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9/28/08 ~ Sunday 9:50 pm

Status: sleepy ~ Listening to: me typing

back from NYAF!

No updates tonight since I'm exhausted and my whole body is achy. Just one thing: it was an awesome con and I didn't go to the after party due to the simple fact that I'm tired. Also, traveling from Chinatown to Morimoto (the restaurant) and back to Chinatown and to Penn Station to hop on the LIRR for LI...is a bit of an overkill. If I thought this straight, I would have asked to stay for another night. But I planned to come back to LI tonight (since I have early work tomorrow) so that is what I did. ^.^ Oyasumi! *crashes on the bed*

9/25/08 ~ Thursday 5:30 pm

Status: hyper ~ Listening to: office noise

leaving work early!

Yay! I get to leave work early (even though I came in late! ^^;) No updates until after the con. Ja matte ne!

3:15 am ~ Status: sleepy ~ Listening to: silence

pre-con midnight packing

I just finished packing. Why is it that I'm always packing the middle of the night? <.<; *headdesk* Anyway, bought the artbook, 'The Magic Flute' for Amano Yoshitaka-sensei to sign on friday. Stopped by Sunrise Market (thx to the wonderful directions of one of my Japanese co-workers) to buy pocky...and do some grocery shopping (for the same co-worker. ^.^) So busy.... Got home and almost finished my to-do list....

pre-con thoughts

I don't have that much to iron since I'm only doing two cosplays this weekend: Ritsuka and Tomoyo-hime. Ritsuka will be for friday and sunday with Tomoyo-hime on saturday. Won't be able to join in the CLAMP photoshoot since that is happening on Friday. <.<; Oh well.... Diana-chan will be competiting on friday so...GANBARRE! Her outfit of choice...Doraemon of course! Complete with dorayaki. ^.^ I find the irony that both of us are kittys on friday: she is a robot cat and I'm a catboy. lol I'm also looking forward to seeing animemiz, iceblueaya and 801megane. (Pearl-chan said she might be dropping in...but we never know if that's going to happen.) 801megane will be supplying me with a Vampire Hunter D novel for Kikuchi Hideyuki-sensei and translator Kevin Leahy to sign. Arigato gozaimasu!

I'll also have a Soubi-kun for this weekend. She is the one I cosplayed with at AnimeNEXT this year. I'm looking forward to seeing her again...especially with my new coat. ^.^ (Cosplaying with her is another reason why I'm forgoing my kimono sunday dress again...also because I like Ritsuka too much. ^.^) I might do the ep.1 jacket on sunday...but we'll see what happens.

It's going to raining through the weekend...just hope I can get to the convention reasonably dry. Ritsuka is semi-okay being kinda wet...but I rather not have my Tomoyo-hime outfit go through the rain. <.<

I might do another update later today, but otherwise, there will be no updates over the weekend since my friend's place don't have internet yet. Yay! Time to sleep!

9/24/08 ~ Wednesday 1:15 am

Status: accomplished ~ Listening to: The Place Where the Wind Arrives - Kanon ED2

Ritsuka cosplay completed!

Last night I hand sew the zipper to the jacket so that it will be anchored. Today, using the sewing machine, the zipper was firmly sewn onto the jacket. It's finished!

Loveless

Easiest part: Besides creating a pattern, the jacket itself was relatively easy to make. It's a dual layer coat so everything needed to be sewn twice: one to anchor the fabric and another with the sewing machine. I actually didn't mine the hand sewing since I'm pretty good at that. ^^;

Most favorite part: The entire jacket...it's a dream cosplay and I'm happy to complete it.

updated to-do list

The one I'm staying with over the weekend confirmed with the car service that I'll be using to get to and from the convention. Yay! I also did my laundry today and vacuumed so that is done. Tomorrow, I will tackle the tasks below....

Giving out NYAF autograph tickets!

Like the autographs at NYCC, tickets are needed to get priority for autographs. As VIP, I received all the tickets in advance...except for those at the booths. (*cries* Brad Swaile...where are you?!?) Since I'm not going to use them all, I posted on facebook that I'm giving those tickets away. Anything remainding by tomorrow morning, I'm going to post up the rest on cosplay.com forums. Don't want good stuff to go to waste. ^.^

Of course, I'm keeping the tickets for the Japanese guests and the English VAs. ^-^ I'm not that generous.

