Monday, June 28, 2010

State of the Neko address: week 19

song+ Breakin' Dishes- Rihanna- Good Girl Gone Bad (Reloaded)
book+ Scott Pilgrim
scent+ leaky air conditioner
quest+ creative expression
upper+ ice cream with mommy!
downer+ our air conditioner keeps breaking
attire+ work clothes
drink+ milk


so my weekend was okay.. kinda boring really. xD i decided to start again on Blue Dragon since i couldn't really remember where i'd left off, and the beginning is the most fun. this play through is going so much smoother than any other because i already know when something tricky is about to happen, so i can stop and make sure i know the skills i need for it. xD my first time through i'd plunge ahead and end up under-leveled for a boss and unable to backtrack and level up anything. this time i thought to myself “that super annoying fight with the tigers that 1-hit kill is approaching.. i should level White and Black mage classes so i can use group heal and quake abilities” and i beat it first attempt, second cast of quake. xD a MUCH better outcome for sure. there's still a stupid wagon-escort mission to get through (i hate when game play is broken up by a 'get the civilians through this dangerous area!' mission) but after that i get my last party member and the world opens up to me. yay! xD

but yeah.. that's how little is going on lately. i'm reduced to rambling about old video games. xD well, i'm starting to read Scott Pilgrim, but i'm not really far enough along to talk about it yet. i mean, the first evil ex-boyfriend hasn't even been defeated yet, so i have a ways to go still. the movie looks pretty awesome though, so i'm looking forward to seeing it when it comes out. xD i mean, anything hailing itself as “an epic of Epic Epicness” has to be pretty awesome, right?

i think between the Last Airbender movie, the Scott Pilgrim movie, the release of Dragon Quest 9, and visiting Roro this summer should be pretty great. XD

unrelated: i never even thought before that it could take 2+ hours to rip the front cover off 915 copies of a crappy comic. X.x the covers get shipped back to the distributor and we get credited, the books get trashed. it seriously took me like 2 hours and 15 minutes to get it all done. ugh. such is the glamorous life, working in a comic shop.

Monday, June 21, 2010

State of the Neko address: week 18

song+ Love Makes the World Go Round- Ashlee Simpson- Autobiography
book+ Rsario Vampire
scent+ cheesecake
quest+ creative expression
upper+ i have my ticket paid for!
downer+ still so much to do..
attire+ work clothes
drink+ milk


my weekend was pleasant and fun, but not as productive as i might have liked. i did get the final redesigns for my Wonder Girl and Supergirl costumes drawn up and colored, but i forgot how slow i am at hand-sewing, so nothing is photo-ready yet. i'll likely continue to work on it this week after work, since there's no new episodes of anything i watch during the summer. i'm almost done with the sewing part and ready for the sculpting and beading parts, so that's exciting. xD the underpants part is likely to cause the most frustration, with that JiD booty and all, but so far things have been going rather smoothly. as much as possible doing small-scale detailed sewing by hand. xD

Kyu bought a new pack of Grey Stuff (that's actually what the sculpting medium is called) this weekend, so there's plenty for when i start working on my modified breastplate idea. i wanna work up a template for it on paper first so i have an idea of the scale i need to go for before the stuff dries completely, but that should be pretty simple. doing the bracelets and boots will be the most complicated parts by far, but also still pretty fun! xD for those pieces, i bought plastic wrap to put over the doll parts so i can sculpt a custom fit without risking anything potentially bonding to the resin. it should be a very interesting and challenging project for the foreseeable future, and it makes me realize that my expectations of project time lines are sometimes somewhat unrealistic. xD at my current rate i'll be lucky to finish the Wonder Girl this week, leaving the Supergirl for next week at the earliest. i seem to think i'm a bit speedier than i really am. my biggest hurdle thus far was figuring how i'd attach cloth and beaded elements to the sculpted pieces. i think i have it sorted, but since i still haven't attempted anything i'm not entirely sure. my genius idea at this point, is embedding metal loops (like tiny rings for jewelry-making) into the stuff while it's still soft enough to wrap around it. possibly half-rings with the ends just poked in and set with super glue. it'll depend on how long i actually have to attach them before the stuff sets. *shrug*

