AoD (Days 468 - 479)

7:50pm - Well, it's been a while since I posted. I went to Animation on Display on February 19th, con report coming soon. I also went to the Pokemon Black & White Promo Tour in San Jose on February 12th, I'll do some sort of write-up on that too.

As for actual cosplay progress, I finished Franziska (again), but part o fit fell apart (again) and I'm still now happy with it (again). I'm not sure if I'll ever get this right. I need to buy a little bit more fabric and try making the neck piece again. I might also remake the jewel for the neck piece. As much as I love the one I have, it's very heavy, and it's hard to attach and never sits right. So I'll figure something out.

I also finished my new Pikachu tail, but I'm not happy with it either. It's too thick and heavy, and there are seams everywhere. That aside, though, it's very cute. Once I accepted that it was going to flop to the side no matter what I did, it grew on me, and now I think it's pretty cute. I may try to make a thinner one before Fanime, but we'll see.

I've also confirmed that I am going to WonderCon, not sure which day though. I'll be going with my boyfriend, his brother, and his brother's fiance. I don't think we're spending the whole day together, but I'm expecting to ride there and register with them, and probably eat lunch with them, but that's all. Regardless, it was really cool of them to offer to take us. I'm not really close with my bf's brother or his fiance, so I'm actually looking forward to spending time with them outside of a family trip and in a place where we're all comfortable and have something to bond over.

I'm going to be cosplay Terra from Teen Titans (pictured right) at WonderCon. the funny thing is, I completely can't remember if I liked her or not when I watched the series. I don't remember ever really disliking her (the way I remember disliking Starfire -.-), but I don't remember loving her either (the way I loved Raven =D). I'm sure I got annoyed with her, the whole Slade thing, but, well, duh, haha.

In any case, I was torn between her and a Star Trek (season 1) Vulcan Starfleet Officer with a tribble. I've always wanted a Star Trek uniform, but I'm much more partial to The Next Generation, a season 1 female uniform is a super short dress, and there's no "set" design for a Vulcan officer. Given a choice, I would actually rather have a red or yellow uniform, but because of Spock, all of the Vulcan officer cosplays I've seen are blue. I know I could do whatever color I wanted, but it's more widely accepted as blue, and I just don't want to deal with sci-fi nerds telling me I'm wrong when I know exactly what I'm doing.

Also, all of the parts that I need to buy for Terra I can re-use in other cosplays (except the belt, which I don't know how to do yet). The long-sleeved crop-top black t-shirt I need for Gardenia, and I've been wanting a pair of yellow shorts for Pikachu. So that all works out well. As for the belt, I'll see what the thrift store can provide as far as parts to put something like that together. I believe there are hiking boots in my house than I can use, as well as gloves, and I can use my Chi wig.

I'm still trying to figure out my cosplay schedule for Fanime. I'm all over the place with it. Because I'm going to be putting together Terra, I might not make Panty and just take Terra instead. I have a backup dress for the Black and White Ball (which I originally wanted to wear Panty to). I'm also still trying to figure out if I'm getting an Artist' Alley booth, which will determine my cosplay for Friday. I will figure this out!

On a side-note, our Magikarp panel went rather splendidly at AoD, so we're going to submit it to Fanime as soon as we can. Fingers crossed!

READ MORE - AoD (Days 468 - 479)

Franziska and Pikachu (Days 457 - 467)

11:20 - So considering the amount of time that's passed since my last post, I haven't really done a lot. I made another online sale, but the person's PayPal isn't verified, and they payed with an "echeck" (or something to that effect) so I'm waiting for it to clear before I send the hat. I'm a little upset because they seemed so eager to get the hat, I made it as soon as I could and contacted them as soon as I was finished, and now I have to wait. Ah well. As long as they don't start sending me angry e-mails, it's alright. I told them that I was waiting for the payment to clear before I sent it.

I tried to buy a riding crop for Franziska on ebay, but I hit a little snag. Despite it saying "Ships to: Worldwide", apparently in the description, it said "Ships to UK only." Apparently my misunderstanding was enough to prompt the seller to send me not one, but two what I felt were very rude and condescending e-mails. I can understand her frustration at the mistake, but since her settings were officially set to worldwide shipping, ebay did not notify me at any time during the checkout process that it was UK shipping only. The whole experience left a bad taste in my mouth.

I have also contacted someone on Cosplay.com about a wig they're selling that I would like for my boyfriend's Magikarp and Matt cosplays. I need it by next weekend, and the seller hasn't responded yet. I know that it's sort of my fault for waiting so long and that people are busy, but I'm getting anxious about it. At this rate, it doesn't look like he's getting a wig. I feel like it's my fault, but in my defense, he never looked for a wig either.

Speaking of people not responding, I found a second place that sold brown riding crops, but the style that I needed appeared to only come in black, even though it said "assorted colors". So I e-mailed the seller and, you guessed it, no response. Granted, the automated e-mail that I got said it may take up to 48 business hours to respond, and I only e-mailed them yesterday, but I'm getting anxious!

