Wow I fail at keeping up with LJ lately. Sorry. D: If some life changing event just happened in your life, feel free to smack me and let me know.

In other news, one of my suitemates was horribly sick last week (four days with a fever) and I KEPT trying to tell her it might be H1N1, so she mainly stuck her in room and skipped class. Then we found out that the friend that she caught it from DID test positive for H1N1, so it's more than likely that the flu is in our suite somewhere. The strange thing is, none of us have really gotten sick (except for my own roommate, who hasn't been sleeping and has been sick for like, four months on end.) I have a TINY cough (like, two or three coughs a day) but that's pretty normal for me around this time of year. :/ I'm hoping I was just exposed to the virus and am now immune or something.

( Cut to spare your eyes. STRESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!! )

The worst part about all of this is that the more I freak out about school issues, the more I want to play Pokemon. =____=;

On the bright side, Dad is home and back in the States for half a month, so I get to see him for Thanksgiving. :3

This is so awesome I'm going to make a new post for it and annoy you guys further. ^^; Feel free to ignore if you're sick of all the Hetalia Day stuff. XD

Our America cosplayer, titanicfreek , from Hetalia Day made a reeeeally sweet video of our serious!shots. It sums up our epic photoshoots in four minutes. <3 The video is so well-done and makes me so nostalgic. ;A; I MISS EVERYONE!

So you know the crazy teacher that googled us and occasionally lets us out of class early if we all look dead? He started the class today by telling us to get out a sheet of paper and giving us two phone numbers.

Then he launched into a story about how a woman he knew went to New England (for those of you not in the States, it's just an area near Maine to the north) to go to the funeral of her grandmother. While she was there, she learned that her mother's last sibling was deathly ill in the hospital and near death, so she went to stay with him until he died. A few days later, she attended his funeral, then headed back home to Pittsburgh. On the phone drive, she got a phone call and learned that her 24-year old college son had committed suicide.

He didn't use any names, but it was one of those stories that you have no choice but to believe. He told us that the two numbers were very important --one was his own personal cell, and the other one was the school's counseling hotline. He said that if we were ever in a situation where we desperately needed someone to pay attention but didn't know who to call, we were free to call him.

He also told us that at various points in his own life, he's been depressed, on medication and suicidal. And since he's still here teaching us right now, he said that there was always light at the end of the tunnel and he never wanted any of us to feel like we had no other way out.

I thought that was one of the sweetest things I've heard all year. It was definitely a wake up call. This reminds me that earlier in the semester, my Evolution teacher gave us a similar talk, but he never gave us his own phone #, he only let us know that he was avaliable in his office if we ever needed to talk. Makes me slightly worried that I'm getting all these talks in the same semester. O.o

Now I really need to go make sure my friends have my cell # in case this sort of thing ever happens. :/

Yeah. Dabbling in fanfiction again. Probably won't do it for another year or so. =_=;

Title: Embrace

Author: Lomelindi

Summary: A very young Ivan wanders into ancient China. (Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan make cameos.)
Note: I refer to "Ivan" instead of "Russia" just because he's so young in this story that he's not even the Soviet Union yet or anything similar.

Warning: Not historically accurate in any way, shape or form. Technically speaking, I don’t think Hong Kong or Taiwan existed at this time. ^^;

 

( The laughter of a young girl was the only warning Ivan had before he saw them. )

FINALLY! So... many... pictures... There are still pics/albums coming from some people, but I figured we had amassed enough that I could share them now. ^^; Took me forever to get all of these organized...

We met at the gooooorgeous Cathedral of Learning where there was a gigantic common room and numerous Nationality Rooms, each designed and dedicated to a specific country. Most of the major Hetalia countries (and a few smaller ones that aren't even in Hetalia yet) are covered, so we got some awesome photos. :3 All the cosplayers looked great and the turnout was better thanand_zero and I expected. Ironically, it was also Parents Weekend at U.Pitt that day so we ran into a lot of normal people that went O____o; at us but we just said that all the dressing up was for United Nations Day (which it technically was) and they just left us alone. :p

( Full group shots of all countries. )

( The Axis Powers )

( The Allies )

( Solo shots - Germany, Poland, France, England, US, China, Japan, Italy, and Russia. )

( Pairs and Relationships )

( Total crack. 83 We had such an awesome and random time. )

We have a ridiculous # of pictures and they can all be found here. :3 A lot of the pictures are crack but I put comments that may or may not be helpful, lol.

