your joy is my low

Things I have been putting off: posting the rest of the Dragon*Con photos, working on costumes, responding to LJ and dA comments, painting the 80+ pegs I need to paint for MAGFest which is at the beginning of 2012, cleaning anything and everything, rearranging things I want to rearrange, selling lots of old stuff, finding all the stuff I want to give away, RP, everything ever.

Now, I am a lazy person and I will admit that, but for the past couple months, all I have done is sleep - no real video game time, no crafting time, just couch + tv + blanket. And that is not like me. This is one of the reasons I didn't finish everything I wanted to finish for Dragon*Con. This is one of the reasons I have gotten absolutely nothing done since Dragon*Con. I get home from work and sleep. On the weekends, Nate comes over and we watch something and then I would say I needed a nap and sleep for five hours.

I even put off writing this damn post for six days. Every single day it was, "I will do it in a bit." And then I slept.

I finally went to the doctor last week and they did blood work. They called me Friday to tell me that everything looks fine except my white blood cell count is high, meaning my body is trying to fight off some sort of virus. Cool story bro. So, I'm going back tomorrow (they are supposedly running more tests) to let them know my head and neck and the upper portion of my back have been hurting like a bitch.

This weekend, after I did my two exams on Saturday morning, Nate stole me and brought me to a town about an hour south of where I live to a hotel. He wanted me to relax and not be stressed about all the shit I still need to get done and whatever is wrong with me and all that jazz, which I was very grateful for. We ended up at a Wal-Mart Supercenter at 11pm last night to get dinner (since I had slept from like... 6pm to 9pm :|) and we bought food and a nerf blaster and Halloween plates and went back to the hotel room and he shot nerf discs and I looked at a cookbook full of recipes you use lots of cream cheese in.

(Seriously, we went to a state park on Sunday and walked a trail that was 0.3 miles around a pond. We even stopped and sat down near the pond a couple times to look for turtles. After we finished this trail, I collapsed in the car. >| 0.3 miles. With stops.)

There are two things - media-wise - that have been keeping me sane. One is Foster the People. I kept hearing "Pumped Up Kicks" on the radio and I was all, "That song is kind of cool." So I went to Amazon and listened to samples of the rest of the album. It sounded alright. I needed new music so I said what the hell and bought it and it has been a lot better than I thought it would be.

The other thing... Avatar: The Last Airbender. This is one of those shows that I've always meant to watch. Then it showed up on Netflix's Instant Watch and I added it to my list. Erin, Ronnie, Jeremy, Roger, Beth and Denis were talking about it on Twitter awhile back and I thought, "Oh hey, that's on my list." Nate hadn't watched it yet either. So him and I started it. Aaaaaaaand pretty much got sucked in. Now, we started out both loving Zuko dearly because he was a bitch.

Buuuuuut, after the whole series we had three new MVPs.



We couldn't resist Iroh's awesomeness, Sokka's... Sokkaness, and Suki's kickassery. Plus, you know how I feel about warrior ladiezzzz and their completely doofy boys with lol so so amazing jokes.

So next year, along with the giant Avatar group Erin started talking about on Twitter, Nate and I are really effing excited to be putting these together for Dragon*Con 2012:



Nate knows he's gonna do WARRIOR SOKKAAAAAAAA, but he hasn't decided if he's gonna do the helmet yet or the awesome facepaint he wears in like one whole episodeeee (see inset, hehe). The facepaint would hide the fact that he is almost as pasty white as me, so there is that. Plus, it looks slick.

But yeah, that show has been a big part of me not just being a complete lump. I've watched the whole thing and love it to pieces.

(We're planning on doing this costume set at some point too, okay:



YUP.)

I am trying to finish my D*C photos and everything. SOON I PROMISE. ;-; Hopefully something good happens at the doctor's office tomorrow.

Lots of photos here - basically our day consisted of being lazy in the morning, being lazy while Ashley painted John green, going out and putzing around in Star Wars Genderswap costumes, being lazy and napping, getting into BioShock Costumes, going to the Aquarium and theeeeeeeen being lazy and passing out once we were back.

