~~The Life bits~~~~

Ahoy Rockstars! It's been awhile!

 Can i just say to start, i am so very glad 2012 is over?! It was one nuts year and i am glad it is done and never to return! XD At any rate, there has been alot of crazy.  But 2013 has potential, year of the snake! GO AYAME! XD Also, it's springtime, winter is OVER!

Lets see. I'm no longer working at Google, so i'm on the prowl for the next opportunity to come my way. In the meantime, I HAVE BEEN BUSY! In February, a snazy new publisher opened up submissions for American manga artists (WHOOooo! Not many opportunities for that!)  specifically targeting a female audience and female authors! I jumped at the opportunity and madly pulled together my baby "Ace of Hearts" for submission, with brand spanking new pages and everything. Sadly, it was not accepted, but i got my very first rejection letter, so that is something! Some people don't even get that far, right? But all in all, the letter was very thoughtful and well detailed on things I need to work on, which i am very grateful for. They also told me to consider submitting again when they open up for that again in summer! So i'm going to work hard on refining my inks, getting smoother on my anatomy, and really honing in on some of my background skills. I used to consider backgrounds a pain, but I read something recently in one of Scott McClouds books that made me start thinking about them differently. Before, i used to think of them as filler/framework for the character. I now think of backgrounds as places i want to bring my reader. <3

After that, i was busy on my Cinderella cosplay! It is a bit historically inspired from the 1700s but crossed with Disney's Cinderella. I'll be uploading some pics of that when i can, i only have a few pics right now that are a bit half-hazard.  Most likely when i get some taken at our photo shoot likely in the early summer with my fellow group of princesses I love the fabric i got for it, the white is so light and airy (not to mention almost 20 yards of tulle was used for side poof support....gahhh) as well as the ombre blue for the skirt Last minute i decided to make a cute little white drawstring backpack for the con, which took me all of 15 minutes to make but that i absolutely love. <3

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Sakura Con 2013~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So Sakura con! SO HAPPY TO GO TO IT AS A REGULAR ATTENDEE!!! No more selling *huff puff* I had some pre-con jitters that i'm pretty sure where residual nerves from last year. They melted away when i stood in line for my badge, seeing all the happy nerdage going on, even the day before ^3^ I drove down Thursday for pre-con pick up, which only took me about 20 min from where i live!!! Amazing!! Usually the lines are crazy, even Thursday, but it took me pretty much less than 10 min to get mine!!! SO AWESOME! In and out of Seattle so fast!

Friday: I woke up at about 7:30 am, fully intending to get up and get ready, but i was oh so cozy in my warm bed XD Also, i hadn't slept very well the night before in anticipation and having just about every thought in my brain roll around twice. Positive note: I got a great idea for a short story manga in my insomnia! Huzzah!

So i snoozed in and out for about an hour. Got up, showered. Started getting ready and whatnot when i got a text from Snow White asking if i wanted to car pool. It worked out well because she arrived just as i finished everything up and loaded the car! Whoot! So we drove down and enjoyed the stares i was getting from my window with my hair all schmancy with glittering crystal headband and feathers in my hair XD It pretty much looked like i was going for a very fancy jog since i was wearing a tank top and yoga pants XD

We got there and meandered through the dealers hall and artists alley (which is huge by the way, so it is no small feat) I bought some delicious melon pan. If you havent had it, it's DELICIOUS. It's a texture thing...it's a large bread (bun?) [link] that is soft on the inside, but has this delicious slightly crunchy very thin sugar coat on the top...omnomnomnom.  We headed back to the car to konk out and eat some food.  We did alot of konking out, about 3 hours of it XD Snow White worked on her costume since she was finishing it to wear for the next day while my brain just kind of went Duurrrr after i got out of my costume. She showed me what it looked like on, but when she tried to get it off it was the funniest thing ever, i tried to help her but then we both kept laughing and it just got worse XD XD XD After, we headed to the music videos where we met up with Rapunzel and Aurora who had gotten a late start as well. We left after so we could finish up Snow White's dress and get some sleep to hit the next day fresh.