I miss everyone terribly now. ;^;

Sorry for all the spam since people on Facebook (and Deviantart) have already seen this, lol.

I really, REALLY didn't feel like attempting my Physics homework tonight so I made a tutorial on how to put on a wig instead. :D This is mainly for people with long hair whom are always annoyed by their wigs looking bumpy and generally "stuffed". Hopefully this'll make your cosplays look more realistic. ^^

( Yay for a ghetto tutorial. Also, this pic is HUGE. )

Damn, stupid typo in there. Sorry to anyone that caught it, my English is usually better than that, lol.

This woman is AMAZING!!! She can do the best accents and her facial expressions are just so absurdly PERFECT (and incredibly cartoon-like). I'm just fascinated watching her. O.o Such talent!



If you check out her YouTube account, she does a lot of different accents and everything.

Alright, quick update on life, I guess.

Scheduling thing is still not fixed, but fuck that, it BETTER be at some point this week.

I now have food so I'm not starving, haha. I've been putting off grocery shopping for most of the week. D:

Also, I went out with and_zero and her boyfriend todowntown Pittsburgh to get an eye exam for color contacts. Contacts feel soooooooooo weird. :/ At some point the doctor was putting one in my eye and it had a crease in it, so he was smoothing it out and I was all "AUUUUGH!" inside. My eyes felt kinda weird for the rest of the day, lol. I assume this needs a lot of practice. I ended up ordering the rich blue colored one because I looked a bit too freaky w/ the bright blue contacts in (although in retrospect, that one probably was better for cosplay. Oops.) Seeing myself with blue eyes was definitely weird in general considering I've looked in the mirror for 22 years and have only seen black eyes looking back at me, haha.

As for current events in the world, THIS IS REALLY COOL. :D The President and cabinet of Maldive "donned scuba gear and used hand signals Saturday at an underwater meeting staged to highlight the threat of global warming to the lowest-lying nation on earth." That definitely makes one heck of a statement.

To simplify the amount of crazy I just went through today, my adviser told me that if I was to drop Physics and retake it next semester (which is more doable than I thought 'cause I only have three more classes to take before graduation), I'd need to pick up two or three "mini" (half-semester) classes to make up for the sudden lack of credits.

So I've signed up for two dance classes. :D (Unfortunately, combined, they only give me half the amount of credits I need to make up for Physics if I do drop it.) The other half of the credits will have to be some class I probably really don't want to take, but a half-semester course can't be that painful. I hope. :/ In any case, right now my schedule is a HUGE mess (I'm jumping between 28-52 credits at the moment) and I don't think I'll know what I'm doing for the rest of the semester until next week. *headdesk*

In other news, because my last semester is probably going to suck (a bit) with the two Physics classes, I've decided against doing Atem. I could always do him later and I feel like I really don't need the added stress of trying to replicate one of the craziest hairdos in anime through a wig, let alone attempting to make vast amounts of Egyptian-style jewelry. X___x Yeah.

SO, I've more or less settled on Princess Neptune. :D Since I'm doing Roy and China again for Tekkoshocon, I figured I needed a girl to balance things out. (What is up with me cosplaying green/blue-haired girls?)

Will have to figure out the logistics of THAT costume later, but I'm sure the only major things I have to do is to find a wig and modify the shoes.

EDIT: UUUUGH, if only this wig was lighter!

Words can't describe how amazing this video is.

This shows a Ukrainian artist that uses sand art to convey the German attack on Ukraine during WWII. I don't think I've ever been so moved by art in my life. She's amazingly talented and combines her drawing with music and sounds of the war to convey emotions. People actually WEPT in this video while she was drawing. Definitely worth a watch whether you're into history or not.

