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.