9/22/08 ~ Monday 1:20 am

Status: sleepy ~ Listening to: Growing of My Heart - Detective Conan OP16

almost done is not done yet

I haven't given much details so basically, instead of cutting up a single pattern, each portion I cut twice since my coat will be double layered. Double since it's kinda thin and won't hold the shape well with just a single layer. I used the fur that I said I was going to use since I couldn't find anything better. It's starting to grow on me so I think it'll do well enough. Too late anyway since I cut and everything is sewn on already. ^^;

Problem number one came with the sleeves and bottom being a bit too long due to the addition of the fur edge...but that can be remedied easily. Besides that, I didn't encounter much more problems with this. As expected, this was a simple project...just that I couldn't finish it tonight. Tuesday night will be the latest since tomorrow, I'm going to come back late. ^^; Ganbarre!

Loveless

To-do list: Again?!?

Everything in preperation for this weekend....

9/21/08 ~ Sunday 4:55 pm

Status: nostalgic ~ Listening to: silence

end of Toonami era

Let me officially note that I was into anime and manga before it was on Cartoon Network and the saturday morning blocks. I was happily growing up with Doraemon and in my generation (man, feel I old typing that, ^^;) the first anime in the US was seen on 6am in the morning before school. Sailor Moon, anyone? Pearl-chan? ^.^ But still, Toonami's anime block was a big part of my Japanime teenagehood...and much influence into my step into yaoi and the online fandom. Sadly, Toonami ended it's run this weekend. R.I.P. Toonami 1997-2008.

For others, Toonami was their first step into anime. And what an awesome gateway into this genre! Robotech, Dragon Ball Z, Gundam Wing and later Sailor Moon, Tenchi Muyo and more joined the line up. The commercials were awesome, Tom (Toonami mascot) was fantastic...before he had his 3rd makeover and although people (including me) complained about the lack of original openings due to the Toonami's own openings, they still had their own charm.

Many people noted that Toonami started it's downfall with the addition of mediocre anime...but others took it as a good sign that anime was becoming mainstream enough that it was appearing not just on the Toonami block. (Adult Swim also has it's up and downs with anime...though it's not a solely anime block.) And of course, there was the move from weekdays and weeknights to just Saturday nights. But in all essence, it was something many of us have grown used to and enjoyed.

Toonami, you shall be missed.

9/20/08 ~ Saturday 11:35 pm

Status: busy ~ Listening to: Kizuna ~Eternal Rainbow~ - E.O.D. (Wellber no Monogatari OST)

cosplay sewing day

That's all I did...stay in front of the sewing machine. I had Ghibli movies running on the tv so that kept me company. ^.^ I actually have the faux fur...but I'm not too fond of it. It's kinda shiny and it's not the look that I wanted.... *pokes* However, if I don't find something else, that will be what I will use.

Loveless

Tentative complete date...tomorrow!

9/18/08 ~ Thursday 8:35 pm

Status: hungry ~ Listening to: Smallville on tv

in yaoi heaven

At Pearl-chan's waiting for her to cook yummy Thai fried rice. Oishi! I can't wait! ^.^ We're going to watch Petite Cosette tonight so that I'll be able to figure out what happened. At least I hope so. It's so confusing! Going to rest and relax tonight. Ja!

2:15 am ~ Status: accomplished ~ Listening to: me yawning

Brooklyn Book Festival site report up

I finally finished writing it out. A bit different from my other con reports since I went into detail about panels that I went to and highlighted people that I have seen. This report will go up on the literary review site as is...replacing animemiz and 801megane as their RL names. ^.^ Also, taking out some of the stray commentary that I added in. It's a bit tedious, but it's a press report afterall. Got to do my best! ^.^

MIA...twice in one month

Recently, I've been working on my cosplay outfit...getting really slow results. For such an easy coat, I had several difficult problems which were resolved eventually. ^^; I also been working on the above report (which I passed on to animemiz who will post it in combination with her own and 801megane's.) That explained my lack of updates in the past few days. ^^;

sleepover at Pearl-chan's!

