Merry Christmas

My goodness this year is almost gone; In just a week we'll already be in the dreaded 2012! Dun dun dunn~~ Really though if anything happens I guess we'll just have to wait and see?

Anywho! Oh Blogger... I need to update you more <3 I have SO MANY STORIES TO TELL YOU! However I have misplaced my card reader and stories are just no fun without pictures. So I will just ramble on.

Thanksgiving Opinions

Now that the day is nearly over and I'm pretty sure everyone in America has eaten their Thanksgiving meal I've been left to think about many things about the holiday. During the 3 days prior to the holiday I have been seeing a few choice persons speaking out about how the holiday is messed up because it "celebrates the genocide of a race of people"... wait... what? The argument that this certain person is using is that the reason we're celebrating Thanksgiving is to show us being thankful for killing off the Native Americans? To me this seems as silly and uneducated as people who believe we celebrate Valentines Day based on the "Valentines Day Massacre".

In fact it's known that the first Thanksgiving didn't even have turkey served. There's a lot of history surrounding American holidays that is taught to children in school that is blatantly wrong.

I somewhat wonder now if said person is just saying those things for attention... *facepalm*

No Shame November and #PEEN

Apparently November has a LOT o fun internet events going on! PEEN or "post every evening in November", the ever famous "No Shave November" and also "No Shame November". There's also "Pepero Day" On 11-11 (which also is my birthday!) November is full of many amazing things it would seem. And while I said I would participate in so many of them I have been... falling behind? Lacking? Forgetting? Or one could say I straight up lied hahaha ^^;; not my intention at all though.

Fall convention cliff notes and more thoughts

Kumoricon has come and gone- a long time ago actually. Two months now? Oh my. I've been super distracted with things going on at work. I would like to say life has kept me busy but alas it's mostly work. Blogger needs to go back into my bookmarks bar so I remember to update more! Yes? Yes.

Dear Internet: life, cosplay, etc

I do not write here enough- Summer has not been kind to me and fall looks like its going to be rough as well. I have decided to turn this into an everything blog! Because cosplay doesn't happen enough for me to blog about :/ Which is lame in and of itself. But I also worry that if I talk about "life" I will simply complain about work a ton haha.

As an update since, or about, Sakura con: Decade-tan didn't happen because the fabric I had my eye on was well over $20. I'm going to look for something other than vinyl that will suit the bill. I designed this thing to look too awesome to NOT do it! I must keep going!

Sakuracon: cosplay plan ramblings

I have a bad habit of not adding tags to entries which causes me to go back and add them, URG.

Trying to whittle down a list for SakuraCon cosplay. I previously mentioned that I'll be making Angel Stocking. I know I'll be one of the billions there but I'll be cosplaying with the lovely Lizzie so I don't care. We're perv girls together and we match the characters stupidly well (save for the fact that she doesn't sleep around.)
Darkwoods Circus Miku tempts me SO MUCH. I have the fabric for the dress but I haven't figured out her goat legs and cage crinoline skirt yet. Also corset... wat? I've never had to make any of these things before so I see this being a HUGE project. I'd like to bring -something- of Miku along... and Lizzie wants to be Luka. We were thinking of doing the Project Diva 2nd Magnet outfits or race queens. I'm seriously paranoid of showing my stomach though. It'd be cute doing the Goodsmile version but I need to be careful not overloading myself since I have 2 months to make what I can.
Decade-tan (Kamen Rider Decade) = another big build and TONS OF VINYL
Magical Emi (Mahou no Star Magical Emi) = Everyone will be like "WHO?! O_o;;"
[super secret Idon'ttalkaboutit outfit] = I WOULD HAVE TO BE INSANE. There will be more on this when I actually start making it... >_>;;

If worse comes to worse I have Nagi, whom I never wore, and I also have Ritsuko. Need to fix up my helmet though.


In other news I've found a room; despite it being floor space I won't have to pay for it (score!) I'll be able to bring bedding since I'll be riding up with Zach and we'll be the only ones in the car. That's pretty win-win.
I hope it's at the Sheraton! I want to go swimming! :D

Are you going to Sakuracon? Who will you dress as?

SAKURACON DAYS GET!

I -finally- got word from my boss that I have the days off for SakuraCon! I'm really excited about this since Liz and I decided last night we would do Angel Panty and Stocking together :D Also their school uniforms. Nothing else is really planned at the moment I don't think... Kelsey wanted me to be her Ami in the Sailor Moon group she's doing so I'm totally down with that haha. I love Ami... she's my favorite by far >3<!!!
As for ideas as to what I'll make? Crap I dunno. I DO know I wanted to try and get Decade-tan done! This would be EPIC but also rather tough. I think I can do it though if I really get myself to buckle down on it. Building and sewing it though will involve things I have never tried before so I'm really afraid to mess up!
Yes.... Decade as in Kamen Rider. I'm a goob for these shows I swear. Decade has one of my favorite designs and after looking at some girl designs online to sketched out my own. The friends I have that are also into Tokusatsu approved of it so I just may make it! Blahh... who knows!

