Tuesday, June 29, 2004

Alice Is My "Home Girl"

Woke up and just played "American McGee's Alice" today. I've always wanted to play it, and my friend from Florida let me borrow it. I love it so far, it is fun.

"Alice in Wonderland" always interested me. Not the cheap, useless Disney trash. The actual book. I've never read all of it, just a chapter. But for some reason it has always captured my imagination.

"Alice" is more of a sequel to the book though... A very DARK sequel. I haven't even gotten half way through yet, so I shall explain what I gather is going on so far:

Shortly after Alice returned home from Wonderland, her house caught fire and she jumped out a window. Her parents were caught in the fire and burned alive. She went into shock and was placed in an asylum. Years later, the creatures of Wonderland call out to Alice for help. Once again she falls through the rabbit hole.

It seems the Queen of Hearts has gone insane and become more evil. She has enslaved everything and everyone in Wonderland she could get ahold of. Also, because Wonderland is a magical world, it is effected by things. The queen's evil aura has become so great, Wonderland has become warped and twisted... Every one has a new gruesome look and the world is something out of a nightmare.

Alice tries to keep up with the White Rabbit that is leading her to the queen and the Cheshire Cat (who looks really wicked) appears to help you out by giving you words of advice.

She uses a knife, a croquet mallet, dice the summon demons, and that is all the weapons I have found so far. This game is so dark, twisted, and violent. Alice even has an attitude. I love it!

Other than that, my brother helped me check my battery. We filled the water, and cleaned the gunk that developed on the connectors. Then he cleaned out 3 nests worth of tall grass and 3 birds worth of feathers from the air intake grill. He thinks Yuki has been climbing trees and eating birds... Anyway, then I hosed down the engine. It was really dirty. I started the engine, and it seemed to start faster and stronger. Also, the battery light didn't come on. Thank goodness I didn't have to replace the battery.

Man, I wish I could be making more money so I didn't have to be so overly concerned about how much I spend like I am now... I hate it and this town with its little amount of open nice jobs. And I want to get an apartment with Marcus, cause that would be nice and a lot of fun... Oh well, maybe soon. Wish my luck on finding a great job and saving a lot of money very soon people...

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Sunday, June 27, 2004

Brothers United

Well, while I was working today, Spike appeared at my shop. It was good to see him after 2 years. He is my bro. Not really, but we are close friends, so we call each other that. Anyway, I've seen recent pictures of him before he came here, but it was still hard to recognize him. In my mind, I see the him before he moved away. I personally think he looked cooler back then cause he has this really awesome hair style that fit him perfectly. Oh well, at least he still acts exactly the same. That is very good. But, I knew he did from talking to him online.

I met his friend Jeremy. Jeremy is cool. Perhaps we will get to hang out some even after Spike goes back to Florida. Anyway, after I got off we went to Beniggan's. That is my favorite restaurant. I've been there three times thus far and I have not paid for my own meal yet. ROCK ON! Spike paid for me since I was having to drive him and Jeremy around when we hang out these next two weeks. So the waitress was really cute. I don't know why, but I kept flirting with her. Not even thinking about it, but I would. We left her a big tip. I wanted to see Waitress Kate though. When Ryan and I went on New Year's Eve, our waitress was named Kate. And since I already know a Kate, we refer to her as Waitress Kate. Anyway, she was really friendly and funny so I was hoping to see her again. Oh well.

Kate, I miss your hugs!

So after dinner, the three of us went to hang at Jeremy's house, where Spike is staying. We played a lot of DDR and then I decided to go home... But on the way to Jeremy's house, my battery light came on and things started to fritz out. On the way home I tried to use as little as possible... I hope I just need to add more water. I don't have the money to spare for a new battery.

Gosh dang it all. I need a better job with more hours and better pay. I just can't get ahead with my money. Something keeps coming up and pulling me down. I hate how this country... how this stupid world operates. I seriously need to take over this planet and run it MY way. I know a lot of people will be happy. There will also be a lot of unhappy people, but I'll make them be happy about it...

