Monthly Update: January 2013

Alright, let’s get right into it. What important things happened to me this month?

Started new semester at uni

I won’t go that much into detail on this one. I’ll just say that it’s going pretty well so far. I still need to pick up my marked work from last semester. I hope I still can. One of my modules made me read a really awesome book. I keep meaning to write a review of it, so I’ll post it on here when I do.

Found accommodation for next year

I had a lot of trouble trying to find accommodation this time around. The site for the one I’m currently in kept failing so it was nearly impossible to book it. I never did manage, but I wanted to find a cheaper option anyway. One I tried said they had rooms available but they expected you to select your own room and whenever I selected one, even when they said there were rooms available in the flat a second ago, it would say they were all full. And it wasn’t that someone else had taken it in that second because it still said available. That was for every room so I gave up. There was another one even cheaper that looked great. I managed to apply for it and have even been offered a room since, but I found out through my dad that they’re in a lot of financial trouble and might be closing down before next year so it’s too risky. Then, someone from my class added me on Facebook and offered to rent the spare room in her flat to me next year. It seems so perfect too! So I’ve accepted that offer and I’m now very much looking forward to moving in with them.

I think I’ve also found better storage for the summer too.

Bought a lot of cosplay supplies

I’ve bought about half the stuff for my Silica cosplay now and all but three bits for my Ulquiorra cosplay. I went one to the fabric store day and bought a lot of stuff and I couldn’t resist going back the next day for more. I also bought a metre of this really adorable fleece with all these hearts and cupcakes on it. I’ve been using it as a blanket, poncho, scarf and whatever else I want.

Made my first plushie

It was mostly to practice the sewing techniques I’ll need for making my costumes, so by those standards I’m calling it a success. Okay, I don’t want to say the plushie came out badly. It didn’t really. It looks far from perfect, it doesn’t look that good, but considering the last thing like this I made was a very basic shaped rectangular pillow and that was about nine years ago in school, I’d say it was pretty damn good.

Booked all travel for next few months

So I get to go back to London each month now. This month for a weekend (well, Saturday-Tuesday, though I’d booked that one already) and again in March (Friday-Tuesday) and over the Easter holiday, going back for Summer at the beginning of May. 5 coach trip that came to just under £15 total, which is really good considering how close some of them are.

My dad got a job

So this isn’t really my news but yeah. My dad’s been looking for a job for so long and for the last few months he’s been waiting to see if he gets this one job and he did! I’m so happy for him, and he seems really happy too.

Okay, now let’s look at plans for this month:

Trip to London

I’m going to back home on the 9^th. On the 10^th I’ll be going to the Chinese New Year celebrations, it’s kind of tradition for me now, and I’ll probably be going to Tokyo Toys to see if I can pick up a couple of things when I’m done there. Then on the 11^th I’m meeting up with a friend and we’re going to go cosplay shopping together. I’m not sure how much if anything I’ll actually be getting for myself yet but it’s fun to go anyway, especially with a friend.

Gather more cosplay supplies and start making things

This is sort of a follow on from the last one. I’m a little low on money at the moment from food shopping and buying other necessary things (and cosplay stuff) but hopefully at some point this month I’ll be getting £500 and I can put a little of it toward the rest of the things I need. Then I’ll need to start making my cosplays for May. I’m trying to work out a schedule at the moment for when I’ll be working on what part. Most of it I want to make in London, I’m sure I can do it here too but it wouldn’t be the same. I will be doing some of the more basic things here though, and perhaps a couple of other bits.

Finish first draft of independent study project

Yeah, just a basic one, hopefully I’ll be able to finish this by the end of the month so I can get feedback on it and start the redraft/final version as soon as possible.

Most of these things are going to be posted about on here. It's going to be a lot of fun!

Cosplay Fabric Shopping! Silica and Ulquiorra

Things have been getting better lately. After a week of struggling to find accommodation next year someone from my class has offered to let me rent her spare room, and she doesn’t want a deposit, which means a spare £200 for me. I decided to use this extra money to get a few things I’ve needed for a while as well as get a head start on collecting cosplay materials for May. One of the things I finally got around to buying was a new suitcase. £21.99 from Argos, it’s massive (it comes to the top of my hip, so I’ll always have enough room) but can be carried vertically (unlike my old big one). This is going to be great for conventions as well as travelling between London and Liverpool.

So today I went to a fabric shop for the very first time. The shop I went to is called Abakhan and it’s right across the road from where I’m staying now. Everyone I’d spoken to about it before said it was great and after going myself I have to agree. So here’s my little review on the shop:

• Large range of materials for many types of craft
• Really good prices
• Staff are very friendly and helpful
• Can be a little intimidating at first if you’re new to fabric shops
• I may be wrong but in the upper floor fabrics seem to be arranged randomly in some areas, it can be difficult if you’re looking for something specific

I will definitely be going there again.

