Omega19x

12:04pm: it's like a train wreck. You just can't stop watching it.
Kobayashi lost the Mustard Belt to Chestnut again! The scrawny Japanese guy lost the big hot dog eating contest to the American named Joey. But he lost in the overtime tie-breaker. It was so very close - and the first tie in the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest history!!

Yes, I know. My fandom is showing...

Current Lips: American Flag

10:12pm: 1-800-mocha-java-java-mocha
I shouldn't laugh at this. But a few minutes after I finished having a conversation at lunch about cell phone and how nobody ever needs to use the insurance they buy on the phones, my mom called me to say that my dad was off to the Sprint store to get a new phone. Because he dropped his in a cup of coffee.

That was yesterday.

He got a new phone, while I worked at trying to dry out his old one, hoping it would miraculously recover as much as the event planner's iPod when she accidentally let it sit in champagne. Unfortunately, as of tonight, it still won't turn back on.

But at least it has this really pleasant coffee smell...

Current Lips: red, orange and yellow gradient blend

6:57pm: And I know how to save a life... in a lunch break!
In 45 minutes, they said, you can save up to three lives, just by donating your blood!

So when my company announced a blood drive, I was excited. I was also... kind of hesitant...

I tried to give blood once before, back when I was in college. I remember being so excited about it too. It was right after 9/11, and I was so thrilled that I was finally old enough to donate blood so I could help people in need. I waited in a long line for about three hours, and finally got to sit in the chair. And they poked me. Oh, how they poked me. I remember having the needle in both arms, searching for a vein. And when they finally found one, they couldn't get any blood out. They gave up, and I went to get a cookie.

"You can't have a cookie." they told me. "Cookies are only for people who donate blood, and you didn't actually donate any blood."

Well, it wasn't for a lack of trying...

That stuck with me till this very day... this very day when I looked down at the clock and told my supervisor, "I'm going downstairs to give blood for the blood drive before I can talk myself out of it!"

I told the Red Cross worker my previous blood donation story, and he assured me that wouldn't happen again. He knew exactly how I had to hold my arm so that my vein would roll right into the needle. He knew exactly how to get blood to come out of my veins.

And I knew he'd be good, right from the very beginning. I mean, he was an EMT and volunteer fire fighter. That, and he had tattoos. He knows what needles are for!

Sure enough, one stick, and my bag was filling fast! I was actually impressed at how much blood was coming out! Almost as much as the jabs coming out of my fellow co-workers' mouths. They were making bets at whether I weighed enough to give blood, whether I was going to pass out, etc.

For the record, yes, I DO weigh enough to give blood. You only have to weigh 110 to give blood. And I weighed 116 the last time I weighed myself. And also for the record, I didn't pass out.

And before I knew it, it was over and I was done. I had given blood! I had saved lives! And do you know what the best part was?

After hearing my story, the Red Cross worker gave me TWO COOKIES!!!

Current Lips: orange, yellow and green gradient blend

6:37pm: I told you so!!
In case you're wondering, thrift stores open at NOON on Sundays.

My mother insisted that we leave early because they obviously opened at ten. I, however, was wanting to see the rest of the Travel Channel's Best Places to Pig Out countdown. I'd watched half the show, seeing as the first place they mentioned was a steakhouse in Texas. (The list on that link is actually backwards. The Big Texan Steak Ranch was number 10, not number 1...) And I wanted to see what was at the top of the list.

Thank goodness for the internet.

Oh, and at the thrift store, once it finally opened (an hour and a half after we left), had none of the pants we were looking for!!

Current Lips: white with a black stripe

8:54pm: Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?
I think so Brain, but is there any truth to that Side View Name Generator that's floating around?

For the sake of hilarity, we started putting in our names.

I got 'sex.' My roommate got 'fat.'
I put in several co-workers, but I'm not about to reveal which ones and what they were.

And then we moved on to anime characters. Here was the best of our list:

Mokuba (Yugioh) = Humble (okay, zomgcrackers... can you believe that?)
Malik (Yugioh) = Dildo (not THAT rod either, Malik)
Ryou (Yugioh) = Soap (I'm gonna wash your dirty mouth out, Malik)
Honda (Yugioh) = Hades (okay, zomgcrackers, laugh with me again!)
Mahaado (Yugioh) = Comical (mayhaps?)
Near (Death Note) = Mean (okay, whine it with me: Near is Mean!!)
Mello (Death Note) = Balls (well, he sure has 'em)
Raven (Teen Titans) = Porno (that's what people want to see, right?)
Sasuke (Naruto) = Casket (he'll need one eventually)
Matsuda (Death Note) = Lesbian (Okay, how exactly does that one work?)
Watari (Death Note) = Hentai (so, that's where L gets it from...)
Anzu (Yugioh) = Anus (yeah, that was unexpected.)
Kagome (Inuyasha) = Savage (What? she comes from a land with shampoo!)
Miroku (Inuyasha) = Erotic (Will you bear my children?)
Koopa (Mario Bros) = Pants (which he is never wearing)
Link (Legend of Zelda) = Sink (which is just what I do on any water levels)
Zelda (Legend of Zelda) = Balls (She's got balls too. Especially as Sheik)
Sheik (Legend of Zelda) = Dildo (No comment, people)


