1. What was your first costume?
I think in kindergarten I was a butterfly.  :D  My aunt bought me the costume.  My first convention costume was Go Go Yubari, still a favorite too. 

2. Did someone get you into costuming? Or on your own?
I was always interested in it, but I give credit to Marty for introducing me to conventions which only fueled my desire to costume.

3. What is your favorite costume?
I don't think I've made enough to have a favorite yet.  I like them all and they're all works in progress - there's always something to improve with all of them.

4. Which is your least favorite costume?
I don't have one?  Generally if I don't like a costume I make it better so I stop disliking it.  Hehe.

5. At conventions, do people compliment you on your costumes?
Yes they do which I appreciate.  :D  Most of the time they just ask me for my picture instead of of a verbal compliment but getting my picture taken is compliment enough.

6. How many have you done?
Not enough.  I have a longass list of costumes I've been meaning to do.

7. What are the top 6 on your list of "Want to Costume!"
This changes all the time.  I've got a list of top 50.  XD  Plus, I'm somewhat secretive on what I want to costume.  Although off the top of my head some costumes I want to do are Mulan, Huntress, and something from Doctor Who - I love Doctor Who and I want to be a companion but there aren't any Asian companions!  Maybe Lady Christina de Souza... there's an Asian in Waters of Mars so we'll see.  I hear she's a bad guy.  I can do bad guys.  XD

8. What female costume do you want to do most?
Isn't this very much like the last question?

9. What male?
I'm not into crossplay.  I like being a girl.

10. What do you prefer to do, make or buy your costumes?
Make make make.  I learned to sew because I wanted to make my own costumes.  I like to dress up and go to conventions, but I love the sense of accomplishment when I've finished making a costume.  I love learning new techniques and hopefully I'll get into prop-making.  We'll see. 

11. Your most memorable experience? What makes it so memorable?
Just hanging out with my costuming friends at any convention.  Hanging out with people who understand costuming and are so passionate and into it as I am. 

12. Your dream costume?
Lady Deathstrike from Messiah Complex - it looks like mostly form-fitted armor.  o_O

13. Is there a pattern in your costuming? If so, what?
There are several ways to answer this question... there's a pattern in how I work when making a costume.  I start out with the base and work from there - then I add the detailing.  I like to work on several costumes at once, finish one major piece on one, move onto the next, finish a major piece on that one and move on to the next and so on.  Another pattern to consider in my costuming is that I do mostly Asian characters - makes sense since I'm Asian.

14. Your most recent costume?
I made Aja and Jem from Jem and the Holograms and I made the red skant from Original Star Trek as well as a regular red shirt for Marty.  I also threw together a marauder. 

15. What do you prefer? Cosplaying in a group or on your own?
No preference - being in a group is always fun when dressed in the same theme, but sometimes I like to do my own thing and not have to worry if people are gonna show up on time or whatever.

• Before I can make my Dragon*Con photo post, I need to do a photo search. O_O I know my friend, Kennison, has a bunch of good ones from our Sci-Fi Pinup shoot but it's been so busy at work, I haven't had the time to sit down and look for pictures. Marty took a bunch of good ones, but I definitely need to get the ones from Kennison. :)


• Reminder for next year's Dragon*Con, I need to take more pictures! Sucks when your costumes don't have pockets. Maybe I should concentrated on more pocketed costumes. XD


• Work is very busy and it's going to stay that way for the next couple months. It's good and bad.


• Where the poop is my new Social Security card, it's taking forever! I want to make my last name official! It's been 8 weeks and there doesn't appear to be a number or anything for me to call to check up on the status.


• I want to make one costume a month. Well, make that one costume every two months because it's not gonna happen for September.


• The house is coming along. :D Slowly but surely we keep changing things out and getting furniture.


• One art please. We need more art and not shitty art. The Slidell Antique Fair is coming up in October, maybe I can find some pieces there. That'll be fun!


• Marty's birthday is coming up! BBQ planned!


• Stahly's gonna live with us for a month!


• I'm going to the Renaissance Faire this Fall, I'm doing it! I didn't go last year but I'm gonna dress up and go with some friends/Marty's co-workers!

I didn't realize I had so many things to look forward to.

I'm going through the Dragon*Con Pocket Program and I come across this panel.

Asian in America.

Wow! I am so amused. I'm also extremely curious. I doubt I'll have time to attend, my schedule is pretty crazy, but yeah. XD

O_O

And I wanna do the Tinkerballa costume for Dragon*Con but there isn't enough time although it's fairly simple. Oh wells, maybe another convention.

