It Will Be Okay

It's been over a month since I last posted? Really, REALLY? This is genuinely surprising, considering how much I have to talk about... yet somehow, I really don't feel the need to.

First off, she broke up with me. Or did I break up with her? I don't know. It wasn't exactly mutual, but I guess that doesn't matter now.

Secondly, the list of cosplays for AX keeps changing, so I'm going to probably scrap that last list I made.

Third, season two of Not Quite Friends is starting up soon, and I'm super excited to film it.

And fourth... I have amazing friends.

Sure, the millions of people messaging me asking "Are you okay???" is nice and all, but there's something about being told "It will be okay" that's much more comforting.

The Epic Cosplay Checklist

So, I needed to make a list, but somewhere I wouldn't lose it. Yay for the internet!

Holly and Nigel's list of what we still need for our Anime Expo Cosplay:

Cloud/Tifa:
[X] Tifa/Rinoa Wig
[X] Borrow Tifa Cosplay from Xion
[] Repairs for both costumes

Squall/Rinoa:
[] Squall Wig
[] Squall Jacket
[] White V Neck
[] Squall Necklace
[] Belts
[] Pleather pants
[] Black Gloves
[] Black Boots
[] Rinoa/Tifa Wig
[] Rinoa Sweater/armbands
[] Black V neck tank top
[] Black Shorts
[] Denim Skirt
[] Rinoa Necklace
[] Black Boots

Liz/Patty
[] Denim Pants
[] Denim Shorts
[] Two red turtlenecks
[] Two ties
[] Two weird ass hats
[] Liz Wig
[] Patty Wig

Sasuke/Naruto
[] Naruto Pants

Sleep Is For The Weak

Okay, so I've managed to put off blogging for over a week now, and I have no real excuse. The end of December/beginning of January were so busy, that the past couple weeks have just been an uneventful blur. The only two times I really got out of the house were last weekend, at the cosplay gathering and today, at the Gantz movie premiere.

This weekend, what with filming and all, should get me back into the routine of life. Maybe I'll even get more than three hours sleep one night. (Here's to hoping~)

ALA 2011

Anime Los Angeles was amazing. I'd love to talk about the crazy day of preparation, the sleepless nights, the fangirls, the karaoke, the friends, the love, the insanity, the laughs, and most of all the cosplay. But.... I'm just not up to it. Not to self advertise, but I'd suggest you check out http://www.youtube.com/user/OtakuClanDiaries for all the fun.

Right now, I'm sitting here trying not to think. And I gotta say, it's pretty hard to do when there are WAY too many things to think about and not enough things to distract myself with.

...

Guild Wars it is.

Onward To 2011

I feel as though I should be typing up my goals for the upcoming year - I don't like using the term "resolutions" - sooo... here we go~

1. I need to draw more. I'm not going to set a specific number, as life is unpredictable and I can't make any guarantees, BUT I would like to draw more than I did in 2010.

2. I want to work on my cosplay, a lot. Granted this is something I'm already doing, but I definitely plan on continuing.

3. I want to NOT fail out of community college. It's sad that I have to make this a goal, but I'm incredibly lazy when it comes to school.

4. I want to attempt to find a job that I wouldn't hate with a burning passion. I don't think such a job exists, but it would still be nice to move out within the next couple years.

5. I want to keep blogging on a regular basis, it keeps my writing skills sharp. It's also a lot of fun.

There are soooo many other things I want to accomplish, but I don't like setting more goals than I'm capable of completing. Plus, five is a good number, I think.

On a side note, it would seem my goals get more and more realistic each year. I'm not sure if this is because I'm growing wiser, or just lowering my expectations of myself.

Ah well, onward to 2011~!

2010

It would seem we have entered the final day of 2010. 2010... 2010, man. There's just so much to say about this year, I don't know where to begin. Ahem, I'd best grab some Mountain Dew for this one.

