Monday, July 24, 2006

ANIME EXPO DAY 4 (of 4)

So on day 4 I showed up in decora-ish wear. We missed the GoH free for all but it was okay because I had already gotten autographs from 12012 and Kitamura Ryuhei, and that was enough for me. We met up with Ayu in the Hilton and she did my hair. She gave me little hair clips and ice cream hair ties! She even let me keep them :3

Sarah and me in decora~

So we went into the convention center and I saw the cutest little kid in the world. I asked the parents if I could take a picture because she was so cute! XD

:DDDDDD

Anyway according to Richard this was the big sale day... but I didn't see too many big sales. And the booth I wanted to buy from was gone! But it was okay because what I wanted was at another booth too. Unfortunately there wasn't too much of a discount but I was able to get a gift for Katherine (still undisclosed for the time being). Then I went around looking for something cute for my sister. I was going to get her a Totoro tshirt but money was running short so instead I found some Hello Kitty things at 1/2 price! I got her a hat and some barettes and she seemed to really like them so I was happy :D I couldn't find what I wanted for Kathy so I decided on a cell phone strap XD

During the whole time Richard was being kind of emo and wandering off everywhere so I was kind of worried about him~ I kept turning around and all of a sudden he wasn't there anymore! Just like how little kids get lost in department stores (well... I got lost in a Target once? XD) But afterwards we helped him buy the Kenshin DVD box set so he was happy again! :D It was kind of funny. He needed something like $78 or something... and so everyone gave him money... except I didn't have any money to give... so I gave him my $0.58 XD And then he was able to get a bargain on the DVD set! XD It took a while though.

After we went shopping (and after most of us ran out of money) we went out of the dealers room and sat around taking pictures.

There were lots of Sarah and me, but here's one of Ayu and Diana XD

We waited for a while until we decided to eat lunch. But we had a hard time deciding where. At first we were just going to do something cheap like Quiznos, but since it was the last day we wanted a nice lunch. So we went to the Marriot and decided for that food and those prices we should have just gone to the Quiznos. XD Instead though we decided to walk to Downtown Disney and go to Rainforest Cafe.

While we were walking (and it was a pretty long walk) we decided that we wanted a group picture to remember the day. And so we found a random guy on the street and he agreed to take our picture. Unfortunately for him, there were like 7 cameras. XD

From left to right: Mike, Mike, Richard, me, Ayu, Diana, Sarah

So we continued our walk and Richard and Diana decided to take a little "shortcut" through the bushes. It ended up looking like they were walking through the jungle!

As the two explorers brave the perilous jungle....

Hahah when Diana came out she looked like a model.

Well, a model with lots of things she bought

We got in the air conditioned Rainforest Cafe and shopped a while before being seated. Then we got in and decided it was Richard's birthday. Sarah made ME tell the person serving ;o; I was really embarrassed haha. Richard and I each had a sandwich so we hald half of each others. Anyway the food was.... very filling, and I think everyone was too full by the time they brought out the cake for Richard! XD It was really huge too... We should have just gone with the small one but we thought it would be nicer~

The cake was supposed to be a volcano.

We took a group picture... again xD

Earlier everyone had joked that Richard could pay for everyone because he had a credit card. But he took it seriously! (That's why he's trying to give someone back their money in the picture XD) Ayu and Diana left early, so it was Mike, Mike, Richard, Sarah, and me. Anyway, after we half-settled what was happening with the money, we started walking to the parking lot of the Tiffy's. Mike and Sarah and Richard all couldn't decide which way was the best way to get back but somehow we found the Tiffy's! We messed with our cameras a little and Richard realized he had all these functions he had never even known about~ It's actually a pretty nice camera :]

We learned it took composite pictures like this

But this one turned out prettier

We also took a bunch of movies in the car that were kind of stupid but really fun! Here are the links...