Current Lips: red, purple and blue gradient blend

7:00pm: So give them blood, blood, gallons of the stuff
When one of my coworkers contacted the Red Cross about having a company blood drive, they announced that they had a costume that they could loan us if anyone wanted to dress up as a giant drop of blood. Fortunately, my coworker could truthfully answer, "Yeah. We've got someone here who'll do that. No question about it."

So, today I walked around the company as a giant drop of blood signing people up for the blood drive!

I think it was probably the strangest costume I've ever worn - mainly because it was big and poofy. I don't tend to wear the poofy outfits very much, and for good reason...

But people liked the costume! It really brightened their day! And in an hour, I'd doubled the sign up list for the blood drive! And most people who knew me thought I made the costume. No... If I made it, it would have fit a lot better. That costume truly was one size fits all.

I do have to admit, though. Most people didn't realize I was a drop of blood.

Instead, they thought I was:
- A tomato
- A strawberry
- An apple
- An upside down heart
- A Christmas Hershey Kiss

And some people thought it'd be more appropriate if I was:
- A Vampire

After all, I was asking people to give me their blood. Now I have to decide if I want to actually give blood or not. I guess I'd better decide before Monday.

Current Lips: red, purple and blue gradient blend

9:57pm: And this moment of randomness is brought to you by the letters W, T, and F.
so transiently: *poke*
Omega19x: I got poked.
so transiently: Yes you did.
Omega19x: um... ow, my spleen?
so transiently: Ow, my pancreas D8
Omega19x: ow, my gallbladder.
so transiently: Ow, my appendix.
Omega19x: Ow, my small intestine.
so transiently: Ow, my... uh... lung.
Omega19x: Ow my mitral valve.
so transiently: Ow my epidermis.
Omega19x: damn, yours makes sense.

What can I say? It was a slow work day.

Current Lips: brown and gold gradient blend

11:15am: The Church of Mass Ascension
To anyone who would doubt the inherent spirituality in watching hot air balloons take off, I think you're worshiping the wrong spelling of 'sun.' There's just something so magical about little rainbow raindrops floating in the big blue sky. Something so free, so beautiful...

And for the first time since my sophomore year of high school, I went to a balloon festival, and balloons actually went up. (Sorry, Murphy. This time, your law doesn't apply to me.)

Granted, there were plenty of delays, so only about half of the balloons went up. In the beginning, some of them chanced it, just as the wind was dying down. The balloons inflated, and we waited on baited breath whether they would launch. Each one was a colorful surprise. We never knew which balloon would launch next!

And we were up close. We had found the perfect spot on the center of the field to watch the balloons go up.

But the most magical part of the evening was the balloon glow. Just at sunset, twenty balloons inflated, stood tall and proud, and lit up in brilliant fiery colors. I'd seen maybe one or two glows before, but this one was completely different. We were allowed to actually walk around among the balloons. We were allowed to get so close that we could feel the heat of the fire against our faces. And it was quite hot enough for this salamander...

Unfortunately, the wind made it too difficult for the giant Energizer bunny balloon to even inflate. It's just too big. The ears alone are the size of a normal balloon! And believe me, those are big enough as it is.

Other highlights of the balloon festival included juice tasting exhibits, lots of prize wheels to spin and the opportunity to touch an actual moon rock. We got in the line thinking it was going to be some sort of 3-D simulator. But in reality, it was to listen to a NASA employee talk about how we're going back to the moon and what he feels are the economic implications of moon mining. My best friend's father wrote a textbook on that subject years ago, when most people were probably thinking it was a crackpot theory. It was really interesting to ponder just how right he could have been. Touching an actual piece of the moon was pretty interesting though. Not something you get to do every day.

There was also an aviation extravaganza (since this was taking place on an airport and all) where we could walk in between all sorts of small aircraft. There were skydivers. And had I had enough money, I would have signed up for a helicopter ride!

If only I could go up in a hot air balloon... that would be truly amazing...

Current Lips: "63"

10:05pm: where there's one meme, there's always more
The ameteur-crastinator strikes again, ne?