So I bought a different riding crop, with a buttload of shipping costs (okay, only like $7), but it's the color I want, I'm hoping the size I want, and it will be here in 2-3 business days, so by Wednesday. My backup plan is to buy leather from JoAnn's and a wooden dowel from Micheal's and just wing it from there.

Also, I figured out why it was ridiculously hard to find the right style of riding crop in brown. It's an English riding crop. For those who know nothing about horses, horse tack(equipment) comes in two styles; English and Western. From what I remember from when I used to ride horses, in the Western Hemisphere (where I live, of course), English riding gear is mainly used for show jumping. Western tack is used for everything else. So the only riding crops I could find were either around $40, because they're for show, or the black fetish gear. Now, I'm not above buying from a fetish shop. It's whatever. But the fetish shops only sold in black, because black is "sexier" or something.

The crop I ended up buying was from a tack shop in Florida, and only cost $13, plus shipping, for a total of a little over $20. I was only looking to spend about $15, but for express shipping, I decided that I'd pay more. I just hope that it's the right size. It'll look silly if it's only like.. a foot long. Should be at least 15" to look right. So we'll see what happens.

I finally bought the foam I need to make a new Pikachu tail with the female Pikachu "heart" indent. However, for some reason, I can't seem to draw the tail correctly on paper to transfer onto the foam. I don't want to buy any more, so I can really only cut it out once, maybe twice based on the amount of foam I have. I also can't find a single female Pikachu cosplayer with the heart indent tail, so I have no one to ask about it.

This weekend is the Pokemon Black and White Tour in San Jose! (Which is why I need the new tail.) I'm so ridiculously excited, and I don't even know why. They're giving away Celebi on Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, HeartGold, and SoulSilver, in addition to the Celebi that they're giving away on the 27th in GameStop, so I'll get two! So excited...

READ MORE - Franziska and Pikachu (Days 457 - 467)

Challenger Defeated! (Days 331 & 332)

I actually did finish the Cheshire cat ares and tail Friday night. I sold them to my cousin on Saturday, along with the four heart plush things I made. Yay, money! Unfortunately, on the same day, I was introduced to the fun of playing a 12-hole ocarina, and now I want one >_< Bye bye money....

My birthday is coming up, on which I will be getting a DS, Pokemon HeartGold, and a Pokewalker, all thanks to my boyfriend and his mom o.o I feel so spoiled now. I may purchase an ocarina and a songbook before then as well, but I like my money! And I need to save it for Fanime! D= I'm so torn...

The good news is that I've given up on my secret Fanime cosplay (which shall still remain a secret)! I'd like to do it some day, but I'm not ready for it yet. I don't possess the skills, money, or tools to make it, so it will be put off. This is good news though, because the replacement cosplay cost much less. My boyfriend and I are going to cosplay Magikarp Gijinkas! They're so cute! ^-^ And, yes, we do totally and completely plan to hop around in potato sack-like bags all day. Thursday (in line) and Saturday. Yeah, we'll probably going to be too tired for the rave Saturday night, but it'll be so freakin' worth it! (And I actually haven't chosen which night I want to go to the rave...)

I'm also making my boyfriend into Ashchu, because, well, it needs to be done. I'm sure he'd much rather be Magikarp all weekend, but.... >_> He'll thank me... Someday. So he'll basically be Pikachu with Ash's hat (ears coming out of the top), yellow/blonde bangs, and Ash's vest. I'd like him to get yellow pants, but from what I've seen, they only make yellow skinny jeans >_< So, erm.. We'll see how that goes.

And I still need to finish Franziska and Miles for Yaoi Con! Barely a month away! Ahhh! I haven't even started on Miles! And my boyfriend's out of money and can't fund it! Ahhhh! Officially freaking the F* out!

READ MORE - Challenger Defeated! (Days 331 & 332)

Happt Internation Cosplay Day! (Days 313 - 316)

So I haven't worked on much of anything. But today was International Cosplay Day! I dressed as Pikachu all day, even though I didn't really go much of anywhere. Yes, I am aware that I look like an idiot in this picture. But you can see my fangs! I finally remembered them! Sadly, I lost my strawberry though. =[

I felt bad dressing as "just Pikachu" but it's really the only complete costume I have right now, other than Chi, and Chi is hard to wear, what with the wig and the ears and the wires and everything o.o I almost dressed as Edward Elric, but I don't have a wig. I really wish I had finished Franziska by now, or at least most of her (though she is technically over half-finished), but we all knew that wasn't going to happen.

Good news, everyone! You just read that in the Professor's voice from Futurama!

