Hi!
If you'd like to add me, please, go right ahead; I will likely add you back, provided you introduce yourself. My journal is divided into two sections: the open, public posts that everyone can view are about my dolls, my artwork, and my fanfiction.

The locked section is mostly personal musings and randomness that I thought some might not care to see. If you would like to be on this filter just comment here. I don't mind if you ask, promise. :)

If you're wondering whether or not you're on the personal filter, just click on the "personal" tag off in the sidebar. If the entries show up, you're on. ;)

Happy Birthday, Zelda! :D Hope you had a great one! ♥

Oh snap, y'all, it's October! You know what that means:

Halloween Cards!

You know the drill: comments are screened, leave your address. :3 Hurrah for the best holiday ever!

...or, "In Which I Post Pictures of Dolls You Didn't Even Know I Had."

So, I have a Na-Nu-Ri. Have had a Na-Nu-Ri, actually, for about three years now! I was thinking about him recently because I told someone this, and they were surprised. Then I realized that, in all three years of me having him, he has never, once, been on a body.

So, this weekend, while h1545h1 and I stole sakura_oki for a couple of nights, I plopped Kisou on sakura_oki's F-Doll body. And so, we have pictures:



( +4, including Mackie-doll! )

Ah, as you can see, Macabre is still with me, despite my intent to sell him earlier this year. He just didn't move on DoA, and I don't have the heart to put him on eBay. :( So I think he's going to stay. I don't play with him much at all, but it is comforting to know that his funny little face is always there if I want to see him. ♥

Anyway, about Kisou - he's actually a figment of someone's imagination, a nightmare, so to speak, that has taken form and crept out into the real world. That's why it hasn't bothered me to have him as a rolling head for so long: I just figured he was only able to materialize that much of himself. :p But I like him on a body! I think it's about time I found one for him.

Also, this is the first real photoshoot I've posted since, um, April. D: Daaaaang.

Let's talk manga!

So, the newest Kuroshitsuji chapter is up.

Not that that's news, really - it's been up for a couple of days now. :x Personally, I was disappointed: for as awesome as Nina is, I was really, really, really hoping this chapter wouldn't be filler. :/ Alas. I swear, waiting for this series is like slow, slow torture.

In the meantime, I just finished reading a series called "After School Nightmare." Quick plot synopsis: Mashiro Ichijo is one of several high school students enrolled in a strange, selective class that takes place in a hidden infirmary in the school. The catch is this class actually takes place in a dream, where everyone takes on the form that is hidden in their heart - revealing Mashiro's secret that, though he lives his life as a boy, he's actually only half male. The rest of his classmates take on their own distorted forms, and they all battle for a hidden key needed to 'graduate' from the school. But finding the key proves more difficult than expected...

Anyway, I enjoyed it - well, until the end anyway. :p Still, it was a good, somewhat atypical shoujou story. Muffin and I found the lot of it at Ed McKay's for like $2 a book. X3

So, what manga have you guys been reading recently? :)

This is cool:

Smithsonian is teaming up with hundreds of museums across the country for Museum Day 2009. There's a card you can download on that website that will give you free admission to any participating museum on Saturday, September 26th. There are a bunch of museums listed in NC alone, so I can only imagine what other cool places you can check out that day.

sakura_oki and loveandpoison, Old Salem is one of the participating museums (actually, there are quite a few in Winston and G-boro!). Maybe that would be a good day to explore there? :) There's also a Doll and Miniature Museum in High Point...but I'm not sure about it. It's 'Certified Senior Friendly.' What does that even mean, anyway? D:

Ughughgughgh sick. Who the hell catches a cold in August? I do, apparently.

Anyway. Plushie. The first of the Otakon commissions, done.

This one is a Big Daddy, from Bioshock. Definitely, definitely, the most complex plushie I've made so far. :O It took forever.



( +6 )

Finally - Otakon photo dump!

( 30+ pics! )

Aaaaand that's all, folks! My pictures were pretty sucky - the light was terrible down in the alley, and my camera is not the best. :( But, there they are, anyway~

Back from Otakon!