Part 1 - Random things XD

Part 2 - Introduction of the marshmallow plush

Part 3 - Azumi Nerdiness

Part 4 - Why I'm recording Richard instead of Sarah

So we dropped Richard off and Sarah came to my house. And Sarah and I messed around a little and ate dinner with my relatives. And then we went to watch the fireworks! They were pretty... a lot of new ones this year~ By then the "I miss AX" was setting in and so after she left I was like "awww AX is over D:"... but overall it was a great experience :D

So~ Hopefully I'll see everyone again in Long Beach next year! :D

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Saturday, July 15, 2006

Anime Expo 2006 Day 2/3 [of 4]

On Sunday I was prepared with a casual punk loli-esque outfit for the gothic lolita swap meet. No picture but basically I wore the plaid K-Star skirt I bought from a seller on livejournal as well as the skull top that Sarah bought me for my birthday :] Not much happened during the beginning of the day - just walking around and the like. But at 1:00 I went to the lolita swap meet at the Celga booth organized on the egl community. I looked around for a while and Richard sat in the back holding my stuff (I felt kind of bad for him but... at least he got to talk to some other guy about games or something! I think he was also waiting for someone in the lolita meet). There was one seller who held up a tote bag and announced that it was Baby, the Stars Shine Bright! And more importantly, it was only $5! I jumped on it and Richard paid for me because I only had large bills at the time :] No picture YET but most people who I see often know what I'm talking about because I take it with me everywhere :] I was really tempted to buy a Meta blouse for only $30 but I wasn't sure what I had to match and I wanted to save my money, so despite the good deal I passed.

Among the other items of interest were some well-priced jumperskirts that I couldn't afford, a swimsuit from Meta (I think) that I wish I could afford, and some affordable pieces that were... way too big for me ._.; Many of the lolitas on egl community have larger measurements than I do (b/w/h = 31/26.5/31.5 or so, give or take half an inch) so despite the great price they were offering, I couldn't buy the pieces I wanted~ ;o;

Sarah came and looked around a little but didn't buy anything. Eventually we grew bored of looking at things we couldn't buy. We walked around a little longer and I picked up Pump It Up for only $20! According to list price I got it about 66% off~ So I was happy. Richard was going to pay but I felt bad so I made him give me my wallet back. haha XD

By then I guess I was looking pretty tired... So, we headed to the Hilton again where we found out there were four James's there o_o; Richard also offered us lunch. I took a kimchee bowl-noodle and Sarah ate instant chow mein that tasted kind of bad... so she traded for Richard's hot and spicy bowl-noodle. But, none of us really ate all of it (I leave the soup because it's got so much sodium!) so Richard ended up pouring all of it into one bowl o_o; It was... kind of awkward-looking and we all warned him of the dangers of hypertension (if you include all three sets of food it would be 226% of your daily recommended sodium!), but he took a few sips anyway... Apparently it tasted only like the hot and spicy bowl-noodle. XD; Anyway he didn't bother to finish the rest and we went back to the convention center.

It was almost time for the Azumi panel so Richard and I went up to the place it was supposed to be held at. We got in and had pretty good seats! :] Luckily, we were able to take pictures of the panel, unlike the CLAMP or Mana panel and such, so I can finally get you some pictures of Day 2~

There was a surprise! Not just Kitamura-san was there but also... Matsumoto Minoru who played Saru!

Kitamura-san talked about a lot, including the troubles of working with a young cast - apparently they were all weak! It took a while to get them to learn how to "fight" haha. He also mentioned he didn't like the original script written for the movie. And poor Matsumoto-san broke his foot twice and his leg once during the shooting of Azumi! Apparently it wasn't doing anything dangerous either~ 1) He jumped over a "dead body" - so not that big of a jump, and broke his foot. 2) He was going to go clubbing with the cast and as he was coming down the stairs he broke his foot again! 3) He was out at karaoke and he broke his leg. I felt kind of bad for him ^^; The movies Godzilla and Versus were also discussed along with some of Kitamura-san's earlierst works.