But for real. Good news! My friend that goes to school in San Diego said that I could stay with her during Comic Con 2011! I, err, didn't ask about my boyfriend staying with us as well, but I think it'll be alright if he sleeps on the floor ^-^ My friend is very, very traditional, to the point that she could be my mom, so I didn't want to ask her right away if my boyfriend could stay too. But I will ask in the next couple of months or so. It's not like we don't have time. In any case, that'll cut down our Comic Con expenses by at least half o.o And that's a huge deal for me, seeing as I now owe my mom almost $200 for my school books, and I don't have a job.

I'm still really counting on making a lot of money at Fanime in order to cover Comic Con. I'm hoping to fly to San Diego to save time, and since it's not that long of a flight, we'll probably end up saving money, but that means we'll have to rent a car or take a bus to get from my friend's apartment to Comic Con, unless she lives less than a block away.

AHH! Freaking out already xD I'm a planner, it's what I do. I guess for now, i should focus on Yaoi-Con, which is about two months away. Then it's Holiday Anime Faire, which I'm doing absolutely zero planning for. Then I can freak out about Fanime, and THEN Comic Con o.o Yeah. I'm alright. Not gonna burst a blood vessel. Nope. Not me. *explodes*

READ MORE - Happt Internation Cosplay Day! (Days 313 - 316)

Kin-Yoobi Con 2010 (Days 296 & 297)

Ah, I'll try to keep this as cosplay-related as possible, but I didn't do too much cosplay-wise because I was staffing.

I cosplayed at Pikachu for both days, and as usual, it got an amazing response. I still never expect it though. I'm like "It's just Pikachu!" and they're like "PIKACHUUUUUUUUUUU!" o.o

I did get my Artist's Alley booth, and had people to watch it while I staffed. Luckily, it was also in a place where I could see it from the stage and keep an eye on things. I made a nice bundle o' cash, which I intend to put toward Comic-Con 2011. Back to stalking the site every day for registration to be up. I also got a lot of commission requests for hats, e-mails have been sent out for those so that I can start compiling a list of things to do. However, I'm not starting work on any of them for a couple of weeks because I need a break!

During the date, I got to see a bunch of my cosplay friends, one of whom I got to meet in person for the first time ^-^ It was pretty funny, since I didn't even recognize him when I first talked to him, I just wanted a hug from the Roy Mustang cosplayer >_< I've noticed that I'm a lot more social when my boyfriend's not around =/ This is probably not good. He's just over-protective, and I don't want to make him jealous, so I just don't talk to people as much.. This needs to be fixed.

I don't know how well the Cosplay Cafe went, because I decided not to participate in it, I only helped set up. I know that we made a nice amount of money off of selling the sweets though, so at least there's that.

I got to run the cosplay contest, with the help of my mommy and aunt. The judging panel didn't turn out exactly how I wanted it, but pretty darn close. I believe that the best and fairest cosplay contest judging panels consist of three different people: A celebrity judge who knows a minimal about of both anime/tv/games and cosplay, a judge who knows a tons about anime/tv/video games, and a judge who knows a ton about sewing. We kinda had that planned out, but something went wrong and we lost our sewing expert somehow (seriously don't know where she went). So we ended up with two of my cosplay friends (acting as one judge), Robert Axelrod (voice of Lord Zedd from the Power Rangers), and my aunt "who just likes to look at cool stuff." =] Of course they didn't judge exactly how I wanted them to, and people ended up winning multiple awards (I asked them to avoid that, but oh well =/). In any case, the audience and most of the cosplayers seemed pleased with how things turned out. I of course wanted my friend Foxberry to win, because I know exactly how much time and effort she put into her costume, and how amazing it is, but that's exactly why I wasn't a judge =/ I'm not impartial enough. Two of my other friends did win awards though, so that was kinda cool ^-^ Somehow the prizes for the cosplay contest disappeared though, so that was really upsetting to both me and the winners. Ugh..

The Cosplay Dating auction was ridiculously fun, as usual. The emcee was hilarious and really good at getting people to bid, lol. I actually got to buy someone and be auctioned off, since my boyfriend wasn't there to protest. I told him I was going to participate, but I'm not sure he believed me >_> Showed him. I bought a Lieutenant Surge (for $9), which was hilarious and ridiculously appropriate, as I was Pikachu. I didn't get to hang out with him much though, since I was also bought. When I went on stage and was asked to tell a little about myself, I Pika-squeaked into the microphone lol. The audience "Aww'ed" and "squee'd" for a little while. I went for $40 and was tied for the highest amount o.o It was ridiculously flattering, really. The bidding was started at $3 for everybody, and it flew up to $11 for me in a matter of seconds. It went up slowly after that and then flew up, it went from $25 to $30 to $31 to $40. The guy that won me said he would've gone up to $100 =O I wish he did, because I really wanted to break last year's record of $100 >_< Oh well. I was disappointed at how low some people went for though. A couple of really cute and pretty girls, and one of the models from the fashion show went for the starting price of $3. I was just in shock. They definitely should've gone for more, I don't know what happened.

