Shiny Violet Star

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Fanime 2013

So I'm finally finished recovering from a very long but eventful Fanime 2013 that was last weekend in San Jose. This convention has always been a bit of a tradition for me but the last couple years I've attended have been incredibly rough on me. This year I was determined to give this all I had and to legitimately have a really great time no matter what it took. Despite the crazy construction and bracing myself for the worst-this year was actually my best Fanime ever. I dunno if it was the change of pace, the fact that I actually took things as they came, or if it was the fact that I ACTUALLY had a new cosplay line up this year and was rooming with people I had never roomed with before.. Who knows, but here's what all happened.



Thursday



 I was packed and ready to go to the convention center and check into the hotel with Dan. This was my first time ever actually attending the convention on day zero. I didn't get there until late last night but the hype was all on. Aya and I went out for dinner-THANK YOU LOVE FOR THE DELICIOUS PASTA PLATE OF DOOM haha.. I had never ate at Original Joe's before but had always passed by it so it was nice getting to say that I had tried it and had been there. Definitely a group outing or a date place for sure! 




Dennis came from work and eventually joined us. He killed his food super fast and I was being extremely obnoxious on the internets as I had been all day. 

After dinner we invaded the convention center to see how the construction was going to effect the con over alll. Actually the renovations weren't too bad! I like how everything's nice and colorful. I hope that hallway blockage is temporary because I REALLY do like how the windows light up the hallways and such. Plus the hallways are a bit narrow... 

The added steps were neat and made up for the fact that nobody could really chill or relax/meet up/whatever in the front this year. Not bad, not bad at all. Not like I suspected it to be. 

After roaming around we headed back to the hotel. Momo and Sara visited while I acted silly drinking Thai Tea and while I tried on things. Took a bath and called it a night to relax. Thursday was uneventful. 




FRIDAY

What was sleep? Ain't nobody got time for that! I started getting ready super early. Dennis had let me use different contacts that he had ordered for something else (planning to pay that fool back for all of this craziness) because my Princess Mimi's would have killed me at a four day convention. These were the Princess Pinky Twilight Blue circle lenses and boy did they POP. I was a little wary because I had green eyes and I know these babies would really show up well on brown eyes versus my already light colored eyes but low and behold, these surprised me in so many ways.


The blue was crazy vibrant and these didn't irritate my eyes at ALL. I was able to wear them all weekend long. The con about these though is the really lack a halo for a dolly eyed effect but oh well. These are my favorite circle lenses thus far. I have a good alternative for when I don't want to kill myself wearing 15.0 mm contact lenses! 


My Queen of Heartbreakers took a lot of work but I really loved how the hair and make-up turned out. I took such a long time to get ready but it was damn worth it. Aya, Dan, and Dennis had to wake up super fucking early to get badges. Poor things. Jett came to visit me for like..two seconds and trolled around and then left. Isabel came in right after as I put make-up on and we FINALLY after forever exchanged birthday gifts! Thank you dear!!

Roamed the con and trolled around the Fairmont lobby-I'm super sure staff was crazy confused at said crazy bitches lounging around and photowhoring in there. 




Isabel had to soon leave for a bit for facial so I ended up roaming the convention center for a bit. I said hello to Ali and Wendell who did a great job on Stage Zero along with Seanie and Jo! I also ran into Ashley's boyfriend as well! Lots of fun times. 

Then chilled with Toshi and Katie, photowhored some more while running into lots of people. I forgot what happened afterward...I think I went to poke at stuff somewhere and then came back and the bam Mimi and Isabel's fabulous selves were there. Waited around and then Isabel had to leave.. Everyone showed up at one point but I chose to have dinner with Mimi after I changed. 


Walking to dinner was...interesting.. All I shall say. The intention was to raid Osheyo but after a couple car honks and catcalls later I decided it was safer to just go in and eat Chinese. It was super nice catching up with Mimi on stuff! We believe it or not, hadn't seen each other in a year, and had a ridiculous amount of girl stuff to talk about. LOL 

Nightime was more trolling. Just lots of trolling and at one point I remember my sore self taking a nice long hot bath and knocking the fuck out due to lack of sleep. Friday was just a legit utter blur of a mess at one point. 




