Thoughts from A Yaoi Fan's Head

9:09PM - Long time no Post

Yes, I know I haven't posted in a year and a half (almost), but I don't frequent LJ as much as I used to. Anyway, two days ago I was going crazy over Sakuma Ryuichi's birthday because it's on April 1. I listened to videos of his songs over and over to celebrate the day. I also posted around youtube a bit. That's all I've been doing I guess, youtube, aff, and watching House. Plus trying to find a way to get con money (for Fanime of course). I have a month and a half to get some money, and I'm going to keep trying. GAMBATTE!

10:23PM

taken from shibbyomittchi:

<table width=500 style='border:1px solid black; background-color:white; color:black;'><tr><td><img src='http://triggur.org/dearsanta/santa.gif'><font size=6>Dear Santa...</font><br><br><b>Dear Santa,</b><br><br>This year I've been busy!<br><br>Last month I gave <lj user="misakifan41"> a wet willie, then I took it back <font size=-3 color=gray>(-5 points)</font>.  Last week I helped <lj user="jiggly_chan"> across the street <font size=-3 color=gray>(6 points)</font>.  In July I put gum in <lj user="yue_kurine">'s hair <font size=-3 color=gray>(-12 points)</font>.  In January I gave <lj user="shibbyomittchi"> a life-saving blood transfusion <font size=-3 color=gray>(50 points)</font>.  In October I bought porn for <lj user="xel_ko"> <font size=-3 color=gray>(10 points)</font>.  <br><br>Overall, I've been <b>nice</b> <font size=-3 color=gray>(49 points)</font>.  For Christmas I deserve <b>a red Radio-Flyer wagon</b>!<br><br><blockquote>Sincerely,<br>setsunaalexiel</blockquote></td></tr></table><br><form action='http://triggur.org/dearsanta/'>Write your letter to Santa!  Enter your LJ username:<input type=text name=uname size=20><input type=submit value='Write Santa!'></form>

Current mood: amused

5:16PM - More about Yaoi-con (as well as before and after)

I didn't go to the video room at all, but I did go for a few rounds of DDR Sunday morning. I've found that I haven't stepped into the video room once, not since Yaoi-con 2004. Surprising, ne?

I had Heidi's on the evening of Day 0. It was delicious. I had it again on Day 3, after we left the con, and I loved it again. The pumpkin pie that we bought there didn't get touched once during the weekend, which was a bit strange.

The Butler Cafe was awesome. The snacks and drinks were good. :D And, of course, the action between the staff was cute. XD Although short, it was still cool.

And, who can forget Grandma's homemade lemon cake? Wow, that stuff had me craving more. If I knew how to make it myself, I'd make it more often. ;D

I kept running into people I knew all weekend. Plus, what was funny was that 

naoka_chan

 got 

misakifan41

 to kowtow in front of her. *giggles* I wish I had a camera to take a picture of that at the time, but I have yet to get my own camera, though. Damn it.

Being in the cosplay competition meant front-row seats for the competition itself. I thought that was awesome. It was my first time in the competition at Yaoi-con, since before this time, I'd always just watched other people enter it. The competition was small this year, but still cool. I hope at least a few people taped it or something.

I only stayed at the Bishie Auction up till after the winners of the competition were announced. After that, I left and went to get some food, and to have lemon cake. They were both quite good. :D

Oh, and here's something funny: day 1, at In-and-Out Burger, the # on my receipt was "69." Day 3, when getting gas, the gallons filled was "4.169"! And on Monday (two days ago), I'd gotten a smoothie and four cookies from Subway, and the total price of them was "$4.69." Is this # following me?! Or is it just me?

Current mood: cheeful (overall anyway)

1:11PM - Yaoi-con goodness

I really enjoyed Yaoi-con this past weekend, but as with the good comes drama as well.

My cosplay group for the competition (consisting of 3 people, me and two friends) were originally going to do Loveless. I had the skit all written up and we had the equipment ready. However, what me and my friend, Envy, hadn't counted on was that our third member would refuse to cooperate. Before the con started, he said that he would most definitely share our hotel room with us. Then, when we met up with him on Friday, he said that he was staying with another friend of his. Who the hell does he think he is?!

Friday was also the day we were supposed to practice and record the skit. But, over half the time, we couldn't find our Soubi, and even when we found him, he would disappear at the worst times. So, we never got to practice, record, much less burn the skit to a CD. Envy and I were really pissed off at him.