Afterward, there was an unofficial anime party in the back hall, and it was ridiculously fun. Then the Anime Ball started, and while trying to teach my buyer how to Waltz just for the heck of it, I fell and hit my knee and my chin. The traction on the heels of my shoes had completely worn off somehow. We got off of the dance floor and went to play Brawl with a couple of my friends instead >_<

And that's about it cosplay-wise. I'll have a full-report on my Convention Blog soon. =]

READ MORE - Kin-Yoobi Con 2010 (Days 296 & 297)

Baking (Day 295)

Ahh, I'm officially freaking out. I made a bunch of cookies and only one cake for Kin-Yoobi. I haven't finished frosting the cookies, and the cake turned out horribly. And I'm going to spend almost all day tomorrow setting up for Kin-Yoobi. Ahhhhh!

And I decided not to use my new blonde wig for Pikachu. I feel like a wasted a ton of money ($55) for something I won't wear for like a year. I intend to use it for Mai Valentine. Rawr. Mad at myself. Wish I had given myself more time and just ordered a wig. Faaaah! Oh well =/ Too late now.

Also, I must now make a giant strawberry. Yup.

READ MORE - Baking (Day 295)

Cosplay Drama; I Has It (Day 293)

Do today I went for my wig styling / fitting for my Franziska von Karma wig and my Pikachu wig. My Franziska wig didn't turn out exactly the way I planned, but I still love it and do not want it messed with anymore for the sheer fact that I love it and don't want it messed up T_T My bangs can my imperfect. It's fine. Really. Bite me.

My Pikachu wig is a-freakin'-dorable, and I love wearing it and being a hott blonde again xD Is the most fun ever. My only beef(s?) with it is that it's hot, and you can see the wig line in the front because of the way the bangs are. Other than that, it's great =D

So, here's the interesting part I know you all care about. Dramaaa~!

A couple of weeks ago or so, I found out that a "friend" stole my Eeveelution group cosplay idea pretty much down to the letter and is doing it without me. She claims that her friend came up with it and she had "forgotten" that I came up with it before. Regardless of what actually happened, she's still going through with the group (or so she thinks) and isn't speaking to me, as though it's my fault.

Now, this girl clearly has no idea how the cosplay community works. She is, of course, planning on doing this group (An Eeveelution schoolgirl group) at Fanime. Last year, I wnted to do this group at Fanime. Now, my group fell through for various reason, but she had bailed on me right along with everyone else. Now I can't do my Eeveelution school uniform cosplay group until at least a year after Fanime, otherwise all I'll freakin' hear is "Did you see that group at Fanime??" Yeah, no thanks.

Now, I say she thinks she's going to do this at Fanime because she doesn't know how to sew. Sure, she knows how to alter, but not sew. She always came to me for sewing instructions. Without me, she's gonna get stuck a lot. In addition to that, she's flakey. Sure, she thinks she's going now, but who knows? She's a big fan of the line "something came up." Also, groups are hard to deal with in general, and she's always running out of money.

But, wait! There's more!

On Friday, when I went to the wig store to buy my Pikachu wig, who should I run into but the idea-stealer? She's with a couple of friends and acts like she's not not speaking to me, coming over and giving me a hug. However, her initial reaction of stopping in her tracks and saying "Oh shit!" when she saw me probably gave her away. I quickly paid for my wig (well, half of it) and high-tailed it out of there.

But wait! There's still more!

As mentioned before, I had my wig stylings today. So while I'm getting my Pikachu wig styled (which took for-freaking-ever), the lady at the front counter asks my boyfriend if he can pay for the rest of my wig since they're closing soon. I give him my purse and he goes. When he comes back ten or so minutes later, he tells me what the nice lady told him.

Apparently, after we high-tailed it outta there Friday, my former friend ambushed the poor sales lady and started asking her what I was doing there, what was she helping me with, and what did I buy? Excuse me? What business is it of hers? And if she wanted to know, why didn't she ask me? And if she didn't ask me because she thought that I wouldn't tell her, obviously she knows that I wouldn't want her to know!

RAGE!

That is all. I love my wigs. And people suck.

READ MORE - Cosplay Drama; I Has It (Day 293)

More Hats! (Day 292)

Trying really hard to get back into posting again.

Today I made two more Pokemon hats! ^-^ A Chikorita and a Cyndaquil. I decided that I'm just going in numerical order here, since sometimes I can't decide what to make next, and then I get overwhelmed and just don't work on anything. I have seven more to make and only four days to make them. I might be able to pull it off if I make two a day like I did today. We shall see >_>

Wig styling appointment is tomorrow! Yay! I found an adorable hair style that I think will work well (shown left). The wig I got is really blonde (as in near-yellow) and is a little wavier, but I think it'll work. (This wig is for Pikachu.) Also, I'm bringing in my Franziska wig to see how much it would cost for them to cut it, because they told me it might be free, since it's only bangs.