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Friday, June 25, 2004

L337 M0U5E B4BY!!! W00!

Rolled out of bed this afternoon because I had to get my car inspected before it was too late. Get my shower and take off to the same place I bought Yuki at. I pulled in and asked to be inspected.

This grumpy old man came up and started to look it over. He noticed one of my wind sheild wipers needed replacing. He told me to replace it before he could finish the inspection... So I left and went to O'Reilly's and they measured it and gave me what I needed. Then I went home and asked my brother if he knew how to replace it.

Got that taken care of and went back for the inspection. A younger, and nicer man was there and he inspected it and approved it. So now that is out of the way.

While I was sitting at home being pissed about my family watching the crappy American "Godzilla" I got one of the greatest text messages ever.

All right, so then I asked Ryan to meet me at the mall cause I did NOT want to have spent all day at home. While up there, we went to Books-A-Million. Again, they still did not have "Trigun Maximum Vol.1" I am beginning to think I will never see it. It should have come out the 17th of May. And then they didn't have the last volume of "King of Bandits: Jing" where Hastings did last night. So I just picked up Vol. 1 of "Pretear." I love the anime, so I want to see what the manga is like.

I also found a tirlogy of books I found intresting. Based in Medieval Japan, and the story line sounded great too. I am waiting till tomorrow to get it though. The paperbacks are $14 a piece and there is a sale tomorrow, so I can get 20% off. Woo!

Ryan and I then went over to GameStop. I found Volume 2 of "Saint Tail" for $7.99. I wish they had had the first volume. I've always wanted that series... Instead I found a l337 optical/wireless mouse with 4-way scrolling wheel. I am using it now, and it is so great. I love it for everything about it. By the way, the title of this entry is in the language known as "l337," or leet. And it says "Leet mouse baby!! Woo!" Heh.

Went to the Tilt to see Marcus. They finally had PUI running so I asked him to trick it for me so I could play for free. Suddenly, it was like I knew what I was doing. The first time was horrible cause I had no idea what to do on that machine, but this time I did. I failed on the 4th song though.

Then Marcus tricked it again so he and I could play versus. As we played, I was getting better. I could feel my legs screaming that they could no longer keep going, but I made them anyway and I still did great. I also noticed while Marcus played, there was no crowd. While I played, there was no crowd. But when we played together there was a huge crowd. It was nice to have an audience again.

I beat Marcus 3 out of 4 games, but he did tricks where as I just tried to add a little flare in my steps. Nothing fancy. With this game, Marcus and I play at the same level and we both got As on all 4 songs, but my points totalled higher than his 3 times.

I did manage to get an S on one song when I played alone though. Anyway, that was two games in a row... A work out. My legs hurt and my chest hurt. Know what though? I felt great. And when my friend Spike (Mike) comes up to visit the next two weeks, we will be doing a lot off DDR and PUI.

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Why Am I Still Awake?

So about 6 my mother decides we should all go to the mall and do a little shopping. So we pile into her van and head for the mall.

My sister was starving though, so we went to a Subway that was close to and on the way to the mall. I love Subway. Such good food. As we were ordering, the girl making our food noticed my older brother wearing an "Inu Yasha" t-shirt and she freaked out cause she loves that anime. Well, they got into talking about anime when this guy came in to order. He got in on the anime conversation too.

As I was sitting and eatting I over hear him say, "Last year for Halloween I walked to and around the mall dressed as Freeze in his first form. It was great, and some guy even pulled me aside and asked to take my picture."

My eyes bulged and I dropped my sandwich and turned to him and asled, "Did you say you dressed as Freeza?"

He looked at me and said yes, so I went, "I was the one that pulled you aside in GameStop and asked to take your picture!"

He looked at me for a second then his eyes widened and he went, "Yeah! You were that Jester!"