The RPG Class Test

Mystic Theurge


48% Combativeness, 23% Sneakiness, 53% Intellect, 58% Spirituality

Brilliant and spiritual! You are a Mystic Theurge!
Score! You have a prestige class. A prestige class can only be taken after you've fulfilled certain requirements. This may mean that you're an exceptionally talented person, but it probably doesn't.
The Mystic Theurge is a combination of a cleric and a mage. They can cast both arcane and divine spells, and are good at both, making them pretty terrifying on the battlefield. They have more raw spellpower than just about any other class.
You're both intelligent and faithful, but not violent or deceitful. I guess that makes you a pretty good person.

The Sesame Street Persona Test

Bert


You scored 71% Organization, 43% abstract, and 46% extroverted!

You are both very organized. You almost always know where your belongings are and you prefer things neat. You may even enjoy cleaning and find it therapeutic. Bert is a big neat freak and gets quite annoyed when Ernie makes a big mess.

You both are sometimes concrete and sometimes abstract thinkers. Bert is probably a bit more concrete in his bottlecap collecting addiction and his love of the weather. He does show his abstract side when he sings and performs his "Doin' The Pidgeon" song. You have a good balance in your life. You know when to be logical at times, but you also aren't afraid to explore your dreams and desires... within limits of course.

You are both somewhat introverted. Bert is probably more introverted, because he spends most of his time either with Ernie or alone. Still he has no problem being around other people in his role as chairman of "The National Association of 'W' Lovers." Like Bert, you probably like to have some time to yourself, but you do appreciate spending time with your friends, and you aren't scared of social situations.

Current Lips: white, turquoise and light purple gradient blend

9:06pm: At least it's not a freudian slip
Because combining traditional psychology and anime is awesome, here's Jung's Death Note Test

And here was my result...



Ack! I'm Light Yagami!!!

(You scored 40% introversion, 93% intuition, 79% thinking, and 79% judging!)

Introversion-Extroversion: Generally, people who score high on "introversion" are reserved, quiet people who keep to themselves whereas people who score low on "introversion" are outgoing, friendly people who are extroverts.

Intuition-Sensing: People who score high on "intuition" are guided by gut instinct, they go on intuition as opposed to people who score low on this trait, who prefer to rely on established fact and their senses, rather than their own belief.

Thinking-Feeling: People with high scores on "thinking" rely more on their head to make decisions, whereas people who score low on "thinking" rely more on their heart to guide them. (Note: this has no bearing on a person's intelligence level; it merely refers to the way in which they make decisions.)

Judging-Perceiving: People who score high "judging" are firm, decisive people, whereas people who score low on this trait are flexible, accommodating people.


In other news... my roommate is Rem.

Current Lips: white, turquoise and light purple blend

9:55pm: just be glad jellyfish wasn't on the menu
We got food ordered in for us at work yesterday, and I must say for once I was pleased. I've tried so many things on that Royal Thai menu, and found not much of anything that I liked. But yesterday was different. I actually found something that I liked!

And as an added bonus, it managed to gross out both of the writers!

Just listening to one of them call in the orders was hilarious enough. I was dying to know what the restaurant was saying on the other end of the phone line. Just fill in the gaps!

co-worker: Okay, I need one #27 with no jalepanos.
...
co-worker: Yes. #27. Squid basil.
...
co-worker: Squid basil.
...
co-worker: squid.
...
co-worker: Yes. Wok-tossed squid. #27.
...
co-worker: squid.
...
another co-worker: who the hell ordered THAT?!
...
co-worker: yes. Squid. No jalepenos.

At that point, I couldn't simply sit at my cube in silence listening with the mental image of cooks at the Thai restaurant saying things like, 'damn, we only put that on the menu to make ourselves sound authentic. Nobody actually ever orders it.'

I leaned over her cube, and nonchalantly added, "It's so hard to get good squid up here."

the other co-worker: YOU ordered that?! ... wait, that shouldn't surprise me.

Current Lips: green gradient blend

10:57pm: It's not quite the thief king, but...
This link contains a picture of me, taken at A-kon this year.

It's a lot funnier if you scroll down and read the comments.

I guess I did a good job.

Current Lips: green stripes

9:10pm: Is it just me, or is your ass vibrating?
On the way home from Totem Grove's open circle/5th birthday party, that question certainly came up. My roommate reasoned that either her ass has too much padding... or I'm drunk...

I can't really deny either, to be honest.

Dandelion wine is actually really good. And I certainly had a shot glass full of it. I could really taste the raisins, and it had a sweet flavor that was similar to my date wine. But it was nice and warm on the way down. Best of all, there was no young-wine after-taste. But I know it's strong stuff. You could smell it as soon as she opened the bottle.