So, let’s take a look at what I bought:

We’ll go left to right:

The stuff on the left is for Ulquiorra. The fur was labelled as ‘Luxury Fur’ and it’s easy to tell why. It’s so soft and fluffy, just perfect. I was getting worried I wouldn’t be able to find any black fur, I went upstairs first and they had some beautiful furs but no black. Then I went downstairs and found two different beautiful black furs. This one was my favourite and the cheapest at £10.94 per kilo. I was a little worried it didn’t go by metres like upstairs because they still cut it by metres first so unless you’re great at estimating weight (I’m not) it takes until you have to pay to know how much it costs. I was pleased though, 2 metres of the fur cost £18.76. that’s going to make the fluff for my legs and tail, and I’m hoping to have a little left afterwards. It’s already covered my carpet in fur but luckily it seems to have lots to spare.

The black stuff in the middle is called Micro Fleece. I’m not sure what the difference is between that and regular fleece but it’s so soft and comfortable. I’m planning to use it for the inside of my hoodie. Until I can make that though I’ll probably be sleeping with it because it’s so cuddly. One metre cost me £3.74. They had some really cute patterned ones too. I really want some of one that had hearts and cupcakes on it.

The white stuff in the bags is toy filling, £3.25 each. I’m planning to use it for my horns and wigs to give them a plushie type feel. Anything leftover (there should be leftovers) will go to making an actual plushie.

I just need a bit of white and black fabric appropriate for a hoodie now and I can make the whole costume. They had the perfect black fabric for that but I didn’t end up buying any today. I figured I’d better save some money for now. I’ll by the rest slowly between now and February.

Then we come to Silica’s stuff. The red is something they call Drill and it’s perfect. I knew nothing about the fabric before today but it looks and feels exactly how I imagined it should be. I bought 3 metres at £7.49 per metre. I probably needed two but the extra can be used either to double up the fabric here or go toward something else.

The yellow is called Velour Wool, I bought 1 metre for £7.99. Both this and the red one are made of a combination of cotton and polyester, but in different percentages, so they’re not that different from one another and the colours go together well. I feel they’re both either the accurate colour, or close enough to the accurate colour that no one will complain.

I also managed to by yellow thread for 59p. It’s an almost perfect match to the yellow fabric so the stitches won’t be too noticeable.

I also managed to get a couple of little buckles for £1.25. I plan to use one for the buckle Silica has on one of her socks.

Then as a couple of little extras I got a small box of various sewing needles (60p) and some more black thread (£1.04) because it’s always useful to have those around.

That’s it for now. I’ll show the rest as I can get them and share my progress when I finally get to start making the costumes (probably not until the end of March).

First Impression of Semester 2 Modules

So I missed First Impression Friday this week, which is pretty irrelevant, except that I wanted to do a different kind of first impression post, this time on the new university semester.

The first new module I’m doing is called ‘Approaching Your Novel’, which as the title probably makes obvious, involves starting a novel. It’s a lot like the prose module from last semester except with fewer assignments. There are only two, each due on the 22^nd of April. One is the plan for a novel and the other is a full chapter. I’ve already decided what I’m doing for it. I was going to try to start something new but decided to just go with the one I’ve been thinking about for the last two years. Just because I’ve already put more thought into it so I thought it would be easier. The chapter can be from anywhere in the novel, and I’m sure later chapters will be a lot better, but I’ve decided to go with the first chapter since it’s so important in making people want to read the whole novel and using it as my assignment will help make it a lot better. I submitted the first draft tonight. It’s a lot like the prose module because people are selected to send in work each week that the rest of us have to read and get feedback on. I’m happy with that because we’ve had a lot of practice doing it already. We have a set text to read, Room by Emma Donoghue, which I’ve already finished. It’s amazing but I’ll do a separate post on my thoughts on it later. Overall I think this is going to be a pretty good module and I think it’ll be pretty easy.

My other new module is Fantastic Worlds and that will not be easy. There are two pieces of homework every week, one research and one creative writing. There has to be a presentation which I still get worried about doing, but this one will be on something I’ll hopefully have a lot to say about and be excited about talking about anyway. I don’t know when it will be yet. I also have to write a 2000 word short story or novel extract in an original setting and an essay describing my own sub creation. We haven’t been told when those are due either. All three have to be handed in with a commentary. We’re also assessed based on contribution. It’s a lot of work but I’m still excited about it and still finding it to be a lot of fun. It’s all about world building, which I love, and there’s a lot of focus on fantasy and sci fi. This isn’t going to be an easy module but I think it’s going to be great.

