Saturday, September 27, 2008

So the first day of the NY Anime Festival is done. Tomorrow will be the fun day because that’s when we’re cosplaying and I’m going as Kallen from Code Geass. I’ll get pictures, don’t worry. Today was fun though! Angie and I met up with Otaku’s bossman, Adam and hung out with him. Through him we got to meet Iron Chef Morimoto and get our picture with him which is awesome! Angie was wearing a shirt that said “I Love Yaoi” in Japanese on it and Morimoto was trying to read it and luckily for Angie, he didn’t know what it meant.XD He was asking what yaoi was and she kinda fumbled trying to explain it without sounding like a perv.XD XD XD She just said it was “a certain genre of manga.” Good save, Angie!^_~ We then waited in line forever and again, through Adam, we got to get autographs from both the illustrator and writer for Vampire Hunter D and Final Fantasy! Wohoo!!! Yoshitaka Amano drew illustrations in both Angie and my book and the writer drew a picture too with a red heart. “Only for the ladies” he said.XD

Adam, Angie, and I then went to a sushi place (Adam forced me since he knows sushi isn’t my fave but he got me the Naruto Maki to make me happy) but then I made it up by thoroughly kicking his butt in Super Smash Bros. Brawl when we went back to his place. Well, I should say, he beat me a few times at first since I needed to get into my groove and then I whooped him after that. And FYI, we made Adam play as Peach in a match because he wanted to know who I’d be most embarrassed to lose too.XD Adam lost horribly as Peach and I plan on pwning him when we play Mario Kart Wii so be prepared Adam to lose to a chick once again.^_~

Oh, and I bought a “squishables” pillow plushie in the shape of a snail at the fest. I named him Adam…the bossman is insanely honored by it and he told me whenever he has a bad day, it’s my duty to hug my Adam to make bossman Adam feel better.^_^

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Friday, September 19, 2008

I did a little bit of shopping today and visited my parent’s house to see our doggy, Harley and my kitty, FuzzButt. I picked up this old Chinese Art Brushwork kit my grandma had gotten me years ago. I’m re-doing my apartment (since my bro isn’t taking it back, it’s really officially *mine* now) and I’m doing lots of the Feng-shui design and wanted to create some of my own Chinese/Asian art to put on the walls to match some mirrors and other decorations I got for it.

*Blah* I need more days off from work to prepare for my workshop at the NY Anime Festival. I mean, I know I’ll be ready in time but I’m going to be rushed. I’m thinking of asking one of the ladies I work with to switch hours with me this coming Wednesday since I’m leaving for NYC Thursday morning…but my boss schedules me to close the casino Wednesday night. The jerk. I need all of Wednesday off not only to prepare myself but also to squeeze my belly dancing class in there to relieve some stress before I go to the fest.
I don’t think all people know quite what belly dancing is…it’s a very beautiful and seductive dance form that’s *SO* much fun to learn and do. I found this video on youtube of a belly dancer who is just plain amazing. There’s a few forms of belly dancing and the one in this video is considered a “drum solo” dance where it’s more-so about mimicking the beat of the music with the body rather than a more free-flowing dance that another form of belly dancing does. Everyone should watch this because it’s so amazing and whether you’re male or female, it’s very hypnotizing and truly gorgeous. I’m not nearly up to this level yet with my classes but I do know many of the moves she’s doing! Go me! Heehee! So, watch and be amazed at what the body can do:

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Tuesday, September 16, 2008

So, I got my cosplay costume in the mail yesterday (just take a glance at my last post to see it), and it doesn’t fit me at all!! It was supposed to be custom made for me and I sent my measurements and I don’t know who this was made for but it sure as heck wasn’t made for me! It’s HUGE!!! I sent pictures to the lady in China who made it so she could see how poorly it fit and she offered to have me send it back and she’d fix it but the thing is…NYAF is next weekend…there’s NO way I’d get it back in time. However, I have a seamstress that has altered stuff for me in the past and when I went to her house and showed her the costume she says she can fix it! YAY! I often need things altered for me like dressed and such because I’m very very skinny but I’m very tall so it’s tough to find things that are long enough but can fit the waist and this seamstress has always done flawless work so I’m very happy she can fix my cosplay costume. The Chinese lady who made it is going to reimburse me for half of what I paid for it so that’s good.

My boss at work has ticked me off because I have my belly dancing class on Wednesdays and I’ve had Wednesdays off for a long time but for the next 2 weeks he’s changed it so I have to work! NOOOO! My belly dancing class was like, my stress reliever and he took it away from me! Ergh, I’m going to talk to him about this because I need this class…I think it’s one of the few things keeping me sane at this point because work has been getting more and more stressful and if I don’t have a way to release this tension and stress, I’m going to snap!

