Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Akihabara!

To Akihabara!

The center of most boy geek-dom. Big boobied girl figurines wearing almost nothing.... all kinds of robot building, computer building, lighting, gadget etc stuffs, Maid Cafe's, Video Games, and girls dressed as maids or lolitas all around.

It was super cool. We didn't go to a maid cafe.... Maybe we/I will go back.... it just seems a little weird.

I also got to see my first Pullip doll in life....

I thought they were creepy before... but now I like some of them. (Though I tend to lump the Pullip and Blythe dolls into the same categories.... I think the Pullips are not as creepy) I even saw one that looked like Gekka no Yakusoku Mana!!! So cute.... but I couldn't take a picture and wouldn't pay ~$320 for it.

I also found a new Japanese phenomena that I think is hillarious..... I love the many different Mameba! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUycneBNAyM

I also took a ton of videos! Check out my Youtube channel
http://www.youtube.com/user/kireix

aaah.... sleep time I think.

( 263V) ~~> ( 295V)

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Hopefully Harajuku

I was worried I wasn't going to get to go to Harajuku, and worried about where Jamie was... but it all worked out.

We made it to the birthplace of so many things I love. It was great. A dream come true for me.

There were so many cool looking people there, but not any cosplayers and only a few lolitas. It was probably because it was Tuesday in the middle of the day though.... The cosplayers and lolitas come out on Sundays, or thats what I've been told.

I plan to go out there on Sunday cosplaying in my Blue Le Ciel Mana costume, but I also want to go back there again before Sunday. I wanna geek out in more detail ^_^. Gaah.... soo tired..... and didn't blog about this yesterday so kinda forgot what else happened....

Went drinking at a nice bar. The bartender had a blast with Trybbl... lol So cute ^.^

( 233V) ~~> ( 263V)

Monday, August 24, 2009

一人しないで I didn't do so well on my own.

So I wasn't very good at exploring on my own yesterday. I did not find to SOOM store because I had thought my directions said to take a left out of the Shinjuku station.... the Shinjuku stations is HUGE and has a ton of different exits. So I proceeded to walk around the ENTIRE station and make lefts out of each exit to see if I could find Takeshita street. Thank goodness I didn't ask someone... they would have looked at me strangely because the area I needed to be in was Harajuku.

I did have fun wandering around looking though. I had Gaius with me and he catapulted his wig off his head (Like normal) and a Japanese man was very kind and picked it up and gave it to me. I am sure he didn't see Gaius and had to wonder what the hell that little black furry thing was... I personally might have wondered if it was clean to touch @_@. lol

I am used to getting stared at in the United States... and I get stared at here alot, but for some reason it feels different. It never phases me in the US. But here in Japan I wanna hide under an umbrella (which won't work because Jamie and I had to buy clear ones. hehe)

I had Mc Donalds for breakfast/lunch. Everything was in proportion... except for the drink. The drink was kinda ridiculously small.

I ended up sleeping and trying to figure out directions to the SOOM store while waiting for Jamie. It was good I stayed in the hotel otherwise we wouldn't have seen each other to go to her gig.

We got sooo lost trying to get to the Star Pine Cafe. We really should have just asked how to go where when we first got there. It would have been faster ^.^ The lady at the train station was SO nice. Helped us get a total different train brand, which she didn't work for, so we wouldn't have to make a transfer.

Yuri helped us find the Cafe and also helped translate for Jamie. During a little break before the show we got to go get traditional Japanese Ramen! It was SOOOO good. I want more today ^_^. Luckily its cheap! Yuri was very nice and bought our dinner (Thank you Yuri!)

I got video of Jamie's entire performance ^_^ she did very well.

We also got to see Hiro (a photographer we met at Sakura Con). It was good to see him again. He is a very funny guy. He takes funny pictures. (Thanks for the ride home Hiro!) Sorry Yuri and Hiro I was too tired to hang out last night. But we will see them and Ayumi on Thursday. Maybe we will go do Karaoke (I'm so nervous!)