Finally, I’ll be continuing my Independent Study project, which I’ve gotten a little behind on. It’s not easy, but I’m still certain I’ll be able to catch up and have my research and planning finished by this month and my first draft finished by next month.

So I Was Robbed Thursday Evening

I’d like to start by saying I’m very sorry for the long post. Of course, you don’t have to read all of it if you don’t want to.

I’m writing this partly because I wanted to do this post anyway and also to explain why I haven’t posted anything in the last couple of days.

So I went to my lecture as usual on Thursday, got out at five and started walking home. Keeping in mind that as it’s Winter, 5pm is very dark these days. On the way home I phoned my mum. I know, it’s just like one of those ads, be careful what you have showing, but I have done this every day after class since September 2011 and nothing as ever happened before. Of course, that never means that something won’t happen.

It got to the point where I pass the student accommodation building close to mine, a narrow bit of pavement with that place on one side and a couple of houses with low garden walls on the other. This is a fairly dark area, perfect for things like this you might say. Usually, I’m good at hearing other things going on while I’m talking on the phone, and the sound of running is definitely something I’d usually hear, but suddenly I found my phone ripped out of my hand (along with a handful of my hair)  and a guy running away with it, still on the call screen. Another guy ran after him who at first I thought had seen it and was trying to help because of the way he was shouting at the first guy, but am now convinced they were together.

I stood there for a second or two watching them disappear as my mind tried to process what just happened, and then ran the last few feet to my building. I couldn’t open the door of reception and assumed it was closed, though I’m now guessing I was just in too much shock to open it properly because a girl went in just a couple of minutes later. I was in a lot of shock over what just happened, as I’m sure many people would be, all my limbs were numb and I had some pretty bad chest pains. My mind was mostly messed up, but from the moment that it had happened my first instinct and the thing I was determined to do was borrow someone else’s phone and call the police. That’s why I’d tried to go into reception. Luckily, a couple of guys were standing outside and though I’m not usually comfortable asking strangers for favours, I had no problem asking if I could borrow one of theirs. They happily agreed, I doubt there are many people who would refuse someone in that situation. Despite being able to easily ask them though, I still felt uncomfortable borrowing someone’s phone, which led to stupid and obvious questions like ‘I should call the police right?’ and ‘it’s 999 right?’ which in hindsight is just embarrassing but at the time I didn’t give a fuck and considering what I’d just been through I highly doubt they were judging me. Then when after I explained to the person on the phone what happened I started having a panic attack and gave the phone to one of the others so they could give the address. I managed to get the panic attack under control pretty quickly.

After the phone call I gave the phone back and the girl that was with them took me into the reception where I asked if I could call my mum; I didn’t feel right asking to make another call on the guy’s phone, the police one was understandable, I’m sure the mum one would have been too but I didn’t want to ask. Of course, the reception guy was happy to let me. The last thing my mum had heard was me screaming and then nothing without any answer when she tried to call back. I know mums can sometimes get pretty scary thoughts in that kind of situation, I don’t know if mine did because I was too scared to ask. We talked for a few minutes and then I hung up so she could have my phone blocked. The guy at reception said he’d bring the police up to my flat when they arrived so I could get a drink and clean up. I thanked everyone for their help and left.

During this time I’d calmed down a lot as I’d started using my usual methods of dealing with a situation like this:

1.        Find reasons this isn’t as bad as you originally thought.
2.        Find a way to make the situation positive.
3.        Figure out a plan to deal with things until the problem is resolved.

For the first, I was lucky for many reasons. I was lucky that the thief had only stolen from me instead of attacking me. I was also lucky he’d only got my phone considering this was the only time in my university history I’d had to take my laptop with me. I also have insurance on my phone which covers theft, so it could be replaced easily with no extra cost. Currently I’m waiting for the replacement, it’s due to arrive on Wednesday.

The situation was made positive because I found I was able to make many jokes on the situation which have made many people laugh so far. Also, I am a creative writing student, and any experience you could work into a story is good. At least I can write a convincing robbery scene from the victim’s point of view now. Another positive is that I don’t have that thief’s coat. Seriously, it was hideous. That was something that actually went through my mind for half a second while it was happening. It might just be a cheap one he picked up somewhere to dispose of after committing a crime in it, I hope that’s the case, then again thieves in general aren’t known to have great fashion sense.

There are problems to not having a phone for almost a week. For one thing I can’t talk to people or text now, but there is the internet for that. There’s the fact that it was my alarm clock, but I’ve been managing to wake up at reasonable times without it anyway, the main concern is waking up for my 10am class on Wednesday so I may have to buy an alarm clock. It was something I’d been considering doing anyway. Finally, it was my dinner timer. That’s been the hardest so far because I’ve been using my computer clock and that doesn’t have an alarm that goes off at the end. I’ve tried an online alarm but it didn’t really work for me.

