I cosplayed Siera today XD

Makeup hauls: MAC makeup remover, MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack (I wanted the Liquidlast, but the nice counter lady said she would never recommend it to anyone), and a billion Face Shop face masks.

Thanks to clamwings and annie_chan for lunch, lols, memage and COSPLAY PANEL PLANNING to the EXTREME. Y'all come see us at Manifest, 'kay!

I've been shopping recently (what's so new about that, Sef?), and indulging my re-discovery of makeup. I mean, you all saw it coming right, with the cosplay, and then the lolita, and then the dolls... the only other super-omg-girly thing I could possibly get into is makeup, right? And since I went overboard with saving up for Singapore, I... kind of had a heap of money left over.

( Is it spelt make up, make-up or makeup? - StrawberryNet and Coastal Scents Reviews and Hauls )

And because I'm me, have a food photo outside the cut!


Homemade espresso gelati with chocolate chips and chocolate-covered coffee beans

No, it wasn't actually a midnight snack, just bad lighting. But I thought it was kind of cute and whimsical. It's not so pretty while it's being made, though.

Because the last thing that I should be working on two months before Manifest... is lolita stuff that's "just for fun". Hehehehe.


I bought this fabric the last time I went to Sydney Road. It's just so... grey tartan! What's not to love? I actually bought enough to make a JSK (since I'm still wibbling over the Infanta green tartan JSK), but then I started thinking I needed more work-friendly stuff. So, that narrowed me down to either a pencil or a box-pleated skirt.

( I'll probably never wear it to work anyway )

The most awesome thing about this skirt, though, is that if I ever want to do a Persona 4 cosplay, I can just hem it up higher :D

In unrelated news - I've also been spending my money on cosmetics. Is anyone interested in hauls and/or tutorials at all? I mean, it'll be a total exercise in vanity, but while I've got the camera out... you know...

Finished work early today since I worked overtime during the week... booyah! Time for some photos.


( That's not rori! )

( Workies! )

( Foodies! )

( Shoppies! )

( Extras! )

Shoutouts to -
rukubites and bankevair for talking to me and keeping me from being homesick
tsu_ for shopping and food advice
sansele for being there in spirit
My work for being so awesome ;o;

Well, I certainly got my exercise in yesterday... blew all the good work on my dinner, but hey, calories consumed overseas don't count, right? XD

My plans for yesterday was basically to hit up the specific shops I wanted to visit - Black Alice, Kino, Daiso and Face Shop. I was taken impromptu shopping by the office girls on Tuesday night, and I was introduced to Skin Food (who have really yummy orange juice, too!) and Chameleon. Buggered if I could remember which part of Orchard Road that they were in, though :\

I decided to use the MRT, since I still have good memories of ease and efficiency, and I was definitely not let down. Extensive googling revealed that I would need to go from Outram Park (where I'm staying) to Orchard Station (Kino) and Dhoby Ghaut (Daiso and BA). I also had to pick up my suitcase from the office, so I had to get to Tanjong Pagar.

(insert description of how to use MRT here - I'm sure you're all more interested in the shopping anyway)

I left about 8am, thinking I'd grab breakfast and eat it on the way... except that eating is not allowed on the MRT! So, not only was I starving, but I had three yummy curry puffs and a green tea roll in my bag that I wasn't allowed to have ;~; And when I finally got to Orchard Station, there were no public seats where I could sit and munch ;o;! I wound up walking all the way through Wishma Atria through to Takashimaya before I found anything. After nomming, it was still about 9am, and everything opens at 10 -_- So, I wandered around Orchard Road, found an open Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf at the Paragon Centre, and had a drink. Killed more time until 10, and made my way over to Takashimaya/Kino.

Kino is HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE. REALLY huge! But didn't have any GLB issues, or English Cosmode. There were a couple of cosplay photobooks, but they made me feel kind of... pervy. I finally picked up a Yoshitaka Amano FF artbook ♥

Toddled back through Wishma Atria (Takashimaya food court wasn't open yet), and found a Face Shop outlet. Picked up about... oh... a million face masks, but no cosmetics. Hopped on the train to Dhoby Ghaut. By the time I got there, it was about 11am. Plaza Singapura is smack-bang outside Dhoby Ghaut station, but Daiso is way up on the fourth floor. I was kind of surprised to see a Spotlight there, too!

Daiso is... is... I just feel like I'd died and gone to household heaven. Sooooo many cute plates! There was barely any bento-related things, though, so I picked up some stationery, ice cream bowls and a gyoza maker. I had a momentary brain lapse, and nearly asked how you could tell how much stuff was :x Whooooops.

