Megacon 2009 Chronicles...

Well, I say. The trip to, at, from Megacon is something worth recording down.
Here begins the tale of such a journey to Orlando FL in 2009...

*WARNING EPIC LONG POST*

Friday-(10:00am)
K well, I woke up early ate breakfast and finished packing. I didnt have too much stuff since I didnt have a table at the con this weekend. My friend Dee from Ai asked if my fiends and I wanted to stay at her hotel the weekend so It turned out that I was going to drive up to Orlando with my friend carpooling.
Well, she got up late, our journey started at around...noon-ish.

Friday- (1:30pm)
Stranded in the middle of the highway (I-95), at Mile mark 97, Sitting on a blanket and sunbathing. wait what?
Well we drove an hour on the highway and the front drivers side tire- BLEW OUT. We were on the left lane so we pulled over SAFELY, no one or thing was injured. We attepted to change the blown tire with a spare tire... but we lacked a crank to do so.

Friday- (2:00pm)
well, were were next to a call box, Dee hit it while I did a worthless call to a travel service. A highway patrol came and helped us get a towing service. It cost us $50 to get a TEMPORARY TIRE (aka donut) put on our car. We had to drive to Stuart in order to find a new tire.

Friday- (3:00pm)
We drove to a walmart in Stuart, Who told us that we can get a new tire and have it done in 45 minutes. We spent 20 looking around in Walmart.

Friday- (3:20pm)
Walmart said they couldnt put the tire on because their POLICY says that they cant add tires to cars with custom rims. yeah.... so appearantly Dee's car had custom rims. yes, very tasty BS indeed.

Friday- (4:00pm)
we found a tire shop across the street, saying they could do it with no problems.
Dee called her friend Brian and we had pizza and hung out at Gamestop until the car was fixed.

Friday- (5:00-6:00pm)
Well were were back on track. Only that the car still had problems. It kept shaking and the gas wouldnt work (got stuck) when ever we tried to go around 70 on the turnpike.
We endured it, but it was another problem we had to fix later.

Friday- (8:00pm)
Well after getting lost at Downtown, we finally found our way to the hotel. Simon came a little afterwards (party= 3 ppl) We were walking bout a quarter ways to the con when we hitched a bicycle bench rickshaw peddler, which we rode nicely to the con. Peddling Paul was his name.

Friday- (9:00pm)
We met up with chris (:iconpawpaw:) at Megacon (party=4) , which was of course pretty much over already. We hung out where they had a huge projector and had a PS3 with Naruto ninja storm and had a little tournament we were all forced to join. There was a Pedobear cosplayer who handed out Yo-yo's to everyone, I had some fun messing around with the yoyos.

Friday...er Saturday- (12:00am)
We had dinner at Bahama Beach or whatever the restaurant was called. It was pretty good. I had Shrimp Linguine and Dee and I split a Key lime cheese cake.

Saturday (2:00-4:00am)
WE made Magic the gathering decks from a bunch of cards Dee brought and did a epic 4 player free for all duel. Dee won. Simon was 2nd, I was third, Chris was first out.
We went to bed at four, though it did take about 30 minutes for us to actually fall asleep.

Saturday (8:00am)
Chris had the nerve to wake me up THIS EARLY. We walked to Walgreens to get some drinks and medicine....cause Chris felt a bit sick. We made Cup Ramen with the Coffee machine that we had to ask the hotel to bring to our room (there wasnt one initially).

Saturday (10:00am)
Well, Chris didnt want to walk to the con even if it was less than a mile away so we took the car. We were dressed up. I was Zero (Code Geass), Chris was a Jedi, and Simon was a martial arts dude. We split up there after.

Saturday (til 4)
Well I did some browsing, found some cool stuff, got a gundam model (00Raiser). I went to the artist alley but didnt get to see many familiars that day. I went by :iconsakura02:'s table to hand her a Li book she wanted to get but turns out she was sick. I handed the book to her friends and wished them well.