As for my TaoBao order it turns out that some of the wigs were either sold out or the shop owners were still not back from holiday. From my previous post the wigs were the first Stocking wig shown, the P&S patches, and the short Miku wig. Sadface. I really wanted the Stocking wig! Although I do remember that Arda wigs was planning on coming out with one in March! So I may wait to see what theirs looks like before I try and order this other one again. And perhaps the second choice Stocking wig will work out wonderfully! I don't know until I get it :)

Right now though I'm just looking for possible room space for SakuraCon... oi oi oi

Cosplay Taobao order #1: HOLY SH!T TONS OF WIGS

I think I went a WEE bit overboard on ordering wigs off of Taobao. 2 of which are for another person but the rest are all "mineminemineminemine" hahaha. A few of which will be sold off depending. I ordered 2 different wigs for stocking and whichever one I like better I will keep. I'll list off what I got with the URLs below (in case ya'll want to look or buy as well.) Once I get these in I will for sure go camera happy and write up some reviews. Especially since I made orders from newer shops/shops with lower ratings.
Here goes...

Second month of 2011- and what progress has been made?

Still no trim at the fabric store for Pirate Miku. I am now officially putting her on the back burner. Instead I went through my boxes from when I moved and pulled out a half-started costume from Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle.
It's a totally random DVD box set art picture I fell in love with. Sakura's outfit is rather amazing and I was also working on Sayoran's for a friend (but he lives in Chicago.) I haven't touched this thing in a long time to going through the pieces and sorting out what's what is a bit annoying. However while making headway on the outfit this past weekend I'm rather excited to see it finished; though who knows when that'll be ^^;; eheheh...

Slow to the bandwagon

It's already half a month into the year 2011 and I am JUST NOW thinking up new years resolutions. I usually don't care about such things since most get broken by just about everyone so I decided to use the first month of the year to think of goals for year. I don't want to call them "new years resolutions" or else I will almost certainly break them. I honestly want to meet someone who has kept all of their "resolutions".

After speaking with my best friend a bit over webcam yesterday he was getting really persistent about me being happy. To be honest as of late life has just been a live it day-by-day sort of occurrence; nothing spectacular or interesting out of what little joys I find here and there to make my day seem fun or worth it. I'll try not to get too much into this though since a lot of people are stuck in such situations.
So this year I want to change things; no REALLY change things. I've lived in Portland Oregon all my life now. Granted I love it here but I also love travel, new experiences, and putting myself in odd and uncomfortable situations. I have a few roads I can go down that apply to either meet or change these circumstances and I think I want to try them all.

I guess it'd be easiest and best to list things here. Not only so I can have a copy somewhere other than on my desktop where I'm usually stupid enough to delete whatever file but also so I can come back [possibly] years down the road and see if I have been able to meet, or even exceed, and totally own any of these listed goals or ideas. Blah here goes!

- Start making a selling plushies; A lot of characters I like don't have plushies. And really you have to admit that sometimes the quality of the official ones are rather lacking. I was thinking of starting with Mieu from Tales of the Abyss and also sort of "mass producing" (OK maybe 5 or 6 ) Honekoneko. I see those two selling well. I need to further investigate fabric types though. And making things on such a small scale will be a change. I don't doubt my ability but I doubt my patience haha.

- Apply at Temple University; This... this is really up in the air. I've been mulling between Japan, Korea and Taiwan for places I want to possibly further myself while attending school. I've been heavily interested in Japanese culture for a lo~ng time now and have recently started to get interested in Korea (maybe 2 years now?). Taiwan is also interesting since they are known to have good schools but seems kind of less safe than the others. Though given the situation, and especially recent events, in Korea I guess Taiwan has moved up in rank for "safeness" :( As for Japan I know a lot of people there; people attending school, stationed in the military, and also pen pals and exchange students I've met over the years. Japan is kind of winning... but is Japan what I "want"? This is what I have to figure out.

-Promote myself more in the cosplay community; I've been into it for a long time and have actually been TRYING to fly under the radar. I've been rather successful at it really but have had a bit of a change of heart. I never thought it'd actually be a hobby that could open so many doors. I have been commissioned to make clothes, mend, and alter things for people. But I didn't think it would become such a HUGE community over the years. I guess I was just so used to the drama and bull that people usually dragged me into that I wanted nothing of it. "Because no matter how nice you are to everyone, someone, somewhere, is sick of your shit."

-Weeding out negativity in my life; One of what I thought to be my best friends has also been one of the most negative forces in my life. We had a bit of a falling out before Kumori Con (September) and since then she has played victim to anything and everything. I've come to realize and identify these things. I know I have tried to help her and get her thinking more positively over the years but I think it's time to just cut her from my life- and that makes me sad. We had a lot of good times together but since she seems to have a new crowd of people that better fit her mental state (both in age and damage) I think she'll be fine.



  I hardly ever make resolutions... it's really difficult. So generally I just make a list of goals. I may be talking about these things NOW but I don't know if any of them will every come to fruition or I'll just get stuck ina  rut again :( I hope 2011 is kind to me...

Katanagatari (cosplay possibilities)

I just finished watching Katanagatari the other day and I have to say I'm going to pretend that the last 2 episodes of the series don't exist; or that maybe at least things turned out differently.

I really loved the first 10 episodes! As I've told many people though this anime isn't for everyone- There seems to be a lot more talking than actual fighting so anyone with a shorter attention span or problems keeping up with subtitles probably wouldn't like it.

East Coast in a nutshell

I had this big ol' awesome entry typed up about my trip to the East Coast (namely Atlanta, GA and South Carolina) but I was a dumb and deleted the text file. So this will be the cliff note version with select pictures of my choosing; mostly since I took a lot of random pictures of things that most people find boring.
I will say that it was a BIT of a culture shock. Having been born and raised in Portland Oregon it was a very different place. A little part of me cried every time I saw people throw away recyclables :(

Anywho, I flew into Atlanta, GA since it was approx $100 CHEAPER than flying directly to South Carolina. My trip had a few things I wanted to attend in Atlanta with the big one being the aquarium.