Saturday: Got ready and off to con well rested! Parked in a SUPER cheap parking lot, 6 bucks for ALL DAY! Only about a block from the convention center! As i was walking there, i saw a strange green filament floating through the air. I smiled when i realized it was a rogue strand of green wig XD (You know that you're at con when...) So got there, tried to get to the cosplay contest which was scheduled for 2 hours but ended in less than one hour! Abooooooo, so missed that. I headed to the photobooth and got a few pics, they were so-so, i'll have to upload some nice ones to dA once we do a photoshoot.

After that, i ran into my Snow White who had just arrived in costume, who looked beautamious! We headed to the Disney Photoshoot and met up with our fully costumed and lovley Aurora and Rapunzel, and got a few pics taken with the other Disneys After, i ran off to the Cosplay Chess, which was fun. I think i enjoyed Ciel taking out Jack Frost most because HE DIDN'T BELIEEEVVVEEE XD  Went and got some foods with Snow and Rapunzel. The Taco Del Mar people seemed quite entertained to be making a burrito for Cinderella XD So very very VERY glad at that point that my dress was front-opening with hooks and eyes, so i just took that off and ate in my tank i wore underneath to avoid any fancy dress + burrito = tears. XD I went to the voice acting panel that Vic was supposed to be in, but he didn't end up making it for reasons unknown to me...likely he was still signing autographs, poor guy X) After i got out, i wandered around a bit. Saw a RIDICULOUSLY TALL ALUCARD...took me a little bit to gather the guts to ask for a picture with them I headed back to my car to change, where i ran into mah peeps who had happened to also park right next to me XD Watched a little bit of the Zaff Branagen panel with them then headed out to see the ending of the cosplay costume contest (different from the regular cosplay contest) which was really interesting, because they talked about the details and all the research that went into the costumes. Headed off to the Hellsing Ultimate showing (which, i actually have at home but haven't watched yet ) because...GIANT HELLSING IN THEATER SETTING 8D. Stayed for 2 episodes then ran to out cars with everyone because we had to be out by midnight to keep the cheap $6 rate XD CINDERELLA GOT OUT BEFORE MIDNIGHT! XD Watched some Soul Eater at home before konking out for the night.

Sunday: A bit of a later start, but no cosplaying as i wanted to be able to manuever XD I just didn't have it in me for another princess day. So got there, ran through the dealers hall again. The only things i ended up buying was 2 art prints from the Artist Alley!!  This was the CHEAPEST SAKURA CON EVER. Parking ended up $25 for 4 days(normally $50-60ish!) $18 for merch from AA, plus my burrito and pan bread...so everything (minus the badge that i got way earlier in the year for 35 bucks, and the food i brought with me) only cost me $65!!!! THAT'S FREAKIN NUTS. Truthfully, I just didn't see a whole lot i wanted to buy this year :/ There haven't been a whole lot of good anime releases as of late, and most things are overpriced there usually (I have found some awesome deals now and again though!)  So wasn't enthused for allot of the merch, although i DID see a paper protector that had a neat looking anime on it (the same way i found Black Butler!) so I am now watching it! ^3^

The rest of sunday went pretty quick, watched a little more cosplay chess with buds, then headed to the closing ceremonies WHICH WERE BEAUTIFUL! They had 2 traditional Japanese performances, one was 2 ladies on string instruments, the second was an awesome Taiko drum performance! The whole thing was gorgeous as well because on the screen behind them they had a falling cherry blossom petal animation that played through both performances. As i was leaving, a guy had a boombox and was playing the ending theme song to Wreck it Ralph "When Can I See You Again" by Owl City which made me get all ;_; 'cause con was over. But it was good. Really really good. I already miss it. I think what is so appealing about conventions is the sheer acceptance...even celebration of things that i really enjoy that just doesn't happen too often outside of them. You're inside this really positive and energetic atmosphere, a 3 day party! So if you've never been to a convention, i highly recommend it. Be open to new things, try to not get overwhelmed, and you'll be sure to have a good time, and maybe even make some new friends


PS: Long journal is long, but it's been 8 months XD Congrats to you if you made it though XD XD XD