so things are exciting around the office this morning, the electricity got re-wired this weekend, and random things are just Not Working. xD not even related things, so it's kinda funny to see the tech guys running everywhere trying to get everything back up this morning, because apparently it all worked last night. it's so random though, a few computers, some of the phones, and the AC unit for the back room, but nowhere else. all my stuff is working fine this morning, but i came in to see all my action figures strewn about like a natural disaster had localized on my desk. i found Supergirl behind my monitor, Batgirl and Harley Quinn upside down in my filing divider thingy, and Black Canary lounging in Oracle's lap lazily. xD if it wasn't totally one of my pet peeves (people screwing with my stuff!!) it would have been kinda funny. there was also my tower shifted 2 inches away from the wall, causing some of my kinda rare figures to fall and get stuck between my desk and the wall. X.x it took about 15 minutes to rescue them all and put them back how i'd arranged them. the only ones to escape entirely unmoved were Wolf-Man, the Battle Bunny, and Wonder Woman & (Donna Troy) Wonder Girl.. that's only 4 things out of the 21 toys i have on my desk. which, yeah, is a lot of toys, but they're small ones, and i keep them out of the way and don't play with them on the clock (that's why my magnets had to go home). plus there was this super icky ceiling gunk everywhere that i had to sweep up and clear out of my keyboard. bleh. i'm still on the list of lucky people who's stuff works today. everyone's desks got violated, sadly, it seems our electricians have no respect for nerdy paraphernalia. at least my stuff works, and nothing got broken, just a little dirty.

i had my semi-regular Cheesecake Factory outing with my 'wifey' Saturday. it wound up being a bit later than quarterly this time, but it's okay since we have plans to go again in a week (with our boys this time) so we can use a coupon she has before it expires at the end of the month. together we didn't spend enough to use it, but with four people we definitely can. xD her Soom Breecia has arrived and i must say she's absolutely gorgeous. her face is reminiscent of both Vesuvia and Cuprit (who happen to be my favorites) so i'm smitten with her. xD no desire to own her, but i'd love to play with her and make her some clothes. i already had fun restringing her for Chaunte.

seeing the resemblance confirmed for me that i absolutely want to own Vesuvia soonish. i was so sad last month when someone sold her COMPLETE FULLSET for 1700. it had all the parts; the factory painting intact, the limited eyes and wig, and the outfit too, and it was sold for marginally more than some people charge for just the doll -no fantasy parts or anything- and i couldn't do anything. *insert anguished wailing* oh well. after my Roro trip i will DEFINITELY be working on my fund, so next time one comes up i can get her. *sigh* this is one of the only dolls where i've ever desired the thing exactly as originally conceived.. she's just perfect the way they showcased her. i guess semi-fortunately for me, people have a hard time loving her since she's SO different, and one comes up on the MP every few months.. so i'll get my chance eventually.

i need to get around to actually selling Beyla and Bygg since they'll comprise the bulk of my Must Have Her fund. i still haven't figured out a fair price for them though. X.x whether it'd be better to sell them whole and as-is, or sell the parts separately and strip the painting i did. *shrug* i really don't know. i tried checking out competitive pricing to give myself somewhere to go from, but when people are trying to sell a single set of hooves for 90 bucks, it's not really a realistic comparison. what do you guys think would be fair, both to myself and potential buyers? i have two whole dolls and their option parts, no factory painting, some modification to the R Bygg head (i opened the eyes up), and both outfits. i'm never sure which mods increase value and which make things worth less. xD the head looks good, but not exactly like the original sculpt, so i really don't know. -_-; what do you guys think? i paid 810+ shipping. so i'm charging at least that. i'm also willing to throw in the customized wigs and coordinated eyes for very little. no one else will wear them, so i may as well offer them up. pardon the extreme flash and minor blurriness.

