Saturday, February 18, 2012

Reading break: it's anything but!

Ah reading break... the Canadian equivalent to Spring break, though not set in spring and not nearly as exciting.

A week-long holiday from school with the expectation that students will read and catch up on various assignments.

Haha! Funny.

... As a diligent student, I will be doing at least some reading. I have 2 research papers to complete and a midterm upon coming back. I also have thousands of Magic cards, Final Fantasy 13-2, and Tales of the Abyss for the 3DS that I've been itching to play with. Oh, and of course the commissions on my crafts, hanging out with friends, catching up on sleep, cleaning the house...

Aiya...

This reading break, I plan to do everything above... somehow. I mean... last night, I made one of my commissions (another Nyan Cat perler) and I did 2 loads of laundry today, tidied up a bit, went to the gym, beat a random newb at MTG: Duel of the Plainswalkers for the PS3.. I even made my workout video for editing either later tonight or tomorrow. I'd say I'm well on my way!

Oh PS: I scored large on Valentine's day. Look at what I got!
A whole box of MTG: Dark Ascension boosters. Better than a box of chocolate any day!

Tales of the Abyss for the 3DS from John and the first Sailor Moon manga from my friend Andrea! <3


Tales of the Abyss seems pretty okay so far. Pretty much the same as the PS2 version, only they made the in-game content 3D. I was hoping they could somehow do some of the cut scenes in 3D too, but alas... that's me expecting too much, I suppose. I'll likely give a full-on review sometime in the future.

The Sailor Moon manga is so cute! It's very similar to the episode! I've been reading it on and off while I'm making dinner... thank you again Andrea! <3



I'm probably going to leave FF13-2 wrapped up too, for now. I have the collectors edition (because that's how I roll), and I'm hesitant to break the seal. =(
I like collector's edition everything... no good for a poor student.

Cosplay stuff is slowly being pieced together... I bought some fabric for Terra's costume yesterday. One thing I want to get my hands on is a sewing machine. I need to find someone with one, or think about getting my own. Bleh! Buuut check out what I have so far!
Some of the fabric for around her waist.
Beads for her jewelry!

A couple bracelets I bought at a thrift store. I might use the gold one for her hair... haven't decided yet.
 
Her cape! This fabric is perfect for it!
I think the biggest trick will be finding the fabric for her dress and gloves. I was hoping to find fabric with a flower design on it, but it's proving to be difficult. I even had a dream about how I might have to paint the design on myself with fabric paint... :o

Also, I got a text  earlier today from a friend saying he got all his Warhammer 40k stuff from his old place. Looks like I get to learn that this Tuesday! I'll tell you how it goes... I'm really excited!

Not much else to report. I'm pretty excited about the time off, but with all these engagements... I doubt it'll be very restful. =P

Any Canadian readers in the house? If you're on Reading break, how are you gunna spend it? What are your thoughts on 40k? M:tG? FF13-2? I need to prioritize my week! =P

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Emotions... So many positive emotions

So this week has been incredible. So much awesome stuff. I'm about to share it all with you, of course.

First of all, the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo is going to be fricken AWESOME this year. Pretty much everyone going is amazing. I'm so serious. Check out the list of guests here. I'm probably most excited to see the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Stan Lee, Katee Sackhoff, Jake the Snake, and James Marsters. But to name a few.

{ via }
When I learned that Stan Lee was coming to the Expo, I decided to take on another costume: Dark Phoenix. I would love to get a picture with him in this costume. Jean Gray as always been one of my favourite Marvel characters (along with Spiderman and Gambit). I did some searching around for some costume supplies and it's going to be an expensive costume for sure. There's nothing I can make cheaply other than the phoenix crest on her chest and the shawl around her waist. Everything else I need to buy independently and kind of put it all together. What this means is "expensive." The boots will come to at least $70 (on the plus side, many of the descriptions included the words 'stripper' and 'pole dancer,' so I guess I could always use them if I wanted to do a pole dance routine... x.x).

I'm still gunna work on my Terra costume. In fact, I bought some beads for her belt chain around her waist earlier in the week. Still looking for the red fabric for her dress, though... =(

Second of all, I was offered an opportunity to sell my crafts at the CCEE through a company called Project X. Discussions are still in the works, though after seeing the guest line up, I have no idea if I'll be able to do work it in. I'm definitely going to see what I can do. Maybe the guests could all come visit me at the booth. =P

Also, I got a wicked letter in the mail replying to some of the questions posed in the GTKYFB swap I participated in last week from my friend, Andrea (@lightmoonstone). Pretty much the coolest person ever.
PS: When you said your favourite TV show was Seinfeld, we were TOTALLY watching Seinfeld. <3
PPS: I love mail and penpals! Shooooot! <3

Finally, and probably the most emotion-filling thing yet, is the fact that I've had so many people tell me how much of an inspiration I am. As some of you know, I do a weekly weight loss vlog. I utilized some of the concepts I learned from Social Psychology to stick to a workout regime: namely the idea of commitment to a community to stick with goals. And the craziest thing happened... I had people come up to me, telling me how much I've inspired them! I can't believe it. I'm so humbled. Still a bit shy about it all, but.. I dunno. That was the best feeling, being told I inspired someone to improve their way of life.

It's times like this where I know my mum is proud of me and what I've done for myself and others. All of this was a nice turnaround, as lately I've been having just a crumby time with some of my friendships.

So... needless to say, I've been experiencing a ton of varying emotions this week: excitement, happiness, awe, humbleness, determination, and most of all, love.

Thank you. <3