List of Fatty, in no particular order

- I've known Fatty as long as I've known Vivian
- Fatty was a trooper with all of Vivian's moves - Before Ft. Myers to Sarasota to Gainesville to Tallahassee.
- Fatty was there any time Vivian needed her
- Fatty was actually fat and it was awesome
- Fatty would get trapped in mosquito netting and it was awesome
- Fatty helped me discover my allergy to cats
- If you stayed the night at Vivian's place - you just might find Fatty sleeping on you in the morning
- Fatty is a comic hero
- I have many Fatty drawings
- Fatty was the original Fatty
- Fatty loved to eat, duh.
- Fatty's meows were cute meows.
- Fatty was the Alpha/Queen Fatty of the house.
- Fatty's named used to be Chester, when she was a boy, then when it turned out she was a girl, it changed to Chessie. Then she became Fatty because she was fat.
- Fatty shed likea mofo so you always had Fatty with you
- Fatty Tap
- We've written songs about Fatty, mostly set to Metallica songs

I don't like to be preachy but this has happened to me enough where I feel like I need to say something.

Yesterday a weird kid rang our doorbell to try to sell us magazines. I can't tell you the number of times I've heard the same spiel and I know it's a scam. I'ved lived in so many different apartments/houses and it's different kids, same crappy brochure, same talk of scholarship money.

I tried not to be rude to these kids because I was never sure if the kids really knew what they were doing - if maybe the companies were behind it all. There was this one time in my apartment with Marty in Gainesville, FL where I told the kid outright that I thought it was a scam and I wasn't sure if they knew it was a scam. They acted all indignant so I apologized and closed the door.

After last night I thought to look this up on the internet, because well nowadays I look up everything and I found some terrible news.

The New York Time has an article on the horror of what these kids go through -
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/21/us/21magcrew.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&sq

For anyone who has ever had a regular job, this is so not legitimate. It's akin to slave labor and the abuses they go through is completely unnecessary and what the hell kind of people are running these businesses. Same crappy people who sell drugs.

There's two web sites for parents of kids involved in these magazine crews -
http://www.parentwatch.org/about.html
http://www.magcrew.com/index.html

I just wanted to post about it because I don't know how many people are aware or know the details. Now I know as a 'customer' there's not much I can do - calling the cops won't do anything if these kids won't press charges, but one thing people can do is relay information to these kids to help them escape if they want to:

"Ms. Williams, from Parent Watch, said her organization advised customers not to buy from the sellers or to let them in the house, but to offer them a phone to call home or her organization’s phone number to help anyone who might want to arrange a bus ticket home."

I can't imagine having any of my future kids do this - but then I know the kids they prey on are the kids who don't have many choices on where to go or what to do and they just don't know.

• The downstairs is painted for the most part - I need to do a few touch-ups, that's it. The color scheme that Mike helped us pick out is pretty patriotic; red, white and blue. He also suggested green instead of blue but I thought then it'd look kind of funny even though red and green are complementary. Plus, all our accessories and stuff are green so I thought it'd be too much green. I like what we've done but I'm still getting used to it. I like to think of them as British colors too, hehe! I miss London. Ooo, we should put up some London or Bulldog photography. XD


• We'll paint the upstairs next month or the month after. Something like that. We need a paint break.


• Bahr's wedding is coming up this weekend and I'm very excited. A break from work, a break from working on the house, and another chance to see old friends. I don't know what dress to wear so I'll bring a few and have Vivian help me decide.


• August will be costuming-like-crazy month. I have a lot of plans and I haven't done anything for Dragon*Con so it'll all be accomplished in August. Least I hope so. If not, I'll still have a good time seeing people. Terry Gilliam and Patrick Stewart!!!


• My sewing room kicks ass. I'm very happy and I'm not even done unpacking it all. I got a kickass table and the old people left me a tiny oldass tv in the room so I can watch tv while I sew. I just need a futon like adnault has in her sewing room.

"I need a hoe."
"You already got a Ho!"
"But you don't do garden work."
"That's true."

-Marty and I at Lowe's

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D

Sort of belated wedding gift. One of Marty's co-workers framed our wedding invitation for us. She was invited to the wedding but she couldn't make it. She's an engineer and an artist - www.melissajonesart.com. Quite the talented chick. You can't tell in the picture at all, but the matting is textured with flowers and it matches the invitation really well. She also made a pocket in the back to hold the extra things like the map and RSVP. I'm so pleased.

I was going to post pictures saying this is a summary of the past month, but that's a lie. This all happened in one weekend - one weekend when Mike, "the RT," visited us. It was awesome. :D

( Mike! )

In other news...

Tore down the majority of the wallpaper in the house, started painting, can't wait to get some color in the rooms. Got a water-proof disposable camera chockful of pictures I need to develop from when we went tubing over Fourth of July weekend. More of our friends should visit. ::hinthintnudgenudgesaynomore:: On second thought, wait until it gets cooler before you visit. ;)

( Here I go... )

I think I might change my LJ layout to a Pushing Daisies theme. I've been sort of working on it. Sort of. I just need some Pushing Daisies icons. Actually, I want my sewing room to have a Pushing Daisies theme. I need a suitable paint color.

