California’s Great America

a local amusement park, may actually be best visited in the fall. Not only were there no lines for any rides, but we got to go trick-or-treating with Nickelodeon characters. On the other hand, all of the water rides were closed.

PCOC 2009

or Pacific Coast Origami Convention, was held in San Francisco making it by far the cheapest and easiest to attend origami convention that I’ve ever been to, since I didn’t have to pay for housing.

At the banquet dinner, I participated in the origami design challenge where we had five minutes to fold first a paper toilet seat cover, then an envelope into some original design. I folded an orchid and a penguin, respectively, and earned a pretty sheet of Origamido paper for my trouble. Here are photos of me/my models taken by others. For the full galleries go here and here.

Taipei 101

is one of the tallest buildings in the world. It also lights up and has New Year’s Fireworks.

The gold ball thing is the building’s damper.