When I got back to my flat I explained to the people I live with what happened and that there would be police coming over. I then made myself a coffee with six sugars, because sugar helps me in these situations, then went to my room to wash my face and drink. Like most people these days, my next move was to announce what had happened on Facebook.  I would have had to do this anyway. I had to tell people not to call or text me for a while because my phone was stolen, which would also explain why I wasn’t replying (I’d been texting a friend before the phone call). I also wanted to go on the FB page of my uni class to warn them, in case there were others in the area or that guy decided to target someone else, though I didn’t think that would happen.

The police arrived and I told them everything I could. I expected them to be very formal and only interested in getting the information but they were very friendly and talked to me about other things while one of them was writing the info down. I think maybe they were trying to cheer me up/keep me calm. When I described the guy’s coat they agreed that he had no fashion sense. They told me what I already knew, that in cases like this it’s rare that they catch the guy responsible. After everything was said I thanked them and they left. They also said if anything like this happens again I’m allowed to do anything I want in self-defence. This made me happy because someone had told me that in this country you aren’t allowed to do anything like that. One of the police later emailed me to say they’d checked the CCTV in the area. The theft could be seen but it wasn’t possible to get a still of the guy’s face. They’d also done a search of the area that had been unsuccessful.

Yeah, I wish I could have done something to the guy. It’s annoying because I’ve always been the person who says ‘I’ll do this…’ and so on if a situation like this were to happen. I’d like to think if it had been more of an attack or had happened slower that my instincts would have kicked in and I would have been able to do something. I’m not that strong yet but I’m good at making use of adrenaline and I’m sure it wouldn’t have been too hard to grab that guy’s hood and slam his head into the low garden wall I mentioned earlier. However, this happened very fast, the guy was a very fast (and silent) runner, so I couldn’t do anything. The worst part for me though was that I screamed like a bitch. The first scream was understandable, it wasn’t even out of having my phone taken I don’t think. It was just out of the pain of having hair torn out, which I’m sure anyone who’s experienced such a thing can agree hurts like hell. But then I had to go and scream ‘mum’. That was out of a weird side effect though. I don’t know if anyone else in this situation has also felt what I felt (I’m going to say this in second person anyway), but when you’re phone is taken away while talking to someone you love, it feels like that person is being taken away as well. For about a second anyway, long enough to scream over. The most annoying thing though was that I ended up having to miss anime society that night.

I was a bit out of it for the rest of the night. Mentally I’d calmed down a lot and was already over it for the most part. My body still felt some of the shock, my limbs were just numb. Then there was a weird sort of jumpy feeling that I wasn’t sure whether it was due to the robbery or the six sugars in my coffee. It was probably a bit of both.

I usually have trouble getting to sleep anyway and that night was no exception. I had to go to sleep with my computer still on because I didn’t want it to be too dark. I finally fell asleep around 1am. I dreamed I was being attacked in the same place my phone was stolen, the only time in a long time I’ve been on the losing end of a fight in one of my dreams. I woke up at 3:30 from the dream, I think, though the flat was loud. I’m not holding that against them though because this isn’t a common occurrence and they’re allowed to get back late and loud once in a while if they want. I fell asleep again easily anyway. I then dreamt that I woke up late, around 3pm. It kept happening where I’d wake up from the dream to check the time and it was that late and then that would turn out to be a dream as well. It happened three or four times before I woke up again. I was afraid of checking the time but it was only 4am. After I got back to sleep I finally woke up properly at 9am. A nice reasonable time considering I didn’t have an alarm and especially considering a horrible night’s sleep.

I didn’t do anything Friday aside from trying to sort out accommodation for the next university year. I decided to give myself the day off from any work and just relax. Currently I’m completely over the incident aside from a little lasting anger toward the thief and a number of small annoyances caused by not having a phone.

I’ve also been remembering things, like I’d seen the guys before what happened. When I was talking to my mum there was something I didn’t want to be over heard so I turned my head back slightly to see if there was anyone close behind me. There were two people so I’d been telling her I’d say it when I reached the gate when it happened. When I remembered it hit me that there’s a very good chance those two people were the ones responsible. It bothered me a little that I hadn’t recognised them as a threat when usually I’m always more careful when I see other people that close and I also wished for a moment I’d looked properly because I might have picked up on more details. I also considered for a moment that the men might have for some reason seen the look back as an insult and decided to punish me for it like that. I also considered, since I hadn’t seen their faces properly, that the person who’d stolen my phone might have been the charity guy who wouldn’t leave me alone on the street earlier because I didn’t have money and had eventually had to push them away and run the rest of the way to class. I thought they might have wanted revenge. I’m fairly certain that both of those ideas are completely insane. It was possible that this was some immature person who had just been walking behind me and spontaneously decided to do that for a laugh, though I got the impression he’d done this before. It was also possible that they were intending to rob someone and picked me at random. It’s also possible, and this one is a little more worrying, that they’d chosen me for this and had been following me specifically until we reached a dark enough area they could do this, though I know there was no one behind me for half of my journey back from uni (and it was a short walk).