SATURDAY


Good gawd Saturday you put me through hell. No really. I was intending to shoot my super secret Sheryl Nome cosplay early in the morning when the light was great and there wasn't people fucking everywhere (this year Fanime was crazy crowded) but the cheap ass zipper to the dress broke...right then, right there. And who was there to save my sorry ass? Aya. This girl was a fucking trooper. Woke her ass up just to sew me into the god damn dress. 

All I shall say, beauty is fucking pain. Totally worth it but oh my god you guys... I'm motivated to lose weight. Again. It's not me gaining, it's just the frustration of having southern genes. 

Finally went to go shoot in the Fairmont and shit. I was set on there but god damn wrong choice in the sense of 'everyone shoots their shit there'. I really can not wait to redo the make-up for Sheryl (I feel like I washed her out with pale lips and heavy eye liner) and generally not be suffocating from being sewed in. 


I thought the shots turned out good. I was at a loss of how to pose Sheryl. This outfit was a 30th anniversary dress used for a promo poster. I confused a shitload of people all day who either thought it was a lolita dress or an original Sheryl. No question you guys, this shit was canon. Just rarely seen, I honestly when I saw the dress up for sale couldn't believe there was someone hardcore enough to make it because it wasn't technically from anything. But the dress was PINK. I never wear pink and Sheryl's kind of sexy and this dress was super cute. I had no idea how to pose her in something so elegant and with no scene reference. Oh well, stepping it up next time. Cosplays after a first trial always end up better the second go around. Blue Rose had a couple different trial periods make-up wise for a good year before I debuted it. Sheryl had two weeks. That's a huge difference in how something will turn out. Adding less liner and more color next time. 

After shooting we ended up poking at Toshi who was stuck..no really..she was stuck as Hades from Saint Seiya.. Between the armor and wings and being mobbed by photographers she was totally stuck and Katie was being such an awesome person for handling everything.


Gigi snapped a couple awesome photos as did Katie! Mimi showed up with her sister and holy crap I barely recognized her! She did a really creepy version of Miku!! It was the mask and the eye that totally threw me off! It was really well done but totally out of character for cute little Mimi's who I usually see in lots of pink or princess wear in general. It was really neat and I was super impressed.



After all of us photowhored around for a bit Mimi and I decided to go get food and the others were going to go change. Still find it funny that a huge winged object had to go out and play in traffic. Will forever remember that!

Anyway by that time Jett messaged me (on Dennis' phone. Go figure, what a weirdo ) saying him and his friend was starving. Told him it was perfect timing and that we should all go to Pizza my Heart for a quick fix of food. A long line or so later we finally managed to score a booth to eat pizza and then came to a sad discovery.




Unless I wanted to die from not breathing, I had to limited what I ate in the dress. As I said, beauty is pain.I ended up sacrificing my second slice of pizza over to Jett. I was so sad. Mimi had a lot of trouble with hr food too since she had a mask on. Jett bro tried to be super helpful and slice up her pizza... Totally failed Ran into Trish and Gabby but we had already ate so they went to go eat. 

Went over to meet up with lovelies again to once again, troll around the convention center. I forgot what all we did. Mainly walk around. I ran into Zayanna-senpai which was nice. I hadn't seen her in awhile and everytime we do run into each other I'm being mobbed or in a rush. As usual my life seems to be me running around like a chicken with it's head cut off. 

Went inside, ran into Trish and Gabby who wanted to play badminton with Jett. I couldn't because I was dying in a pretty dress. Ran into Sonia and her other lovely friends. Kenji and Lee and Aru too!  So many lovely people. At one point we were mobbed and all from different series! Little kids were wanting pictures and it was just effing adorable. TTATT i got a cute little girl wanting a picture on Sunday when I did Blue Rose...




At one point I met up with Dennis, Eric, and Gigi to attempt to shoot again but the light was being a bitch at both the Fairmont and Saint Claire. Eventually I had dinner with everyone and we went to go chill in the lobby and just talk and have a good time afterward which was super nice. 




SUNDAY


Blue Rose shits. Aw man... Blue Rose you give me such hell. Prep took forever so I was totally late to the gathering. I was taking so long that even Mimi got there before me and everyone was asking where the hell I was at already. 