Very good. Very very good.

Ceremony probably would have been better had a certain high priest from the sister coven not shown up, but it was a party and all.

And the dandelion wine was very good...

I'm not as think as you drunk I am, really!

Current Lips: green stripes

3:38pm: Everybody's workin' for the weekend
After this week, I have a severe strain of patience for anyone who procrastinates with their work right now. For people who put off silly things like scripts and being video taped until the very last minute.

The video for this month should have been sent off a long time ago. At least a week ago at the latest.

When did I get scripts? oh... Wednesday and Thursday.
When did I tape the last people? oh... Thursday and Friday.
When did I edit them? oh... I think I set a record for editing times on Thursday and Friday.
How much time in the 25 minute video did these two segments take up? at least 15 minutes of it.

When am I going to stop complaining in the form of a question? oh, right about now...

Wait... I have one more.

How long did it take to render out a low-resolution version on Friday afternoon? oh... I don't know. I eventually left. (in two and a half hours, it had only completed 50%... I'm going back up there today to check on it, and either restart it if it failed, or throw it into a compression program if it succeeded.)

... Last one, I swear.

What do I want to do now? Play Retris!

Current Lips: green stripes

7:02pm: I am not justice!
An interesting art bunny came to me today - L, sitting in his usual crouched position, in a jury box. Talk about justice being served... Of course, I had a lot of time today to ponder such things (and read two entire books!) while doing my civic duty.

Today was my first jury summons.

I would like to go on record with the following comparison -

My supervisor told me I'd likely be out of there in a few hours, so that I shouldn't be concerned with having the day off.

I walked into the court building at about 8:00 this morning, excited about the possibility of serving on a jury! I left at about... oh, 6:00, excited about just getting the hell out of there. It took ten hours. And I wasn't even picked!!

Here's how I spent those ten hours:

8:00 - 8:15 - get parking pass validated and turn in forms
8:15 - 8:30 - read some of Death Note: Another Note and contemplate if holding the book high enough will help excuse me from jury duty. It didn't.
8:30 - 8:40 - try to ignore the creepy gas station worker guy that knew my headband was from Naruto and seemed content to flirt with me while I was trying to absorb myself in the world of L and B.
8:40 - 9:00 - succeed.
9:00 - 9:20 - watch video about jury duty. The video dated itself by showing a cell phone that was larger than the guy's hand, but other than that, was pretty good. I could elaborate about the use of a white trash stereotype portraying someone who couldn't read or write, but I won't. I was too busy wondering how that cell phone fit into that guy's front pocket without ripping it anyway.
9:20 - 10:00 - finish Death Note: Another Note, with the knowledge that had I read this before A-kon, I would have been more surprised by the ending. Allow me to spoil it. Ryuuzaki is B, not L.
10:00 - 10:40 - read a book on palm reading. My fate line is really fucked up.
10:40 - 10:41 - turn down the Naruto headband recognizer when he wanted my phone number.
10:41 - 10:45 - Our juror numbers finally called, we go up to the front and form a line. We would have been called up earlier, but they skipped a bunch of numbers in the middle.
10:45 - 11:00 - Break. They told us to be up at the 6th floor at our designated court room by 11:00 sharp!
11:00 - 12:30 - Wait. During that wait, I finished the book on palm reading, and discovered that my fate line is only fucked up on my right side, not my left. I also ate lunch, since I was the only one up there who brought a lunch from home. And then, because I was really bored, I practiced meditating.
12:30 - 12:35 - Jury selection roll call. We got to sit down in order in the actual court room pew.
12:35 - 1:30 - lunch break. Whoops. I didn't know they'd let us out for food, so I spent the hour having a cell phone book club meeting with my roommate to discuss Death Note: Another Note. She also knew who B was before reading it. So she could sympathize with me. They told us to be back at 1:30 sharp!
1:30 - 2:00 - Wait.
2:00 - 4:15 - mass jury questioning. The only time I had to stand up was to answer the prosecuting attorney's weird question about whether the proof of fault should be 51%, as the law dictates in civil matters or whether it should be higher. Unfortunately, my answer probably sounded idiotic, since his question was phrased in such a way that I didn't really understand what he was trying to ask. All I knew at that point was that he kept saying that the evidence would find the defendant guilty and that the defense attorney kept objecting because this was jury selection, not opening statement time.
4:15 - 5:40 - Go outside and wait while they question a few people individually. I managed to strike up a nice conversation with the creepy gas station attendant/Naruto headband recognizer, and learned that he is a huge fan of Sonic the Hedgehog. That, and juror number 35 loves sushi. Just to be fair and impartial, as I am supposed to be, Juror number 32 hates sushi.
5:40 - 5:45 - With about as much suspense as American Idol, we were told who got to stay and who got to leave. I got to leave... almost.
5:45 - 6:00 - get paperwork signed by the bailiff so we can leave. And listen to the judge give us a safety lecture about walking in groups and ladies keeping our purses under our arms.
6:00 - Now I got to leave!!!