Anyway, that’s pretty much it, the whole story. Congratulations if you actually got through the whole thing.

Cosplay: Making Vs. Buying

Last week I wrote a post about the debate between subbed and dubbed manga. Following yesterday’s theme, I want to talk about a different debate, whether it is better to make or buy your cosplay.

A majority of the cosplayers I know prefer to make their own costumes. There’s more satisfaction in wearing a great costume if you can say you made it yourself. Even if it isn’t perfect, in most cases it shows you’ve put a lot of effort into putting the cosplay together. There are benefits of course, in that you can make it to your own specifications. It can occasionally be hard to find a cosplay of the character you want, and often a lot of the ones available to buy are either bad quality or have bits missing, this isn’t all the time of course but it happens enough. Wigs are also like that. The point is, making it yourself means that you’re in charge of what it looks like at the end, what materials are used, which parts you include and which you don’t, etc.

Of course to make things you need to know what you’re doing, and usually have some skill in the area. This is one of the main reasons I’ve seen for why people don’t like to make their own costumes. It can be hard learning to do something like this and if you don’t feel up to it then it’s a lot better to just find a good cosplay to buy somewhere. Money and time are also an issue. Despite what I said in the above paragraph, it is of course perfectly possible to have a great cosplay even if you are buying. When I buy cosplay items generally I spend a lot of time looking through all the options and choosing the one I find most accurate.  I spent about two weeks trying to decide which wig to get for my Zexion cosplay.

Of course, there is also the social side of it and the reputation you can gain depending on which method you prefer. Although not the majority, and there are very few I’ve seen, there are cosplayers who make their own costumes who look down on those who don’t (as well as others who do because they think they’re better) because it’s ‘not as good’. I don’t agree with that at all because different people have different strengths as well as different reasons for what they do. As a result, though this seems to occur in smaller numbers, there are some who seem to believe due to this minority of cosplayers that all of those who make their own costumes think like that. Again, this is incorrect. It is important to keep in mind why people cosplay, again there are different reasons. Most of the time, it is just for fun. A lot of people don’t care about being 100% accurate, I didn’t my first time. A lot of people do care about that, as I do now, but keep in mind at the end of the day it’s still for fun. Some do it for other reasons. Some make it their business and that’s fine too. There are probably some that do it just to show off their skills and get attention, and I even think that’s fine as long as they aren’t rude to people who don’t share that mindset.

As for me, when I first started cosplaying I bought everything I needed for my costumes. The first thing I made myself was the prop for my Zexion cosplay, which was really easy and I did it because it was a lot easier and cheaper than finding one available to buy. The next time I made my own things was for October’s Expo, when I made the sandals for my Jushiro cosplay (which got easier as I was making it) and altering a pair of cheap shoes for my Deidara cosplay (which still hurt my toes). Everything else was always bought though for the most part it was because I wasn’t going to have the time to try and make it myself, or in the case of Jushiro, I bought all the clothes I needed for that at Expo just because they were cheap.

I’ve said before, yesterday I think, that I’m making everything for my cosplays from now on, aside from wigs of course, that’s just too much. I’m really excited about it. I had so much fun working on the parts of my previous costumes that I made myself, a lot more fun than just clicking the ‘buy’ option on websites. I also prefer the idea of making my own because it means I’ll finally be able to learn how to make my own clothes. I already know how I’m going to make everything, but until you actually get to the point where you are making something you can’t know everything about it. It’ll be nice to have a new skill. I think cosplaying in general is going to feel a lot better for me wearing something I made myself.

Why I Love Cosplay

I’ve been cosplaying for two years now, but I’ve loved it for much longer. I don’t remember how I discovered it. I’m sure I was aware of it for much longer, because while it may not be an everyday sight in a lot of places the idea of people dressing up as characters isn’t exactly unusual. I mean, it’s pretty common even in childhood and it’s something almost everyone does at Halloween. Of course, I’m from London so it’s not uncommon to see cosplayers there either. A big part of it was probably when I became obsessed with anime a few years ago and started looking up everything I could to do with my favourites. I remember watching videos of people cosplaying as my favourite characters and thinking it was so cool and looked like so much fun. So yeah, I wanted to do it for a while.