Sorry guys...getting the make-up right and getting into this cosplay takes a bit. I can't touch anything due to the deco nails. I ended up meeting up with Mimi only to get the shit mobbed out of me. I had tons of malfunctions which saddened me but the malfunctions could have been a lot worse. At most it was just the damn arm and leg pieces deciding to make love to gravity. 

Met up with Katie, Toshi, Anthony, and Amanda to have an epic Japanese bento style lunch. That was nice considering I had been craving Japanese food and had yet to get my Osheyo fix on. Bento was okay. Dennis hunted us down like a creep. It was epically funny. Dad obviously knows how to keep track of his children. 


After lunch we roamed a bit. I ran into Sae at the lobby and Jett came to play with us as well as Dennis and Dan later on. We all eventually headed to the convention center and I died a little seeing a really sexy Amnesia group. Kyaaa~ I usually don't know Otome games. Uta no Prince-sama and Amnesia has some VERY appealing characters though. Ren from UtaPri and Ikki from Amnesia happen to be my favorites. 

I ran into Neth and Johnny and his girlfriend! Which was nice. We took shiny pictures together. I ended up finally getting to shop with Mimi in the dealers hall. I hadn't really got to all weekend due to craziness. We even got mobbed in the dealers hall as well. I didn't mind but I felt like I was blocking walkways. Blocking walkways is no bueno. I ended up running into my lovely gal pal Jobi who was in a lovely lolita coordinate. I've seen her in gyaru and in cosplay but never in lolita so it was a huge change for me. It was lovely though. WE FORGOT TO TAKE PICTURES DARLING! I had realized later. 

I ended up buying some accessories from Holly Tea Time. I'm usually not one
for bright colors but their stuff seriously interested me. I love sparkles. I love moons, stars, and bunnies. I was totally sold. I also ended up buying the Gloomy Bunny bag that I had been eyeing in the dealers hall for awhile. I've been wanting a Gloomy Bear for a really long time but I LOVE bunnies so seeing a Gloomy Bunny was really thrilling for me. Mimi and I ended up getting matching bunnies!

I found a really pretty Shiro Nuri at a wig booth that Mimi and I ended up taking pictures with. She was really pretty and really cool. I love how she liked my Blue Rose cosplay. Hell I'm glad that everyone liked it. I feel like it has A LOT of work to do and I had a lot of help on it too before hand but I still want to add more. It wasn't nearly as extravagant as it was when I did a super intense shoot a couple weekends beforehand in the beginning of May. 




Later on I did change out of Blue Rose because it was getting late and I was getting wary of being in something skimpy that late at night. Plus I wanted to do normal people things. So I went back to the hotel to change into lolita and pick up food for people. Dennis, Dan, Jett, and I went to go raid Hydration. In which I FINALLY treated Jett's ass to a bento and boba. I was a happy bunny. I also got Katie and Toshi boba. 

Walked back and realized when I met up with Toshi that Katie collapsed the hell out so there was TWO BOBAS for Jett and one for Toshi. xD I eventually met back up with Mimi again and finally everyone else. Sara was there for a bit and then left again after realizing she was tired. Gabby, Mimi, Toshi, Jett, Trish, and I raided a place for even more drinks. 


In which I treated Mimi this time after she said that she didn't have boba all weekend. You guys...I was in lolita..and I slammed this girl onto a table..and into a chair.. Haha.. So not cute. My inner seme came out. So bad..so bad.. BUT AT LEAST I got to treat her for boba and I got a super delicious Italian Soda that was calling my name and that shit had strawberry chunks in it!!!! so godly... 

Ran into Ebie who looked great and I'm so proud of her Con-sent movement that's been going around. She's such a sweet person and a hard working girl. She's really trying to make conventions safe for everyone so we have more good memories to share rather than horror stories. I had my own horror story experience after this weekend that I won't go into detail of but this girl for SURE knows what to do in situations like this. 


Afterward I ran into Wild Tiger and Barnaby/Bunny!!!! Hee! I had met the Barnaby in the dealers hall when he was outside of cosplay and he really liked my Blue Rose. Unfortunately I was changing out of Blue Rose when they were going into their Hero suits but omg! Their stuff GLOWED literally. It was so cool! I was super flattered that they still wanted a picture of me even OUT of my Blue Rose attire so OF COURSE I asked for a picture together as well. 