I can say with quite a bit of certainty that 2010 was by far the most eventful year of my entire life thus far. Consequently, it was also the second worst year of my life. (First prize still goes to 2006, which will be spoken of at a different time. Or not at all, that's fine with me.)

Logically speaking, I should start with January. Oh my God, was that only a year ago? It seems like an eternity. I actually have to look back at my old blog posts to remember, how sad is that?

The year started with Winter intersession, an optional 6 week long session at my college in which students can take classes in half the amount of time they normally would. I was foolish enough to enroll for it. My memory of those first couple months is pretty hazy, as I got minimal sleep, loads of stress, and a good ol' fashioned cold.

Life progressed, I turned 19, I had a few laughs with friends, I failed some classes, I took a trip to Boston, etc. It sounds like my spring was pretty eventful, doesn't it? But looking back I barely remember it. No, the true highlight of this year was the summer.

Perhaps I should correct myself, the insanity started sometime in May or so. I suddenly had commitments. Granted these commitments were playing Dungeons & Dragons and meetings for a cosplay group, but still, it was the first time I'd had any weekly commitments since... since... EVER. Things were moving along smoothly, I had a nice balance of things to do and time in which to do it... for about a month.

When my group of friends - half of whom were attending college out of state - reassembled for the summer, they wanted to hang out all the time. Okay. As did the other group of friends I had managed to attain. Uh oh. Oh, and did I mention I had three online classes for the summer? Uhhhhh, this isn't looking good. And on top of the many excursions, the friend drama, the family drama, and - OHMYGODICAN'THANDLETHIS!!!

Yeaaaaah. It was an amazing summer, with some unforgettable memories, but GEEZ, I've never been so exhausted in my life.

Things slowed down a bit for the latter part of the year, but not by much. There was the good: I made quite a few more friends, entered my first relationship, started another cosplay group, made a lot of good memories, and even started hanging out more often on campus... because it was fun. And there was the bad: family issues - some concerning my mothers health, some concerning strained relationships - became even more stressful, my grades got progressively worse, and I found out that one of my best friends is moving across the country in January.

So much happened... I still have a hard time wrapping my mind around the thought that... it's over. 2010 is finally over. Well, almost.

By the way, I completed one out of my five goals for the year - to post on this blog on a regular basis. Go me.

My History With Cosplay

A hobby of mine? Cosplay. No thinking required to figure out what to write about. Somehow, in just the past year, this one little hobby has become my life.

I first started cosplaying the Halloween of my freshman year of high school - over 5 years ago now. I was Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist, my favorite character of all time both then and now. I admit it wasn't the best made cosplay, but it was fun and I loved it. I could BE Edward??? A novel concept to a 14 year old.

The following Halloween, I decided to be Tifa Lockhart from Final Fantasy VII. (The game, not the movie.) The costume was pretty well made, but the hair kind of failed. The Halloween after that, when I was Roxas, was the same. Great outfit, but the hair. (Later on I bought a really nice wig that puts the coat to shame.)

Somewhere along the line I went to my second con, Anime Expo, and made the cosplay that I would wear many, many years to come, Winry Rockbell. She was my first really good cosplay. Following that I made another outfit for her, two for Misa Amane, Yamada from B Gata H Kei, and redid my Edward cosplay. I also bought Haruhi Suzumiya (or Mikuru Asahina, depending on the hair), and more recently Rin Kagamine and Cloud Strife.

Seven or eight months ago - I don't know - I joined a cosplay group that a couple of my friends had started, Otaku Clan Diaries. That was what truly set my cosplay filled fate in stone. After that group's show, Not Quite Friends, had been up and running for awhile, I helped to form another cosplay group, now known as Dust Bunnies Productions. On top of all that, I'm running my own mini-show, Not Quite Somebody, and working on some of my own videos as well.

And that brings us to today, where I have 18 future cosplays on my list, and am cutting my hair in order to better affix wigs to myself. (And so I can be Roxas ALL the time :D.) My one little hobby grew into a huge obsession. And I'm loving every minute of it.