It went WONDERFULLY. So much better than I expected! I sold tons of stuff, talked to quite a few really neat people, and splurged on Gundam00 and Hetalia junk. I am armed, as well, with TONS of awesome ideas for the next convention. X3 Hohohoh. I will have a more detailed post about it later, I'm super tired!

Bad news, though, is my cats are mad at me. D: They peed all over the carpet in the living room while I was gone, and good lord, it stinks to high heaven in here. I'm really pretty upset about it, because I'm terrified I won't be able to get it out at all. I've sprayed tons of Urine-Gone on it and it still smells. I don't know what to doooooooooooo D:

I'm hoping, actually, that my landlord will just let me rip the carpet in there up and replace it. :x It's so old that it's dry-rotted in places, and there are spots on the edges where it's actually black. D: I do my best to keep this place clean but there are some things that just can't be cleaned no matter how hard you try. ._. It just makes me wish, sometimes, that I didn't have to rent.

Yeah, anyway. Busy week ahead! I have five - no, make that six commissions to do, and tomorrow the parental unit and I are going to catch Transformers 2 before it leaves the IMAX. Oh yes, and Harry Potter in IMAX3D is coming up very soon too~. Can't wait for that. X3

I'll try catching up on my f-list tomorrow, too. :x Rar!

This is mostly for my reference, but here's a rough estimation of my Otakon goods:

Plushies:

• Cats - ? I need to recount this. I think I have about 10.
  
• Bunnies - 5? Need to recount.
  
• Owls - 4
  
• Germany (Hetalia) - 2
  
• Italy (Hetalia) - 2
  
• Japan (Hetalia) 2
  
• Light (Death Note) - 2
  
• L (Death Note) - 2
  
• Lelouch (Code Geass) - 1
  
• Naruto - 2
  
• Tieria, XL (Gundam 00) - 1
  

Keychains:

• Cats: Oh crap, no clue. D: 20, I think.
  
• Owls: 5
  
• Chicks: 5
  

Badges:

• Kitsune: 20
  
• Tanuki: 20
  
• Bakeneko: 20
  
• Yuurei: 20
  
• Oni: 20
  
• Kappa: 20
  

Bookmarks:

• Kitsune: 10
  
• Tanuki: 10
  
• Bakeneko: 10
  
• Yuurei: 10
  
• Oni: 10
  
• Kappa: 10
  

Buttons: 10

Still to do:

• Finish sewing and stuffing owls.
  
• Finish sewing and stuffing Ls.
  
• Laminate Yuurei and Tanuki badges; attach clips.
  
• Finish fray-checking ribbon and attach to remaining bookmarks.
  
• Re-stuff certain cats and bunnies (if time allows).
  
• Make more buttons (if time allows).
  
  Phew! As you can see I've been very, very busy - but I feel really psyched! Hello-Neko is going to rock the hell out of Otakon. X3

Just a hint of things to come for Otakon: I made six badge and bookmark designs featuring Japanese mythological creatures. :3 Here they are!

Kitsune (fox):


( +5 )

What do you think? :)

T-minus three days and counting until we leave for Otakon! Holy crap! :O

Today started off well - met sakura_oki in Greensboro for pizza, coffee, and fabric shopping, and had a great time.

Then I got home, checked my Facebook, and...read this.

Jeremy Mullins was an amazing professor, and a wonderful friend. Even after I graduated, he made it a point to check in on me - an email, sometimes a message on Facebook, just to see how I was doing. He was one of the few professors I ever had that was truly inspiring - that encouraged his students to be themselves, to grow and create art instead of trying to simply 'fit in.' He was a dynamic personality, and he never let anyone feel left out - you felt like you were his best friend even after talking with him for just a few minutes.

I don't even know what else to say. I've been in shock all evening. I want to cry, but I can't, because I just cannot believe this is happening.

This is just...it's just...wrong.

I've decided to take a small hiatus. I won't be checking my Livejournal at all, and my instant messengers will be turned off. If anyone needs to get in touch with me, you can email me, but I probably won't be checking that much either.

Hikoubear will keep you all company while I'm gone. Later.

I think most people that this relates to are there already, but I wanted to put a head's up out there that I won't be at Animazement until Saturday.