Was out until three. Tried to all night. Ended up falling asleep after pre-packing. Yep. That was most of Sunday.







MONDAY


Woke up, touched up make-up from last night (yes ew but whatever) and cleaned myself up, did  more packing, and then went out for coffee with my kouhai Emma. Literally said in the picture with our coffees 'SENPAI NOTICES YOU'. Dennis had work that sad so he was weeping in jealousy. yeah that's right dad, you STAY JELLY. 8D 

How I endured a frappe in cloudy weather, I will never know. Met up with everyone later. Trolled around and said goodbyes to people who were leaving early. I missed them horribly. Hell I still miss them because i had so much fun. But the day wasn't over yet. I still had to troll around with Isabel (yay she came back), Mimi, Jett, ect. 


Monday was just crazy. Lots of badge borrowing.I GOT BOBA FROM HEAVEN...so many jellies. Oh an lots of running into people. FINALLY GOT TO SEE SARA AND BRIAN GAHHH All weekend and I went to Artist Alley only to head off to con again because the damn bathroom in AA was down. ughhhh. my feet have out eventually after pushing myself in the dealers hall and walking all weekend in shoes that are not meant to be walked in. 

I roamed around a lot. I finally reunited with Aya too eventually and we ALL had Pizza my Heart and i finally could have my two god damn pieces of pizza without dying. 

And then there were lots of goodbyes. Tons of goodbyes. I was a sad bunny. I didn't want the weekend to be over especially since I was at the convention center until seven and got to watch the whole place slowly die. I went home with Dan after eating with Dennis who supplied me with tons of thai tea and cheese cake. And now here I am, lurking on the internet for pictures and video and missing last weekend horribly. 

In all Fanime was an amazing time. My best yet. There were some bad emotional parts of the weekend, I got home a cried a lot admittedly but the good times really out weighed the bad I had. I felt super independent having a change a pace of once. Call me cold and selfish but I think I needed to be for a bit. I had been looking forward to this trip since the last Fanime (which I had been overwhelmed and miserable at) and wanted to make up for that one. and I wanted to catch up with everyone I rarely see and generally photowhore, eat, and have a good time. do a bit of shopping and just go with the flow. That's what I did and I don't exactly regret it one bit.

I ran around a lot. I did a lot. My feet are totally hating me for it even as I type this and it's been a WEEK after. 

In all I had a great time. Amazing memories. My best yet. I thought this year was going to be a drag like my other two years, but it wasn't. Even with the construction and the after math I faced-I can still look back and smile and laugh and miss every single person I met up with horribly. It was not a bad time one bit. 

I want to work harder and improve myself for my friends, my followers, for more importantly me. I can not wait to do more things and experience new things as times goes by. I really hope that all of this-both good and bad helps me grow as a person. I don't want to retreat into the person I used to be. I used to be crazy insecure and always weigh myself down to where I felt like I had the world's problems on my shoulders because I always cared about what other's thought of me.

I still want to help and inspire people-but I want to do it in a different way. There are amazing people who inspire and encourage me and I want to do the same for others. This is more than just a group of people watching the blog, the shoots, everything-these are friends who I consider family-there are people who I don't know too even who I feel really are so sweet and sincere. I love how accepting people have been so far-you guys could totally bash me and be jerks about my mistakes and everything but you're not and it means so much to me. 

A couple years back when I cosplayed-I was bullied for my weight and my looks. It really hurt. I knew how that felt and tried to just take a break and better myself. Years later, I've been welcomed back with open arms with kindness outweighing other's assholeisms and the demons on the past or no more and I don't want to really look back on them other than to say to others 'I've been there too and it gets better.' 

This con taught me a lot in that when I ran into people I didn't know but they knew me-the compliments were insane I could have cried. Seriously.. I learnt a lot from close friends even-even though it was painful. I want to push myself into being a better person for everyone. Not just one group but you all. Even myself. 

So yeah that was my Fanime guys. I had work right after and was exhausted so I've been recovering and finally was able to post this! I hope if you attended Fanime Con that you had LOADS of fun like I did.  THANK YOU ALL FOR SUCH AN AMAZING MEMORABLE FANIME CON.. <3 I'll seriously never forget it. My next event is pending on my work schedule but we shall see!

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