After the panel I took a couple more pictures and then I was able to take a picture with Kitamura-san himself! I don't like the way I look in it but I'm glad I got to take a picture :]

My friend says it looks like he's my dad or something o_o;

After the Azumi panel was over we went to the signing. There was a long line and we almost didn't get to get an autograph but we got lucky. Unfortunately we were only allowed one autograph per person so I could only get one extra for a friend - Kathy and Katherine are going to have to share I guess (thanks for waiting in line though, Richard~). I really wanted to get my DVD signed but they checked it out and said it was bootleg. I thought it was real! Kathy bought it for me, so it didn't even occur to me... I really thought it was legitimate~ So it wasn't my fault! Haha. So I got a signed poster instead. Sarah also got a signed poster. The signing was done right in front of the display that had Azumi's outfit. It was really beautiful and I wish I could have it. Despite the costume contest at the masquerade this year, I didn't see any Azumi cosplayers ^^;

So pretty!

After the signing we went to the hotel again to drop off our stuff and Sarah said she would come up to the Lemon Drop Kick concert with us - Richard was too tired so I told him I'd meet him back at the lobby after it was over. I was nervous we were going to be late but we got there in time and there weren't too many people either. Sarah was planning on staying with me, but, we met up with Michael and Diego after reaching the balcony so she left. While we were waiting for Lemon Drop Kick there was an open mic and everyone told dirty jokes. XD But soon LDK was on!

I was really looking forward to this. They added me on myspace a long time ago and I loved their music and their look! I found out through the AX website that they would be playing and it was one of the best experiences I had at AX :] I took tons of pictures as well as a video of their performance with my camera (Sorry because it's my camera it's kind of bad sound quality) that you can veiw here. But if you want to see pictures instead, here's a few:

Hal (b) and Kevin (g)

Miyako (vo)

Justin (dr) and Hal (b)

Jeff (g)

But besides the music being great, I must say that Lemon Drop Kick is one of the nicest bands I've come across ever! Not only did they take the time to autograph everyone's FREE CD's that they gave out, but.... they remembered to give me extra copies! I had asked for a couple of extras to send to Kathy and Katherine because they did not get to see LDK in SF... and so when I was getting my CD, they were like "Oh, you're the one who wanted some extras right?" I had only asked for two but they gave me a total of FOUR extras. The four weren't autographed because I didn't have time to ask them for each one, but it was really great of them to remember :] AND! They found an abandoned cell phone left on stage and waited until someone came to pick it up.

After LDK, we headed back inside and found that the Naruto voice actor panel was in progress. Mike and Diego went to see that while I went back to the hotel to meet up with everyone again. At the Hilton, Richard was playing Megaman and... died... a lot. XD; But it was fun to watch. Then we found it was about time to go again and left.. after which we DIDN'T get lost! : D [end day 2]

[begin day 3]

On Monday my dad drove me to AX with Mike. He was also taking my sister Mei and her freind Tiffany to Disneyland. So we got dropped off really early and just walked around for a while. I called Richard, who wasn't going to be there until around 1:30 or so. We talked for a while and some parts were really confusing! But it was fun :] Eventually, Mike and I went up to the arcade. To my surprise they had Drummania there! But it was 10th mix so they didn't have N.G.S. They had it on Guitarfreaks but since I kind of suck at that I decided not to play it. I was about to try Drummania but then some crazy guy came and got S on all the hardest songs! After watching him I decided I didn't want to anymore. Besides, Drummania and Battle Royale cosplay would look kind of funny. XD

We walked around for a while.. met up with Sarah.. walked some more.. and then we got a call from Richard that he was at the Hilton. But Roscoe wanted to go to the 7-11 and I kind of did too because I wanted a cheap dinner, after all. So Roscoe, Diana, and I started walking. About halfway down the street they made me take off my jacket because I looked like I was dying or something. So I did and we reached the 7-11, where we picked out slurpees (felt so good in the heat!). Instead of buying a cheap dinner at the 7-11 though I went down the street to the Quiznos. I picked out a sandwich and we got back to the hotel. Everyone was like “Alina you look horrible.” And then they were like “You have to get some rest so you can use the bed.”