BA! Oh god. This is where my day started going wrong. I went in TOTALLY the wrong direction. Past some important looking building with police guards (an embassy?), and almost all the way back to Orchard :x I finally gave up, and went into a random hotel to ask for directions. Pro tip: turn LEFT coming out of Plaza Singapura, not right @_@;; The Cathay is practically the next big building. Another pro tip: BA is on the fourth floor, not the second. I very nearly called bankevair in tears because I couldn't find it.

Grace was minding the shop yesterday, and she is sooooooooooo lovely! She also looks almost exactly like Shiina, which was a little disconcerting. I just can't imagine Shiina in lolita, and yet, her clone was right in front of me XD;; I must have spent about 2 hours there, trying on clothes (IW Forest Animals... MM... AP polka dot...) before settling on an all-black AP triple ribbon JSK. I actually do have a matching blouse and shoes here with me, but with temps from 26-32C, there's no way I'm walking out in a full kuro outfit!

Tee hee, I own AP now XD Lolita level UP!

Toddled over to the office for my suitcase, then collapsed for the afternoon. In amongst all that shopping, I totally forgot to have lunch! So I finished off the rest of my curry puffs and green tea roll and snoozed while chatting to the Doctor and bankevair.

Woke up about 6ish, and saw an ad for the Chinatown night market. bankevair was still on, so I asked her if I should go. And I am REALLY glad I did - it was heaps of fun! Even though I forgot my wallet in the hotel room and had to go back for it (about 2km extra), I still got to the market about 6:30. Walked around heaps, and heaps, and heaaaaaaaaaps. And... And... And I had an entire chilli crab dinner all to myself D: Seriously - apart from the AP JSK, that was the MOST money I'd spent in one go in this entire trip. Zomg. Zomg.

It wasn't worth it either, I think. Bleh.

I wound up going home about 8:30pm, when a lot of the stalls started closing up. Totally went out the wrong way of the station, and had to go the long way around Pearl Bank to get back to the hotel. No wonder I slept like a log last night!

So, today's my last full day here. I'm planning to spend the morning looking around Bugis, lunch at the Takashimaya basement, then back to Daiso/BA in the afternoon. There's a few things I want to pick up from the market that I missed yesterday, too. Then early checkout tomorrow morning (6am), and I'll be back in Melbourne around 7pm!

Ja~

- it's hot
- people are really friendly
- every random building seems to contain a shopping centre the size of Southland
- already managed to go shopping :D
- the hainanese chicken rice from a random food court is way better than any restaurant-quality ones I've had in Melbourne, and is about 1/3 the price
- the real reason why Singaporeans are really thin is because they walk EVERYWHERE
- I was lucky to not accidentally order an entire steamboat meal for myself O_O;;
- real "multicultural" cities have TV channels dedicated to different cultures
- random aunties will lecture you about hand washing in the bathrooms
- the Singapore Flyer looks really tempting...

Last day of training today, and a char kwei teow dinner! ♥

OMG YOU GUYS.

I just had the best idea for a Reborn skit.



EPIC DANCE NUMBER Y/Y??

Edit: Okay, so I remembered there being more "dance" than "running" in this number. But I still think it's got potential!

Okay guys - I'm sorry to do this, but I am NO LONGER RUNNING ANY MANIFEST/AMARANTH SYNDICATES. I've got too much to do, plus almost no one has actually gotten back to me with solid responses. So I'm saving myself the worry about it. Good luck, have fun!

My first zombie shuffle! I didn't zombie it up, since I was really going to meet up with tsu_, and then go play poker with the Doctor.

Pros:
- seeing azusachan, natasha_lolita and Nakey
- finding mad_hatter__ and plastic_logic at Galactic Circus
- mass cosplay in Melbourne, nuff said
- still thinking I saw oceanid's friends zombiefied O_o
- getting heaps of compliments on my Dorset coat of awesomeness +3
- surprising people just by showing up - really guys, you think I don't like zombies? I just never knew when this thing was on before!
- not getting carded on my way into the poker rooms
- Degraves Street waffles ♥♥♥♥♥♥
- random lolita sighting of eightroses and michiru_erased

Cons:
- getting bloodstains on my camera not five seconds after I found the horde (my fault, though)
- getting blisters from DDRing in lolita shoes

Not related to zombie shuffle:
- spending Ruddbucks on a pile of ipod accessories. Thanks darkyoshii!

On to pics now~


T_T

( Zombies are okay, I just don't like needles - 22 pics )

tsu_ - which ones do you want? They're all 3MB, 3264x2448 pixels.

Edit: Oh, look, I'm on Flickr.

I've decided MY FAEC is way too round and chubby to pull off crossplaying properly.
... oddly enough, so are my boobs.

why do my boobs always come up when talking about cosplaying?

Either that, or my worst angle is from below. The two worst photos of me were both shot from below - and to be honest, they both make me look like my brother XD;;

PS: sansele, no worries, I'm still doing Gingerbread for Manifest, I'm just... thinking too much reflecting on stuff.

