Thursday, June 2, 2005

Shout-Outs... At Last!

Comments! May 26th James: I've a feeling you can order the Super Show DVDs from Amazon UK- I think they're Jetix special releases. I'll have a look and send you a link, hehe. Shinmaru: Well, it's either them or Bob Hoskins and John Leguizimo... KeiKei: I loved the Super Mario World series, if only because I used to be somewhat of a Yoshi fan when I was younger, heh. And thank you ^_^ Arcadia: Yeah, there are things I really need to know about a story before I can finish it- the end conflict certainly. But I still find myself getting too far in to the smaller details of it. I've found in the past that I've needed to completely rewrite entire stories on a tiny technicality, and I want to make sure I get things right first time. And I'm sure I'll be asking for help before long. I want to try it out in RPG format and see how that works ^_^ I've something else planned for the Arena, too... 28th May Pyrophobic: Things are okay, I was just feeling kind of... reflective, heh. And accepting of a certain feeling of loneliness, too. But yeah, I play computer games to enjoy them, not necessarily to win. I like being able to overcome a challenge ^_^ Raven8763: *hugs* I know exactly how you feel. But it doesn't do well to dwell on mistakes and regrets. Hevn: Yeah, exactly ^_^ *hugs* 29th May Crucifix: I was wearing hand armour, that's the thing ^_^; I just need better stuff, heh. Mimmi: It's doing okay now ^_^ Still a little swollen, and it's irritating the hell out of me by being so noticeable, but it's gradually feeling as if it's clearing up. Hevn: I still have my nail, heh. Although I'm not looking forward to when it does eventually drop off... Pyrophobic: ^_^; I screamed much less than I expect I would if I were giving birth. There's time yet, though... Shinmaru: I've broken my little finger before, but I hadn't actually noticed how much I use my thumb in tiny but incredibly important ways during every day processes. I can't turn my car keys, and my GameCube skills are suffering somewhat. Bleh >.> Raven8763: It was a great fight, yeah ^_^ I was really enjoying it. MolatovCocktease: Sorry ^_^; May 31st Mimmi: Twatball is better with vegetables than being rugby-tackled, heh ^_^; That is, unless the people you're being tackled by happen to be rather attractive... *squishes* Hevn: I am, heh. And I can upload the picture if you really want ^_^; It's not very pretty, though. And I'm at a friend's house at the moment, hence the Shout-Outs. Shinmaru: Twatball's origins extend to the Herstmonceaux event last year... and I think we'll be seeing it again, too ^_^ Urgh, I'm glad the nurse I had knew what she was doing, though. It went very smoothly in all. DeathBug: *blush* Oh, I wouldn't do that with my thumb... I'd need a big attractive scar on my chest for pulling ^_~ Pyro: *hugs* I'm glad I went through with it, too. Even though it's still pretty swollen, at least a great deal of the immediate pressure was alleviated. I don't want to think how annoying it'd be if it wasn't done. Roxie: Unfortunately it was my writing thumb, yeah. I've not had to write anything much for a while, though- luckily my coursework's all typed. Saves me a job ^_^; The tournament's pretty simple- I'm just a man-at-arms who supports my knight (Sir Gavin, for this season). Basically I go in whenever I'm called to fight whoever I'm called against. It's not got a really formal structure. Well, here I am, at last finally able to view comments and Dead-Seraphim and everything affiliated with it... ...at Jeremy's house. Mine's still a dead zone for anything I'm remotely involved with (Hotmail stopped working for a while the other day, too). Still, I'm going to complain to Tiscali shortly and hopefully get it all straightened out. I went to a nightclub last night- the same one I went to some months ago. And I still had a really good time, surprisingly. I like Alternative nights ^_^ The people there were all pretty cool and there was nobody who really looked as if they'd come out of the wrong side of an argument against a truck. And (and this is the bit I find most enervating) I went out to dance. I was surprised how little there was to it, really. To my surprise (and, to be honest, probably more because of my jacket and the fact that I was with Lawrence than anything else), a couple of girls acually came over specifically (to begin with) dance with me. They went and danced with about six other people afterwards, but I saw them pointing actally at me before they came onto the dance floor. I hardly consider it a great place to look for potential partners, though. I don't like clubbing and I guess most of the people there just want to affirm their physical being by rubbing up against people they don't know. It's all pretty crude to me, but at least I proved to myself that I'm not the hapless loner that I sometimes perceive myself to be ^_^ Stank of cigarettes afterwards, though. Hate that >.> Little else has been happening, otherwise. I'm due to order R.O.D The TV Volume 3 on Saturday, and I really can't wait. I love it ^_____^ FMA's going to have to wait, though. If I start with the UK releases, I can catch up with the US DVDs at a later date... it's all coming to plan now *sneak sneak* *hugs tightly* Hope you're all doing well. Please give Mimmi your love and hugs. See you soon ^_^

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Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Recovery Period

