Far too long!
Oops!
There have been a lot of deciding factors in this. I moved, had a very stressful time in school, had a nervous breakdown, got a new therapist, had financial issues, my boyfriend broke up with me, and have had issues concerning family at home(｡•́︿•̀｡) Although that's all rather negative, there is one positive thing. As something to help me recover and get through my last year of college, I adopted a new kitten! It was a hard decision to make, especially since I still really miss my Angel, but I am so happy to have him. Milo is a Ragdoll and he just turned five months old! Now that I've started a new school year, I'm really happy I have him to keep me company (´∀｀)♡(=^‥^
Anyway, I still cosplay, but I cannot afford to go to any conventions right now. Plus I gained quite a bit of weight from all the stress earlier in the year that I am still trying to work off. In the meantime, I'm just trying to take it easy and do my best in school.Mariko
Anime Midwest hangover
Yesterday afternoon I came home from Anime Midwest. I am able to write this after a night of good rest! It was a crazy weekend~ but I did have a lot of fun!
Friday
We got somewhat of a late start, but this didn’t hold us back too much. With this being my little brother’s first convention, I was worried about how he would react to seeing the big crowds for the first time, but he was very calm, though uncomfortable. We had to wait about an hour in line to pick up our pre-ordered and pre-paid badges due to a mix up with e-mail with resulted in us not having them sent in the mail. Still, the long line and the wait allowed my group to see a ton of really cool cosplayers who were also just arriving. Although we missed the first panel I wanted to go to, we were able to do a ton of shopping and meet a lot of really nice cosplayers. I even commissioned some art in the artist alley! I also got to meet Chuck Huber once again. The third time I have met him, his friendly and energetic disposition was like a shot of caffeine to me. I got to take pictures with him, as well as have him autograph some of my DVDs. Retiring late, we returned to our room in the Hyatt and ordered deep dish pizza, my favorite! Dressed as Kululu (Kururu) from Sgt. Frog (Keroro Gunsou), I had a pretty good day despite the hot and humid weather.
Saturday
After getting up extra early this day, I was dressed as Seto Kaiba. After wondering around a little bit, as well as getting the few items I had debated buying the day before, my group and I explored the con and checked out everything we were able to. We seemed to get stopped every few minutes for photos, which was really cool! I sweat it must have been more than a few dozen people who stopped us. My brother spent the whole day in the game room and was able to enjoy the day. We eventually went to the Yu-Gi-Oh! photo shoot, which turned out to be a lot of fun! I hadn’t expected to meet so many nice cosplayers! After that we decided to wind down somewhat. After a somewhat rough night, we made it to the next day.
Sunday
After yet another early morning, we packed up, cleaned up the hotel room, and packed the car. After checking out we headed out of Rosemont to Arlington Heights and to Mitsuwa Marketplace for lunch. I had udon with pork! It was super yummy (^w^). Taking my usual rounds in the grocery store and the book store there, we finally started the journey home (with a detour for ice cream!).
All in all, I think the con went very well. I have to compliment the staff on how they handled the long lines for badges. The lines actually moved rather quickly and the staff was very kind and attentive. Also gotta appreciate the free food, variety of activities, and the overall fun and easy set up at the con. Although there was some issues with scheduling for panels on Saturday night, there wasn't too much other than that I can complain about. Fun time!
マリコ♡
Anime Midwest Comin' Up Here
After getting through finals, I have finally been able to spend some time with my family. It has been a nice time! I didn't realized how much I missed them!
However, I have still been working. I have needed to help my mother go through boxes of things for a while (since we packed so quickly when we moved two years back) as well as handle things like dentist and doctor visits.
Thankfully, it hasn't been all business. I have been able to still work on cosplay. However, it is too early still to report if I'll have anything totally new for the next convention. The next convention I'll be attending is Anime Midwest, which is now less than a month away. Where has the time gone?!
I'm pretty sure I have the line-up of what cosplay I want to bring to Midwest figured out. But in the meantime I still work on others! So far, the ones the furthest along are Rin (Free!) and Aoba (Dramatical Murder), but both have key pieces still missing.
Who else is going? (^o^)
まりこ
Excited!
First off! I have been very busy with college the last few months. Sadly, taking so much literature at once has kept me busy (;w; ) But, there are only a few weeks left this semester so I will hopefully have more time soon. This fall I've signed up for some really fun classes so I hope to have a good time.
Unfortunately, since I've changed colleges, I have had even less time to work on cosplay. All the work I have been doing cosplay wise has been more maintenance than anything, so sadly nothing new is finished for now. I will keep working though! I have added onto my cosplay for Aoba from Dramatical Murder and Rin from Free! and I hope to get more work done for a few others in the coming weeks.
As for the title of this journal; I'm very excited! It's not news that there will be a new Yu-Gi-Oh! movie, but now it's easy to count the days until it's Japanese theatrical release. I wish I was there to see it!
Another reason for excitement is that my favorite voice actor is coming to a convention near my home! I thought I would only get to see Eric Stuart once, but now I get to see him again at a con this fall! I did e-mail the convention a couple of times to suggest him as a guest, but I never thought they would actually get him! I can't wait for Ramen Con this year ^o^
真理子