I did not sleep at all last night, and am not too optimistic about tonight either. Being unable to breath through one's nose does make it difficult to sleep. So I've had a sore throat, severe congestion, an upset stomach, and extreme exhaustion to deal with all day today. To be blunt, I have felt fucking awful. I feel almost, but not quite, as bad as I did last year when we went to NYC Dolpa. And I still recall just what a hellish experience that was.

I imagine all this is brought on by stress. :/ I have spent SO MUCH GODDAMN MONEY the past couple of weeks; it just doesn't seem to stop. And now I'm behind on my bills and trying to swing a full convention? Oh, God. So yes. Saturday looks pretty good.

Not that there's much going on Friday anyway? AZ got pretty screwed up this year with all their Japanese guests canceling at the last minute (oh, and I am SO CRUSHED about Tomokazu Seki. Gonna cry forever over that one, dead serious). But still, there doesn't seem to be much in the way of interesting panels. And the vid rooms are all no-fansubs - and most of the shows I'd want to watch haven't been released over here.

Meh. Anyway. A little bummed, but I think the weekend will still be fun. I'm going to see friends, not the convention really, anyway. Please all send feel-better vibes my way; I've never been sick at a con before, I really don't want this to be the first time. Oh, to be ten years younger! I never got sick at all, worried about nothing, could go without sleep or food for days, and weighed about 40 pounds less. Teenage self, you didn't know how good you had it.

Quick question - I would really appreciate input on this, if you can!

So, for Animazement, I'm cosplaying Reira Serizawa from NANA. I'm doing the concert dress she first appears in - easy enough, but I'm stuck on what do for my wig!

I found one at Cosworx that I think will work:

http://www.cosworx.com/product.php?productid=25860&cat=0&page=2

But as for the color, I'm totally stuck. I've seen people interpret her hair color as almost every shade of the rainbow: dark brown, blond, auburn, even pink. It's impossible for me to tell what the best thing to do would be.

Here are some pics for reference:
( Read more... )

Now me, personally, I'm leaning towards pink - just because, you know, I like pink. But I also think an ash blond/light brown could work really well. These are the exact colors:

http://www.cosworx.com/images/sepia/PINK-.jpg

or

http://www.cosworx.com/images/sepia/18-.jpg

Here's the rest of the color chart, for the curious: http://www.cosworx.com/pages.php?pageid=13

I just haven't made up my mind completely. So, what do you guys think? :X

Poll #1397854 which color?
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 6

Which color wig should I go with?

Update: Daddy's out of the hospital and back at Ft. Pickett. He's doing fine - and I think I may have finally, finally talked him into changing his diet habits a bit, so hooray!

I've been insanely busy recently, and super tired. I'm taking a weekend trip to Asheville, NC this weekend with my mom; I think it will be very, very nice.

Meanwhile, I've finally uploaded my pictures from Sakura Matsuri. Took me long enough, didn't it?

( a day in review; super image heavy! 31 pics, 3 vids )

And that's all she wrote!

I'll have pictures from my trip to Roanoke, next. :3

This Easter morning, imagine my surprise when I looked into the kitchen and found this:



A little angel hard at work!

( a little Easter magic; +5 )

Eggs!



I was going to eat them, but then I didn't have the heart to. :(

Macabre is for sale.

I love my little Mackie-face, I really do, but - well, look guys, it's been a solid year since I even took any pictures of him. He's always the last one to be picked up or played with, and I just feel like, well, he's not getting the attention he deserves. There are other dolls that I know I would play with more; or (more likely) I'll just use the money from selling him to pay down some bills. Anything would be better than leaving him on a shelf collecting dust. :(

I'd love to see him go to someone on the f-list, but do pass the word about? He's a really hard doll to find; who knows, maybe he's been someone's grail doll all this time?

Unexpectedly, I went to Sakura Matsuri in Washington, D.C. today!

I've been gone from my house since 5:30 AM yesterday, and only just now got back at 1:15 AM. That's eleven hours of transit, including the train, and let me tell you, I feel every second of it.

It was so worth it though.

Anyway I just wanted to let the people I saw there know I made it home safely, and that I had a lovely time today. ♥

More details and pictars later!