So no, supervisor of mine, I was not out of there in a few hours. Far from it, actually.

Next time... I think I need at least four books.

Current Lips: black and white gradient blend

9:49pm: in the meantime, it's memetime.
Which Death Note character is your sexual archetype


2. You are Luscious L. Your eccentricity is what draws people to you and when you act all cutie-sweetie you can get away with anything. In the bedroom you may act passive at first but youre actually dead kinky and thats what makes your partner cant get enough of you. Sometimes though, you can be a bit thick that before you know it, someone is sticking a gun to your face and pulling the trigger right through your twisted brain.

7:55pm: Productivity is just procrastination from something else
There's no better way to come down from a con high than to dress up in costume, and go to an anime club meeting!

It's been a while since I've dressed up as Ryou, but I managed to score major cream puff points from one of the heads of the club with a cosplay-ified Dinosaurs reference - "I'm the Bishie, gotta love me!"

Most of the meeting was dedicated to looking at slides from A-kon last weekend. Sadly, we weren't in any of the pictures. But we did get to show the video we entered into the fanworks contest. And we got to listen to the Dinosaurs-impressed club leader talk about what he called the seven deadly sins of cosplay.

1. Wrong color scheme
2. Not even trying to find a wig
3. Fan characters
4. Going against your personality
5. Not showering
6. Getting upset by catcalls and whistles
7. Cross-gender cosplay

Now, I can understand rule number 5. As he put it in the monthly newsletter - 'if you are running around in an Alphonse Elric Armor for 4 hours, you smell bad!!' That should be a given. But rule number 7?! Give me a break here. I crossplay far more than the average girl, and I see absolutely nothing wrong with it. And the same thing goes for guys who want to dress up as female characters. And overweight people wanting to dress up as skinny characters. Cosplay is all about having fun!

I think deadly sin number 8 was supposed to be 'people who dress up as L.' He pointedly said he tried to avoid pictures of L at A-kon, because it wasn't exactly cosplay, and nobody does it right. Though he did point to me and say I was the only exception. He saw my zombie!L costume, and heard about my angel!L. Those variations, he said, made all the difference.

Well... I think all the difference is wearing a duel disk to go to the Dollar Store to buy toilet paper.

I am the bishie, after all. Gotta love me!

11:10pm: You gotta fight for you right to cosplay!
At about 7:15, my roommate and I discovered that there was a cosplay party happening down in Richardson with the absolute last opportunity to purchase tickets for Afest at the discounted price. At about 7:45, we were pulling up to the Afest Clubhouse, dressed in full Kaiba gear.

And in full Kaiba gear, I tried out another new wii game - the hit of the party, so it seemed. WiiFit! (I also tried Rock Band, but this is why fanfictions with Seto Kaiba as a rock star don't really make sense. A manager, perhaps. A guitarist, thank god no...)

The amusement started the instant I made my mii for the game. It asked my height and age, so it could do its calculations. I put in the year of my birth, and everyone started shouting, 'no way!!' The guy who was helping me set things up couldn't believe I was five years older than him! And the group of spectators thought I was 19 or maybe 20 at best.

Of course, I should have seen that coming.

As far as my weight is concerned, I'm about 115, even in my Seto gear. (Which makes me look near anorexic next to the actual Seto Kaiba's 143.3, but yes...)

Then it tested my balance. Which, to quote the wii game, is clearly "not my forte." I found it difficult to distribute my weight evenly between both sides. And even playing games, this became very evident. I got a negative score on the soccer ball game. I couldn't even move from side to side correctly.

And after testing my balance... it told me my WiiFit age. And I think this is the first time in my entire life that I've actually been upset about being told I'm older! It said I was 38!! My body's age was almost 40! And it said my body was weak!!

Dammit, Seto Kaiba is not weak! I challenge you to a game of duel monsters, WiiFit. We'll see who comes up weak!! uh... yeah.

For someone that isn't equally balanced to begin with, given my spine and all, I think I did a pretty good job...

Current COSTUME: Seto Kaiba

9:13pm: TGIM - thank god it's memetime
I could talk about my first official spot on the evening Tae Kwon Do class schedule. I could talk about the fact that I still have cake left from my Master's test (or make that... had cake left. We just ate the last two pieces tonight, and amazingly, it was still moist! Even after a month!) I could talk about the ongoing effort to get a kendo class started up and how we're wearing people down.