I think this picture is so funny:

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Friday, September 12, 2008

Thanks for those who checked out my new drawing and commented on it! I do appreciate it. If you haven’t seen it yet, I would appreciate if you would since like, no one was around yesterday *weeps*:

I’ve been preparing for my workshop at the NY Anime Festival. I’m excited about NYAF this year because the illustrator for Final Fantasy will be there! I’m sooooo getting him so sign a poster for me. Also, I’m cosplaying this year as Kallen Stadfield from Code Geass! I got it off ebay and it’s being custom made for me as we speak…here’s what the outfit looks like:

Isn’t it hot?! It doesn’t come with the wig though and it took me awhile to find a wig that would work and I ended up getting this one:

And I talked to my hair stylist and she’s going to style the wig for me so it looks like Kallen’s since I’m afraid I’d ruin the wig and I’m having that sucker expressed shipped to me from China so I don’t want to screw it up! I can’t wait, it’s going to be so much fun.^_^
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Thursday, September 11, 2008

Sorry for being gone so long. I’ve just been busy…the real world beckons whether I want it to or not. My belly dancing class has proved to be a great stress reliever while work has been a killer and I found what little time I have had at home, working on my drawing of the elf I mentioned for my manga idea. I’ve finished it and uploaded it and my CG coloring has changed a little…I saw a manga cover in which the manga-ka has colored her piece in a mix of crisp lines and blended colors and I really liked it so I tried it for this one and like how it turned out! So, if you could take a look at it and comment on it, I’d be very appreciative^_^:

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Monday, September 1, 2008

So, I was all looking forward to having Labor Day off and then…I get a call. From one of the ladies I work with begging me to switch days with her because she wants Labor Day off. Ergh…and then she started with the ‘this will be one of the only days I can spend with my husband’ and ‘we wanted to have a picnic with the kid’ basically, GUILTING me into subduing to her will. I agreed but man, I wish she could have asked me PRIOR to the day before the day off because I was all pumped to have Labor Day off and was going to work on my elf drawing all day and relax and watch some movies and now…I get to go to work. Yee-di-freakin’-haw. I need to learn to not be so nice and say no once in awhile. But my next day off will be Wednesday so I’ll work on my drawing then and it’s the day of my belly dance class to so I look forward to going again.

Some of you know that I’ve been living in my brother’s apartment while he’s been doing drill sergeant stuff in New Jersey (and for those who didn’t know…now you do!) well, he told me that he doesn’t plan on taking the apartment back which means…it’s all mine! YOSH! I love this apartment..it’s a 2 family house which means I have half a house to myself and the people who live below me are awesome and it’s a nice, quiet neighborhood, and super cheap rent so I love it and am glad I can now stay here. Plus, it will probably mean I’ll be getting my own kitty.^_^ FuzzButt is technically my mom’s cat and doesn’t live with me and now that I’ll be staying here I want my own putty-tat! It’ll be a few months though since my bro has to take some of his things out when he comes back…like his super comfy leather chair that’s amazing to sit in but…cats like to claw leather and his poor chair fell victim to FuzzButt’s claws when I was watching him for a week.>_<

Picture of the Day comes from Vampire Knight…it’s Zero! *pets him*

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Saturday, August 30, 2008

Thanks to all who responded to my last post about the elf character name! It was really close between 3 names…Anaryan, Runya, and Hellvedar. You know what I’m thinking? Especially seeing those 3 names lined up in that way…why not make that his first, middle, and last name? Anaryan Runya Hellvedar! I mean…he is elvish and they have fancy pants, complicated names usually.XD I’ll pass that along to Angie since she’s going to be the main writer and I’ll be drawing it and throwing ideas in here and there. I think Angie and I make a good team…I wish there were more of us like CLAMP so one could write, the other could draw the characters, the other could color and ink, and the other could do backgrounds. It’s tough to draw a manga all by yourself!

And speaking of mangas, remember back in December, I had won that ‘Black Sun Silver Moon’ doujinshi contest held by Go!Comi? Well, one of the editors contacted me yesterday and asked me to write a bio about myself because…they’re finally publishing my doujinshi!!! AHHHH! It’s going to be in the final volume of ‘Black Sun Silver Moon’ and I can’t wait! I’m super glad I did my manga backwards and Japanese style since ‘Black Sun Silver Moon’ is published backwards (like all mangas brought to the states SHOULD be) so my doujinshi will actually flow with the real manga and not be printed all funky. Go me!XD

And for all my new friends who’ve never seen the doujinshi mentioned above, here’s a link to it: Linky!
I need to ask Adam about this…ALL my comments are gone from my manga when the new Otaku was launched…the only comments that remain are what were made on the cover page. *pouts*

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Wednesday, August 27, 2008

I started taking real belly dancing lessons today! I say “real” since I went to an actual class rather than just learning it from DVD’s I NetFlixed.^^ It was so much fun!! The teacher said I was a natural.^_^ I just have to hope my boss doesn’t switch my days off again or else I won’t be able to make all the classes…I’ll need to talk to him about that since he’s been tossing my schedule around all over the place lately.>_<