I haven't slept over Pearl-chan's house in a loooooong time. Wow...the last time was many, many years ago.... O.O I can't wait to see her tomorrow. ^_^ Unfortunately, I do have work on friday so I'll be leaving from her house early to get to court. It'll be Qns. Fam. Crt. so the bus will take me there easily. For now...must sleep! -.-Zzz

9/14/08 ~ Sunday 10:20 pm EDIT

Status: head achy ~ Listening to: head pounding >.<

Happy Moon Festival!

This is not really a moon festival pic, but we have my fav duo and there is a greenish full moon in the background. ^.^ Also, there is a strange creature next to Soubi that could only be a rabbit...and moon cake maybe? lol Most likely mochi. ^.^ (BTW, Soubi in a kimono = nosebleed. *faints*)

my first press report...tomorrow

Today I went to the Bklyn Book Festival that took place near the court houses. Animemiz, 801megane and I were press from the literary journal we write for. I met authors Gail Carson Levine ('Ella Enchanted') and Holly Black ('Spiderwick Chronicles') and had fun listening them read excerpts from their new works. Full report with pics go up tomorrow. The same report (though watered down on the fangirling) will be up on the literary site as well. For now, all I'm typing is that I got really, really tanned on my arms (good thing my cosplays are all long sleeves, ^^;) the weather was hot (not sweaty hot...but hot all the same) and I have a pounding headache probably from being tired and the heat. Maybe I'll sleep early for once. Got work tomorrow anyway. ^^; Oyasumi!

9/13/08 ~ Saturday 12:50 am

Status: happy ~ Listening to: I'm Gonna Fly - Sydney Forest (Kiki's Delivery Service OST)

Ritsuka's jacket: cosplay talk

As mentioned before, I decided to make Ritsuka's jacket from ep. 10...the one he wore into battle with Soubi against the female Zeros. It's a simple grayish blue jacket that ends mid-thigh. Ritsuka wore the jacket at the end of vol. 6 and into vol. 7 and 8. The difference in style with the manga version lies with the color though the actual color is unconfirmed. I decided to go with a zipper for a smoother look that the manga gave. However, if the look isn't right, I'll go with the black buttons in the front from the anime.

Cutting fabric began today...sewing tomorrow!

Loveless

9/12/08 ~ Friday 1:30 am

Status: accomplished ~ Listening to: Calling - Baccano OST

inspired

I've been in a creative mood lately. ^.^ Reading the latest volume of Loveless brought out words that I had to put into writing. And the writing...into a picture. This pic is too small to be a wallpaper, so it's just a pretty pic. The words really have nothing to do with Loveless...just that the story inspired me. ^.^ Simple...but then again, my writing is always like that.

The words are...

9/11/08 ~ Thursday 4:15 am

Status: thoughtful ~ Listening to: silence

scarred sacrifice

I just finished reading Loveless vol. 8. It was very...interesting. More of Soubi's background is revealed and we learn that Seimei's thoughts were already twisted at age 14. o.O I feel that Ritsuka handled the encounter and situation very well...especially with Soubi's almost-shutdown. Not a breakdown...but an almost-shutdown. I say almost since he recovers pretty and responds to Ritsuka. He has a breakdown in vol. 6 and an almost-shutdown in vol. 8. (Yes, I still say that Soubi-in RL-is perfect for me. *hugs Soubi*) I don't begrudge him for his reaction since in that situation, he is tied by the rules. Ritsuka didn't tell him to stop either. No spoilers. ^.^

I already knew what will happen to Ritsu-sensei, but I was surprised that I didn't have much of a reaction to it. Ritsu-sensei is not on top for my fav characters, and I thought I will be cheering to have that happen to him, but I guess it's because I was caught up with what was going on in the foreground that the incident with Ritsu-sensei just passed quickly. Same thing with that moment with Nagisa and Ritsu...no reaction. There was so much happening with Ritsuka and the others that I concentrated on that instead.