Saturday morning, I went with 

misakifan41

 to the cosplay competition sign-ups table in the Westin Hotel and while he talked to the group he would be in the competition with, I met up with 

jing_ko

 and Mel in the line too. Behind them, I got to meet someone new:

loreamara

. She was planning to enter the cosplay competition as a walk-on, so I asked her if I could enter with her as a duo. She consented and we entered as Roy and Ed.

Later that day, before the competition, Soubi came into my hotel room at the Clarion and said that he was ready to practice for the skit, and whether we were ready or not. I told him that it was too late, as Envy was sitting the competition out and I was in the competition already with someone else. He just said "all right. maybe next time." or something to that extent. I swear, next time he has to tell us earlier about everything he has planned concerning anything to do with me and anyone else it concerns.

Thanks to Soubi (and the fact that no one in our hotel room had a credit card), we had to pay everything up front before we could get the room, which was including deposit. We were refunded for the deposit at the end of the weekend, but I accidentally overdrew on my account thanks to Soubi again (I've already resolved the account issue, though, thank goodness).

So, the next time we do this skit, we're looking for a different Soubi. I found out the hard way that he wasn't reliable whatsoever. He owes me and Envy BIG time.

I didn't get too much at the Dealer's Room this year, just a Roy plushie, two doujinshi, one of Yami no Matsuei and the other FMA, three manga (three more at Swap Meet), and a Roy phone clip. I was going to get Conqueror of Shambala, but after hearing that a special edition DVD would be released next month, I held back on that. I wanted to get Spirited Away, but didn't have enough money.

The cosplay competition turned out pretty cool. We didn't win, but we still had fun. Those who did win certainly deserved it, though. Congrats on that, guys. :D

The lemon cake I had this weekend was delicious. Thanks a lot for it,

misakifan41

! XD

More later

Current mood: happy, but not completely

10:52AM

Got back from JTAF Sunday night, after taking the BART and bus home, and showered. I was so tired after that that I just went to sleep.

JTAF was good. My Gravi group was the first entry in the cosplay competition, and though we didn't win, I still liked my compensation prize: a shirtless figurine of Ed! XD

I met up with caineyamiyasha and co. around 1pm or so Saturday morning (they'd gotten there late due to traffic). There, I found out that some people sure can talk endlessly on the phone all right (I mean, I do too, but not at cons).

I got to meet some new people, and since my wig wasn't ready yet, I had to borrow xel_ko's wig. Not too bad, I guess. Though she wasn't kidding when she said the wig stains. I found that out after I changed back to street clothes (the inside of my shirt collar was green).

My group played Mario Party 6 Saturday night (after we decided not to go to Otaku Bowl, due to misunderstandings with the bus and all), where Toad won. I think bartboy41 still hasn't gotten over that. We went to another party after that, where was drinking, but I didn't drink. Instead, I just walked around and did a few rounds of DDR.

I didn't spend too much outside of food, since I only bought three books of manga: the Japanese versions of Yami no Matsuei books 2, 3, and 11. Wish I could've bought more, but maybe next time.

The weather was good, which was nice. All of my cosplays got loaded into one big trash bag (yeah, dirt poor, ne?) and was taken back by Envy's aunt's car. I'm going to go pick up the bag later today.

Okaasan's complaining about the amount of money I spent this past weekend (of which I told her that the hotel was right next to Japantown, where I ate most of the time, outside of Burger King). She expects to see the receipts for the food, of which I don't have at all, or else she would never give me money again. Well, screw her, right?

Current mood: okay

8:38AM

Well, I didn't expect to find a bit of my cosplay yesterday. I wasn't expecting to go visit bartboy41 either. It was good, though. I got my watch fixed too. Envy wanted the chocolate store and I had to keep pulling her away from it. I packed a bit last night too, and finished up this morning. We had Carl's Jr. for lunch, and Envy ate my burger on accident. I had to eat hers (which wasn't too bad, I guess).

I heard that the JTAF dealer's room has returned, but there's not too many dealers. Oh well. As long as I have fun, I really don't mind.

Tonight will be last-minute preparations. Still need Ryuichi pants and a black turtleneck shirt for my Ritsuka outfit. Will get Ryuichi's first, since I won't be doing Ritsuka until Yaoi-con.

Current mood: cheerful

9:08AM - Awww, what a mess!

