momiji

So, started the day kind of unhappy because Crazy Buckle Vest is still at an impasse, and I haven't recieved a shipping notice for the fingerless gloves I bought on Friday, and Canada Post has been hella slow lately, but I went out to Value Village in search of shoes for Uranus, and came back with many things!

-First and foremost, I did actually find the perfect pair of boots to cover for Uranus - pair of three-inch stiletto heel, just-short-of-midcalf brown leather boots. Really nice, I almost feel guilty about the fact that I'm going to be gluing blue satin all over them.

-Movies! Because I realized it's actually cheaper to buy the $2 VHS tapes there than to rent a DVD. Grabbed Galaxy Quest, To Wong Foo, Terminator (which I have never seen!), the Star Trek 25th anniversery special (it looks to be cheesy, but hopefully awesomely so), and The Secret of Nimh (my childhoooood)

-Books! Which I can get for free from the library, but they had a few I actually wanted to own - Abhorsen, Angel of Darkness, and then a copy of the Moosewood Cookbook from the mid-90s and a bartending guide from 2004

-And, last but not least, a shot glass chess set. Bought it for the sheer WTF factor because it was only $8 - not sure it will ever actually used to play chess, as, to quote Jon, "After I lost about four pawns I think I'd just give up and drink the king," but it's still pretty awesome.

Oh hai, maybe I should actually post something here. Still making up my mind what exactly I want to do, but in the meantime, have con photos!

Full SC'09 photos gallery is here - it's compiled from five different cameras so it is massive and, unfortunately not in chronological order because each camera had a different naming scheme and I didn't get around to figuring out how to give them a consistent naming scheme. Highlights below!

( There are kind of a lot of highlights >.> )

Posted mostly for the edification of Mara-cookie, who understands how I feel about these things, but also because eeee fancy fabric. So. Fabric I've bought so far for AC!Rufus (yes, I am going to make the absurd pants):

- 2 yards of black cotton/linen blend
- 2 yards of white pure linen
- 5 5/8 yards of ivory tricotine wool
- 1 yard of heavy black satin
- 1 yard of heavy black polyester lining

It turns out AC!Rufus's suit jacket has a subtle white-on-white pinstripe - so subtle that you can only see it in a five second shot in the high-def version of AC. I decided that there wasn't any real way of capturing that in the real world (if the pinstripe is there it's going to be really obvious), not to mention that finding a fabric like that would basically be impossible, so I am skipping out on it, though it makes my accuracy-minded soul burn. I also think I'm going to do a very narrow zipper like the Turk suits have in the interests of preserving my own sanity (the jacket appears to have no fasteners at all in the few clear shots of it)

Care of the K/S comm, have some classic TOS bloopers. Finding that has made my morning a great deal brighter XD

I think this sums it up:

(7:47:05 PM) jyuulii: omg you have videogame eyes
(7:47:09 PM) momijizukamori: I KNOW

(My incredibly expensive blue contacts came in today, and they look amazing, which totally makes up for the fact that they like migrating in my eyes, causing some peripheral haziness, because the base curve is a lot different from my usual one - being so near-sighted meant these were the only option, though)

(For those curious: comparison with the normal colour [you can really see the migration there], indoors with flash, outdoors without flash)

Stuff for AE, mostly, as that is next in line.

Super Sailor Uranus (which I have been working on all week)
-Back bow, collar and choker are all done
-Skirt is lined and ironed but not pleated and attached
-Front bow needs little heart charm, otherwise done
-Have (hideously expensive) leotard fabric, must find a store that actually carries Green Pepper or Kwik Sew patterns
- Boots and gloves - not started. Couldn't find any good base shoes for less than $30 at Payless, so it's thrift store time

Rufus
-Must solve wrinkly fabric issue QQ
-Black glove still MIA (if I have to buy a third pair of those I will be angry - first pair fell victim to mold in sketchy basement suite)
-Must acquire stuffed black panther to transform into Dark Nation (Jon finally solved the 'cat or dog?' Dark Nation debate - the answer is 'displacer beast')
-Shotgun - discover who has power tools I can borrow >___>
-Order blue contacts now that I know precisely how blind I am
-Low Priority - buy a real black turtleneck (while Rufus wearing TB!Subaru's shirt amuses me, it means I can't do any jacketless photos without looking silly), sew matching vest (Three-piece suit yeaaaaah)

Leon
-Buy a new leg holster buckle
-See: gloves for Rufus
-Belt pouches? Probably too poor for this summer, though
-chest strap and and knife sheath for the shoulder holster
-fake guns that don't look like crap (again, probably too poor XD)

Also, I am totally wearing Rufus to this because Rufus is awesome and classy and would totally go to fancy concerts with his bodyguard.