Our biggest giddy moment of the day was the fact that Irrational Games (one of the companies behind BioShock) had employees at the Aquarium taking photos of BioShock cosplayers! It was amazing - the employees were super nice and they gave all the costumers BioShock swag and took photos for their site and everything. All the costumers there were really cool and the whole thing really made everyone's night. XD



Y HALLO THAR



( Saturday, September 3 - A new makeup victim! )

UP NEXT - SUNDAY! SO MUCH STAR WARS EXPANDED UNIVERSEEEEEEEEEE

And just like Friday, there are more photos from Saturday which will be uploaded with all the rest of the mess of photos on zhobot.net once all these recaps are finished. XD

LE CON OF DRAGONS.

So this report will be shorter than all my other D*C reports most likely. The con was effing packed, esp. on Saturday, and I didn't do much in the way of panels and all that jazz. Plus, we brought nine costumes so a lot of it was either chilling in the room getting ready/being lazy and watching D*C TV or being dorks and taking pictures of the crap we put work into, haha~ XD I didn't even make it into the Dealer's Hall (expect for two seconds to get water) or the Exhibitor's Halls (except for a quick walk around one of them to help Ashley look for something). I went in the art show for a couple minutes to look at Erin's table. Besides those, I didn't use my badge for anything except one Star Wars panel. WHOOPS. Well, okay, and to get into the other hotels later in the evening since you needed your badge to do that - BUT YEAH~ ON WITH IT. :3


LOOK AT THAT LACK OF BADGE LINE, HOLY CRAP.

( Wednesday, August 31 - Thursday, September 1 )

THANKS TO HOMEWORK, I've had a crap chance to write my con report -- meaning the longer it takes to get written, the less I remember. I AM TRYING AS HARD AS I CAN THOUGH. :3

More soon!

Between the 9038490283490824957437 costume things we're trying to get done for Dragon*Con, Nate and I decided we're going to do a project of the photo-ly type (which will get done in... forever from now, most likely :|).

While going through our boxes of costume junk looking for pieces we would need for this year, we cackled at all the Jacen and Tenel Ka costume action spilling from the boxes (not to mention we're both bringing two new costumes each of them-thar-darlings this year). We talked about taking all the costumes (including the new ones and a couple we're planning on putting together) and creating a set of photos that sort of follows the timeline of the two of them -- beginning with a photo of little woodsy Jacen and ending with a photo of stoic bitch Tenel Ka many years later. I won't bore you with the loljuicy (not really) details of all the middle photos - it'll make sense one day when we actually start taking them all. I HOPE. D:

WE GOT THE FIRST ONE TAKEN THOUGH -- and this is where WE NEEEEEEEED YOUR HELPS.

On Saturday, we went to a park nearby and headed up one of the trails, straying off of it (and Nate pushing old spider webs out of the way while I squealed mercilessly and tried to deal with it LIKE A BOSS) just to get to this amazing little grove area to take the first photo in - little nature boy teenage dirtbag Jacen Solo. Nate was a super sport and even took his frickin' shoes off. I was stupid and wore shorts. I have sixteen mosquito bites on my legs.

We also saw a frog.


Nate got so giddy - "OHHHH IT'S A FROG! LOOK. AT. HIM!" -- this is the same park we were walking through last fall when he started telling me about the mating habits of frogs.

Anyways, I snapped as many pictures as I could while feeling sweat drip down my back and swatting bugs away from my pasty legs (uggggh summertime) and hoped we got something passable. COME TO FIND OUT WE MIGHT HAVE.

Two of the photos are under the cut below. Nate said the first one could work cause he's smiling and looking down and being awkward - which definitely works. But the second one got me because the angle makes him look smaller (do you know how hard it is to make a 6'4", 24 year old look like he's a decade younger? IT'S IMPOSSIBLE) -- and that Zoolander expression on his face said EAGER TINY JOKE-TELLING JACEN to me for some reason. I don't know. I like both and we can't decide which one to make the FIRST PHOTO OF THE JACEN/TENEL KA PHOTO PROJECT OF DOOOOOOOM!

