The Most Wonderful Time

So here's what my schedule's been doing this week:
On Wednesday I quit my manufacturing job.
On Thursday night I had a meeting with a sort of web development company.
Today is Friday, and I'm shitting around at home in my pj's (being productive, I swear!)
Tomorrow I'll see some old Tenimyu boys and a RUN&GUN introduce their new band, then I'll eat lots of grilled meat.
Sunday means hero hour on TV and little else.

Aaaand on Monday I start my new job as an artsy person, doing typesetting/illustration/graphic design/quality control for a new manga project!!! Doing what I love for about about 50% more money than what I made at the mask company where they treated me crappily! 8D

Godspeed.

Remember that job at the mask studio that I was surprised but relatively pleased to get? Here are all the reasons that I'll be even happier to quit it next Wednesday. 8D

First and foremost, turns out it's not a kind of work that will allow me to extend my Japanese work visa.
( That alone is more than enough reason to find something else, but I'd rather go on~Collapse )

That being said, I'm glad that I was able to get the experience. It's shown me that I don't want to be just a cog in the machine, and also that it's probably better for me to keep costume-related things as my hobby. I haven't had the time or energy for anything to do with cosplay since Nagoya. At least this job was able to hold me over until a new opportunity opened up! My start date keeps getting pushed back, but I'm talking with a guy who wants to hire me for some typesetting and maybe a bit of graphic design. More details on that when things are actually coming together for real. In the meantime, I plan on looking into a certain modeling/entertainment agency for foreigners as a way to try and supplement my income.

In more fun news, since I'll have a lot more time on my hands come October, I've started putting together plans for Halloween. Cosplay plans at last~! Paula and I are joining up with a girl names Sarah, from the Air Force base, and making a Hetalia group. Bad Touch Trio aww yeah! I'm gonna be France, just like I said I'd cosplay years ago. XD

And last but actually most importantly, HAPPII BAASUDEI POOOOORRRRAAAAA!!!!!! Best roommate ever. ♥

First off, don't worry, guys. I swear I'm not about to get religious on you.

Godspeed is the speed at which God works. Or for those of you who don't believe in a higher power, it's the speed at which God would work if he was real. Whther God's really involved or not doesn't matter to me; it's a word that describes when things occur with inexplicably perfect timing, and it's something that I feel my family has been blessed with.

( In case you weren't aware, I'll be quitting my job with JET at the end of next month.Collapse )

So the bottom line is, even though I don't have any interviews or job offers lined up, I'm finding networking potential and encouragement at every turn, and with that I'm keeping confidence that I'll still manage to land the perfect job. ♥

To many of you on my friends list, it may seem strange to talk about graduation in March, but in actuality, my 3rd year students just graduated from junior high. I expected to bawl my eyes out (more because Japan is good at making people cry than because I'm particularly close to any of the kids), but I survived with just a little bit of water welling up and no actual tears. Some of my favorite students were really sobbing, though, man. What got everybody the most were the different grades of students singing for each other and then the 3rd years parading down the aisle, through their schoolmates and old teachers, as they left the ceremony. What got me, personally, was reading through the handmade books of messages that the students made for me (every teacher got one from each class). They drew pictures of me on the covers of the books, and oh how I love them~. Note the Ankh arm in the top one, the Kamen Rider and the black painted nails in the bottom, and the badges on my collar in both. ♥ They know all about my love of costuming, anime, and tokusatsu~.

( Here are some of the things that my favorites wrote to me.Collapse )

Reading all of those messages really made me wish that I could have spent more time with them or at least talked with them more, gotten to know them outside of the classroom. There was one boy who always liked to check out the pins and badges that I'd wear, so I gave him one of my American-looking pins as a little graduation token. Another student, a girl who always asked me to help her during cleaning time, came and asked for a picture with me after the ceremony, and a little group of the hallway cleaning crew had me sign their yearbooks.