I'd wanted to be able to see comments so I could catch up on all the Shout-Outs I have left to do, but it's been ages since I've been able to see any... Anyway, I can only assume that everyone was being kind and supportive to me over my thumb, heh ^_^; Being There... There's something about hospitals that's hard to discern. To me, it's like a strange kind of serenity that's completely filled with nervous anticipation and memories of past experiences. We (my mum and I) sat in the waiting room for about ten minutes before I got called up to the nurse for an initial assessment. She said I should head off to X-Ray to check it wasn't broken, no bone chips had come off, etc. She also explained to me that I could have the nail drilled if I chose to. I didn't realise there was a choice, heh. Rather sheepishly, I asked whether the procedure would help alleviate the pain a bit, and she said that yes, it would in the long-run. She also explained that it would hurt, and asked me if I wanted to go ahead with it. I said yes, even though I didn't want to. A guy in the X-Ray department recognised me by my jacket, heh- he works in the Tesco petrol station in Chichester. It's funny that when you're in a similar situation to someone else, even when it's something like a broken limb, you find a common sense of understanding with which to talk to one another. I suppose being hurt gives you a different perspective on things, if only for a little while. Anyway, the X-ray went really quickly. Everyone had pretty much the same reaction when I told them how it happened: "I was hit by a sword." Reaction A: "Ooh, that's interesting." Reaction B: "Ah, now that's unusual." Reaction C: "Judging by your jacket, that doesn't surprise me" I'd literally just sat back down in the main reception area after dropping off my scans that I was called back up again, this time for the procedure proper. "Wait, I forgot my block of wood!" I was really nervous about all this. I had no idea what kind of machinery they'd use. I half-expected a pillar drill-esque piece of apparatus linked to a vacuum pump to suck everything out. The nurse sat me down and returned with a tiny (albeit incredibly sharp) needle and a piece of gauze. She took my thumb, explained what she was going to do, and started drilling the needle into my thumbnail. To begin with I couldn't feel anything much, but I knew that any moment I was going to be 'immersed in some horrible, searing pain'. I began to feel nauseous, and she asked me if I wanted her to continue. I said yes, but immediately afterwards I felt as if I was going to faint. Head-between-the-knees treatment for me, then. It was a horrible, body-churning sensation more than anything else. I'd meant to bring my NEO Magazine to help me take my mind off it, but it just slipped my mind. While I continued trying to squish the blood through the hole in my nail, the nurse went to get me a cup of tea to alleviate my wooziness. She said I was doing very well and was brave to have decided to go through with it in the first place, which surprised me as I thought I was actually being pretty useless. Still, once we got to a point where I could do the rest myself, I went back home, gauze in hand, and ready to start tomorrow's tournament... Lessons Learned? No, I didn't fight. My thumb wouldn't fit inside the gauntlet, it was so swollen >.> I spent most of the time marshalling; telling people to stay behind the blue rope lest they get smashed by a knight. It started raining pretty heavily, though, which meant that our second tournament was delayed and that there were very few members of the general public to watch anyway. Once the ground had dried off Duncan and I played 'Paddlewhack', which equates to a very early version of Badminton. Soon afterwards, though, our game was interrupted by the advent of... TWATBALL! Much like rounders/baseball, there are four bases (we used bucklers) set up in a square on the field. There's a bowler, who throws a ball (duh) and a batsman, who hits the ball with a warhammer. Once the batsman has hit the ball with the warhammer, it's his objective to run around the bases while the fielders pelt him with fruit and vegetables- if he gets hit, he's out, and if he manages to get round all four he wins a point. Nobody ever got all the way round, heh. We did run out of vegetables, though, so we had to resort to rugby tackling instead. Reenactors are not people you joke around with when it comes to tackling, either. I feared for my life at certain points ^_^; It was really good fun, though. And my thumb remained safe, heh. Now, it's looking incredibly black and is one-and-a-half times the size of my normal thumb. The nail feels like it's starting to dislocate itself now. I'll admit that I'm not looking forward to the twelve or so months it'll take to grow back, but it could have been a lot worse. Now, I have thingies to do. Thank you, everyone ^_^

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Sunday, May 29, 2005

No Pain, No Pain
I have to go to Accident and Emergency, heh.

I took a rather nasty hit with a sword during the second tournament today, and I'm preparing myself for what someone called 'the most painful thing ever experienced'.

Thank god my thumb isn't broken, heh. It took a full-on hit with a hand-and-a-half sword- my thumb was cut open and the nail's gone incredibly black. Now I need to have the nail drilled and the blood drained out.

I am really hating this ^_^;
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Saturday, May 28, 2005

I've... had... the time of my life...