Jamie also wants to go clubbing.... I am not so sure about that T_T

/sigh

Ok time to make some green tea and start getting ready for Harajuku (gotta decide what the Darlings and I are going to wear)

( 233V) ~~> ( 263V)

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Set foot on Japanese Concrete (Narita Airport)

We made it to the airport and it was hot and muggy. Made me feel like I was in the south again.

The view of the land was so pretty from the air. I've traveled quite a bit and this has topped it all for me(as far as a view from an airplane). The cultivated land, and the housing was all so sectioned into neat little partitions, but bits and sections of natural tree/forest were left in their natural shapes to break up the sectioned bits, but somehow still fit in harmony.

Immigrations went just fine, though it was surprising that we had to have our picture taken, as well as fingerprints taken. There was a TV screen advertising how the immigration process works, and when it was describing the fingerprint/photo portion it said that if you refused to do so, you would be ordered to leave Japan! @_@

I am worried about our phones though.... We verified with AT&T that our phones would work here, and we paid to have international coverage (I also paid to have data usage as well) and we have had no service yet. Which has kind of surprised me, but at the same time not. Part of me thinks we should have had service because we were at an international airport..... but the other part of me isn't surprised that we didn't have service because that airport is out in the 'boonies'. I am positive it will work once we get past/around Tokyo.

Now I am on the Shinkansen on my way to Shinjuku. The seats are pretty roomy, sort of like riding an amtrak. I got a window seat so I could take time lapse video of the train ride (Like I have done before in London and Paris). Too bad its getting dark... I think the video will still be cool ^_^. I feel like I am in one of the first animes I ever saw. Galaxy Express 999. I'd love to cosplay Maetel! *squee*

I then felt like I was on a train to Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry because a cute little train lady came by with a cart of goodies. They had everything from toys to snacks to juices. I got 200 ($2) yen 100 ml Orange juice that I will definitely make last a while @_@. lol I was so proud of my bad Japanese T_T. The cart lady understood what I was saying. Though all I asked was how much the items were. They had these CUTE little trains....a set of like 8 of them for 1,000 yen ($10) but I was strong..... and didn't get them. Unfortunately, I believe I will have to do that a good bit this trip. I will be able to judge more when we get our first meal... that way I can see how much the food will cost.

I am also very happy with my Katakana retention... I've been able to read a lot of signs which have been whizzing by as my train zips its way towards Shinjuku.

(223 V) ~~> (233 V)

Saturday, August 22, 2009

The first part of a big journey

So far this trip has gone pretty good. There have been some challenges, but nothing that couldn't be handled.

My Macbook Pro, Lupin, died.... well more like rebelled after I left work. It was working at work just fine.... I bus to over to Jamie's (with no types of bumps or anything....) and then get to her place and go to turn it on and I hear the apple boot/Wall-E boot sound... and I see NOTHING.

I had already been stressed out that day so I was already a bit on edge, but I took a deep breath and started troubleshooting the issue.

I powered down the laptop, turned it over, took out the battery, pressed the power button to release any power from the capacitors inside, replaced the battery, and then turned on the laptop. Again... I hear the sounds of it working, but no video. I even boot into OS X and can hear myself turning up and down the volume (via the top keys).

So now I know that either the LCD is dead and/or the Video card is fried. Luckily Jamie had a monitor with DVI, so I was able to see if it would boot up and output video to an external monitor. I shutdown the laptop, plug in the DVI and turn the machine on...boot into OS X and it does not auto detect the monitor. The monitor's input indication LED just stays that horrible orange (not green showing it is getting video input). I then try to unplug the DVI for a few minutes, and then plug it back in so it will detect the monitor and no such luck. I have a dead laptop right before a trip in which I had planned to do a lot of blogging, and take a ton of video and pictures. Which I would need to be able to get the pictures and video off of my camera's 8gb and 4gb cards.