No cut for you, there's only four images for now XD

I got the Ixus today, and took a few snaps on the way home from the accountant's. There's almost no composition at all in the following photos, so they're kind of boring. I haven't done any editing to them except resizing.


Yay, first photo. Check out the bokeh XD

( +7 photos, 1 video )

Normally, I have this super power that just makes electronic things "work" when I'm near them. People will come up to me, say something not working, and as soon as I'm there, the problem magically disappears. Recently, though, I think I've overworked it so much that it's shot through to the other side :\

My laptop stopped working as soon as I got home from the US. Still haven't heard back from the service centre about it. I spaced out and bought AAA batteries for my camera yesterday, when I was supposed to get AA. Then I wound up dropping the darn thing, and totally bent the lens.





Of course, it's not covered by warranty, so I have to get a new one before our trip on the weekend. Furthermore, that particular model's been discontinued, so I have to start looking for a new one. It could be worse, I suppose - I still have my old Canon Powershot (bankevair's one), but even for that, I'll need to buy MORE new batteries (takes 4AA, not 2AA).

I could buy the same camera online, and hope it gets here in time. There is another model I'm looking at (Canon IXUS 80) that is slightly more expensive ($250-300), but I can get it in shops around here.

The thing is... it's not fully manual. It does have macro, and it does have the Digic III processor that I love. And to tell the truth, I'm not a photographer! So a true point-and-shoot would be enough for me. But is the fact that I can pick it up today, and a psychological "downgrade" worth an extra $80-100?

Blech. I don't even want to post this entry because of all the semi-/pro photobugs on my flist.

PS: I suck so hard at technology, I even made a post on egl that got ZERO comments. Go me.

Okay. So I have the cosplayer's dilemma. Actually, I have a couple of dilemmas!

I want to make Ballgown!Gwendolyn, no question there. I even have the wig already, and I'm feeling like starting on the headpieces today.

Dilemma #1: Where will I wear it to? D:

1: Amaranth Ball 2: Manifest Odin Sphere Group
Myurgh.

A change of plans for today meant that I could shuffle things around to go to Minifest with my dear clamwings. The Doctor also felt like a trip to the city to play poker, and since I needed to get my laptop repaired, he dropped us off at Vic Market.

Siera and I were feeling incredibly lazy, so we just loli-ed it up for the day. There was a heap of Reborn cosplayers, making me jizz in my pants regret not cosplaying properly.

( Proper Cosplay Pics, mostly on Siera's request - 10 pics )

( Reborn-related pics - 14 pics )

( Memories of Manifest Banner, 10 pics )

( Cracktastical Pics (speaking of devolving) - 8 pics )

After Minifest, we trotted over to hrimhari's birthday party of geekery +1.

pretty much sums it all up.

Does anyone remember the Hedwig plushies that they were giving away with the last Harry Potter book?

I had some fun with it :3

( If you like Harry Potter, and don't like Reborn, DON'T LOOK )

Yep, and that's Rémy there in his half-way started Shouichi cosplay.
Edit: Wig found! LOL. And Rhin's open-eyed head, too, that's a bonus ^_^;

Plus:

• Grats to clamwings for winning Madman Regionals! I SAID YOU ROCKED.
  
• So much love to Lexis for her review of my cosplay ;o; I'm DOIN IT RITE, GUYS.
  
• WHERE IS MY HEAD. Congrats to Yiji and Lexis for winning Judge's Choice, and e_chan_21 for winning 2nd at Regionals!
  
• Getting to see heaps of people I hadn't seen in a while
  
• Going to my first con outside of Manifest
  
• Buying this kimono print skirt from ODIP that I'd been eyeing since I went to the shop
  

Minus:

• Getting SO LOST on the way D:
  
• Having oceanid leave so early
  
• Hearing how negative cosplayers can be about others
  
• Vulcaloid cosplay not being worth the wait
  
• Not getting the same con-high as Manifest
  

Overall:
I... kinda liked it. It was like, light-weight geeking out, but with a distinct lack of ... geeking out? I mean, our NYE parties are more full of geek, but with less cosplay. Which is good because there's a lot less "what the hell is this shit" from the creepy-but-exhuberant crowd. My one regret is NOT spending the time I wanted to with my friends because I was so anxious to "experience the con", when there really wasn't that much to experience outside of being with my friends. But now I know.

I've got a friend's birthday next Saturday, and I don't have anything in the cosplay closet, so I'm not going to Minifest. I'll be away in the Yarra Valley during Animania, so my next con might be... Manifest? O_O; Surely we can have a casual cosplay thing before then. Or maybe I could get off my butt and cosplay by myself... the garden kind of calls for a Mononoke Hime cosplay, I think.

Photos:

( Yeah, it was kinda like that. +13 photos, only 5 of Siera )