ME

First things first: I AM using DA's new gallery organization. And no, I didn't delete most of my gallery--I just deselected it from my "featured" items. If you want to see some of my old or otherwise artistic disasters, click "browse." I even sorted everything into categories! Oh, but I didn't touch the effin' scraps!

Second, YES, I've been absent for a while. Life. It tends to happen. Fall Term was really busy: between the honors program for my general ed. credits, International Relations (my major) Theory, and upper-level Japanese, I did very little sleeping in my surprisingly comfortable bed at USC (in Los Angeles--I'm visiting my parents in MN, but for all extents and purposes, I moved to LA).

Third, I have no idea if I'll be creating much new art or in what form. Right now I'm scanning/cleaning up old art either from back in my AP days or from the summer. I also just threw up in my gallery my costumes from last year. I have some partially finished vector stuff, which won't be too hard to work on in spare bits of time because all I need is my laptop and my tablet. Oh, and when I'm back home I work on my costumes/other sewing-related projects.

And while we're on the subject of costume: Two things, really.
1) I'm working on getting my "Gauze" Kaoru outfit finished up accurately. I'm currently redoing the skirt, but I hope to tackle the accessories before break is over. I have a new (and accurate!) version of "Myaku" Kaoru done except for the fact that I need new vinyl pants (I'm far skinnier now) and need to transfer the bones and Chinese frog closures from the old dress to the new one. I may tackle either "Akuro no Oka" (GIANT HAAAAAAAAT) or "Raison detre" (um...no reason needed, obviously!) this summer. I plan to do a new "Myaku"/"Osaka Jo Hall live" wig before that though.

2) AD08 is far later than any previous AD and therefore does not coincide with my spring break at USC. It would be pretty much impossible for me to fly to Mpls from LA just for a weekend, so AD08 just isn't in the cards for me. Hopefully someone else will step up and represent Jrock cosplay this year! ^^ I may go to Kakkoi Con in August instead depending on whether or not Keito will join me (Keito--you better) and what my job situation will be like. I'll try to go to PMX in CA next year too.

Anything else?

Uh, I'm pretty psyched that D'espairsRay and Mucc are playing the TOC tour! Does that count? Probably going to the Long Beach date unless someone convinces me to go to San Diego instead (and will drive me--my car's in MN XD).

Oh, and 12012's new album rocks me hard. The end.

...seriously! When I popped in the disc for Dance Dance Revolution: Supernova and realized there was freakin' Fall Out Boy on it, I fell on my face...well, actually my ass and directly on the back arrow of the dance pad so the menus scrolled continuously, but no matter! Up until this release, I owned 3 out of the 4 DDR games for PS2 and the songs were all techno, techno-pop, so-up-beat-it-just-might-kill-you-Japanese-techno pop, Hip Hop, disco, and a few J-pop songs...oh and anything else with the manditory DANCEABLE beat. So how have we are we now reduced to smashing arrows into oblivion with our feet to emo music?! Someone please answer me that! Oh, and then answer as to whether or not emo kids even dance...or play DDR. Because seriously, I don't know the answer having never been to an emo concert as well as never having played video games w/ an emo kid (or done much other than confuse and annoy one for that matter). It just seems to me that dancing around like a maniac on a piece of plastic is so very much against the "OH WOE IS MEEEEEE! MUMMY AND DADDY WON'T BUY ME A NEW iPOD!!!! NO ONE UNDERSTANDS MEEEEE SO IMMA GONNA GO CUT MYSELF!" emo mentality.

Why yes, do bring on the hate if you disagree--there hasn't been a good war in this journal about how I'm not entitled to my opinion in ages. XD

Anyway, the game just goes too far out of its way to please everyone from including emo to changing the names of the difficulty setting from "beginner, light, standard, heavy, challenge" to "beginner, basic, difficult, extreme, challenge" so that no one feels bad that they're "sub-standard." XD So I guess while I used to get to say "Oh, I play standard and some of heavy mode," I can now proclaim "I PLAY DIFFICULT AND EXTEEEEEEEEEEME MODE, RAWR! FALL AT MY FEET AND WORSHIP ME, BITCHES!"...sounds needlessly impressive.

But away from my ego and back to the music issue. People need to grow up and realize that just because they like a certain type doesn't mean it should be in a dancing game (I'm not just talking about emo here: there's at least 20 songs I can't even fathom why were included). I mean truly, I wouldn't sit and listen to DDR songs for my own enjoyment, but i also know that most of the stuff I normally listen to is conducive to wild headbanging and vicious air-guitar and certainly not dancing. XD

So, yes, that was so offensive to me that I felt it merited a journal. Oh, and x-posted this pretty much everywhere that I have journal space...

OH AND WATCH OUT! A real update be a comin' once I drag my heavier-than-should-be-legal portfolio home and start scanning. That may not be until after AD07 since I couldn't just be content w/ 2 new cosplays--oh no, I felt this strange need to make Kaoru's Tsumi to Batsu costume too. I think I'll have it done minus some detail-y stuff like some of the belts on the skirt unless of course I find a way to obtain rivets and spikes cheaply in less than 2 weeks.