It's Jeremy's birthday today, and in celebration we (along with some of his friends from London and further) went to his house for swimming and Halo LAN parties! To be honest, it's the best time I've ever had at a party. Admittedly there was a lot of swearing and incredible amounts of stress during Halo (Jeremy doesn't really take losing well- it was only when I almost lost my racket at him for getting so annoyed that he calmed down a bit), but even so there were some incredible experiences. In Other News... (Aside from still not being able to view comments/d-s,s-p and all that jazz...) It can be hard to know when to say exactly the right thing. More often that not when I've needed to say something I haven't, which has led to problems; or in other cases I'll say the wrong thing and become misinterpreted. I remember everything I say and do to people, and the mistakes I make play on my mind for months afterwards. I guess that's why I spend so much time daydreaming to my music- I play out everything I want to say to people and try to gauge the effects. I probably underestimate myself- more often than not I do say the right thing, but the things that didn't go so well for whatever reason just stick that much more. At least I know that I said the right thing yesterday, anyway. I'm glad of that. And even though I wasn't expecting anything from it I was still pleased that I managed to assess the reaction perfectly. Some other time, I guess. *hugs* P.S. Yes, I know I'm being cryptic. Sorry, heh. I'm more than a little tired ^_^; Not that that's a bad thing- Lady ea called me during the night and we had a great conversation, but it has left me rather short on my necessary restings. Takies care ^_^

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Thursday, May 26, 2005

*collapse*

Comments! 21st May JJRiddler: I'm not one to keep up with fashions ^_~ It's been at least six years since I bought anything in the music charts. Shinmaru: A friend of mine has a DVD of the Mario Bros Super Show. I've never seen a more disturbing branch of the Nintendo franchise. Lady Lea: From what I've heard, he's not really my type of singer either. And I couldn't take him seriously with that name anyway, heh. Lady Kei: Same with me and pop music, heh. As soon as I found soundtracks (and that's one thing I can actually thank Pokemon for) that was it. I don't really buy song albums any more, but I don't mind listening to the odd track or two. Music channels are a big no-no for me, though. Yesserday Shy: ^_^; I always think of you when I see that word. But I was actually tied between Shy, Sweet and Soft- they just needed to label me *shakes fist at oppressors* Arcadia: No identity crisis is a good identity crisis, heh. Raven8763: Go you ^_~ Whack 'em and whack 'em and whack 'em! I had re-enactment training for the first day in a long time yesterday evening, and I really enjoyed it. Paul's incredibly impressed with my swordfighting skills, and it means so much to me that he thinks that. He even suggested that I'd be able to competently take Derren on, but I think that might be jumping the gun a little, heh ^_^; I still have a habit of falling into certain combinations of moves, but I can break out of that given enough time and practice. I can't wait to get onto quaterstaff work ^___________^ I did get hit in the face yesterday, though. Well, I say 'hit', it was more of a glancing blow/graze. I will be more careful to block overhead next time... I slept in until half ten this morning- the first lie-in I've been able to have in far too long. I've an incredibly busy five days ahead of me; the only consolation of which being that it's half-term afterwards so I an laze about all I want. Coolies ^_^ Naz-un-real I'm stuck on stupid story technicalities at the moment. They seem pretty trivial, but if I don't know what they are then I can't get started on how everything fits together. It seems unnecessary to have all the little details mapped out like this, but I've become so involved with the workings of it that I can't work further until I know what they are. Specifically what they should eat, what kind of creatrures they use for transport (being anthropomorphic characters makes it difficult to explain how some creatures evolved while others didn't, so just using horses doesn't seem realistic) and where the hell Nazreal's power comes form in the first place. That's the biggie. Once I have an ending, I can work backwards from there to get the general idea of plotline and then fit in everything else I want to include afterwards. It's so confusing. Ave Arena... I want to start RPGing again, but until I can finally get this blasted "don't-want-to-access-your-favourite-websistes" mentality out of our network I'll only be able to see them every two days for about an hour and a half, which gives me no time to do anything else I need to. There's always something wrong with these damned PCs... Hopefully I'll find something decent to talk about next time I can access MyO. I can't help feeling I sound like a broken record a lot of the time...

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Wednesday, May 25, 2005

I R DO BEE STEALED FROM TEH MIMMIMIMS!!1111!!1!1

You scored as Shy. You are shy, cute...but shy. There are a lot of people that find you attractive but you just aren't sure what to do. Soft 69% Shy 69% Sweet 69% Violent 38% Hot 31% Exciting 19% Awkward 19% Wet 19% What is your sexual style? created with QuizFarm.com

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Saturday, May 21, 2005

Stealedar from teh Ajeh!