Routine

So, I stopped blogging for awhile because the inevitable happened... I started a routine. Life is becoming predictable, yet again, and it's depressing.

Mondays through Fridays I sit in the school cafeteria all day, come home, sit on the internet, and then go to sleep. Fridays/Saturdays have some variation, but I'm usually filming at least one of those days, and doing something else cosplay related on the other. Then Sundays are either my days of recovery from an otherwise sleepless weekend, or more cosplay stuff, before I have D&D that night.

Now don't get me wrong, I love what I do, but dear GOD does it get dull sometimes - the weekdays in particular. I feel the need to find something to occupy myself with soon, otherwise I may start taking out this annoyance on others... if I haven't already, that is.

October

Man, was October one INSANE month. Between filming the Halloween episode of Not Quite Friends - which is now uploaded: http://www.youtube.com/user/OtakuClanDiaries - to hanging out with friends, to meeting with the OTHER cosplay group, to getting ready for Halloween, to dealing with all my family problems, to relationships... *takes a deep breath* yeah. It was busy.

To say it was a roller coaster of a month would be an understatement, it was more like a tilt-a-whirl. And you know what? I'm still spinning.

Halloween is tomorrow, and it's going to be just as crazy. I'm still on the fence about NaNoWriMo. I know it starts in less than 24 hours, and that this is usually how I doom myself to failure, but... what can I say, I'm only me.

LAAAAAA

No comment on the rubber band thing...

Anyway, I am currently undertaking a different kind of battle, that is, losing my voice. Now, normally my singing voice sounds like a cross between Amy Lee and Taylor Swift. Right now, however? I'd say it's along the lines of a lawn mower running over a 67 year old smoker with asthma.

While this may not SOUND (haha, pun... kinda) like dramatic tragedy, it is for me. Not only did I have to do several scenes for the cosplay show without my voice, but I have a choir concert this Wednesday as well... Yeeeeah.

Wish me luck?

The Epic Tale Of Epicness

This weekend was insane exhausting ridiculous fun. It was, as usual, filled to the brim with anime, involving events with both of the cosplay groups I am a part of.

The most epic part of the weekend would probably be the beach trip that Friday with The Other Cosplay Group. (Uh, the not-OCD-one.) The beach itself was mediocre, really. It was too old to go in the water, and we ended up being really late, due to the fact that ten minutes from the destination, my GPS decided to direct us halfway back to Riverside. It's what we did there that made the day for me. We played Red Rover. That was my shining moment of glory in life, because I am the Michael Jordan of that game.

After persuading the group to play, I was made a team captain. (This was probably a mistake on the groups part.) My team proceeded to tear the other to shreds - in some cases, almost literally. My catchphrase for when people would bounce backward after running into the wall that was my arm was "YOU CAN'T BREAK ME" and whenever I would tear my way through the other teams linked arms I would chant "I AM KING". Unfortunately, every great ruler has their downfall, and toward the end of the game, I met mine.

For those who don't know, when a person successfully breaks through the team that called them over, they are allowed to take back a person with them. At this point, the opposing team was down to only two people, and when one of the people had managed to identify and break through one of our weaker links, she thought it best to bring ME over to their team. Soon enough, I was faced with the daunting task of breaking my own empire. For a moment, I thought I could do it.

But the team knew me, they knew my method of running full force, and knew that the way to defeat me was strategy. I threw myself at the link of arms, as usual, and pulled a good half of the line to the ground, but they didn't break....? Why? Because they hadn't resisted falling, they decided instead to fall with me and watch me breathlessly crawl on my hands and knees screaming "YOU... CAN'T... BREAK... ME..." pulling them with me, their chain still not breaking. When they realized I wasn't giving up, they began running forward - forward for them, that is -sending me hurtling backward, the taste of defeat - and sand - poisoning my mouth. Needless to say, they had stopped me, and I was once again, a part of that team.

In the end, it was my team - my original team - that won, but that one bit of failure disappointed my overly competitive self. And this, dear friends, is why I should never be allowed to play games that I am actually good at.

