WHERE AM I WHAT'S GOING ON OH HEY LET'S POST MORE JAPAN TRIP STUFF


Warning: 46 images, work safe, ranting, trains, more ranting
( A wealth of trains and getting to NaganoCollapse )

Happy late Thanksgiving to those who celebrated! Hope you had your fill of turkey, potatoes, and pie!

Spent most of the week with some mild flu or something. I thought it was just food poisoning, because it was just my guts rebelling, but I had a couple nights of terrible fever dreams as well, so maybe the flu? Not sure. I just know it sucked. I had very little energy and it took me like… five days to do two days worth of work. UGH. Played an awful lot of Xenoblade though.

Yeah, so, Xenoblade. Still loving it. About 70 hours in now, trying to improve affinity with the towns and within my team, which means many many quests. I finally unlocked both Shulk's and Sharla's 4th Skill Trees today, hoping to get Reyn's 4th tonight. Dunban has had his 4th for a while, and everyone else has plenty of time before they even need a 4th Skill Tree, so I'm not worrying about them for the time being. I'm in ___(maybe spoiler)___ Field after repairing ___(that one character)____. Sorta happy about ____(that one character)____, but that means all sorts of work with Shulk and that character and I'm not sure about that yet, hahahahaha. Been drawing a collectable from the game every day for November since I'm not doing NaNoWriMo or anything, but I'm like a week behind. I'll catch up soon, I'm not worried.

Work has been going slow with the sickness junk, but it's coming in steadily. I have a script for the first half of a Nura volume that I've been chipping away at, a Tegami Bachi script (but I can't start it because there are no stats for it yet), and I just got the first volume for the last X/1999 omnibus. Oh, and I'm in the middle of a Pokémon volume. I was getting a bit antsy about things piling up but it looks like I have almost a month and a half longer to get the Nura volume done than I thought! Phew! And there's no reason to worry about Tegami Bachi yet when there's nothing I can do on it. We don't even have a due date yet because we don't know when the stats will come in or something. I can't believe we're at the end of X! It feels like I just started working on it recently! I guess it's been over two years though… feels strange. I'll have a big hole in my schedule where it was once I finish. Well… Psyren work should be starting up again, so I guess I'll hand off X time for Psyren time… at least until Psyren work ends. I only have a few volumes of that too! So sad!

FAMILY WHINING TIME!! Warning: Cursing and rambling!
( Waaaah waaaahhhh my family waaaahhh!!Collapse )

I woke up this morning and light was pouring in the bedroom of the apartment I share with Nur. "Oh no," I think, "it must be late in the morning!" I roll over and see Nur still sleeping on his futon and I freak out. "Did he not set his alarm! He should be at work by now! Should I wake him up?" I'm just about to do so when I notice that the sky is actually still pitch-black. All that light coming in? That's from one of the freaking SAFETY LIGHTS that run along the interior courtyard of the apartment complex. They've been there for a while now and haven't really caused any problems, but they just trimmed the palm trees near our window and they cut off so much that nothing outside blocks the light anymore. We can put our shade down most of the way (if we put it down all the way Dyson tries to shove through and it damages the shades), but even then the light comes through the slats like a thousand flashlights whose sole purpose is to make sure we do not sleep.

I like that we have safety lights out there (or whatever lights they are), but ARGH, can we shield the light up or down and not directly into everyone's windows? Our neighbors have tacked up towels over their windows to block out the light, I'm thinking of doing something similar. But then we'll block the airflow if we want to open the window! Argh, no good solutions yet!

Gather round, my friends, for I have tales for you!

When my mom taught some 40 minutes away from home, my siblings and I would go with her. We were taken care of by the mother of two of her students. This woman, Mamian, is probably the best, most loving, most caring person in the world. Did I mention she's the best? Because she is. There is no doubt that she was my second mother. When I was in fourth grade, my mom decided to teach closer to home, so we stopped seeing Mamian on a daily basis. Not wanting to sever the connection we had with her, my mom (to this day! Thanks mommy!) gets haircuts out there every month or so, so we can spend time with our second mommy.