This vol. ended at a good point. Everyone is sleeping and they'll deal with the mess in vol. 9. Of course, it leaves many things for the next vol...like what happens to Kio since we left him in vol. 7 in a pretty bad situation. The extra story, New Year with Soubi and Ritsuka was very sweet.

Time for bed! Oyasumi!

9/10/08 ~ Wednesday 11:40 pm

Status: hyper ~ Listening to: Start Line - COUCH*

I got book 8!

*dances around the room* I'm sooooo happy. Loveless vol. 8 came out earlier this month but not many stores got their shipment yet. I've been calling various Borders for awhile and finally got the book today! *hugs book* I'm going to read it tonight...once I finish looking over some stuff for 140. ^.^ Yay!

NYAF prep...sorta

Last night, I got home from Jenn-chan's house and found my NYAF VIP ticket envelope at the door. It has a Gurren Lagann poster in it and all the concert/autograph tickets. I get to pick up my free NYAF t-shirt at the convention. Not that I'm going to wear it anywhere...but free is good. ^.^ The schedule for NYAF has been up for some time already, but I'm not ready to look at it yet...gotta prepare for other stuff first. Like cosplay....

9/9/08 ~ Tuesday 5:20 pm

Status: annoyed ~ Listening to: office noise

*warning* rant: review of a review

Tojo Asami-sensei doesn't need me to defend her manga online. So, I'm going to rant quietly on my own blog rather then on the ANN forums concerning this review about Thunderbolt Boys: Excite manga. The reviewer didn't like the story and she supports her opnions and gives lots of good info. I'm just pissed off about certain things. Thunderbolt Boys: Excite is a sequel to another series. The reviewer correctly notes that the original manga was serialized with two publishers...one getting the initial series, another receiving the sequal. For a long standing mangaka with many series, it's not surprising to have a different publisher for a sequal. However, that doesn't mean that "Tojo fails to accommodate newcomers here" since no one could really pick up the story easily by just reading the Excite series. These monthly/bi-monthly stories don't really have an intro to begin with. When fans pick up the phonebook sized anthologies, they're thrown into the story. Sometimes the 'cover' page would have a line that saids, 'Ex-boyfriend returns, what is the uke going to do?" but that is it. Already, a premise of those chapters don't include intros and even if a pre-existing story of Thunderbolt Boys is printed somewhere else, the story may continue without it. True, it would be easier in tankoban form to have an intro in the beginning of the story, but usually they don't have it. No intro does not constitute "a failure of the series itself".

The reviewer does give points about why she thought that the series is a 'failure'...but I think she missed a major idea here: this is a Tojo-sensei manga. A valid point: "The characters are flat-out unrealistic, cookie-cutter archetypes, and the situations they find themselves in, particularly those involving coerced sex, are so cliched that they read like a bad joke." Not a valid point: ""Love" should always be the keyword of the BL genre." o.O 'Love' is the emphasis in 'Boys Love' stories...but not necessary all yaoi..which has no plot and no climax as a basis. Tojo-sensei drew tons of smutty stories and she was known for her smut. Love Prism? Renai Junkie? Q-tip? Just because a story has all sex and no plot doesn't mean it's a failure as a series. And just because a story has all sex and no love doesn't mean it's not a BL. Practically everything by Minami Haruka-sensei would be bad then since she is the Queen of Smut.

A mini-review from me...though I'm bias since I'm a Tojo-sensei fan: Thunderbolt Boys: Excite has a plot, though it's quite shallow and gets lost in the sex scenes. If you're looking for plot, best read the story from the beginning since it's always difficult to follow a story in the middle. If you like sex, "banal exercise in erotic spectacle" and Tojo-sensei, you'll love this series since this is pure Tojo-sensei style. ^.^ ("Banal exercise" is the reviewer's phrase.)

9/8/08 ~ Monday 9:30 pm

Status: tummy full ~ Listening to: computer whirring

Kia + Louise = <3

I understand why people like Absolute Obedience over Enzai. Enzai had a straighter storyline...and tons of rape. Absolute Obedience had diverging storylines...and tons of sex with a bit of rape. lol I'll stop using the word rape since the fact that the uke likes the sex in the end doesn't mean it started out as consensual sex. ^^; But it was alot better to handle since both semex2 of the story liked to pleasure their targets.