I haven't updated since the 5th . . . wow. Anyway, I couldn't use the car that day because the insurance hadn't been cleared yet. Well, I have my car back, so I'm happy. :)

I miss bartboy41. I just went to see him yesterday, which was nice. Envy got what she needed for her costumes at the clothing shops, but I failed to get anything. The turtleneck shirt that I was going to get for my Ritsuka outfit turned out to be two sizes too big. The jeans I found didn't fit. Then, we went to Sequoia Station, where I did find a pair of jeans that would suit my Gravi outfit. But, the damn thing was $24.99! I guess I shouldn't be complaining too much, since I've never bought my own clothes before (always my mum who did it). Guess I'll go get that on Friday.

Friday I won't be taking my car because I'm getting picked up after work at 6pm. I hate ditching my car at home, but I guess it's back to taking the bus. *sigh* I also found a 10-ride bus ticket in my dresser drawer this morning. Will use it!

Also need to go pack either today or tomorrow. Or both. Not too much, since I'm only going to be gone for three days (well, two days and a night) and will be in cosplay throughout the weekend. Will be doing Hisoka (Yami no Matsuei) and Ryuichi (Gravitation). For those who will be attending JTAF this weekend, I'll see you guys there! :D

Last thing: may try to squeeze Ed in there somewhere . . . .

Current mood: blah

1:53PM - Update on Cons (and other things)

My next con to attend will be JTAF 4 (Japantown Anime Faire) in San Francisco's Japantown. I will be doing Gravi, so be sure to look for that for all you guys who will be attending. caineyamiyasha, I miss you and your whole group sooo much! *hugs* I can't wait to see you guys again! I miss you guys too, xel_ko and astrokittie! After this con, I will be attending Yaoi-con 2006 (Y-con FTW!).  And, everyone I'll see at Y-con, I miss y'all too!

On another note, I had to take the AC Transit to school and work today because I "can't take the car today" (to quote my folks). Chikusho! I very hope I get it back after this, though.

I have many cosplays to plan (for both this year and the next). Please ask if you wish to know what they are. And, I have officially fallen in love with Meine Liebe. XD It's both cute and awesome. My favorite characters from there can easily be Orpherus and Camus.

I also need to write up a skit for Yaoi-con, but I have yet to know if we have a Tsuzuki yet. If not, back-up plan will be falled on. Need to know, asap!

Current mood: indifferent

11:03AM - Be-lated update about AX 2006

Next year's AX will be at Long Beach's Convention Center, and it's back to Friday-Monday. I wonder what it'll be like next year at LB . . . (since I've only heard rumors about it)

Anyway, back to the review of this year. It was pretty fun, but hot as hell. It didn't really help that I was doing quite a number of cosplays that weren't the best to wear in Sol Cal weather (e.g. Ed Elric, Hisoka's jeans jacket outfit). I really felt sorry for those cosplayers who did Organization 13 from Kingdom Hearts 2 and Bleach.

When we got there on Thursday evening (after going through the damned LA traffic), we got settled in and I changed into my Hisoka yukata outfit. In the parking lot, I tripped and nearly chipped a toenail (since I was barefoot in flip-flops). Never trying that again.

The Dealer's Room was twice as big as last year's since they used two rooms in the Anaheim Convention Center (think the size of a huge Macy store times four). It took about 20 minutes to walk through both rooms, more or less. I was surprised at the amount I bought at the Dealer's Room (in comparison to the amount I bought at last year's, which as about $600 something in combination with Fanime 2005's Dealer's Room stuff). I actually spent more for others than for myself (courtesy of being broke and then having to pay them back). I got Envy a Kenshin keychain, which she was missing, as a be-lated Christmas present.

The hotel was pretty nice (although we won't be staying there next year, oh well). I was in the Sheraton Park Hotel, formerly known as the Coast Anaheim Hotel. bartboy41 and I got share the same bed, and I guess that was where it all started.

The Masquerade Ball just had to be at the same time as the FMA gathering on Sunday! I mean, because of that, my group had to run off back to our hotel room (thus missing the rest of the gathering) to change into our ballroom outfits and get over to the dance room for the ball. My own dress kept giving me problems; the stupid train kept falling off because I would keep stepping on it when I danced. The event wasn't very long and those who got there late didn't get to dance much. Oh well. I was getting sick of the train on my dress already anyway. 