While everyone else was watching Japanese TV and playing video games, I realized I WAS really exhausted and Richard said I looked like I was dying. He was really nice though and stayed by my side holding my hand :] It was like some Asian drama where the girl is dying of like… AIDS or something~ XDDDD But it was sweet nonetheless. I ended up falling asleep a couple of times but each time I woke up he was still there. I felt kind of bad that he was just sitting there when he could play video games or whatever but he said it was okay ^^; After I got up I was kind of leaning on his shoulder and… I fell asleep AGAIN! But this time Richard got up and I fell over! XDDD It was really embarrassing but kind of funny. But what was more funny was...! I was kind of resting and Richard was like "You're so cute, Lisa" or something like that~ Then all of a sudden I realized... "Wait who's Lisa??" And Kaori almost killed him. But after he insisted that it was because Simpsons was on the TV and he was watching the episode everything was okay. XD

We decided to go back to the convention center. Sarah got dressed in a leopard costume, while Diana was in Nobuta cosplay. Sarah was so cute in the leopard cosu.. she was trying to hop in circles around us but it didn't really work out so well. XD

Rawr

While walking around in the Dealer's Hall, Sarah was taking a picture of some cosplayers. But, Richard kind of jumped into the picture so as punishment, one of the cosplayers did this.

I think Richard was trying to beat him away with that free fan we got from the renai game booth. But I was tempted to say something like.. "Richard! You're cheating on me??" XDDDDDDD

Sarah and Ayu liked these two guys but were too shy to ask for a picture. So they made Richard go take a picture of them instead! It was kind of awkward and I think the guys were like WTH but it was still funny. XD I ended up going with him just because he looked like he really didn't want to ask them ^^;

"....."

We found a Battle Royale cosplay group - there was Kiriyama, Mimura, and Motobuchi! They asked to take a picture with us. So we did!

:] Motobuchi looks exactly like in the movie!

Afterwards we talked about our costumes and such - apparently the group made all of their collars themselves! They turned out really good, especially for homemade. The cosplayers were really nice, and after we admired each others' costumes we continued exploring Dealer's Room. We then saw another cosplay!

The iPod man!

I believe I saw him with an "out of battery" sign as well on a sepearte day. But of course there was another cosplay that was a kind of "must-see" at AX this year...!

yo yo yo XDDDD

Well anyway we went back to the Hilton and I ate my Quiznos sandwich, and then Ayu, Sarah, Kira, Diana, and I went down to the lobby to take pictures! Unfortunately I felt dizzy for the first time in my life so I don't think I looked my best. XD;

Nobuta and Yuko

Sarah and me

Sarah, Kira, and Ayu

Sarah really likes this picture of me

Group picture

This was back at lunch but I just thought I'd throw it in as my emo-onigiri-eating skills? XDDDD Because Anders says I look emo... o_o;

At the end of the day I had a migraine so Richard ran to the nearest place selling advil and got it to me before we left. We ended up having to take like 4 detours so we didn't get home until very late.

[end day 3]

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Sunday, July 9, 2006

Anime Expo Day 1 (of 4)

I'll be doing this one day at a time because it's simply so long. This being my first convention, I was probably overly excited about everything. But that's okay right? There will be lots of pictures! (And since my layout is so small they carry over into the sidebar just a little.. sorry~ Maybe a few videos from the second and last day. Soooooo....

here goes~ Sarah slept over at my house the night before the convention started, and that night we were trying to finish up my Battle Royale skirt. I made so many mistakes that my mom was just like "Here go play a game and I'll just finish this for you" (haha how sad). And so we did. We played quite a few rounds of Super Bust-a-move 2! In the end, we went to sleep at around 2:00 - we had planned to sleep really early but I wanted to help my mom sew (took until 11:30 or so), Sarah wanted to draw, I wanted to print out a BR map, and we just talked a lot too (of course).