READ MORE - More Hats! (Day 292)

Gah! (Days 279 - 291)

I'm getting worse and worse about posting. Probably because I'm getting worse and worse about cosplaying. I've been really ridiculously swamped with Kin-Yoobi coming up in a week, as well as some other stuff. However, I have been making a selling Pokemon hats. To date, I've sold 5 hats (two Drifloons, a Mew, a Lugia, and a Squirtle). I really loved that Squirtle and that Lugia.. I made another Squirtle to sell at the con, but that Lugia was so much work (probably why I loved it so much), I don't think I'll be able to make another one for the con. We'll see.

Kin-Yoobi meetings this Tuesday and Thursday, wouldn't be surprised if we meet Wednesday too for goo measure. Somewhere in there I have to make a batch of sugar cookies, two cakes, and a bunch of cupcakes for Kin-Yoobi's cosplay cafe... Yup. This will be an interesting time management challenge. I also have to keep making hats. I have at least six more to make, but 12 if I still want to do all of the ones I originally planned to do (chyeah, not gonna happen). I worry that I may sell out at the con, but.. Oh well. At least then I'll have MONAY! Monay is nice...

Speaking of money, I just put down money for a wig at a local wig shop called Martin's Beauty Supply. this store is a personal favorite of mine for a few reasons. First, it's the only wig store I've shopped at other than the Halloween store (and we just won't talk about Halloween store wigs..). Second, they give me amazing deals. When I bought my Chi wig, it was supposed to be $60 - $70, but when I told them that that was a little out of my price range, they gave it to me for $55. Also, styling is included with the wig purchase, so essentially free. In addition to all of that awesomeness, I have a friend that cosplays whose name is Martin xD.

Anyway, the wig is for my Pikachu costume, which seems to be, err, well, evolving as time goes on (LOL). For those who haven't seen (which hopefully is most people), my Pikachu costume started out as a pair of jeans, a yellow t-shirt, ears, and a tail. I've since gone through three pairs of ears, and my newest Pikachu version is turning out to look something like a Pika-maid. And to think I used to dislike Pika-maids, though my opinion of them changed long before I became one myself. In all honesty, my Pikachu probably would've stayed at it's last stage (as seen at Fanime 2010) if it weren't for the fact that part of my purpose at Kin-Yoobi is, well, eye candy. Which is very flattering, and believe it or not, not offending in the least to me, haha. I rather enjoy being trophied, so this works out well for me. I don't think the Pika-maid will become a regular thing unless it gets a really good response from both guys and girls. I for some reason thought that my last version of Pikachu would get more negative attention from girls (mainly because it involves short shorts and heels), but the response was quite positive ^-^ So that's the version that will probably stay.

In other news, I'm addicted to Super Mario Galaxy. Yup. That's about it.

READ MORE - Gah! (Days 279 - 291)

Nerdism Moment: CL'ANNAD

Nerdism Moment~!!!!!

Meaning I feel like talking about anime, games or something..

not always accepted by the "normal" world.

Ahem. Sooooo

I've been watching this anime called Clannad on Netflix.

Unforunately it is dubbed not subbed but I deal

because I am too lazy to always try and get comfortable

watching it on my laptop. I like the sofa OKAY?!?!

I also don't like moving my laptop from the desk

because he is comfortable on his desk

and when I move him I have to

unplug ALLLLLL his USB connections

and then he freaks out and loses internet

connection.

I don't know. He wasn't originally mine so I'm not sure

why he works this way. Must be a power setting =__=

Anyway~!!!!!!!

So I've been watching this anime and it's actually pretty interesting.

Doesn't seem like a "typical anime". It has its moments

but for the most part there's a pretty good story line and the characters

are fun to get to know. It really revolves around this guy who kind of has

nothin really goin' for him at home and his past is a bit hazy but instead

of being some bully at school he actually starts to try and make friends

with some random girls at the school. The thing is, the girls are a bit weird..

Only like two of them appear to have a normal life. The others he ends up kind of helping

with whatever problem they're having at school or with the past... There's like one who is

actually the spirit of a girl who's in a coma, then there's this chick who everyone thinks is like

a robot because of her stregnth and she likes to walk around in a bear suit. Then there's Negisa who seems very weird but ends up being a very sweet girl and joins Tomoya with trying

to get the drama club going. Well, the drama thing starts to get Tomoya (the guy sorry XD) to get more involved in their lives and they become friends.....and like I DONT KNOW. I suck at explaining things because there's all these details in between....bleh. It's interesting though.

I've been told to keep watching it because it gets better. I'm on episode 14 right now. The first story arch is only 24 eps, then there's the "After story" which is 24 eps too.

I don't know..it's weird and it has some fantasy in it, like the story of the girl and the robot in this whole other world going on... (like the photo).

There's not a lot of action in it...except when Tomoyo (the tough girl) beats the crap out of people. Kyou is also a hostile girl...she's hillarious though. XD. Then there's another girl who

is a dang genius but her social skills are hoorrrrible..so they try helping her.