If I want Chuck hair then I need to cut my bangs. I got curls at least. I don't wanna cut my bangs again!

The house is coming along. Marty and I went to World Market over the weekend and bought a nice media center/tv stand, a console/side table and a big wood cube for the record player and to store all our records.

I don't think I'll be going to SDCC. Vivian and I planned but it's really not so feasible at the last minute, too late to plan, and no money to do it (least for me what with the house and all). Someone from the Wolf Pack Elite is going to see if he can get an autograph from David Tennant. I think his chances are slim because David isn't doing an autograph session and SDCC is different from other cons. More promotion, less about the fans. He thinks he has a chance though because he got his picture taken with John Barrowman last year due to his awesome Captain America costume, hehehe. Either way, it's really nice to know that someone's going to try. That's all I can ask for. It's a sweet gesture.

( This consoles me too. )

I am getting really excited for Dragon*Con! I seriously need to make all my costumes right now. Not right now, right now. My sewing room is organized, but I need a cutting/work table, stat! Ikea is freaking crazy with their shipping charges. $300 for a $50 table, I don't think so! I just need a large table where I can cut fabric dammit and I don't want to spend more than 100 bucks dammit! I think I can get what I want at Office Depot. We'll see, I'll check it out this weekend.

Mike, the RT, is in town! He's wandering New Orleans as we speak. Ima meet him up for lunch, woohoo!

( A woman obsessed... )

I don't think I'll ever get over the fact that I'll be missing David Tennant in the states. I mean, sure I'm over the initial freak out, but then I'll be waiting for the videos of his panel at Comic Con and then that'll renew my regret that I wasn't able to make it. Okay, so maybe I'll get over it in a few months... by the end of the year. XD I am such a dork.

People have been asking me to post pictures of the inside of the house, but I don't think I'll be posting those until we're done unpacking. As it is, it'd be like, hey, look some boxes! Here are some more boxes! Look at these other boxes! I've also been asked for a video tour. HEHE. I think I can do that too, but it's the same answer, not until we're done unpacking. Like I said, we're not painting until Mike gets here to help us pick colors, so if you have any color suggestiosn for the exterior of the house, please do share. I'll try to get pics up of the rooms soon so people can throw out color ideas for the rooms. XD

( And I posted this everywhere else, but not here... I got a perm. )

( Sigh... )

Marty and I own a house now. Woohoo!

Marty's best man, Mike "the RT," will be visiting us next weekend to help us pick paint colors and whatever. He's an architect/artist so I trust his judgment. Hehe.

We are seriously tired and not done. Still have a bunch of crap at the apartment. Still have to clean the apartment. Still need to unpack at the house. Have lots of things to do to the house.

It's an older house and there were some old people living there so we need to liven it up a bit. They loved beige. We're going to de-beige the house.

Got a brand-new fancy fridge. It's digital. I didn't know fridges could be digital. We also got a fancy front load washer and a fancy front load dryer, they match. Apparently front load is good - I have no idea, I'm just saying what people have told me. o_O

There are a lot of things to think about when you have a house which I never thought to think of until I got this house. Like watering the lawn. My parent's house has a sprinkler system, this house does not, so we have to stategize how to water the lawn. Funny stuff.

I'm excited. And tired. Luckily we got all of the major furniture and things over to the house.

Marty and I haven't actually opened our wedding presents yet. We wanted to wait until we got the house. We did open some, like Taiko Drummaster, bwahahahaha! But yeah, we haven't opened the majority of our presents so it's fun to see all the pretty things we got. If you haven't gotten a thank you note from me yet and you're expecting one, then you need to contact me.

Someone bought us a giant grill. We still need to assemble it - actually we still need to get it to the house because right now our friends are storing it in their garage since we didn't have the house at that point.

I HAVE A SEWING ROOM! David Tennant lives there. I mean, the cardboard cut-out I have of David Tennant lives there.

Edit: Visit us, you whores.

( Copied and pasted from the New Orleans LJ community... )

I work for Tulane. Tulane employees get tuition waivers so all I would have to do is pay for books and my boss just told me that they tax you on the classes you take. WTF. Anyways, I've been thinking about getting another Masters. Yes, I already have a Masters but that's for business and I'm thinking about getting a Masters in Public Health since that's the career route I'm on currently. It would take me three years with 6 credits a semester. The biggest thing deterring me is the fact that I'd have to do a public health analysis which is sort of like a thesis and of course, the oral defense. It's been three years since I've been in school - I'm not entirely sure I want to go back. o_O

I wish Tulane had a fashion or textiles program cause I'd totally do that. XD

I've also toyed with the idea of getting certificates in both digital design and website development just for fun.

I donno.

( London pictures )