Your dating personality profile: Stylish - You do not lack for fashion sense. Style matters. You wouldn't want to be seen with someone who doesn't care about her appearance. Adventurous - Just sitting around the house is not something that appeals to you. You love to be out trying new things and really experiencing life. Big-Hearted - You are a kind and caring person. Your warmth is inviting, and your heart is a wellspring of love. Your date match profile: Practical - You are drawn to people who are sensible and smart. Flashy, materialistic people turn you off. You appreciate the simpler side of living. Adventurous - You are looking for someone who is willing to try new things and experience life to its fullest. You need a companion who encourages you to take risks and do exciting things. Shy - You are put off by people who are open books. You are drawn to someone who is a bit more mysterious. You want to draw her out of her shell and get to know what she is all about. Your Top Ten Traits 1. Stylish 2. Adventurous 3. Big-Hearted 4. Athletic 5. Liberal 6. Practical 7. Intellectual 8. Wealthy/Ambitious 9. Shy 10. Funny Your Top Ten Match Traits 1. Practical 2. Adventurous 3. Shy 4. Athletic 5. Big-Hearted 6. Intellectual 7. Stylish 8. Conservative 9. Traditional 10. Funny Take the Online Dating Profile Quiz at Dating Diversions I'm not sure I entirely agree... some of the questions were a little ambiguous. It wasn't wrong as such, but I thoughtosme things probably should have had better precedence, in my mind. And there weren't enough 'middle ground' answers. I won't even get started on the 'Loneliness Quotient' test. Load of crap, as far as I'm converned. Still can't view comments, dead-seraphim.net or Hevn/Lady A's sites and OB frequently still fails on me. Does anyone else still have the same problem? EDIT: Ironically, just after I posted this, everything started working again >.> Typical. It's still only all free every three days or so. D-S and Hevn's site never work for me, though. It makes me muchly sad -__-; Comments: May 18th Shinmaru: I was hoping you were going to say something, actually ^_^ I noticed there was a scenario for the fight set up (or introduced, as perhaps I should say) by the announcer, but I still have problems suspending my disbelief enough to become comfortable with the fighting style. I'm not someone who typically overexaggerates things to that extent, and something just doesn't sit right when I watch it, heh. It's the structure of the fights, too- they keep getting back up when, from the extent of the cries of their 'injuries', it seems as if they break something every single time. I know for a fight to be properly entartaining there has ot be sense of unrealistic strength, but from what I've seen of wrestling so far it's almost bloody Shakespearean. It's just not my thing, heh ^_^; Crucifix: *is floofed* It wasn't centred specifically around anime as such- this was the first year they've had any of it -but it got a surprisingly good showing. if you want something entirely anime-centric, you need to bok up for Ayacon, which is in Warwick sometime in August. I can't make it to that, though. Perhaps next time, heh. It was really good fun, though ^_^ 19th May James: Indeed I did have a good time, hehe. It's always best to go (or at least meet up) with someone, though. It's not the kind of place I'd feel very comfortable alone in. Jam-packed full of people, and the experience is always best to share with someone you're close to, heh. Alan: I miss you too! I've not been able to see Dead-Seraphim for months now, nor Hevn's site. And I've been too busy for AIM... But thank you, heh. I'm not entirely sure what to do with the game- I'm not a great one for games with monthly registration fees, or ones that won't actually work on my computer... Hevn: Mmm, lurve de piccytures ^_^ I'm a little conscious about my teeth, though. And hair. And stomach. I know I shouldn't be, but it's hard not to when you've lived with them for 19 years and know what they've got the potential to be ^_^; Well, not so much with the teeth... DeathBug: *smug smug* Good to see you again, friend ^_^ rustym: Thankies ^_^ Raven8763: Hehe, it was quite an experience. I recommend it ^_~ MistressRoxie: Ah, thanks for the costume info ^_^ My curiosity has been satiated. I'm still determined to finish my Digimon fic 'Dark Conflict' (it needs revising desperately), and the series will always hold special memories for me. It's been ages since I've watched it, actually... *hugs FMA* Mmm, I loves it. Pity the DVD releases are so far apart, though. Read or Die the TV I can complete pretty quickly, which is nice. But FMA has 51 episodes... and a movie. It's not broadcast here, either. Maybe I should just freeze myself until all the DVDs are available ^_^; Hehe, now I'm jealous! All those voice actors... *drools* EDIT 2: Does anyone else find it incredibly surreal that there's a singer called 'Mario'?

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Thursday, May 19, 2005

Addendum

Comments (as of this morning):

Heart of Sword: It was, very cool ^_^

---

I forgot to mention some things about the second day of the Expo-

While I was standing around the MVM stand looking at a Tsukihime poster I'd just picked up, a Japanese girl in a Sailor Moon outfit suddenly thrusts a fortune cookie into my hand along with a subscription form to NEO Magazine.

I'd had one of the fortune cookies earlier that day- they didn't taste particularly nice, but filled a hole that can only be filled by tasteless papery wafer thingies. Inside I expected to find a fortune (and with them being fortune cookies, that doesn't sound too outrageous), but the first cookie gave me a 'Better Luck Next Time', which, though ironically what I expected a fortune cookie to tell me, puzzled me.

The guy at the NEO stand explained that they were holding a sort of giveaway thing- you took a fortune cookie and if you had a prize, you... had a prize.

