Year 2013 in review

Before I go on to document 2014's shenanigans, I kinda wanted to make a megapost about the past year because 2013 was the year where I feel like my life really started.

At the very beginning of 2013 I made my first costume that was entirely from scratch (no bought or altered parts), Asuka (Shunya Yamashita figure ver) from Neon Genesis Evangelion.





(Later that year I completely remade it because I'm a high strung bitch bordering on the side of crazy. It is definitely my best costume. This is my favorite picture, possibly ever, taken by Ken Eden.)



Two weeks later I celebrated my 21st birthday in Vegas with Chloe, who I am forever indebted to for introducing me to such crazy awesome people. Within 3 hours of landing in Vegas, I was tucked into bed by my ever wonderful roommates. I'd say it was a successful 21st birthday.



Did I mention that the day we flew to Vegas was also me and my boyfriend's 3rd year anniversary? I can say so much about him, but mostly that I don't know what drives me crazier: him or the fact that I love him to pieces.



Then Fanime came around. More costumes were made, including Huntress and Robin from the Batman comics.



We also celebrated my boyfriend's birthday! I think people will still be talking about his cake when we're all old and grey. Thanks Jan!





I fast forwarded to Fanime (which occurs in May) because nothing much happened in the late winter/early spring because of some family issues. You know, your typical Asian daughter fare. Which ultimately ended with me moving out of my parents' place into a really great house with my boyfriend and other awesome cosplayers. Shenanigans happened, some of the most memorable being our housewarming party and drunk dancing with the cat.

Some weeks after, I attended Anime Expo for the 3rd year in a row...despite having planned not to attend. It has to be my least favorite convention, ugh. But I went to model for the Liz Lisa fashion show, which a few of my friends were running. Mostly, I just went to see friends. Because summer and shit. Why the fuck not.



I cosplayed briefly, but nothing new. But you know what was a new experience? Stripping in the middle of L.A. live and jumping in the bushes for a photoshoot. What? I swear it was a first time!



And then the biggie: my first San Diego Comic-Con! I don't know why, but it's online enormity made me think that I would never ever go. Especially with how difficult it is to get tickets. But I did! And it was fantastic, I don't care what the haters say about its commercialization and whatnot. You get every penny's worth of the $175 you spend, and there's always merch to grab or panels to watch and just loads of things to do overall! If I could stress one other thing it would be the gorgeousness of San Diego. I'd never went before, but the area surrounding SD is so lovely and exciting. We had things to do every night in the Gaslamp, barhopping and clubhopping was so much fun. Highlights of nightlife included open bar industry party, the worst knock off Fat Tuesday ever, getting my ass grabbed at a random bar (that has never happened to me...ever...and I was wearing a frilly super unsexy skirt), and being VIP big ballers. I also scared Joss Whedon with my friend.



I also had a new cosplay for this: genderbend Dante from Devil May Cry





After SDCC was Japan Expo. Meh. Con was boring, friends were fun! I didn't do anything new, but we did get a topsy turvy DMC group together.



And that was the end of summer. Holy shit, so much happened. Barely anything happened in the fall in comparison, but that's because of classes and such. I don't think there's much of a point even going over the fall season, because that's when this blog started so you can just go a few posts back and see what I did haha.

The year ended with my faves coming up from SoCal for a New Year's Party! We dressed monochrome without even realizing it. You can't sit with us.



So that was 2013 for me. I'm going to lie, there have been some VERY difficult patches in regards to this year's major events, and sometimes I still feel like a ticking time bomb. But sitting here in my chair, eating a bag of hot cheetoes (post-con reverse diet) and looking at what my life has become...it ain't so bad.

Saying I'm a drama-free person would be a lie (and plus, anyone who says that shit are the people you should be wary of anyways). Drama is the result of differing views, clashing opinions, and the reality that the world isn't a happy hand holding utopia. If I were truly a drama free person, I would be an utterly boring yes man. I'm not afraid to lead the direction I want my life to go in. And I'm finally okay with the fact that there will be people who won't agree with the life I lead - because I don't want to live an ordinary one.

And let's be real, I secretly love when the tide changes so suddenly because I get to see how I can meet the challenge and overcome it. Here's to 2014 and may it be filled with crazy friends and crazy adventures.

What I wore to dance with the devil

I makeshifted a skank ho cop costume with my boyfriend's Cop Stocking accessories that our friend Jason made since I didn't want to be a nurse again.

Now, the funny thing is that I swore up and down just a few days ago that I was all partied out. And suddenly I wasn't. So my boyfriend and I went to Halloween Massive in San Francisco. I'm proud of myself in that I can still semi-blend in with normal people!