Wow, talk about a small world. That was odd to meet him like that. He let me know he was dressing as Cell, another "Dragon BallZ" bad guy. I can't wait to see him.

We get to the mall and I go to the the carosel to see if Marcus is over there. I needed to ask him if I can borrow his complete series of "GTO" and "Love Hina."

On my way this sweet girl I talk to that works at Piercing Pagoda appeared next to me and said Hi. So I followed her back to her kiosk and talked to her for an hour. She is really sweet and so fun to talk to. Too bad she is getting married... I bought a charm from her and told her I would be back, after my discussion on how I would take over the world and anyone that smokes or drinks will be attacked by ninjas with cattle prods every time they take a swallow or puff.

I found Marcus to ask him the favor then decided I wanted to go talk to the girl some more. When I got back she asked me what my name was. After talking to each other every now and then for a few weeks, we never asked each other's name before. I introduced myself and she introduced her self, then I was taken away from my family cause they wanted to go home.

I asked if we could stop by Hasting real quick so I could see if they had "Trigun Maximum Vol.1" yet. So we went, and they didn't. I decided to get my mother this Frappe the cafe in Hasting has. I had it and it was to die for.

As I approached the counter, I saw who was working. Suddenly, the music that always played when Uma Therman saw one of her enemies and had flashbacks of them in "Kill Bill Vol.1" played in my head. It was my number one enemy when I dated my ex-fiance`e.

He was always threatening to kill her and me and so forth. Causing trouble for us. But since I was not with her, I had no reason to be hating so I was freindly.

Anyway, now I am just starting on a new book. It was originally my "big sister's" book. She only wrote a few pages, but I liked it and had an ending for it. We decided to write it together, but she lost what she had written and then got out of writing. So I got her permission and started to write on it on my own. I will still let her look it over and change what she feels needs to be changed so that we are still co-authors though.

I hope it turns out well.

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Saturday, June 12, 2004

Pictures In CosPlay

So I have finally found pictures of Marcus and I in our Saturday CosPlay costumes. And here they are for you all to see:

Me as Vincent Valentine.

Close up of me as Vincent.

Marcus as a `up Mushroom from Super Mario Bros.

Marcus' Close up.

Well, there you go. Yes, that is blood on my face, but no it is not real. I like how it looks real. See, I saw a long time ago a fan art of Vincent crying tears of blood. It moved me by showing how much pain he is going through inside... So I had to do that with my costume. Plus it was an added touch that was unique. And see those pretty things on my gun? I was clever and added Materia. You FFVII people know what that is about. Those that don't, feel free to ask me about it.

On that metal arm. The fingers are made of real metal, but the rest of the arm was just poster board sadly, and began to fall apart. But at least it looked real at frist. I even added the top of brads to make it look like each piece was bolted together. I tried to be as true to the character as I possibly could.

Marcus there, is just a crazy man. He came up with the idea, but I had to talk him into actually doing it. And I spray painted his afro for him. He drew quite a crowd with that. One website even labled him as the "BEST COSTUME EVER". That rock-sa-rocks.

Currently on my "Who Else Could I CosPlay?" list:

The Main Character from "Rave Master"
Manen from "Pretear"
Shingo from "SNK"
Moonlight Knight from "Sailor Moon"
Dream Project - Top Secret

I currently plan on doing Moonlight Knight and Shingo at next year's A-Kon. Wish me luck!!

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Tuesday, June 08, 2004

Back From A-Kon

Thursday I left at close to 1 am to go to a friend's house and spend the night so we could all leave for A-Kon. When Marcus picked me up, I found out the guy we had relied on and told us we had a room and had Marcus and Sean's tickets lied. So Marcus and Sean were ticketless and we were all roomless.

We got to A-Kon at about noon and went to sign in. Luckily I pre-registered on my own, so I got the pre-registered tag and a bag of goodies. Not to mention I only had to spend $32 for my three day pass. Marcus and Sean had to spend $50 a piece. Poor guys.