( KJKSJFKSJ DECISION. I haven't done anything to these pictures except resizing them and knocking the contrast up a bit - so picture them a lot fancier or something lololol okay wat )

WHAT TO DO?

I just rambled I need to go to sleep.

(How out of it I am: Jacen Solo needs a "Honey Badger don't give a shit" shirt. I'm assigning memes to all the Star Wars characters. D:)

So everyone knows how indecisive I am when it comes to... everything. And here it is a case of wigs (like it has been in the past). I like being able to reuse wigs for different costumes and I have two upcoming costumes that need long blonde hair. Now, technically these two characters are probably different shades of blonde, but buying two wigs for both just seems counterproductive to smart costume-budgeting. XD

The two characters are...

Jasmine Jolene (BioShock) & Sylvia Christel (No More Heroes)

With Jasmine I'll have a clip-in feather headpiece and it shouldn't be too hard to add two low pigtails to the same wig for Sylvia... so here are the four I was looking at.

ONE - this one seems a little too platinum for Jasmine, but I could still run with it if it's the best option.

TWO - Cheapest! Although that might not be a good thing...? Even though I'm 90% sure that is a good thing, lololol.

THREE - Again this one is pretty darn platinum, but I like the shape of it/the back.

FOUR - Kind of a darker blonde which would work well for Jasmine, but is it LOL BLONDE enough for Sylvia (it kind of looks like it has slightly darker highlights)?

DILEMMA OF THE DAY.

In other news, there are Tekkoshocon photos up on facebook! Check them out here! We are definitely planning on coming back to this con. We were also talking about trying to make it to T-Mode up in Rockville for a day this coming weekend, but we aren't sure about it because we might just be lazy and lounge around or start work on Dragon*Con costumes.

I didn't put any of the Death Note photos in the Tekkoshocon album since we would be putting them in our DN costume album on the facebook page when we get to it, so here is one of us being d-bags outside with our handcuffs. Nate's lankiness and attention to Light's bitchy posture make this picture warm my derpish little heart.


LOLOLOL he is angry he forgot to bring dress socks.

Overall, we didn't get very many pictures of this costume, but we plan to wear it all the time because it is fun walking around eating lollipop after lollipop with emo makeup on while Nate gives me death stares and scribbles in a book.

I need to take a 30 hour nap. bleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehhhhurrrrrrgh.

So Nate made a mistake by introducing me to Death Note. There are certain animes I love and it really takes a lot for me to get into one. If I don't like it by the first/maybe second episode -- if it doesn't catch me -- then I can't watch the rest even if it gets completely awesome later. I'M WEIRD. :( Or just picky about watching things.

One day Nate was all, "I think if you enjoy the craziness, intensity and twists of 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors then you would like Death Note."

Now I had heard of Death Note before, but didn't know anything about it and hadn't seen it. I knew the fans were rabid (not that that is bad all the time), lol. But I said, "I LIKE CRAZINESS, I'LL TRY IT. SURE."

So the first episode I thought, "Okay, premise is pretty neat. Let's see where they go." Also, Ryuk wins everything. By the second episode I was almost ready to sail this ship. By the third I was on the front of the ship with my arms out like flippin' Titanic. MY HEART WILL GO ON, AMITIRE?

If you told me, "There is a whole episode of this anime where all that happens is this dude tries to get this chick's names and you will love it." I would've told you, "LOLOLOL STFU WHATEVER. DISLIKE."

But that episode had me chewing my fingers cause I had already chewed my fingernails off on the episode before. Light + Death Note = total justice dealing dickface. I LOVE IT.

We're on episode 19 right now and things are getting even more crazy, which I thought wasn't possible, but apparently it is.