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selling them isn't a super urgent RIGHT NOW priority thing, but i would like them gone soon so i can start actively looking for my girl.. xD when i have whatever i get for them, i'll have enough to seriously offer on whatever comes up for sale next. “i've got nothing, but can get you ¼ of what you're asking in three weeks!” isn't the best way to offer on anything. xD i figure if i won't accept an offer like that, i can't make one like it. ideally i'll actually get my refund on the screwy Eliv/Iv split/scam that “never shipped” and that can go to my Vesuvia Fund too.. i really need to give that girl a poke and demand my money. it's not like i can really afford to never got anything for my $325 or whatever it eventually came to.

on an entirely unrelated (and kinda bizarre) note, i need to buy new headphones again. *sigh* i think my ears must be secretly super-acidic or something because they keep dissolving the foamy comfortable part of my headphones.. O.o also the right speaker stopped working, but that happens inevitably to all my headphones, i really dunno why. the foamy part dissolving is strange though, because Moose bought her headphones the same time i bought mine (same brand and style, but mine are green and hers are purple) and she uses her iPod more often than i use mine, yet i've dissolved both the original set and spare cushy parts it came with, and she's still on her first set, so it's obviously a me-thing. It's annoying though. :P i guess i'll be buying yet another new set this weekend. unless i can just get a pack of replacement squishy parts, i can totally deal with only hearing through one ear, i only use one at a time anyhow. xD

so Moose and i have this game where one of us will text the other a line from a song, and then we try to keep the lyrics going as long as possible until one of us admits we don't know the next part. today we've made it through five different songs, one verse and the chorus. anyone reading over our shoulders would likely be bewildered by it, but we have fun. oddly, we tend to stick mostly with stalkerishly obsessive love songs. xD fun is fun though, wherever it's found.

i think i'm ready to move on to the next thing people have recommended i watch.. i just have to decide what the next thing is. xD Indiana Jones is at the top of the list, but i think i'm in the mood for something more lighthearted, so i'll have to see if there's a feel-good mushy thing anywhere on the list. or something really funny.

Friday, June 18, 2010

State of the Neko address: week 17, part 2

song+ Animal- KeSha- Animal
book+ Wonder Girl: Champion
scent+ fig newtons
quest+ creative expression
upper+ i have my ticket paid for!
downer+ still so much to do..
attire+ work clothes
drink+ water


this week has been so busy there hasn't been time to draft anything up until now.. but i have a little breathing room presently, so here i am again.

this morning i officially booked and paid for my flights to and from Virginia next month. i don't have ticket numbers or anything yet, but i should soonish, and i now know more accurately what i can afford to budget for everything else. i'm also kinda super-psyched because actually having paid for my transit makes it more concrete that i'm actually going. xD it's now official and more than just a mutual plotting.

i've been working on a project that's based in redesigning superhero costumes to be more action-appropriate, and also reflect who they are personality-wise. i have my Supergirl and Wonder Girl designs pretty much fleshed out, and i'll likely finish them this weekend at Grandpa's. the next step is actually constructing them for FaithAnn/Rosalie and posing them to see if the design retains aesthetic value while in motion.. and the overall workability will be tested at that point too. i just need to figure out what i wanna do for the metal elements on the costumes.. i'm actually thinking of buying some of the air-drying sculpting medium Kyu uses for his Warhammer mods. it's kinda pricey, but of a good quality with a reasonable working-time, and a good solidity and firmness after drying. plus it's safe for acrylic paint, and should be fine against dolly resin too. for the most part what i sculpt won't be against resin directly, but in the instance of Wonder-family greaves/bracers they would be, and i want it to be as safe as possible. i'm excited about reaching that point of my redesign project though. it's gonna be super fun, and it'll all hopefully look pretty awesome too! we'll see how far i get this weekend, it depends on how much of what i need gets picked up tonight, but i'm super psyched at this point. xD when i get something done, i'll totally share it, i'm interested in the opinions of regular people who aren't huge comics nerds. i wanna know what my designs make ya'll think of the characters.