The best part about being American is that we are obsessed with making fun of ourselves. :D For example, taking the following conversation that happened on and_zero's Facebook. I WAS SO AMUSED.

(There's no actual Hetalia reference in this but it's still hysterical. Also Nicole, you don't have to say it, I know I'm a dork.)

( Please don't take offense if you're British, Canadian, Mexican, a Greenlander or communist. Uh... Yeah. I think that just about covers it. XD )

You guys know those "10 minute challenges" on YouTube where they take a piece of dialogue from a show and just loop it for 10 minutes to see how long you can watch it for?

Yeah. Those. I suck at those. D: But it is hysterically funny a few minutes in when people around you are going "SHUT IT OFF!!!" and you start hearing really weird things in the background that you never noticed before.

Well, at least I can imitate that line spectacularly now.

I don't think my birthday is going to be nearly as epic as last year's when my parents drove over to surprise me, so... yeah. xD Not much of a post.

SO, since there's nothing I can update you guys with about my normal life, how about cosplay? 8D

and_zero and I are going to go get color contacts (I figured that since it's my birthday, I can treat myself to doing something crazy XD) so HOPEFULLY I'll be able to wear them for cosplay soon. I haven't decided if I should tell my mom about it since my doctors have always frowned at the idea of me wearing contacts, buuuut... since I'm only going to wear them a few times a year, I figured it doesn't matter.

Also, I've decided that since University of Pittsburgh's Cathedral looks epic and creepily like Hogwarts inside, I'm definitely doing a Harry Potter cosplay with thepatches 's awesome Draco. It's just a matter of figuring out when. Harry better be an easy cosplay. X.x; I can't wait for pictures though, the Cathedral is SO beautiful inside and it has huge fireplaces and everything.

Thirdly, I'm still playing around with cosplay ideas. I don't mean to disregard anyone's votes or anything from before, but I really am incredibly indecisive and I can change my mind about cosplays at the flip of a switch. D: Just this week, I was considering James Norrington from Pirates of the Carribean and Legolas from Lord of the Rings, but there are so many financial and logistical reasons why I probably shouldn't do either, lol. Neptune is floating back to the top of my head, since the thought of working for so long on Atem makes me cringe. (By the way, I've decided against Kyouya mainly because I want to try something pretty and sol-standing for my possible-last-Tekkoshocon. Plus I know she has a lot of people that offered to be in the Ouran group so I know I won't be ruining her plans. ^^; )

Fourthly, and_zero and I are going to go shopping at the army surplus store just because we can. xD I doubt I'll find a uniform perfect for another Hetalia cosplay there, but it's worth a shot. And I'm going to try and find a uniform for our England, since she still doesn't have one.

Holy. Epic. Crap. I have never, ever had this much hate for a professor before. I know I've complained about some teaching styles or grading styles, but I actually legitimately hate one of my Physics professors.

( He basically gave us a horrible exam without any equations to help us, didn't talk about ANY of this with our OTHER professor, then proceeded to yell at us in class about sucking it up. Everything he says to cover for himself is SUCH BS. I apologize in advance for harsh language. )

I know this isn't a huge deal to a lot of people, but there are a lot of seniors (myself included) in this class who are not Physics majors but need this course to graduate. He has no right to fail us because he's a horrible professor.  Also, Ghosh has a great reputation has a teacher and he should have taught this class by himself. I don't know why this year they decided to experiment and toss Sekerka into the mix. UUUUGH.

Anyone that's in the Pittsburgh area, likes Axis Powers Hetalia, and would like to join us for the Pittsburgh branch of the international United Nations/Hetalia Day gathering, then please see this even that and_zero and I are organizing. ^^ http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=181154301322 (You will need a Facebook account.)

If you don't have a Facebook account, lemme know and we'll figure something out.

Any questions about U.Pitt campus should be directed to and_zero since she goes there and I don't. xD

and_zero and I were looking up cracky videos and I got back into watching Eddie Izzard, the famous British comedian (who does occasionally crossdress, but it's all good. ^^)

For anyone that hasn't seen his amaaaaazing stuff, here's a great video where he vents about WWII and imitates what all the countries did. Hilarious stuff.