This second one, planted into my hand quite forcefully by this girl, opened up and revealed to me something a lot more promising:

"Come to our stand and see what you've won!"

I wandered over, where I talked to the person behind the display. There was a special offer on the Magazine that day- three issues for a fiver, tral run sort of thing -which I went for. After I signed up, she asked if I had a PC. I said yes.

She then produced a copy of The Matrix Online from behind the desk and handed it to me.

I could hardly believe it. Nor will my computer, when it sees the specifications.

And Finally...
There's one good thing I really can say about the Expo.

I have completely and utterly fallen in love...

...with Fullmetal Alchemist. It is one of the absolute best things I've ever seen and I love it.

Main details of the second part of the Expo are below ^_^
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Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Expoday the Secondness

Comments! (for at last I can actually read them...) Shinmaru: Jeremy was incredibly excited about seeing Warrior there, heh. He had signed figures for sale for about £30 each... Jeremy just wanted to talk, though. It made very little difference to me, except actually seeing a wrestler in person made me not want to air my thoughts about it within their earshot... Annsie: Yes, many pics have and shall you see! [BTW, the better pictures of me are in today's lot ^_~] MistressRoxie: Indeedily-do! It's much easier to put them in with my nifty digital camera. Otherwise it'd take me hours... Mimmi: Certainly ^_~ Crucifix: It would have been fantastic to see you. There's plenty more time for that, though. Don't lose heart ^_~ Monkey Orange: I'm glad to hear you're doing okay ^_^ There was a fair amount of One Piece stuff at the Expo, by the way. Soundtracks, a few posters... and nothing of the dub sight ^_~ Raven8763: Heh, I'm more pleased with the ones in today's lot (even though one of them is a bit blurred). I don't think I look right when pictures are taken of me with the flash. But thank you ^_^ *hugs* Lady Lea: *hugs* Me too ^_^ rustym: Hehe, he could have been ^_~ Secret anime fan him... Panda: *squishy hug* Ah, I feel silly now. I was right next to him so many times! Ah well... if he's at the one in October I'll cathim then. It seems stupid that none of the stewards knew who he was, though. Sometime I intend to go to a convention in the US, and meet up with as many people as I possibly can ^_^ Mimmi: *salutes happily* Oh yes, it was crammed full of events. Less happened in the second day, but it's more of a talking point for me *points down* Let's PAR-TEH! I wasn't entirely sure what the party was going to entail. I'd read a couple of people's posts in the Expo's own forum to try and get an idea of what was going to happen, but it was mostt was people talking about meeting up. I didn't have enough time to join and say anything at the time (and nor did I think it a particularly good idea to jump head first into a group of people I hadn't met before), so I was still at a loss as to what the atmosphere would be. Jeremy and I sat in our bedroom for a couple of hours to wind down after the hubbub of the Expo's first day of activity. It was actually a very comfortable place, although we were only able to afford a single-bed room between us. We figured one of us should be able to sleep on the couch when we chucked our bags in before the Expo, but when we returned the sofa had mysteriously been folded into a bed. It meant only one thing... This hotel had ROOM FARIES! ... Erm, anyway, it was incredibly modern, with a bathroom that you could fit into a wardrobe. Seriously, there's no wasted space in there whatsoever. What I thought was a towel rail gave me the fright of my life when it turned out to be the door for the shower. You wouldn't have thought you could squeeze so much into one space whilst not making it feel claustrophobic. Nice one, Novotel designers. It even had a (hideously expensive) minibar. The dress code for the party was 'Smart, casual or costume'. Seeing as my clothes (my jacket specifically) could have been listed as any of the above, I decided to change my T-Shirt and pretty much go as I was. It was twilight when we stepped across the concrete path to the more posh hotel where we figumost of the stars'd be staying. It had a large foyer with two meaty (but very well-kept) looking bouncers ushering people into right places. When we got up the stairs we were greeted by a women in a red dress who ticked our names off the list (she had problems finding mine >.>) and pointed us towards the bar. A drink of orange juice later, Jeremy and I were standing in the hallway between the 'quiet' room and the 'disco'. It seemed like the kind of party I'd always dreamed of going to- no loud, raucous music, nobody (so far) being blind drunk and falling off their arse and onto someone else's- it was groups of friends talking to each other and looking as if they were having a thoroughly good time doing so. And you coult up and dance too, if you wanted. We bumped into Richard Epcar again, and Jeremy recognised a few of the Enterprise cast and spoke to a couple of wrestlers, which was quite interesting. For the most part, though, Jeremy and I watched. I must admit, there was an ulterior motive for going to a convention such as this- meeting people. I was hoping to at least befriend someone over the course of my visit, but it seemed to me that most of the people who went were either single male science fiction fans or came up with their significant other. It's probably the kind of event where you really need to meet up with someone to get the est chance of integrating with another social circle. As it was, Jeremy and I stood etty much on our own, and I watched everyone dance to the Time Warp, Tragedy, YMCA, The Macarena, and desperately wanting to instantly know the dances so that I could join in. They seem so simple... It's a feeling that I often get- it seems as if I'm always towards the outside of a group of