I'm hoping to be able to get the Wonder Girl done this weekend, and maybe the Supergirl too, but it's considerably more complex, so we'll have to see.. if i work on it tonight and tomorrow it's within the realm of possibility.

Monday, June 14, 2010

State of the Neko address: week 17

song+ Build God, Then We'll Talk- Panic! At the Disco- A Fever You Can't Sweat Out
book+ art of AtLA
scent+ cheesey chips and butter cookies
quest+ saving to visit Roro
upper+ i feel emotionally free
downer+ i don't make enough money.. x(
attire+ comfy pajamas
drink+ water


my weekend was great, both relaxing and enjoyable throughout the bulk of it. i finished AtLA and loved it, and had a date with Kyu for the first time in a few years. the first bit of living on our own it seemed less important to ask to be dropped off for fun time, but it was nice this weekend. mostly spent in a bookstore, but since we both love to read, companionable silence is nice.

we mocked the obnoxiously loud teenagers and the posers who could only name Big Event titles while browsing the (American) comic section. xD you know, the ones with movies based on them; Death of Superman (animated direct-to-DVD), Dark Knight Returns (inspired Batman Begins/Dark Knight), and Sin City. it was all i could do not to openly chastise and suggest good alternatives. xD even ones made into movies, like DC the New Frontier (animated as Justice League: New Frontier) or Astonishing X-Men: Gifted (poorly merged with the Dark Phoenix saga to make X-Men 3) there's tons of GOOD stories out there for people that want to be entertained and not just look hip for being able to throw out a few names.. *sigh*

i'm not one of those comics elitists that only reads Indie books, and thinks everything should have a message or an incomprehensibly DARK tone, i'm the opposite, i love FUN books, and emotional character-driven stories. and laughing, i really love the Johhny DC and Marvel Adventures lines because they're funny. yes, they're aimed at children, but they're written and drawn well, so adults totally love them too. everyone i know LOVES Tiny Titans, and there's other really great children's books being done now too.

i read mostly mainstream books, but i follow the characters i like, and when i'm unhappy with how something is going, i move on. it seems healthier than always complaining that everything sucks and nothing will ever be good enough to make me happy again. there's so much out there that everyone can enjoy something. overall, i gravitate to strong female characters, but i like some guys too. it's just that male characters more frequently fall into the “dark and broody” cliche, and that's boring. Black Canary is never a damsel in distress, when she was knocked out and chained up, she rescued herself with a broken arm and a dislocated shoulder. Oracle can take out ninjas while in a wheelchair, a female superhero is less likely to bottle emotions then lash out foolishly, so i enjoy reading their exploits a bit more. the guys i like to read are the ones that aren't forced into conforming to expected roles to due to being around forever. like Booster Gold and the new Blue Beetle.

i do realize that ya'll don't come here to hear Comic Talk though, so i'll move on. xD just a month till Roro's birthday, so i know my trip is steadily sneaking up on me. i'm very excited about it though it's made it more apparent that i have the most trouble being responsible with my money when i have a deadline and a prior commitment.. it's when i'm most likely to decide that i absolutely can't live without this unrelated thing, then have buyer's remorse after i can't return it. X.x i'm mostly doing well, but i have bought a few things entirely unrelated to Roro-time lately.. like the Schrodinger's Cat shirt, and a few action figures i got a REALLY good deal on, and two Wii games.. -_-; i know i'll play the crap out of them when i get back, and i've wanted them for a while, and they were on SALE, but i kinda wish i'd resisted now that they've been opened and played. i'm still on track for getting my ticket on time, but skimming a bit closer than i'd wanted to. my OLS is testing me! xD

at least i don't need to buy anything else before i go.. except a few musicals i don't already own, but i'll have time and funds to cover those next week, and i'm shipping them straight to Roro, so it's not an issue at all. everything else, i already have. it's deciding what not to take that's difficult at this point, honestly. like what to wear, and for what possible activities.. like if we go out dancing or whatever, i'll dress differently than i would for a beach trip, and if we go walking about town i'll wanna be comfortable, but also protected from the sun. since i can't wear sunscreen, that involves dressing more carefully for me. also, i have a lot of Wonder Woman shirts, like 9 of them i think. part of me thinks it'd be kinda awesome to wear only them for the whole trip. xD the rest of me realizes that would look kinda like i was obsessed and crazy, so i'm thinking i'll pack some normal clothes too.