We were still roomless though. Sadly, we had to ask my brother if we can stay in his room. I hated that, but we were desperate. 7 people in this little room... Beds were taken, floor on either side and in front of the bed were taken. Marcus slept in the closet and I had to sleep in the floor between all the luggage and near the room door. I had no pillow or blanket and everyone else did. So now I have a cold and keep blowing my nose.

So it started out rocky, but it was so freakin great. I went straight into taking pictures. I used two roles of film on Friday alone.

Friday I dressed like Ginji while Marcus dressed like Ban. In the manga, those two carry around a large sign trying to get business. So we made that sign, and walked around with it. "Get Backers" isn't famous in America yet, so only the hardcore fans knew us. Everyone was looking at our sign though, and we actually got to Get Backer jobs. One girl lost a friend that we found and the other wanted a refund that they wouldn't give her. At least we did the first job.

Sadly, there is something called Yaoi. Yaoi is when to male characters from a series are turned into a gay couple by girl fans. Though they are not gay in the series, a lot of girls get off imagining two cute males from a series being lovers... So Ban and Ginji get that a lot, and this one girl freaked out when she saw us and asked for a picture. As we posed she asked us to hug. Marcus put his arm around my shoulder like a "guy-hug" thinking it is a pose from the manga. She asked us to get closer and lean... I knew what was going on, but Marcus didn't so he did what she asked... So now I am in a Yaoi photo... ::cries:: Good thing the Yaoi meeting of 25 girls didn't recognize us later that night when we were playing DDR right next to them...

Later that night, were three concerts. Psycho le cemu, Camino, and Do As Infinity. The first two I didn't care to see, so went of doing what ever. But DAI is a HUGE name in Japan and this would be their FIRST performance in America. I had to see it. I love their music. Sean and Marcus didn't really want to, but they had nothing else to do.

We went into the concert and they ROCK-SA-ROCKSED the hizz-ouse!!! Man they were great. One guy even screamed at the female lead singer he wanted to have her babies. I loved it all. Such greatness. Now Sean and Marcus want to get all their CDs cause they loved them that much.

I didn't get back to the room until 6 am, cause we had to wait till 5am to buy another ticket to stay parked in that parking lot we were at. Such crap... My brain was so dead, I kept falling asleep with my eyes open. IO was trying to watch a special screening of a new anime, but I would see one see, and then suddenly another seen and no idea what just went on. Looking at my watch I'd see 10 minutes past and I never closed my eyes... I didn't like that feeling.

So, when I woke up at 2 pm, I missed getting DAI and Nami Tamaki to sign an autograph. ::cries:: But the moment I woke up I took a shower and dressed as Vincent Valentine. I rock-sa-rocksed the house man. People loved my costume and my gun.

I saw 5 other Vincents, but two looked really trashy, one was a bad color and undetailed, and the others where just sloppy. Only one of them had a gun and it was a crappy little toy pistol. Mine was the truest to Vincent out of all of them, and I added a personal touch by putting tears of blood on my face. So many people gave me thumbs up and wanted pictures, and when I did poses with other Final Fantasy characters. This guy that worked at the GameStop booth was freaking out so bad he scared me. He loved how I looked and the detail and couldn't get over it.

This one girl came up and was like "Can I please have your picture?" Took it, gave me her card telling me to see her picture at this website then said, "Your costume is just the greatest." I felt so good. The one time I sat down, this girl came over and sat down then suddenly I saw a flash and she left. Apparently she was too nervous to ask me for a picture, so she sat next to me and her friend snuck a quick picture. Hehe.