I really hope that I can see the kids hanging out around town from time-to-time, before I leave in the summer. I reeeeaaally don't want to stay and teach for longer, but I will still miss the students when the time comes to move and find new work. ♥

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Aaaand, changing the subject for a bit, I'm looking forward to this weekend! Going to Tokyo and gonna do some cosplay and doujin shopping! On Saturday, Paula and I are going to Tokyo Dome City to do Tenimyu DL2011 Silver Pair and Tiger&Bunny cosplay. The event has a dance party, which I am very much looking forward to, even though Japanese cosplayers tend to dance in perfect rows like brainwashed parapara drones, and I only know about 3 of the dances. ^o^;
Sunday, we're going to Haru Comic City for doujin shopping. We'd cosplay there too, but it's not allowed, so we'll just toss away all of our money on fancomics instead. 8D

Last weekend was totally awesome. Paula and I got so much done in Tokyo!!! The only downside was the hotel that we were staying at. We were too late to set up reservations at our usual cheap-o hotel, so we decided to put on our fancy pants and try out the Prince Hotel in Ikebukuro. Unfortunately, although it was very pretty, roomy, and conveniently located, we were rather unsatisfied. Unlike our usual place, the internet cost money, the refrigerator was broken, and there was no microwave, sooooo we probably won’t be splurging on that again. :/

But here’s all the stuff that was awesome!
( Recording for a Touhou doujinCollapse )

( Cosplaying from Tiger & BunnyCollapse )

Love you, hamykia!!! Come back soon!!!

( Going to a Green Gun eventCollapse )

Here at school, the term is slowly winding down. The third years graduate in about 2 weeks, and the school year ends a week and a half following that. I’ve been in contact with my BoE, trying to set up a new school distribution system for the ALTs. Right now we have it so that one ALT handles all the middle schools, while the other gets all the elementary schools, but because elementary requires so much more preparation and in-class leadership, I’m trying to get them to split up the work and give each ALT a junior high “base school” and a couple elementary schools that they can go to twice a week. I’m pretty sure that’s how it works in the majority of the schools my prefecture, and I think it’s a good idea. Apparently, the other ALT in town disagrees, but he only has half a year's experience and has only ever taught at elementary, so screw his opinion. XO!

Hopefully, they’ll be able to tell me next year’s schedule before this year comes to a close, so that I know whether or not I need to say goodbye to any of my students. If I don’t teach them next term, then I won’t really be seeing them again, since I’m quitting JET and moving to Tokyo come summer. Gotta start applying for jobs soon!

I don't know what it is about this month that makes it so full of awesome, but I swear, I've never had this much cool stuff planned all at once! Maybe it's the same amount of awesome as usual, but crammed into a shorter month, so it feels like more, or maybe it's leeching awesome off of March (a scenario that I find much more likely ^^;).

( Plans for FebruaryCollapse )

The end. 8D

Well, that was a nice vacation, but at the same time I'm glad to be back to the world of tomorrow, even though it's fucking cold ALL THE TIME! Japan, please to be discovering the benefits of centralized heating the air conditioning. *pleading puppy eyes*

So! Like I mentioned in my last post, I had a 2 week return to America.
( It was a good visit.Collapse )

So yeah, sometime today I'll be turning in my little form that says I do not wish to recontract with JET. 2 years is enough for me, and I'm ready to seek an occupation that fulfills me, rather than one that just allows me to get by. My dream is to remain in Japan but go into costuming. No telling how they'll take to a foreign fine arts major and cosplayer with very little professional experience, but I'm hoping that those are the things which will help me stand out and snag a position! 8D I actually met a guy back in America who has ties to a Japanese costume/prop making company in Tokyo, and he offered to put in a good word for me if I apply there! Apparently, they specialize in making props for live-action tentacle porn.......Uh, well, I'll take what I can get and use the experience to take me even further. XD;

This weekend I'm sticking around Gunma for karaoke with Paula, and next weekend I'm off to Tokyo for a Cocoa Otoko concert!!! It's little trips like that that help me get through the long, cold weeks~.

If you're in America, it'll still be my birthday for quite a few more hours, but here in Japan it's winding down.

Today was a good day.