i'm nervous about flying so far alone, and trying to think about other things to distract myself, so i've got a list going of everything i need to pack, organized by where to pack it. like carry-on vs suitcase, and i'm worried i'll forget something super-important, so i'm constantly revising the list. i had about 8 other things listed before i thought to add 'clothes', then i had to stop and think about how to break that down, and that's when i started freaking out about possible activities and how to dress for them. xD i realize i'm being crazy, but that doesn't settle me any. i spent more time deciding what to dress my dolls in for the trip (i'm taking FaithAnn, Rosalie, and Momo) than thinking i should take clothes for myself. xD i decided which bear and blanket to include in my carry-on for comfort and to combat homesickness, but i have yet to actually purchase my ticket. i'm about to though. i am SUCH A SPAZ when it comes to traveling! i've been freaking out over the weirdest things, when i'm actually absolutely sure i'll have a great time.. it's just the leading up to it that could make me completely crazy..

i think sometime this week i'll call Roro and ask her what activities she has planned so i can accurately decide what clothes i'll need to pack. I mean, i expect nothing like formal, but there's levels of casual, and i like to feel like i suit my surroundings. hmm, that reminds me that i should have Moose re-do my hair before i go so i don't have inches of black roots offsetting faded green hair. xD that's a CLASSY look, lemme tell ya!

i saw a lady at the mall this weekend that kinda scared me. she had stringy hot pink hair, sun-wrinkled skin in fake-bake terra cotta orangey-brown, and about 8 facial piercings (half of them gaged- ick!) and my only thought was that she looked so much older than she probably was.. i refuse to be like that, so while i'm having fun with the green hair for now, i fully intend to return to more normal hair by the end of the year. i may keep some green streaks on the underside for a while longer, but the full head of green hair isn't a long-term thing. for now it's a cute young thing, but if i keep it up, it'll be a desperate clinging to youth i no longer possess. X.x i like to think i'm a reasonably well adjusted adult (sometimes) without any kind of desperation to maintain a cool, youthful image.. especially since i'm of the belief that youth aren't particularly cool, they're artificial- preoccupied with being anything but who they really are. lame.

i picked up the Avatar the Last Airbender: the Art of the Animated Series hardcover this weekend, and i've already read it entirely through. twice. it's awesome, like a director's commentary for the whole series that i can read at my own pace. it's also packed full of concept designs (which i love looking at) and original paintings of the landscapes and architecture. all gorgeous. i love art books, seeing all that behind-the-scenes stuff of the creative process is really interesting to me. i have a respectable collection of art books, and if we had a traditional living room furniture layout with a coffee table, i'd think about putting them out where guests could flip through them.. except Harley would probably try to eat them. she's a good part of why we don't have a traditional approach to furniture. after your dog eats your couch (and anything else she can reach), you realize you can probably do without it. xD so for the foreseeable future my art books live safely on a book shelf, all lined up together proclaiming their inherent awesomeness.

i am such a nerd. xD like a mega-nerd.

Friday, June 11, 2010

State of the Neko address: week 16, part 3- Schrodinger's Awesome!

song+ All We Know Is Falling- Paramore- All We Know Is Falling
book+ nothing- finally watching Avatar instead
scent+ cheesey chips
quest+ saving to visit Roro
upper+ i feel emotionally free
downer+ i don't make enough money.. x(
attire+ AWESOME TEE and shorts
drink+ water


so my shirt today is totally awesome, and only one person at all has asked about it. xD amazing really, it's one of the cleverest things i've ever worn, and most people don't get it. oh well, at least the people who do get it think it's totally amazing. apparently the premise of Schrodinger's Cat isn't as well-known as i thought it was?