Yeah. I pretty much failed trying to explain this. I suppose I will leave you with the ending song..

There also isn't much romance in this. Not yet anyway. It's mostly about friendship, strong bonds between people, fantasy..some suspense and maybe a little drama, but not much.

Meh. I like it. :]

Oh and I finished this other one called "Chance Pop Session". It's about friendship, sisterhood and music. It was actually cute and short (13 eps)

(Usually you'd see little dangos but it's Pika in this one! XD)

READ MORE - Nerdism Moment: CL'ANNAD

Nerdism Moment: CL'ANNAD

Nerdism Moment~!!!!!

Meaning I feel like talking about anime, games or something..

not always accepted by the "normal" world.

Ahem. Sooooo

I've been watching this anime called Clannad on Netflix.

Unforunately it is dubbed not subbed but I deal

because I am too lazy to always try and get comfortable

watching it on my laptop. I like the sofa OKAY?!?!

I also don't like moving my laptop from the desk

because he is comfortable on his desk

and when I move him I have to

unplug ALLLLLL his USB connections

and then he freaks out and loses internet

connection.

I don't know. He wasn't originally mine so I'm not sure

why he works this way. Must be a power setting =__=

Anyway~!!!!!!!

So I've been watching this anime and it's actually pretty interesting.

Doesn't seem like a "typical anime". It has its moments

but for the most part there's a pretty good story line and the characters

are fun to get to know. It really revolves around this guy who kind of has

nothin really goin' for him at home and his past is a bit hazy but instead

of being some bully at school he actually starts to try and make friends

with some random girls at the school. The thing is, the girls are a bit weird..

Only like two of them appear to have a normal life. The others he ends up kind of helping

with whatever problem they're having at school or with the past... There's like one who is

actually the spirit of a girl who's in a coma, then there's this chick who everyone thinks is like

a robot because of her stregnth and she likes to walk around in a bear suit. Then there's Negisa who seems very weird but ends up being a very sweet girl and joins Tomoya with trying

to get the drama club going. Well, the drama thing starts to get Tomoya (the guy sorry XD) to get more involved in their lives and they become friends.....and like I DONT KNOW. I suck at explaining things because there's all these details in between....bleh. It's interesting though.

I've been told to keep watching it because it gets better. I'm on episode 14 right now. The first story arch is only 24 eps, then there's the "After story" which is 24 eps too.

I don't know..it's weird and it has some fantasy in it, like the story of the girl and the robot in this whole other world going on... (like the photo).

There's not a lot of action in it...except when Tomoyo (the tough girl) beats the crap out of people. Kyou is also a hostile girl...she's hillarious though. XD. Then there's another girl who

is a dang genius but her social skills are hoorrrrible..so they try helping her.

Yeah. I pretty much failed trying to explain this. I suppose I will leave you with the ending song..

There also isn't much romance in this. Not yet anyway. It's mostly about friendship, strong bonds between people, fantasy..some suspense and maybe a little drama, but not much.

Meh. I like it. :]

Oh and I finished this other one called "Chance Pop Session". It's about friendship, sisterhood and music. It was actually cute and short (13 eps)

(Usually you'd see little dangos but it's Pika in this one! XD)

READ MORE - Nerdism Moment: CL'ANNAD

Norcal Summer Picnic 2010

(Since this isn't a convention, it won't be reported on my other blog, only here.)

The picnic was held in Kelly Park in San Jose, California. It was a great location for photographs as well as just having a good time in general. I cosplayed as human-form/gijinka Pikachu.

We arrived late, as usual, around 1:30. The first thing I wanted to do was set up the bubble machine, but to my dismay, we needed a screwdriver to open it! D= So with the help of foxberry and her boyfriend, we went on a hunt for a screwdriver. A ridiculous amount of people got involved. Eventually someone came with a pocket knife that had a nail file, and we got it open. Unfortunately, it wasn't the best bubble machine ever (that's what you get for ten bucks) but it did produce bubbles =]

Then it was time for a group photoshoot with all of the cosplayers. That took up a good chunk of time, but that's alright =] It was quite fun posing next to other Pokemon cosplayers. After that, I got to eat! I had a burger and a sanwich roll thing and some Chex mix and some Snapple. So basically everything but what I brought. All I brought (other than the bubble machine and toys) was a case of Pepsi, which magically disappeared while I was playing frisbee. I'm going to tell myself that they all got drank, which is awesome for me, because on the car ride over, I taped a Kin-Yoobi flier to every single can xD Shameless advertising for the win!

While I was trying to eat, I got my picture taken by OscarC. He showed me the pictures on his camera after he took them, but I'm still waiting to see them online.

Then back to eating! Except I didn't get to finish because it was PINATA TIME! I was going to hit the pinata, but I didn't want to be blindfolded, so I just watched instead. I still got candy! That was indeed the world's hardest pinata though. It didn't break until somebody punched through it...

