally-admitting-defeat way and not in the personal and societal loss way. It was actually not until 1941 that Independence Day was formalized as a paid federal holiday on the 4th of July and celebrated all through these 50 states.

Even when I worked on government gigs, back when I lived in the Washington, DC area, I was always a contractor and I don’t think I have ever gotten a paid holiday from any job I have ever held. Apparently, being my own boss is no improvement, as I’m making myself work today. At some point this evening, I’m going to go up on my roof with some family and friends though. During the day, I can see the Hollywood sign from my roof, but, on fireworks-oriented occasions, my roof is one of the best views in town. Los Angeles is very spread out, so there tends to be no one single awesome fireworks display. So I enjoy my 360 degree view of many smaller displays.

I think maybe next July I will try to be in Washington, DC for the occasion because I’ve never seen an Independence Day fireworks display which rivals what the nation’s capitol does on the Mall in the District of Columbia. Although I was impressed when Vegas did New Years up over-the-top one year by demolishing a hotel as part of the fireworks, I think we’d all prefer it if no buildings were blown up as part of the DC fireworks today, however. So we’ll just leave that sort of celebration for the New Year in Las Vegas.

For now, could someone please pass me some charred food, give me the opportunity to say ooh and ah, and assure me a double ration of rum. Strictly for patriotic reasons, you understand. George Washington would have wanted it that way.

As this year’s Comic Con looms near, it is time to take a look back at last year’s event. Looking at the gallery of snapshots from the Blue Blood crew’s Thursday at the show reminded me of some of the fun we had.

I was excited to pick up entertaining stuff from Shannon Wheeler of Too Much Coffee Man fame. I loved all the crazy Lego, including Lego Batman and Lego robots. Actually, all robots are cool, not just those made out of plastic bricks for kids. BlueBlood.com hottie Yolanda was in the house as well. The lovely blonde, Em, is almost my namesake and is a real mail order Russian bride. Special thanks to The Brotherhood for sponsoring the megabooth and making sure it came complete with a beautiful and personable mail order bride.

I was pleased to be able to literally buy a shirt off the back of the very kind Gwen from Sighco. Gwen and I are around the same size and she was wearing a shirt which read, “Guns don’t kill people. Supervillains kill people.” Everyone from our spooky ookie artistic folks megabooth was going on a Superhero and Supervillain-themed party bus that night. A bus complete with stripper pole, I might add. Oddly, the booth with the Simpsons costumes and various supergear was just displaying and was not renting or selling them at the convention. I kinda think they left some money on the table there. This meant I really did need that Supervillain shirt right away then and Sighco’s Gwen actually took her own shirt off, right on the Comic Con show floor, let me try it on, and then selected another shirt for herself. Yes, I do always have a +20 on any roll involving people around me getting naked.

Actually, we had more fun than you can see here because it was really freaking hot in San Diego. I mean hot in the sense of excessively high temperature, as opposed to merely exciting hot. So I was a little off and actually shot snaps of the first half of the day with nothing in the camera. Oops. The awesome purple superheroine with the secret identity actually fights crime with a blue-clad male partner, but, alas, I was not actually taking pictures of them, when I thought I was taking pictures of them. I’m a polar bear and the heat can be a tad difficult for me.