I guess it started getting good when he tea lady asked to confirm that my birthday is on Saturday. XD; I corrected her with a sort of "No, actually it's today..." and the whole staff room erupted in congratulations and started giving me whatever cookies and candy they could find in their desks as presents. Even the principal decided to get in on it and used the school's label maker to make a wooden name tag for me! It's basically a thin piece of wood with my name on a sticker on the front and a safety pin taped onto the back. XD;
In addition to that, my classes weren't too difficult today. My 2nd year classes both wrote "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" on the board in big letters and applauded when I came into the room. Shame the little buggers couldn't guess my age and thought I was 30 instead of 24. xB
A big clump of 3rd year girls came into the staff room at one point, so they could ask another teacher some math questions and give me a birthday card. The card was in Japanese rather than English, but I like the kids and don't have a problem with the language, so I was just plain happy for it~. They were quite impressed when I read the contents of the card aloud in English.

The real highlight was after school, though. I met up with Paula in one of the cities that lies between us, to go see the new Kamen Rider movie, made complete with the purchase of a cup of white grape juice and half a tub of caramel popcorn!!! XDDD Because the movie was part OOOs, there were a lot of "Happy Birthday"s being said, which felt very appropriate~. The greatest treat for me, however, was that nearly 20 minutes of the movie featured W! Fuck yes! Oh how I missed them~.
But on that same topic, I swear I have never seen so much fanservice in a single Kamen Rider! Now, I'm not just talking about the fact that W had more than a little cameo. This isn't the same sort of fanservice that Decade had. No, the people who made this movie understand that their audience is comprised of more than just 5 year old boys, and they handled their older demographics appropriately. They were totally playing up the slash between Ankh and Eiji with all sorts of meaningful glances and popsicle stealing, and Datou were practically holding hands: perfect fangirl fodder. For the people who like to watch girls hit it off together, the Fourze portions had the same sorts of lesbian undertones that you often see in the weekly show. And then for those hentai lovers who really wanted to experience some 'space slime turned pretty girl jail-bait turned cat girl sailor scout', THEY HAD ONE OF THOSE TOO! Also, the double rocket form for Fourze is possibly the most phallic thing ever. ^^;

tl;dr- My birthday was awesome, and the new Kamen Rider movie is a lot of fun, even for big kids. ♥

Also, next Friday I'll be flying back to America for a 2 week vacation!!! 8D

Hey guys!
I know. It's been a while. So here's my excuse: I've spent every evening after work for the past 2 months working on this one facet of a single cosplay. But as of last night, IT'S DONE! And just in time for Halloween! Ankh from Kamen Rider OOOs, complete with monster hand is officially done!!! ...Okay, so not really, because I plan to paint my own t-shirt and probably make a new over-shirt from scratch, but it's at least done enough that I was able to test it out by wearing it to school today!

( For a crappy pic of my cosplay in its test run and a quick summary of the other things I've been up to since September, look under the cut.Collapse )

In upcoming news, there's a drawing day at school number two, where the students go outside and draw a picture all day on Thursday. There's a Halloween party that I'm going to this weekend. Actual Halloween is on Monday. In about 3 weeks, I'll be going to see Tenimyu Dream Live 2011 in Tokyo with Paula and Meri-tan, and that's about it for the near future!

As a sort of side-note, I'm currently writing up a guide for foreigners wanting to cosplay in Japan. I'll probably post that here once it's done. Also, if anyone wants to know the process I went through to make the Ankh arm, let me know, and I'll totally put up a tutorial. :3

I swear I meant to update more along the way, but I didn't, so here's my great big info dump of what I did this summer.

( First my family came, and it was tl;dr.Collapse )

Awesome experience and a great trip all around.

( Next, some ALT stuff.Collapse )

School finally started back this week. I feel a lot better about myself now that I have a reason to go to work each day. I've also been sticking around a little extra to help some of my kids practice for the English speech contest coming up. I've got one girl in particular, who I think can make it to the prefectural contest, if not further. She's got a great topic and her pronunciation surprised the hell out of me when I first heard it, it's so good. Should be fun.

I've also had one of my schools request that I bring a bunch of my costumes in to work, so that they can take pictures for their Japanese version of a yearbook. XD I love feeling accepted in spite of my somewhat otaku hobbies. ♥

And as a final note, on the topic of cosplay, I'd like to make a quick mention of Comiket. I went. I cosplayed. And while wearing super crazy belly-button flashing gay clubbing Dream Live 6 Tenimyu cosplay, Paula and I got interviewed for a Chinese TV special. It was awesome in a fabulously embarrassing sort of way. XDDD