So a couple of years ago a friend and I decided to go to the MCM Expo in London, something else I’d wanted to do for ages, about a month beforehand, so there wasn’t a lot of time to get ready. I was determined to cosplay for it of course and I was so excited about it all. My first cosplay was Sealand from Hetalia, which I decided on because I’d bought the DVDs that day and I already owned the perfect shirt for the costume. The rest of it was pretty bad if I’m being honest but it was my first time and I was more interested in actually cosplaying and being recognised as the character rather than being 100% accurate.

Since then I’ve had three more expos and four more cosplays and each time I’ve done my best to make the costumes as accurate as possible. While I hold the belief that cosplay is for fun and doesn’t have to be completely accurate, I am a bit obsessive about things like this. It can get expensive, but then so can any hobby. Plus they’re not exactly for one time use, after the expo or whatever they’re for, my costumes become every day clothes. I love them too much to leave alone and I don’t care about getting weird looks on the street. Actually it’s kind of entertaining. Well, I’ve used my Zexion cosplay almost monthly for my Kingdom Hearts group and the coat for it has been my every day coat for over a year. All the leathery material has come off the bottom now and my cat left a big scratch down the front once, and I’m surprised by how much I don’t mind. Actually, I think this was a really well made cosplay coat to last so long with so much usage. Well, I’ve bought all my coplays so far aside from a few parts I made for myself for the October 2012 Expo but this year on I’m making it all myself.

So yeah, that’s my cosplay history, it may have gotten slightly off topic in places but I hope it serve as a good explanation for why cosplay is one of my favourite things. As I said at the beginning, I don’t even need to be the one cosplaying to find it enjoyable. It’s great seeing other people do it, and I also like watching others make their costumes. Doing it myself is great because I’ve always loved roleplaying and it’s even better when you can actually look like the character. It’s fun being some of my favourite people and it’s fun getting the bits of the costume together. I love going out in cosplay, whether it’s for an expo or other event or if it’s just going out on a normal trip in costume.

Cosplaying as a character, regardless of whether I’m in character or not, feels amazing to me. I always feel happier and more confident around strangers when I’m doing it which is good because I also get more love than when I’m dressed as me. There are always people who start up conversations, even on the street where they usually ask what I’m dressed up for, and my favourite part is when people want to hug me for it. Very few people on the streets offer random hugs when you look ‘normal’ and those that do are not usually doing it out of good intentions.

Sub Vs. Dub: Which Should I Watch?

There’s a common debate among anime fans about which is better – subbed or dubbed anime. I thought I’d give my thoughts on the matter.

A majority of the vote seems to go to the subbed anime simply because that is its original form. There’s something more special about that, not to mention there are things in this version that don’t always work in translations. Translations themselves sometimes differ slightly from the original version. I’ve also been told it’s good if you want to learn Japanese. I’ve only picked up a few words from it myself but I’m sure it can work.

One of the things that make some people prefer the original language to the dubbed language (English in my case) is that they find dubbed voices to be either annoying or inappropriate for the character. The same is true for why some prefer the dubbed versions. I find it’s true both ways, where I won’t like a voice in a particular language. Usually I find whichever language I first hear an anime in, I’ll find the other version doesn’t work as well. Although sometimes when I’ve watched something only in English or Japanese there will still be times I don’t like certain character’s voices. Either way, I get used to it after a while so this isn’t a big issue for me.

Some people prefer dubbed versions because they don’t like to, or find it hard to, read subtitles while trying to watch the show. I don’t find it hard, though it is easier to just have to focus on what I happening. The main reason I prefer English dubbed is that I don’t need to focus on watching the screen every minute. I don’t like to look away anyway if I’m watching it for the first time, but if I do need to or it’s something I’ve seen before, having it in my language makes it easy to keep track of what’s happening while doing something else. I like putting some of my favourites on while working.

Of course, another big reason for watching the subbed version is that often a dubbed version may not be available. I prefer that to waiting for an English version, if an English version is to come at all.

I watch a mix of subbed and dubbed anime. Usually, as said above, I use subbed for those that don’t have an English version, or that I can’t find the English version of. I prefer dubbed where available just for what I said about simplicity.

I don’t want to say that one is better than the other, which is best to watch depends on the individual and which of these (and other) reasons they agree with.

I will also add that while I've been using anime as a focus in this post due to the nature of this blog the same is also true for films or anything else like this.

A Community I Love

I wanted to talk a bit about the anime and cosplay community. That might be a bit of a generalisation actually. Well anyway, like everything else on this blog, this is of course just opinion.

Community of course refers to a group of people connected by a common location or interested. I’m not really part of that many, but I want to say that this one is my favourite.

What else do I have? Well, there’s the area where I live, which I love, but aside from my parents and a couple of others I don’t have much to do with the people there. Everyone’s nice and there are occasionally parties or other events where we talk, but still.