But instead... for the love of all that is Friday, I think I'll do a meme instead.

step 1: open iTunes
step 2: put all of your music on random.
step 3: write down the first twenty-five songs it plays, no matter how embarrassing
step 4: have other people analyze what all those songs say about you.

1. My Chemical Romance - 'Famous Last Words'
2. Dream - 'Night of Fire'
3. Dragonforce - 'The Flame of Youth'
4. Cave - 'Rauken'
5. Trapt - 'When All is Said and Done'
6. Breaking Benjamin - 'Breath'
7. Mortal Kombat - Techno Syndrome Mix
8. Psycho le Cemu - 'Brilliant World'
9. Marilyn Manson - 'Lunchbox'
10. Social Distortion - 'I was Wrong'
11. Sir Mix-a-Lot - 'Baby Got Back'
12. YuGiOh - 'Millennium Battle'
13. Pitbull Daycare - 'Suffocation'
14. Gackt - 'Kimi no Tameni Dekiru Koto'
15. Ayumi Hamasaki - 'Dearest'
16. Daishi Kajinaga - 'I love you'
17. Queen - 'Princes of the Universe'
18. Disturbed - 'Stupify'
19. My Chemical Romance - 'Welcome to the Black Parade'
20. Bryan Adams - 'Summer of 69'
21. Dragonforce - 'Through the Fire and Flames'
22. VNV Nation - 'Epicentre'
23. Christina Aguliera - 'Fighter'
24. Primitive Radio Gods - 'Standing Outside a Broken Telephone Booth with Money in my Hand'
25. Voltaire - 'The U.S.S. Make Shit Up'


Current Lips: white and turquoise gradient blend

10:11pm: Man: 0, Technology: 3.14
The Antichrist of Computers has struck again.

Yesterday, I managed to give my Mac the black screen of death. Not just once, but twice. In the span of about ten minutes.

And the day before, I managed to half-crash it. It wasn't crashed enough to make everything frozen. But it was crashed to the point that I could move my mouse (or at least pretend to move my mouse. It kept jumping around the screen to random places whenever I moved it across the Wacom tablet) but I couldn't click on anything.

Now... if only my supervisor was here to tell me why my computer is crashing so much... But he's taking one for the team, and spending the week in Cancun. And last time I checked in, he's having about as much computer trouble. It's just a prettier view behind the monitor.

Current Lips: light purple and turquoise gradient blend

9:58pm: Videos are now on Youtube!
For your viewing pleasure:

The Anime Apprentice: Kaiba Corporation

and

The Anime Apprentice Blooper Reel

Current Lips: yellow, orange and brown gradient blend

8:15pm: Akon Report: Video Update
And Here's our skit!!

(you have to register with the site if you're not a member, but it's well worth it. it's a great high res version!

5:40pm: A-Kon 19! Con Report!!
This was truly a Con of extremes. Things happened that were very good, things happened that were very bad. And I'm sure there were a few very ugly things too. And all of the extremes tended to be centered around Con Contests.

Akon Icon
Extreme: Very Ugly.

Well, I knew what round would worry me most, and it was the para para. Sure enough, I got voted out on para para. But what surprised me was how it happened.

Out of the 14 contestants that made it into that round, only 11 showed up. Only 10 could advance. Therefore, only one person would be voted out of the contest. Before I was to go on, the host assured a couple of us (who were in very movement restrictive costumes) that we wouldn't be judged down because of that. And he told me to show the judges how high I could move my arms, so they'd know what my limitations were in the armor.

I did that. And the first judge looked at me and said, "Well, that's sure going to be a problem, isn't it."

I did my routine. And I didn't do it flawlessly, but I did it all right. I did it just as decently as everybody else there. I just couldn't raise my arms as high. The random audience members went out to deliberate, and came back, ready to eliminate the guy that dropped his head, defeated, in the middle of his routine. The judges overruled that, though. Unanimously, they picked to eliminate me. I wish I knew why... They weren't supposed to be grading down because my costume prevented me from raising my arms as high as the routine said I had to. But apparently, they did. Because I can't think of any other reasons...

But if I was going down, I was going to go down with the lol's. I called out for a Monster Reborn, and got one of the audience members to take it up to the emcee. They did. The emcee read it, and people started shouting that it meant I should be back in. Unfortunately, judges ruling stood. But it got a good rise out of the crowd as well as the contestants, who all thought I shouldn't have been knocked out.

The guy that was saved - he was eliminated in the next round. Because he chose not to continue. What a waste...