I kept saying to Nate, "OH GOD. I BET THE L/LIGHT SLASH ON THE INTERWEBS IS ABUNDANT. OH YES. OH MAAAAN." And he keeps laughing about it. I also keep saying that he should cosplay as Light. He's tall, he can easily pass for high school/college age when he shaves and he always wears nice outfits (plus I would just like to make the Death Note, lol) -- then I started in with the "I WILL COSPLAY AS L AND SLASH WITH YOU OKAY THAT'S GOOD YES~"

He thinks I'm kidding. He thinks I won't do it.

Excuse me, bros, while I prep my eyeliner, look for a black wig and gather an abundance of sugar-infused items.

(WE FINISHED THE FIRST GAME ON OUR LIST OF 100! IT'S A MIRACLE! Let's see if we can keep it up! XDDD)

So for Katsucon I think I'm bringing four costumes (OH MY GOODNESS WHAT AM I THINKING) - Barbie from Toy Story 3, Tenel Ka from SW:EU, and then Santa and June from 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors.

I have wigs for both Barbie and Santa, but I'm trying to figure out what to do about the hair for June and Tenel Ka. I was planning on getting my hair done before Katsucon (meaning it would be SUPARRRR RED) and then I would have to get a wig for June since her hair is brown. Then I was thinking of all my options and here is my STUPID DILEMMA and the things I have come up with that I can do.

1.) I get my hair done again, RED! like usual. Use my hair for Tenel Ka and get a wig for June.

2.) Get my hair done more of a brownish-red - try to pass it off for both Tenel Ka and June. Even though it would be a little too brown for TK and a little too red for June.

3.) Get my hair down a darkish brown, use it for June and get a wig for Tenel Ka - even though I would have no idea what kind of wig to get for TK. Hahah~ XD I would only be able to use a certain type for Queen Tenel Ka (fancy) since younger TK's hair is more OMG wild -- this is why it's easier to use my regular hair for her since I could style it however (whereas wigs are harder to change for different costumes).

HALP PLZ D: Obviously, 2 would be the cheapest and I love me some cheap, hehehe. BUT I DON'T KNOWWWWWW cause I don't want colors to be distracting from a costumes I've worked hard on. :\ Does that makes and sense? lolol i am a dork.

(I told you it was stupid. XDDD)

SUP BROS

(i need to upload the rest of these photos lol, esp. caedus with glasses)

So I finally updated this thing with Dragon*Con 2010 costumes (and updated a whole bunch of other crap on there). I also made a new layout for the mess of J/TK fanthings site (om nom jared & bryce). And put a new necklace up on etsy! Now on to the new layout for echuta.net~!

Between sites and writing and pictures and costumes and moving all the furniture around in the gaming/craft/costuming/workspace area (THEN CLEANING IT ALL, OH GAWD FOREVER LATER) I have been so busssssssssssssy. I guess that's better that staring at the wall though. XD

ALSO, FALLOUT NEW VEGAS IS A WEEK FROM TODAY. So that on top of everything else - and by everything else I mean I WILL FORGET IT ALL UNFORTUNATELY and crawl under a pile of blankets to wander the Vegas Wasteland! I'm coming for you, SUPER MUTANTS. <3

The last part of the report! :O


(Under this cut: more Expanded Universe stuff that totally devolves into something horrible XD, Celldweller & Blue Stahli are so nice lol, let's hit the roadddddd)

( MONDAY & TUESDAY - BRET WAS HERE. )

Of course, my mind has instantly gone to D*C 2011. And also figuring out costumes for it. I'm sure there will be a Star Wars one or two. Then there's the group costume I'll probably be posting about here soon, which omicron1337 and I have already been discussing (XD) and I know there's a bunch of others I can't remember. WHAT WAS I DOING AGAIN? D:

Next up THE DAY OF SATUR.


(Under this cut: WATER ANIMOS, I don't want no part of yo' tight ass country club, ya freak bitch!, I want to be a pirate!, Spymush Peepwood, adventures at the liquor store)

( SATURDAY - Is that Franklin, IS THAT FRANKLIN? )

So, Saturday at Dragon*Con.

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER DUDE IN A TOWEL RUNNING DOWN THE STREET.