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i think after some morning errands tomorrow, i'll finish AtLA, and maybe finally submit the sales transaction i've been meaning to do for a month and some, then work on either video games, or doll clothes for the rest of the weekend. we'll see what actually happens. xD i'm working my way through Lego Star Wars, and Zelda: Wind Waker again currently. both very fun games.

but yeah, today's a good one. yay for that!

Thursday, June 10, 2010

State of the Neko address: week 16, part 2

song+ My Heart- Paramore- All We Know Is Falling
book+ nothing- finally watching Avatar instead
scent+ vanilla
quest+ saving to visit Roro
upper+ i feel emotionally free
downer+ i don't make enough money.. x(
attire+ pajamas
drink+ dr pepper


much less comic book-y rambling today, i promise. xD it did occur to me (after posting) that it likely read like Greek to most of ya'll, and would even if i'd thought to add pictures or link to any kind of reference, so i'll attempt to be more mindful of that kind of thing.

i've made serious progress on AtLA. i managed to get through most of Book 2: Earth this week, and i plan to finish it and zip through Book 3: Fire by the end of this weekend. it's maintaining it's status as the best non-DC-licensed animated (American) show i've ever watched. i've seen better anime, but not very many really. i can see why so many people recommended it to me time and again. xD it's really astoundingly good.

i spent a good bit of today at work rearranging my department's workspace. a good chunk of it is being annexed by another department, so our stuff has to be out of the way, in a configuration we can work with, by the end of this workweek. we're pretty much there, thanks to my supreme awesomeness. xD i got a ton of cleanup done, and a good bit of heavy metal shelving shifted and reconfigured on my own, so our stuff is out of the way for the rest of the transformation tomorrow. there's still a little more cleanup to do, but that should be done tomorrow when everything gets (briefly) cleared out and the space being reassigned can be completely swept for the first time in about two years. it could seriously use a good sweeping too. X.x it's the part of the room where the walls leak when it rains and the floor floods a bit, so there's crumbled plaster chunks, and a few bits of waterlogged-then-dried-out moldy cardboard to be swept up and thrown out. it's pretty gross actually, but we couldn't see it or reach it before, so it was kinda stuck there.

now that i'm done with all the physically demanding parts, i'm super-tired. i've been tired all day, i woke up sleepy, in spite of going to bed at a normal-person time, but now i'm just wondering if i could somehow take a nap at my desk for half an hour without someone coming by to wake me up. i doubt it, people pass my desk all the time. all day every day, i'm situated between most people and the bathrooms and snack/soda machines, so since there's people using all of them all day long, i really never get a moment's peace over here. lots of the passers-by talk to me too, so it's really kinda crazy up in here. xD

Monday, June 7, 2010

State of the Neko address: week 16

song+ All the Lovers- Kylie Minogue- Aphrodite
book+ nothing- finally watching Avatar instead
scent+ steak
quest+ saving to visit Roro
upper+ i feel emotionally free
downer+ i don't make enough money.. x(
attire+ pajamas
drink+ milk


this weekend was pretty fun. i got through the first season of AtLA, and i'm liking it so far. two seasons left to get through, and i'm looking forward to it. having all my tv shows on summer hiatus gives me plenty of time to watch new things anyhow. xD i think when i'm done with this i'll maybe work on some of the other shows on my list. there's plenty to get to, really.

Kyu and i are thinking of holding off on moving for a bit longer. our lease is up this August, but we're thinking of staying through the new year (since we're already miserable, and know that winter is much more bearable here) to give ourselves time to save up some for fees and moving expenses. it also gives Moose a smidgen longer to pay off her debts. so presumably if she's not paying off what she owes 80 bajillion other people, it'll be easier to keep up with her responsibilities to us. honestly with delaying like this, if we reach 2011 and after a full year of living together there's still issues, we'll have to go our separate ways. an adjustment period is one thing, but a year of three people being dissatisfied isn't worth it. if after one year it's still not working out, we'll have to help her find something else to do. we all deserve to be happy with our living situations.