Jamie and I had planned to take Jennifer out to dinner and to go see Miyazaki's new film Ponyo (Which is an absolutely ADORABLE movie. GO SEE THE CUTENESS NOW!)... but now with my laptop dead I am stuck in a horrible dilemma 14 hours before my flight to Japan leaves. So we got to get dinner, but did not have time to go see Ponyo as Jamie and I both had things we still needed to get done before the trip.

I had a tough decision to make. Do I use a large chunk of my money to get a new laptop, or just suffer through without it and have a good amount of spending money (Just in case the SOOM store had a Heliot I could get)? I had planned to sell my old laptop when I could then immediately go out and buy a new laptop. I was also stuck with the problem that I had not decided if I wanted the mid/high 15" Pro or the high 17" Pro. I ended up deciding on the mid level 15" Pro. There was no real need for the excess and I didn't have the extra money to spend. I also had wanted to get this really cute yellow case for my new Macbook Pro when I got it, but at this store I only had the choices of orange, or hotel carpet green. Neither of which were my favorite by any means. I ended up choosing the orange case.

Then I had to decide whether or not it was worth it to go all the way to my place in order to get my Time Machine HDD so I could re-image this new laptop with it. Luckily I had just done a backup the night before (which left me only missing some time lapse video I had done of me packing and somehow pictures from my last meetup with Darby, Kelly, Jeff, and Ryan at the Space Needle) so Jennifer was nice enough to take me all the way from Kirkland to my place to get my Hard Drives and a skirt Jamie wanted to borrow....

We get back to Kirkland and I start the process of restoring the new laptop from a Time Machine backup (which went superbly smooth!). So I chit-chat doll stuff with Jennifer while we wait for the restoring to finish, and I suddenly realize that after we had already made a special trip to my place... I had forgotten to pack THE most important item to have... My effin PASSPORT!

So Jennifer again was very gracious to take me to my apartment on yet another trip to get my Passport (And my face jewels for Mana!) We get back to Kirkland (again) and my Time Machine restore finishes and I find there are a ton of updates to do, which I get done.

Wow, this is one of the longer blogs I have written, and my attention span is waining T_T. REPO! The Genetic Opera is distracting me, hehe. I think I may finish this at a later time.

(192 V) ~~> ( 223V)

Monday, August 17, 2009

Already cried a river (more like an ocean), Building a bridge, and working to get over it

I'm trying my best to move on to a new chapter in my life.

I thought I had found that guy that could make me the happiest woman on the planet.... and he had the potential, but obviously didn't care to follow through. Because of my temporary happiness I was actually inspired to draw again.... I hadn't been in that kind of creative mode for 6 years.... 6 YEARS.....

That happiness quickly melted into some of the saddest times I have experienced, but I won't dwell on it as it has already taken up too much of my time, my patience, and worst of all my heart.

Onto good things!!!

I was able to check off one of my dream dolls... a Fairyland LittleFee Beauty White Fullset Ante...(The one below is in Natural Skin)
3278072921_eca8a88880_b
She was debuted October of 2008 and sold out very quickly and I was undecided on her because of her size.... (She is half of the size of Gaius and Leeloo) A friend of mine has one of her and I am always requesting that she be brought along, because I enjoy her so much! I was VERY luck to of found that Fairyland had contacted DDE in order to see if they wanted the leftover Antes.... and I was luck enough to have been able to snatch one of these up. (They said she was their only one!!)

I was able to get my Ante fix for the day as I was able to play with Lavinia ^_^ Thanks Fenris! Here are the pictures from the day's playtime!
BJD-MeetUp-2009-08-16-Space Needle (BJD-MeetUp-2009-08-16-Space Needle)
Gaius can't wait for the new girl to get here... He likes the Little Fees and hates the Pukis.... Leeloo loves the Pukis ^_^
IMG_8619

I also did some dream shopping and found that around $2300 would actually take care of all of my Fairyland wants(for the most part) which is pretty damn amazing considering that includes 4 dolls (with extra hands, faces with faceups), wigs, clothes, shoes....I just gotta wait until the Summer/Autumn event to get the free goodies!! ^_^

I have also found another boy MSD doll I want to get..... to be Leeloo's boyfriend. An Iplehouse J.I.D. Ryan.
B_ryan_dt2


I built a dream cart around him.... with wigs... shoes, clothes, eyes... from the same company and that turned out to be $680

And finally I built a dream cart of some clothing/eyes/wigs I wanted from DDE which ended up being $185. Not too bad for all the items.... I would have gotten this had I not just gotten Ante.... and had not been going to Japan this Saturday(not complaining about the trip though!!)