I went and bought stuff today \o/ Most of it planned, though a few little impulse items I know I won't regret.

-BPAL - A bottle of Thunder Moon (for $12!) and a bottle of Eanach Dhuin (which smells just like the wonderful and long-discontinued Dublin on me)
-Pair of black New Balance trainers (hopefully will help with the knee/back pain I had at work last summer)
-Lush bubble bath bombs
-Cheap posters (Two Zelda, one X, one FF7 and one FFX)
-New glasses prescription

...Okay, so I didn't quite 'buy' the last one, but I did have to pay money to obtain it. Apparently my left eye has gotten even worse, which means that there's pretty much one and only one brand of coloured contacts I can buy (The Acuvue 2 Opaques, which go up to -9.00 - my new glasses prescription is -9.25), although it seems like most of the normal ones go up to -12.00. I also got my eyes dilated for the first time, which was a deeply strange experience - I wandered around for about two hours afterwards looking like a grey or something - there was almost no iris showing. It's kind of worn off now, although my pupils still aren't changing quite right in response to light.

(Also, re: There is no homosexuality in Star Wars, I offer this)

You don't have to buy an expensive plane ticket to get that sticky eight-hours-in-an-airplane feeling! Getting five hours of sleep, spending two sweating over a huge exam, and then another four sitting in the same chair vegging afterwards does it just as well.

(and then I had another exam that evening, and one last one tomorrow afternoon - I'm feeling a bit insane right now, though I know getting some sleep and getting my last final over with will make me feel infinitely better XD)

I was trying to find some Rufus/Tseng doujin I thought I had, and found this essay on Rufus instead, which appears to have never been posted here. I'm pretty sure it's from the same time period as this essay on my love of cities, which sort of informs it a little XD.

( Read more... )

Because I am being a slacker about finishing off a real con report (it's started, I swear!), and I don't have all the photos yet (we're collecting a big batch from everyone in our party, so once that's done I'm going to a huge image dump from about five different cameras), so some quick notes here and there.

Wait at the border going down: 5 hours
Wait at the border coming up: 20 minutes

Despite having a full car, we managed not to drive each other insane (well, more insane anyway). I credit Freddie Mercury via my two Queen's Greatest Hits CDs. Stopped at a grocery store not too far past the border and me and the other American went a little crazy with the stuff we can't buy up here (my stash: two 12-packs of Mountain Dew, a bag of onion bagels, my favorite brand of cheap ramen, and five Paydays).

I managed to somehow not run into anyone I really knew that wasn't in the group that came down with me, although I saw a few cosplayers and dealers I've seen at other cons (the Twinbells Doujinshi lady is always so nice ♥). I also spotted Eurobeat King, although did not say hello as I strongly suspect he wouldn't recognize me despite one rather memorable night getting pulled over by the police in his car.

Cosplay was sort of a grab bag - KH, Bleach and Naruto were the big ones I saw, although there was a surprisingly large number of Sailor Moon cosplayers, which made me kind of sad that I didn't have time to do Sailor Uranus, but ah well, another con. Rufus turned out a lot better than I thought. The last week or so of detailing was misery, and I spent the whole time going 'Oh god this is so hideous and full of flaws ugh it sucks ugh ugh ugh QQ', because I am very good at seeing exactly what is wrong with my costumes, but it actually looked very put together once everything was on and ironed (for half an hour - stupid cotton twill). One of my black gloves went AWOL the night before we left, so I ended up having to borrow a tan pair from Jon, which looked okay. Turk presence was middling - there were a lot of Renos and a few Rudes, but not much else.

Dealer's room swag:
-Unwired (shut up it's cheaper in the US okay :<)
-Munchkin Cthulu 3
-Six shirts of epic win (see backs for additional win - to really pile the win on, the Cthulu one glows in the dark)
-Two DMC doujin, both Dante/Vergil fluff by Cardinal - one very short one, and another longer one
-One FF7 doujin - Turks, by Wasab'z - I may attempt to bribe a weeaboo at the club with Mountain Dew to translate it for me, as it's actually a fairly lengthy story.