Then there was school. That was bad. Aside from the odd couple of people now and then, people either ignored me or were abusive. College was pretty much the same with a little less abuse and a couple more nice people. University is a lot better, people in class talk to me, they’re all nice, but aside from a couple they’re not what I would call friends, yet anyway.

I haven’t really been a part of any other community. I guess you could say music. I was always going to gigs until a couple of years ago. I was one of the people who had to get there really early in the morning and wait all day. It was like a tradition, plus it was the only way you could really see anything when you got in there. The line was boring unless I went with friends though. I did make a couple of friends at some, but that was rare. People weren’t very talkative to those they didn’t already know, that surprised me because I thought that that was a place to make friends too. Usually when I tried to speak to someone though they’d either ignore me completely or be unfriendly. I wouldn’t have minded if they didn’t want to talk to me but I don’t see why they couldn’t have just said that. I wasn’t really enjoying it for the last year or so anyway and that wasn’t the only reason.

So when I got out of that I needed a new obsession and began focusing more on something else I’d loved since I was a kid – anime. I started getting more into video games at that time too. A while later I started cosplaying and getting more involved in the community surrounding these hobbies.

I love all the friends I’ve made from this; they’re great, fun people. In online communities everyone is so friendly, talkative and welcoming. There are arguments sometimes of course, but that happens everywhere. I hear about worse people but I’ve never had any experience with them myself.

The anime society at my university is something I look forward to every week. Again, they’re all friendly, fun people and it’s great to be able to spend time with people with the same interests. It’s so much fun watching anime together and it makes it a lot funnier too, even when it isn’t supposed to be comedy.

My favourite thing though is going to the MCM Expo in London. I’ve gone four times now, twice for the whole weekend (I’m going to both this year as well, along with Alcon hopefully). I still have all the wristbands, two of which can still be worn and I keep on me most of the time. It’s the place I most feel at home aside from my actual house. Unlike some other things in this post I feel like I actually belong there. It’s the one place I feel truly comfortable in a crowd. It seems like everyone you talk to talks back, even if it’s only for a little while.

It’s generally a great place not just for all the stuff going on and the awesome things you can buy (some of which being hard to find anywhere else) but for the people too. They make it an even more interesting and fun place to be.

Again this is all based on my opinions and experiences so others may feel differently about this.

I just wanted to thank everyone in this community for generally being awesome.

Anyone else feel like I used that word way too much in this post?

My Room Now Has A Cosplay Zone! (Room Tour/Pics)

So for the last couple of days I’ve been working on reorganising my bedroom (which seems to happen a lot more than it should). Well, there was a lot of stuff that was just shoved in the closet that I wanted to sort out when I came home for the holiday, but that seemed to have exploded outwards. Then Expo happened and well, I always manage to misplace something and make a giant mess trying to find it.

So it’s all sorted out now and I’ve added some new areas. Let’s have a quick tour before I show you the really special one.

Here’s where I sleep, complete with plushies. There's also usually a cat.

Here's where I sit. My computer is in the convenient location of being reachable from both my chair and bed.

Here’s the TV/gaming zone. This is a really fun place. The PS2, PS3 and Wii under the TV, second half of my DVD collection and my PC games are underneath. Keyboard on the floor off to the right because I don't have a stand. Floor shelf on the right with the PS1 and any old toys I still like to keep.

Here’s my library. My books have to be piled up like that because it’s the only way they fit. I’d prefer to have them alphabetical like everything else but piles like this are just easier organised by size. I have various things along the shelves as well. The first half of my DVD collection is at the top. My game and anime collection are on the central red shelf. At the very bottom you can just about see a box of old toys I found in the closet that I'd kept that are getting ready to be given away. Yes, those are flags sticking out of the top of that thing.

Entering the closet now. Bits of clothing and boxes are kept off to the side. The shelves are used for any framed pictures and ornaments that I have.

Below that are these storage units. The top one on the left contains items I keep for memories, the one in the middle is the 'miscellaneous' section and the bottom is for wires. I know it's probably a bad idea to keep wires together like that, but aside from tangles I at least have ways to tell similar ones apart.

Top right is for stationary, bottom is for papers and notebooks that have already been used, so I know to fill those ones out before moving onto clean ones and the bottom is for unused notebooks and paper.

Beside those is this box where I keep all my make up and any accessories. You can see my hat collection and an old wig from drama class at the top there.

And now for the most epic area, my cosplay zone!

Right, the desk is a bit of a mess at the moment because I've dumped some extra things there that need to be put away. This is also where Trixie's urn is being kept now in the corner, I've kept the other stuff away out of respect. when I'm finally able to start making my cosplays the sewing machine will be going there. There's now a lot of floor space around it so I have space to work as well. My Vincent scroll is behind it for encouragement and it now isn't blocked by anything.