friends I'm with. Be it at college, with the Youth Theatre, at re-enactment- I always watch, thinking that I'd only disrupt the good interaction that the better friends are giving each other. I can hardly expect to be picked up within five minutes of being anywhere, but it speaks volumes to me about my confidence in social situations. And it's probably another reason why I'm not so good at initiating relationships with people who don't already know me well ^_^; I'm sure Jeremy felt the same, so the two of us decided to go back to the hotel room and get an early night. Well, our intention was actually to go to the gym, but it had closed by the time we got there. So we planned out what we were going to spend the remainder of money on the next day. Blanket Terms It took me a while to get to sleep, not just because Jeremy kept leaping on top of me whenever I broke wind. The blankets I had weren't much thicker than a shirt; thankfully it wasn't very cold that night so I didn't have to worry too much, but the bed itself was much more squashy than I was used to. And the pillow wasn't that great, either... if we drive up next time I'll bring my own ^_^ We woke up at something past six, intent on doing half an hour at the gym before breakfast... only to re-discover that we couldn't get the gym and that we had to fill out some kind of form before we could use it. Bugger that, we thought. Breakfast was okay. A little lardy, but substantial enough to keep me going for as long as it needed to. We had another long day ahead, and the journey back with all our extra stuff wasn't going to be easy. Jeremy'd managed to win two lightsabers the day before, which were proving quite a hassle to carry about. The Underground is not a friendly place for lugging luggage... Anyway, we got into the queue at about 8:20am, and although we wreen't first we were a lot closer to the front than we were before. I didn't mind waiting there. There's something rather fulfilling about waiting in a queue for something you really want, even though you are essentially doing sod-all until it arrives. I had time to go back to the hotel and grab my CD player while Jeremy kept my place. X-Japan's Art of Live kept me occupied for a good proportion of the waiting time, and when I wasn't absorbed in music I was taking pictures of Jeremy's Bag or talking to Christie, who exactly the kind of person you want next to you in a queue. She was letting all the traders and stars in through the side entrance just in front of where we were standing, and she was absolutely lovely ^_^ Very very nice person. If you see her, smile widely at her. As soon as we got in, we were greeted by a pair of (then stationary) Daleks, who later on throughout the day were wheeling around the Expo saying random things like "Exterminate!" and "Kill all humans, whooo!" Must have been so hot in those costumes... I scabbed a free Ghost in the Shell poster from the Manga stand and then went to try and find my monetary objectives for the next day- the Black Mage' album and the three Oh! My Goddess DVDs. Unfortunately, they'd sold out of the first OVA DVD, so I didn't see much point in buying the other two. I couldn't make up my mind whether or not to buy the first Chobits DVD, either- in the end I decided against it- I still had other things to buy for my mum and sister. I found a Nightmare Before Christmas bag and baseball cap for mum and a pendant for my younger sister (as well as a stonking new one for myself, too ^_^ I loves it loves it loves it, loves), then got dragged off by Jeremy to watch some of the wrestling. This particular show was brought to us by the FWA- Frontier Wrestling Alliance. The name swooped right over the top of my head and I watched anyway, because having never actually seen a live wrestling event before, I probably shouldn't be as quick to judge the TV shows. In theory. I found it interesting with regards to its choreography- some of the moves pulled off required physical skills I can only dream of, but it was basically hamming up the slightest injury that either of them gained, and it's not something that sits well with me. I didn't think it looked realistic (although some of the falls they did must have hurt, regardless of the hugely sprung floor beneath them). Were it more subtle, I could handle it. But this just isn't my thing. At least the guy I liked won. After that, we'd pretty much exhausted everything there was to do. There were only so many times I could trawl through the anime soundtracks hoping to find something I hadn't come across before in the last three times I'd checked them, or trying to will myself to buy something I wasn't sure I'd actually like. We took some really nice photos against ADV's display wall, though. Here they are ^_^ SoloXephon and RahSolo The first one's a little blurry, but I think they do me justice, heh. After picking up our bags from the hotel, we started trudging our way back to London Victoria through the maze of Underground lines and escalators. Conveniently enough, we only needed one change and a long walk to get to the ExCeL station, so the journey was relatively simple. But it felt incredibly long carrying all that stuff. Aftermath. I took a picture of my hand to show the stamps that we were branded with to show we'd gone in. It was a good weekend. That watch of mine decided to stop working the minute I got into Jeremy's house. Ironically, Mum had only just changed the battery in my other watch, but I can't wear that easily with my metal bands. The price of fashion, eh? There's another London Expo on October 29th/30th. Jeremy wants to go again, and once I've managed to earn up enough money I think it might be nice to try again. There'll be more anime out then, I'm sure, and maybe I can find more voice actors to pester, hehe. For now though, I need to rest. I still feel ill and I can only blame myself for putting so much strain on my body over the last few weeks, heh. C'est la vie, I guess. *hugs* See you soon ^_^ P.S. I apologize for any spelling mistakes- my computer's being stupid and laggy.