Then there was the CosPlay Contest. 15 Skits that had some good ones then 58 cat-walk contestants. That was fun, but I wanted to see Half-Time. Nami Tamaki was to perform. She is a 16 year old JPop prinsess. I love her songs and she has two big ones that were theme songs to "Gundam Seed". And she was amazing. Not only cute, but she did dances with her back up dancers. Unlike Britany or Christina who makes it feel like they are all that matters and the back up dancers are only to make them look good, Nami's performance had a different feel. It was like they worked as a team and shared the spot light. Plus the dances were so great to watch and well done. I was so into it I didn't hear Marcus screaming my name.

By the way, Marcus was dressed as 1up Mushroom. Very original, and we couldn't go three steps all day with out 4 peopl asking for a picture. Hehe.

Then Psycho le cemu came back on for a second concert. I decided to see what they were like. They played some of their music videos while they got ready and those were some of the coolest music videos ever. I liked it so I watched the concert. They were cool and funny, and they sounded great. I wanted their CD now. Such wonderful concerts.

Also, I think I had a few magazine photographers take my picture. Some older guys with heavy camera equipment got my picture at different times. One looked like he was determined to get my picture cause we was power walking and cutting his way through the crowd quickly.

I hope I will be in a magazine and some WebSites. I think I will be on the biggest cosplay website too. If I am, I will post it here.

I also found a friend of mine from high school who moved a while back and I haven't heard from in a long time. So that was greatness right there.

Sunday, not important. Woke up, walked around a little, came home. No biggy. But I hadn't eaten from 9pm Thursday until 7:30 pm Sunday... And since I was walking nearly 72 hours straight I discovered I lost 10 POUNDS!!!! Woo! I look it too! I am so happy. I need to keep it off and loose more!!!

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Thursday, June 03, 2004

Leaving For A-Kon

Today I finally finished my Vincent Valentine costume. The arm doesn't look to bad from the top view, and I guess when it comes down to it, that's really what matters.

At midnight, Marcus is going to come pick me up and we are going to spend the night at a friend's place so we can all three leave early in the morning. So I shall be in Dallas for Project A-Kon 15.

Also, we took the kitty to the vet to day to be spaded. When I went to pick her up she was shaking and shivering. The poor thing is so traumatized. She is hiding at the moment. I hope she starts to feel better soon.

Just got done watching "The Nightmare Before Christmas." I love this movie so much. Such greatness.

Well, got to go.

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Wednesday, June 02, 2004

Save The Girl

Heh, all right. First a quick note. Several months ago I was talking to Marcus and two of his friends were talking with us as well. Suddenly, this 4 foot tall guy with really bad teeth and a horrible funky smell came up to us. He started talking to us and none of us could understand him. It was like... ebonics but he mumbled so much it was even harder to tell what he was saying. Even Marcus and his two friends didn't understand his ebonics.

All we understood was that he was from Tulsa, Oklahoma. So now we refer to him as Tulsa. He appears now and then, but we all try to avoid the weird little troll.

Today, I was at the arcade talking to Marcus while he worked. His recent ex and her friend appeared and started to talk to us. Eventually Marcus' ex's friend got tired of standing so she went to sit at the bench adjacent to the arcade.

Suddenly Tulsa appears and asks us if we had something to write with. I always have a pen on me, but I told him I didn't. So he said okay and walked off. We watched him, and he headed right toward Ashley's (the ex) friend. She looked sooooo scared. She called Ashley on her cell and begged for help, the troll was hitting on her and she was scared. Then hung up.

We watched from the arcade laughing. Then Tulsa sat down right next to her, trying to talk to her as he stared at her chest. She looked as if she was about to cry. So I decided to do something about it.

I walked out there and over to her. Nodded to Tulsa then looked at the girl and said, "Come one, Sweetie. Ashley says she needs to talk to you about some plans." And took her hand. First she looked a little surprised at me. The she stood up and told Tulsa she'd be back and we walked back to Ashley and Marcus.

See, the thing about me is, I am very shy. Especially around girls. I hardly have a back bone when it comes to something that is none of my business. I mean, I just met this girl, and I didn't even know her name yet. But something came over me. Besides the fact that the past few months I've been developing a back bone, I guess cause I didn't trust Tulsa and she looked scared, I felt I needed to help.