I have half a mind to attach a monster reborn card to my application next year and go at it all over again. But then again, I am a very stubborn so and so.

Video Contest
Extreme: Very Bad.

I really thought I had this contest in the bag. But lo and behold, we didn't even place. We were the only live action video that made it in, but it still wasn't good enough to beat out some video game animation.

Fortunately, I know exactly where we went wrong. The only technical problem was with the L audio. I knew it was a problem. But I was hoping that wouldn't kill us... It didn't... but it sure helped.

We relied too heavily on a script that required knowledge of anime. Half the judges don't even watch anime. They're just there to give unbiased opinions. We made things too complicated. We did too much. And a big part of me thinks if I would have just done the show intro, we would have won.

Next year - I'm going right back to music videos. It's what I do best anyway.

Cosplay
Extreme: Very VERY VEEEEERY GOOD!!!!!

As much as I thought I had the video contest in the bag, I thought we had no chance in hell at cosplay. We were entering the script that been tossed out of the scriptwriting contest for having, and I quote, 'no entertainment value whatsoever.'

I thought it was a very good skit, though. And we fought for our place in line.

To our surprise, Yugioh swept cosplay. The abridged walk-on group got a judges award. A duel monster from Yugioh GX got best costume! I was thrilled. But by the time they went through all the lesser awards, I figured we didn't have much chance. But the camera was still rolling, nonetheless. Then they called it.

Third place... our skit! At first, I didn't catch it. Then our Darkrai screamed. And then I screamed - oh my god, that's us!!!! We ran up to the stage, and it was wonderful!

People really loved our cosplay skit! When things were being broadcast live feed to the con suite, they said they were laughing so hard! And the posters - the posters made it happen. They're what really nailed it! And the line that ended our first verse - about the escalators breaking... We had to pause for so much laughter to die down. It was incredible. The crowd just wouldn't stop cheering!!

It's like my roommate said - "If there was no such thing as a good play without a good script, then there'd be no such thing as improv!"

And to make the victory that much sweeter: Our arch-cosplay-rival, who happened to get a spot in the cosplay through the scriptwriting contest, who also happened to submit a song parody, happened to be beat by us. And boy did that feel good. I am the crowned queen of anime song parody!

Oh, and the victory swag - we got a whole box of it! And it included a boken!! This was awesome for three very significant reasons.

1. I'm trying to get into a kendo class. And this is one thing I will need to buy that I won't have to buy now.
2. It's black!
3. When I got booted off Akon Icon, one of the prizes that could have been given away was a foam sword. The audience started chanting to give me the sword, but the emcee said that the sword was going to one of the top 5. Well... that was a foam sword. Mine's made of wood! In the end, I got the prize I wanted!!

I also got a Jaken plushie (I squealed so hard at that one - Maybe I should make a Rin sometime and use it!) as well as some other random things that we all split. Let's just say that Mello had a box of Pocky to do with as she pleased, and Darkrai finally has one blue eye. Manga and CDs were divided up, and so were figurines. But I got the boken!

Everything Else:

That cosplay result couldn't come at a better time. I was having an absolutely terrible day. Not only was there the whole A-kon Icon Contest drama, but they kept changing the cosplay times, restaurants were closed when we tried to get food or we couldn't find any service to order food, and then, in the middle of the photoshoot with the other duel monster, I lost my badge.

I've never lost a badge at a convention. Never. Thank goodness I was pre-registered, or it would have cost me $30 just to get a new badge. But that was really just icing on L's cake that was a lie.

The costumes we had were awesome, and we got into some great photoshoot opportunities. We dueled on Friday in Yugioh costumes. We went L tipping on Sunday, and it was hilarious. We got stopped for tons of pictures, that I can't wait to link to.

And I was able to buy some nice swag in the dealer's room. This was, of course, minus the doujinshi that I bought simply because when I asked the guy about it, and he told me what was in it, I liked it. Well, turns out it didn't have anything that he said it had in it. It was mostly text. It was such a waste of $20. And that put a big damper on most of my buying experience. But I did end up with the following awesome things:

- 2 gorgeous Death Note buttons. They were sooooo cute.
- a Kakashi plushie. He's going up to work to sit next to the trophy for no reason whatsoever besides the fact that I can.
- a gorgeous L print of fanart that I loved.
- a couple boxes of Pocky.
- a Kakashi bookmark - because Kakashi reads.
- an L badge that says, "Got Sweets" (My roommate bought a few more badges - one of Mello that said "Got Chocolate" and a Near that said "Got Kira")
- a cute little sketch of an L next to a big cupcake. The funny thing was that I almost got the letter L next to a big cupcake because she didn't know there was a character called L.