 This is also part of it. I have some cosplay stuff in the top drawer including sewing supplies and some materials, that's where I'll be putting that sort of stuff. There's some on top too. The three shelves below that are for my clothes (I have others elsewhere) and CD's fill the bottom two.

So there it is! My room, feeling even bigger now I've found the best organisation for it, now with an area for working on my cosplays. It's really comfortable in here now and I can't wait to make use of that section.

New Year's Resolutions 2013

So it’s that time of year again when we start trying to make changes in our lives. I actually succeeded with most of mine last year, even if the progress I made wasn’t that much. I plan to make more this year. Once again it’s going to come in the form of a short list.

1. Get fit.

Yeah, basically just a different wording from last year’s goal: be healthier.

Yes, I know this is one of the most common goals and one of the most easily given up, but I’ve put a lot of thought into what changes have to be made over what period of time to achieve this, and I have a lot of motivation. This is going to include more improvement in my diet and the re-introduction of exercise.

2. Keep improving work.

One of my goals last year was to get better grades and this has been successful, so I want it to continue and hopefully reach the top grade finally. I’ve already put a bit of planning into work for the new semester to make sure it’s good.

3. Write every day.

This is a slight change from last year’s goal ‘write a story every day’ which while doable, isn’t very easy, particularly when you have other things to do. It’s certainly not a way to write a good story anyway. So I’ve just changed it to write every day. This doesn’t include blog posts but I will count any writing I do for university providing it’s a significant amount (which I’m sure it will be). This is just a good way to keep my writing skills working. I want to enter more writing competitions this year as well. I did my first last year and I think it would be a good idea to do more. I’d really like to be able to get something published by the end of the year.

Those are actually the only three resolutions I have. There are other changes I want to make and things I want to do over the course of the year, many of which I mentioned in my last post, so I don’t feel the need to add them here.

For goals in general, the best advice I’ve had recently from several sources recently is to break down big goals into smaller ones that can be achieved over smaller periods of time, which should be easy for me to do since I usually write to do lists for the day and things like that. My plan for achieving these and other goals I have at the moment is to come up with some type of schedule. The thing is, I’m good at planning things and good at following schedules but I’m bad at wanting to follow them because I don’t like doing the same thing all the time. I think that’s why previous attempts at following a schedule failed, because it was the same one for every week. I found just having to do lists for the day but no specific time to do them by was easier. The reason for wanting to try the schedule thing again is just because I have a lot to do now and I want to make sure everything gets done but my plan is to write up a different schedule each week so it changes and I’m not doing everything the same all the time.

So, anyone else have new year’s resolutions? What are your plans for sticking to them?

Hello 2013 (Plans for the Year)

Not a clever title but hey, it follows on from the last post well. Okay, I’m not good with titles, I admit it, not that there’s much to admit. I refuse to make getting better at titles one of my new year’s resolutions. I’m not even going to talk about New Year’s Resolutions in this post. I didn’t even start mine today, I’m starting them tomorrow. I’ll talk about them tomorrow. Okay? Good.

So the beginning of the new year, which as I said is pretty much the same as any other time of the year, but also as I said is a good time to make some changes. This post is going to be more about my plans for the year rather than what I’m going to change. Obviously I don’t have a full year’s worth of plans yet, I’m sure it will grow, but I do have some.

January to April will pretty much be focused on university work. I especially need to put a lot of focus on my Independent Study project since that one’s all me and it’s a bit behind at the moment. It’s good because I need something to distract me from the fact that I won’t be able to start making my cosplays until March or even April at the latest. I’ll be taking a couple of trips to London, one for the Chinese New Year celebrations and possibly one for my group’s meet in March. That one depends on whether or not I have class on Fridays, I’m still not sure whether I do or not, but if I do I won’t be able to go. I do still want to get one trip to London in March though. Then I’ll be going back after classes finish in April.

May will be spent finishing my cosplays among other things and going to the MCM expo. Hopefully I’ll be able to do more over the summer than I did last year and be able to make most of the group meets. I do want to try to get a summer job as well and of course I’ll be starting my cosplays for October.

Then from September it’ll be whatever work waits for me in the first semester of the third year, Expo again in October and NaNoWriMo in November.Then in December it’s back to London for Christmas!

So those are my plans so far for my year. It might not sound like that much at the moment but I’m sure there’ll be a lot going on.

I am very determined to make this a great year and determined not to have any major screw ups. I hope to have made significant progress in several areas of my life. I hope to have made a real start in my writing career, to have great times with friends and make some new ones, develop my skills in various hobbies, etc.

Okay, I admit it, this was a pretty boring post considering it's the first of the year, but it will only get better.

I hope.

Everyone else had a good new year?

And if you're part of a culture that has already had new year, well, same thing. And to those that may not have had theirs yet, I hope you have a good one.