.Amani
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Otakon 2011
So my Otakon experience was pretty straight forward. Like I mentioned before, my friend helped me out and paid for my expenses to work at her booth in the Dealer's Room. When I knew I was definitely going and I was telling my ~my gurlz~, some people were going "it's gonna be the hugest con you've ever went to", while others were going "lol don't make any high expectations"
I pretty much felt like the latter. LOL
So I was working at my friend's booth, Alik's Cosplay, basically on the lolita side of the booth LOL. Barely touched the furry side. Thank God.
I found out the perks of being a dealer; early access to the area, being able to just cut through the back/loading dock to go wherever you need to, and unlike the Artist Alley, where it's very easy to just jack your shit and not get in trouble, the Dealer's Room part has basically everyone's information in case someone tried to do something skeezy, like steal merchandise. Oh, and priority access to panels. Badass shet
The con was pretty big, but maybe I didn't get to -fully- experience it since I was working most of the time. In any case, last year's NYAF/CC had MUCH more people than Otakon, regardless of the Baltimore Convention Center technically being bigger (in my opinion, never actually checked). At NYAF/CC people were sandwiched like sardines and they actually halted ticket sales because the con center was getting to be over capacity.
Anywho.
Me during a slow time~
Since I was working mostly the whole day, I didn't bother trying to go to any panels or moving around too much. I missed a couple of lulzy panels, but I got to see the lolita ones: The Ultimate Lolita Fashion Show, by my friends, and the Baby, the Stars Shine Bright fashion show, and screening of Gothic & Lolita Psycho. Otherwise my days consisted of me working, or chilling at some of the lolis' booths in the Artist Alley.
Since I was a Dealer and we were able to get early access to everything, I took every opportunity to visit the BtSSB booth. If you hadn't known, Baby, the Stars Shine Bright is my favorite brand, and back in 2008 they visited New York City and I had the opportunity to model for them in their fashion show (though imo my runway skills were absolute shit-- plus at the time I was battling a serious flu so I was half high on meds). One of the designers who visited that time, Masumi Kano, was visiting again at Otakon so I -had- to say hi. Despite me having been decked out in AP most of the weekend, they didn't give me any stink faces like I expected xD
The most rewarding part was that Miss Kano actually -remembered- me from 2008, and whenever a new translator was nearby she would tell them "I remember her, she modeled for us back in NY in 2008~" and it made me feel really good about myself, despite my bad job last time. Ever since then I was basically stalking their booth the whole weekend, saying hi when I was able to and stuff~ The booth was pretty bare, I'm guessing since it was more of a last minute decision for BtSSB to have one, and they only stocked extra stuff from the San Fransisco store, but they had some dresses I personally haven't seen (have been avoiding auctions and brand sites lately), and Masumi also wore this long dress that I REALLY wanted, I'm glad she wore it so I could see how gorgeous it was irl @_@
Myself with Masumi Kano (left), BtSSB line designer and Mitsuba, chief designer of the sister line, Alice and the Pirates (right). They were also taking a lot of photos of their own, I wonder where they put them afterwards? In the BtSSB office? or what @ w@
Mitsuba was a new face since she joined the BtSSB crew 3 years ago (guessing that Miho quit?) either way it was definitely lovely to see them one.. two.. three... 20 times during the weekend LOL, I've had so many run-ins with them it was ridiculous, including Sunday morning~ I was in the Hyatt's public bathroom after staying a night chilling at David and them's hotel room-- and as I was leaving I saw this beautiful print (Melty Mermaid print), and I went "nice dress~"-- girl turns around and I found it was Mitsuba and she nodded and smiled and I was like FFFFshocked xD and then we quietly rode the elevator to the lobby. My awkward moment for this weekend~
I didn't take many pics during this whole con, since a lot of my memory was taken up from the fashion shows~ YUP, TOOK VIDEO LOL. I was going to compile all of it later on and post it up on my Youtube, but never got to it yet lol. Friday was the Ultimate Lolita Fashion Show though, that was ran by my local friends and featured about 7 or 8 American designers/seamstresses, and for the most part it was good~ some outfits were 'meh' and some didn't look right or suit the model wearing it, but overall it was good and the girls did a really good job.
Masumi and Mitsuba also managed to attend, where they commented that they felt it was really awesome that all the designers had their own inspiration and their signature feel [compared to Japan where some styles might be inspired by different things, but they mainly look the same or don't take off their inspiration as heavily or uniquely as the U.S. girls did with their work]"
Friday was really exhausting, so when the con closed for the night we just went for Subway's for dinner and headed to sleep LOL
I pretty much felt like the latter. LOL
So I was working at my friend's booth, Alik's Cosplay, basically on the lolita side of the booth LOL. Barely touched the furry side. Thank God.