I played DDR in my Zero outfit (no mask but still)

I ran into a Code Geass Cosplay group, There was a Kallen, C.C., Kaguya, Rakshata, and me Zero. Took some cool pictures. I was gonna have lunch with them but Simon and his new formed party wanted to go to the Costume Contest. I joined. Heard Chris left to the hotel cause he really wasnt feeling well.

Satuday (7:00pm)
Well the Costume Contest... was a costume contest. We waited in line for a good hour to get in. It was ok, not anything special. They did have a raffle for the audience, but of course like hell I would win. With our empty hands we left after seeing who won the frickin Frost Sword.

Saturday (8:30pm)
We went to Mcdonalds. Simon and I wanted Fast food. I had a Quarter Pounder.

Saturday (9:30pm)
Well it was time to part with Chris and Simon, they were only planning to stay on Saturday anyways. They left and Chris also "left" his phone charger at the hotel. We were soon joined by two of Dee's friends Brian (from stuart who decided to come Saturday) and another friend. They stayed at the hotel and hung out, I wanted to check out the Rave.

Saturday (10:30pm)
I almost got in. But the Rave room was packed and they enforced a line to get with all these security guards. I decided to just walk around til the line got smaller but it didn't. I waited in line for a half an hour to an hour to get in. Although I did win a glow stick when they were doing a trivia for the people waiting. I answered correctly "where did the original caramell dansen DANCE come from?" ... haha

Saturday (11:30pm)
I got to rave for a hour maybe. I met a friend/fellow Code Geass cosplayer (no I wasnt in costume for the Rave) that a have met at like all previous cons I've been to. I didnt know she Raved but it was fun to be able to dance around with someone I knew.

Saturday/Sunday (12:00am)
I was out. Beat. Slept as soon as I walked back to the hotel.

Sunday (8:00am)
The four of us went to the lobby to get breakfast. I had some coffee and a apple cinnamon muffin.

Sunday (10:00am)
Check out from the hotel was at noon. We decided to run out early. Dee had to see what was wrong with her car. The other three of us went searching for a Wachovia bank for a whole half hour but only to turn around and go back. I was dropped off at the con.

Sunday (1:00pm)
Well, I did more last minute browsing. I got some manga, some Knightmare figures, and some Higurashi mini figures. After a while I met up with Dee, who told me the other two left already (party = 2) She said she was meeting another one of her friends soon.

Sunday (3:00pm)
well Dee met up with her friend and went off to the dealers room. I read my manga i bought and headed to the dealers room as well. I went to the artist alley again and looked around and found some cool stuff. I saw :iconcetriya: at her table finally, she was gone the last three times I went to see her.

I had to go meet one of Chris's friends and hand him the charger her forgot at the hotel.

I met up with some CG cosplayers again, and we took some more pictures.
the total amount of People that wanted my picture: 70+

Sunday (6:00)
I met up with Dee and three of her friends, we decided to have dinner before going so we went to Houlihans. They had pretty good food. Our other party members were school mates studying Graphic Design. I had a awesome chicken wrap with a couple of beers XD;

After that we met up with friends of their friends and went to friendly's for icecream.
Spent some good time there.

Sunday (9:00)
Well, it sure wasnt the choicest time to be traveling for 4 hours, but I had to get back by today. So we left. A juggle with the GPS and getting lost, we finally found our way to I-4 and then to I-95. It was cold, Dee's car has no heater. But we chatted away and listened to music then switched after a while.

Monday (1:30am)
Running out of gas, stopped at West Palm to fill up. Dee was asleep.
Just another half hour til home.

Monday (2:00am)
Finally home. Said bye to Dee and then was greeted by my brother who wanted to see what I got for him. I unpacked all, put up my toys i bought, read Kekkaishi, and went to bed.

Monday (1:30pm)
Damn, I over slept and was late to class. But I was cool about it. It all turned out well.

Monday (3:00pm)
.........
I'm typing this journal and uh...OMG someones attacking meh.....

JK

well thats the Chronicals of Megacon 2009.
My fingers are numb now cause the computer lab is freezing cold.
and I need some food now.