But I'm digressing. ^_^ I finished Absolute Obedience last night and loved it. More like, I loved the Kia and Louise special endings...because really, those were the best. I perfer Kia topping Louise...though either one topping is fine. ^.^ Out of Kia's missions, my fav will be Dirk and Kia...with Silvio as as close second. I like the mystery aspect of the story. ^.^ My fav missions for Louise were Werner and Lawless. I like Louise and Ferdinand just for the heck of it...because it was soooooo funny. But Kia and Louise together is just perfect. The surprise endings were the best out of the entire game...though I almost *headdesk* at the surprise info for the two main characters. ^^;

Some WTF moments...juices coming from uke's behinds. O.o Ali's anus? Ferdinand's inner lining began to lubricate itself?!? Those are not the only ones. I don't know what is coming out...but it isn't from the seme.... I also don't like Timo (in Kia's story) going 'tee-hee' when he is laughing...because he doesn't. Another wtf moment...Silvio's voice as a kid...is not a kid. And Silvio does NOT giggle...really....

Problems I have with the game are the usual spelling mistakes and grammer mistakes that were everywhere. Not as blatant as the mistakes in Enzai...but there were so many. >.< Also, there was no consistency with adding Japanese words to the text. The word 'sensei' appeared even though Anel's text was 'Mr. Louise' before. Another problem was when Louise and Zhores didn't go to the concert in one of the endings...but they speak as if they had. This is more a wtf moment...but Lousise was moaning and groaning and gasping...with the text going 'more' and 'ow'. >.<

I found so many cute/funny/awesome/smexy quotes in this game that I must share them all. *warning* Some spoilers. ^.^

Kia to Dirk: You're cold, aren't you? It'd be good to get a little exercise...excercise that doesn't require a lot of movement...

Louise to Anel: Melt in my arms.

Margit (about who is topping...Louise or Ferdinand): It's like those reversible sweaters that are popular these days

Louise to Kia: Yes...Perhaps this means there will be bestiality chapter later on in this game...
Narrator: Afterward, Kia did all he could to prevent Louise from passing his job with Ferdinand over to Tigg.

Louise to Fer: I have taken you inside my heart. Sometime, please take me inside yours as well.

Jens to Kia: L, let's do this!
Me: When did this turn into a Death Note crossover? ^^;

Louise to Zhores: Do I have to decide? A love for learning and a desire for beautiful things. They're both very wonderful, aren't they?

Louise's thoughts of Zhores: There's nothing better than taking down a top-class workaholic...

Louise to Lawless: Do you really feel like selling your body to protect the Colonel? And you're saying that in front of me? You have an unfathomed lack of delicacy.

Louise's thoughts of Lawless: Damn, why are you an adult everywhere else, but you turn into a big man-child when you're in bed?

Louise to Lawless: Then be torn apart, and give everything to me.

Kia to Timo: Hey! How can you think of anything else while I'm deep inside of you?

Werner's thoughts of Louise: Oh, crap...I got a boner from looking at another guy...

Werner to Louise: My hands are full enough with you already.

Hans to Silvio (Kia's mission): May you forever be happy. Yes, just like the dancing girl showed you...

Louise's thoughts of his father: Although his father was currently obsessed with one of his lovers, and he hadn't been involved in any orgies lately, just like Louise's mother he ignored his wife and child, and spent all his time with his many lovers and mistresses.
Me: I had to read this line so many times to understand it.... ^^;

Kia to Louise: You will only be hurt by me. If I ever try to betray you, kill me. Then kill yourself...

Kia to Louise (about taking off the handcuffs): Huh...But it's like I'm raping you. Isn't that great?

My opinion of this game is that I like it just as much as Enzai. This one has different missions with one single secret storyline flowing through that doesn't really interact with the story as much as Enzai did. The storylines can become tedious and missions expire and choices disappear if you don't complete in a certain order...but the complicated nature of this game makes it more interesting. The sex scenes are not as detailed (CG-wise) as Enzai since they had to create more sex scenes for 12 main missions...and go all out with the 2 secret missions. However, the variety of scenes and couples are sweet with alot of funny aspects.

