AnimeUSA: Procrastination Edition

This post is extra late, considering AnimeUSA happened in November. Oops.

A friend and I taking a quick break before getting back to work

Sometimes I go to anime conventions, though these days it always tends to be working in some capacity; either as a vendor or as staff. AnimeUSA was no exception. I was on security and did my security thing, only got fully decked out once at the request of a friend, and drank myself blind on Sunday after the convention was over. I don't have many photos and I don't have many stories beyond "sorry, this are is off limits" or "keep moving, you're blocking the hallway", but I do have one.

Throughout the weekend as I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off I kept running into Mix Speaker's Inc. Pretty much every time I turned around, boom, there they were. I think they were magnetized to my corset or something. So of course it stands to reason I ran into them in the single hour I was dressed up like a freakshow.

My eyes look extra dead in this photo, courtesy of my buddy Mark. I haven't gone out much recently and I've been recycling pretty much the same outfit the last few times. So sue me.

The next day I was assigned to wrangle the line at Mix Speakers Inc's fan photo session and guard a door to make sure no one wandered into a staff access hallway all while trying to eat my breakfast/lunch. After their line was finished all the staff in the area were allowed to get photos with them if they so desired, so I decided to grab one.

My phone takes terrible pictures. There were half a dozen attempts, during all of which I was trying to convince them to make silly faces. And yet the only one that turned out was just me smiling instead of goofing off.

Before they left I got a present from Yuki (the smiley one,front left)

My legs continue onto the back of the page...

Apparently I was memorable enough he felt the need to draw a picture. We laughed about this and the length of my legs, so I took off my platforms and stood next to him while he stood on my boots. I was STILL taller than him.

All in all I had a rather fun, if exhausting weekend.

Studio Space

So I now have an actual studio space. The trouble is that it is currently filled with boxes. I'm renting two rooms in a large house (one for living, one for working), but they're pre-furnished and had been used as storage for many years. I'm having difficulties with unpacking because I don't have places to put things, but the owner of the house and I are taking time together to sort through the drawers and closets to decide what should be kept and what is being thrown away.

The room I'm using as a studio belonged to a freelance fashion designer many years ago. The largest wall is decorated with her original designs for companies ranging from London Fog to Dior. A good chunk of the stuff stashed in boxes, drawers and closets in the two rooms is fabric, notions, miscellaneous art supplies and even old sewing machines all of which I'm being allowed to use as I see fit. Not to mention the room has a light table. A full professional light table, not one of those dinky plastic light boxes that could be purchased at my school store. Changing the bulbs is a chore and a half, but it works and it is one of the sturdiest pieces of furniture I have ever seen.

On Sunday (when I have a spare set of hands about) I will be putting up wall-mounted shelves in the bedroom so I have a place to store figurines and DVDs. Somehow I managed to cram all of the books onto two book cases....I don't even know how I managed it. And even more amazingly I've managed to find a home for all of my clothing. I've NEVER had room for all of my clothing. Though, truth be told, I did get rid of about a third of my wardrobe in my last move and another third has found it's way into my fabric bins to be modified or used as scrap.

I've also started putting an effort into my appearance again. Nothing exactly spectacular, but I've been taking the time to get dressed instead of spending entire days in my pajamas like I did for a couple of months there. It helps to actually be able to get at all of my clothing, to have access to a washing machine, and be living in an area where I don't feel afraid to walk down the street by myself.

Because I don't have photos of my studio to share (too many boxes), instead I give you a couple of selcas! And sadly my camera and shiny new tripod are still in one of those boxes, so it is just crappy myspace angle shots from my phone instead.

Before going to the airport to visit family last December. Used the wig to hide my neon hair because I hate dealing with people at the airport on the best of days, let alone around Christmas after a series of flight delays.

I gave myself a haircut about a month ago. My split ends were unbelievably horrific. I still need to get to an actual salon to fix up the hack job in the back, but it doesn't bother me all that much.