The morning of the convention came and we prepared quickly. Sarah was in her Loveless costume (kind of) and I was in my Battle Royale costume. After a hurried breakfast, Mike came with Diego to pick us up. The ride to the convention center wasn't actually too long, but that might have been because Sarah and I were listening to Plastic Tree's new album so the time went by faster? :] We got to the center without getting lost (!!) and headed towards registration. We found Richard (Sarah got to meet him for the first time) and he said that he had saved us a spot in registration with James. Richard was in BR cosplay as well, so Sarah took this picture of us :D

:3 My friend told me I should have been Sakura and he could be Kazuhiko After we got our badges we met up with Lynda, and went to the second floor to wait for the Dealer's Room to open, and for Mike to get out of the registration line (he had to go in the seperate one). I got to talk to James for the first time, and I was going to take a picture of Richard, James, and Sarah all together, but Ricahrd was beeing camera shy. James looks a little suspicious >_> We got rather bored so we decided to go down to the first floor again and look for our friends. I was able to see Anders again! I've only met up with him twice so I was happy. He was in a school-boy costume that was supposed to be An-Cafe... but the rest of the group didn't really get the items for the cosplay in time. I also got to meet up with Janet, Anders' freind, for the first time. She was really nice and dressed in decora! It was so cute :] I was also able to meet Reiko, one of my blogging buddies. Her costume was very nice~ When I met her, we were gong to take a picture, and she said something like.. "I didn't know you were this short..." XD Anders and Sarah - two schoolboys? XD Janet Reiko and me Something odd happened to me when we walked through the hallways! A first time experience!! (that's odd? XD) Anyway, I felt a light tap on the shoulder and turned back to see someone I had never met before~ And then, he asked if he could take my picture! I was really nervous so I think that showed in the picture, but it was kind of fun and interesting. Since I had never cosplayed before (or even been to a con before), I wasn't expecting any of that. But it was kind of exciting~! After, I didn't feel so awkward, but I still felt nice when people liked my costume enough to want to take a picture :]While we were walking through the hallways, we were stopped by none other than Peelander-Z! They were advertising for their concert that day and let us take pictures with them. (Unfortunately we didn't make it to the concert~) They were so nice too~ They signed my advertisement card and were really amazed. They kept asking "Where did you get this?" and I told them that someone was handing the cards out to people when we were going out of registration. This is the picture we took with them: :DDDDD Our group kind of seperated from each other and Richard and I went into the Dealer's room. We got a bunch of free posters and the like from different booths, and headed straight to the JPop house booth. I bought a ticket to take a picture with 12012 for $5. Then, we went to the Tofu Records booth and I bought a HYDE concert T-Shirt. It was $25 but I guess for a concert T-shirt it wasn't too bad. It was really pretty and glittery too! I'll take a picture of it later. I also got a free HYDE poster with the shirt.We turned to the other side of the booth and found out that was where HYDE was going to be appearing. So we took a seat and waited... and waited.. and waited. Until we finally found out that he wasn't going to be coming until 4:30 - which was 3 and half hour wait. But it was already getting crowded so we were going to wait... until I realized something! 12012 photos were going to be at 4:00! I met a girl named Monika who promised if they offered autographs or photos she would get some for me, and Richard told me that he would save my place for me :] I felt really really bad for just leaving him there when he didn't even know HYDE but at the same time I was happy~So I wandered around a little while and picked up a free Azumi T-shirt for filling out a survey, looked at some of the shopping and the like, and went out to find Sarah. She was at the Loveless meetup and I went and met Sho, Kaori and Ayu. Everyone looked really cute in their outfits :] It's off center but the quality turned out nice I think~ So we waited around to take a break since everyone had been standing in the burning sun. We talked and hung out and took pictures and whatever. Some of the cute cosplays