I found out the perks of being a dealer; early access to the area, being able to just cut through the back/loading dock to go wherever you need to, and unlike the Artist Alley, where it's very easy to just jack your shit and not get in trouble, the Dealer's Room part has basically everyone's information in case someone tried to do something skeezy, like steal merchandise. Oh, and priority access to panels. Badass shet
The con was pretty big, but maybe I didn't get to -fully- experience it since I was working most of the time. In any case, last year's NYAF/CC had MUCH more people than Otakon, regardless of the Baltimore Convention Center technically being bigger (in my opinion, never actually checked). At NYAF/CC people were sandwiched like sardines and they actually halted ticket sales because the con center was getting to be over capacity.
Anywho.
Me during a slow time~
Since I was working mostly the whole day, I didn't bother trying to go to any panels or moving around too much. I missed a couple of lulzy panels, but I got to see the lolita ones: The Ultimate Lolita Fashion Show, by my friends, and the Baby, the Stars Shine Bright fashion show, and screening of Gothic & Lolita Psycho. Otherwise my days consisted of me working, or chilling at some of the lolis' booths in the Artist Alley.
Since I was a Dealer and we were able to get early access to everything, I took every opportunity to visit the BtSSB booth. If you hadn't known, Baby, the Stars Shine Bright is my favorite brand, and back in 2008 they visited New York City and I had the opportunity to model for them in their fashion show (though imo my runway skills were absolute shit-- plus at the time I was battling a serious flu so I was half high on meds). One of the designers who visited that time, Masumi Kano, was visiting again at Otakon so I -had- to say hi. Despite me having been decked out in AP most of the weekend, they didn't give me any stink faces like I expected xD
The most rewarding part was that Miss Kano actually -remembered- me from 2008, and whenever a new translator was nearby she would tell them "I remember her, she modeled for us back in NY in 2008~" and it made me feel really good about myself, despite my bad job last time. Ever since then I was basically stalking their booth the whole weekend, saying hi when I was able to and stuff~ The booth was pretty bare, I'm guessing since it was more of a last minute decision for BtSSB to have one, and they only stocked extra stuff from the San Fransisco store, but they had some dresses I personally haven't seen (have been avoiding auctions and brand sites lately), and Masumi also wore this long dress that I REALLY wanted, I'm glad she wore it so I could see how gorgeous it was irl @_@
Myself with Masumi Kano (left), BtSSB line designer and Mitsuba, chief designer of the sister line, Alice and the Pirates (right). They were also taking a lot of photos of their own, I wonder where they put them afterwards? In the BtSSB office? or what @ w@
Mitsuba was a new face since she joined the BtSSB crew 3 years ago (guessing that Miho quit?) either way it was definitely lovely to see them one.. two.. three... 20 times during the weekend LOL, I've had so many run-ins with them it was ridiculous, including Sunday morning~ I was in the Hyatt's public bathroom after staying a night chilling at David and them's hotel room-- and as I was leaving I saw this beautiful print (Melty Mermaid print), and I went "nice dress~"-- girl turns around and I found it was Mitsuba and she nodded and smiled and I was like FFFFshocked xD and then we quietly rode the elevator to the lobby. My awkward moment for this weekend~
I didn't take many pics during this whole con, since a lot of my memory was taken up from the fashion shows~ YUP, TOOK VIDEO LOL. I was going to compile all of it later on and post it up on my Youtube, but never got to it yet lol. Friday was the Ultimate Lolita Fashion Show though, that was ran by my local friends and featured about 7 or 8 American designers/seamstresses, and for the most part it was good~ some outfits were 'meh' and some didn't look right or suit the model wearing it, but overall it was good and the girls did a really good job.
Masumi and Mitsuba also managed to attend, where they commented that they felt it was really awesome that all the designers had their own inspiration and their signature feel [compared to Japan where some styles might be inspired by different things, but they mainly look the same or don't take off their inspiration as heavily or uniquely as the U.S. girls did with their work]"
Friday was really exhausting, so when the con closed for the night we just went for Subway's for dinner and headed to sleep LOL
now for more Friday pics~
My other bby Chris of Sugar Bomb cosplaying as Sakura from Street Fighter~
More con summary in the following post~
More con summary in the following post~
Monday, August 8, 2011
Rest in Peace, Jami.
I'm making this quick post to give honor to my cousin Jami.
She passed away last Tuesday. She was only 27...
I forget what exactly the condition was, but it was like a HBP condition affecting her lungs, and her lungs and heart weren't cooperating with each other.
I know she was supposed to get a lung transplant, but I don't think she ever got to get a new pair... two weeks ago she was doing better up until she died, she stopped eating and her health deteriorated until she went into cardiac arrest.
I don't know my father's side that well at all, but Jami was one of the only relatives I remember from my childhood. She was one of my family inspirations that pushed me to pursue art in high school... when I was younger I remember sneaking and reading her diary/poetry book and got scolded for it LOL. But regardless I recognized and respected her artistic spirit.
When we reconnected on Facebook maybe a year or so ago, we caught up a bit, and she used to always say how she admired and loved my lolita style. It made me feel good, her being one of the only ones who commented on it and genuinely liked my style.