work is doing a lot better now than it was a few months ago. for a while everything was so hectic i couldn't even THINK when i got home. my life was literally just work, eat, sleep for a while. it's good to be feeling humanoid again. i'm at the point where i feel like i'm allowed to think about me again, without letting people down. also, mentally and emotionally i'm on an upswing finally, so i'm approaching something like a healthy place and it's good. things are bound to be easier for everyone else now too. it's hard to deal with a perpetually depressed person, almost as hard as it is to be one, i think. based solely on my own experiences of course.

i'm working on doing fun things again though. not just spending all my time forcing myself into one obsession or another to fill my time. i do legitimately love gaming, and reading, and doing things in the BJD hobby, but i no longer feel compelled to force myself to do those things just so i don't feel like a bad fan. i'm spending time switching between the things i love now, and also doing healthy non-obsessive things for fun. like i love to look up random things on Wikipedia, then just follow all the links until i come across something i already knew. sometimes it takes hours. xD i think it's fun though. i'm sleeping better too, my sleeping pattern is the first thing to go wonky when i feel depressed, so a proper night's sleep is the first sign of an upswing for me. so yay sleep, but not to an excessive degree!

I've been thinking about scaling some of my grand cosplay ideas down to doll-scale for FaithAnn and Rosalie. i'd talked about it before, but never made an attempt to start since it didn't work for anyone i had. Moose and i love to dress up though, so small (but accurate!) costumes for FaithAnn and Rosalie actually makes a lot of sense. especially since doll wigs are SO much easier to find, customize, and maintain in specific styles. i think i actually wanna start with possibly a classic like Wonder Woman or a Green Lantern/ Indigo tribeswoman set. giving Rosalie the Real Skin makes it slightly trickier to accurately costume her, but i think that cosplay in general already has a willingness to overlook things like that, things that can't really be changed just for accuracy's sake. i mean you don't generally see people too far off the character design, but fans also don't rush up to a cosplayer to be all “OMG NOOOOOO! your skin is a dusky peach, and Diana Prince is definitely a rosy alabaster!!1!” xD the focus is far more on accuracy of costume details and techniques used to achieve certain effects. i really do love costume details, they're my favourite part of design work. just thinking about it takes me into my happy place, mentally. i could totally be happy doing costuming for movies and stuff, i just dunno how i could ever get to that point, career-wise. -_-; it's kinda a leap from comic shop assistant manager of subscription service to movie costume designer or supervisor.. whatever. xD

i think there could be fun new challenges in doing doll-scale costuming though. not just the fiddliness inherent in detail work on a small scale, but trying to find accurate and appropriate materials to work with. particularly metalworking and the like. i know i'm WAY too picky to be satisfied with gold lame details on a Wonder Woman where there should be hammered gold or bronze. there's really no possible comparison at all. xD the classic Lynda Carter costume did it okay, but i'm of the opinion that okay isn't good enough and metal, even magic metal, can never be represented properly by fabric.

i really have no idea where i'd want to start though. xD maybe a fun Poison Ivy (though that'd suit Eve best) or Supergirl/Cassie Cain Batgirl, or even something a bit more obscure like Power Girl (for a blonde!Eve) or Stargirl/Mary Marvel. possibly even a Marvel character, like Scarlet Witch or Valkyrie, though my allegiance is (quite obviously) firmly in the DC camp. xD