I will update this journal with links to pics and stuff later.

thanks for reading lol

hey! wanna have your art in a NY gallery? + VN pro

APW gallery in New York is doing a "call for submissions" event
called "Sketch it out" Which is asking any and all artist around the world
to participate. Whats cool about this?- Sign up, and you're guarenteed 5 pieces
into the gallery for the event. ^^ I thought about it a bit then I was like,
"why shouldn't I?" It's a great chance to have your art seen, in a gallery no less o.o

Well the sign up price is $50 for 5 pieces max, the deadline is the 28th.
EDIT: You can also put your 5 pieces up to sell at the gallery too :D So your work wont just be for show ^^
go here for details:
http://apwarts.com/Callforsubmission.html

...there's actually a laundry list of contests I've built up to enter..wahhh


other news:
I have been working on a (kinetic) Visual Novel! I'm making "Can't just Add Water" (thats the short story I wrote, You've seen my Allison character in my gallery) in to a visual novel~ well, actually I'm almost done! Just a few more sprites to spice it up, couple back grounds and the CG's. i got all the coding and typing crap done ^^
If you're a good friend of mine I may share a WIP.... or I'll post some WIP images up soon.


I have 4 weeks left in the quarter, My demo is right about finished being animated. Once I finish that I'll post a rough animation video here or on youtube and then start on the inking and coloring and effects and whatever else.

XD

Oh, I'm going to megacon! Coming? Comment! See you there!!

End of January- list of projects :D

Well, its almost February and feels like I've been doing a ton of work, but it feels like I havent even gotten close to what I had to do.

Like, I've only done two Li updates. Or was it one? ><;;;

Its hard to be a creative overflowing with ideas.

ANyways what I HAVE been working on-

My Demo Reel- A high pace 1 minute animtion- full colored. so far- er, 5% done? overall. about 15% of animation done. Gotta get going on it this weekend.

New 2009 Comic Project Pending Title: "世界で一番悲しい歌"
er, the translation makes it sound cheesy so I'll choose an english title soon.
But what it is- its gonna be a Japanese stand alone comic- Three chapters total, approx 20-30 pages per chapter (very rough estimate).
WEll I'm not gonna give anything away yet, but its gonna be a comic I want to publish either by myself or by some other means. I may post previews or the first chapter up, but I want this to be a print comic existance ^^
My goal right now is 2 pages per day which I have been keeping up for the most part.
...I dont know why I think of these ridiculous projects when my hands are already so full.

and uhh commissions and side projects and other stuff.

I ran out of stuff to write, so I'll end here :3

Kxela

January so far...

SO. its already getting to the third week of January, and what have I been doing?

...nothing really -3- well, I have been working on things inch by inch but yeah.

as title says, I bought an ipod touch like a week (...last tuesday) ago. It's pretty awesome and the first 'real' ipod (with a screen) that I've bought ever. Cause I've only bought the shuffle gen1 and gen2 (after my first broke, getting a new one was probably cheaper). But yeah I put much music and videos and pictures and art and animations on it so I can show it off to people- which is Essentially (the excuse as to) why I got it, cause people want to see my animation work and I always need to forward them to my youtube account (which I need to update by the way)...so yeah thats the fun I've been having.


OH RIGHT hahaha- SCHOOL STARTED AGAIN
taking the 2/4 classes remaining to graduate.
...wow, if all goes well I graduate this summer @_@
anyways-

Mondays I have this advertising observation class with an awesome teacher I've had couple times before, easy class. any hey! there are two monday holidays this quarter- like today!

Tuesdays- ah, now this I need to get off my ass and start working. Portfolio development class- aka make your DEMO REEL class. I have my storyboards done for what I'm gonna do (may or maynot change it). But its gonna be a cool short with skating in it Ima gonna make it really smooth as possible.

and I have my commission set of four to do, my second one is about finished sketched ^^ I'm having fun with these. So no commissions til I'm done with this.

and uhhhh
Megacon's out of artist alley tables ;_; i have not learned my lesson. Maybe I can get someone to share again. Will pay~
Chris has been calling me during work. If you're reading this Chris, I'll call you back soon. I'm not trying to avoid your calls. I sorta kinda want to go to megacon if possible.