Isn't it creepy how Axis Powers Hetalia characters act just like this? LOL.

So... apparently I MAY be going to Ohayocon as Roy Mustang. O___o; (My FMA group is dragging me along w/ the promise that they've already figured out the travel/room thing. XD) Anyone else going to be there?

Alrighty. *rolls up sleeves*  Kurokiiro Festival update! (Kuro Kiiro? However it's written. We just call it KKF.) There was a decent number of people there --more than the staff expected, I think-- and it was a great load of fun despite the fact that I mainly just hung out with my Hetalia group and we wandered around aimlessly. By the way, sorry for anyone on Facebook, you've probably seen most of these already.

( Highlights: PATCHES AS A GLITTERY EDWARD CULLEN. LUUUULZ. )

Okay, anyways. Onward ho to the Axis Powers Hetalia crack. (Skip if you don't know or like APH. ^^;) WE HAD SO MUCH FUN, CLEARLY. xD We got a photoshoot with thepatches outside and got a ton of love from everyone else inside. Russia was definitely noticed the most 'cause he's... well Russia (and also the tallest). People kept running up to us wanting his picture first before they realized that the rest of us were there. xD

Preview:

( In which Chibitalia sneaks into a G4 meeting, China has pigtails, Russia is ghetto, and superhero!England freaks out every time Russia sits in a chair. )

And videos! We were grabbed shortly before (and after) Registration for "in character" interviews. Mainly it's reduced to England cursing off America, Russia and China with communist pride, and America not having a clue that England is secretly labeling him a loser.

( BY THE POWER OF EEEEENGLAND!!!! )

GUYS. D: I NEED HELP DECIDING AGAIN.

There's an AWESOME AND INCREDIBLY ACCURATE Hunny (from Ouran) that I met at the con this weekend and she is BEGGING me to do Kyouya for next Tekkoshocon in April 2010. For those of you on my Facebook, you guys know that Kyouya's always been on my cosplay to-do list. The Hunny is just as anal as I am about getting the costumes right and looking good, so I know that if we can get other people who are just like us in this group, we're going to look SPECTACULAR.

The key is that she wants us all to get our outfits from one person so we collective match. Which is fine, because it's not THAT expensive, but I was still considering Pharaoh Atem from before...

Poll #1466557 HELP ME DECIDE. AGAIN. D:
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 14

Kyouya, Neptune or Atem?

Advice/comments are GREATLY APPRECIATED.

Also, expect a huge spam post of Kuro Kiiro Festival (especially Hetalia cosplay) coming up soon. Maybe tomorrow when I'm less fucked for work.

It's mid-Autumn festival today (or technically tomorrow)! *____* That means somewhere, somehow, all the Chinese at our uni will congregate in our University Center and have mooncakes, haha. I <3 this holiday. It's also the only one my family celebrates aside from Chinese New Year because we're lame like that. XD I miss Mom's mooncakes though. Odd how it falls a day after China's birthday, though. O.o I THINK this holiday moves around depending on the full moon so I guess it was just a coincidence this year...

Also, Dad is in a rather... odd situation in Beijing. The Chinese government is making sure that all companies are safe and secure during the nationwide 8-day holiday. Two days ago, undercover police actually walked into Dad's pharmaceutical building and got into the storage room for toxic chemicals without anyone stopping them. Needless to say, the government was PISSED. So now Dad and the other Directors have to take 24-hour shifts in the building throughout the 8-day vacation to patrol the company. Dad's laughing about it because a, he hasn't pulled an all-nighter since his undergraduate years (I'm going to call him a lot today to make sure he's still awake and not sleeping on his desk somewhere) and b, all the security guards that are with him are scrawny kids that are younger than me. :( This doesn't make me feel very good for his safety, but at least he's laughing about it...

Also, Chicago just got knocked out in the first rounds of voting for the 2016 Olympics. OUCH. ^^; That must sting, considering Obama personally went to Denmark to try and fight for his home city.