Anyway, then Marcus and the rest of us took her to the back door and let her escape that way. Tulsa finally got up and left. I felt a little good about my self for helping her out.

Marcus then took me aside, clapped, and said "That was very impressive." And shook my hand. He didn't think I had that in me. I didn't even know I did.

Well, as for CosPlay... I have like one last thing to do tomorrow with the Vincent costume and I will be done. Aside from doing some minor alterations. But it is all good.

I made a completely second costume as well. I started and finished it all in one day. That Ginji costume I spoke of. Sadly, I had to enter Old Navy. My mother said she got me the shorts and shirt already before I left so all I needed was a green vest.

Mother said she didn't see one at Sears or JCPennys. So I thought Old Navy might have one. I hate Old Navy. It gives off a really bad vibe and creeps me out. I felt dirty the whole time I was in there. All I could find was a sleeveless shirt for $10.50. I took it to the register and it came up $5.41. I was happy about that. Brought it home, cut down the middle, and I am done, Buddy!

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Tuesday, June 01, 2004

Characters Made, Making Characters

Had to work an 8 hour shift. I know it is no big deal to most people, but it is not something I am used to anymore. Usually I work 4 hour shifts, or 6 at the most. So an 8 hour shift is killer long to me. Especially since I work alone. Being alone is basically the only reason I complain about long shifts. I hate being alone, time goes by so slowly.

Luckily, today was not so bad. I took care of a list of things that needed to be done, and it was simple and easy. I finished all of it by 4. Three hours down. Then Marcus came to talk to me for two hours before he headed to work at Hot Topic. That left me with three more hours. So I began to design some more characters. I like these characters I made. That took another hour. Then a lady I work with came in to do some things till close, so it was not a bad day at all.

I was afraid it was going to be horribly slow cause it was Memorial Day and no one would be at the mall. I was right that there was hardly anyone at the mall at least. I still managed to get our register out of the whole it was in this morning because of an $85 refund. Sadly, I did not get paid holiday pay...

You know... I get paid $6/hour. At the theater I was paid $5.15/hour... I made twice as much there as I do here... So, so sad... I need a second job... I thought about applying at DEBs today. According to the mall website, they have been searching for a "Sales Associate" for the past 6 months... And I figure, clothes are clothes. Why can't I work there?!

Now about my characters I made up. One, I named after a mispronounced word the girl I went on a date with said. Anime is pronounced Ah-nah-may)." She was trying to talk about it and kept saying "A"-nigh-mm. I was like... "What ARE you talking about?" But no matter how I asked, she would not give me details till she found an anime magazine with anime in the title and pointed at it using her word. She said a friend of hers pronounces it that way. I told her he needs to be kicked in the head.

So now I have one named Ainyhm, or "A"-nigh-mm. Heh. He is a freaky weird guy so far. I just need to figure out what to do with all these characters I keep creating.

While I was talking to Marcus, he finally gave in and said he would CosPlay as Ban from "Get Backers". Then he said under one condition. I have to dress as Ban's partner, Ginji.

The Get Backers (Ban and Ginji) are just that, get backers. They will get back anything you lost or was stolen for you for a few. And they will use any method they can to do so. I like this series. They are cool, always broke, but way cool. So I was up for it.

All I have to do is buy a few clothing items. Luckily Ban and Ginji wear normal, average clothing. Except, Ginji wears colors I don't own... In other words he wears colors. I only wear gray or black sometimes. So, I need a white t-shirt, green vest, and brown shorts. But the only real problems are, Marcus doesn't have purple eyes and I do not have blonde, spiky hair.

The Get Backers are often seen carrying signs trying to advertise their business to try and get more clients... Yeah, that sounds bad. Anyway, Marcus and I are going to make signs and walk around A-Kon with them... So much fun.

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