Also!!! I'm pre-ordering one of the first DoA only Male Fers from Dollheart! So Excited!
04

So excited about so much awesome *drool*.....But I must sleep now....

(157 V) ~~> (192 V)

Friday, August 7, 2009

WTF BBQ

Thomas Ourada-Birthday - 07

So on Thursday I was wondering if my asking off Friday would have been fruitful, but It seems as though it will have been pointless.

I have Innocente Seraphim this weekend. None of the activities I am really concerned about going to start until 8:30 Friday Night.

I don't believe my original reason for asking off for tomorrow will come through and that makes me sad. I do not like getting to put my opinion in, I do not like being ignored, I do not like having my decisions made for me. I do not like being kept out of the loop when I am involved.

But there is nothing I can do about that. I really must get over this, and see it as their loss, not mine.

A relationship takes two people's efforts, not just one.

So done...

Now time to focus on dollies and lolita-ness! I really want there to be a Shine(http://www.eluts.com/frontstore/Item/item_zoom.asp?item_num=2977&catalog_num=68&mart_id=lutsdoll&level=&mother_catalog_num=121) or Ante(http://dollfairyland.com/shop/step1.php?number=256) there.... T_T It would cheer me up so much.
Kumoricon 2008 - Day 04 - 21

(130 V) ~~> (157 V)

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Fact or Fiction: Fairytale Love

***On my way to work, I took some pictures of a series of flowers... they are in the exact sequence in which I found them. To me, they tell a story. Here is that story***

Why do we always strive for the things we read about in books, or are told about in stories as a kid?

Are they things that we continually wish existed, but don't?

Are they things that are told about because they exist in fact?

Is there fact in the saying that "every joke grows from some truth"?

==============================================================================

~~~*~*~***A story of a Flower***~*~*~~~

Blog-A story of a Flower - 1
A lone flower on a path which many people no longer pass by. The bus stop nearby has been shut down.
Blog-A story of a Flower - 2

Look! There's someone! a Brightness comes through as there is a glimmer of hope. Even though they are not another flower,still it is something else in existence. Maybe they could relate.

Blog-A story of a Flower - 4
They speed off down the road, stopping because of the law. Maybe to say "Hi, How are you?" as habit, or maybe to be polite as society says one should, but in reality not truly caring about your response of even really hearing it. They are too far away to care

Blog-A story of a Flower - 5
Sometime later a brilliance shows in the flower. No more settling for any other thing in existence. Did the flower actually find another flower? Could this fairytale be true?

Blog-A story of a Flower - 6
Some distance is created, life happens. The rains come. Can the Flowers survive? Do both want to strive to co-exist? Plants cannot simply get up and walk over to each other and sit with the other fir a short amount of time. They would have to plant each other in their vicinity. Grow Roots. Plant themselves.

Blog-A story of a Flower - 7
The color fades, the flower is alone and flattened. Perhaps a biker came by and ran over the flower. there are things that we can't control. The other flower stepped out of the way and this one took the fall. They were brave enough to try and uproot which complicated its existence, made it more vulnerable to the things going down the pathway of life.

Blog-A story of a Flower - 8
The Flower attempts to get back up, trying to shine as bright as possible, but its petals were squished off. It has but little brightness left until it can grow back. But that is what it will do, what it must do. Next time, will it try to uproot? Maybe.

Ashley-Random-Hearts - 31
Go down that road we call life and Shine Bright Flower, Shine Bright. I believe in you, Can that be enough?

(100 V) ~~> (130 V)