I really liked the mini private gathering for FMA later in the weekend (after Sunday), except that I got chalk (plus, M&M's later) on my gloves. Had a hard time getting that off, course. I also got to meet a Roy I met at Fanime this year, which was nice, as well as some others I'd seen at Fanime. And, I ran into the KM group several times during the weekend, which was awesome, though naoka_chan didn't come. :( I'll see you at Y-con then, Tsuzuki! (along with everyone else)

I switched off to my Hisoka orange shirt outfit afterwards, finding it to be a whole lot more comfortable than the ballroom dress (after having a stupid-ass time taking the outfit off, since it's easy to put on but hard as hell to take off). I got to go to the karaoke room to sing, and through the time I spent there (out of the whole weekend), I got to sing three songs: Melissa, Undo, and Tobira no Mukou E. I wanted to do Gravitation or Loveless or something, but they didn't have those! :(

Monday night I made the stupidest mistake ever: I fell asleep in my contacts and my Edo outfit. I hadn't meant to do that, since I'd planned to go to the karaoke room at midnight (which would technically be Tuesday), but fell asleep by accident. The next thing I knew when I woke was that it was 5am! I had to take my contacts off since they were starting to hurt (found out the hard way to never wear contacts to sleep), but I put them on later that day, after getting the autographs of Laura Bailey and the director of FMA (failed to get Vic's, but got that at AOD last month ::squeals::). A Gravi group told me sometime in the weekend that I was the only Ed who would react to the word "chibi" (or any words pertaining to the word "short"), as all the others would just ignore the word, except at the FMA gathering.

At the FMA gathering, I got to yell, "Eds, get him!" after bartboy41 gave me the cue. The guy got jumped by all the Eds there (kinda like at Fanime's FMA gathering, except it was caineyamiyasha who called out, "chibis, get him!").

I got to have Ramune (but no Dippin' Dots! Got that at Great America about a weekend ago), and I also got to see a versus on DDR between caineyamiyasha and bartboy41. It was awesome! XD And, that Gambit was cool too (more like inhuman, but still).

We got to visit I-Hop a few times, as well as Denny's, and bartboy41 and I went to a mini-party at one point too. Very fun, all of them.

I went to quite a number of gatherings, outside of the ones I had cosplays for. bartboy41 told me that the Naruto and Kingdom Hearts gatherings nearly killed him. Don't blame the guy, since they tend to be quite big.

I got glomped by the same fangirl three times in one day. Once was in the Dealer's Room (while I was sitting down with some friends) and the other two times was when I was standing in line with bartboy41 and Greed for Starbucks. She nearly choked me with the second glomp at the Starbucks line. And, I was wearing Edo at the time.

We went swimming (a bit, we mostly sat in the sauna) on the last evening in Anaheim, of which I found out that wearing the binding for a whole night had left red marks on my skin (another reason why I would never wear it to bed again) and they hurt! But, they faded eventually, so it wasn't as bad. Envy and them went off to watch the fireworks, while I sat around the sauna with bartboy41 and some others, while Adam made out with some girl I didn't know.

The way back was rather . . . interesting. The guys in the backseat were having the most strangest time of their lives entertaining themselves. :D Rather funny now that I think about it, but kinda hard to describe.

Current mood: reminiscing

4:12PM - AX 2006 (soon to come con summary!)

Wow, it's been days since the con ended, but I guess I haven't gotten around to updating about it yet.

Anyway, non-convention related-wise, I went to Malibu in Redwood City yesterday for the whole day and played DDR and miniature golf. I got an A on Butterfly, and made B's for a lot of other songs. I moved from a D to a C on Sakura. I hung out with a few friends, which was awesome.

3:03PM - AX 2006

Tomorrow I leave for AX! *dances little jig* I can barely wait! Anyway, for those who will be attending this con this year, see you all there!

I'll be back to update about the con after I get back on next Wednesday (though the post probably won't be till Thursday of next week). *runs off to finish packing*

Current mood: bouncy

6:18PM - Otaku Bowl 2006

I finally managed to win one! XD *dances little jig* I entered the cosplay walk-on and actually won. I never expected that, but it happened!

Anyway, I saw a Sakura who won first place. She got many hugs, which was cool. Some of the girls I went with to Otaku bowl in spring (back in March of this year) didn't get to come, so I had to join some other friends. It was still a good event.