One interesting thought, any ending with Kia and Louise becoming the uke has a D rating...except when they're with each other. That is total lol. Yes, I do enjoy the humor aspects of Kia with Ashraf as well as Louise with Ferdinand. Both are hilarious.

9/7/08 ~ Sunday 7:20 pm

Status: hyper ~ Listening to: The World - Nightmare (Death Note OP)

Loveless novel?!?

Where was I when they announced this? Since the announcement of the Loveless novel was made on 7/17 by Kouga-sensei, I'll assume that I was busy preparing for Otakon. ^^; You can see the cover on the site with Ritsuka, Soubi and Seimei looking as awesome as ever. *drools* Will they pleeeeease bring this to stateside? Onegai! I promise to buy 3 copies of it! In Japanese, English and Taiwanese! ^^;

greedy is me ^^;

To keep track of all the Loveless stuff that I want, I added a wishlist of Loveless only stuff in the anthology section. There is so much I want to buy...I think I need to start selling some stuff. How much does blood go nowadays? ^^;

MIA lately

As mentioned before, I haven't been on lately since I've been playing Absolute Obedience. I'm down to last mission before unlocking to the two special missions. Will finish this today and work on the pattern for my Ritsuka jacket...since I bought fabric today! ^.^

Last night was a sleepless night since besides playing BL games all night, I even made a banner for Pearl-chan's Junjou Romantica contest. Her instructions were to have all 3 couples on it...and Suzuki-san. The 3 couples were easy since there were tons of pics...but Suzuki-san not so much. ^^; Ended up vectoring part of Suzuki-san's body and letting him 'hang' off of the title box. (For those who don't know Junjou-and it's an awesome series btw-Suzuki-san is a teddy bear...and I want it!) I must say, it's a pretty good looking banner in all it's simplicity. ^^V

Back to the BL!

9/4/08 ~ Thursday 2:45 am

Status: sleepy ~ Listening to: silence

of politics and decor

This evening, I went out with two of my previous co-workers. We went to Joe's Shanghai and actually got a table without having to wait. (Well, we got there around 6:30pm which is quite early for dinner.) One of the girls just came back from England which is one of the main reasons we got together. Over yummy dragon buns, we caught up on each other's lives (including me explaining the whole convention and cosplay thing I've been super busy with ^^;) as well as hearing about England and all the traveling that she has done. I totally want to go back to England so now I have a place to stay. ^-^ After dinner, we went to buy milk tea at Ten Ren and we walked about Chinatown a bit discussing foot massage parlors that isn't seedy and is legit and clean. As we were speaking, we saw a van with a massage sign next to it. o.O It looks like an abduction waiting to happen. ^^;

We went to the other girl's apartment...the one I'm actually staying at during the NYAF convention weekend. It's on Pell St...near Joe's Shanghai. Renovations and all, the place is super clean and small...perfect for a single person (though her boyfriend comes by and stays overnight sometimes.) The first major topic of discussion was where to put the 20 inch plasma that she will be getting as well as what still needs to be bought and placed where. She has a large wooden closest from Ikea that will be perfect for Jenn-chan and her clothing (could be the California closest she keeps talking about) if only she could rid herself of some of the furniture in her room. (Jenn-chan, some of the large dressers in your room doesn't do much...need to compensate for more efficient closest space. ^^;) The convo switched over to politics...something I don't really know about but there has been so much gossip going on that even I had to know something...even if I don't understand it.

After looking at graduation pics, discussing company changes, eating jellies and discussing someone's China trip, we called it an evening. It was enjoyable and I'm happy to have a rare evening with them.

9/1/08 ~ Monday 10:30 pm

Status: happy ~ Listening to: Cross My Heart - Ayashi no Ceres ED

so many hot guys...so little time

Finally buckled down and got deep into the BL game, Absolute Obedience. Don't know if I like it more then Enzai yet...but that's because there is a different way of playing. Still the same make a choice and different endings...but there are many little stories as opposed to one main one. I'll go into the details later...my next mission is calling me. ^.^