Then back to food! I never did finish that burger... I got bored and we went to play frisbee. Out on the lawn, there were a bunch of cosplayers searching through the grass. We joined in on the search for a Rinoa cosplayer's lost rings. I'm not entire sure how long we searched, but it felt like hours... So many random people gave us so many weird looks. It was kind of funny, but kind of not. Kinda like "We're busy here, we don't have time to be looked at, sheesh!" One guy came up with his kids and asked it we did parties, like we were some kind of entertainers.. We tried explaining that cosplay was just a hobby, but he didn't get it, so we directed him to Cosplay.com. Ha. Poor guy. He promised that he'd come back with a metal detector to help us look for the rings, but we never showed.

The group of us looking for the rings ended up playing frisbee again. A running gag was that the frisbee was attracted to me because we were both yellow >_> In the end, we had to leave before the game was through, so I just let the group keep the frisbee. I do hope someone brings it (or a better one) to the another NorCal gathering =/ I didn't really want it though. I'll buy myself a nicer one over the summer.

Overall, I had a really fun time. I do hope I somehow stay in contact with a lot of people and get to see them at other cons and gatherings ^-^

READ MORE - Norcal Summer Picnic 2010

Hater's Gonna Hate (Day 252)

Whoever's been leaving me nasty comments on my past posts, you can stop now, I'm just deleting them all. This is the only acknowledgment you're going to get from me.

In better news, NorCal Cosplay Picnic is tomorrow! I know I've barely posted anything about it, but I am going, I just didn't know that I was until like a week ago. There will be a "convention" report on my other blog and a general overview here, but since it's not a con, I'm not sure whether or not there will be an official Game-Zone Recreation report. I forgot to ask whether or not I'm expected to write one.

Ahh, I haven't sewed in what feels like forever (even though it's only been a couple of days). I may sew some time tonight, if not, then on Sunday =] I need to make hats!

READ MORE - Hater's Gonna Hate (Day 252)

Chi Maintenance (Days 250 & 251)

First off, for anyone wondering, I spell Chi with one "I" because that's how it's spelled in the manga, and I've only read the manga, so that's the spelling I'm familiar with.

In any case, however you spell it, I did a little bit of touch-up on Chi. Basically, I made it fit better around my torso because I had problems with it at Fanime and it looked sloppy. Also, I had planned to wear it to the NorCal Summer Picnic.

I changed my mind, though, I will be wearing Pikachu to the NorCal summer picnic instead. So many people are cosplaying Pokemon or Pokemon trainers, and I want in on all the Poke-shenanigans! My boyfriend is going to be Matt from Death Note, instead of the Hideki to my Chi. I feel a little bad switching on him so we're not matching anymore, but there's supposed to be a Misa there, so I'm not really worried about him feeling left out. Plus he loves being Matt, so it's all good. =]

READ MORE - Chi Maintenance (Days 250 & 251)

New Pikachu Headpiece! (Day 249)

After much deliberation (all of five minutes =O), I decided to make a new set of Pikachu ears. Originally, I tried to make the ears to put on the headpiece, but they didn't stay up. So I took an old pair of Pikachu ears and used them instead. I must say, I think it worked wonderfully =]

The ears themselves were storebought about a year ago, and came attached to a Pikachu mask hat thing. I originally took them off and put them on hair clips, but those were hard to keep on and couldn't be worn for longer than an hour without having to be readjusted.

So I ripped them off of the clips and sewed them onto a piece of yellow fleece, which I then trimmed with white lace. It's held on like a headband with a piece of elastic.

Today, I also realized that I really, really, really need to buckle down and start making Pokemon hats. I need to make 62 of them just to have the minimum of what I originally planned. I may just give in and buy all of the fabric I need for all of them at once. Ah, the money. I will miss it..

READ MORE - New Pikachu Headpiece! (Day 249)

Fanime Costumes (Days 242-246)

I'm still working on getting photos, so bear with me here. My full review is here, on my convention blog, this is not a full review.

On Day Zero of Fanime (Thursday), I cosplayed my original human-form/gijinka of Pikachu, and my boyfriend wore a fleece Magikarp hat that I made for him a few weeks ago. Pikachu is one of my fly-under-the-radar costumes, as I call them. I wear it when I want to cosplay, but don't want to attract too much attention. I got a great reaction overall, and on girl even said I had the cutest Pikachu outfit she'd ever seen, so I was really flattered. Surprisingly, my boyfriend's hat got more attention than I did. Apparently people still do very much love Magikarp. "Splash Attack!" I do regret wearing heels to stand in line for two hours but, eh, live and learn.

Day One (Friday) I was my original human-form of Amaterasu from Okami. As usual, I was pleasantly surprised with the response to it. I was extremely flattered when the masquerade winners from last Fanime, Chief Pikachu and Charlie the Charmander, geeked out over my costume and asked for pictures and hugs. The response is always big to Amaterasu because it's a really detailed, in-depth, and eye-catching costume, but at Fanime, people actually knew who I was (though I was mistaken for Princess Mononoke again..). My Amaterasu is not officially retired. I may remake parts to make it more accurate (in my opinion) and comfortable, but other than that, I'm done with it, it's too uncomfortable.