Highlights that I can post on a public blog:
- judging people's bad Party City wigs
- ratchet girls throwing up in the bathroom at 10 PM
- drink hustling
- guy tries to pick me up with blatant racism. Slanty eye stretching is so gonna get me to jump in your bed!
- Indiana Jones twerking D:
- some guy dressed as Tyler Durden grinding on chicks with the most apathetic look on his face ever hahaha
- rearended on drive back...suddenly GTA

What I wore to get tied to the radiator

(Sorry, I had just eaten so I look gross and bloated.)



Admittedly, these pictures are pretty shitty. So here's a better picture of my Nurse Emi-Chan cosplay from Dr. Kawaii from this summer:

Shot by Jeff Davis (https://www.facebook.com/furuis)

Anyways, as you can see I cut myself some bangs. They're a little long so I might trim them shorter. But they're nice and full. Which I am very, very glad for because of undisclosed events that happened Saturday night. Where did we go? I dunno, some place in San Francisco where we partied while wearing skanky costumes. I mean, how often does that even happen? ...Right guys? ............Right?

Highlights of my very short evening: grapes, hobo chase, bushes, cage, yoloswag in bathroom, "I'm going to blackout now".

What I wore to go on a rare date night

I never got a chance to wear these neat tattoo gun tights out. I like them! Makes me feel all badass. I'm also liking how ashy/lilac the top half of my hair is, I wish my ends could be lighter but I don't want to melt off my hair. :(

Top, skirt: D.I.A.
Tights, shoes: Taobao


Nude lips forever. My head looks huge always. One time a kid ran up to me and told me my head was too big for my body.



Me and my tax accountant.

Man, it's tough getting myself to be all dolled up once a week because I'm a giant lazy bastard. But it's proven semi-rewaridng so far. Only semi because 4 random guys on the drive back from Thea's pretty much were apparently trying to get my attention for 5 minutes straight, according to my boyfriend. I kinda think they were just being racist/trolling though because they flashed me the peace sign.

Okay, time to go work on Kei Yuki! Progress pictures soon.

What I wore to watch 2 penguins almost throw down at Monterey Bay Aquarium

I guess there was also a con too supposedly. Sure was fun being one of the five cosplayers there...never again. I'll post pictures from the actual con part of the weekend sometime soon...assuming I didn't look pissed off in all the pictures lol.

My boyfriend and I just kinda made the weekend one giant date otherwise, full of really delicious albeot seafood and oohing and ahhing at the crazy psychedelic Jellyfish Exhibit at the aquarium.

I hate my hair straight because I think it makes my face look wide but I was too lazy to curl it. ~_~ Oh well. And I wish the outline of my shirt wasn't completely visible under my skirt. But yes, this is your average everyday casual outfit from me.

Sunglasses: Boyfriend's raybans
Shirt, boots, tights: Taobao
Skirt: American Apparel


My love!

Bidism cosplay

I finished my Black Widow (Yamashita ver) cosplay at the end of last week with the help of my dutiful boyfriend. Well...it's like, 99% done. I still haven't gotten the o-ring to attach to the front, but yolo etc etc. Anyways, I don't want to make this blog just fashion related, I also want to keep a sort of cosplay progress log for my big projects. I know I didn't exactly post progress for Black Widow, but that's because it was a really easy costume to make. I'll definitely be updating with progress for my Captain Harlock project, because those costumes are going to be RIDICULOUS.




I used the Kwiksew 3052 pattern to make Black Widow, and it worked somewhat well. I cut out the XS and the fit was alright. The major alterations were obviously putting the zipper in the back rather than the front and to have the right cut for the boobs. I also made alterations to shorten the waist, but I mostly spent my time fitting the stupid sleeves. For some reason, while the legs were tight, the armholes and upper sleeves were HUGE and grossly baggy. Yes, I have relatively skinny arms. But the upper arms were still freakishly huge and baggy - this happened to my friend too who used the pattern as well. So heed my warning about the armscyes and sleeves. After fixing the sleeves, I'm relatively happy with the catsuit. I wish the back waist of the suit would taper to my body more, but it's hard fitting that part because I have a super freakishly narrow back. Especially when striking poses for cosplay. There's alterations out there to remedy this, but I was too impatient lol.

The accessories I left to my boyfriend to make. The bracelets are really innaccurate from the artwork, but I've always thought that the artwork's bracelets were really weird looking when translated to real life so I'm going to just grasp at my artistic freedom with that one. All we used was a bullet belt and gold spray paint for those! And as for the belt, my boyfriend went on an adventure to several different Michael's just to collect all the wooden discs needed. I don't think I hate anything more than going out to buy supplies and it seems like the only thing you need is the only thing low in stock. They don't have the spherical shape, but we were kinda short on time between school and work. So wooden discs + spray paint + elastic band = Black Widow belt! I can easily slip it on and off along with the bracelets.