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Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Fullmetal Rucksack

Well, I survived the Expo. The update's coming a little later than I anticipated as lots of things suddenly leapt upon me at once, and I wanted to catch up with the Anime Lounge/Manga Workshop backlog that I hadn't been able to deal with. I'm also ill, again. Whereas a few years ago I'd be making myself ill through inactivity, now it's overstressing myself with going everywhere too much. I've been off college all day today and I'm considering taking tomorrow off too. I'll see how I feel later, though. Before I get started with the post proper, some notes. I can't see the comments... again... but there are some things I want to say anyway: Mimmi: Eee, well done with your new job. I'm sure you'll do well ^_^ Kei: Thank you so much for the Lloyd picture *hugs* ^____^ I'm putting it on my wall, hehe. Now, to business. Expo-tainment The preparations for this, my first massive anime social event ever, began much later than they should have done. I didn't pack my bags until after I got back from college on Friday, leaving me with only two hours before Jeremy was due to pick me up, heh. I grabbed everything I thought I'd need and eventually, he picked me up and we set off to his house. Once there, after giving Jeramy's mum some flowers (to thank her for everything) we watched the first Star Wars: Clone Wars DVD, and it was actually much more impressive in a 67-minute animated feature than in three-minute chunks. Not that I'm going to buy it or anything, though. It wasn't that good. I got about five hours' sleep that night. Poor timing on our part, heh ^_^; We wanted to get up to London for 9-ish to get to the Expo for when it opened, which meant geting up at five to shower, shave and all the rest before having to catch a train that we weren't sure about where it was due to arive. We made it in the end, though ^_^ It had just gone ten when we pulled in to the railway station next to the ExCeL centre (I don't know why it's spelt like that, but whenever I was there I was tempted to make Excel Saga jokes. I stopped myself) and it is the biggest bloody building I've ever seen. There are 16 or so conference halls in this place, each about 200 metres (or more) long/wide. Massive massive massive. Our hotel was just opposite, nicely ^_^ We threw our bags into the room and made for the queue. Methought: "Ah, just as well we have FastTrack tickets- we'll get in in no time!" I've never seen more people waiting in two single lines. They snaked all over the complex- I'm sure some must have been there for at least two-three hours. We got in at 10:45 (almost defeating the object of having FastTrack tickets that were meant to get us in an hour before the official 11:00 opening) and I went straight to the Anime Village, passing a disgustingly huge yellow truck used in the movie Nightwatch. Subtle. Anyway, skipping quickly by the Manga store (nothing of particular interest to me there) I ran into a Robotech stand. Almost immediately (and at great inconvenience to people trying to get past) I took a picture of this man, who I can only assume is wearing a Robotech cosplay outfit. It looks more to me like something from Last Exile, but I've never seen Robotech so I can't tell. Can anyone verify? Next to Robotech, behind a very flimsy folding wall, was MVM- distributors of Trigun and Chobits DVDs in the UK and also as of that day (one of my priorities for the weekend) Fullmetal Alchemist and Read or Die: The TV. The shop was literally three tables bundled together around a corner to form an alcove in which two or three rather exasperated people tried to deal with everyone's shopping reqeusts at once. It was always a crush- they had soundtracks, artbooks (including some hentai, which surprised me a little- I'd never be able to buy something like that with so many people stood next to me. Not that I'd buy hentai anyway...) and DVDs. They had someone cosplaying as Edward Elric, handing out leaflets just by the side of the stand, too. I was impressed with the handiwork on her arm, heh. As soon as I asked to take her picture, several others did as well. I hope I didn't start anything too bad... Next to the shop, across the other side of their designated area, they had their display, showing trailers from new releases and things yet to come (Samurai Champloo in particular was a big trailer for pulling crowds). For very short periods at a time they also had posters up for grabs by the TV. I nabbed a Kiddy Krade one and managed to get an FMA one from behind the counter after asking if they had any more left. How nice of them ^_^ I snapped up those two DVDs like a flash along with two Read or Die: TV soundtracks (Taku Iwasaki = ^_______^) and a set of Kenshin postcards, then moved on to ADV. I must admit, I'd expected the scenery for the stalls to be much more... impressive. They were literally bits of white wood stuck on hinges with folding frames. I know it's not exactly E3 or anything, but it looked incredibly bland in places. Things that ADV did have, though, were fantastic wallscrolls- a Rahxephon one and an Evangelion one. I asked what happened to them after the show, and they explained that they were over £1000 EACH, so there wasn't any chance of them being given away as freebies. Next to them was a massive ADV display wall, showing characters from their more well-known (or anticipated, in the case of Saiyuki) series. That cost even more money, apparently ^_^; At that time, though, I was only interested in Chrono Crusade Volume 2, not due for official