Unfortunately, with Alexandra in college and now overseas, and with Noah's strange work schedule, I'm usually the only one who can make the trip. This was the case for the most recent time.

This thing is ridiculously long, poorly written, and very VERY whiny.
( Cut for length (so so so long), whining, ranting, swearingCollapse )


In other family blow-ups, it's totally okay for my uncle and dad to complain about taxes, but I should shut my mouth because I have no idea what I'm talking about. It's not like I have to pay taxe— Oh wait, I do. Four times a year. Yeah. But really, not like I understand how it feels to suddenly have the government decide that you owe $12k more than they themselves predicted and will make you pay a fine because you made more than they thought, right? Yeah! Oh… OHHHH WAIIITTT, THAT DID HAPPEN! How crazy! But to be honest, it's not like I have to pay property tax and stuff, so I'll quiet down a bit. What's that? Tax deductions? Yeah, I can deduct a lot of things because my job is pretty much my life, so that's really nice. Books, programs, trips places (when they include buying supplies for work)… Okay, yeah, here we go, gonna chew my ear off on how it's "not right" to deduct some of these things even though my tax preparer encourages me to write off MORE than I do. Ugh.

Hahahaha, so life's been a little crazy lately. Both good-crazy and bad-crazy.

Earlier this month I went into Viz's office and talked to the (very awesome) head of Viz's BL line, "SuBLime." I've been interested in lettering some BL for a while, and she gave me the opportunity to pick some titles to work on. I decided to do three, one digital-only release and two print and digital releases. The one I'm most excited about working on is Three Wolves Mountain. Naono Bohra is one of my favorite artists, and by far my favorite BL artist. Being able to work on one of her titles is a dream come true, and Three Wolves Mountain was one of the first of her works I read, so it's extra special. ♥ That'll be released in June, so please check it out then! =D The other two look fun and cute, though I haven't actually read them myself yet. (Well, I've read the volumes, but in Japanese, so I haven't read-READ them.) I haven't actually… STARTED work on them, but I'm very excited to do so (which hopefully will be within the next week or so).

Thinking of work, X volume 1 was released earlier this month! It's a GORGEOUS release, so please check it out if you have the chance. It's an 3-in-1 edition, so it's HUGE, plus it has color pages and is printed on delicious, thick, lovely paper. Volume 2 will be out in April (I think), and I'm working on volume 3 right now. I'm not very happy with how volume 3 is coming out, but I'm very happy with volume 1, I think it's some of my best work!

This month and next will be insane with work though… I have five volumes due in six (maybe seven?) weeks. Usually, I like to have AT LEAST two weeks per volume, so yikes! I'm not too worried about two of the books, I can get them done in a week each without too much pain, but the other three are completely new to me and I have no idea how lettering will go with them. GAAAAH, so nervous about this! I'll be working like a madwoman all through the holidays! More importantly, THIS MAY EAT UP ALL MY COSPLAY TIME. Holidays shmolidays, but HOW WILL I MAKE MY INGA COSTUME FOR ALA NOW? *sob*

Alllllso earlier this month I headed down to SLO for Minna no Anime's Halloween party. It was a fantastic weekend. The party was great, the people were great, everything was GREAT. I got to hang out will all sorts of awesome people, I got to cosplay, I got to go through Phyillis's bajillion boxes of books from Tokyopop's reference library, I got to sing karaoke for hours… what's not to love?

Aside from the work-driven stress, my family has been… heh… yeah...
( Family WoesCollapse )


Oh, but happier things(?):
( Anime Watching BlarghsCollapse )

Uh, yeah. Not a lot of interesting stuff going on. My life is pretty much work and whining with a lot of TV on in the background, but I really can't complain all that much. I'm constantly tired and a lot of things have been driving me mad, but overall I'm happy and I'm making money doing something I love. Ever since we moved into the bigger apartment, I've been feeling more relaxed than I had in a long, long time, and I don't have as many problems sleeping. So life's been pretty good.