nerdy tangent: it's not that i'm anti-Marvel, i just like the DCU so much more. i love the Legacies and the having to earn and respect your inheritance aspects. there's a lot less of that in the 616 Universe (Marvel mainstream for the un-nerds) due to the editorial thing where time kinda doesn't exist. like yeah, classics like Superman and Spider-Man haven't aged, which kinda makes sense, since they're really the bread and butter for the big two. yet somehow Franklin Richards (son of the Fantastic Four) has been like 6 for essentially forever, but the Runaways are 2 years older than their origin ages. X.x there's gross inconsistency in how the aging allowed is portrayed too: the Jessica Jones/ Luke Cage baby, is it an infant or a toddler? who knows! in one issue it was shown at three different ages by three different artists. i actually have an easier time processing DC's Multiverse theory. I GET Earth2, where everyone grew old and married and Batman and Catwoman's daughter became the Huntress, or Earth3 where good and evil are reversed, and even the Elseworld Earths- Amazonia, Red Son, Gotham by Gaslight, they're all amazing takes on how these classic characters could have been if even one thing was different. Marvel has a Multiverse too, but only like 2 of the universes are defined in ANY kind of coherent manner- 616 and Ultimate, which is just plain stupid. i honestly don't even know the number for the Ultimate 'verse, it has one, i just don't know it. the DC multiverse is even more fascinating for me because they limited it to 52 Earths. only 52, so each one better be WORTH existing. it's not like “Earth 6 is just like New Earth, except Superman has the cat and Supergirl has the dog, isn't that CRAZY?” -_- that's not a change worthy of being another world.

so yeah, off the nerd-talk, to slightly less nerdy talk. xD i'm thinking over how i want to approach the doll costuming. i think i wanna start simply.. maybe Supergirl first. skirts are simple enough, and capes are fun. xD i'll also get to practice resizing human patterns to doll-scale, especially with the challenge of the super curvy JiD girl dimensions. i think the first step will be tweaking workable underthing patterns, and a corset one too, because those could combine to get a good leotard/bodysuit pattern. from there i could do about anything i wanted to, really.

Kyu suggested something very difficult, but potentially crazy-fun for my first project: Red Lantern Mera (aka Mrs Aquaman) from the Blackest Night storyline. If i do that i'll wanna do a Star Sapphire Wonder Woman for her too (with a black wig, obviously) and kinda do a artfully arranged vs match, since their chick fight was pretty epic. xD "In darkness, love must survive." It must do more, it must triumph! indeed, Diana. i do * heart * me some Wonder Woman. And that particular costume didn't have any metalworking on it at all.

Friday, June 4, 2010

State of the Neko address: week 15, part 2

song+ My Heart- Paramore- All We Know Is Falling
book+ nothing- finally watching Avatar instead
scent+ chocolate
quest+ saving to visit Roro
upper+ i feel emotionally free
downer+ i don't make enough money..
attire+ work clothes
drink+ water


i feel like i should have something to say, but i'm kinda blank.. xD i'm very sleepy today, almost fell asleep at my desk a few times early this morning. there's something i wanted to talk about and i can't quite recall it. that's kinda annoying.

i woke up this week with an odd sense of lightness. i'm no longer burdened by an obsessive need for an unattainable thing. for almost ten years, i had a desperate longing for this one particular thing that really couldn't be mine, and likely wouldn't have let me be as happy as i deserve to be. nothing i did at all made me want it any less, it kept me perpetually miserable and i couldn't stop needing it. it sounds like i'm describing a drug problem, but rest assured, i'm not. it was just jarring for me to wake up this week and the corners of my mind and heart that used to be wholly occupied by this need are blank. there's nothing there at all.

i don't miss the needing, and i quite like the lightness of not carrying such a heavy emotional burden, but the feeling of NOTHING being there is pretty bizarre for me. i'm hoping i can get used to it soon and stop blankly staring into space, wondering what i should be feeling instead. normal is a foreign concept to me, so i can't honestly hope for it, but i'm hoping the space fills with something considerably more pleasant. like maybe happiness. xD it's worth hoping for at least.

on an entirely separate note, financial matters within the apartment roommate dynamic are getting frustrating. no one should have to take on a parental role with three adults living together, yet i find that i'm switching between friend, wary sister, and demanding parent. i'm not gonna start micro-managing her entire life, but i feel entirely justified in pointing out that rent needs to come before fun. i just wish i didn't have to remind anyone at all. i know i'm not great with money, so me holding on to rent every month because i'm the most financially responsible is actually kinda sad. X.x

speaking of responsible, i should be ordering the tickets for my flights to and from Virginia next weekend. after that it's putting aside July's rent, and then just last-minute preparations for my trip. very exciting!