we saw: We actually saw them earlier but I didn't know where to put them. haha. Family cosplay is really cute! These girls were adorable. We also saw them earlier.. haha. I think we saw two different Hard Gay cosplayers this year! Then Sarah and I headed back to the 12012 booth in a few hours. Sarah bought her ticket and we lined up. I felt so out of place because I was in cosplay and everyone else was dressed VK-ish! Like these two people (they were so cute!) (and omg they were so thin too...) While we were standing in line I dropped a lot of my stuff but we met a nice girl who helped us out. She was dressed in Angelic Pretty, and was quite friendly. After all of our stuff was picked up, we saw this guy with a camcorder panning right across us. Sarah and I just kept talking and laughing so as not to look too weird on camera, but after we all were like "WTH??" Even the girl we met said that she was trying to hide behind us. (but really she was so pretty she didn't have to hide!) So anyway we got towards the front of the line and everything went so fast! They just were like "get up there take a picture and LEAVE" haha - so I didn't really get to talk with them at all. All that was said was "Thank you," and then I got to shake hands :3 I dont' like the way my picture turned out though... I look so dorky.... ._.; I rushed back to the HYDE booth and it was PACKED. But I was able to find my way to Richard and sit down :] HYDE was quite a funny guy. He came on and everyone was screaming for him (and the host taught the audience how to say "HAIDO DAISUKI" >_>). Even with his sunglasses on, he looked pretty shocked by the fan reaction here in America. But anyway, it was funny to hear HYDE answer the questions. He would always be like "Anou.... anou......" and on long questions he would have to ask the translator again what the question was.But what I remember MOST about the interview is... "What influences your fashion?" HYDE looked a little confused, muttered "Anou... eto...." and then... "Nan darou??" So the translator said something like, "Okay let's change the question a little bit. How did you choose what you wore today?" And HYDE looked down at his clothes, and said something to the extent of "Well, I wanted to wear something casual, so I picked comfortable pants, and then found a top to go with it." The crowd laughed - I think they were expecting something really deep. haha. The other question that made us all laugh was about his trip to California. They asked if he had done any sightseeing and he paused, and said... "Kinou.... shoppingu.... desu....." very very slowly. And everyone tried to figure out where he went shopping and they talked and talked trying to find out... until finally, they said, "Well anyway, HYDE went shopping yesterday." HYDE also talked about his album, like what it's theme was (Ai to Shi, or Love and Death), that he worked hard on all the songs so he didn't exactly have a favorite part of it, and that as he gets older he thinks more deeply, which is part of the reason why the religious overtones were apparent in his new album. He also said when asked that everything influences his work and adds to his songs, and that in the past, he would draw the entire song before writing the lyrics, but lately hasn't had to do that. Pictures were not allowed, but HYDE did sign a poster that we could take pictures of afterwards.. Given the choice of silver or gold Sharpies, HYDE chose gold After the HYDE thing, it was about 5 or so, so we walked around for a little while and then went to the lobby of the Hilton. Sarah and Richard were really tired. Sarah fell asleep once, woke up and went to go talk to Ayu, and then Richard fell asleep. But then, we decided to walk to the Dennys for dinner! And Richard left some of his stuff at the Hilton so he had to go back and get it. By the time we got to the Denny's though, Richard kind of already caught up to us XDDD We ended up not eating too much between all 8 (or 9) of us. Richard and I shared chicken with rice and onion rings, Sarah got an order of fries for all of us to share, and I forgot what everyone else got. At the end I was going to pay Richard back but he didn't let me see the receipt so I couldn't. It was like full-out war... and I lost XD After dinner it was almost time to go, so we walked to the Tiffy's and Mike's dad picked us up. We kind of got lost, but it was okay because we were able to see the fireworks from Disneyland :] Sarah got picked up at my house. And then I put away all my stuff and went to sleep. {{END DAY 1}}
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Friday, June 30, 2006