The rest of the weekend was not nearly as amazing. Oh sure, there was filming, a movie night, more filming, and other fun, but nothing quite like Red Rover.

I also managed to hurt myself quite a bit amongst all this. Aside from my bruises/scrapes from playground games, I also got a battle scar from the first day of filming with the OCD. While attempting to zip up Patrick's too-small-for-him boots, a chunk of my finger was ripped away - along with his dignity - leaving me with a hole the size of a pencil eraser in my flesh.

Fun stuff.

I'll let you in on the not-so-fun stuff in another post.

Carry On, Carry On

My cosplay consumed life continues to press on. Though I suppose I should be thankful for the distraction. Aside from the filming for the cosplay group(s) I'm in - http://www.youtube.com/user/OtakuClanDiaries - I've also been posting a few videos of my own - http://www.youtube.com/user/MeahowX. Nothing too interesting, but, y'know, it's a start.

Anyway, other than that, there isn't really anything interesting going on in life right now. Not to say all the drama died down, it's still there, but this is what you'd call a period of waiting. Waiting to see what happens, both on the family and friend front. (Though the former is far more significant.)

While there's the potential for some major life changes to be going on, I doubt such things will actually happen. We'll see, I suppose. Until then, I'm going to carry on as usual.

Back in Blonde

Who said blondes have more fun? Thanks to temporary hair dye, I was a redhead (this is a rarity, for those who don't know I'm a natural blonde) for the past two days - for a cosplay, of course - and I had tons of fun.

All joking aside, I'm more pumped up than ever for future cosplay. Not, mind you, motivated enough to get a job.

I'm not really sure what this blog post is about anymore, I'm just trying to figure out what to do with the extra time I'll have since I was dropped from one of my classes. Work on my art? My music? My writing? My room?

Ugh, an additional three hours a day is NOT enough to accomplish all that.

I need to learn how to budget time. Or something like that. I dunno.

Random Thoughts

So, it's been awhile since I last wrote a remotely interesting blog post. I'd apologize, but there are so few of you that actually read this, there's really no point.

Is it just me, or has this past year been backwards? I mean, generally, I'm somewhat busy during the school year, and then completely bored during the summer. The past few semesters, I've been bored out of my mind with absolutely NOTHING to do. (See blog posts prior to May.) Then, all of a sudden it's May and my schedule is jam packed. Is this what college is like? No, I don't think so. It's probably just me.

Well, anyway, all this contemplation - or rather, random thinking - was brought on by looking at my schedule for the upcoming season. It'll be my first semester with absolutely NO online classes. (Horrifying isn't it?) I'll be taking two required classes - English and Algebra - and two for fun/units classes - Drawing and Choir. On top of the fact that I really, really need to do well this Fall - I won't go into the details, but let's just say my GPA isn't at it's best right now - I still have my cosplay group meetings every week, D&D every week, AND Guild Wars 2 comes out this November as well. (I know, a lot of you non-gamers out there are rolling your eyes at me, but GW2 is serious business.)

Because of all of this, I probably won't be participating in NaNoWriMo this year. (Or maybe I will and just fail miserably. Again.)

Anyway, I digress. As I look toward the daunting season ahead, I realize I should take advantage of the less than three weeks I have left. What does this mean? As soon as I finish cleaning my room - my current task at hand - I will be gaming like there's no tomorrow. Yes, that is my idea of a productive summer. Bite me.

COSPLAY PLZ

Sooooo, I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before or not, but I'm actually in a cosplay group - which is doing a Naruto group cosplay on Halloween - now. On top of that, I have Anime LA (if I go this year) to think of. All of this is within the next six months, but I'm most concerned with what's nearly a year away: Anime Expo 2011.

I already preregistered, know who I'm going with, and have a hotel picked out. Now all I need is to choose an epic cosplay.

And I mean EPIC.

No more of this throw something together at the last minute nonsense, I am determined - nay, DESTINED - to do something amazing this year!

.....

Now I just have to figure out what that something is.