On Day Two (Saturday) I was Clyde (the orange ghost from Pacman) and my boyfriend was Pacman. We expected a huge response and lots of love toward these costumes, of course that's not why we did them, but it was a nice perk. However, we didn't expect just how much attention we got. We were stopped literally every ten steps, and every time there were at least three photographers. Good thing we weren't really rushing to go anywhere. People really liked the pants, which was surprising but pleasing, because they were a lot of work.

Day Three (Sunday) I cosplayed Chi and my boyfriend was Hideki (Chobits). I thought that this was going to be another fly-under-the-radar costume, but I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of attention it attracted.Everyone geeked out over me again, this time because my ears were open with AV cables hanging out. People kept saying that it was a brilliant idea and that they'd never seen it before, but i know I've seen it somewhere before, there's no way I came up with that idea all by myself. I actually want to re-make the ears, but more on that later. We went to the CLAMP gathering, which started late because the Tsubasa gathering ran over. It was alright, though, because I ended up talking to another Chi cosplayer and we got swarmed by photographers, probably because we were the same height and our dresses almost looked opposite, so that was pretty cool. When the gathering finally came around, there were five Chi's, and everyone started calling out for a Hideki. It took a while for it to click in my boyfriend's head, but he finally ran out to the cheers and screams of onlooking fangirls. After that, four of us Chi's had a mini photoshoot with Chronoclix, a relatively new cosplay photography site. I'm very happy to help them get off the ground. I also wore Chi the Fanime's Black & White Ball and even had a picture of me taken there.

Day Four (Monday) was very short, and my "costume" fell apart pretty quickly. I pretty much looked like I had run through the dealer's room and grabbed every super popular stereotypical item I could find, haha. I had a short blue wig, steampunk-ish aviator goggles, cat ears & tail, and fingerless black ruffly gloves. However, instead of seeing it as a super-stereotypical "uncool" thing for me to do, for some reason, I thought (and still think) of it was a satirical portrayal of the general anime fandom. Maybe I' just too full of myself. But it amused me, and I will probably wear it again. Unfortunately, in my rush to get ready, I didn't put my ears on right, and they fell off later, so I took of the tail and ended up looking very wannabe steampunk-ish, which just amused me even more. [Pictured left is me with the wig and gloves, but no goggles or ears.]

READ MORE - Fanime Costumes (Days 242-246)

Days 203 - 205

I bought a new shirt for Pikachu, finished designs for my Pokemon hats, decided on which hats to make first and which hats not to make at all, and went to the San Fransisco Cherry Blossom Festivale. (Review of the festivale will be on my other blog.)

So, overall, pretty eventful, I've just been too lazy to update. There's also another YouTube video that I'll post, ehh.. When I get around to it. For now, it's here.

READ MORE - Days 203 - 205

Pika-Pikaaa~! (Day 200)

I has a Pikachu hat!!! I sort of want to add the red cheeks to the hat, but oh well. It's my first time making a fleece hat and I'm so proud! ♥ It only took me about an hour and a half, since it's fairly simple, and I looked at a panda hat I have for the pattern, so it was pretty easy to figure out.

READ MORE - Pika-Pikaaa~! (Day 200)

Days 190 - 199

Haha, good thing I posted today, then I can do a single post for Day 200. Anyway, I still haven't done much. I added Lightning (Final Fantasy XIII) to my cosplay list due to popular demand and despite my lack of having ever played Final Fantasy... Ever. But I guess I can at least try to play before I cosplay her, since it'll be a long time from now.

I've been looking at ways to re-make my Pikachu costume, since it's pretty much nonexistent. Pikachu was never meant to be a real costume for me, it really just sorta happened. In any case, it's looking like bright yellow is the "in" color this season, so I have plenty of styles of bright yellow shirts to choose from. I'm trying to find something cute, but not sexy. I know for sure I have to remake the ears though, because the ones I bought are just not up to par.

READ MORE - Days 190 - 199

Kin-Yoobi Con 2010 Anime Family Feud Event

I feel like I should post this on my Convention Blog, but since I already mentioned it here...
By the way, I'm so ashamed, if I had known that they weren't going to give me my Kin-Yoobi shirt, I would've gone more Pikachu and at least worn yellow T_T Ah well...

"Anime convention, Kin-Yoobi Con 2010, will feature a new gameshow for its attendees called Anime Family Feud. Your help is needed to come up with answers for questons of the new event. Check this video to see how you can win a free video game in the process!"


Click here to view the Game Zone Recreation (Kin-Yoobi) YouTube Channel. Be sure to subscribe and participate for a chance to win yourself a free video game. =D

READ MORE - Kin-Yoobi Con 2010 Anime Family Feud Event