Two friends went up against each other, and the Sakura won. My Winry kept disappearing on me (though I found where she was later), and I liked the bowling quite a bit. The only part of the day I didn't like was that we got lost along the way to the event and ended up late. Still, unforgettable.

5:51PM - The Rest of Fanime

Yes, I know I haven't updated about this con in a while, but here's the rest of it: (scrambled in fact, with the exception of the photo shoots)

The Yami no Matsuei photo shoot was on Saturday at 2:30pm. There was hardly anyone there, just a Muraki, Hisoka, Tsuzuki, Oriya, Wakaba, and Terazuma. Since there wasn't even enough people there to take pictures, it didn't do too well in terms of photo shoots (at least in my opinion, no offense or anything to anyone else).

The FMA photo shoot was on Sunday at 12:30pm. Fanservice galore! XD There was RoyxEd, RoyxRiza, RoyxHughes, and an Envy molested an Ed (I was one of the many Eds, btw). Almost all the group went out for lunch at Jack-in-the-Box, which was pretty cool. Sadly, me and the Envy I went to the shoot with had to leave early after getting back from jack-in-the-box, so we could go back to our hotel room to change into Kaoru and Soujiro for the shounen jump shoot. We left that early too, to go practice and check-in for the the cosplay competition. We didn't win, but it was still awesome (got quite some attention from the audience I think).

I went to both Swap Meets, and sold some stuff. I made some new friends and got glomped by an Al (after I asked her to). I met up with some people I hadn't seen in a while, and I glomped a Roy who was walking by with an Ed and Al. It was a fun con, but busy too. I'll never forget it.

Current mood: chipper

11:00AM - Fanime 2006 (day 1)

Friday got better, like in terms of Swap Meet and everything else. More people cosplaying, and the like. I met up with a few friends by the Starbucks next to the Hilton (inside the building really) and we got hang out for a bit. I got to cosplay, finally, since day 0 I didn't get to (no costumes! Noooo! Just kidding). I got to do Edward Elric and Seta Soujiro (the latter for the RK gathering at 5pm on that day). Then, I switched back to Ed.

I visited the Dealer's Room, but didn't buy anything. I need to get back to updating this later, because I'm getting my days mixed up! *goes off to recall which days she did what*

7:32PM - All About Fanime 2006 (Day 0)

I just got back from Fanime 2006 Monday night. When I got back, I just showered and fell asleep soon after (didn't even bother unpacking). But, that's the end of the con. Here's the beginning:

Thursday morning, a friend and me carpooled to the San Jose Hilton and Towers Hotel. We got there around ten am, so pretty much no one was there just yet. We checked into the hotel and got some drinks at Starbucks in the hotel, but that was it.

Since we were there too damn early, we decided to walk around and just explore a bit. misakifan41 didn't get there till around 2 pm, so there wasn't much to do. Even after he arrived, there wasn't much to do until 6pm, when pre-registration check-in started. We got in line before the pre-reg actually started, since people were lining up before then. We had jack-in-the-box for lunch, which was cool (haven't had that for a long time).

While in line, surveys got passed out. Since my two friends went off to get food, by the time they got back, they didn't get the survey. Oh well. A few girls in line with me had a difficult time finding names of Japanese seiyuus, which was one of the questions on the survey, so I just randomly said some of the seiyuus' names that I knew, such as "Seki Tomokazu" and "Miki Shinichiro".

Finally getting to pre-reg was boring, as it was just check-in and get badge. A friend of mine had to wait up till about 8:30 to get her badge, which sucked (she was on the staff). We also met up with another friend in the pre-reg line and we talked a bit about some random stuff.

The only other thing that happened on Thursday was the Swap Meet. I sold some stuff, and decided to save the rest for Day 1's Swap Meet. After that, nothing much happened except that we just went to sleep at the end of the night, when Swap Meet ended at 11pm.

5:53PM

I just got back from Fanime Monday night! Anyway, anyone wishing to hear about it, please hold on till I get around to posting up all about it.

1:01PM

Yay! I leave 4 fanime 2morrow! XD *hurries to gather stuff up for packing*

Current mood: chipper

11:35AM

Counter: 2 days left until I leave 4 Fanime! XD

Current mood: excited

9:19AM

Unofficial counter: 3 days left! (four days, actually, but I'm going on Thursday too)

Current mood: bouncy

5:02PM

6 days left till Fanime! *dancing a little gig* But, I'm going on Thursday too, so I can get my badge early!

Current mood: chipper