We had a lot of non-sanctioned con fun too. We played Seven Deadly Sins and my roommate proved she had a voice that could literally shake the hotel room. We ran around being silly. And I got myself in the middle of a cookie fight with a bunch of L's, and unfortunately got a bite of a cookie that had a chocolate M&M in it. Yuck. And I managed to keep my cell phone out of the hands of a somewhat creepy sadomasochist boy that was putting the moves on me.

So all in all, we lost a big contest, but we won another contest, a bigger contest (and one that we've never won before!) We had a lot of fun. Had a lot of lol's. And right now, with the combination of the Dark Magician armor and L's posture, my back is KILLING ME. But it's a good pain.

Just don't tell that to the sadomasochist...

7:35am: otaku's night out
One of my younger friends from the dojo accompanied us to dinner at Mr. Max yesterday for our pre-con celebration. It was her first time doing anything remotely Japanese like this. So she was pretty excited. And unlike a certain boy that we know and love, she was willing to try anything we put in front of her.

Though, maybe it had something to do with the fact that she wasn't wearing her glasses...

We rang up a $90 tab, between the five of us.
Here's what we got. And here's what we thought of it -

* Miso Soup - the newbie thought it looked like vomit in a bowl and tasted like vomit in a bowl. I was just enjoying the flavor, and eating it the right way. (with chopsticks and drinking it. Not with a spoon.)
* Edamame - mmm... soybean pods. It's like candy! And the same certain boy we know and love learned that these are not to be dipped in ranch and eaten whole. That they're actually pretty good if you pop the beans out like you're supposed to.
* Ika shoga - Squid. With ginger! Yummy! It's a little chewy, but still pretty good.
* Kurage - Jellyfish. I'd been wanting to try this for some time, but hadn't been quite brave enough. That, and last time I was brave enough, jellyfish weren't in season. They tasted sort of like gummy candies crossed with cucumber soaked in vinegar. And they were very hard to swallow. I don't mean that they tasted bad. I mean that they were literally hard to swallow.
* Gyoza - Can't ever go wrong with beef dumplings
* Koroke - they're like potato pancakes. Very good. I think this is one of the few items that everyone at the table loves. Well, me not so much. I can take an end piece, but in the middle, they're all mashed potato. And that's pretty yucky.
* Aji Fry - fried horse mackerel. This was the newbie's favorite dish. And it's quite good.
* Aga Shumai - Can't ever go wrong with pork dumplings either!
* Dashimaki - We wondered what made a Japanese omelette different from an American one. Turns out, the eggs are a lot fluffier! I didn't really like it as much. Maybe I'm just jaded. Maybe I just wanted cheese...
* Yasai Itame - The trademark beef dish. Something simple. Luke went to town on this. It's normal-people food.
* 3 bowls of ice cream - Red Bean, Green Tea, and Plum. Plum and Red Bean will always be my favorites. Always. Green Tea... just kind of tastes like grass to me, but my roommate likes the flavor.

Other highlights of the night included my first round of pretty successful Japanese karaoke without a lyric sheet as well as video being taken of me when I managed to drop a piece of jellyfish on my pants. I swear, the timing of that was priceless.

And now... A-kon awaits!!

Current COSTUME: Seto Kaiba!

9:27pm: Pre-Akon Contest Report
I have been so busy getting ready for the con, that I've hardly had any time to blog about getting ready for the con! But I'm entering a bunch of contests this year. And here's where I stand:

Scriptwriting Contest: EPIC FAIL.
Yes, we were booted out, because the judges felt that our script didn't have any entertainment value whatsoever. We plan on entering that skit in the actual cosplay, and winning with it. Just so everyone is clear. Because our skit DID have entertainment value.

Video Contest: Finalist!
5 out of 5 judges have signed off, which means we've made it into the final round. We've met all minimum required score. I just have to hope we have what it takes to take Best in Show again this year. I really want to win big!!

Akon Icon: Preliminary Round!
Only 20 contestants will be selected, and I was notified by phone that I am one of those 20! So I'd better start practicing my para para and brush up on my Japanese. This is going to be a fierce competition. But if I can make it through all the rounds, the prize is so sweet - tickets for next year, and the ability to say I was the first ever Akon Icon!!

Cosplay: estimated wait time in line: 5 hours
Yeah... since we're not finalists, we don't have guaranteed spots in the cosplay. Which means we get to wait in the line. Or, if I'm in Icon at the time, one of us gets to stand in the line... But here's hope that we will break our losing streak with a really awesome performance. Let's show up those guys that said we didn't have entertainment value. I think we have lots of entertainment value! And poster value! Yeah! Dammit!

Good luck to me!!!

Current Lips: orange, yellow and green gradient blend