Happy early Thanksgiving for those who celebrate! ♥

( Whine whine whine, my UK trip plans have been destroyed!Collapse )


On the more light-hearted side, my mom reacts verrrrrry strangely to what I wear these days. I already talked about this on Twitter last week, so sorry if you've read it all before.

Last week I decided that, after rewatching a bunch of Kamen Rider W, I wanted to dress like Shotarou (click the "Transcribed from this article..." to see some good shots of how he dresses). It wasn't really that hard. I don't have the exact clothes he does, but I put on my compression shirt/chest binder, dark grey slacks, a light grey dress shirt (a little big for me, unfortunately), a dark grey vest, a sky blue tie, my extra Jacuzzi wig (I wasn't cosplaying AS Shotarou, I just wanted to dress like him, but I figured the wig would be fun.), and my fedora. I felt very fancy and I think I looked pretty damn good. We went shopping like usual and everything was fine. We were having dinner with my parents, so Nur dropped me off early at their house after shopping so I could have some "family time." My brother immediately made fun of my wig. I'm not sure what was so funny about it, but him poking fun at me for it did hurt and did make me feel a little silly, so I took it and the fedora off.

My mother came home shortly after. When she saw me, she just STARED. "WHAT are you WEARING?" I told her I just felt like dressing like this. She laughed and told me I shouldn't. I asked her why. She then asked me if I had visited the neighbors while dressed like that. I told her I hadn't. She sighed in relief. Again, I asked her why. She said, "Dressing like that makes people question your sanity." ………………………Wait… what? WHAT? I asked her to clarify. She did. Dressing "like a man" makes people question my sanity and I shouldn't be wearing these sorts of things.

Now, a lot of you have never seen me in regular outfits, but those who have know; I don't dress nicely. Jeans and a t-shirt make up my usual outfit. When I don't leave the apartment, I'm often in old stretched-out sweatpants and mismatching shirts. I often go visit my parents dressed like this. Has my mother questioned my sanity then? Nope. So why when I'm ACTUALLY DRESSED NICELY? The real kicker for me is that, besides the dress shirt and tie, everything else was MADE FOR LADIES. Female slacks, female vest. The parts that ARE MOST VISIBLE are LADY CLOTHES. So I WAS dressing to emulate a male (character), but with women's clothing. So why is wearing my nice, stylish (granted, fairly masculine) lady clothes make people question my sanity, but wearing my old ill-fitting sweats and clashing shirts makes people think I'm perfectly stable? I am SO confused. And it hurt too! I still think I looked good, and all she had was mockery! Bah!!

But later, I did visit one of the neighbors (he was helping them out with some computer stuff, so I tagged along). And I think they liked my outfit. So humph!!


…but no one noticed I had bound my chest. I know I have a small chest to begin with and I LIKE it that way, but it sort of hurt that no one noticed. There IS a difference with the compression vest on, I swear! T^T;;;

Ah, the long and winding tail of this year's Anime Expo!

Cut for length, swearing, a whole truckload of anger, lots of CAPSLOCK, and a couple photos.
( The Convention Was Like A Roller Coaster...Collapse )

I said generally what I thought about it yesterday, but the more I think about this, the more angry it makes me...

WHY DID THEY HAVE TO USE GODDAMNED PAPYRUS FOR THE SUBTITLES? THERE ARE OTHER PERFECTLY GOOD FONTS OUT THERE. PAPYRUS IS THE FONT-BANE OF MY EXISTENCE.

Dyson decided it would be a GREAT IDEA to wipe his poopy butt ALL OVER my bed. No where else. Just my bed. I think he's trying to tell me something.

I FEED YOU, CAT. I GIVE YOU WATER. I GIVE YOU TREATS. I LET YOU CLIMB INTO MY LAP WHENEVER I REALLY NEED YOU OFF MY LAP SO I CAN WORK FASTER.

POOP ON MY BED.

SERIOUSLY CAT WTF. WTF.


(and now he's acting like everything's all cool. OH NO IT'S NOT)