Oh, right. And before anyone shoots of his/her mouth about what kind of loser I must be to play DDR in first place, first consider that it is a type of workout that my asthma does not seem repulsed to the point of wheezing fits over, I can burn 500 calories or more an hour doing it, and I more than likely weigh less than you do (unless of course you are by some miracle reading this from an eating disorder unit--which is pretty much impossible anyway. In that case, you're probably the only one justified in giving me a hard time about it...lucky you and you -predicament-.)

YO!
Yes, I'm back! Did you miss me? Well, that doesn't particularly matter since I missed me! XD I stayed gone for so long for various reasons, but mainly because my life was, quite frankly, a complete mess. I can't say it's fully back to normal, but I can say that my mood is back up to it's goofy/energetic norm. XD Furthermore, I have so much energy these days, so I figured I might as well put a bit of it into here.

I'M IN UR INBOX RAPING UR DEVWATCH!
And I sort of apologize for it--meaning the recent torrent of new (or at least new to DA because some of that stuff is quite old) works. I have had a lot of digital images taken for competition and application portfolios so I figured I might as well put up some of it since most of it is far to huge to scan.

So what now? Well, I'm working on my concentration, obviously, so you can expect more of that up here. I'm also finishing stuff from last summer I never finished--a pastel drawing of テロ　from ヴィドール I started on the train one day in Japan and a marker/watercolor piece of Uruha (my computer seems to not be able to find the kanji for his name...odd) from the GazettE that I def. started on the 11+ hr flight back from Japan because I couldn't sleep, was freakishly bored, and just plain felt like drawing Uruha bearing his thighs to the whole world (eh, actually one thigh in my picture b/c he's got a skirt thing over the other...)

One more thing, expect a vector upload on January 20th...DO YOU KNOW WHAT JANUARY 20th IS? Prob. not if you're at all normal. XD

Cosplay
Except for a few details, my Osaka Jo Hall 薫 (Dir en grey) cosplay is done. Also, I made (minus the effin' fur trim) 's Tsumi to Batsu Shinya dress from hell because she's totally incompetent...KIDDING! More like b/c I'm too fucking nice for my own good and offered to do it (and much masochistic sewing fun was had!). Now all I have to do is finish the collar and get the wire frame in my "Cage" 薫 cosplay and I will have successfully pulled three costumes out of my ass this year! SUCK THAT! YARG!

That "alluring" animated gif webcam image
XD! If you can't admit (to yourself at least) that 葵 (the GazettE) doing his little hip swivel is the pretty much the greatest thing ever, then you, my friend, are quite ill. XD Or maybe just normal. Yes, so while I made that bloody gif myself at 4 am one night, the captures are taken from Gazette's "Nameless Liberty Six Guns Final" DVD and thus are copyrighted to them.

And how about that new avatar...?

Well it's just DAMN!

LMAO!

And to anyone who looked at my username and then at my avatar and was thinking of saying something to the effect of "DON'T YOU KNOW THAT'S NOT KAORU!?!?!!!111!!!??1111one!!!!11eleven" please do refrain or it's SMACK A BITCH TIME--I know it's not Kaoru . XD

Yeah, I can't take myself seriously.

Plastic wrap is for winners...
mmmhmmm....


OVER AND OUT!!

Yours hardcore-ly (sort of),

The crazy fxxking rockstar

Currently listening to: Imitation PoPs Uchuu Sentai NOIZ--Hero
Mood:rockin' out while being buried under work at the same time!
...or at least for our purposes I did. But now I'm back--no, you just can't get rid of me. Tough, eh?

So basically (in case you haven't noticed), I frequently go on hiatus unannounced and usually come back just to disappear again. I figure I should be considerate and let you know that one of these days, I probably won't come back--meaning I lost interest FINALLY and left DA. I'll never go and delete all my pieces, but I may just quit updating. Just thought you should know.

So, I guess I haven't updates since Beppu...that's really sad actually. Well, after Beppu I went to Hiroshima, Hakone, and finally Tokyo (which is possibly the best experience of my life basically...and i miss it...hardcore) and prior to Beppu I lived with a host family in Fukuoka (and attended a Japanese high school, which in itself was an interesting experience) and before that stayed in a ryokan (Japanese-style inn) in Kyoto. I've been back in the US since August. At some point I'll finish my giant write-up of my Japan adventures complete w/ photos and post it to that god-awful LJ I never update (I only really change my layout for fun and get music from communities...). The link shall be posted here so you too can enjoy/be scarred for life by my crazy trip during which I discovered that at 5'7.5" I am too tall to wear any size but a Men's large in pants at Black Peace Now, but can comfortably wear a medium at Yellow House. I guess I shoudl be happy I was able to get my Japanese fashion fix at all.

I'm back in class now and it's been quite difficult this year. Especially art. I may end up posting a lot of my art assignments just because I doubt I'll have much time to work on anything else (although I do very much wanna vector more--I'm addicted).

What else? Both of my sewing machines are rebelling so cosplay shall be difficult this year. Why yes, I got hit with the bad luck stick! XD

And is just me or does the opening to "Hero" *points above* sound like "I won't leave you alone my fetus"? I wish I could find the lyrics online b/c I really wanna confirm...t'would kick a lot of ass if those really were the lyrics.

Over and out, kiddos~!


RAWR!

I realize I didn't update when I got back from Mexico, but I'm now in Japan studying and traveling. I'll be back on July 27 anhd will respond to all your messages and deviations then (when jetlag permits anyway!).