...is that it? yeah. i cant think of anything more to write.

Oh I got this Kanji studying DS software. Its pretty awesome. I've learned quite a bit already. BUt I've been slacking this week. Cause my brother took my DS. But I havent tried getting it back cause I'm playing with the apps I downloaded for the itouch XD;;

nkay thats all, have a good one folks.

Mizucon report

End of the year con, two days after Christmas, Mizucon was rather bland.
Sure I wasnt expecting anything amazing from a first time con but it was a bit disappointing, and the facts show they did a couple of things to achieve such a result.

1- date. Yeah, not the best time to have a con. THey thought otherwise according to their site. Plus it was a Sat-Mon con. I think that threw everyone off. They did it probably cause they didnt want to have the event right after Christmas, but I think it might have been better if they did.
2- THere was so little to do there. dealers room, 1 videogame room, 1 panel room, 1 main event room, 2 videorooms, and oh yesh, artist alley. Sounds alright, but the placement of them was a facepalm... They put the artist alley by the videorooms rather than the dealers room. And who exactly goes to the anime viewing rooms?- people who start to get bored, at least to me. The flow of people in the artist alley was terrible, there probably was less than 10 people max in the alley (who werent artists).

....that about wraps it up. I did just barely okay with the booth, no one asked for comissions but the new stuff sold a bit.
I forgot part of my costume on sunday so I didnt enter the contest. THough actually remembering the stress from the last con made me not want to enter in the first place. I was Student Lulu day 1, Zero day 2, and then Student Lulu with the cape and helmet on day 3. I didnt take pictures, but people did. I'll look for them.

The dealers room was pretty cool, not awesome, but they had some decent dealers (saw some friends) and had some nice sales. I got
a couple of import magazines and some fun toys, and 1 Kekkaishi manga.

I didnt even step in the game room.

Food there was typical, wasnt prepare Saturday.

IT was pretty disappointing, even Yasumicon which is free to attend was better than $35 weekend pass Mizucon.

But otherwise as I said I want expecting anything extra extravagant, I had fun seeing fellow friends and artists
After all thats what the point has become- to hang out...
though it could have been better.

Lets try harder next time Mizucon!





ON a brighter note, my next confirmed sorta con is Hatsume Fair
at the Morikami Museums in March. The best part is, I live like 10 minutes away from there. It sounds like its gonna be fun, Morikami's events are usually full of people, and having an anime portion sounds like a great idea.


time to get back to work.

Pre-Mizucon weeekend Madness~

Heading off to Mizucon.
.
.
.
Tomorrow. o_o
Wait what itsnt it friday today?

Mizucon is from Dec 27-29. Thats a Saturday through monday schedule.
Talk about weird. I gotta work today to make up for getting off on monday then -3-
but I needs the money.

LOL I was all rushing this morning printing everything. Then I wrote down the date and was like ".....Dec 26?" then I ran to the postcard ad of mizucon I have on my bulletin board. "Dec 27-29" I just about fainted.

Well at least now I have everything about prepared, I can relax tomorrow morning and head out smoothly.

Speaking of which some weird things happened this morning.
I was at Kinkos and I wanted to get some of my arts printed for prints. Then the lady looks at my stuff and was like "did you download this/get this from somewhere" and then I said "I made it" and then even more she asks "is this your signature" on my works.

-3- I dunno whether to feel complimented or insulted. Either I've gotten good enough for people to think that my work looks like some other pros, or I've been accused of stealing art.

Well, she didnt really look like a Kinkos worker. She was in casual clothes and not in the usual uniform. No wonder she was a bit weird. Cause usually the dudes Kinkos just DO THEIR JOB and MIND THEIR OWN BUSINESS instead of sticking their heads where it shouldnt go.

.
.
.
man, I sound pissed. Maybe cause its not con day today :<

oh well. after work I can spend the day making last minute new arts or play Mabinogi (the MMO by Nexon that I've been playing)