I'm very tired of sewing. Just have to do the lace and then I have my very own BR skirt.
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Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Yesterday we went to Knott's Berry Farm! It was Sergio, Michael Q, Michael P, Brian, Richard, Lien, Joe, Jairo, Michael Q's parents and sister, Sergio's mom, and me. Tickets were only $26 XD We met up in a big group but Richard overshot Knotts by like 20 minutes... so after we all found each other we went in and headed for Ghostrider. The line was surprisingly short, but Richard didn't really want to go on it, and neither did Jairo. They had never been on rollercoasters before! o_o; But we convinced them BOTH to go on and it was pretty fun :]

It was getting pretty hot so we went on Bigfoot Rapids and again there was like no line! I got soaked o_o; But it was nice haha. We went on a couple of other rides and later, Richard and Joe discovered my method of eating pizza at lunch. (For those of you who don't know, lots of oil makes me sick so I use a napkin to get rid of excess oil before eating). And, I got to hear Jairo speak in Spanish! Which he never does at school.. haha. We split up again and this time it was Joe, Richard, Brian, Mike P, and me in one group. Mike wanted a frozen lemonade, and it sounded pretty good so we all decided to look for one! But it was a long process and in the end, we settled for a cherry icee (story on that coming later in the gallery section).

Anyway, a couple of hours and three or four rides later, we passed by the game section, where they had a bunch of overpriced opportunities to win stuff. We noticed in particular a booth that was offering guitars and basses for prizes! We tried to figure out mathematically the optimal position to fire based on the circumstances, but we didn't have our TI's and it was thus impossible. We decided there was no way it could be win-able and moved on. We walked around some more when we learned that Lien wanted a guitar, and it was her birthday so everyone was like "YAY Let's win her a guitar or bass!" Because we weren't sure which one she really wanted (haha). Then Richard told me, "I want to win you a guitar too." But he had no money~ XDDD

So we got to the booth and Brian spent about $25 trying to win but didn't get anything. Mike, on the other hand won in 3 turns and decided to ask for a bass for Lien since the employees were ticked at us and we thought we should hurry and decide. (We later found out she wanted a guitar and traded it in). Joe spent some money and didn't get anything. Richard asked me for some money to try to get me a guitar and promised to pay me back, so I reluctantly gave him $5 and asked Brian to give him $1 so that he could get two turns instead of just one. On the first turn he missed but the second was PERFECT! I was so happy~ I was even happier than when I got my dress from cosmates! :3 So I got this blue guitar.

My dad looked over the guitar and he said it was pretty decent, especially for only $6! My mom also said she would get me guitar lessons because I only know a little as of now. Hmm.. Kathy hates me for this haha.

Anyway Richard and I went off to eat dinner and then Joe and Brian joined us later. Eventually most of the group was in the restaurant but at the end it was just Richard, Jairo and me. We met up with the others, did a few more things, and went on Ghostrider one more time before leaving. We did a little last minute shopping and Joe got some awesome plastic swords, and then we left. We were all pretty dead. xD; Richard rode home in the back of the SUV and then my parents drove us home from Lien's house.

Oh and, I'll rant about cosplay some other time. I'm kind of tired now xD

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Saturday, June 24, 2006

Well I still haven't finished my skirt and AX is in a week! I have to finish basting the pleats, then do the hem and the top part. And you know how many pleats are in a pleated skirt!?!? ;fdajkaja Oh and let's not forget that the needle basically HATES me and I can't cut thread because I'm left handed and left handed people don't get scissors. I must have poked my finger with the needle 10+ times by now.. ;o; Needles hurt! And bleeding makes me nervous! I don't want to get blood all over my raburi BR skirt! *sigh*

I'm so busy~! After I sew the pleated skirt I have to do the petticoat part meaning going out to buy fabric and seing lots of stuff again! a;klgjghafl; I better finish. I'll just have to discipline myself. But, it's hard to do when you're as horrible at sewing as I am.

At least my badge came today though. It's really cute~! It's got a bunny and a cat on it :3 And it has Akenon printed in BIG LETTERS :D haha. It also has my full name, city, and state so hopefully I won't end up with a bunch of stalkers. Richard's worried that there will be a lot of guys hitting on me because I'll be wearing a school uniform.. haha. Anyway, I was a little worried the badge wasn't going to come. It was getting late, after all. But it came so I'm happy! :]
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Thursday, June 22, 2006

Today I cried so much my face hurt.
Because, when I cry, I grin.
Grinning a lot hurts my cheeks.
So, my face was hurting.
It must be how those tour guides feel after a day of work.

On a happier note, I'm preparing for AX now.
12012 is going to be there!
I'm very excited.
But, I don't exactly know what they mean by "focus panel"
I think it's an interview.
But the one for CLAMP lasts very long ;o;
It interferes with my plan to get 12012's picture and autograph.
So, I might leave focus panel early.
I do want to see CLAMP though..
Apparently CLAMP's autographing will be raffled.
I'm not a lucky person at all so I don't have much hope for that.
Anyway, here are some of the programming events I am looking forward to:

(day 1)
1. CLAMP Focus Panel?
1.5 12012 signing/photos
2. Random Ninjas concert
3. ABJD World Intro to Asian Ball Joint Dolls (aka Dollfies!!)