release until Monday. I boughted it ^_^ Aside from three stallholders running down the wall to the right of ADV and the Playstation 2 stands next to Manga, the only other thing in the 'Anime Village' were the DDR Machines, which were surrounded by a crowd even bigger than MVM's (and considering the two were pretty much right opposite each other with a fairly small walkway between them, this caused many congestion problems). They were noisy, too. Once I'd secured my DVDs and such I blundered around the massive hall for a bit, trying to avoid getting sucked into queues to meet the Enterprise crew or Leonard Nimoy and trying not o look too interested in stuff that people had for sale- lots of sci-fi trading cards there, strangely. I had no idea they were that collectable, or even that they existed. One of the guys from ADV was shouting about a special anime preview- Gravion -being shown in the 'anime theatre' in a couple of minutes' time. I managed to completely forget until I unintentionally wandered in to find people watching an anime series with a lot of girls watching a red-haired guy break into a building. I sat, watched and enjoyed. Then came my first meeting with someone I consider a significant celebrity- Richad Epcar. I didn't know who he was until Jeremy and I ran an IMDB search the night before we came up, and to my shock and amazement I discovered that he'd played Seijiro Hiko in the Kenshin series. He was signing autographs at a table by the Manga stand- I didn't know it was a queue at first, until I took a peek at what everyone was waiting for. Readying one of my Kenshin postcards, I waited eagerly for him to sign it for me (my sister, actually- I asked him to address it to her, which he did ^_^). It was quite an experience, but I feel a little silly about it now- I must have come across as an idiot. Maybe everyone tends to think that about themselves when they come across someone who they really look up to, but I still think I could have presented myself better, heh. I get flustered quite easily at times ^_^; After that, and after meeting up with some impressive cosplayers, Jeremy and I found each other (he'd been getting autographs from Matt Hardy and Rob Van Dam) and we went for lunch. The queue was still there by lunchtime, although since the FastTrack people had all gone in, there was only one line of anxious-looking people trailing across the complex. It still stretched back a very long way, as did our search for food. It was muchly worth it, though- I had one of the best toasted sandwiches I've ever tasted- roast beef with mushrooms, lettuce onions and cheddar cheese. It shall forever live on in my memory. After coming back inside, I watched a Presentation on the latest Robotech series, which did look very impressive. Had I but seen the rest of it, I'm sure I'd be more interested... but Richard Epcar was there too. I asked around for Tom Bateman to tell him 'Panda says Hi' but nobody knew who he was. I thought it'd be rude to ask the guy giving the presentation if that him, but I'd have thought the people at the information desk would have known who was talking anyway. Ah well. Looking around in more detail at the stalls, we found this: Captain Planet's Geo Cruiser! And lo and behold- inside was The Man Himself! Ah, what nostalgic tat. There were also robots, but nobody seemed to be paying any attention to them at all. I did feel kind of sorry for them in a way- I know what it's like to be somewhere where nobody's really that interested in seeing you (during the short-lived days of Actus Productions and our street art)- most people who walked over there as far as I saw just completely blanked them. You did have to get your card stamped there if you wanted to enter the prize draw for Star Wars Premiere tickets, though, so it wasn't as if they had no interaction whatsoever. As we were making our way out we found Richard Epcar signing more posters on the Robotech stand. We talked to him again (and Jeremy is much, much better at this than I am) and after we had our photos taken with him (he's really quite tall ^_^;), we went back to our hotel room for a rest before the party. Here is everything I'd gained after the first day. We have: -Richard Epcar-signed Robotech Poster and Postcard (free!) -Massive War of the Worlds poster that I didn't really want (they were being handed out free too) -Kiddy Krade poster (also free) -FMA poster (free, but I had to ask for it) -Last Exile poster. I'm not the biggest Last Exile fan, but I got it for filling out a survey at the ADV stand -R.O.D The TV soundtracks (not free, unfortunately) -R.O.D The TV Vol 1 DVD -Fullmetal Alchemist Vol 1 DVD -Chrono Crusade Vol 2 DVD -Nightwatch T-Shirt (free- Jeremy was given it but didn't want it) -Clone Trooper figurine (free- given to us while we were waiting in the queue to come in) -Manga Club card and preview DVD (also free) -Seven packets of Garnier's Manga Hair putty (all free, surprisingly. I kept walking past the three or so people handing them out, so by the end i had quite a large collection ^_^) -Six rubber bands (free, given to me by Richard Epcar. He had a whole cup of them to be given out with the posters he was signing. He asked us what we called them in England, because someone had asked him for an elastic band and he didn't know what it was. When e were leaving he gave me a whole handful of 'elastic-containing rubber bands', as he called them. Cool beans ^_^) I'll go through the party and second day updates tomorrow. they should hopefully take up less room, hehe. See you then ^_^

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