I bought the wig from this Taobao lace front shop. It's just too bad my forehead is enormous and I had to cut bangs into the wig, because the shop really does make beautiful lace fronts. I'll be making a blog post about lace fronts in the future, since I've been asked so many times. But man I'm seriously in love with this wig, the red is dimensional and super gorgeous. The fiber blend looks different every time the light hits it! *_*

The fabric is 4 way stretch vinyl from spandexworld.com. Shall I make a post about sewing with vinyl also? Anyways onto pictures!


My boyfriend ignoring me to make dollas.


:)


I have my DSLR up and running again so here's my high definition FACE.


Detail shot of front and back! I borrowed the gun from my friend Lionel. :3


I tried to make this picture less "my boyfriend took this in my living room" with photoshop but I don't know if I succeeded.

"It's in a martini glass, it must be classy."

Missed last week's outfit of the week because I was working on finishing my Black Widow cosplay. Will be making a post about that costume sometime this week while I'm at my parents' house. Anyways, this is what I wore to go to Safeway at 1AM and get my thigh burned by a cigarette. #yoloswagratchetlife There's now a hole in these tights *weeps



Entire outfit is from Taobao. The pretty girl is from my dreams dohohohoho

What I wore to draw on balloons and sell things at bars

When bb Gloria and I decided to match MA*RS outfits for Jan's birthday, some guy asked "What are you selling?" In hindsight, we should have said "2x the adventure." We also confused some really drunk people at a random bar into thinking that they were seeing double.

I can't say anything else about that night without ruining political careers. But happy birthday again Jan! Here's to our boyfriends hopefully not leaving us for each other.


Daytime crime partner and I :3

Top, skirt, thigh high socks, scrunchie: MA*RS
Boots: Taobao

Outfit 1 of How to Be Vain 101

I'm going to jump right to it in order to negate my weird maudlin "first" post.

Over the past few years I got absorbed in this really really weird thing called cosplay, and as a result I spent much more time trying to look good at the handful of conventions I attend every year than on an everyday basis. And I want to change that. So, every weekend I'll be dolling up and taking pictures of one new outfit/coordinate. There will be exceptions, like the weeks up to a major convention, but considering how much of a homely video game playing hermit I was in past years...this is a big thing for me hahaha! I don't have bottomless pockets, so this will really push my outfit coordinating capabilities. There's so many styles I want to try out but I've always been too lazy, but a real documentation should help a lot! And no I won't always be word vomiting just to post selfies, I just thought there should be an introduction and explanation just in case I start off looking like a hot mess.

My first outfit to start us off! I ordered a bunch of stuff from my favorite gyaru brand, D.I.A. so I was super excited to put together a kuronba coordinate. It's too bad I didn't take a snap of the back of the shirt, there's a fishnet cut out of a giant cross.



"PRAYS" fishnet shirt, moon belt, shorts: D.I.A
Garterbelt, garter: Frederick's of Hollywood
Stockings: Leg Avenue
Thigh high boots: Taobao

Oops I accidentally blog

Whoa, blogger! It's been what, a few years now? I haven't exactly solved world hunger or broken any world records, so I don't really know why I completely stopped blogging because lord knows I love to spew WOOOOORDSSS.

Well, I'm a little older and a little wiser and at the ripe age of 21 I'm much more secure of the person I am now, who I want to be and who I always was. I think that's why I stopped blogging for so long. Because I was reconciling with myself. I still haven't found myself completely, but I'm getting there. I think I have time.

Teenage me was such a mess. If you're wondering where my old posts are, I just reverted them back to draft format so that I can heckle at myself without being embarrassed. I was just really really really confused, okay? T_T I wish I could go back and punch myself in the face for doing all the dumb things I did and fraternizing with people that wasted my time. I'm pretty sure in less than five years I'll be saying/typing the exact same thing about myself, and while I'm typing away on my MacBookSuperPro in my luxury loft apartment I'll get this really uncanny sense of deja vu...but I'll shake it off since I'll have to go to the gym in order to maintain my rock hard four pack.

I can dream.

But point is, this blog will be staying for good. Having better knowledge of the kind of person I am and always was, I want to do so much and there's so little time. And I want to share my life as much as possible. I don't want to just spew about the inane things. I want to create. And learn. And teach. I want to travel. I want to wear my overbleached hair high to the heavens. I want to wear the most ridiculous clothing possible before I have to be a total grown up. I want to dress up as cartoon characters. I want to dance. A lot. I want to live.

So...that's what my blog is going to be.