(day 2)
4. Mick Takeguchi focus panel
5. Tomoki Kyoda focus panel
6. Yutaka Izubuchi focus panel
7. GoH focus panel
8. Azumi Panel (!!!!)
8.5 12012 (second signing? :])
9. Lemon Drop Kick Performance*

(day 3)
10. GoH focus panelx2
11. Free time and shopping :D

(day 4)
12. GoH Free4All Autographs
13. Last minute deals
14. Secondary panels

*My friends wanted to see LDK at Fanime but they didn't get to.
I heard that the band was handing out free CDs
So I messaged them.

Hello!
I can't wait for AX!
Um.. I have a couple of questions though!
Will you be autographing CDs? :3
And~ my friends will not get to see you.
But, I'm sure you have a limited amount of CDs.
So, I'm interested in buying two extra CDs
when I see your live because
I do not want to just take 3 from you
without giving you anything~ ;A;
Is that okay?
If it is not, thank you anyway
Thanks in advance.
Alina

I got a response back within hours from the band!

Hey Alina,

This is Justin from Lemon Drop Kick responding to your comment...

We don't sell the CDs -- we just give 'em out. How many we give out depends on how many we have time to make. They're nothing special -- just CD-Rs with the four MySpace songs on 'em. They DO have a pretty label, though.

If we have enough (and if I remember -- feel free to remind me a day or two before AX), we'll definately try to hold a couple extra aside for you. Worst case scenario, we run out, we get your address (or your friends') and we mail the CDs out to you!

We'll also be more than happy to sign whatever you want. Just come up to any of us and ask!

See you at AX!

Justin
LDK

They're really nice :]
I want to meet them!
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Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Sometimes I wonder how I was thrown into this.
It started well enough, just like any other thing.
I believe that things are predetermined.
But I don't know why that they're happening this way.
If things turn out badly, I don't know what I'll think.

EDIT: Sorry for these weird little short cryptic posts. Hopefully things will get better soon.
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Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Life kind of sucks sometimes.
I don't like not knowing what's going to happen..
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Sunday, June 18, 2006

Gothic Lolita :D
So Richard told me last week that my dress had arrived! Of course I wanted to see him right away (and see the dress) but I had to wait until Friday when I had time to go out (to the 98 cent store as always).

In the time between Saturday and Friday, I was on livejournal a lot. I happened to see a very nice red plaid skirt with white lace and ribons on the EGL community! And for a good price - DIRECT SALE EVEN!! It was $25~ which is good for ANY skirt, let alone a gothic lolita skirt.

The only problem was that you had to pay with paypal and I don't have an account. So I asked the seller a few questions first - what the measurements are, what the shipping to California would cost.. and it turned out that she was in California as well - even in the LA area! So we talked a little more and it turned out she lived pretty close to me. She even goes to the same college as Richard!

So, we made arrangements to exchange at the 98 cent store where I was going to pick up the dress for Richard. We met each other all at the same time, so I got a skirt AND a dress on the same day! :D

Because I promised enin pictures, I'll post them up here. But the picture with the red skirt makes me look SOOOOO FAT. Maybe I should diet a little~ Or just buy one size bigger T-Shirt lol. By the way I suck at mirror pictures. Most of them turned out blurry because my flash made the picture really really bad quality! XD;;;

The skirt with my "Lost in Wonderland" Hello Kitty T-shirt. EWWW I LOOK FAT AND UGLY. But the skirt is nice! And it's also very comfortable. With built-in tulle to make it puffy :D


My super lacy two-piece that is considered "cosplay lolita" by the EGL community. It's generally looked down upon but I think it's really pretty. The skirt fits a lot better than I thought it would (my waist was about an inch bigger than the maximum XD) and although I'm not used to being in such frilly clothing it was a nice piece - not too uncomfortable (or heavy! XD) as I thought it would be.
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