I wish I had the opportunity to having known her more... I also wished that I had paid attention to her health problems way before, had I known the severity I would've prayed on it and requested people to pray on it for me... one of the things I've learned through my faith is that prayer is power and I feel like I could've helped saved her.
Today is her funeral in Georgia. Unfortunately I can't make it at all, but the family requested that everyone make a donation to the American Lung Association, so when I'm able to I'll be making a donation in Jami's memory.
If you can, please donate to teh ALA in memory of Jami Murphy.
[Link to ALA page]
Rest in peace, Jami. I love you.
She passed away last Tuesday. She was only 27...
I forget what exactly the condition was, but it was like a HBP condition affecting her lungs, and her lungs and heart weren't cooperating with each other.
I know she was supposed to get a lung transplant, but I don't think she ever got to get a new pair... two weeks ago she was doing better up until she died, she stopped eating and her health deteriorated until she went into cardiac arrest.
I don't know my father's side that well at all, but Jami was one of the only relatives I remember from my childhood. She was one of my family inspirations that pushed me to pursue art in high school... when I was younger I remember sneaking and reading her diary/poetry book and got scolded for it LOL. But regardless I recognized and respected her artistic spirit.
When we reconnected on Facebook maybe a year or so ago, we caught up a bit, and she used to always say how she admired and loved my lolita style. It made me feel good, her being one of the only ones who commented on it and genuinely liked my style.
I wish I had the opportunity to having known her more... I also wished that I had paid attention to her health problems way before, had I known the severity I would've prayed on it and requested people to pray on it for me... one of the things I've learned through my faith is that prayer is power and I feel like I could've helped saved her.
Today is her funeral in Georgia. Unfortunately I can't make it at all, but the family requested that everyone make a donation to the American Lung Association, so when I'm able to I'll be making a donation in Jami's memory.
If you can, please donate to teh ALA in memory of Jami Murphy.
[Link to ALA page]
Rest in peace, Jami. I love you.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Right before Otakon
So guess who ended up going to Otakon? *this guy*
I ended up going and working for my friend in the dealer's room for the weekend. Though I was working pretty much all the time I did manage to enjoy myself, meeting new lolis, chilling with old heads and being able to talk to the Baby, the Stars Shine Bright designers and seeing the loli fashion shows there. But the Wednesday before I left I had to get a new suitcase, and I ended up hanging out with Yanise, Noelle, and Nancy.
First I went to chinatown to get the suitcase, I stopped by Pearl Paint to see what craftfoam they had so I know how much it is when I get some for my cosplay. They only had these letter-sized sheets and I was like... really? Pearl Paint is like the go-to for most art majors but they didn't bother to have any craftfoam sheets bigger than 8x11ish. The guy working there said that it'll probably be at -another- art store 3 blocks down, but I didn't have the time to check. Maybe some time this week I'll go back and check stuff out.
After that I went across the street and went to the first store I saw with suitcases. Got my suitcase for $25, which is pretty awesome. Wish it was pink though LOL
Took a minute to choose it, the chinese guy kept pulling suitcases left and right with "I giv u gud priec" while he was eating lo mein. It was pretty funny, really LOL
After that I stopped by Sephora to get sample of their foundation, then met Yanise at her job at some cute store down on Prince Street. We went to K-town with our friend Noelle and Nancy to Cafe Ele for some Bingsoo, which was absolutely epic.
green tea flavored ice, topped with red bean paste, fruits, whipped cream, ice cream, corn flakes, mochi, pocky, and chocolate syrup * w* it's supposed to be for 2 people but barely anyone can finish it, luckily with the 4 of us we devoured that shit LOL and still was full! le fawk, definitely going back to get one before the summer's done, since it's a seasonal item ♥
Once Nancy went back to work we went looking around, made our way to Kinokuniya, where we stopped at this truck that was giving away free ice pops~
They're called Sungevity, apparently they're a company that specializes in solar panels. To promote themselves they ride around on this solar powered truck (?), giving out organic ice pops in unique flavors, AND they give you a quarter. LOL. Even the small coaster they give you attached to the quarter is embedded with wildflower seeds, so you'd just need to soak it overnight and plant it in a thin layer of soil to start growing. Cool, right?
Yanise waiting in line for her pop. Me and her ended up getting the "hibiscus mint" pops, while Noelle got some coffee flavored one. The hibiscus mint was SO GOOD, it had bits of the flower in there too, it was really refreshing, much different from the ghetto kool-aid pops I was always used to tasting xD
Noelle was loving hers a bit too much. mhmmm gurl sucked datttt /troll
Afterwards we went to see my bby Mei at work, who's been isolating herself a bit because now she's working a fulltime job -and- was doing some serious studying for the state nursing exam. I haven't talked to her since then, I hope she did well ♥ hopefully she'll be back on the nets -at some point- LOL, posting on her blog more and etc
Then once I got home and procrastinated... then stuffed the crap out of my suitcase, and went to sleep for like 3 hours before heading off and nearly missing my bus x___x lol
Anywho, more updates later. I have pictures, and video to put up on my channel soon~
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