I got to do a couple sketches of one of the main characters for the manga/story idea I had mentioned in my last post….a short story involving a real elf that gets himself warped into a now-a-days Renaissance Festival. My friend, Angie and I are coming up with this thing and we pretty much decided that the elf wasn’t going to be the standard, serious elf…more-so very curious, playful, poking his nose into things, that kind of deal hence why when he is at this Renaissance Fest…he’s all over the place trying to figure things out. He’s going to have red hair, green eyes, and be wearing mostly green (like most elves.XD) but Angie and I are bouncing names around so wonder if you guys can pick your fave of this group of names for him. So, here’s 2 quick sketches I did of our elf so you can see him:

The names we have are: Hallvedar, Anaryan, Narille, Runya, and Runyasul. I do plan on completing and coloring the one image of him being “active” just because I want to. lol! So yeah, pick your fave name or if you come up with another name, throw that out too! Thanks!^_^
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Monday, August 25, 2008

Thanks for all the welcome backs from my vacation! Makes me feel special indeed! It was tough going back to work since 6 days off isn’t enough!! Plus, we were so busy having fun that I need a vacation from my vacation.XD I have today off though so that’ll be good because I need time to catch up with some artworks time…having done anything in that department in a loooong time. My pal, Angie and I came up with this great idea for a short manga that was inspired from us going to the Renaissance Festival. We thought it would be a cool story if an elf from the real “Renaissance” time happened to go through a portal or something and ended up in the middle of a Renaissance Fest here in today’s time. Here he is, thinking he’s just in another village but then he’s seeing cameras and weird clothing and fairy wings for sale and weird food items, etc. etc. and trying to figure out what’s going on and what these “contraptions” are. We thought it would be cool since Tokyopop holds a short manga contest every year and that would make a good story but we came up with enough ideas to make this into a long-running manga too if we got enough fans. So yeah, I was going to come up with some concept art for the main elf character and stuff. Should be fun!

Anyhoo, I thought I’d share a few pictures I took on my vacation. This first one is the outside of the Eastern State Penitentiary (considered one of the most haunted places in the country), I think the building itself is all cool and Castle-like:

The door closest to my camera is the one that started shaking as I walked past it (more details on that ghostly experience in my last post):

For those who watched ‘Ghost Hunters’ on Sci-Fi, the walkway on the right is where they caught the black form walking towards the camera:

I have tons of pictures from the Renaissance Fest but here’s one that I thought was cool…it comes from one of the acrobat shows performed:

This last picture is SO one of my favorite pictures ever. We got a guy to get a picture of all of us at the Ren. Fest and I love it since I consider this group my closest friends and it’s super rare that all of us are together at once:

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Friday, August 22, 2008

I’m back from my vacation! Miss me? *crickets chirp*….well, it was only a week but such a fun week!
My friend, Angie, from New York City came up and stayed with me. Over the weekend, she, Tyler, Gavin, and I all went down to Philadelphia to stay with my friends who had a townhouse down there, Cara, Howard, Courtney, and Phil. The first day we went to the Renaissance Festival which was awesomeness. After that we went to Hershey Park to take the Hershey tour just so we could get free chocolate. YAY!

The next day we went to the Eastern State Penitentiary...one of the most haunted places in the country (anyone who’s a fan of ‘Ghost Hunters’ on Sci-Fi may know the episode where they went there…it was the one where Brian freaks out and him and the cameraman run off and he’s yelling “DUDE, RUN!!!”…it’s also the episode where they saw a black form walk towards the camera and then turn around and go back). I had something interesting happen to me though when we were talking down one of the halls…some of the old prison cells are left open while others are boarded closed, well, as I walked past one of the boarded doors, it shook!!! Like…it sounded like someone had grabbed a latch and was shaking it. I just stopped and asked the others if they had heard that. This place gives everyone headphones to wear to listen to documentary when walking the place but I had taken one of the headphones off and no one else had heard it. The first thing I did was try and see if the wind had shook the door (Ghost Hunters refer to this as “debunking”…pretty much trying to figure out anything else it could be besides a ghost), so I put my hand to the door and tried to shake it…nothing…that door was boarded completely solid. Then Angie tried it and again, she couldn’t get it to shake at all. Angie said that we were being followed and I bet anything that if there was something following us that it chose me to shake the door at since I was the only one who would have heard it with my headphones being off. Pretty darn creepy but so cool at the same time. Now I have a ghost story to tell people.XD

Whelp, I have more fun stories to tell from my vacation but will save those for later. But, I leave with a quote said by my friend, Howard to Gavin that amused me for some reason:
“Dude, you’re just mad ‘cause I slayed you.”

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